Summer: blah, blah...

Hello reader... :)

Here we are already in mid-August! Summer has been fun - if you call 30+ days of 100+ degree days fun...which I guess you might, for at least a few hours a day.

May and June were pretty busy. Had a trip home (yay!), a trip to Portland and a "staycation" in San Antonio. We spent most of July at home in Austin which was really nice. We did take a quick trip to Houston July 4th weekend to visit the nephew...he is getting more adorable by the day!

I read the Hunger Games trilogy, maybe I'll post a review later. I enjoyed it quite a bit! I'm a little concerned that lately the books I love the most are meant for "young adult" readers. Does that make me immature? If any other person reads this blog, besides Katy - and you have good book suggestions, let me know! Katy - of course I appreciate your book suggestions, but my guess is you're a little busy with your newborn. Oh yeah! So late July (July 28, to be exact)our baby shower girl, Katy had her little Miles James! He's an angel and I'm so excited to be his auntie! (I made myself his auntie, he has real ones, but whatev)

At the end of July, we took on a good old fashioned home construction project. BTW, it's not as fun to do home projects as you may think it looks on HGTV. It's not free, you're not on tv and no one looks like the hot guys on those shows (no offense, B). My dad came up to help us. Between figuring out if we had ordered the right door (out-swing door), then deciding we hoped it was wrong and was in fact an in-swing door, then back to wanting what we originally wanted; all the while my mom was "researching" online to further prove us wrong (or right) - we finally installed our out-swinging, french doors. Out-swing is not the norm, but we like it for our house. And if we ever get rain, we'll find out if the door was installed correctly.

No door - an "open" concept - not so good for bug control, I guess.

Getting it in - one step at a time.

All Done!

Still need to paint the door...we'll see when we get to that. Currently, it's taped, ready to paint - so that's one step.

Baby Shower!

So this post doesn't have much meat to it - per usual - but wanted to post some pictures of the shower I hosted (with 2 other friends, Tracy and Rita) for our friend Katy. She is having a baby in late July. This was my first true hosting of a party with more than 20 people - at my house, including people my parents' age. :) This made it a bit more stressful than your average dinner party.

I think it went really well. Katy had fun and got some great stuff!! We can't wait to meet little Miles!

The living room - onesie banner made by Tracy!

Close up - did I mention I got a new camera? It takes GREAT pics!

The spread...

I only posted this pic b/c I made the cupcake toppers! It was simple - just stamps...but my most creative art project to date.

Guest of honor! Got a "Sophie" which apparently is a must-have for babies.

My "artistic" shot of the Miles suckers...

Checking in...

Been awhile since I've blogged - been super busy but not sure if that translates to an interesting blog post...most likely - it won't.

The good news is my killer dog hasn't murdered anymore innocent rodents/squirrels/bunnies - that we know of. She's back in my good graces, and aside from my blog post about it, I've managed to block out the vision of vomited squirrel guts.

March ended with one of my closest friends Rita's wedding. I was a bridesmaid...and B was the officiant! This bit of news particularly amused our parents. The wedding was beautiful, I got to see a lot of good friends and overall, it was a great weekend. Rita looked gorgeous - as did her new hubby - and both were pretty relaxed when the day came!

B - signing the marriage certificate (post wedding)!

April was filled with trips here and there...to Houston, to New York and back to Houston. In between, we had B's 30th birthday celebration! Two of his best friends came to town and all of our Austin friends came out to help him celebrate. I rented a theatre at our favorite locale, Alamo Drafthouse, and we watched a morning showing of The Big Lebowski. He loved it - it was a surprise until I ruined about a week before. Either way, he loved the idea and had fun. We also went out that night and it was a really fun weekend.

Post movie group picture...

I went to NYC by myself the weekend after B's birthday to visit one of my best friends, Abby. It was an awesome trip! We avoided a lot of the touristy stuff, but still did some. Mainly, we walked around the different neighborhoods, ate good stuff, shopped a bit and enjoyed the city. It was freezing (as in 50s) when I first arrived, but warmed up to a perfect Saturday evening and Sunday. It was nice to have a trip by myself - I realized it had been a long time since I went somewhere without B...I always love traveling with him, but it is refreshing to remember you can do it on your own as well. :)

Me in front of Le Bernardin - Eric Ripert's restaurant! Super fancy.

Abby and I in front of the Spotted Pig - was delish!!

Abby and I at a cafe in Riverside Park - 5 minutes from her place!

