Camp Little Deer

Week 38 or almost 39...who cares?!

2012-01-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

So, there's been a big debate going since the first ultrasound of this little guy...which put him "due" right exactly when I thought he would be due based on certain information only I, and not my doctor, would be privy to...like say when conception took place;) Well the first ultrasound matched up exactly to my prediction - and that date was February 2nd...based on the little wheel she used which takes into account just the date of my last period he's due on February 7th. And boy do they love that little wheel. But as we all know due dates are just estimates and arbitrary at best...so here we are, somewhere between week 38 and 39 and all I know is the switch has flipped. Meaning, (if you're listening as I type this baby...) you can come whenever you want.

Don't get me wrong, I know that every day he's in there is another day he needs to be there and I've been more than happy to have such a really fortunate third trimester overall...but in the past couple days there's just this sense of "I'm done." And from the looks of it, I think I look done too. It's reached that point where when I'm out shopping or in any public place for that matter I get those looks. You know the ones I'm talking about...where they look at you partly in admiration for still walking upright and then you look closer and see fear in their eyes that you might give birth in their store's backroom if you stay too long...yeah - lots of those looks.

And lately everyone's favorite thing to say is "it's a boy, huh?" So kudos to those people for getting it right, I guess. But do they really have to follow it up with "Yeah, with a boy you're just so OUT THERE and SO ROUND"?!?! Yes. Yes. I am rotund in a very special way and I am "out there." Thank you - I hadn't noticed when trying to put on my shoes this am...but I digress.

So here we are - my next appointment is this Friday so I'll have "real" news to share at that point so for now you just get a pic of me from this evening - lucky yous.


Glowing or sweating...you decide...

And in much more fun news - I took a few sneak peeks of his room! I was going to make a little collage but picnik went and closed on me and I just don't have the energy to try out the google plus editing thing they told me to use in its place...so now we're back to pictures single-file. Whatever. Enjoy!

Had to blur out his name on his "special" book...thanks to Marissa and Megan for the sweet gifts on this shelf:)

The blocks were a gift from Kelley and I'm nothing short of obsessed. LOVE!

The changing station and a glimpse of our rocker in its new fabric!

More fun prints...

More blurriness as I spelled out his name with Kelley's blocks - but you get the idea;)

All that's missing now is the main event himself...and we just can't wait! Anyone want to start a guessing game as to when he'll come? Leave a note in the comments with your guess!

Baby Shower Fun & Update

2012-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

As promised, I'm directing you all to Kelley's blog for baby shower picture fun!! Just looking at the pictures makes me SO excited all over again - it was really the most perfect day. And just a funny note as to how well they know me...note the color of the lanterns and the color in my necklace - not planned at all:) In fact, I'm sure they stifled laughter when I showed them what I was planning on wearing...apparently I'm a tad predictable!

Many thanks AGAIN to everyone for making me and baby boy feel so special!

And a quick update - just returned from my weekly appointment and there's good news...

1. Per my last ultrasound, the little guy has chilled out for a bit and is now in the 90th percentile and such, but is not tipping off the charts. This makes my doctor way more comfortable with just proceeding and there was no more talk of c-section for now...she says now we just wait and see!

2. Baby is head down, at "station 3" which means he's still pretty high up there but that she could already feel the top of his head when she checked me and I'm 50% effaced and barely dilated at a 1 or so...while ALL these things mean nothing in terms of when labor will start they show positive progress - so I'll take it!

I look pretty darn close to what I looked like at my baby shower - so let that be your "belly shot" for now...and I'll try and update again at the end of the week! My mom did mention this morning that she agrees that I'm starting to appear a bit dropped, so hopefully by the end of the week we can see the difference in pictures:) We shall see!

Estimated Due Date - January 4th

2012-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

Things that are funny: Today's ultrasound took into account the length of Little Dear's femur bone and said that based on the length he should be due January 4th. HAHAHA - we all, including the sonographer, had a good laugh at that one! I told Ty he's all to blame on the femur bone extravaganza as clearly the baby is inheriting his legs...what he's inheriting from me? Seems to be my arms - those are the only thing estimated to be "average." So my t-rex arms mixed with Ty equals average:)

So yeah, another ultrasound down. And really it was the least exciting of them all because at this point the little guy is so smashed in there that his head is already shaping to my pelvic bones and there's no chance of getting his face, and we were lucky to get a clear shot of a foot and hand! He's just clearly running out of room in there...So the full report is that now based on the averages that the sonographer produces he's estimated to be weighing in just over 8 pounds and is definitely on the long side...but he's super healthy and everything looks great otherwise! The rest of the measurements put him at an estimated due date of January 28th...which interestingly enough falls closer in line with when I've thought he would be due from the beginning.

In other news, there's a rumor out there right now that I may have dropped a little. I was walking with Kelley around Babies-R-Us on Monday, went to the bathroom and thought "Hmmm, I look different." And as I walked out to ask Kelley if she ever felt like she dropped, she looked at me and exclaimed "Oh my gosh, you've totally dropped!" But it's hard, because now I keep looking and I'm not so sure. Not that dropping is a predictor of anything concrete, but it's a sign of progress all the same.

And while I wish I could share a picture - I can't because I haven't taken any since everyone left this weekend who came in and spoiled me and the baby boy just rotten! It was a gorgeous day all around, and really there are no words to describe what an amazing shower Kelley and Marissa put together for us. I'm so blessed. And to the very many of you who participated in some shape or form, THANK YOU. I really just have the best friends anyone could ask for! As soon as pictures are up I'll be sure to share!

That's the news for now! I'll try and update more often now that we're really in the final countdown!

Moves Like Jagger...

2011-12-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, he's got moves like Jagger already:) As promised, here I am to share a sneak peek of his antics. He does this times ten, but of course every time I try to get it on camera he goes quiet. He also does this with movement, I kid you not, it's like he knows when someone's watching. He also does not like cold hands - really. It's funny. If your hands are cold there's no chance he's going to kick/move for you.

So here's a bit of what he can do...

In other baby news, we had our appointment today and I continue to measure big. It's getting a bit old to hear my doctor laugh when she measures me...apparently she thinks its ALL much funnier than I do. So, as of today I'm measuring 38 weeks. With about 6 weeks to go. For those of you wondering - no, it is not possible to suck in one's uterus. I've tried. It doesn't work. I'm guessing that by the time I do go into have the babe I'll be a healthy 45 weeks:) I bet you guys will LOVE to see those belly shots!

There was also talk of c-section, but it's only preliminary at this point. As she says, "we've got a chunky monkey on our hands." She just wants me to know that if he continues growing at his current rate that the c-section will be a conversation we will have to have...so we shall see! Right now, not all that worried. Oh, and for those wondering about my weight gain, since I'm growing a giant - my weight gain unfortunately did not continue to stay on track with a 2 pound average per month. I took a BIG jump last month w/6 pounds gained in one month and am now about 18-20 pounds up depending on the day.

Alright, so that's all the news for now! I'm off to go get in the Christmas spirit:) Merry Christmas to you all!!!

P.S. I got a massive head cold, so the snorting in the video is not the pugs in the background. That is me. Hot, I know.

33 weeks + a holiday party...

2011-12-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

Wonders of wonders! Today marks the start of week 33 for me and lo and behold here I am with an update and pictures - can you even believe it? So we're going to have just skipped over week 32, because apparently pregnancy brain makes me bad at numbers and when I said we'd get caught up at week 32, I really meant week 33. Tomayto -Tomahto, really! Which is exactly how I'm looking these days - ripe, round and ready to bust!

See what I mean, very round these days! All over I might add:) Weeks 31-33 have really been easy save for the symptoms mentioned in my last post - speaking of, do you think I look any bigger?

Overall, I think the biggest thing for me to grapple with at this point is the crazy thought that I'm considered full term in just four weeks. Like a month away. Oh and I'm getting SUPER SUPER excited for my baby shower...which is just TWO weeks away! I remember when dates were being thrown around for it and it seemed like it would take forever for the shower to be here - I mean the shower was in 2012 - A WHOLE other year away;) But here we are just 7 days away from the start of a new year!!!

In the coming weeks there will hopefully be lots of posts on the nursery and thoughts as this whole labor deal gets closer...I cannot tell you the number of unwritten blog posts circulating in my head and I do plan to get them out sooner than later!

Last but not least - more pictures! Ty and I last night at our last holiday party of the season at his work in Dallas - and let me tell you, I'm not complaining about keeping our holiday schedule low-key this year. I wore this same exact outfit and shoes to Sarah's wedding back in September and holy smokes - what a difference those two months have made...I was seriously jamming my chubbed-out feet into my shoes last night. Note to self - TRY on shoes before packing when 8.5 months pregnant! We're in Dallas so I had no alternatives and let's just say the feet did not look pretty last night.

I took an AWESOME (in my opinion) video of the little guy doing his acrobatics yesterday, so I'm hoping to get that posted this week too. Which would really knock my socks off, it's like I blog regularly or something these days! So I'll be in touch soon - hope you're all enjoying the hustle and bustle of the season. Only FIVE more days till Christmas - yay!!!

p.s. Oh my gosh you guys - can it be five days till Christmas and only seven days till the New Year? No, no it cannot. But in pregnant brain it can and does. I hit publish and then re-read my post and started laughing. I'm SO brilliant these days. So for posterity's sake I'm leaving the mathematical error.

Bumpwatch - The Start...

2011-12-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

So, as I've been promising for some time now - I will officially start posting REAL "bump" progression photos. Unfortunately, I've gotten off to a rocky start. I took these two weekends ago before we were on our way to a holiday party and just now got around to posting! But at least we're officially making a go of this whole thing...I am going to do my very best to post on a regular schedule from here on out (these will be my famous last words, I just know it!).

So here I am in my 30 week glory - this was taken seriously days after Thanksgiving so there's not that much of a difference. Though I do suspect a bit more of pregnancy face snuck in between the holiday and when these were actually snapped. For those of you who don't know - pregnancy face is when the volume of your lips is only matched by the ratio of your cheeks as compared to your entire face. AKA your face is eating itself alive. Special times, yes?

If you really want to see more of what I'm talking about, you can click on the picture to enlarge on your own screen. Do so at your own risk;)

Other fun symptoms that started around this time include carpal tunnel in my left hand and the feeling like someone took a crow bar to my pelvic bones. I'm sorry if this is too much information on this last part, but I'm having a hard time describing it any other way. But we did find out that the little dear took a growth spurt, because as of yesterday he's estimated to weigh in at 6 pounds and 8 ounces. Just so you know - averages for this point in fetal development would put him closer to a little over four pounds at this time...what can I say? We're just a bunch of overachievers over here! So that growth spurt may explain the recent pain...otherwise we are all (baby included) right on track.

I will try to post a belly shot that will bring us up to date for the 32 week mark after this weekend. Hope you all have a most wonderful weekend!

A Tree Tale...

2011-12-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

**Disclaimer - important to the story, I promise.**So something's switched in the last week - it's like week 32 of pregnancy is ushering in this feeling of "oh boy, I AM pregnant." And I'm finally really feeling it. As it goes with many first time pregnancies that go full-term, you don't really SHOW how pregnant you are till a little later in the game, so it felt like it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to show...and the weight gain was slow and steady as was the bump progression. But tis no more...now we're riding off into the sunset, me and this belly of mine, with lightning speed that's only to be slowed down by a waddle.

And on top of it all, we're what? Less then two weeks till Christmas by my count, right? AND our story begins....

Ty just returned from his six-week (which we calculated out and it was really SEVEN weeks) of traveling, so we're finally just getting to the decorating and general merriment that historically speaking at least, has started much earlier in this household. I tried, believe me, I tried. I even had Ty get ALL the boxes down from the attic in the hopes that I would decorate during the week and he'd return home to a winter wonderland. Instead he returned home to boxes opened and things scattered randomly throughout the house - not so much a winter wonderland, but rather like Mr. Kringle got sick and threw up all over our house. Awesome.

So this weekend we were off to change all that and start with the tree. Only to find that the trees we LOVE and prefer - were - you guessed it, were pretty much gone. (We do a real tree, not a fake one...though I see where the appeal is now in that you never don't have a nice tree...) So, we strategized and we decided we'd give a new species of tree a try - so instead of the Noble Fir we love, we went with what we thought was a really beautiful Fraser Fir. The plus side - this thing smells incredible. Definitely more fragrant. The downside - the thing is the worst to string lights. It took Ty and I well over an hour and a half to get the thing right...but still we were in the spirit of the season and we were finally together doing it all...so we continued! We stayed up till midnight getting the thing juuuust right and drinking our hot cocoa - and there was lots of talk of "this time next year..." and general cuteness going on. Now, midnight is not my bedtime these days, so by the time we went to bed I was exhausted. But happy. We were getting back on track - maybe the rest of the decorations WOULD make their way up!?!

At nine the next morning, we were still laying in bed, we had earned a luxuriously slow start to the day given our holiday efforts from the night before...and we heard a loud swish and crash (enhanced by a lovely glass shattering sound). IS THAT THE TREE? was all I could mutter...and sure enough it was.

Don't ask me how it happened, I really have no clue. Because while it looked like it needed to be a teeny teeny bit more centered, I figured that was just my retentive behavior sneaking in. There were lots of bad words exchanged about the tree and stupid Fraser (obviously IT IS the tree's fault!). And we got the thing back up and surveyed the damage, one glass bulb had made it all the way across the living room and hadn't even broken - talk about a survivor! Really I'm surprised how many made it out alive given the size/weight of the tree.

The tree is now being punished for its bad behavior and is not redecorated. It's in timeout with clear fishing line running from the tree and being anchored to a tool box that sits behind the tree for extra support, since clearly we can't trust this thing. We're keeping our eye on it for the next few days to see if it's still possessed and then we might consider redecorating...the verdict is still out. Remember my disclaimer about the being big and pregnant? Yeah, not happy with this tree. I hope it redeems itself.

But I have hope and photographic proof that it was at one time something beautiful...here it was before the great fall of '11 moments before we hung the final ornament:

I'll be sure to let you know how the tree makes out this year - if it doesn't go well, we may just stack our gifts up by the fireplace this year;)

Thanksgiving 2011...

2011-11-28T07:02:00.000-08:00

Ahhh...we made it! I don't know about you all, but the last week was a whirlwind of family, food, and a whole lot of fun - and isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about? This year we were lucky enough to have Ty's brother and his family join us for the festivities and I don't think Margot has ever been so happy in her life to have a perma-friend in our youngest nephew, Carson. He dragged her everywhere and she loved every minute of it!

In addition to the usual crew plus Troy, Tracy, Dylan, and Carson - we also had a new visitor, Joplin, who is Matthew's brand-new puppy and you'll see her in all of the photos below. She's just about the cutest thing ever and she made herself right at home in the mix.

Lastly, I'd like you all to know that hosting Thanksgiving while being 7.5 months pregnant isn't really ALL that bad. And I only had one minor meltdown...not too shabby! As always, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

First up - the people who made this year so special...

The pups deserved their own spot...note Raleigh's hysterical underbite. About died when I saw this pic!

The setting...

Which was not to be out-done by the amazing meal...Ty made this roasted pork loin w/rosemary that was out of this world!

And lastly, our attempt to grab a nice photo of us as a couple on our last Thanksgiving as "just us." Though, I feel silly even saying that because baby boy is very much with us in all we do and couldn't be more obviously "with me" as I'm looking very pregnant these days:)

So very much to be thankful for! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

An exchange while pregnant...

2011-11-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

This went down on Thursday night before Ty flew home...

Me: Ugh, I'm feeling really big. I'm getting worried about the next 2.5 months...

Ty: Is this because I said I think you're going to get big?

Me: Yeah, that didn't help.

Ty: Well...(long pause), you are.

To which I busted up laughing because really, he's right, and I'm cool with it. Plus - he's the one who has to wake up looking at my face. Which, I do believe, will look like this in three more days post-Thanksgiving -

Happy ~~eating~~ Thanksgiving!!!

27 Weeks...The Beginning of the End...

2011-11-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

Week 27...the final week before the end of it all...

Now, don't get me wrong - I realize there's still much more to go and that an additional twelve weeks of gestating is nothing to sneeze at. But with just one week left till the third and final trimester it's feeling all very real. Like we've pre-registered for the hospital, birthing classes have finished, and we're moving into the phase of "oh my gosh, by the time X is here, that's only X weeks away from the baby!" And those dates which were once far away, really aren't far away at all. Take for example that come Thanksgiving, we're pretty much ten weeks out from our estimated due date. And Thanksgiving is really - what, like pretty much tomorrow, right? Exactly. How. I. Feel.

