Can you guess what I gave Kendra and Patrick? Hint: the charm.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Halloween Decor
Decorating for Halloween
I have much more respect for spiders after hanging these webs today.
Boo!
Preston's plan to keep the pups from eating the candy out of the centerpiece.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Chili Cook Off
Chili cook off at work today!
Hoping my broccoli cornbread wins one of these cute awards. :)
This guy won "Best in Show". :)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
bugs, babies, balloons and bandits
On Friday we went to a gender-reveal party and while I was catching up with a friend from college a bug flew up my dress and bit me on my stomach. At first I thought it was a bee and shook my dress violently hoping it would fly out but since I was wearing a maxi dress that fell to my feet, he was trapped and relanded on my hip where I used my ninja senses to catch him, through my dress. So I was pinching my dress and holding this monster while excusing myself and simultaneously giving Preston the "I need to speak to you inside NOW" look and marching quickly toward the restroom. Inside Preston and I devised our plan of capture. I was already holding the demon bug but I didn't know if he was alive or dead and was afraid if I let go he might attack again and this time he would be ANGRY. I also did not want to smash him with my dress because that is disgusting. So Preston took a towel and trapped him from underneath and I let go and he smooshed it in his towel and opened it up to discover a half bee half grasshopper maybe a quarter cricket with fangs. And to make matters worse, I still got bug juice on my dress. The good news is, I don't have West Nile…yet. Oh, and it's a boy! (The baby not the bug.)
On Sunday we went with our friends Amanda and Carlos to the Plano Balloon Festival. I have tried twice to go to hot air balloon festivals and both times the balloon flights were cancelled due to the weather. This time the weather was perfect and the balloons were incredible! I guess I didn't realize how big they actually are. They look so small in the sky!
On our way home from the event we saw the owners packing up one of the balloons that had landed on the side of the highway. I don't know if that spot was pre-determined but how terrifying would it be to slowly land near a four-lane high traffic DFW highway? I can't imagine what the people in cars were thinking when that thing started to fall slowly towards them.
Hey remember that time we found someone sleeping in our house? Well this story takes place directly across the creek…
Last night we went to The Heard's house to decorate for my cousin's upcoming nuptials. I love that my aunt can send out an email to the family and everybody shows up to help, no questions asked. Of course, she did bribe us with steak, salad, mashed potatoes and homemade ice cream but hey, it worked. We hung lights around and over their tennis courts and lanterns in the trees leading into the reception area. Halfway through the night while we were stringing lights above the dance floor I glanced over to see what looked like someone dressed as a police officer and kept trying to place him in the family until I finally realized he actually WAS a police officer. He held up his flashlight and asked "have any of you seen a man run through here?" And my response was "WHAT?!" He repeated himself and explained that someone had broken into one of the businesses behind my aunt and uncle's lot and then fled and the police were still searching for him. This particular cop had noticed a path to my aunt and uncle's property and thought it was possible he had fled our direction. So then we looked around to make sure everyone that was helping hang lights were actually family because, you know, it was really dark. After he walked away we all thought maybe we should have had him check the house across the street since people love to sleep over there unannounced.
On Sunday we went with our friends Amanda and Carlos to the Plano Balloon Festival. I have tried twice to go to hot air balloon festivals and both times the balloon flights were cancelled due to the weather. This time the weather was perfect and the balloons were incredible! I guess I didn't realize how big they actually are. They look so small in the sky!
On our way home from the event we saw the owners packing up one of the balloons that had landed on the side of the highway. I don't know if that spot was pre-determined but how terrifying would it be to slowly land near a four-lane high traffic DFW highway? I can't imagine what the people in cars were thinking when that thing started to fall slowly towards them.
Hey remember that time we found someone sleeping in our house? Well this story takes place directly across the creek…
Last night we went to The Heard's house to decorate for my cousin's upcoming nuptials. I love that my aunt can send out an email to the family and everybody shows up to help, no questions asked. Of course, she did bribe us with steak, salad, mashed potatoes and homemade ice cream but hey, it worked. We hung lights around and over their tennis courts and lanterns in the trees leading into the reception area. Halfway through the night while we were stringing lights above the dance floor I glanced over to see what looked like someone dressed as a police officer and kept trying to place him in the family until I finally realized he actually WAS a police officer. He held up his flashlight and asked "have any of you seen a man run through here?" And my response was "WHAT?!" He repeated himself and explained that someone had broken into one of the businesses behind my aunt and uncle's lot and then fled and the police were still searching for him. This particular cop had noticed a path to my aunt and uncle's property and thought it was possible he had fled our direction. So then we looked around to make sure everyone that was helping hang lights were actually family because, you know, it was really dark. After he walked away we all thought maybe we should have had him check the house across the street since people love to sleep over there unannounced.