We went back to Houston at the end of April for B's dad's retirement. It was a nice weekend. We've enjoyed how much we've gotten to see Liam, B's nephew. He is getting to that really fun age, laughing and playing and rolling around.

And here we are in May. This month is filled with graduations (already had one), a trip home and a couple of weekends to just relax here in Austin. Cannot wait for those relaxing weekends. Actually, today begins my first relaxing weekend, with no plans - in at least 6 weeks. Yay!

The End of Innocence

Well, last night was a traumatizing night for me & my little family. I think it started off as really exciting for Ellie - but in the end, she was probably traumatized/confused.

On these nice spring days/nights, we keep the back door open so Ellie can wander in and out of the house into the backyard. She loves being outside. I thought it was a little weird last night that she didn't come in while we were eating (she's become quite the beggar). I checked on her, and she was just laying in the grass. Odd. We went back out about 15 min later, still laying in the grass. Looked guilty. We walked to where she was, knowing the truth before we got there - she was eating something bad. And it was a squirrel.

I was instantly disgusted, scared and horrified. I yelled at her to get inside! She was like, WTF? But she was scared...probably because both B and I were projecting anxiety & HORROR (Cesar would not approve). She goes in, and we go in to fashion something to throw this thing out. B is making his dustpan/stick combo when - she proceeds to puke up squirrel guts on the ONLY RUG IN OUR LIVING ROOM. More screaming, Ellie is pushed outside where she vomits 2 more times. At this point, I'm about to vomit. B really stepped up to take care of this - he could see I was about to lose it. He was able to get most of it up with paper towels, it was more chunky than liquidy (awesome visual). He then went out to discard the squirrel carcass while I got out our Bissell Little Green. I filled it with A LOT of soap/cleanser, sprayed the crap out of the 2 spots on the rug and let it sit. Helped B wash off the deck vomit, wouldn't allow Ellie inside still and then cleaned the carpet with the Little Green. I don't think anything will convince me it's clean - I wish I could've just poured bleach on it.

Finally, a bit calmer, we let Ellie back in. She tried to get on couch - no way! I wanted nothing to do with this dog! I realize that we needed to bathe her in order for me to ever touch her again. So we did. Then I proceeded to bleach/clean my tub for 30 minutes, until my lungs started burning.

So, the night, which probably started out on a great note for Ellie (finally caught/or am able to get to a squirrel! Food!) ended traumatically for her. She hates baths. :) And she knew we were upset.

The remainder of the night I spent wondering if my little angel puppy was now a ravenous killer. Why would she do this? Is she still going to be nice to B's sister's cat? Is she a murderer for life now? Did she actually CATCH the squirrel? Do we need to take her to the vet? Luckily, we texted a friend of ours in vet school who said she will probably just have an upset tummy. She's acting normal today - she doesn't seem like a killer. It's going to be hard to remember that she is still this little innocent creature now:

All I can picture now is a murderous, hunting, psychopath dog. Who knows what she is thinking/plotting here...

"When mom gets this camera out of my face, I will go outside and stalk my prey."

And perhaps this wasn't the picture of a friend "hugging" another - but a dominant predator picking out her prey.

Watch out Harry!!

**disclaimer** Harry's her boyfriend, as long as he doesn't cheat, I think he's safe. ;)

Busy Times...

We've been quite busy this year...we had a trip to Vegas in January, my birthday in January (31 feels pretty old), a trip to Tahoe in February, SXSW now and a wedding next weekend.

Vegas was fun - I had terrible luck, but B managed to win some of it back. We had some great meals and I learned that my hangovers have evolved in order to never allow me to have fun 2 days in a row. Bummer. We happened to be in Vegas for the Porn Awards - B saw Ron Jeremy and we watched the red carpet arrivals for a bit. What was funny is that all the cameras and "paparazzi" were actually just male 20-somethings with their Canon digitals. Hilarious.

This is the marquis outside of the Porn Awards @ the Palms.


In February, we went to Lake Tahoe. Neither of us had ever been. We met up with quite a big group there - some of B's friends and some of their friends. It was really fun, everyone was great! I decided to try to ski for the first time. I wasn't great, I was also freezing the whole time (turns out I don't do cold weather well) and honestly, it was too pricey to waste another day on it. Sean White, I am not (maybe he's a snow boarder - either way). Anyway, I'm glad I tried, we had a great trip and that was that.

Me and B after my only day of skiing.

(yes, I'm wearing a helmet - considering I never got off the bunny slope, it really wasn't necessary.)