So we had a quick check-up on Tuesday and I'm still measuring big - music to any pregnant woman's ears, I assure you. But it looks like I'm catching up to my big ol'uterus which is exactly what I predicted would happen. Just so I don't hold out any details on y'all at the last monthly check-up where I was 23 weeks, I was measuring....wait for it....31 weeks! Yes, amazing. I know. Needless to say, I was really curious this time around as to what I would measure. And wouldn't you know it? I'm still at 31, but that's only 4 away from my official 27 weeks. So, looks like I'm playing catch-up. It's like baby boy took out a payday loan, but it not in cash, in uterus space. He just knew he wanted extra room early:) Fair enough. I don't blame him, I like to be comfortable too....and since he's on track and my fluid levels are right where they should be this is "just how I'm carrying." WHICH speaking of - this is a topic that fascinates me and really could be it's own blog post entirely or book for that matter - just how crazy different each woman can carry in pregnancy. Right?? Or is it just me? Please tell me you find this fascinating too:)

Okay, so on to the other stats of fun.

Feeling - GREAT. Really wonderful. Except for leg cramps. I've had three this entire trimester (one to kick it off!) and then I had two nights in a row last week where I was awakened with them...and crap do those hurt. What makes them so bad is the time it takes for your brain to register what's happening and react. So you writhe around in pain until you realize there's a way to position your foot so that it all goes away. I'm not my smartest at 3 am...so this is a fun time.

Weight gain - PS speaking of smart, I just typed "gane" instead of "gain." That's not even a type-o, that's just ridiculous. AND a perfect example of my brain these days. So anywho...weight gain. Continues to stay on the minimal side, and depending on the day I've gained 8-12 pounds. Seriously, I fluctuate that much depending on my water intake. So, let's call it an even 10.

What I'm loving right now - all his movement. It's super cute. I can't get enough of it. The other morning he was really close to my stomach (duh, I know this sounds obvious...but there are times where he feels like he's towards the front of my stomach and others where he's totally hiding out towards my back), so anyways on this particular morning he was close to my stomach so I could really make out where exactly he was and could tell that his back and shoulders were right there and I felt him do this little snuggly motion. You could totally tell he was just getting cuddled up and comfy - about broke my heart. Super cute. So yeah, loving all the movements and watching the firework display he puts on nightly when I go to bed with my stomach popping up and rolling every which way.

And last but not least - the belly shot(s) - here ya go! I don't think there's been much change but here I am - all 27 weeks of my 31 week uterus...and yes - more phone pics. But remember - Ty is out of town every week for work thru December 9th. When he's home on Saturday I forget to think "belly shot!"...so this will have to do until I bribe my little sister to take on photo duties!

Moving along...

2011-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

So, if you recall in my last post, I shared that my doctor had requested another ultrasound because 1. the little guy refused to move at the 20 week appointment so we didn't have all his heart measurements and 2. because I was measuring big at my last appointment. Today was the big day and I'm happy to report we're all moving just as we should be! Not only is Little Dear measuring on track (albeit on the bigger side of normal), my fluid levels were also just right, which means if I am measuring big it's just the way I'm carrying and nothing else! Woo-hoo!

Now for the fun part, we got some cute shots of the guy this time around and while they still look a bit alien-esque I think it's pretty easy to make out what you're looking at, so I thought I'd share...

He's got his big hand up by his face in this next shot, but you can still make out most of his face...

And speaking of moving along, in the last few days Little Dear has REALLY kicked it up a notch with his movements where you can see my stomach visibly moving all over the place. It's amazing and I can't get enough of it. He's most active at night around 8-10 and he really puts on quite the show and Ty was able to see and feel all of it last night. SO FUN!

Alright, so that's the news for now...just a few more weeks till we're in the home stretch known as the third trimester...

Six Months...Too Legit to Quit!

2011-10-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

So, here we are - over six months in! I don't know why, but in my head I'm legit now. Too legit to quit. Like now, I'm REALLY pregnant. These past five months, they were pretend but now - now it's for reals. I don't know why, but for some reason in my head that's how it works:)

The Little Dear's bedding arrived this week, and last week the final prints we bought for his room arrived, all the pieces are slowly but surely coming together. I think this weekend we're off to get fabric for the rocker/glider - I'm using a vintage chair my mom has had for years that is just perfect. Save for the fact that it's maroon:) It should come as no surprise that putting together the nursery has been my favorite part thus far, it's the one thing that feels tangible and I can actually SEE the progress happening, vs. what's happening in my stomach which often times feels like I'm partaking in a science experiment on my own body. It's hard to connect the dots that my growing stomach equals a baby in my arms in just three plus months. But when I sit in his room, as I often do, and rock in the rocker I can see and picture him here and that makes me the most excited of all:)

Okay - so to the nitty gritty - six months in and how am I feeling? Pretty darn good! I have to say that I'm still sleeping through the night wonderfully (I know this will change soon enough...), the way I'm carrying has alleviated any hip/pelvic pain for the moment since the majority of my weight is front and center and HIGH. And I mean high, folks. My uterus starts on top of my ribs. I feel like I have accomplished something amazing and must have the world's longest uterus on the world's shortest torso - magic!

At the last appointment the doctor said I'm measuring big - which seems crazy to me because I'm not poking out as far as so many other people I know have - so when we have the ultrasound next week to get the rest of his heart (if you remember he wasn't willing to move at the last ultrasound, apparently he's stubborn) we'll also be looking to see if he's bigger than average. Now, I think these "measurements" they've come up with as guidelines are a bunch of phooey for the most part. Big baby, small baby, whatever - as long as he's healthy in there, I don't care:)

Depending on the time of day I weigh myself, I've gained 8-10 pounds so far...so again, this leaves me confused as to how I'm measuring big when I'm gaining on the conservative end of things. But see above where I said this is all one big science experiment - I've decided there is no rhyme or reason to what a woman's body does in each pregnancy so just go with it!

And now for pictures, I KNOW I said no more phone pics, but Ty is starting a six week traveling stint and family was also out of town this week which left me with no one to snap pictures. AND I'm really determined to start updating more often since we're nearing the third trimester and this is when so much starts changing...so you'll have to settle for more phone snapshots! BUT I did jazz them up a little:)

Alright - that's the update for now!!! Hope you all have a beautiful weekend ahead!

Grayt Developments...

2011-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

So remember way back when - when I said I wanted to paint my kitchen gray here? Yeah, that was all of 14 months ago...you can call me dedicated but not timely, I guess? Anyhow - we FINALLY did it! We painted our kitchen gray, and let me tell you this was no small feat. With all the extra expenses we're incurring thanks to baby plans, we decided to forego the fabulous idea we originally had to hire out. And in the end, it was worth every penny saved and the hours we invested in getting it just right! We wrapped up the final touches just this last weekend and I'm too excited not to share -

One view of the main wall...those old windows are from Round Top:)

Another view...complete with a furry friend in the corner!

Looking in from foyer - I LOVE the gold wall next to the gray. Love me that combo!

So, phew! It's done - all in time for me to hate our breakfast table and chairs now...seriously. That's the problem with waiting 14 months to finish a project. Lesson learned. I'm on the hunt for new chairs, but watch that take another 14 months! We'll get there one day...

Chicago - Sarah's Wedding

2011-10-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Imagine my excitement at the thought of getting to escape the heat spell we were having in Houston to go to Chicago for my friend's (Sarah) wedding! After an intense week at work it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered and Ty I had the very best time. Oh, and the weather, the weather was just glorious. We seriously dropped almost 40 degrees flying from Houston to Chicago - and this pregnant lady was NOT complaining!

The trip was marked by good food, visiting with friends, and lots and lots and lots of walking. Seriously, I think I got in my walking for the next month! But the whole heart of the trip was centered around Chris and Sarah's big day - we are SO happy to have been there to celebrate with them! And now, I'll just let the pictures do the talking...


The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Sarah and her awesome bridal party - these gals are awesome!

A close-up of all their gorgeous bouquets - I LOVED Sarah's colors!

Oh hi - there's pregnant JuliAnna with the gorgeous bride. Note to self - do not take pregnant pictures next to Sarah.

There are no words for how fabulous every person in this photo is - I adore Sarah's parents!

Sweet first dance...

I wish I had actually gotten video of this father-daughter dance instead of the photo, it was one of the best I've seen;)

Me and my favorite dance partner

And to those of you who are wondering as to whether my dance skillz carried over being five months pregnant...I'm proud to say HECK YES. The moves have changed a little, and these feet of mine had to take a break more often than usual, but I stayed out there with the best of 'em:) Now, let's hope they just didn't catch me on video!

Congratulations again to Chris and Sarah - we had the best time ever!!!

Update and plans...

2011-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

So yeah, it's the last day of September I managed to skip an entire month of blogging. Oops. Rather than list all the reasons that kept me away, I'll just jump into the update:

Things are great! I'm feeling really good and at most times don't feel pregnant - that is till I catch myself in a mirror or feel the little dear (ps that's our nickname for him right now, that and fat kid) try to make an escape for it out the side of my right ribs. Neato! Honestly, it really cracks me up - he's done it way more than once and it's always the right side. He's convinced that's the exit and he kind of just propels himself up right towards under my ribs and tries to keep moving forward. The first time it happened I pushed back and am pretty sure I felt his little head, SO crazy! So let's all start praying the kid learns a sense of direction and come four months from now realizes ribs do not equal exit:)

We had our big ultrasound (anatomy scan) last week and he was still very much a he - so no doubts there:) And he is as healthy as can be - praise God! We have to have another one because the stinker was sleeping and wouldn't move to get some of the final heart measurements they need, but the sonographer said everything she could see looked perfect, but they'll have to have us in regardless to make sure they can complete "their checklist." So keep praying that the next time we go in all will continue to be well! As for how he's doing - apparently he's already showing that he's bigger than average and at the time he was already over ten inches and a little over a pound - that's our fat kid:) He also gave us a thumbs up which was pretty funny:) See below:

We had held off on any MAJOR nursery plans till we got the second ultrasound to confirm that he is still a boy:) So now plans are in full swing - and oh boy, are we having fun! I can't wait to show you guys the final product but right now here's a bit of inspiration of where we're headed:

And yes, I discovered Piknik. Between Piknik and Pinterest planning will have never been so much fun!

More pictures to come, including belly shots that aren't taken with my phone:)

Meet...

2011-08-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our son!!!! That's right, it's a boy!!!

Place Your Bets...

2011-08-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hey there- so yeah, I needed to update and I really wanted to include a "real" belly shot, but apparently this will be the pregnancy that was captured on my phone and not on camera. I really DO plan to fix that soon, but in the meantime pics snapped on the fly with my phone will have to suffice.

In light of the gender reveal (hopefully!) in less than one week (holy cow, can't believe it!), I'm doing the good ol' 21 old wives tales and sharing my results. If you remember, I sent this to Kelley when she was pregnant with Nolan and she documented her answers in a post here. So here's my take on the whole thang:

Sleep Position - Pay attention to which way you lay down in bed tonight. If you prefer sleeping on your left side, you’ll have a boy. Right side? You’re pregnant with a girl.
GIRL – I have to force myself to fall asleep on my left side – and pretty naturally fall to my right. And I KNOW they say not to sleep on your stomach (duh, that's not comfortable anymore) or to lay on your
back, but sometimes if I can't fall asleep I find myself sleeping on my back.

Upset Stomach - Little girls aren’t always sweet. Extreme nausea means you are having a daughter.
GIRL- delightfully nauseated from 3.5 - roughly 12.5. I've been better since 13, SO MUCH BETTER, but I wouldn't say my stomach has been back to normal by any means. But I will take how I'm feeling these days without a complaint!!

Soft or Dry Hands - If your hands are dry during pregnancy, you are having a boy; soft—expect a girl.
GIRL - my hands are really soft. THOUGH I did get Melasma on my hands (the"mask") thankfully not on my face, but on the back of my hands. So I've been rubbing Bio Oil on my hands quite liberally (which, seems to be helping a lot!), so who knows if that's it. And I drink so much water - isn't that an added perk of hydration?

Food Cravings - Your favorite pregnancy foods may tell you what sex the baby is. If you’re craving citrus while pregnant, you’re having a girl.
Boy – No citrus cravings, well actually I take that back - maybe it is a GIRL - because I WANT orange juice, orangina, lemonade, etc... like no other. But, oh the acid! What it does to my stomach. Remember the
peeing/throwing up bit I mentioned earlier?? Thank you, orange juice.

Adult Acne - If altering hormones makes your skin break out, expect a girl.
BOY - thank heavens. Excellent skin so far. But I was feeling extra greasy and gross quite early on in the skin department so I went out and bought the poor man's version of the Clarisonic face scrubber dealy – by Olay and I tell you the sky broke and the angels sang hallelujah because that thing is the BEST. I am smitten. My skin loves me for it.

Graceful or Clumsy Pregnancy - If you feel as though you’re gliding through the day, you’ll have a girl. Stumbling? It’s a boy.
Ugh - really? What a dumb "insight." I guess I'm neither? I'll have to go with it's an "it" on this one, because I'm no more graceful or clumsy since finding out I was pregnant.

Face Weight Gain - If your face gets fuller, it means you’re having a girl.
GIRL – All of a sudden my face has exploded. I originally started drafting this last week, and from last week to this week my chin grew a friend and my cheeks feel like they’ve expanded. Delightful!

Sugar and Spice Food Cravings - Craving salt during pregnancy? Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn means a boy is on the way. Need a little something sweet? Ice cream, chocolate, and candy means you’re having a girl.
BOY - I have eaten little to no sweets throughout the pregnancy and don’t really have a craving for them…what do cravings for breakfast tacos mean? Hmmm…

Mood Changes - If you’re experiencing pregnant mood-swings, expect a baby girl to arrive soon.
Okay, this one is hard. Mood swings I’m not having…but pretty much since week 14 I’ve been a bucket of sentimental emotions. When my mom showed up with a picture from the thrift store that had a baby deer and a mommy deer laser cut from a piece of wood, I cried. When we're singing praise songs at church, I cry. When I get a nice text from my little sister, I cry. And it's not sobbing or anything - but the tears...they are just there under the surface at all times. Pretty funny. So what does that mean? I’ll guess I’ll give this one a blank.

High or Low Pregnant Belly - If you’re carrying the baby low on your stomach, expect a boy. If it’s high, you’re having a girl.
BOY–I'm convinced I'm carrying low. BUT the disclaimer here is that other people have remarked I’m carrying low and WIDE…and they think that means girl. But who really knows, right?

Baby Weight - If you’re carrying baby in front, it’s a boy. Is the baby weight spaced all around your middle? It’s a girl.
GIRL – See above, I'm carrying low and wide - yay me! I’m not pregnant, I've just taken beer drinking to a professional level!

Pendulum Test - Dangle a chain with a charm over your palm. If it swings back and forth: boy. In a circle: girl.
GIRL - but I’ve done this with mixed results.
Model Your Hands - “Show me your hands.” If you would hold your hands palms up it’s a girl. Down? You’re having a boy.
HAHAHAHA – really this might be the dumbest one yet. And I knew the outcome, so I just didn’t do this test. We won’t count this one!

Toddler Advice -Get baby advice from a nephew or friend’s little boy. If a toddler boy shows interest in your belly, you’ll have a girl. If he ignores you, it’s a boy.
Couldn't do this one - boo!

Eat Garlic - Guess the baby’s sex by eating garlic. If the smell seeps out of your pores it’s a boy. If there’s no scent it’s a little girl.
GIRL (at least… I think), maybe I smell worse than I think I do;)?

Key to Pregnancy - If you pick up a key by the round end, you’re having a boy. If it’s by the long end? A girl.
I knew outcome of this too, so no result is fair!
Even and Odd Numbers - If your age and year of conception are both even or odd, it’s girl. One even, one odd means a boy.
BOY

Baby’s Heartbeat - If the baby’s heart beats more than 150 times per minute, you’re pregnant with a girl. Less than 150, it’s a boy.
GIRL – 150 at last appointment.

