insert clever title here.

Weekends are glorious.

This past weekend was no exception. 

While it wasn't full of relaxation & downtime, I had too much fun.  I mean, how can a weekend not start off right when your boss takes you to play golf on Saturday!?  Right!??

I absolutely love my job.  This past Friday, that love grew exponentially. 
The boss calls for us to leave at noon for lunch and some good ol' times at Top Golf.

Proof:  My boss & I.

That form, though...

After that, dinner with friends.  No pics though.  I suppose we were too busy being awesome. 
Saturday gave me time to clean & organize the casa before I leave for vacation this Saturday. Oh yeah!!!  Saturday night was movie & pizza night with Miss Mattison.  We also made cinnamon roll rabbits.  However, Matti preferred to call the cinnamon roll werewolves.  That's my girl.  Let that geek flag fly!

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early to celebrate with a Father's Day breakfast.  Even though we always go to breakfast every Sunday morning...I enjoyed this time with my loves.  I'm extremely happy with the life we've made.

Aren't they cute?

After breakfast, we headed to my hometown to have lunch with my daddy-o.  We met up there with my little sis, Laci; her husband, James; my nephew, Colton; my step-bro, Matt & my niece, Giana.

Matti & Giana enjoyed girl time in the pool.

Me & my "seestar".  Blue eyes like our daddy.

Check out that handsome fella. :)

That's my daddy-o!

I can't talk about our visit without acknowledging how cute my nephew, Colton, is.

Matti loves her daddy. The epitome of Father's Day right there.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend & a wonderful Father's Day.
 Now, I'm planning for my vacation next week!  Tybee Island, Georgia!!  WOO!!  I'll be roadtrippin' it with my mom & my niece.  Can't wait to share pics of our adventures!!  I plan on stopping along the way in Mississippi, South Carolina and Louisiana.  Who's meeting me for dinner? :)

8-bits of awesome.

Each week I talk about 8 things that I find to be awesome.  Whether it be geek news, things to be added to my ever-growing wish list, funny pics or some rad new music...you'll find it weekly here at The Shiny Happy in my

 

And here we go:

 

• Has anyone else been wanting a Gnome-Eating Garden Kaiju for your yard? 
• Why don't I have super cool neighborhood watch signs in MY town??
• Walter White, Jr. wished his dad a Happy Father's Day....and my heart shattered again over the crystal meth-shaped-hole that Breaking Bad has left.
• Have you heard of Cowl Girl!?  I must say that I'm pretty stoked to see this.
• While looking for office art, I came across The Power Cosmic on Etsy.  Check them out!!  I now have several prints on my wish list.
• My OCD self REALLY wants to invest in one of these.
• I dare you to tell me that this doesn't make you squeeeeeeeee.
• My new spice rack project.  I'm loving it!

Alright! And that's a wrap on this week's 8-bits! What things are bringing the awesome to your life this week? Let me know by sharing your links in the comments. I can always use more awesome.

 

icymi.

....I took a 2 month hiatus.

While that may be considered slacker-esque, it was completely necessary.  It wasn't burn out.  It wasn't writer's block.  It was me trying to balance my new job workload, plus M's softball schedule, PLUS my work on the Relay For Life Committee. 

Whew.

Now that all of that is off the plate, I'm back!
What have you missed!?

My mom and some awesome friends went with me to celebrate my birthday at my 3rd Color Run!

Being a rebel & wearing my Yoda shirt instead of the "uniform". :)

....Because neck tattoos make me feel hardcore.

Game faces...activated.

By the way...my mom is more awesome than yours.

No idea who this is, but I thought she was super rad for rockin' the Color Run.

My obligatory "aftermath" shot.

 One month later, I participated in my 8th Relay For Life event.  I'm so proud to be involved and on the committee.  We had an awesome time!  7pm to 7am....and it felt like it.  
I'm getting old.  

I was the proud Team Captain of The Crushers!

Downtown Sulphur Springs during Relay.

I was the host of the "Man Pageant".

4AM at The Crushers camp....and going strong.

4AM called for the Mohawk.

Last lap at 7AM!

My team, The Crushers, were named the Most Spirited team. :)

 That following Sunday, I made my very tired body crawl out of bed and attend my very first Comic Con in Dallas!!  It was worth it!

This is the face of a very tired Amber. (But my shirt is awesome...)

Thanks to my friends, Chris & Brad (cameraman), for going with me!