Now, we've got SXSW going on. SXSW is a music, film and interactive festival in Austin. It's HUGE and brings a lot of people to town. I haven't done much so far - the crowds can be a pain in the arse, plus I'm working this week. B is a volunteer and gets access to all the showcases, so he really enjoys it. The badge goes straight to his head, though. ;)

Next weekend, one of my best friends is getting married - can't wait! Should be another busy, but fun weekend.

One more thing I've been doing lately...reading this blog www.modgblog.com
This girl is awesome, hilarious and makes me realize how un-entertaining my own blog is.

Book Review

So, I just read Wuthering Heights, which I managed to not read in high school. And it's a free classic on IBooks.

Here's a summary I found, which I should've read before the book:
Brief Summary
Many people, generally those who have never read the book, consider Wuthering Heights to be a straightforward, if intense, love story — Romeo and Juliet on the Yorkshire Moors. But this is a mistake. Really the story is one of revenge. It follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious gypsy-like person, from childhood (about seven years old) to his death in his late thirties. Heathcliff rises in his adopted family and then is reduced to the status of a servant, running away when the young woman he loves decides to marry another. He returns later, rich and educated and sets about gaining his revenge on the two families that he believed ruined his life.

So, I, apparently like many others - thought this was a love story. It most definitely was not. I'm not your typical, I only want happy-endings type of book girl. I like all ranges of books, endings and characters.

First of all, took me a chapter or so to get used to reading the dialect, "proper" English of the 18th century or so. It's been a long time since I read a book like this. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed the story. Basically a history of all the families and goings-on at Wuthering Heights.

The thing that is most surprising about this story, is that as far as I am concerned - there are very few, if any redeeming characters. The nursemaid and a few others showed some compassion and love, but the main character, Heathcliff, was atrocious. I kept waiting for him to somehow be redeemed, and he was not. He was selfish, blamed the world for his troubles and then pledged to avenge himself by wreaking havoc on even the innocent descendants of his enemies.

Reading the summary above now, I understand it was more of a revenge novel - which would've made me better prepared for the story. But even in a good revenge story - the reader should normally feel that the character is justified in his revenge. The Count of Monte Cristo is about revenge, and I loved that book. I do not think Heathcliff was justified - except perhaps in his revenge against Hindley - and moreover, wasn't really sure what he was so pissed about besides how he was born into the world and that he couldn't marry Catherine. Even as a child, he was described as rough, not too grateful, etc. So what made him this way? Why was he such a compassionless, almost evil, human being? If all his revenge was based on his love for Catherine, why did he treat her daughter, her brother, even Catherine sometimes, with such disgust??

In the end, it was a good story, nice and historical - but was just surprised that the characters were so unsympathetic.

February already...

I feel so old when I feel the need to recognize that "time flies". But it's true. :) Already one month down for 2011. It was a good one. But today was a rare treat for central Texans - snow! And when it snows in central Texas - anything over an inch is pretty much an emergency, blizzard-level type of scenario. Schools were closed, and luckily my company follows the school schedule - so I got a snow day! Snow days at 31 are just as fun as snow days at 8 or 10. And our inch of snow was something to be excited about!

We woke up to the good news that I didn't have work today. This weekend we are two puppies heavy, watching Katy & Peter's pups, Tru and Harry. I took all 3 pups outside at 6:45 and they were so excited! By the second trip outside, Harry and Tru had wised up to how cold the snow is - but Ellie enjoyed all of it! We went back to sleep, played outside more, drove around a bit in our neighborhood (very icy, very slowly) and by noon, most of it had melted away.

We spent our afternoon bowling and now we are relaxing in our very warm home. It truly was a great day.

Ellie enjoying the snow in the early morning.

Harry, realizing that this white stuff is quite cold!

B, playing with Ellie & Tru, yay snow!

Playing again...

So I am playing around again with backgrounds, designs, fonts, pictures, etc. I still can't get my pics to look clear. I need a paint program, I think.

And now, my font on my banner that took forever doesn't really match the new font I chose for my page. So have to work on that again - but my lunch hour is over so back to work.

Maybe I'll have a real post this week. :)

Year in Review...

