A Hardy Holiday In The Park

On December 18, 2011December 18, 2011 By AngeliaIn WINNING!14 Comments

Well….I’m not officially a Hardy as I have not yet changed my last name after marrying Jason, but I still consider myself a Hardy. It’s not easy changing all those government documents and emails, yo.

For the first time in a long time, we are kid-less on a Sunday. So, what do we do? Go to a place where we can be kids – Six Flags over Texas.

And it’s holiday in the park time.

Merry Texmas Y’all!

The park is decked out for Christmas (they even have Santaland – I know him! I know him!).

We get there right before the park opens which is great. We have zero lines on some of the biggest ticket rides Six Flags offers.

We may be a little over zealous in taking on the biggest ride in the park, literally right out of the gate, but let’s just say we couldn’t wait.

And we did it.

We hang on tight aboard The New Texas Giant as our first ride of the day.

Ain’t she a beauty?

This is Jason’s first time on a roller-coaster ride in twenty years.

I think it is well worth the wait.

Fourteen stories high, with curves, and drops that would make any roller-coaster enthusiast proud. And it is not just a looker, this baby lives up to the hype of the steepest drop of any wooden coaster in the world. Hands-down, it is the best roller-coaster EVER.

Standing in the shadow, but not to be outdone by all the hype is The Titan where we head next.

The Titan is quite frankly a speed monster. Twenty-five and half stories tall with speeds of up to 85mph per hour. This beast will make you shudder as you rise to the top of it. Then brace yourself as you WHIP through turn after turn on the cork-screw.

Holy heck! Another Texas-sized coaster. I am so proud to live here.

I didn’t bring my big camera. I used my iPhone 4S. It does well in a pinch and if I can keep my hand steady. Today, not so much, but I (at least), tried to record the ~~date~~ day.

The next thing we rode was my nemesis – Superman Tower of Power. I fear this ride, and I don’t fear much (just ask my sister). Not the dark, not the witching hours, not haunted places, not strangers, or things under the bed. I don’t fear much.

But THAT.

It gives me the heebie-jeebies. For one, I’m afraid of heights. For two, I am afraid of heights. For three, I am afraid of heights, and feet DANGLE in the AIR. Do you see that?

Last time I rode this ride, I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin. I am ONLY riding it this time, for Jason – since he has never ridden it before – and, because I don’t like FEAR (stare fear in the eye).

With a little breathing and a few moments of eyes closed and teeth clenched. I make it through the 32 1/2 story drop. Ick! I don’t like that ride. The lights are not pretty and it’s not fun. At. All.

But I am proud of myself.

With the sun down, the holiday lights brighten the night.

The park is beautiful dressed up for the holidays.

We are really blessed to have free tickets that Sydney earned from working at Six Flags this summer and fall.

After a few more thrill rides, the lines get long, and we decide to call it a day.

It was fun while it lasted.

Definitely, a hardy holiday (ha).

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Saying Good-bye to Summer

On September 26, 2011September 26, 2011 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it.25 Comments

Yesterday, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor water park closed it’s doors for the summer. I bet you didn’t even know they stayed open until the last weekend in September. Well, in North Texas they do.

You could say it marks the end of summer here.

I am so proud of my daughter Sydney. This was her first job. She got it all on her own. She filled out the application. She aced the interview. She did it all herself.

She got hired working as ride attendant at the park. She had to go through CPR training before she even started. And this summer? Hottest summer on record in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. I think we cracked over 69 days of being over 100 degrees, but I lost count.

It was still near 100 yesterday – 97 – close enough. But she did it. She worked in the heat, in the sun, and she looked pretty darn cute doing it.

Did I mention I am proud of her?

And look at her tan…holy cow!

Thank goodness she didn’t have to save anyone. No heart attacks, slips, or seizures.

But she was prepared, just in case.

This is the shirt they gave all the employees on the last day. It is soooo appropriate.

Congrats Sydney on your first job!

She actually still has a job now that the water park is closed. They send them all over to Six Flags over Texas (across the street) to work a haunted house.

Her next job? A scary clown (shudder!).

Thank goodness, they do their make-up there (I hope!).

Oh, and by the way…….

We got a NEW car!

No more car pooling.

No more long days at work waiting for a ride; no more swapping.

It’s our first Kia. But I tell ya, so far, this car is SWEET. And most importantly, smaller than the other car we have, which is MUCH easier for me to drive.

2012 Kia Soul

And yes, I may pretend I’m a dancing hamster in it (one of my favorite commercials of all time -PARTY ROCK!).

It has lights around the speakers. They change colors from red to yellow to purple to green and beat with the music. It’s way too cool.

