Gingerbread House

I've been trying new things lately and have been so busy that I have not posted. Loser! Anyway. I had my first attempt at a gingerbread house. It was a kit and it clearly stated on the outside of the kit that it was "easy, family-friendly fun". No problem! Right? Wrong! I had Alex put the thing together and then I commenced the decorating fun with the kids. Turns out, I'm no cake boss! Making the icing go on like the picture was almost impossible and the darn little Christmas Tree and Snowman kept tipping over! Oh well, once we put the candy decorations on, it was sure to look better. Not so fast! The candy doesn't stick as well as I thought it would. Turns out, icing is not actually glue! After some practice, we kind of figured it out - but I swear it looks like it was make by some "special" kids. :) I prefer to say it was made with love not with talent!

Jams

I went to a show on Saturday night. A friend's band. I knew what I was getting into. It's loud, heavy music. I came packin' heat: earplugs! It was a short show, just a couple of songs.. but you know what? I really enjoyed it! It was crazy to see this guy that I've known for years as a nice, and sort of quiet guy, get up on stage and (*lame alert* can't think of a better word) rock out. He was fun to watch and the music, though not my general cup of tea, was good! It's good "pump you up" music and I want to put it on my ipod to run to. I'm In! Pretty sure this is not going to be my passion so much, but I did really have fun, and will definitely not run from the next show.

Good job guys!

Please note: I would have listed the band's name, but I cannot for the life of me think of it. I'll post pics and a band name later. :)

My major accomplishment: I went out of my comfort zone and tried a little something new. It was fun - and I discovered a secret "hard core" side of Tylee. Ohh, what fun! Wonder what this new side of Tylee will bring? mosh pits? doubtful.

Back to Food

So, either I have an unhealthy relationship with food, or it might just be my passion. I've noticed this about myself recently. I meet someone, attractive: check!, nice and funny?: check! - Does he like Italian Food?(this seriously went through my mind - I'm telling you, I might have a problem) Sure, most people like Mexican fare, but is life really worth living without delicious red sauce?! I think not! This, my friends, might be a deal breaker for me. I haven't even begun to talk of the bread and oil and salads of Caesar and Italian decent... ahh carbs, how you haunt my dreams. And don't get me started on my true love for anything sweet! I'll eat so much that inevitably, 2 hours later, I'm home dying a slow death from the inside out. All the while thinking, "totally worth it."

So is eating the food my passion or could I love to cook it too?

Mission: find an affordable cooking class and take it for a spin.

Spin Class

NOT my passion. I did this class again after a year... All I can say is that it's a good thing there's no action going on for me. It's been a couple of days and STILL the tenderness remains in the nether regions. I've been told that if you continue to go, the pain subsides and never returns, but what, I ask you, is the inspiration to return? I swear I used a mirror to see if there is actual bruising (there isn't). I think if you are going to endure pain of this nature, there better be outside evidence!

Calorie Burn: 600

Monday at noon... yes, I'll be there again.

Guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Update

Well, still no passions to report... but hopefully some passion in my future. :) Just keeding... sort of.

Me. What I have been doing is learning about myself. Who I am, what I love, what I will NOT accept and what I will not do any longer. So here it is, my new, improved, self inventory (no apologies):

I am smart and a valuable addition to any team.
I love making people laugh.
I love the look on peoples faces when I tell a funny story at a party and they are REALLY listening.
I think my true beauty lies within me.
I am not perfect, but I am perfectly ok with that.
I love to eat. I love dinner and dessert equally.
I love to drink wine with said food.
But for someone that truely loves food as I do, I'm actually pretty picky and have a lot of "food rules"
I exercise regularly. It's a priority. I hate to exercise.
I try not to sweat - but feel that I do it more than most. Gross.
I get great joy from the happiness of my friends and family.
I love the feeling of butterflies in my tummy... I didn't even remember what they felt like until recently.
Turns out that I get the embarrassed red face pretty easily when discussing my feelings.
I have very little sense of adventure but I always force myself to try new things when the opportunity presents itself
I love to read and write but when you talk numbers, my brain just turns itself off.
I like pretty much any kind of music and most movies.
I'm easily amused and pretty easy to please... this might prove to be a fault because I'm afraid I'll settle for less than I deserve.
I love to plan and organize things. It's weird. I know.
Oliver is my dog. I love him more than anything in this world. You all better hope he never dies. I won't recover. He has seen me through some seriously crappy times. He is the BEST.
I love to drive cars with manual transmissions. I think it gives me more POWER and control.
I really would love to hire a housekeeper... and a yard person... but until I'm rich, I do take great satisfaction in mowing and cleaning, and the immediate gratification they offer.
I love the feeling of independence I get when I try something and accomplish it without help. (has happened a lot recently)
I love to dance, but only with a partner. I think my true calling was to be a ballroom dancer.
I try to remember to thank God every day for all of my blessings before I start complaining about all of my trials.