Hanging lights. I told you it was dark.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
ifttt
I've discovered two things lately that have kept me away from this blog: Instagram and Revenge (the tv show) but thanks to ifttt.com, I will be able to at least share my photos with you automatically every time I post to Instagram. If you're hip with the social media crowd (i.e. you have a blog, Facebook, Intstagram, Twitter, etc.), you should definitely look into ifttt (If This, Then That). It is pretty amazing and will change your life (no really it will). Here's an explanation of how it works because The Times will probably explain it better than I can.
So far, Iffttt is posting my Instagram photos to this blog, sending me reminders via text message of all the birthdays on my calendar and automatically saving all Facebook photos I am tagged in to Dropbox, but the possibilities are endless.
Now as for Revenge, I'm not proud of it, but Preston and I have watched the entire first season in one week. We. Can't. Stop. (This is your fault Brittany). I am losing sleep over it. No lie. I don't know what I am going to do when the second season starts and we have to wait an entire week for each episode. My coworkers think I resemble main character, what do you think?
So far, Iffttt is posting my Instagram photos to this blog, sending me reminders via text message of all the birthdays on my calendar and automatically saving all Facebook photos I am tagged in to Dropbox, but the possibilities are endless.
Now as for Revenge, I'm not proud of it, but Preston and I have watched the entire first season in one week. We. Can't. Stop. (This is your fault Brittany). I am losing sleep over it. No lie. I don't know what I am going to do when the second season starts and we have to wait an entire week for each episode. My coworkers think I resemble main character, what do you think?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
the puppy cottage
So Preston built the pups a dog house. It shouldn't even be called a "house" because it is really more of a "cottage" but nonetheless, it is a home for dogs. Now before you get all judgy about us leaving our dogs outside, you should know that #1, we only leave them out when it is a reasonable temperature (under 115 degrees) (Kidding. We only leave them out when you can't fry eggs on the pavement) and #2, our dogs sleep in our bed with us ON MY PILLOW so don't act all concerned for their safety because they're just fine.
This project was quite tedious. Building a dog cottage is not for the faint-hearted. We (I) wanted the house to have a hinged roof so that we could open it and clean it out or redecorate or you know there is just really no reason why it SHOULDN'T have a hinged roof except that Preston had to redo the roof twice in order to make it happen. Preston did mostly everything. I picked the design and helped paint. At the end I helped hold the house so that Preston could drill feet into the bottom but I almost fainted from nausea so I had to go lay down and rest before balancing the other side on my hip so he could finish drilling holes. He would want me to tell you that drilling holes probably took about about 60 seconds to complete on both sides.
The inside of the cottage has a wainscot of bead board paneling and painted gray walls. I would like to point out the fact that the bead board was actually Preston's idea which he quickly regretted the moment it left his mouth. We had extra bead board from our kitchen remodel and when he mentioned using it to line the entire interior wall of the dog cottage, I decided to make his idea even better and do wainscot with with bead board and grey walls to reflect modern day cottage interior design. I am confident Preston had many more genius ideas after this but failed to mention them to me for fear that I would help "make them better".
Which brings us to the night Preston completed the cottage and we attempted to take it to the backyard. Preston set up shop in our garage and since our back yard is a mere 5 feet away, he was confident I could help him move the cottage from the garage to the backyard. I was also confident until I realized that the last time we had lifted the cottage it was without a roof and this time, it was at least 100 lbs. heavier than before (give or take a few hundred pounds). So we lifted it about two inches and I realized it was beyond my control and we set it down immediately. Then we pondered how we were going to move the house because I was determined that we claim our garage back for its intended purpose: as a car cottage. I suggested we lift the dog cottage onto a piece of insulation Preston had used to line the walls of the cottage (I'm telling you, this is a serious home for dogs) and push the cottage to the back yard gate where I could help lift it over a 6 inch step and then push it the rest of the way to its intended destination. This worked well until we reach the step. Again, Preston overestimated my strength as well as my ability to remain calm. We began to lift and admittedly, this time I overestimated my strength and panicked as soon as I was standing upright which is not the best time to panic. I think Preston sensed my distress (this is what happens when you've been married for 5 years, you can just sense how your spouse is feeling, you don't even have to ask) but Preston did ask "Are you ok" and I said 'NOCANWESETITDOWN?!" and so as we slowly set it down my life flashed before my eyes and then you know that point when you're holding something really heavy and you're either going to risk losing all your fingers or drop the object and break it? Well that's where I was and I did not want to drop the cottage masterpiece that Preston had spent weeks perfecting but I also did not want to lose any fingers because I have grown quite attached to all of them, even the one with a rash from my wedding ring, so as all of this was registering in my head internally I actually quite calmly (thinking back now I was probably too calm because Preston wasn't in much of a rush to come help) said "Can you help me?" and before Preston could make it to my side I dropped the cottage, lost my balance and went tumbling down our sloped driveway to my death. In reality, it was more of a slight roll backwards into happy baby yoga position but it felt like I was rolling down the driveway and I just knew I was going to crack my head open on the 6 inch concrete step leading into our backyard. I immediately began laugh-crying which quickly turned into just crying once I realized how close I was to death and then embarrassment and then anger BUT I was still determined that we move that cottage into the backyard mostly because at this point it would have been just as hard to move the cottage back over the 1 inch step leading into the garage. So I remembered we had moving circles typically used for moving furniture on either hard wood floor or carpet but I decided they could work just as well on concrete and to our relief, they did. So we scootched (scootched, not skooted. Autocorrect tried to fix this for me, but you and I both know scootched is a word) the cottage to the 6 inch step, Preston lifted and pulled while I pushed (and then he asked me to stop because I was doing it wrong) and then Preston scootched the dog house to its rightful location in the backyard. So in conclusion, I need Preston for his muscles and he needs me for my brain and between the two of us, WE CAN move a dog cottage from the garage to the backyard. YES WE CAN! (This is in no way in reference to any political campaign slogans from any certain candidates in the past decade. It simply works for me today on this blog.)