Stress Test - A child tends to be of the same sex as the parent who is less stressed at the time of conception.
BOY - This would be Ty - he's always less stressed than I am. It's why I married him...or one reason I did:) So does that mean we’ll only have boys? I better start taking some zen classes so I can improve my chances for at least one girl!
Dream Meanings -If you dream about having a girl while pregnant, you will wind up having a boy and vice versa.
GIRL – I’ve dreamed only of having a boy. Only two dreams, so I'm no sage by any means. But no girl dreams yet.

Breast Size - If your right breast is larger than the left while pregnant, you are having a girl. If the left is larger, it’s a baby boy.
Why do boobs have to be uneven? Mine are the same…so guess we don’t count this one either.
Drumroll please…..

A Child Called It = 6
It’s a Boy = 5
It’s a Girl = 10

Alright...so now for the comparison pictures, and we'll just let the belly do the talking from here, though there's really not that much of a belly yet...really.

About 11 weeks, blurry and slightly cross-eyed looking and thinking to myself "self-portraits are hard!":

And yesterday morning 16 weeks, conveniently in the same tank top, but looking clearly like I just woke up. So please excuse the mess of leftover mascara and greasy hair. I am HAWT.

Okay so there you have it - place your bets now!! T-minus 6 days till we know:)

An exchange...

2011-08-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, remember last year when we were moving Becky into her first apartment in Austin? Well, this year Matthew moved into the top floor of her same little apartment - we like to keep things in the family over here. As you might imagine, record Texas summer temperatures plus pregnancy, means no moving duties for me this year. This year, the honor fell to my Mom, Danny, and Emily. And all was well, till...(there is always a till in my family) my sister's headboard, which is being transferred to Matthew, fell on my Mom's head. Now this headboard is an intense piece of wood, sturdy and definitely able to inflict some serious damage.

Now, before we go any further - my mom is fine and dandy. Just bruised up. BUT that evening she calls me and asks me "google when I should go to the hospital if something falls on my head?" Ummm, what? I told her to proceed immediately to the ER or Urgent Care and gain some peace of mind to know she was fine and wasn't about to pull a Natasha Richardson. So now to the real part of this blog post, Emily and my mom head to Urgent Care while Danny and Matthew continue the move. Throughout their time at the hospital, Emily is texting me updates and letting me know where things stand - what follows is part of our exchange, and it was just too hysterical not to share...

Me: Mom still having head pain? Tell her its good she went to doctor. It will give her peace of mind. Glad she's there.

Emily: No more random pains so far but I just left to find a vending machine and saw a woman in a wheel chair about to give birth...sh** you better not look that scary

Me: ROFL. That just made me laugh so hard...I'm crying.

Emily: Haha. I'm serious.

Me: Hahahahaha. I know. What was so scary?

Emily: She was screaming like it was a damn demon not a baby, and she was sweating like a whore, and had time to look me in the eye like , "you just wait!"

And that is where I about died from laughter...Oh, Emily...I can't promise you I won't be as scary but you do make me smile:)

A step of faith...

2011-07-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

I've been holding out on you all with some big news but have been too scared to let it "be known" till now...and now as I type it out it freaks me out a WHOLE lot, so here it goes:

We're three months pregnant with a baby due the first week of February!

We saw the baby again this morning for our "12 week" appointment (I'm officially 11 weeks and 5 days), and saw the little one do a little flutter kick and then - no joke - the baby waved to Ty when he got to look at the screen, it was pretty awesome. This baby and its Dad have something really special going on already, very E.T. and Elliot given that Ty was the first one to know I was pregnant. Ty had been telling me for nearly two weeks that I was pregnant, and when I asked him why he thought that all he would say is "I don't know, I just KNOW." Great answer, huh? He was so persistent about it all that I actually broke down and bought a test before my period was even due...and seriously 30 seconds after I took the test it was a VERY clear positive.

Now, here's the thing, having a baby at any time is a big head-trip. Getting pregnant so close to the miscarriage is a freaky thing. You have to do it if you want to move forward but to tell you the truth, when I saw that positive reading on the pregnancy test I wanted to throw up a little. Looking back on this now, perhaps this was the start of "morning sickness." At the time I figured it was just nerves, you just don't know if you can do it all over again, but you do and it works out.

And thank heavens for a very supportive husband who never once admonished my question of "Are you praying today for the baby?" EVERY. SINGLE.DAY. And for a very patient mother who let me constantly barrage her with all my negative and scared thoughts. And for a certain friend who was let in on the news early as my prayer partner who never failed to remind me that I was pregnant NOW and that NOW was good. Thank you.

But now, phew! The news is out. And it feels so good....which is the opposite of how I've felt these past couple months. So now to bring you all up to speed:

How I'm feeling: Now, much better (knock on wood.) Weeks 3.5 to 10, pretty miserable. Let's just say there was an instance of me throwing up and peeing my pants at the same time. That was neato! Also, please imagine Margot standing up against the toilet and trying to put her head in the bowl of it as if she was trying to copy what I was doing as I was throwing up. Raleigh was standing there scared in the doorway. We were quite a sight:)

Cravings: Nothing. Ever. I hate most food. Except my precious bowl of cereal. Oh wait, I think I had my first craving this past weekend, I could not stop thinking about a bean and cheese burro, enchilada style from Carolina's in Phoenix. But clearly a burrito that's 2,000 miles away was not about to happen.

Weight gain/showing: No weight gain at all thanks to hatred of food in general. I'm guessing as I start to feel better this will soon be in the past. But I am definitely starting to show a little, nothing much, but I can see the difference.

What else is there that you want to know? I can't think of anything....except the exciting news that we find out if the baby is a boy or girl NEXT month! Woo-hoo. August 24th will be the big reveal if all goes well, any guesses? IF you want to know anything else, ask away and I can do a follow-up post!

The Greeting Committee...

2011-07-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

So it's not a video of Margot swimming, but it's still a funny little clip of our craziest addition. She is definitely the social chair of the household and is beyond excited to greet each and everyone of our visitors. Emily and I thought it would be funny to see what would happen if we just ignored her...as you can see she nearly explodes...

And is it just me, or does everyone hate hearing themselves on video? I sound like I have a cold of epic proportions, I'm so nasal-y. Ick If you can ignore me, the video is funny!

We're working on a video of her swimming, hopefully I'll get to that soon. I swear she's part otter!

Southern Living...

2011-06-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

If you make it to any Southern state during the spring season, you will also have found yourself in crawfish season. Lucky you, right?

NOW a disclaimer - I HATE crawfish. I hate most seafood actually, so this was a BIG deal that I even went along with these shenanigans. My family lurves their seafood so by default they lurve their crawfish. I know Ty had been wanting to go to a real crawfish boil since we moved here, and we had a visitor in town, Ty's brother, Troy - so I figured why not give him the real southern treatment. Plus, it's spicy and we all share a love of spicy food. I figured I could always find something else on the menu to fill me up...I wound up eating crab legs, which weren't so bad. I can handle crab, but to the Crawfish Shack's credit, this was the BEST sauce I've ever tasted. And it was SOOO spicy. If you note in some of the pictures below, everyone's mouths grow progressively more red/pink in color.

There is it - the famed Crawfish Shack - complete with drive-thru!

Here's the main event - we ordered the "maux spicy" and had pounds of this stuff brought to our table.

The restaurant (can you really call it that? the shack?) is byob, so we were sure to stock up the best brews Texas and Louisiana have to offer and brought them along in a cooler...it's classy that way:)

I'm not so sure about the whole process here - this was before we got started...

Troy and Ty having way too much fun tormenting me...

The whole mess when said and done...

And the whole crew, sorry a little blurry, we had a bystander take the pic and you really never know how those are going to turn out BUT at least we're all in the frame...

All in all it was a great time, and I would (believe it or not) totally go back! It's much more fun and less sickening than I had imagined it all to be. And better yet, I made two brothers very happy by planning such an excursion:)

So now, that brings me up-to-date on all my posts! Phew. Now what on earth am I going to blog about??

Antiques, Anniversaries, and Eddie!

2011-06-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

So where even to begin?? I thought the last post was heavy on the pictures - think again! Our anniversary just happens to coincide with the famous Round Top Antique Fair, and let me tell you we have our anniversaries booked for the next decade because this place is our favorite.

It's equal parts kitsch and character, and along with all the junk you're always bound to find some treasure. I can't even begin to do it justice, because I'm such a novice. There are antique dealers and design bloggers who've been going for years and literally have maps of where to go and who to see, etc...I'm still working on my map. We had SO much fun this time, last time we went we just drove in for the day, but this time we stretched it out over a whole weekend. Which really is just absolutely necessary given the sheer expanse of all there is to see.

So let's get started...nothing says JuliAnna more than an old historic house draped in a sign that says Antiques!

Tents and little houses are filled with trinkets and I just loved this tent. A ton of old metal/copper pieces in all these galvanized bins, it was just a feast for the senses:)

I can't even begin to tell you how much walking we did, so there was also plenty of opportunity for this (and no need to feel bad for those calories either!)...plus have you had Texas beer? We KNOW our beer. Apart from Oregon, Texas is up there for me in this department. Note the crazy wire dress forms in the background, so fun!

As you get into Marburger Farm, you really get into the GOOD stuff. Now, while some of this is still definitely out of our league, it's just so much fun to look around and you still can find good deals on some really great antiques.The pictures just don't do it justice because you can't see all the little vignettes everywhere, you may need to make the pictures bigger;) OR better yet, you can all just fly out here and come see it for yourself with me!

Oh, lookie here - who's that cute guy with the chandelier? Really though, we were both dying over this piece, OBVIOUSLY not coming home with us for many years...and those old door/window things in the background..L.O.V.E.

I wanted to marry this section.

Oh, and these gilded candlesticks? Yes, please!

And then...then...in a moment of fate, I met THE Eddie Ross. Google him people. He's a regular feature in my Southern Living and lo' and behold he was there to write a feature on Round Top for an upcoming issue. I spotted him in his little pink polo about a mile away. Me and a bunch of crazy middle-aged women;) So I had to get my obligatory picture. I have excited face, so it's not the best, but it's a good memory!

When we weren't out hanging out with interior design's elite (just kidding!), we managed a lot of R and R here - at our little cabin in the woods. This place was SO beautiful. It's bed and breakfast on a working ranch in the middle of nowhere and we opted for their ultra-private cabin, no one's even allowed to come back there except for the guests staying there. It was just what we needed. I had just wrapped up my old job and this was my only real weekend before starting the next, so it was perfection.

See...PRIVATE. Nevermind that it looks like Captain Hook or one of the Lost Boy's made the sign...we were going for off the grid, not four star here.

There she is...it was the tiniest little cabin but it did manage to squeeze in a full kitchen so after lunch of fair food (which in all honesty, is really good at Round Top), we got to come "home" and make dinners every night and sit on the porch with some great wine. It was heavenly!

This was one of the roads we saw on our way back from Round Top to our cabin. This sealed the deal, one day we will have a home out here to retreat to - who can argue with this sort of view?

Another gorgeous view on one of our drives, really I just can't get enough!

And lastly, but certainly not least, my favorite image from our whole trip. This was our view on our last afternoon at "the ranch." Doesn't get much better than that.

Hopefully this post convinced a few readers to come and visit me and take the trip with me next time. Every year - October and March:) Which might I add, is just PERFECT weather here...what are you waiting for?

Summer's Start...

2011-06-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the people have spoken! And by people I mean five readers - one of which sent me a Facebook message about the posts she wanted to read and chooses to stay anonymous;) In any event, 1,3, and 2 it is. (Sorry, Megan!)

A general warning: This is a very picture heavy post. I considered possibly just doing a slideshow, but then I couldn't remember how to make a slideshow right away so I skipped it altogether. Sorry, my brain these days!

Alright, let's do this...so I know we still haven't gotten to the official "first day of summer." But I always feel like May is really when summer starts, and having spent the last decade in either Arizona or Texas, the temperatures in May tend to agree that yes, it is summer;) May brought lots of great things, mainly ANOTHER graduation. This one for a certain Daniel Dean:

He came, he saw, he conquered that graduation ceremony:

One of the many ubiquitous family pictures. It was bright and I was a jerk and left my sunglasses on. I didn't even think about it. Ugh, hate it when I do that! But mom did it too, so I guess I'm not the only one!

The proud parents and their last son to graduate from high school. SO crazy to think only Emily is left now!

Oh, and to celebrate, I made this Savignon Blanc pound cake. REALLY incredible. It's a recipe from Southern Living, google and make today. Seriously. It's just the best summer dessert.

Summer has brought with it our little fish, Margot. It's been hysterical to see just how much she loves the water considering that our princess, Raleigh, hates it. He acts like we're dipping his paws in hot tar when we set him in the water...but this one? It's her favorite. Really, she is obsessed. She uses these little floaties like lily pads to go all over the pool. I really need to record it because it's pretty hysterical.

Summer also means the joyous return of my potato vines...these died off COMPLETELY this winter with all the hard freezes we had, so we had to do a little replanting action. The minute it warms up here, these just take off! Love em!

But this year, potato vines were not enough. We added planters outside all the back windows and a few others in pots around the patio. And I love them ohsoverymuch! I can't believe what they did for our backyard, I feel like we're finally figuring out how our yard in the back is supposed to be set-up and this was a major step in the right direction...

Another view - you can see more of all we've got going on now...the candy cane double impatiens continue where I'm standing so it's repeated just like you see on the end.

Other than that, May was full of lots of this: soaking up the sun and relaxing!

I'm sure June will be just as fun...stay tuned for the big Anniversary/Round Top recap. I will try to get to that this week...which would be earth shattering. Two posts in one week, who do I think I am??

Have a great Monday!

Hello.

2011-06-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

So yeah, hey there! I'm back...everything is good, it's just been the usual song and dance of busy schedules and lots going on, AND we got a new computer and I needed to upload pictures for EVER and just didn't get around to it till this VERY second. And wouldn't you know it - as soon as I have pictures available, here I am posting!

SO where to start? You pick - here's what I've got and I'll give you a sample of each with a picture -

1. Do you want an update on summer so far - complete with Danny's graduation and Margot's amazing prowess in the pool?

2. Do you want learn about our very first crawfish boil at the "Crawfish Shack?" Oh, and did I mention the Crawfish Shack has a drive-thru? Who thinks to themself - "You know what I want on my ride home - a pound of crawfish?!" It's true. I guess it's a Southern thing...

3. Do you want the recap of our Anniversary trip to the Round Top Antique Fair? It's only the best event ever...and I feel so lucky, the two times it comes through every year just so happen to fall very close to our Anniversary or our birthdays - holla!

Okay - so those are the main three options - let me know what you want in the comments:) Providing any of you are still reading this dormant thing...

Good things

2011-03-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

For some reason it feels like it's been a long time since I posted, then I checked today and it's really only been two weeks. Which as the non-committal blogger I am, isn't really all that long of a break. This last month has gone by fast but has also been extremely packed thanks to some big news - I got a new job! To say I'm excited would be an understatement...as most of you all know the desire for a new job has been great and has been a long-time coming. So between wrapping up my old job as best as I possibly could and making one last trip to California, it's been a crazy time over here.

But...here I am with a whole week off before I start the new job, just in time for our Anniversary (#4!), and will be on vacation with Ty starting tomorrow. We're vacationing at a little B&B that's actually a working ranch right outside of Round Top, Texas so we can spend a few days at the semi-annual antique fair that's in town. Seriously, the Round Top Antique show is amazing. We went one day last year but definitely needed a full weekend, so I can't wait to really see everything. I'll be sure to do a full recap when we're back - they have another show in the fall and hopefully it will entice a few of you to come out and join me???

So the new job - I'm guessing you want details? I start April 4th as the Chief Development Officer for the Arbor School in Houston which is a private school that provides education and therapy to children with special needs. I really can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about the work they're doing - the stories and breakthroughs they're having with these kids are just incredible! The school recently brought on a very well known name in the child development/education world (Dr. Charles Meisgeier), and they have plans for a state-of-the-art campus to be built...it will be my job to see that we build up the school's brand, influence, reach (and budget!) both nationally and locally to make sure we see that campus built so we can offer education to more students, plus a whole slew of other things...there's lots of work in my future, but I'm really excited for the challenge of it all!

Okay, so that's the scoop! This is a long post sans pictures so I hope you'll forgive me, I promise to make up for it when we return from vacation:) Talk to you all in a few weeks!