I think that's it for now. It's a pretty complete list, but I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Signed, the new, improved, Tylee

MY passion

It's been a long time since I've had the itch or the motivation to try something new. Things have changed a lot in the past couple of months, and my life will never be the same. Still digesting that idea, but I'm coming around. Maybe the same is not the best? I've learned that life will continue to deliver new surprises every single day, and that's ok. I think now, I'm prepared to handle changes, big and small... I think. I think now I've been granted the very rare opportunity to search for a passion that is all my own. Not someone else's interest, but my own - whatever that may be. Time. Time is a problem. In my new found single life, I've become very busy with my friends and making new ones. I love the fact that I'm never "stuck" at home alone. If I'm home alone, it's because I want some quiet me time - or I'm feeling guilty for the lack of time I've been spending with Oliver. (more guilt than quiet time) So my home time almost always consists of a nice walk with the dog! He banks off human guilt! :)
Passion - back to that. I will find one, but where to start? There's a mountain bike gathering dust in my garage since Daisa hasnt come to pick it up... I might take that for a spin? If only I could find a way to make it work with the dog! I have a bad picture in my head of him seeing a cat and me becoming intimate with dirt. Maybe I better go at it alone for a while....

I'll keep thinking on this ... it's good to be back!

Embracing my Inner Fatty

The past couple of days at work, I've been surfing the blog world, looking for good food blogs to link to our restaurant equipment blog. I LOVE these blogs... I've linked to them from my personal blog. There are easy recipes, and hard ones too, with witty side comments and a brief look into the chef's life. I dove into these blogs - and had a hard time getting back to the other work that had to be done. I love reading the recipes, imagining how they will taste and get really excited about trying them. My favorite thing to do is go out to dinner and have some good food and some good wine. My favorite part of the book "Eat Pray Love" was the part where she goes to Italy and she spends an entire chapter describing this pizza she ate! I swear, I dream of this pizza!

Could this be my passion? Embrace it! Cook for complete strangers and have them lavish compliments over me! I could do that! I would be happy. I really want to learn how to bake. This, I'm told, takes real practice. I hope practice makes perfect because I'm short on practice and my cookies turn out crispy (read: burnt) and cakes always crack right down the middle. Betsy Crocker, I'm not!

Why can't this be my passion? Besides the fact I'd weigh 400 lbs if I ate the way I truly want to... I am decidedly too picky for food to be my passion. My list of "likes" is WAY shorter than my list of "not likes." I don't do seafood (though I try, I really do!) and I don't really enjoy most vegis. How can one consider herself a foodie, a food connoisseur, if you don't like these two major ingredients?! I could eat my body weight in sweets though, so I guess it's a good thing I'm a bad baker! My curvy, but still desirable-sized ass thanks me for that! I can't run far enough to make up for the amount of delicious sweets that I could devour in one sitting... and my poor belly aches just thinking of it...

So the search continues...

Pilates

So, I've been doing pilates for a couple of months now, and I love it. I love the strength it's building and the flexibility it's improving. I enjoy knowing my body and muscles and being aware of what muscles are working and where. They have these huge machines that look really scary and intimidating - the reformer, the chair... Not that scary once you get going, but not easy! I've found that I've gotten stronger each week, and soon I'll be able to really "do" the exercises - hopefully without collapsing onto my mat!

That being said, I don't think it's my passion. I don't want to quit my job and become an instructor. If I had to pay for it (it's quite pricey at the pilates studios) I probably would not continue. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful friend that gives me private instructions once a week, and once a week I go to the class offered at my gym. The gym class is really pretty good, but the private instruction is nice to be sure that I have the correct form.

On another note, I got my first pool lesson from my hubby last weekend... I did get some valuable tips like, "hit the ball here" and "hit it hard" or "hit it gently". All very helpful, and though I did my best to follow the instructions, I'd be sadly disappointed when the ball crashed off the wall, mere inches (INCHES!) from my target pocket. Imagine my dismay when he'd be going for the 8 ball to clinch the game and I'd still have 5 balls on the table! whoa is me. Practice makes perfect, so I'm told, so I will continue on this quest! I had fun during my lesson, and I'm pretty sure that if I don't have a bottle of wine prior to my next lesson, I'll see marked improvement!

The quest continues....

Pool

Last night I went out for a friend's birthday. This girl is so nice and sweet and sort of quiet and smiley.. and last night I witnessed her shoot pool. She was really good! I was so impressed. It reminded me of a time a couple of years ago.... another friend was going through a break up and we decided that we were going to get good at pool because everyone knows it's HOT when a girl is good at pool! What happened? Well, as it turns out, most of the places that have pool tables are smokey bars.... and some people consider it a sport - so you know I was terrible! My lungs couldn't take the massive amount of time it would have taken to get good. So, as it stands now, I am quite possibly the worst pool player you've ever seen. Seriously.