It also has a back-up camera for driver-challenged folks like me.

I am so thrilled with it. We, finally, have TWO cars again. Plus, I love BOTH of the cars and can drive either one.

I will probably drive the Kia Soul the most. My work is farther and it has an Eco System to save gas.

The car buying process only took a few hours. I have to thank the good peeps at Kia Patterson of Arlington. There was only a small hiccup because Jason’s ex still has the house they bought in his name. It doesn’t look so good on your credit when you have two houses and a car. Thankfully, we were able to convince them it wasn’t his in the decree. But still……scary stuff when you have no control over your credit because of someone’s actions, or inaction in this case (it’s been almost four years since the divorce).

So….a very close call on getting another car, but it all worked out in the end. We got a REALLY good deal and I highly recommend this dealership (told you I was a blogger!).

Happy Monday everyone! You know I’m smiling and cruising in my own set of wheels. 🙂

A hairy situation

On September 6, 2009October 28, 2009 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it., Pardonnez-moi l'expression!Leave a comment

Well, hairy for me, hairy for my hair designer, and a little hairy for the floor. Heh.

Ooops, looks like my hair fell off.

Actually, I got my hair cut and I do mean CUT. It wasn’t an accident or anything, I had planned on going shorter. My hair was a little past shoulder length with long layers. This hair designer named Lori works in Fort Worth. She has a lot of high end clients. I used to go see her for years and years until I moved away to Richardson and my second husband would NOT allow me to cut my hair. Not even an INCH. Yes, I know, I actually COULD have. Physically, he would have not stopped me, but the fallout would have been enormous and not something I wanted to bear, considering his normal day to day tirades were staggering. Why provoke him more? It just wasn’t worth it. So, I wore my long hair and kept the peace. I missed Lori and our gossip hair sessions.

Luckily, we stayed in touch. She would still call me to book her airline tickets. She is not computer friendly and has the least idea of how to do it herself. I am happy to do it for her. She is like family to me. So, after two airline tickets this year, she insists on granting me a FREE cut. She knows I have a friend at Church who does my hair, but was VERY insistent that she HAD to pay me back. I finally relented. You can’t beat FREE.

Now, I am blessed with thick, slightly wavy hair. Not cutting it for years, while married to my second husband, made for a HEAVY curtain of hair. I have to tell you, a few months after I moved out, I CUT it off and it was very freeing. I still wonder why I didn’t cut it off the DAY after I moved out. All I can say is, the day I did, was a HUGE step in healing.

Since then, I am positive that HAIR and HIDING are tied. The more hair you hide under, the less in touch you are with yourself, and who you are. Honestly, the most confident , self-sufficent women I know have short hair. I mean REAL confidence not the for show stuff. Of course, there are exceptions, there are always exceptions. I absolutely planned on growing out my hair. Long hair is very beautiful. Jason said he likes it longer and I really wanted to but (sorry hun), I just couldn’t do it. *too frickin’ heavy*

It’s so short and sassy now. I can barely make a pony tail. My hair drying naturally is VERY wavy. The soft curls, not the hard spirals. I even have some bangs. It was a big change. It got me to thinking about changing and chances. How often do we take them? How often do we let them slip by? If we do take them, how does it pan out?

I’ve always been a chancer and change taker. Oh sure, it’s more comfortable to stick with what you know, but you don’t really LIVE until you just get out there and try. Once you conquer, it’s the BEST feeling in the world.

What is that adage “Do something that scares you every day“? That’s a real good one.

This is the ONE thing that scares me.

I don’t know if you’ve ever rode The Superman at Six Flags, but it’s a killer. Especially when you discover, in your late thirties, that you are not too hip about heights any longer. This ride LAUNCHES you at high speed toward the top, then it bobs you up and down like a cork (and at Universal Studios Dr. Death ride you would be done), not so on The Superman, the ride then slowly inches you higher and higher while you are trying not to think about plunging to your death, many , many stories below. breathe just breathe

At last, you are at the very tippy top of the tower of DEATH (freakin’ out) and BOOM down you go in a free fall. *aaahhhhh* I gotta tell you, it’s not my favorite ride. I hate it. Why? It scares me. *crapless* But it’s good for me to be uncomfortable. See? I didn’t DIE. I’m right here blogging about it. I rode it with Sydney the week before school started when we took off for Six Flags for the day. But guess what? I loved conquering that ride. What a rush.

So, today, I took a chance and chopped my hair off. It was scary but I’m glad I did it. It grows, just like we do, as we take chances in life. What have you got to lose, right? Go ahead take a chance and see what happens. I triple dog dare ya!