The Silver Bullet

2011-03-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

Margot is like this ALL.THE.TIME. Really. From sun up, to sun down - the girl is nuts. And SO stubborn. She is most definitely our alpha-dog. It's a big joke in our family now, because when Ty brought her home he said he picked her because she was "so calm." The breeders had obviously given the girl some puppy downers, because within two days of her being home, she was in full force.

We now call her the Silver Bullet and Raleigh has earned the nickname of the Golden Ghost...MAJOR points go to anyone who knows where we got that one from;)

P.S. This is really a dumb video but makes me laugh every time I watch it, oh and also please ignore my troll feet. Also that's me at the very end responding to Ty as to why I was laughing upstairs by myself:)

Ramblings on a spring afternoon

2011-03-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

Today is the kind of day where it feels so good it feels like a drug…or at least what I imagine a drug that makes you feel good would feel like? The goodness literally feels like it’s running through my veins.

It’s blue, verdant, and looks like it’s all just about to burst. From the azaleas all in bloom to the trees that are showing off their greens after sleeping all winter long, it’s like one big breath of fresh air.

And it makes you feel oh-so-good. Like right down to the tippy toes. It’s all I can do to not just sit outside all.day.long.

It’s so weird, when I was pregnant I was overcome with this feeling of a desire and want for spring. I craved it. It was literally all I could think about in moments alone – and I kept trying to constantly remind myself to be happy and present – but it just wouldn’t happen. And I thought, you know…spring would be when we would be making the big announcement to friends and extended family, I would be showing, etc…so maybe that’s why I had this yearning for the coming season.

But I realize now, that God was doing something in my heart, and was preparing me for a new season – albeit just not one that I had pictured in my head. All along He knew spring would bring an overwhelming sense of happiness and renewal. He has quieted my heart in a way that I never thought possible…and as most of you know, a quiet-anything is not very “me.” I’m more the kick-and-stomp-and-yell sort. Add to that combo a heart and mind led to easily to question and doubt, and well, I think you’ve got me figured out.

But oh, I’m learning. SO MUCH. SO-SO-SO-MUCH. This new season is so beautiful, gracious, and I feel like there’s nothing left for me to do but to sit, be silent, and enjoy. There are great things ahead.

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. ~ Exodus 14:14

Excited...

2011-03-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

Did you hear the news? Ralph Macchio is set to appear on Dancing with the Stars?!?! Now I have never really been a fan of the show - but this...this is something my inner six year old can get behind! Karate Kid was one of my very favorites when I was young - as a six year old growing up in Okinawa, Mr. Miyagi held a special place in my heart;) Naturally...right?

Oh...Hi, there...do you like my headband?

I also credit the movie with introducing me to my other love - Peter Cetera. They better have dear ol'Ralph do a number to "Glory of Love" - and that's all I have to say about that!

Awesome.

2011-02-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

I really have lots of updates...but then I stumbled across these pictures on my camera and I thought...we're awesome. I love my crazy family. I took NONE of these pictures...apparently this is what happens when I relinquish the camera duties...

No Scarlet Letter

2011-02-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

I’ve heard it said that pregnancy and having a baby inducts you into the “club.” There are all sorts of clubs for us women of childbearing age - the “new mommy” club, the “SAHM club”, the “full-time career and motherhood club”, even the “I’m not a freak, I just don’t want to have kids club” each with its own corresponding highs and lows. Towards the lower rung of such groups is the “miscarriage” club. And well, wouldn’t you know it - I never was the cool kid in school - I joined that club this last week. Let me tell you - not so fun this club. It’s full of loss, betrayal, shame, unanswered questions and prayers, and a whole lot of pain. Physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. Plenty to go around in each category.

But this isn’t about the sadness and emptiness I feel right now - instead I’m struggling more with the idea of the “shame” of it all. Why is there any shame at all?

It’s estimated that roughly 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, but the topic itself is (among most) a very dark secret and only shared on the occasion that one encounters another who’s just lost their pregnancy. BUT let me tell you - there are HOARDS of people online in message forums sharing stories back and forth, like hundreds of pages worth. It kind of blew my mind...it’s like this dark underbelly of a secret society of women who only feel comfortable sharing intimate details with complete strangers under the cloak of anonymity.

And maybe this all makes sense. But then on the other hand, I think there’s more to the situation here. I think as women we are constantly battling the judgement we feel may come from other women when it comes to all matters of reproductive health/prosperity/ability. And this doesn’t apply solely to miscarriage either - I’ve seen this quiet “shame” play out in many forms...for the woman who never miscarries but can’t conceive without the help of modern science...or the woman who can’t carry full-term on her own and depends on medical assistance...or even something so simple as the woman who has a c-section when all else fails despite her best attempts at a natural delivery.

If in the end you have the healthy baby - wasn’t the path to get there worth it? And really, isn’t that what a miscarriage is part of too? No, you sadly don’t get to make to the end with the grand prize, but it’s still all part of your body’s natural way of trying to achieve a healthy baby - it doesn’t make you less capable of bringing a baby into the world and it’s a step towards the right direction - with a detour. A painful detour, yes, but only a detour if you’re dedicated to being a mother.

When we received the news that our pregnancy wouldn’t make it full-term, there were only a few calls to be made to share the sad news - we had really only announced the pregnancy to our family circles. So it may seem very counter intuitive to share such news here, but today I was hit with this feeling of how refreshing it would be if every woman were so forthcoming. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that in addition to having X kids, that same woman also experienced X miscarriages? My mom for example has five kids - but along the way she had three miscarriages. There is no stigma further associated with the miscarriages past, no burning scarlet letter emblazoned on her chest - in my mom’s eyes her family is perfect and she has the exact children she always wanted.

Please don’t get me wrong - the pain associated with a miscarriage is deep and wide. I hope I’m not conveying it as anything otherwise. But there should be no shame involved. We, as women, have a great and wondrous responsibility to bear when we decide to step into these murky waters called “having a baby.”

So having said more than enough this time around, it’s my turn to be forthcoming - Hi, my name is JuliAnna and I’ve just had a miscarriage. I hope for three children in the future and I’m well on my way.

Show and Tell

2011-02-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've been giving this lil ol'blog here of mine some serious thought over the last few weeks...which I know sounds silly given how light my postings are - I have yet to break 100 posts in the course of three years.

True story. I just did the math.

Much of what I post is a show and tell of sorts - only showing the "fun" and "new." But life isn't always fun and often it's the same old routine, with nothing new to report, which leaves me empty-handed. And it's hard to evaluate what kind of blog you want to have - what's the "face" you want to show to the world. (And I know my "world" is limited to maybe three readers, my mom included, but that doesn't mean this still isn't public and available for more to see should ever that be the case...)

I have so much respect for the bloggers out there who write EVERYTHING, and it's honest, and even sometimes makes you feel uncomfortable, like you know way more about them than you should... See here, here, and here. Now please don't interpret this shift in direction as my thinking I'm going to reach the heights of the bloggers above which I referenced, nor is it even an attempt to come close. More or less, it's that I really love writing and this self-indulgent blogging platform - well it really fits the bill.

So, there's going to be a lot of posting in the future...and many of those days may have posts that are uncomfortable and personal, but I think writing will help me through them. And, right now I'm thinking of turning off comments per the nature of the post, because I'm not looking for affirmation, I'm really just talking out-loud. But I think that God is really taking me through something and I do believe that when all is said and over with, I'm going to want to remember the finer details and see how it shaped me and made me better a wife, friend, mother*, how it made me and Ty a stronger couple, how it changed my perspective, and how it moved my faith.

So get ready for a lot less show and a lot more tell.

*speaking for the future here.

The Blue Ribbon

2011-01-24T16:53:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we all trekked over to the local civic stadium for the “Rodeo Art Show” that featured the best-of for the entire school district in which my younger sister, Emily, attends. On our way in, Emily was sure to inform us that “hers might not have even been picked” and that “she probably didn’t win, because there were some people that were really good” and that “this wasn’t really a big deal or anything.”

Well, what do you know – after searching high and low and navigating through the maze of other grades, we made it to the freshman circle – and our Emily took first. The blue ribbon! She really is one talented artist, which makes me incredibly proud and jealous!

PS – the whole point of “Rodeo Art” is to coincide with the big ol’ Rodeo that comes through Houston and the students are directed to take a picture that inspires them about the rodeo and anything related…think lots of horses, Texas landscape, etc… Well Emily thought a bit outside the box and managed to nab a picture of a piglet who was just wiped out after playing with his soccer ball. Too cute! The picture is titled “Tuckered Out.”

Now for the good stuff – the pictures:

Way to go, Emily! So proud of you - can't wait to put you to work for custom art for our kitchen.

Scenes from Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

In keeping with tradition, I'm posting a slideshow with scenes of Christmas just past;) We had a wonderful holiday, I think the best one on record...

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to this song on repeat and the lyrics really sum up the reason we're celebrating this weekend. We have so very much to be thankful for!

How Many Kings

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me

Hope you all are having a most blessed holiday season! I look forward to checking back in after the fun....for now have a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

So a little recap: Thanksgiving was at our place this year (I pretty much sequester holidays and hold them captive, so it's not like my family has much choice), but unlike last year, we had a whole year under our belt of living in the house and being settled. Which can I tell you - it just felt ohsoverynice! I took off Wednesday too, which meant FIVE whole days off of work in a row.

People. Newsflash --- THIS WAS AMAZING! I don't think I even really realized how tired I've been, but holy mashed potatoes, it was awesome! I haven't had that many days off in a row to just be at home in...ummm...never. Remind me to take vacations at home from now on, they are where it's at!

Long story short, all this time off resulted in my feeling brave enough to take on the turkey. I don't know why, but with how much I love to cook, I've just never felt like I could take on the bird. But this year was different, this year - I was empowered!

But then - SO MANY CHOICES. Do you deep-fry? We are in the South now, wouldn't that be appropriate? Do you brine? And with what brine? Do you glaze? I amassed more Thanksgiving-menu related magazines than I thought possible trying to exhaust all options. I went a bit overboard - at first I was going to butterfly it and stuff it with ricotta, fennel, and sausage. That was till I learned I needed to find an actual butcher from whom I could purchase such a turkey, your regular grocery deli will not butterfly your turkeys. Trust me. I tried. In the end leave it up to a blog to make my mind for me, and I took La Dolce Vita's advice and made her favorite recipe. And she was right - I will never make another turkey. It was the BEST.

I wish I had more pictures, but honestly, I was cooking the whole time, which really didn't allow for much picture taking! However, we managed a few:

Becky drove up late the night before to pitch in:

Recipes/Magazines on parade:

Some people opted for games instead of cooking:

Mom made pie...hahahaha. Becky and I were in tears after I took this picture...
Sorry, mom - couldn't resist!

The green beans were a hit - I'll include the link to the recipe below, so easy!

There she is - my pride and joy - about 1/3 of the way cooked:

We all gathered together to pray before dinner...ALL of us:

The Thanksgiving table...

I took a cue from good ol' Martha and walnuts served as our placecard holders:

Then we ate and we thanked and we ate and thanked some more. The End.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

For more on green beans go here:http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/11/green_beans_with_toasted_walnuts_and_dried_cherry_vinaigrette

Happy Birthday!

2010-11-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

On the slim chance that Ty finds the time to meander online and sneak a peek at our blog, I wanted to wish him a VERY happy birthday!!!! Yup, today is his 29th birthday. The last of the 20's...though we're both in agreement on this one and can't wait to be in our 30's. Some people don't like growing older, we love it... Odd ducks, us two.

Anyhow, happy birthday to my husband! You are wonderful in too many ways to count here on this lil ol' blog of ours....thanks for being mine! I think 29 is going to be your best year yet!

P.S. You look good.

Fall's Fool

2010-10-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

While temperatures outside waffle between Fall and an Indian Summer, inside I can play Mother Nature. So to keep my sanity when I see the weather approaching 90 degrees (umm, what? where did 70 go?), I know there's nothing like a little gourd action and a few spice-scented candles to fool me into thinking otherwise.

Our kitchen/breakfast area...

I have an editing problem, note in the picture above just the candles and arrangements, but no I felt the need for MORE white pumpkins. But really, can you fault me? I love those things!

Our living room...yes, the "J" is a touch ostentatious. But I love it and had stalked it on Horchow forever and then when it moved into the clearance section, well - that was just the end of the story.

Our bookshelves - nothing says Fall like the "Fall of the Roman Empire" series and some bronzed pumpkins.

And last, but not least...a sneak peek at the Thanksgiving tablescape...it's by no means done, but note how natural of a theme I have going! No gold, glitter, or sequin in sight! I know, I know...I surprise myself too;)

Well, that's it for us this year and Fall decorations. I'm saving the big guns for Christmas...and there will be reindeers, ornaments, poinsettias, and gold...yes, lots of gold;)

Rosé

2010-10-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spread out a blanket in the yard and I gathered all the magazines I've been wanting to spend time with...you know, not just peruse, but really read all the content, dog-ear for inspirational purposes, and maybe start planning my holiday tablescape. Yes, I treat my issues of House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Traditional Home, and Veranda like textbooks.

And though we have patio furniture it just seemed so appropriate to spread out a blanket and lay in the grass. So we did.

And we watched leaves fall with the light whispers of wind that moved through the trees. While fall is here technically, FALL is imminently approaching, and signals were everywhere of its pending arrival. Soon the leaves will no longer be overhead, but on the ground. Quieter moments such as this will be hustled and bustled as the Holiday season nears. And while I love the Holidays most of all, there is a quiet reverence found in moments so unexpected like yesterday afternoon. When the house has been cleaned from top to bottom, when the list of "to-do's" for the weekend have been completed and set aside, and when all that's left is simply to sit.

So sit we did. We sat and we sipped rosé, all under a rosé sky.

(Image from my blanket's view, courtesy of God)

And it was wonderful.

Smart.

2010-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Have you all seen the new Crate and Barrel ads floating around there these days? I think they are brilliant. I'm kind of obsessed with them right now. It's like they took a cue from all the home design/fashion bloggers and are capitalizing on it for their efforts. It's very The Sartorialist of them don't you think?

Also brilliant - the newest issue of Lonny. And lucky for you I've shared the link below that takes you to both the specific ad of which I reference found in Lonny.

http://www.lonnymag.com/issues/10-october-november/pages/1#p2

Check it!

Fan Friends

2010-10-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

While we were in AZ a couple weeks ago, we made sure to carve out some time to go and meet Nolan, Kelley and Patrick's new baby boy. He made his big debut on Aug. 27 (good day, also my brother Matthew's bday!) so we officially made it to see Nolan within the one-month mark, which has been my goal since he was born...Anyhow, it's so amazing to see your closest friends turn into parents, it's a beautiful thing to watch, and we are SO excited for both Patrick and Kelley. And super excited that they happened to produce the cutest baby boy ever!

So before I go on...and on...and on...here's our meeting in pictures.

We were both excited to finally meet...

Happiness is lounging with a baby, Red Vines, and football...

Bottles were had...by everyone...

Yes, this is my most favorite picture in the universe, yes it is being framed...

Umm, this is gorgeous. Kelley and Nolan. Look at that face he's giving me!

The new family...CUTENESS! Nolan's not quite sure if he's going to stay up though...

Then it was our turn to get in on the group picture action...

The end...time to go back to sleep...

This really was the highlight of our trip - Thank you Kelley, Patrick and Nolan for such a perfect day! We love you guys!

The One in Where I Meet NieNie

2010-10-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right. I met our beloved NieNie.

I have so much to tell you all about from our AZ trip, but as I have no photos of this event to keep it fresh in my mind, better to share earlier than later.

So where was I? Oh, yes. Nie.

After a long and unfortunate series of events, which resulted in me running from the Phoenix airport to the rental car shuttle to the actual car rental only to be turned down by the car rental agency because my name wasn’t ON the rental reservation (grr…), I was running back to the rental car shuttle so that I might take a cab over to my brother's dorm to wait it out till Ty arrived from Dallas.

Ty flew in from Dallas, I flew in from Oakland...the fact that we had to fly to another state to meet, well let's just call that the story of our lives as of late. But that's another post altogether.

