Busy Bee

Man!
For someone who doesn't have a job this summer, I sure have been a busy little bee!
I've been trying to write more than one post a week, but it's tough...
I've been driving back and forth between Austin and College Station for 3 weeks now and next weekend will be the fourth one straight.

It started out with a trip to College Station to go to Zach's cousin's wedding and to see his other cousin that moved back down from Georgia.
His cousin Dustin married sweet little miss Ashley, whom he's been with for several years.
The ceremony/reception took place at the beautiful 7F Lodge which is hidden among live oaks and yaupon thickets.
It's gorgeous - especially at sunset!
I just love the little chapel there.
I took tons of pictures of it. Just a warning!

The next weekend I drove back down to CS to spend some time with my dad and work on my car again, which you can read about here.
I also had to get an inspection sticker - which was funny because the guys who did the inspection, didn't check ANYTHING on my car.
They literally drove it, wrote down some numbers, took my money and I was outta there!
Quickest inspection I've ever had!
This last weekend, I drove down again to do some more preventative maintenance on my Tiburon and hang out some more with my dad and sister.

We spent all day Saturday watching Breaking Bad. Like, literally ALL DAY.
We watched back-to-back-to-back episodes and finished the entire first season.
It was nice to take a day off from doing stuff to just relax on the couch and watch a new show.
Well, new show to us {my sister has seen most of the episodes, but my dad and I are catching up}.
Don't you just love watching a bunch of episodes in a row?
It sure does beat having to wait a whole week to see a new one!
Love it! :)

Sunday, me and dad got back on the grind and spent the entire day finishing up the port matching.
We worked all day until after 9pm.
Uhhhhh, it was so exhausting.
The heat literally takes all the energy out of you!
We were pooped, but no matter how tired, there's always just enough energy to watch the latest episode of True Blood!

Monday, my dad got rained out at work,
so he drove back to CS and we did some more work on my car.
My fuel tank sensor is malfunctioning for some reason, so we're trying to figure out why.
It could be a ground wire, or the sensor just crapped {I just hit 100,000 miles so I'm thinking it probably just crapped}.
Hopefully we'll get it figured out this coming weekend!

Tuesday, my sister treated me to a movie!
We went to see The Dark Knight Rises.

Ah, I love that movie!
Christian Bale is such a great Batman and I loved Anne Hathaway as Catwoman too!
And of course Joseph Gordon-Levitt rocked my socks off.
He doesn't have a major role in the movie, but he's such a great actor... I love everything he's in!
Especially Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio.
If you haven't seen either movie... you need to get out from under that rock you've been livin' in and see them now, crazy!
Like, right now!
Sorry I called you crazy.
But trust me.
You will not be disappointed. I pinky promise. :)

So now, I'm back in Austin and caught up on the latest episodes of RHOC, NJ, and NY!
Can you tell I love my shows?!
I know, TV turns your brain into mush.
But don't worry, I read lots and I'm getting an edumuhkashon. I promise!
Don't judge me and my guilty pleasures!

Tonight, I'm enjoying some of the left over candy from the movies.
We snuck in sodas and candy.
$4 for a coke and $8 for sweets at the movies theater?
Psssssh, that's crazy talk!
So I'm a rule-breaker, what of it?
Paying that much for what should cost under $5... well that's just bonkers and I ain't doin' it!
Pigs will fly before that ever happens!
Do you guys ever sneak stuff in?
I won't snitch on ya. :)

I'm also thinking about the upcoming weekend.
I've got a baby shower to attend, more car stuff to work on, and hopefully some swimming to do. :)
And lot's of blogging!
Hope y'all have a great week/weekend.
I know I will.

Goodnight, friends!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Grease Monkeys

Hello friends!
I hope all of you had a great weekend.
I've been itching to blog, but I was so busy this last weekend and haven't had a chance to write.

I went down to College Station to hang out with my dad and my sister and put in some quality family time. {Too bad my brother wasn't there :( he went deep sea fishing.}
My dad is going to be leaving for Germany on August 10th, and will be gone for a couple of weeks. He'll return for 2 or 3 weeks and then head back to Germany, most likely, permanently!
So, I'm going to try to make a trip down every weekend {or at least every other weekend} until then because I'm going to miss him so much when he's gone.
He will no longer be just a 2 hour drive away... instead it'll be a 5,000 mile plane ride away!
He's going to finally be with my mom {he works here, she works there}, will maybe take a German course, and will be on the look-out for contracts in Europe.
But hey, I'll always have a reason to go to Germany every summer/christmas!

So anyway.
While I was in College Station, we went to see the movie Savages.
I was a little iffy about it in the beginning, but it turned out to be really good!
Benicio del Toro killed it as the character, "Lado."

My sister and I did some brainstorming on ways for me to become more competitive
when I apply for the University of Texas/Texas State.
Volunteering, starting my own business, and starting a non-profit were a few of the ideas.
The rest of this year and the next is going to be pretty eventful and jam-packed with lots of new things coming my way.
I'm starting to get excited!

Also while I was there, my car needed to be worked on.
Here's a fun fact!

I can work on my own car.

Whaaaaaaat?

Yep, you heard right. 

Don't let this sassy face and blonde hair fool you.

I can get down and dirty and all greased up just like the boys!

My dad has always pushed us to be independent and hard working,

especially when it comes to our vehicles. 

Why need a boyfriend/husband/mechanic to depend on, 

when it's feasible to do it yourself?
ALOT of stuff is actually pretty easy to do on your own, once you've been shown how to do it.
All you need is a little direction, a little elbow grease, and a little TLC {tender lovin' care}!
And my dad has a massive amount of information stored away in his noggin',
so that comes in handy too. :)
He's such a smarty pants and can fix just about anything when it comes to
cars or jet skis or fabricating things. He's got pure talent!

It's awesome getting real hands-on experience and learning new things from him.

When my sister got her first truck, my dad helped her pull out the entire engine and take 

everything apart.

Then, he made her put it all back together.

By herself.

She had to figure it out and be able to problem solve without

relying on someone to help her.

Now it's my turn!

It's a really great bonding experience and something I really enjoy doing with my dad.

So far, he's taught me to:

* drive a standard

* change a flat tire

* install new break pads

* change spark plugs

* rotate tires

 * restore headlights

* change the oil

* install a new oil filter

* clean my air filter

* make a new gasket

and

* do port matching on the intake manifold

Pretty awesome, huh?

I know.

I cleaned my air filter and we changed the spark plugs.

We also did port matching on the intake manifold.

This is when you grind away the metal in order to match the openings of the runners to the gasket and the cylinder head.

{The gasket is the thin black piece sitting on the manifold.}
Auto makers don't match up the port openings at the end of the intake manifold to the port openings
on the cylinder head.
The resulting mismatch causes congestion of the air/fuel mixture as it travels toward the
intake valve, which slows down the velocity of the airflow.
So, in order to remedy the issue
you line up the intake gasket with the openings, trace around each circle and cut away the excess metal.
You're basically just opening it up so it can breathe better.
This will increase the horsepower and give you better gas mileage.
Who doesn't want better gas mileage!?


So, I'd say the weekend was a success!
I'm going back this weekend to finish up the porting, change my break pads,
and do whatever other maintenance that needs to be done.
Maybe we'll get to see another good movie too. :)


Here's to learning to be independent, self-suffcient, daddy's girls!