Hubby is not too bad at pool though, and he doesn't mind bars (putting it mildly).... maybe he can teach me? Maybe I can become a pool shark? I'll come in and pretend to be all bad and then start betting (and losing) a lot of money.... and then WHAM! I'll bust out my own personal cue stick and whoop up on everyone while wearing tight sexy jeans and hot heels.

A girl can dream.

Golfing? maybe not.

Today I went golfing with the hub and some friends. It was COLD at first, but then, it warmed up and so did I. I "played" a few holes even. I didn't come close to par, but it was actually a good time. I don't think I have it in me to make it my passion - First, because it is an EXPENSIVE hobby, and second, it lasts a long time. I mean a loooong time. I think it should be 9 holes, with the option to play another 9 if you're having an exceptional time. Instead, it's 18 holes, take it or leave it, and over 4 hours. That's serious commitment, considering I can't get my husband to sit still for an hour and a half movie!

That being said, golf does have its good points. I used to work at a golf course, I always thought the golf couples were so cute together. I pictured Austin and I spending our retirement on picturesque courses - the scenery is (usually) beautiful - today being the exception because it's not exactly green grass season, and I do love being outside on a nice day, but really? ... I don't know that I could match the love for it that so many have found. Maybe I'll take some lessons and get my own set of clubs.. maybe just maybe I'll find the like for golf, if not the love. In the mean time, In the name of strengthening my marriage and supporting my husband and his true passions, I have vowed to try to get out there with him once a month. I think I can do that!

I have some pictures from todays adventure:

Sleeping?

Today, Paige suggested that perhaps sleeping was my passion. Now, I do like to sleep more than most, I admit it, but how lazy does that make me if someone suggests that sleeping is my passion!? I do not feel as though I've wasted half the day when I sleep past 10, but my passion? Well, I hope not. I hope that my passion turns out to be something that makes me a better person, or helps those less fortunate than me. Maybe I should take volunteering for a spin... but that's so vague! I know I love dogs, but I would rather not pick up poo on my Saturday afternoon. So where to I go - not Goodwill! This self reflection might just prove that I am "the worst kind, those that are high maintenance, but think they're low maintenance" (quote from some movie, but I have NO idea which one).

and so the search continues...

About me

I took inspiration from a friend's blog - I feel I should share.

I am:

• Tylee Rokovich - Formerly Van Waes, hence the name Van Rock - which I love and have gladly embraced
  
• a Director of Marketing for a small website
• a wife to a man that is the inspiration for this blog, and my inspiration in general
• a big sister to a sister that is my best friend and she married a pretty cool dude
• a big sister to a brother that taught me how to be strong enough to persevere through the toughest times
• a step sister to a soon-to-be-famous country singer
• a step sister to a super ambitious boy and his beautiful, kind wife
• a daughter to an amazing man that raised us all on his own, and definitely married his perfect partner that is the best step-mom a girl could ask for
• a mom to my soulmate in dog form, Oliver, the best chocolate lab ever
• a coach to the worst softball team Round Rock has ever seen - the Rankin Rebels. I truly love it.

I love:

• my bed
• sleeping late with hub and Oliver
• a good glass of wine
• a great margarita - on the rocks with salt
  
• going out to dinner
• Longhorn football
• Country Dancing
• Music - all types, except techno - it sounds like a headache
  
• pj pants
• soft socks
• 80 degree afternoons in the sunshine
• laying by the beach - but not actually getting into the ocean
  
• giving gifts
• being the center of attention
• making people laugh
• organizing and planning - does that make me a dork?
• private bathrooms
• a clean house
• a good book
• home made popcorn
  
• hanging out with my family and friends
• playing with the Rankin Rebels
• laughing so hard I cry, but not so hard that I pee!

I can be:

• silly
• controlling
• talkative
• worrysome
• cranky
• too laid back, sometimes you have to make a stand!
• opinionated
• late
  

I do not like:

• confrontation
• wet towels when you get out of the shower
• sadness and pain
• being in a rush

I could probably go on and on - and will probably add more to this. It's fun to do a self-inventory!

Day 1: Running

Not my passion.

I ran, I run, I will continue to run because it's the only thing that works. I hate it. It's hard. It hurts. I feel good when I'm done. My body thanks me. Ahh the madness!

I like to run in the cardio cinema at the gym. Close to bathrooms... and I've seen 45 minutes of many movies! It's dark, but I've been fortunate enough not to fall off the treadmill so far; I do have to hold on in high action sequences - like on the fight scenes in the Matrix!

Though running is great, it is not, nor will it ever be, my passion. It leads to a red face and sprained ankles! However, a lot things in my life lead to red faces and sprained ankles, a story for another time, I suppose.

The Explanation

I've been doing some soul searching lately. My hubby (hub from here on out) has lots of interests and passions and hobbies - and I am envious of him! I want to have something you love to do so much that you'll gladly get up before sunrise - no matter how late you're up the night before - and do it with enthusiasm! I have nothing (besides a vacation with an early flight) that makes me WANT to get up before the sun. Nothing. So now I search. My goal this year is to try many new things, see what I think about them - find a passion, for me!