But I'm getting off-track. So, there I was - huffing, panting, and exasperated beyond all measure to not have successfully rented the car, and all my plans of having a nice evening all ready for Ty completely thwarted, and about to board a rental car shuttle for the second time in an hour - when who should I see, but Christian and Nie! (I realize now, with the slight rhyme, which was totally unintentional, that this last sentence reads like a line from a Christmas tale...but I guess it was like Christmas for me, so I'll leave it.)

Now here's the interesting thing about the story, it wasn't like I had a moment where it was like "Is that Christian and Nie?" Nope. There was no questioning. In fact, it was more like "Oh, Christian and Nie, SO nice to see you here!" Like I was running into an old college roomie at a cocktail party...so familiar, like long-lost friends.

So I reacted thusly, as long-lost friends would. I yelled (yes, yelled out) as we were passing (remember we're at the rental car shuttle, it's a LARGE place) "Stephanie and Christian SOOOOO nice to see you!" Please note, I didn't say "meet" I said "see" as you would do to a friend whom you have ALREADY met. This is critical.

Now I had their attention, because they didn't know who I was, but I indicated they should...But shoot, immediately I could tell they were in a hurry. (If you go read Nie's post she says they missed their flight.) At this moment my inner dialogue is a frenzy, but logic is no foe to my Nie-induced state of excitement. So I ramble loudly, and quickly, all while moving past Nie and Christian (we were all walking past one another as this scene takes place, and I couldn't make them stop, they were in a hurry, remember?) and I say, in under 20 seconds: "It's sooo great to see you, can't believe I'm running into you here, I used to live here, but moved, and I always wanted to meet you, I love you guys and have read your blog forever, and wow - SO SERENDIPITOUS!!!!!!!!!"

Wha?? Wha? What??? Hold the phone. Serendipitous?!? Really? Ty thinks this part is just hilarious. When I recounted the tale for Kelley, Patrick, and Ty in detail he was all "Who uses serendipitous like that in casual conversation to total strangers?" And you know what, he has a point. I don't normally go all "serendipitous" on people from day-to-day, but there was really no other word that could sum up my feelings in that exact moment.

So there I was, having just yelled at Nie that things were sooo serendipitous, and I boarded the rental car shuttle. I was sitting there trying to reconcile myself to the fact that I just acted like someone with a joyful case of Tourette's and was about to call Kelley to spill the news of meeting Nie, when I looked up and saw Stephanie and Christian walking back towards the rental car shuttle I was on and climb the stairs to come on board.

Uh-oh. Time to face the serendipitous music.

Stephanie smiles and heads right to me after she boards the shuttle, and I did a quick round of self-deprecating humor saying something like "Oh no, now you have to sit next to the crazy lady." And she laughed, and then she came and sat right next to me.

And there I was, sitting next to Nie and Christian, on the rental car shuttle. Thankfully, all awkwardness was already put aside by this time, and we had the most pleasant conversation on our ride over to the airport. We talked of Fall (how splendid!), her adorable kids, the blogging universe (so small!), and her purse, my moving to Texas from Arizona, my love and adoration for her sister, my large family and her large family, etc...

And the fifteen minutes or so that it took from the shuttle to the airport were just delightful, so natural, and thankfully, I do believe I saved myself from any further embarrassment. We parted our ways and as they went off to try and catch their flight, I thought to myself: had I been able to rent the car, or had I not haggled with the rental representatives for a good 15 minutes, or had I not then proceeded to call our reservation hotline and tell them their policies were unacceptable and I would never be using their services again (take that, Priceline!), had not all these things happened....I would never had met Stephanie and Christian.

Serendipitous, indeed.

Just the essentials...

2010-09-29T06:12:00.001-07:00

Just got back from a packed weekend in AZ. Had to make a quick trip to the store... here's a snap shot (excuse the horrid quality from my phone!) of the purchases that were made:

Yup, that looks about right!

p.s. I AM WEARING A SWEATER! Never mind that it's a thin one, but it's still sweater-status over here in the morning/evening now...Heavenly. Fall you are the BEST!

Milestones

2010-09-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Becky turns 21. I can't believe it - I feel old. I remember praying SO earnestly for a sister (for years and years) and finally she came along. Red, curly hair, and blue eyes, just like I had asked God.

I'm sure my parents thought I was nuts...praying nightly for a red, curly-haired sister with blue eyes, but the little girl I loved who I helped watch during church service in the nursery had those features and I was convinced those were the BEST features any baby girl could have! Genetics be darned, prayers can influence that stuff, right?

Well, evidently they do because, lo and behold, that's what I got!

During her early teen years she hated me for it, as she straightened her hair into a helmet of frizz. Obviously now she knows better;)

Do you know my parents let me name her? Really. Talk about a lot of power to give a 6-almost-7 girl. She very well could have been named Stacyelle. WHICH was my favorite name ever. I loved putting -elle on the end of all names, making what was surely to be the next big name of the decade.

It didn't catch. DEVASTATING, I know.

Well, now it's 21 years later and she's starting to hit all those really big milestones of early adulthood. And it's SO fun. We're more best friends than we are sisters and that's definitely the best part of it all. So as any good friend would naturally do, we helped her move into her first place this last month...and we documented for you all, aren't you lucky?

The new homestead - it was getting prepped for painting, so this is the best shot I have right now, but I'm sure it looks much better now.

The gang, drill included.

Creativity is key...get it? This was outside Becky's new house when we arrived, inspiration left behind from a former tenant maybe?

Becky's requisite "first place" photo

The cutest vintage dresser Becky scored at a local Goodwill in Kingwood, isn't the little bow detail at the bottom adorable?

Vintage finds mixed with my old, old, old jewelry armoire that Becky made her own with a coat of pink paint.

Seriously, I was so proud of that piece back in the day. It came with a matching vanity set and it was my most prized possession. So, it's fun to see it have made it this far. Which also makes me think - where the heck is my big sister? I need some furniture and cool hand-me-downs stat.

Proof I was there too; well a sweaty version of myself was...

And now, if you'll excuse me...I'm off to Austin to share a toast with Becky for her 21st. And possibly to look for someone who wants to adopt me as their little sister? Austin's weird enough, it could happen;)

August Redux....

2010-08-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

So August isn't over, but it might as well be. I feel like I'm having one of those "Dude, where's my car?" moments except it's more like "Dude, where's my life?"

Where did the first part of August go? I think I blacked out in early July.

We have been so busy, but only because we are SO blessed to have so many wonderful friends who have decided to make the trek out to see us this summer. And it's been SO much fun!

John and Kendall came out the last weekend in July and helped us usher in August....and we hadn't seen them in THREE years! Hours flew by as we talked late into the night and played multiple rounds of Beanie (only the best game ever which they introduced to us, thanks J&K!)

(Best group picture award goes to ....US!)

The fabulous news is that I'll be seeing Kendall in just another few months for her baby shower, they're expecting in early January and I'm SO beyond excited!

Then shortly after their visit we had another Oregonian couple come out - Ty's cousin and wife - Matt and Beth. Or as I kept calling them when I was tired late at night, Bat and Meth. That's a fun twist, huh? We took them to Kemah and it was H-O-T out there on the boardwalk, but we had tons of fun!

(The Gulf! So pretty...and STEAMY hot., I think I lost 3 lbs. of water weight that day!)

(The Fam on the Boardwalk)

(This cracks me up, you know the Seagull's got to be thinking "Why you gotta be a no-person in a yes-world?!)

THEN...immediately after Bat and Meth left we helped moved Becky to Austin into her first place because my parents were moving Matthew to ASU. We have a ton of pictures from the move to Austin, and I still need to upload them since we just got back a day ago....stay tuned!

Orange You Glad?

2010-08-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

My hair is orange.

Yup, that's right. I've made a huge boo-boo and trying to get my roots to not look SO blonde against the dark brown it was colored below, has now resulted in a shade of orange. Ty says I'm dramatic, but people...I implore you - when I have ever been dramatic???

Okay, so I can be a wee enthusiastic from time to time. But really people. It's a shade of ORANGE.

So a few things have been decided.

1. I'm going back to blonde, or a shade of, by my 28th bday. That gives me about 3 months. Not long, but hopefully long enough so I don't fry my hair completely and have to go all Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby on you all.

2. I need to cut off some of the length and I need more style. But this is where you come in - any suggestions? I'm willing to take it up to the collarbone but not above, because that results in mushroom face explosion (it's a real diagnosed condition). AND I'm keeping the bangs in SOME form, because without them I have five-head, a la Miz Tyra Banks.

SO leave me a comment and tell me what to do!!! Orange you glad I asked?

Blog much?

2010-07-26T06:33:00.001-07:00

My answer would be apparently, no. As if you couldn't tell! I think this has been the longest spell of no-blogging in a really long time. Not that I'm some major blogger to begin with, but geez, I can't seem to get my act together. Bottom-line, it's been busy over here!

So a little re-cap: there's been lots of shower planning for this guy's arrival. Then there was the actual shower, and my-oh-my was that loads of fun! And I have no pictures. Boo! But don't you worry, there are pictures to come, I just figured I should leave it to Julie and Sarah, because they're the pros;)

As soon as I got home from the shower, it was off to California for work, and well...I just got home this past Friday night. I'm home for a stretch now, and we have so many FUN things heading our way. Which you know what that means? Lots o'blog posts in the future!

John and Kendall come out from Oregon this weekend, Matt and Beth come out (also from Oregon) the following weekend, and then it's time to start moving Becky into her very first apartment! Which also means we have lots of home decorating in our future! For her upcoming 21st birthday we gifted her with this couch and chair:

Pretty fabulous little set for a first place, don't you think? She loves it as-is, which I have to agree with...so we're working on the accessories to match. So, I've got lots to stay-in-touch about over the next few weeks, and I'll do my best to stay on top of it all, so check back often;)

Happy Monday!

Perfection

2010-06-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

One of the fabulous blogs I read, From the Right Bank, put out a challenge asking other readers if they could define their style in one picture. And immediately I knew my answer. I know this picture has circulated the blogosphere more times than I can count, but since I saw it in House Beautiful all those months ago, I've seriously carried it around with me. Every time I look at it, my heart skips a beat. Maybe it's the mismatched chairs, the color (yes, I'd even take the pink, and I'm not a pink person!), that gorgeous chandelier, or the way the artwork finds its place without looking forced, it's simply perfection.

(Design by Windsor Smith - she is a genius!)

Don't you agree? What's your style in one picture?

Some housekeeping...

2010-06-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

So I played around with the background on this thing today on my lunch, and I'm not really pleased but enough was enough, so I'm letting it stand for now:)

In other news, it's been far too long since I've shared my most recent set of before-and-afters with you all! This one is probably my most favorite to-date because it was EVERYTHING I had hoped it would be;)

I had been on the hunt for a breakfast table and chairs set since we moved to Texas, but nothing was just right. So the IKEA set we had brought with us from Arizona stayed, and stayed, and stayed...and stayed in place some more:) Till finally one day I was perusing the most fabulous website ever (Kingwoodyardsales.com), which is really just a micro-site of Craigslist specific to Kingwood, and there it was! We picked it up and took it home that day. Needless to say, it took a month or two since that time to refinish and cover the set, but now it's right at home.

And let me tell you - this was the best $50, I've ever spent! Can you believe that? Just $50 for a table and five chairs. Killer. Add to that the clearance paint and fabric - and voila! I'm in love.

A chair's humble beginnings:

Almost there...

A close-up of the fabric - the detail is gorgeous! I love the gray against the mustard/linen color of the fabric. Just wait till we finally get this kitchen painted gray, it will be GRAYT;) jk. Great.

The whole deal:

And last but not least, to appreciate the table, you have to check out the column.

It was finally able to get some love and be put to use with Kelley and Patrick's visit, many Cheerios were had:) We can't wait for everyone else to come and put it to the test...let us know when you're on your way!

Matthew Graduated!

2010-06-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Matthew graduated from high school - CRAZY. I am getting old, y'all. Like certifiably old. I remember bouncing this baby on my lap like it was yesterday, but here he is getting ready to head off to college! *sigh*

Speaking of college - Matthew's decided to attend Arizona State University...so you know what that means?? More trips to AZ are in my future! Not only will I get to check in on the kid, but I'll get to visit with friends...win-win situation I say!

So I'll keep it brief and share some photos, enjoy!

I was trying to get Mom and Matthew as they first embraced, Mom was about to lose it crying. Note all the funny faces in this picture...there's actually four family members in this pic, can you spot em?

HAHAHA - Mom crying. This is funny because it's a family thing to wipe our eyes about as ungracefully as possible. Oh, and to cry at all family events. Cracks. Me. Up.

Dad, Matthew, and Mom...fresh from drying her tears (happy ones;)

The G-parents came in town, my Grandma is a pee-wee. She kept remarking how short she was all day, as if she just realized she's only 5'2" that very morning;)

The whole gaggle of us, save for Ty who was taking the picture.

My Mom wanted one with all "the kids" so here we are in all our glory;)

And last but not least, just one of me and the graduate. I'm so proud of him!

Well, look who finally showed up...

2010-05-14T05:55:00.001-07:00

I've been stalking my magnolia trees (I have three) since I saw others in the neighborhood start blooming. I even (embarrassingly) grabbed two of my neighbors to proudly show of the start of "all my blooms" which actually turned out to be just the start of the new leaves. Really should teach me to keep it to myself till I learn more...I'm sure they were like "who is this crazy girl that wants to show me the leaves on her trees?" Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Since that time (of proudly showing off all my new leaves...) I've been watering/talking to my trees daily looking for signs of blooms and not new leaves, and all I got was more leaves. I started to freak out on Ty convinced that our magnolias weren't working, or we had a type that didn't bloom, which just wouldn't do...since one of my "dream house stipulations" was to buy a home with magnolia trees. He said I was acting crazy and needed to be patient...he must not know me well, because 1. I am crazy and 2. I am not patient.

So this cycle continued till finally I found one little bloom, all round and pudgy, clearly NOT a new leaf;) So I followed it closely over the last week, till BOOM, Tuesday morning I found this:

She's fabulous, no? Sigh. I've always dreamed of living somewhere with magnolias, so this is kind of a big deal in my world;) I blame it on watching Steel Magnolias one too many times...

Well in exciting follow-up news, this morning I found THREE new pudgy blooms! Really not new leaves, promise. Maybe, just maybe, they'll bloom in time for our special visitors next week!

Preach It

2010-05-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

Bear with me friends whilst I wax poetical;)

So yesterday morning, I went on a run. Shocking - I know. I caught my shadow at one point and was like, "Who is that? Clearly not me, it looks like Shrek lumbering through trees."

Note to self: If your shadow looks like Shrek, perhaps running more should be on the menu? Yes? Okay then.

So back to the story. Most of my run went something like this (in my head):"Ugh this sucks...run faster...ugh I can I hear myself breathing (turn volume up)...ugh look it's the skinny blonde mom troupe again (did they lap me?)...I'm glad I wore two sports bras..." And so on.

THEN - On my way back, when I was right about here:

Jay-Z's new "Young Forever" song came on the ipod mix...and it was like a little sermon right there on the lake. No really. Maybe it was the fact that the song opens so beautifully, or maybe it was because I was already so delirious from the run at that point - but it was one of those moments where I was SO STRUCK by the moment I was in...And all of a sudden when Jay-Z said:

Fear not when, fear not why,
Fear not much while we're alive,
Life is for living not living up tight

And I was like, "Can I get an Amen!?!?" Maybe not to the part about all the pretty girls always being in my hood, or to all the pretty ass cars, but to the rest;)

I do believe inspiration can find you in the most random of places, so for me it was Jay-Z and the lake. I finished out my run and even added on some jumping jacks I was so enthused. Yes, jumping jacks. I ran out to this little pier and just had to jump out my excitement. I told Ty I did jumping jacks and he laughed. I don't blame him, last time I did jumping jacks I was in seventh grade.

Even then I didn't really do them, let's just say I was "abundantly blessed/endowed" by that age already and I was horrified at the thought of jumping up and down in front of boys who were already asking me if my parents had bought me implants for my thirteenth birthday...ugh kids are mean, aren't they? Anyhow, that's another blog post entirely;)

Moral of the blog post is that I hope you all find a little inspiration when you least expect it and just let it wash over you!

Peace out.

P.S. I'm not gonna lie, maybe I felt a little like Rocky doing the jumping jacks.

Beauty in Purpose

2010-04-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

So, it's time for a little confession...

