Launch!!!

So I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Florida this past weekend to witness the launch of Discovery!!! I was planning on traveling out there anyways with my friend, Lynn, but then I was awarded a Space Flight Awareness award, which included a trip to see the launch...I love how God takes our plans and makes them bigger and better!

It was an awesome time: awards ceremony on Friday, tours of Kennedy Space Center on Saturday (my first time being there), we had Easter Sunday off (church and Cocoa beach time!), then up at 2am to board the buses to take us out to watch the launch from a distance of 3 miles. Amazing, amazing, experience. I don't know if the right adjectives exist to describe what I was feeling- an overall speechlessness at being able to sit so close and watch something that I have LOVED since I was little launch astronauts into space. Such a privilege to witness it. Beautiful, exciting, emotional (yep, totally teared up :)), and over much too quickly! Here are a few pictures I took, and a video of the launch (well, up through max Q :) ). Enjoy!

This one is for the parents :) Me and my award

In the Saturn 5 facility at KSC, about to start the tour


The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)- this is where the Saturn 5 was stacked and where the Shuttle is now attached to the External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs)


Holy Space Shuttle Batman!!! You can't see the actual Shuttle because it's behind a protective shroud. They remove that the day before launch (we were there two days before launch). Still, wickedly cool.


The Shuttle lit up on the pad- viewed from the causeway at Banana River, 13 miles away...this is the best my camera could do :)


Eek!!!! Almost time!

LAUNCH!!!!!

Blurry, yes. But, proof we were there!!!

Discovery's trail and the sunrise= wow. Empty pad in the lower right hand corner.

First "for my house" purchase!!!

Aren't they pretty? :) (yeah, yeah, I hear they work well too ;-) )...

Get ready....

Coming to a blog near you (like, really near...as in, the one you are reading now)...Melissa's Do-It-Yourself EXtravaganza! That's right, I am a homeowner now...and that means...PROJECTS!!! So expect to see postings in the near future...before and after pictures included :)

Gma's Birthday

"Gma" is short for Grandma...my cousins and I have shortened our traditional "Grandma" to that for texting purposes...and I sometimes call her "Gee-maw"...she thinks I am weird :)

After Tima's wedding, my brother and I drove to Tucson for Grandma's 88th birthday. This birthday was a big deal because just over a month ago, she was in the hospital having emergency surgery to fix two preforated hernias...a big deal for an almost 88 year old woman with breast cancer and major stroke history. We are all so glad that we get to have her with us longer and it was only by God's grace and mercy that she made it through surgery, recovered at a miraculous pace, and was released from the rehab center about 3.5 weeks after the surgery. She's a bit on the frail side right now and gets tired easily. But she can eat birthday cake with the best of them :)

Look at all those birthday flowers behind her. And by the way, no, she doesn't color her hair! (Can I tell you how excited my sister and I are with those genes!?)


Making a wish


Love her smile in this one...

TimaSue's Wedding

My best friend got married this past weekend!

I met TimaSue my second day on campus- she was my next door neighbor in the dorms. We quickly became friends and every year after that, lived together (dorms, apartment, house, and townhouse...the last two years, joined by her sister Katrina, and the last year, by her brother Anthony). She's come out to visit me since I've moved to Texas, and I always go back for Tamale Day with her family. It was such a joy to share her special day with her. I am so happy for both her and Mark (who is just plain awesome :) ). Congratulations you two!!!!

Blast from the past- our 19th birthdays...10 years ago!


Spring Break 2000


My college graduation


Rehearsal dinner


The lovely bride and her lovely sister


Aww, Mark and Tima are married!!!!

Bikeish Upgrades

For Christmas, my awesome padres bought me carbon fiber aero bars for my bike. Aero bars are used by triathletes to get into a more aero dynamic position on your bike and it also helps take weight off of your leg muscles, which you desperately need for the run of course...like this:

This is Pip Taylor. She is awesome.

Here's my bike with its new fancy schmancy aero bars:

Close-up:

Profile Design Carbon Stryke Aero Bars
I tried them out this morning, a bit scary, but nothing I can't get used to after more practice. Thanks padres!

Oh and what would my bike be mounted on? Oh that would be my snazzy new Saris Bones 3 bike rack. Bought at the same store as my bike and my shoes, so here's how the conversation went:

Me: I need a bike rack for my car
Bike guy: This one will work well for you
Me: It's nice but waaaay out of my price range
Bike guy: I'll give you 15% off
Me: Still outta my price range
Bike guy: Let me see what I can do (goes off to the computer and comes back). I can give you 25% off.
Me: Still too much
Bike guy (a bit exasperated)- well, what is your price range?
I told him
Bike guy: I'll let you have it for 40% off.
Me: Done.

Sweet!

Saris Bones 3 rack

Learnings

I started reading Ezekiel back in the fall...I did it because that book has always intimidated me (I mean, come on, he's got a "z" in his name...z's are scary!). I'm just about done with it...the chapter that has impacted me the most was definitely NOT what I expected to get from this book. It's a bit random (to me, not to God of course :) ). In chapter 24, God mentions Ezekiel's wife...::enter screeching halt sound::...wait a second, Ezekiel had a WIFE!? My first thought: "wow, what kind of a woman was she?" I mean, she must have been pretty awesome because Ezekiel, was, in the terms of the world...odd...he ate weird stuff, laid in the dirt, said dramatic things, etc...(I'm not trying to be blase about what Ezekiel was saying, he was God's prophet and being obedient, I'm just describing him as how the Israelites must have seen him, at least when they first heard him speak)...so then I read further, and God refers to this woman as "the delight of your eyes". Whoa. That answers my question- if this is how Ezekiel thought of this woman (the delight of his eyes), then she must have been encouraging, caring, and supportive of him in the role that God had him in. What a Godly wife example! So then I started pondering on what an honor it must be to be considered "the delight of your eyes" to someone...which prompted some emailing to some Godly wives I know to see what they have learned about being a delight to their husbands. I was blessed and encouraged beyond my expectations from their responses. Good stuff...filing it away to be used at a later date, God willing :) I highly recommend to those wives and wives-to-be and wanting-to-be-wives-to-be out there to read chapter 24 and reflect on what being a delight means...awesome stuff.