icy hot!

Summer is just about here. I'm still working to get my thesis formatted and turned in, BUT I do have a sunburn and hot pink nails (to compliment my bling), so I think it's safe to say my hot Texas summer has begun!

While we're soaking up extra vitamin D, my parents are on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I got this picture from my dad this evening. Seriously?? How amazing does this look? I can't wait to see the rest of their pictures and hear about their Alaskan adventures.

Wow. Okay, it's a must. Bucketlist.

M.S. in Geology

Yesterday afternoon I successfully defended my Master's thesis! Sounds terrifying, right? It was. The past two years of my life let up to that point and now that it's over, I feel like I can breathe again. This is a picture of my advisor and I right after my defense. Not only is she hilarious (her first thought when I asked someone to take our picture was to grab an old champagne bottle, ha!), but she is brilliant and really cares about her students succeeding.

 If you've never been to a defense (my first one was yesterday...yikes), here's how it goes. You give a 20 minute presentation (mine was more like 30 minutes) explaining the products of your thesis, why it's important, and what further research needs to be done. Then the floor is opened up for questions from the audience. Luckily, it's "break time" here in College Station since the spring semester is over and summer sessions haven't started yet, so I didn't have many audience members. Then your advisor asks the "general public" to leave and you're trapped in the room with your committee (mine had 5 members, normally it's 3) and they grill you for about an hour. Not fun. You have to be okay saying "I haven't thought about that yet, but I will look into it..." When the questioning is over (finally), your advisor asks you to leave the room while your committee deliberates. So, I sat on a couch in the hallway, scared to call anyone. Counting the minutes. When they're done, your advisor comes out in the hallway and congratulates you on successfully defending your thesis! 

I have a few corrections to make before I submit it, but I applied for graduation and will walk across the stage (again) in August!

***

Poor Benson's first birthday was also yesterday. It was overshadowed by the craziness of my defense, but I did manage to snap his picture in a birthday hat :)

Unfortunately, he has a lower maturity level than most one year old cats. This is a picture of what I woke up to last week.

He was so proud of his overnight accomplishments. He is in every picture because he was running around, rubbing on everything and chattering about his masterpiece. Oh well! Here's to hoping he chills out in the near future :)

not a phase

Nearly a year ago, I posted this video of Banks kneading his favorite bed. It was so cute, but I thought it was just a phase--maybe a product of not having his mother with him as he was a tiny kitten (I don't know if he did or didn't). Turns out, it wasn't a phase at all. Just part of my love bug's daily relaxation routine. Give him a furry blanket, or soft bed and he'll be purring in no time :)

Can you tell who's my attention hog??

Banks hates having his picture taken. I have to turn the sound off on my phone to get a decent picture of him. 

:)

two items:

First, our wedding website is live!

Rhett and I both wrote versions of how we met in the "About Us" section. Rhett's is adorable. Head over and check it out.

***

Secondly, Benson is a finalist in the Diesel and Juice facebook pet photo contest!! Click the link below to vote for him (it's anonymous)! Bonus: if you vote, you are entered to win a custom pet portrait of your own!

VOTE HERE!

:)

a post from my mom

This post comes to you via my mom's personal journal in 1992. She scanned an entry for me and I have been given permission to share it with you :)

Instead of doing a post about how amazing my mom is for Mother's Day, I'll give you a glimpse into what may have shown up on my mom's blog had there been internet when I was a child, so you can see for yourself!

1/21/1992; 9:55pm (she even time-stamped it!)

Page,

You went to the dentist a few weeks ago and did great! He took x-rays and we can see your permanent teeth. They look pretty crooked, but hopefully will straighten out when they come through. You are growing up so fast! Your favorite movie is "Beauty and the Beast." I took you to see it when it first came out and dad took you back this past weekend.

I hope when you're older, you have fond memories of your childhood. We have good times together. Baking cookies--playing cards. You love to play "Go Fish" now. We play it a lot.

There are so many problems in the world today--drugs, aids, violence--all kinds of stuff. I have so many things that I wish for in your life: 

A belief and love for God.

Dear friends that you will make and keep and love for your whole life. It's so special to have friends that you love and care about. I have made many all over with all our moves.

Enough money for you to be comfortable, but not so much that it becomes the most important thing in your life.

High self-esteem and a love for yourself that will help you do whatever you want with your life. 

A great husband who is loving and supportive of you and your goals.

Healthy children (if you want them) who will give you the happiness that you and Corey give your Dad and I.

A long and healthy life with the strength you need to get through the rough times...

If you read this when you are a teenager, I know you'll think it's silly, but maybe when you're 31, like me, it may sound a little better.

One more wish for your life: A great cat like Clyde to love and grow with your family!!

***

I laughed and cried the first time I read it. I'm incredibly thankful for an amazing mom and dad. And can you believe she added in the part about the cat?!? This is our family cat, Clyde, whom we all adored. He lived to be 18 and was over 20 lbs.

We still talk about Clyde often. Banks looks a lot like him, and even though Banks' nickname is "Big", Clyde was almost double his size!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

engagement pictures!

This post is WAY overdue, which, in true modern mapper style, makes it right on time. :)

Several weeks ago, we met both Ana and Ivan of Ana&Ivan Photography in Calvert, Texas to take our engagement pictures. We met at the coolest chocolate shop, Cocoamoda, and the owner made us latte's and we chatted about how the session would run. If you are ever on Hwy 6 between College Station and Ft. Worth, you should definitely stop by Cocoamoda and pick up a box of homemade chocolate and walk through the streets of Calvert. Though it was a  little awkward at the start, Ana & Ivan made us feel so comfortable and we were posing like pro's after a few minutes. We are so happy with the product, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I didn't post the one we used for the save-the-dates :) I'll share it with you once they start hitting mailboxes!

the old place

It's been quite a while since I blogged. I have my excuses reasons, though, namely, I've been writing my thesis like a maniac and during my down time writing a blog doesn't sound as relaxing as usual. However, as of last week I have submitted the final sections of my thesis to my advisor for editing, and my defense date is tentatively set for May 24th, so there is an end in sight!
Anyway, on to the real topic of this post.

***

My great grandfather built this house. They even chopped down the trees to get the wood. We used to have family reunions here every year, so I have great memories of this place, known to the family as simply, the old place. It's not in great shape, so it's been opened up to the family to come out and gather some mementos. 

My mom and I went out with my cousin, Hugh, and spent a couple hours walking around and looking at what is left of the old place. Hugh is working on our families genealogy, so we searched through an old ledger marked 1917 for clues about our past. Don't you wish we still had handwriting like this??

We also found an old family bible. Unfortunately, it's in horrible shape.

The house was full of stuff left there over the years.

It was fun to walk through and hear stories about my grandma and her family. When the house was built, glass was expensive and they didn't have enough money for real windows, so they put slats up. When my grandma got her first job and moved to Houston, one of the first things she bought was glass windows for her families house. Most of the original glass is gone, but we took some of the windows home. If you remember, I also have a window from the church where my parents were married (scroll to the bottom).

Part of my family still lives there (in a new house) and they had a 2 week old donkey on their land. Is he the cutest thing??

I promise I won't be gone long this time. :)

Happy May!