I'm going to be honest, I've been really ridiculous lately. I find that I easily swing from emotion to emotion with the ease of trapeze artist. **Newsflash** I'm dramatic. I am. I know it. I HATE it when people tell me I'm dramatic, but sigh- it's the truth. (And now I just wrote it down in bloggerville for posterity's sake, so I'm really never going to be able to deny it. Maybe not a good idea?)

Well, anyhow back to these confessions. Over the past few weeks, pretty much since we got back from our anniversary hideaway, it's been one thing after the other...you know, nothing insurmountable, but just one blow after the next. And holy smokes last night I threw myself a pity party. No really. It was awesome, I should have invited you all:)

And then this morning, I was reading my morning blogs (the list is growing, please help me stop!) and my new particular favorite is "Enjoying the Small Things" written by a beautiful photographer/mother who I've grown to admire in the very short time I've been reading her blog, which would be about a week;) Her name is Kelle Hampton and she's my new Nie.

She said this:

"It's taken me awhile to grasp it all, but I have finally arrived at the grown-up place of life-is-what-you-make-it and there are lots of things in life we go through that aren't comfortable or ideal, but they could be so incredibly worse, and a simple life of comfort does nothing to change us, mold us, make us into better, stronger more beautiful versions of ourselves..."

And umm, I started crying. Because that's what I do. (See above note re: dramatic) The rest of the post goes on to explain what beauty and joy surround us when we're living a life with purpose, a purpose and a capability to love and accept what life gives us at any given moment. In good, bad, mediocre, etc...

So that's what I'm going to do. And hopefully this blog will help hold me accountable. I'm sure many more meltdowns are in the future, but perhaps with less frequency? ;)

Anyhow, please please go read her blog. And bring the tissues. The birth story of her newest daughter, Nella, will break your heart - for the better.

Wildflowers and...umm...something not so pretty.

2010-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Before too much time passes, I thought I'd share a quick re-cap of our anniversary get-away. Which really was more or less a time where Ty and I hid away from reality and laid in bed for hours reading and watching t.v. - no really. I read two whole books. It was fabulous.

BUT when we weren't hiding, we went out and took pictures:)

The wildflowers in Texas are really something to behold...enjoy!

We tried desperately to do the whole self-portrait thing, but they turned out AWFUL. You have to understand, we literally just pulled off the highway to snap all these pictures, so there was no one to grab and ask to take a picture of the two of us. We deleted most of our attempts, they were so bad. But this one is hysterical. And just because I love you all so much, I'm sharing the world's worst picture of me. But it kind of sums us up as a couple;)

Behold...Ty looking cute and put-together while I am hugging him, laughing...clearly over-excited to be laying in a field of bluebonnets. Awesome.

How I even thought I was looking at the camera is beyond me. IN my defense, it was bright out. Hmmph.

Four Years Starts Today!

2010-03-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

Last night, Ty and I celebrated our third year of marriage together. And what can I say... first year was tough, second year was better, third year was GREAT! I am excited about all that life has in store for us over the course of this next year. As I was telling a dear friend, we finally feel settled. There's been a lot of work to get to where we are emotionally, spiritually, financially, geographically, etc...and for the first time we really feel like we've come home. We've come home to a place that we love, a state we love living in, a house we're blessed to call home, and most importantly - we've come to a place where our marriage has really taken a new level of understanding and being. Learning to just be in the moment is something we're still working on, but it's amazing what learning to live and love in the present will do.

So anyhow, to jump-start our celebration (I say jump-start because we're off to hide in the Texas Hill Country this weekend!) we went out to dinner at a place Ty apparently picked out and made reservations for nearly two months ago! Hidden in the city of Humble, which is literally *right* next to Kingwood, there is a true diamond in the rough. Started out of their home, Chez Nous, is a five-star gastronomical experience. Oooh, did we eat ourselves silly on their delicious french cuisine! The walls are half wainscoted and half covered in toile; paintings by the original chef's wife serve as decoration throughout the small space; and ambient lighting really sets the tone for the charming residence turned restaurant.

Alright, enough of me, here's some pictures! The front entrance welcomes you to "Our House" which is quite literally what it is;)

Fat and happy kids with their dessert plate...they surprised us and brought it out with a candle and "Happy Third Anniversary" written in chocolate, so sweet! Oh and did I mention the complimentary champagne they also brought out? Yes, please!

A close-up...I'm a sucker for anything French and anything chocolate, imagine my delight when the two coalesced on the plate;) By the way, this was an walnut torte, with a homemade Jack Daniels ice cream scoop on top - incroyable!

A snap of the home, sorry it's so dark and blurry. We arrived hungry and didn't think to grab a picture before the sunset! But you get the idea, it's totally unassuming and you really don't have a clue as to what you're in for...

Happy fat kids number two - we were trying to get the house in the background, given the blurriness I'd say I give us an "E" for effort;)

Well, here's to year number four!

A Pollinated Pug

2010-03-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

You guys - the pollen here is out of control! I don't know if it's because we're not accustomed to having such a verdant spring, or if it's just the sheer number of oak trees surrounding our yard, or what... But we seriously have been overcome with pollen. The new black, wrought-iron patio set we got...No longer black, but green. No joke. Everything is covered.

Including R-Dubs, all that stuff on his face is pollen. I tried wiping some of it off but thought it was too funny so had to grab a picture! Look at his little green lined nostrils. Poor guy, doesn't even know what's up:

HAHAHA, this face kills me.

But I guess I can't complain too much, this weather is doing wonders for my roses!

Happy Friday, Everyone! Hope you enjoy your beautiful weekends:)

Blogamous!

2010-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

So remember that little chair re-do I mentioned a while back?

Guess what???

I'm so super-duper excited to share that it was picked up by a fabulous blog that features the best of before-and-afters! It's called Better After, so be sure to go on over and say howdy and give my chair a shout-out;) I'm under the Chair-a-palooza post:)

Does this mean I'm blog famous? Blogamous? Haha...no, but exciting nonetheless!

Hooked on Phonics

2010-02-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

I was in California for work all of last week and when we had a work luncheon, my efforts included running to the local Walmart to grab cookies. Not very creative, but I get an E for effort since the local Walmart is anything but safe & friendly;) I'm close to East Oakland people! They try and sell everyone watches, purses, and dvd's out of the back of cars as you try to walk into the store!

Anyhow, I about died laughing when I saw what I'm about to share. Thank goodness I had my co-worker there to help document the hilarity. Without further adieu, please enjoy the wondrous signs of the East Oakland Walmart:

HAHAHAHAHA - it still makes me laugh. Somehow, "potatoe" chips just don't sound nearly as appetizing!

Chinoiserie and Azure Skies

2010-02-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, you may recall that I posted about the inspirational pictures I had gathered for our front entryway. Well...I think we're about done! It's missing a little thing here or there, but the pieces I have in mind I may not find this year or the next (I'm on the hunt for a vintage clock, preferably gold...obviously!) so for now this is it!

What do you think? It's interesting to compare my inspirational picture to the final product. There's definitely some clear similarities. Clearly the blue and white chinoiserie influence came through loud and clear, but there's definitely a twist to the whole look, a bit of CLD (Camp Little Deer) influence if you will...

Also, important to note: Ty picked out the table! Isn't it perfect? That's all Ty right there. I was concerned that it was too much white, but nope. I stand corrected, it's just right!

AND...just so that you don't think that I never get out given my recent bout of interior decorating blog posts: This is what it looks like outside my door right now! AGH, CAN IT GET ANY PRETTIER?

Oh, Tennyson...This is exactly what you must of had in mind when you wrote of the "azure world." Who didn't obsess over his poem "The Eagle" when they were younger? Oh, just me? Weird.

Home Project #543 and Counting...

2010-02-01T08:29:00.001-08:00

So...are you sick of the home decorating posts yet? Well, in case you're not - here's another! This project was super easy and quick to do, though it's definitely a two-person job - thanks, Mom!

Here's the deal...some time ago while perusing other home decor blogs (and my heavens, are there so many wonderful ones to choose from! I thought it was bad when I was wedding planning with all the wedding blogs, home decorating/interior design is on blog overload and boy do I love it!) I stumbled across this post.

In particular, I loved this picture, everything about it except for the pink:

(Country Living)

Then I thought...I can do that! So I did. But only after checking with fellow future HGTV design star, to make sure I wasn't crazy and that this was in fact a good project to undertake:)

So, I kept my eye out for a good deal on wallpaper. Because let's face it - wallpaper can be expensive! Then two weeks ago, while Ty and I were home dreaming at some stores in Rice Village (we call it home dreaming because we're not really shopping, just dreaming!) we stumbled across these discontinued bins of wallpaper! Amidst the rolls of seashells and other nautical motifs, there it was - the most perfect damask print wallpaper you ever did see:) And for only $13.00 for the entire double roll, home it went! Mom came over that week and in an hour the project was done.

Bookshelves au naturel:

All done!

And here's one more shot, just so you can see the wallpaper a bit better:

Now, I know they've still got a ways to go till they look like what I envision, but thought I'd share where we are now! I'm on the hunt for stacks of vintage books plus some other decorative pieces to really get the look just right. But for now, this is a step in the right direction!

We'll see if it all comes together in the end:) Hope you all are having a great week!

A Chair with Flair

2010-01-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I realize the post title is kind of dumb. But I have a head-cold, and it rhymes, ok?? I am lacking in brain power, the phlegm is crowding it all out;)

Anyhow...yesterday I wasn't feeling well (see head-cold above) and Ty was working...but it was such a gorgeous day and with the clear blue skies overhead I felt inspired. So I decided to re-do one of the bargain chairs I had bought when we first moved to Texas (remind me to tell you all about how I went a little nuts with the furniture. Can we say 7 pieces? AND this is before we had bought all the formal kitchen and living room pieces you've already seen! I have a problem...) Anyhow, the chair wouldn't mind if I was hacking, sneezing, and snotting while I put it together, right? Better the chair than a person!

I am pretty thrilled with the results, so thought I'd share, but I'm warning you - it's kind of a long post, so sit back and enjoy or just scroll to the bottom for the final product:)

The pair - painted a metallic silver and covered in a brown and black chenille! Ugh. Hideous. But for only $20 for the pair, it was worth it!

Since this was my first attempt at re-doing a piece of furniture, I decided to just tackle one chair, here the culprit and my materials wait for me in the sun:

I removed the seat pad and primed the chair:

While the primer dried, I removed the old cover to find the original (plaid) and used the cover as a pattern to cut out my fabric of choice. The new fabric was gotten on clearance too, hooray!

The new cushion, covered with a fabulous new fabric:

I painted the chair with a warm gray and then slightly distressed it with a glaze. The glaze was definitely the hardest part because I'm not a huge fan of heavy distressing, so I wanted it to be ever so slight, so it took a little patience but in the end it was worth it:

A little before and after action:

All done!

In its final resting spot:

I plan to finish the other chair next weekend and then will be on the hunt for the perfect little side table I can put between the two! OR even better - perhaps I can score a little vintage tea cart, wouldn't that be cute? So check back later...I'm sure I'll have more to share:)

Our First Christmas in Texas

2010-01-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

Before we get too far along into the New Year, I figured I owed you all a Christmas re-cap. But rather than create a crazy long blog post with a slew of pictures, I figured a slideshow would do the trick! I'll let the pictures do the talking and leave it at that:) Enjoy!

Some New Year's Inspiration...

2010-01-04T08:42:00.001-08:00

So, it's official. The new home = obsession with all things home related.

It's a new year, so I might as well come clean: I am a "House Beautiful" addict. The magazines spill over from every room in our house with dog-eared pages making the issue look ten times more full than it really is. I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday and looked down and I had 4 magazines (two of which were British, what good does that seriously do me?!?!) that I had picked up and had convinced myself I needed to buy, meanwhile I was holding a copy of Regency Redux in my hands and was also convinced it needed purchasing. Thankfully, a little thing called "two mortgages" persuaded me against such a decision:)

But in the meantime, we are working on putting the "magic" in our house and we have stumbled across a few steals and deals that were totally worth the splurge! For a long time I've been dreaming of entryways that look like this:

Design by Windsor Smith

Design by Kelly Wearstler

Design by Ashley Whittaker

Design by Jonathan Berger

So then this last weekend, while at Home Goods (really, to all who know me - when am I NOT at Home Goods?!) Ty and I found this steal of a mirror on clearance. Perfect amount of Asian influence, ornate detailing, and G-O-L-D! Midas ain't got nothin' on me;) Can we say the perfect start to our entry, yes we can! Here she is:

I figured I'd share my inspiration pictures and "blogument" my artistic trial and error as we really delve into getting the house put together. Let's keep our fingers crossed that my inspirations match up to my aspirations - I'll keep you posted!

One Wintry Day

2009-12-22T05:37:00.000-08:00

I didn't think I was going to post more pictures before the upcoming Christmas holiday, but I can't help myself! So, I thought I would post some additional pictures of Houston's "snow storm 09" for you all to check out! Plus, looking at them makes me feel like Christmas is really here!

Enjoy the pictures...

And last but not least...Raleigh wasn't too sure about the snow so Matthew had to carry him out. He looks like a grumpy old man here, I love it!

Yay, Christmas!!!! Hope you all have a most fabulous holiday:)

Are you ready for this???

2009-12-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas came early and my camera cord came in the mail!!! Woo-hoo!!! I ordered it forever ago when I realized we lost it in the move and today it arrived....FROM CHINA. I guess that explains the ridiculous time to ship it - anyhow, pictures are being uploaded and it's just so great!

Wanna take a quick peek and see what you've missed? Well, come on in....

We hosted Thanksgiving, as was previously mentioned...so there was some cooking in the new kitchen...
i

Some obligatory posing in front of our new house (I'll spare you the others!)...

And lots of furniture arranging...this is the start of our formal dining:

Formal living, let's call this side A

Formal living, side B

Which got interrupted by some SNOW...

And has now been pushed aside for the start of Christmas decorating...this is just the beginning, I assure you!

Can't wait to share more, and will have plenty of updates after the Christmas holiday! Hope you are all doing great - we miss all our friends and family who aren't near to us this time of year. We're super excited to read/see all your fun happenings on all your blogs:)

BIG NEWS - IT IS SNOWING!

2009-12-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, SNOWING!!!!! I literally just turned on the "yule log DVD with Celine Dion Christmas" and walked back into the kitchen and it was SNOWING.

Then I did the following:

1. Started crying. Yup. Involuntarily cried like a baby because it was snowing.

2.Texted Kelley like some freak (I realize now it was FAR too early to do that...sorry, Kel!) and then called my Dad. SOMEONE had to share in my excitement, right???

3. Decided I needed to tell all my friends about it - So here I am!

Oh and I am still possibly wiping tears away like a fool. Can I just tell you how much I love Christmas??? and Winter??? and the fact that I'm in a place that has Winter??? It's like I'm the Grinch right now when his heart grows all big and fat - and I love it and I just had to share:)

Alright, that's the news here this morning, I'm going to go make a wreath!

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

p.s. Yes, I actually have a DVD that plays so as to make your tv screen appear like a "yule log" is roasting in a fireplace while playing the entire collection of Celine Dion's "This Christmas." It is BRILLIANT. Don't hate - My mom bought it for me;)

p.p.s. Maybe between points 1 and 2 above I skipped around the entire bottom floor of my house, just maybe...

So...

2009-11-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

We're in the house. And we hosted Thanksgiving four days later:) Call me crazy, but it really was a team effort and it was so nice to give thanks in the new homestead.

In the last post I promised blogging overload with lots of pictures and trust me I've taken LOADS of pictures. In fact, Ty even told me I needed to stop - to which I replied, "But we MUST heavily document this journey." Like I'm on some path of enlightenment;) So pictures are aplenty!

BUT looks like we lost our camera cord again!

Grr...

So not knowing how long it will take us this time around to find the camera cord, I withdraw my promise for pictures. BOO! But hopefully we get everything settled sooner than later and we can have a long picture blog-fest! Sounds like fun, no?

P.S. Also went to Michael's today. Emerged bloodied and covered with gold glitter - it was fabulous. I have many projects I hope to blog on in the near future, so you better get ready because it's going to be WAY too much fun!

P.P. S. Just kidding about the bloodied part;)

Home - An Update

2009-11-20T08:30:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Good news, all went to plan and the keys to the house are in our possession...holla!