So I notice a lot of blogs I read are doing a "year in review". I'll give it a shot, in case anyone is interested. Really, this whole blog is in case anyone is interested, which I suppose isn't all that likely. ;)

January
We spent New Year's in town with friends, which was low-key and lovely. On Jan 15, I turned 30!! This was a really fun weekend. B flew in one of my oldest and bestest pals, Abby as a surprise. We had a rental house on the Guadalupe River and a whole slew of friends came out to celebrate with me. It was truly an awesome time. Then, the birthday "presents" kept rolling with my first Patty Griffin concert (changed my life) and a surprise spa weekend from Katy, Kimmer and Angie! It was SO much fun, mucho relaxing and also, muscle toning with our workout class. ;)

(Angie, Katy, Kimmer and I on our spa weekend!)



February
Nothing too exciting in February - I went home one weekend, we had a nice Valentine's Day dinner, some more good friends turned 30 - I got to celebrate with Rita here in Austin on her 30th - we had a lot of fun. And really, that's February.

March
We put an offer and closed on a house this month! There's a chance the offer part was in February, don't remember. We had all that going on in the background, and also enjoyed the SXSW music festival here in Austin. B volunteered to work the festival for the first time, and he loved it! Got a free badge and went to see a lot of shows, and I joined him for some of them. It's a really fun week to be in Austin. On March 31, we closed on our house.

(house looks a little dreary here, but it's quite cute!)

April
We moved into our house on April 2, Good Friday. :) Mine and B's parents met for the first time to help us get all moved in. The first time, and we have been dating 6 years (almost 7 at this point)! So we had the stress of that, moving into a house and some projects that we chose to do immediately (wood flooring) all to deal with on that weekend. And we survived! Our parents liked each other (there really wasn't much doubt) and we got a LOT done. Later in April, we celebrated B's 29th birthday, took a 4 or 5 day trip to Seattle to see 2 of my best friends and all that made for a VERY busy month! We also got to see Anthony Bourdain at the Paramount which was awesome...

May
My lonely month. Brandon went on a trip from May 4 until May 27. He's always wanted to go to SE Asia and the time and opportunity came along in May. Unfortunately, I couldn't go with him due to lack of vacation time. So it was slightly lonely for me (though I had Rita living with me for at least 1/2 of that time he was gone), but he had a great trip! I was very glad he got to go, as much as I selfishly would've preferred to go myself, or just keep him here. ;) Here's a pic of him in Cambodia - he took some great pictures and I got some cool souveneirs!

June
HAWAII! So, in 2009, both of our families (separately) told us they wanted to take us to Hawaii in June 2010. We were able to arrange 2 consecutive weeks - one week with my family, one week with his - so it worked out really well. The first week was with my family (mom, dad, aunt, aunt's partner, brother, niece) in Maui. It was lovely - so nice spending that amount of quality time with my family and the scenery didn't hurt! I had never been to Hawaii and I enjoyed it immensely. The next week, B's family arrived (mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, sister, sister's husband), and we traveled around a bit...met them on Oahu, went to Kauai and ended up back in Maui. This week had a bit more activities (kayaking!) and was equally fun. We were so lucky to be able to do this, and we really had a great time bonding with both of our families!
me & B in Maui...watching a hula show of some sort.

Na Pali Coast

Me & B in Waimea Canyon


July
This month we took it easy - seeing as we just returned from Hawaii. I believe there was some river floating and hanging out with friends - but mostly, pretty tame. Oh and hot as hell. Literally, it was hellishly hot.

August
This month was slightly busy - made a trip to Houston to celebrate B's family's birthdays (all 3 born in August!). I went to yoga a lot - really, that's it again. Another month of taking it easy.

September
September brought with it the beginning of soccer (B plays on a coed team), a quick visit home to see my parent's new pool! and college football. Another fun month - knowing however, that busy months were forthcoming.

October
October was a bit crazier than the past 3 months. We started off with a girls weekend for me in Austin (a pseudo Bachelorette weekend for one of my high school friends) and B fleeing the girls' weekend to visit his friend in Atlanta. The next weekend was ACL, then a weekend at home, then a trip to Houston for B's sister's baby shower, then Halloween!
(pictures in prior posts)

November
November we stayed pretty calm. We did host our first Thanksgiving, which I blogged about. Was really fun, looking forward to doing that again. Also celebrated the birth of our little nephew!
(Thanksgiving pictures in prior post)

December
Finally, December...a wedding in Lubbock (SO much fun!), Christmas parties, 2 Christmases (one in Houston, one in Artesia), back to Austin, good friends in town, New Year's Eve AWESOMENESS...

And here we are...2011. Crazy. Actually, glad I did this, b/c looking back on 2010 makes me realize it was a great year, and we had some big milestones. Looking forward to this year - I hope it is as great or better than the last!