I was a kid in a candy shop.  Seriously.  I'm sure Chris & Brad were ready to drag me out of there far before we ever left.

So, my hiatus definitely hasn't been all work and no play.  But, I have to admit, I am so ready to get back in the groove of blogging again.  I've missed you guys. 

Did anyone else make it to Dallas Comic Con?  Let me know!

o, christmas tree.

With this being our first Christmas, the mister and I have started from scratch to accumulate our much needed decor.  After getting everything arranged, I've come to one conclusion.  

I need more geeky ornaments.  

It's a shame that we look so traditional.  We are not traditional, folks.

Right now, my tree is cute.  But, most of the ornaments match.  I mean, seriously!?  Who am I?  What has happened to me?  Thankfully, I do have a few favorites that have managed to find their way.

 Just like my Texas pride, this ornament has stayed with me through it all.  This is actually #2.  The first one died in a freak accident.  Thankfully, I was able to replace it.  Hook'em Horns!

 I relish the fact that not every tree has Michelangelo hanging from its branches.  He was a gift last year from my amazing friend, Jeni, who now lives in Colorado.  I actually had the set, but they were separated in the move.  *sob*

The pickle is a tradition.  It has been on my Christmas trees ever since I moved out and had my own trees.  FACT:  Christmas just ain't Christmas without a pickle on your tree. 

 While not geeky at all, I had to share our very first ornament.  We plan to buy a new one every year. With this being our first Christmas, we thought this one would be perfect.  I love it!  Check out CharlieChalkDesigns on Etsy.  Their stuff is so stinkin' cute!

I'd love to see the geeky ornaments that adorn your Christmas tree.  Which one is your favorite?  Let me know!

ho ho ho.

On Saturday, I participated in my third 5K - The First Annual Ho Ho Ho Run in Tyler.  My good friend, K, tagged along with me.  Well...she drove.  Either way, downtown Tyler was filled with more Santas than I had ever seen! 

We picked up our suits at 7:30am and went to McDonald's to change.  First realization?  The suits were super cheap.  My hand went through the crotch before I even got it on my body.  Luckily, I was prepared with other articles of clothing...or it could have gotten pretty interesting (and even colder).  K experienced the same problem and even gained another hole from the seat belt on the ride downtown.  Once more Santas arrived, you could see that we weren't the only lucky ones to experience wardrobe malfunctions.  Nice...
You also gotta love the whole adult one-size-fits all plan.  Yeah, that always work out well.  I'm on my journey to being that "one-size"...that's why I'm at this 5K!  Sheesh!  Thankfully, it fit.  Of course, I was a rebel and chose to be Batman Santa.  It was necessary.  The people needed a hero!

After plenty of photo opportunities, we were lining up.  K was bright enough to bring gloves.  I, however, did not.  I'm not really sure that I actually even own gloves.  I'm a Texan for goodness sake!  One man made it a point to share force his hand warmers into my frozen paws.  He was very adamant about this...to the point that K and I took a nice, little stroll to put some distance in between us.  Ok, sir!  I'll take them!   
Aside from our poorly constructed Santa suits, we had a blast.  5K number 3 is in the books.  My 35 Before 35 goal (#12) is coming along nicely! The wind and rain could not stop Batman Santa!  Or maybe it was "Batmanta"....

rawr.

I made a random discovery lately.

It all started with a quest to discover the Texas state fish. (Random, I know....however you must remember who you're talking to here.) So, as I surfed the internet on my handy, dandy iPhone...I found it.

I do have an unhealthy obsession with my iPhone. However, that is the topic of another discussion.

So, as I discovered that the Texas state fish is the Guadalupe Bass, my eyes wandered to a category title that read:

State Dinosaur.

What?!!? Is that really a thing!?

Now, I may be the only person who finds this odd (and incredibly awesome), but to me it's like declaring the state laundry detergent. ...Except for the fact that laundry detergent is not super awesome like dinosaurs!!

Moreover, who gets that job?? It's got to be someone with ADHD. Seriously...I would kill to have it! It's almost like the original "best job ever." That title goes to the first job ever recorded.

Oh yeah.
Mister Adam had it made coming up with names for all of the animals. Leave it to me to want to name things for a living. Just a productive way for me to use my randomness. Awesome.

And in case you were wondering, the Texas state dino is the Pleurocoelus. Never heard of it, but it looks like this:

Pleurocoelus (nhm.ac.uk)

I now expect all of you to research your state dinosaur...if you don't already know it.  Shoot me a message in the comments and let me know what you find!