I am SO excited. Like ready to jump out of my own skin excited. But I'm in CA for work and head back tonight, so no pictures yet:(

We move in this weekend and I cannot wait to share pictures of the move! Be ready for blogging overload;)

PS - Get out your calendars asap and let me know when you'll all be coming out for a visit!

Home...

2009-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I tried to think of a more engaging title for this post, one that might encapsulate the excitement I have as I write this, but better to keep it simple when words cannot do it justice, right?

So, I'll keep it simple and get to the good news: WE BOUGHT OUR HOME!!!

The long story short is that in an unexpected (and quick!) turn of events we fell in love.

IN LOVE.

I walked into the house and just felt IT. I felt the walls as we walked through and thought -

This is where my family will gather...this is where I will cook dinners - some good, some bad, and maybe even a few that are great...this is where memories of bright and joyful holidays will be shared...this is the place where our closest friends will sit with us for hours over a good glass of wine by the fireplace...

It was like for every minute we walked through the house I saw memories to come play out like a scene from a movie.

And it was beautiful.

That was last Sunday, by Friday we had a signed and agreed-to offer, and yesterday the house inspection went perfectly!!! If all goes accordingly, we will close on the house on November 19th. Talk about a killer birthday present for Ty and me:)

Now enough of the story...here's some pictures!

Here's our street:

One view of the front:

Another:

Entrance:

Front door, entryway:

Foyer:

View of family room, with bay window:

The kitchen has this fabulous exposed brick, which I love:

This is the view from my kitchen window:

The backyard of the home is what sold us, it is HUGE and really made for entertaining with a gorgeous pool, extensive patio, and yard - this is one view:

This is the left side of the yard:

I was trying to capture the whole yard, I'm in the far left corner while snapping this picture:

Close-up of the spa:

Yard from the right side:

I should have taken more pictures but we spent a lot of time talking to the inspector yesterday - SO next time we're there, I will take LOTS of pics to share! I will be updating the blog as we go along!!

Cannot wait for you all to come out and visit!

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow...(NSFW)

2009-10-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Raleigh had to say goodbye to these:

Sad, I know. Ty took him in on the way into work on Thursday and when he came home last night, he looked like this:

Funny, I know. We took many more drugged-pug pictures, but thought it might be overkill to post them all here. What is that you say? Oh, you think I already went overboard by posting a picture of his balls pre-chop? Pish! It's for archival purposes.

It's not like I'm some weirdo saving her kid's umbilical cords. (Sorry to any of you readers who think this is a good idea.) Have we not all seen that SATC episode where Miranda's cat eats the baby's umbilical cord? SICK, yo! SICK!

Anyhow, back to the blog...Raleigh's starting to recover from the shock and looks a bit more with it, but just a little:) He's none too pleased about the cone.

But sad story, he has to wear it for another 14 days! He will get it off just in time for his 4th birthday:) We'll have to celebrate with a cake and everything, it will be a momentous occasion. Look for it on the blog in two weeks!

What? Overboard again you say?

Dang.

New Orleans

2009-10-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I expected when I went to New Orleans. I think I expected one part debauchery, one part grit, and another part pure frivolity. But it's so much more. The city is layered and rich and it beckons you in from the minute you arrive. It doesn't take you long to know you've discovered something much better - with it's people, music, food, colors, and history, it's just like the jazz music so synonymous with the region. All at once dark, brooding, beautiful, and joyous.

Ty and I spent this last weekend drinking in all the city had to offer, and while the pictures that follow can hardly capture the essence of all there is to behold - don't worry, we're already planning our next trip back:)

Down a random alley, you find treasures like this:

Breakfast was here with beignets and coffee, yum!

St. Louis Cathedral, built on the foundation of one of the oldest churches in the city from the 1700's.

Our lunches were pretty much summed up by this sign:

I took so many pictures of this cathedral, so I will spare you and only include one more:

Lafitte is one of the old family names in the city:

Lafitte Blacksmith Shop - now a bar, but the original building still stands:

Beautiful statue in the middle of a square:

Like the cathedral, I kept coming back to this little square, it was beautiful:

And last but not least, proof we were there;) At the end of day one:

At the end of day two, a "bit" more refined;)

Friday Night Lights

2009-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Being in Texas, I've learned a few things. In no particular order they are:

1. Texans are super friendly, no lie. Southern hospitality is real y'all! BUT it gets annoying when people are so nice that they actually cause accidents waiting for people to make their exit from a parking spot. Move it or lose it folks!

2. Everything is bigger Texas. Again, we heard this before we arrived, but we kind of laughed at the stereotype. Nope. Again, very true. From houses, to hair, to smiles, to...well you-name-it. It's bigger here:) Bigger is better, right?

3. Football is not to be taken lightly. Not on any level. I didn't realize the show Friday Night Lights was a docu-drama. I stand corrected. My weekends now consist of football, football, and wait for it...more football:) But you won't hear me complain! I am loving it - in fact I nearly lost my voice at two of the three games I've been to so far!

With Matthew being a Senior on the Kingwood Park's varsity football team, I clearly won't be missing a game:) Here's a few snapshots from the games so far - enjoy!

The stadium:

This is how they start off the game - I had never seen a high-school team that had one of these, but like I said, they're intense here:)

Matthew is 48:

Matthew set for action:

More action:

The field:

Matthew being all cute:

Matthew and his coach:

Last but not least - Miss Em and me at the last game, note the outfit change:) I only grabbed a pic in the beginning... the game was too good to be spent taking pictures, though now I kind of regret it because it was pretty spectacular. Matthew had a killer tackle that started off the game!

Outside my door...

2009-09-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is what you see.

And I love it.

I love that it smells like chlorophyll. I don't know if you can REALLY smell chlorophyll, but I think the landscape is so full here that you must.

I can't tell you exactly why, but there's just something about it that makes my heart sing. No really. It's true, you know your heart is singing when you involuntary start tearing up because you're just so struck by the beauty that surrounds you.

I had lost some of that feeling for a while. But I feel it... It's coming back. Maybe it's the cooler weather (even if only slight), maybe it's the smell of cut grass that greets me in the afternoons, maybe it's the fall displays creeping into the stores, or maybe it's something yet to be discovered...but it's pretty fabulous.

Stay tuned...

Victory is Mine!!!

2009-09-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

People - I have some great news!

I **just** found the illusive camera cord!

So get ready, because more of THIS:

Is on the way!

Bad Hair Day...Headband Required

2009-08-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Life in the "Livable Forest."

2009-08-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

So today on my morning walk, I saw....

A bunny...

A turtle...

A heron...

And...

AN ALLIGATOR!!!

Yes, an alligator. A real, live, boggley-eyed, alligator! What's funny is on the walk they have signs around the lake that say "Caution: Alligator in Lake." But it has this picture of a funny cartoon character of an alligator, which really made me think, "What a funny joke."

No joke. Real alligator.

Maybe Kingwood should change it's name to Kingwood, "The Livable Jungle?" Just a thought...

Disses & Kisses

2009-07-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am COMPLETELY stealing this blog post idea from my favorite wedding photographer, Jasmine Star, who I still stalk on a regular basis, because well...she's just that amazing. When Ty looks over my shoulder and sees me reading wedding-related blogs, I feel I have an excuse when I'm reading J*'s, because it's inspirational:) I get a pass for that one, right???

Anyways, back to the post. She does a weekly disses and kisses post that I figured is the perfect way to help keep me posting at least once a week. And it's fun. So here goes...

This week's disses go to:
*Moving. Thanks a lot moving, now I can't find anything I'm looking for. Ever. Like that camera cord that would have made blog posting so much more fun with new pictures.
*Cake Batter Cookies. Yeah, umm...these are of the devil. For some reason I can't convince my mouth to think otherwise and stop shoveling them down!
*Paint. Creativity flowed wild as soon as we moved in to our new little place we call home, and I have the blue paint in my hair to show for it. Awesome.

This week's kisses go to:
*Moving. I really do love you Texas! You are so pretty with all your greenery and wildlife. I was on a walk and saw the most beautiful doe, two of them! Then a tomato-red cardinal flew past, it's like I walked on the set of Bambi or something:)
*YMCA. I already have a membership. Holla! Maybe this will help with the issue of the Cake Batter Cookies?
*Paint. My pretty blue with black trim bathroom rocks. Pics coming as soon as I find the camera cord!

We Made It!!!

2009-07-06T08:23:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to send a quick update to let everyone know that WE MADE IT!!!

After seventeen hours on the road...little to no phone reception...and endless rounds of car karaoke, WE MADE IT!!!

I will post what few pics we took as soon as I can find the cords to upload them from my camera. But for now I just wanted to say - hello:)

Hope everyone out there had a fabulous Fourth! Expect many updates soon.

On the Road...Almost!

2009-06-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time! We are nearly packed, wrapped, stuffed, and padded (with fingers crossed that nothing breaks!) into our U-Haul.

I've loaded gazillions of songs onto my ipod (thanks, Taylor!), stocked up on road snacks, and have an overnight bag all ready for Kerrville (our pit-stop tomorrow night).

I keep checking the various lists we have going to make certain we've really completed all our tasks, and now all that's left to do is blog:) Yes, that was a "to-do." Like I promised, I'm going to do my best to blog, tweet, text, and chronicle our entire trip, so I figure a getting a blogging start was the way to go!

Thanks to everyone who helped us out with music choices, meals, laughs, and well-wishes over the last couple weeks! We are going to miss all our AZ friends, but it's not good-bye, so much as it is, "See you later." We'll be back for many a visit and will look forward to seeing you all again soon.

I will be in touch! Pray for safe and smooth travels for us, we'll be keeping you all updated over the next couple days:)

Calling all readers!!!

2009-06-16T16:55:00.001-07:00

As you all know by now, we're moving to Texas.

AND as much as I wish I could click my heels together three times, a la Dorothy-style, and land in Texas faster than you can say Schenectady three times fast, alas it cannot be.

This means we have a L.O.N.G. drive ahead of us.

Which also means, be prepared for lots of funny pictures, tweets, and (if I'm real motivated) maybe even a mid-way blog!

From Scottsdale, AZ to Kingwood, TX it's approximately 17 hours. Yes, as in 17 hours. I have never sat still for that long in my life. In fact, I don't think I've sat longer than 3 hours straight. Call it an over-active bladder or restless leg syndrome (my Mom claims she really has this), either way, I don't just sit for that long without at least getting up and DOING something.

So, I need help readers! Please send me your best playlists for a LONG road trip. I have a lot of classical music, calming music, and then dance music to work out to...but road-trippin' music I am without.

So would you all be so dear as to leave some suggestions in the comments field? I have approximately 14 days till the ipod needs to be locked and loaded;)

And because every blog post is made better with a picture, here ya go!

Raleigh remembers to stop and smell the fake flowers, do you?

P.S. Why Schenectady you say? Why not?

The Neeley's

2009-06-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

So before too much more time passes, I must update the blog with photos of Brionna, Brad, Brayden, and Brock who all came out to visit us two weeks ago. Or has it been longer??? We've been so busy finalizing the details on Ty's new job offer and then jumping right into packing and all the other "fun" details that go along with such a big move.

But we had such a GREAT time with the Neeley's and while we may not be hosting them again in AZ, we know we'll definitely be having them over for some sweet tea once we get settled into our new home in Texas!

I've known Brionna since I was 12, yikes, 12 really? Really? How time flies! And I am so thrilled that after all these years we're still close and I get to see her and her beautiful family grow.

Brayden showing off his cute grin and ice cream cone:

The one and only picture Brionna and I got together the whole weekend! Geez, we weren't very good at the picture thing, were we??

That's okay, we'll get more pictures on the next visit!

Grand Ol'Tour of Texas - Updated

2009-06-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Someone* brought it to my attention that I happened to leave out another highlight of all that is to come in Texas...dare I say, perhaps the BEST part of the whole move;)

Meet my new afternoon escape, oasis of calm, and all-around wonder:

This is where we'll all be sure to be found many afternoons! Looks nice, huh? Hope you can join us one day, the weather and company is top-notch:)

*Thanks, Dad:)

The Grand Ol'Tour...of Texas!

2009-06-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

So...as most, if not all of you know, Ty and I have been hoping to make a move to Texas to be closer to our family. And as of today...it's OFFICIAL! Ty has been offered a tremendous opportunity to work for Encompass Home Health, and the position is everything he was looking for and will also provide mucho room for growth! Which is just so exciting!

Now here's the real kicker... Ty's start date is July 6th. What? Yeah, that's right July 6th. As in less than a month from now. So moral of the story is that we're some busy folks over here and are doing a lot with a little amount of time!

On July 1 we'll be on the road making the trek to what the next chapter of our lives holds. And while we're SO crazy excited, we're also fully aware of what we're leaving behind. (Ugh, I don't even like saying it that way...) How about we're fully aware of what we won't get to see every day...because there's no way we're leaving it all behind.

We've both done a LOT of growing up here, from college to meeting one another, to falling in love and getting married, and all along the way - making some of the most treasured friendships we've ever had. So, you better know full-well this isn't the last you've seen of us!

To commemorate the occasion, I thought I'd take you on a tour of some of the things you'll get to see when (and it is only a matter of when) you all come out to visit!!!

Y'all ready for the tour????

Bluebonnets - these aren't the state flower for nothing! Look at how blue that sky is!

Kingwood - this is the greenbelt where Ty and I will be running, or walking (let's be honest) and no joke, it really is this pretty. I've walked across this bridge many times already. Did I mention this is right by an awesome golf course and lake? Love it!

Right past the greenbelt above, lies my Dream House. FOR REALS. I've seen it in person many times...I've made us drive through this particular development pretty much every time we've gone to visit my family:) Oh and wouldn't you know it, here's a picture for you all to see! It makes me want to go make a dress out of some green velvet drapes, real bad!

Here's where I'll be doing my shopping! The Houston Galleria is unlike any other shopping mall I've been too, it's out of control y'all! (I won't do that in real life, I promise) See those towers sticking out of the large, lower, and wider buildings? That would be the Westin. Yes, they have a Westin built into the mall, cause it's just that big! And see that skyline???

Here's a better view of the skyline - you're already excited to come and visit, huh?

There's SO much more I could show you, but I think I'll save it for many upcoming posts! As you can imagine, I'm going to try my best to keep this blog updated throughout the move and it may get a little frantic from time to time, but I hope you'll keep reading and keep in touch!

To all you AZ readers - we're going to miss you! Don't y'all be strangers now! We're expecting many a visit:)

Surprise, Surprise...

2009-05-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

So, my sister Becky and all her college friends made a music video to the Bruce Springsteen song, "Surprise, Surprise,"and let me tell you, it will make your day! As part of a college project, I have to say I'm pretty impressed. It's sure to make you smile! Even funnier, is that the video is getting a LOT of attention by hard-core Springsteen fans and is climbing in popularity on You Tube. I think if you watch it, you'll see why:)

Now, most importantly, keep a watch out for some hot moves by Becky around the 2:46 mark... I seriously can't stop laughing! I love your facial expressions, Rebeke!

AND, just in case you want to share it with others, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q5eRT669zE

2081

2009-04-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

1. I love me some Kurt Vonnegut!
2. I love me some individual liberty!
3. I love me some creative, young, new director trying something fabulously refreshing!

This movie is yet to be released, but is making its rounds at the film festival circuits, those where it's actually being allowed. Already banned from Sundance (no shocker there!), it will make its premiere at the Seattle Film Festival. I was lucky enough to see a special screening as part of the conference I was at this past weekend, and let me tell you, I had chills, it is that good!

Here's the trailer, but for more information on the movie, please check out their website: http://www.finallyequal.com/

And for now, grab a handful of popcorn and settle in for a treat:

Mullets, Perms, and Days Past

2009-04-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

A while back I was sharing with my friend, Wendy, how at one time I had sported a full-on mullet thanks to my mother's amazing ability to cut hair. She started out trimming my bangs and just went a little too far - I was three. Well, Wendy didn't believe me and thought I was exaggerating...so last night I sent her pictures of the pictures of my two very worst hair moments. AND, I decided they are too funny not to share on a Monday morning, so why not share with rest of you???

So without further adieu, my two very worst hairstyles....

The.Mullet.

AGAIN - In my defense of the look above, it was ALL my Mom's fault! Note the expression on my face though...it's like I know how ridiculous I look;)

Okay...now for the second worst look...and for this I am entirely to blame. I don't know why I thought this was okay or cool, but alas, I did. A friend and I were so desperate to make this style work that we actually permed our bangs to make sure it would hold on a daily basis. Yikes. That's all I can say. Oh, and I was in 6th grade...so that would mean it's like 93-94. Ty likes to call this picture my homage to In Living Color.

Totally.Rad.Like For Reals.

Please pardon my ghetto version of a scanner...pictures of pictures are not the best quality, but they do the trick:)

Hope you all enjoy the laugh and have a great Monday!

Of toilets and tile...and lessons learned.

2009-03-03T14:25:00.001-08:00

There really is no glamorous way to describe the work done in our bathroom. It's not as though it's a large and luxurious bathroom now with a clawfoot tub positioned ever so delicately on a marble floor with the fireplace burning crackling logs over in the corner...No, it's not that. It's still small, and it's just a bathroom.

And I wish I were more excited to share the updates, but these updates only came about because we learned our lessons the hard way and hired a general handyman the first around instead of real and licensed contractor.

Lesson learned on that one. Ouch.

So, after tile being done the first time, to only come loose and break apart, we revisited our modest little bathroom once more. This time the end product is much better and shows no signs of falling apart! Here's the best shot I could grab of the whole bathroom. I took this picture lying on the floor so I could try and capture the whole look of the new tile both on the floor and around the shower - boy, I am dedicated!

A close-up shot of the border going around the shower now.

Now this next picture, well...this is kind of a big deal.

For anyone who's EVER showered at our place prior to this update, I am sorry. Very sorry.

As you can see, we now have a standard shower lever that is as easy to use as it appears. Not so much the case in the past. In order to operate our shower before - you had to take one sock off, paint your body blue, jump in a circle, all while chanting a magical verse to the water gods in hopes of the shower turning on without busting the handle off...really. It was pretty much that bad. I'm so glad that's over. It was an exhausting way to start out a morning;)

Then one final look at the new shower head, it looks a little water spotted and dusty cause we took these pics right after the work was done so the grout was still really giving off a lot of residual dust. But you get the idea!

And that's it:) Those are the new additions and we're so happy to be done. Having a contractor in and out of our place, day after day, really got tiring. But it was worth it in the end.

You're all invited over to come sit by our windows, test out the shower, and walk up and down our stairs while holding the new railing! Don't you all call me at once...I know it sounds thrilling!

Letting the Light In...

2009-03-03T13:57:00.001-08:00

In addition to the iron railing, we also ripped out our downstairs window and sliding glass door.

And for a very good reason too. Owners prior to us must have been concerned that WWIII was right around the corner and had taken it upon themselves to lock in the bottom floor windows, and had enclosed it with plastic casing and foam insulating spray that fills to expand where it lands.

Oh, and the casing they put on top of that was a lovely shade of commercial gray. It was nothing short of magical. So magical, that I decided to never, ever, ever let our drapes open so that I didn't have to see how ugly the framing was.

So, our little condo never saw the light of day, which made it sad. And me too. And Ty too. And Raleigh too...you get the drift? BUT not anymore...we now have the brightest and sun-filled condo you ever did see!

Window #1, Outside View: All nice and new, and white NOT gray!

Window #1, Inside-View: Notice the open drapes, hooray! I sit here all the time now with window open and it's just wonderful. Ahhh...I never thought opening a window would bring me so much joy, but it does. Oh it does.

Window #2, Outside-View: Ha! I know what you're thinking, that's not a window, tis a French Door! And you're right. But I call it a window because that's what purpose it serves for us, since it's RIGHT next to our front door. Why a door next to a door? Absurd, you cry! I know. Take it up with our HOA, losers wouldn't let us put in a window and build up the wall. Apparently a door next to a door is mandatory. So, I'm over it...and really I rather like the way the paned door looks..err.., I mean my paned window!

Window #2, Inside-View: So bright and shiny! I love the amount of light that pours in during the morning hours. A cup of coffee and the sun, nothing much better:)

And that finishes up the window segment! Now you need to come over and share a glass of wine and take it all in with me!

P.S. Did anyone notice Raleigh's special appearance in one of the photos above? I didn't even notice him till I posted the blog:) Too funny!

Pumping Iron

2009-03-03T13:26:00.001-08:00

So, while trying to figure out a creative way to explain why I haven't blogged for a whole entire MONTH...I decided that I'd just own up. I have been O.V.E.R. it lately. What a downer way to start out a post, huh? I know:) For the last two months or so... we've been battling home improvement woes and at the end of the day there was always so little progress, it didn't feel worth the blog.

But that's all changed now! We are officially done with Chief Yellow-Horse (that's our code name for our contractor, more on that later)and we are pretty much done with the work we're putting into our condo. So, I guess that means we just sit back and relax the fruits of our labor (or the labor of which we paid dearly for;) AND share on the blog...

First up - the real piece de resistance....our new wrought-iron stair railing!! I so badly wish I could try and describe how it went picking this all out...Ty and I literally had to pick out every piece, and it looks NOTHING like the pictures I'm going to show you. Instead imagine each piece segmented and in different places across a HUGE warehouse and then having to pick them all out and imagine what you were actually putting together. Let's just say that Ty and I had a real communication breakdown, and it was not a pretty sight for a while.

In the end it all came together just as we had hoped and it seems we have a real knack for designing iron staircase railings - who knew?!?!

Okay, so here's part une: Imagine the landing of our stairs (also note pretty new carpet!). This is what it looks like now...

Part deux: I took this picture with a slight angle to try and capture as much of the center piece of the railing, so pretty!

Part trois: Top of the stairs right by our bedroom/hallway area upstairs. I am loving the curved end that we went with...

Okay, so that's it for the railing. I'm posting final pics of the bathroom, doors and windows next!!!

Susan Elnora Meets the Big 4-7!

2009-01-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

January 31st marks a most special and wonderful day - my mom's birthday!!!!

Isn't she beautiful? I love this smile!!! And I love her hair...as a kid she told me if I ate all the crusts off my sandwiches that I would get the same curls...it didn't work and I was sorely dissapointed:(

She's my hero for so many reasons, far too many to list here!

She's my source of comfort in good times and bad.

She's kind of crazy and the life of the party, but I love her for it!

See? Totally nuts:) But in the most fabulous way!

She's so cute - I LOVE this picture. Like it's the best ever:) Oh, and yes, that is my Grandpa... and yes he's rocking the short sleeve shirt and tie. What is that readers? Is it a laugh? It's okay, I laughed too. But he's fabulous, he can rock it.

Mom - You grow more beautiful and amazing with every year that passes. I am so blessed to have you as my mother, and more importantly, my best friend. Hope this is the best year yet!!! I love you:)

PS - I hope I look as hot as you twenty years from now! You go on with your bad self!

Happy Birthday Carson!

2009-01-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

This little guy turns FIVE today! Can't believe how time flies...and somehow he manages to get cuter every year:) We love you, Carson!

Today's a New Day!

2009-01-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

Alright, alright...admittedly it's been a LONG time since I've last posted! I have to honest, the end of 2008 came at me fast...I seriously felt like Christmas came out of nowhere this year and really snuck up on me. Ty and I didn't decorate at all, didn't even get a tree!!! (For those of you who know me, this is a HUGE deal. I mean HUGE.)

Anyhow, since then it's been a whirlwind...we got back from Texas, had friends out for a visit, and then went straight into demo-mode over here at the condo. For the last week and a half we had an operable shower for like 3 days. PS - do the math, I've been one greasy blogger...BUT this morning is a new day!!! We have what feels like an entirely new bathroom, and a fabulous shower! If that doesn't say Happy New Year, I don't know what does:)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is off to a tremendously great start...Here's to the best 2009!!!

And just cause a blog post isn't as fun without pictures, here's some from our Sedona trip we took when our friend, Wendy, came out to visit:

My thoughts exactly...

2008-12-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

I couldn't just pick one...

2008-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

After looking through all the images from the wedding, I thought it would be fun to put together a slideshow of a "few" of my favorites...Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Leftovers....

2008-12-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

Ty has full-blown pink-eye.

I thought I did...but nothing like poor Ty:(

Instead, I threw out my back....BAD.

How?

Lifting an oddly shaped microwave that weighs about 60 pounds while trying to talk on the phone.

Darn my obsessive need to double-task!!!!

We're a pathetic couple over here today.

Thanksgiving, Pink-Eye, and the Rhino

2008-12-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

This year, Ty and I made the trek (along with Ty's mom, Lynette, who flew in from Oregon) to New Mexico to visit Ty's brother and family in New Mexico for Thanksgiving. Despite the long drive-time back and forth, the trip was great! It was the traditional Thanksgiving: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Green Bean Casserole, a Peach/Raspberry pie...and a side-dish of Pink-Eye. It's like I always say - Can't be a holiday without some Pink-Eye:) Just kidding! Our nephew, Carson, woke up with it one morning and then proceeded to pass it along to Lynette...so far the rest of us have managed to walk away without being infected, and hopefully it stays that way!

Anyhow - I am bad and didn't take as many pictures as I would have hoped, but did manage to capture a few...

Lynette (before the attack of Pink-Eye) as we hit the road, trying to get a pic with Sir Dubs...you can tell he was so interested in having his picture taken:

That's more like it...all ready to go!

I thought the next two pics were funny, cause Ty and Raleigh almost have the same facial expression...like father, like son...except in this case, I guess it's like owner, like pug??

See what I mean...hahaha...

And now for the Rhino...meet the newest addition to the Jelinek family, Troy and Tracy's family pet bulldog, Quincy...I swear he walks like a rhinoceros cause he's so big and cumbersome, and he's only 5 months old! I can't imagine what he'll be like full-grown!

Our night out in Sante Fe, we went to the acclaimed Tomasita's...where we had to wait for an HOUR to be seated...the food was so-so, but they had a great deal on drinks, particularly their Sangria, which was amazing! Ty and Troy opted for Corona's instead:

Tracy and I knew better...note the full carafe of Sangria in the background:

The whole gang...I can't believe this is the only group-type photo I manage to get the whole weekend? *Sigh* Better than nothing, I guess!

And last, but definitely not least, here are my hands trying to push the dog "cousins" in for a picture together, they were not feeling it...

Haha...this was the best I could do! Aren't they cute?

And that does it...like I said, I wasn't on the photo-taking train this time around...I'll do better next time, I promise:) Can't wait to see pictures and posts from everyone else of their Thanksgivings! Hope you all had a wonderful day...can you believe we're only 24 days away from Christmas now? Sometimes it's hard for me to get in the spirit when it's still over 75 degrees outside... but I've been watching Elf and White Christmas, lighting Spruce-scented candles, and listening to 99.9 (the "holiday" station) non-stop, so I think I'm almost there!!!

Yeah, it's kind of like that...

2008-12-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

After the long-ride back from spending Thanksgiving in New Mexico, I went out to check the mail, knowing it would be over-flowing with ads for Black Friday and such...and much to my surprise there was a package from our wedding photographer, Ben Quillinan, inside. Excitedly, I tore open the package to find a pretty little red box, inside the pretty box was an even prettier red leather case with a picture of Ty and I from our wedding day on the front...and the gift inside was even better...Can you guess what it was???

Our wedding DVD! All the digital files are officially ours and I can hardly contain my excitement:) It's funny how even though our wedding was over 1.5 years ago the pictures still manage to get me so excited! As I looked through some of the digital files, I saw this picture, and I couldn't help but think I must look something like this as I look at our photos...

Yeah, it's definitely kind of like that...

A few of my favorite things...

2008-11-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd give a little shout-out to a few of my favorite things as of late and offer up some thanks for their recent influence on my life...

Meet my drill, she's a beauty, huh? Let me just tell you...with the projects underway around here as of late (big post on that one in the future!) she's been my right-hand gal. I am telling all of you out there - there's nothing like a drill on a sad day to lift your spirits:)

Now for my drill's distant cousin, the hand-saw...This has been Ty's friend lately. And we're thankful because without this bad boy we would still have a gaping hole above our fridge where we had a huge water fiasco about two months after moving into this condo...and yes, we are just fixing it now. We're classy that way.

And I'm super thankful for this beauty - our new microwave. That's right...Christmas came early this year and this is what it looks like! Look at how shiny, clean and slick it is...for those of you who never got to meet this microwave's predecessor won't really appreciate how wonderful this is...Our last microwave was a hand-me down from Ty's brother that Ty's dad rigged to sit up above our stove without the proper pieces to do so. It did the job, but let me just say, that a microwave sitting on some shelf like apparatus wasn't all that appealing to the eye:) Like I said, we're classy over here and it's been a work in progress!

Meet our second Christmas present...A matching new dishwasher to match our microwave! We now officially have the same colored appliances throughout our kitchen...do you know how much I love this? SO MUCH. I sometimes just want to sit my little galley kitchen gazing longingly at our matching appliances, it makes me smile inside. (It doesn't take much for me folks.) PS - ignore the filthy tile in the pic below, if you can't tell from the post so far, we're in the middle of some major renovations...which equals for some nasty tile in the meantime:(

Now we move to my two other loves (haha, I guess three since Raleigh decided to come join the picture) our new shovel and rake...Long story here, but our patio is also undergoing some major changes. We used to have brick all over, which sounds lovely in theory, right? Right - but not when it was laid all uneven and lifted out from the ground and would cause you to trip every time you walked into our patio...so the brick had to go. We're in the process of some landscaping, planting, and general shoveling and raking...so the shovel and rake have been real treasures!

And last but not least...a sneak peek at the landscaping efforts underway - meet our oleanders...they're on my list of favorite things too!

And our potted palms, jade, and weird spindly plant that Ty wanted...

We've been so incredibly busy with home projects lately that I haven't had the time to post many blog updates, but I thought a little shout-out was in order since as you can see above, I'm so thankful for our new tools & appliances. Where would I be without them?? Stay tuned for updates, we're nearing the finish line and will have lots more pictures of the finished project to share as well as Turkey Day re-cap:)

Hope you all have a most wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a Halloween fan, but we went pumpkin-picking last night and I just couldn't resist this cute fat ol'pumpkin of a pug:)

See how nice and round our pumpkin is??

Hahaha...his hat was a little big:)

His ear kept getting lost in his hat! He's sporting a Van Gogh look here:)

I promise he only looks pathetic here, he really loved his costume:) It was a like a giant blanket!

Happy Halloween, Everyone ~ Hope you all have a very lovely and fun weekend!

Introducing...Megan & John McDonald!

2008-10-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

This has taken me far much longer than I thought to post, so before more time passes I thought I better make good on my promise to post wedding photos from Megan and John's wedding in Chicago! So without any further delay, here's the beautiful couple and some details from the big day...

The ceremony was held in a gorgeous, historic building in the heart of Chicago:

Sealing it with a kiss:

Being introduced for the first time as husband and wife:

The beautiful bride:

The first dance:

The gals from Saguaro...hard to believe it's been over ten years since we've all been friends:

Last but not least, we managed to grab a photo with the Father of the Bride, Brad, who's been a close family friend all these years and was a gracious and wonderful host to everyone that weekend:

Congratulations again to Megan & John! We all had so much fun and can't wait to see what the years ahead hold for you both:) As a side note, this has been wedding season for us this month, so guess what??? More wedding posts are on their way! This last weekend marked the THIRD wedding we've been to in THREE weeks! WOW! What else will I blog about now that these weddings are over? My material is dwindling to say the least:) I have some fun ideas cooking...so stay tuned!

Chicago

2008-10-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, Ty and I met up with Becky and my mom in Chicago for Megan and John's wedding. Since the wedding wasn't till Sunday, that gave us the weekend to pal around Chicago and have a mini-vacation of sorts. Though it was a packed weekend with wedding festivities and the time went by quickly, we all had a ton of fun!

Becky and I on the Riverwalk in Downtown Chicago:

Mom, Becky and Ty - You can see how bright the sun was here, not a single cloud in they sky the whole time we were there! AND it was over 80 degrees!

Me, Becky and Ty:

More of the same, but from a different view...I had to post this one because my Mom was so proud of herself for getting a boat on the river passing by while taking the pic! Way to go, Mom;)

Now it was Mom's turn for a pic with us...

Then finally, my favorite picture from that weekend...Ty was feeling the whole Chicago/Sinatra feel and decided the lamp-post made for a beautiful dance partner!

Stay-tuned for wedding pictures, they'll be up shortly!