So without further ado, please admire the most beautiful dog cottage you ever did see.
Patti and Selma love their new cottage. I might have thrown some food, several bones and chocolate in there to get these pictures but I am sure they love it. (I did not throw chocolate in the dog house. I said "might have thrown…chocolate" but I didn't. Chocolate makes puppy stomachs explode. Everybody knows that.)
You should also note that the flower pot on the puppy cottage doorstep in the first picture has been destroyed. This is why we can't have nice things.
This project was quite tedious. Building a dog cottage is not for the faint-hearted. We (I) wanted the house to have a hinged roof so that we could open it and clean it out or redecorate or you know there is just really no reason why it SHOULDN'T have a hinged roof except that Preston had to redo the roof twice in order to make it happen. Preston did mostly everything. I picked the design and helped paint. At the end I helped hold the house so that Preston could drill feet into the bottom but I almost fainted from nausea so I had to go lay down and rest before balancing the other side on my hip so he could finish drilling holes. He would want me to tell you that drilling holes probably took about about 60 seconds to complete on both sides.
The inside of the cottage has a wainscot of bead board paneling and painted gray walls. I would like to point out the fact that the bead board was actually Preston's idea which he quickly regretted the moment it left his mouth. We had extra bead board from our kitchen remodel and when he mentioned using it to line the entire interior wall of the dog cottage, I decided to make his idea even better and do wainscot with with bead board and grey walls to reflect modern day cottage interior design. I am confident Preston had many more genius ideas after this but failed to mention them to me for fear that I would help "make them better".
Which brings us to the night Preston completed the cottage and we attempted to take it to the backyard. Preston set up shop in our garage and since our back yard is a mere 5 feet away, he was confident I could help him move the cottage from the garage to the backyard. I was also confident until I realized that the last time we had lifted the cottage it was without a roof and this time, it was at least 100 lbs. heavier than before (give or take a few hundred pounds). So we lifted it about two inches and I realized it was beyond my control and we set it down immediately. Then we pondered how we were going to move the house because I was determined that we claim our garage back for its intended purpose: as a car cottage. I suggested we lift the dog cottage onto a piece of insulation Preston had used to line the walls of the cottage (I'm telling you, this is a serious home for dogs) and push the cottage to the back yard gate where I could help lift it over a 6 inch step and then push it the rest of the way to its intended destination. This worked well until we reach the step. Again, Preston overestimated my strength as well as my ability to remain calm. We began to lift and admittedly, this time I overestimated my strength and panicked as soon as I was standing upright which is not the best time to panic. I think Preston sensed my distress (this is what happens when you've been married for 5 years, you can just sense how your spouse is feeling, you don't even have to ask) but Preston did ask "Are you ok" and I said 'NOCANWESETITDOWN?!" and so as we slowly set it down my life flashed before my eyes and then you know that point when you're holding something really heavy and you're either going to risk losing all your fingers or drop the object and break it? Well that's where I was and I did not want to drop the cottage masterpiece that Preston had spent weeks perfecting but I also did not want to lose any fingers because I have grown quite attached to all of them, even the one with a rash from my wedding ring, so as all of this was registering in my head internally I actually quite calmly (thinking back now I was probably too calm because Preston wasn't in much of a rush to come help) said "Can you help me?" and before Preston could make it to my side I dropped the cottage, lost my balance and went tumbling down our sloped driveway to my death. In reality, it was more of a slight roll backwards into happy baby yoga position but it felt like I was rolling down the driveway and I just knew I was going to crack my head open on the 6 inch concrete step leading into our backyard. I immediately began laugh-crying which quickly turned into just crying once I realized how close I was to death and then embarrassment and then anger BUT I was still determined that we move that cottage into the backyard mostly because at this point it would have been just as hard to move the cottage back over the 1 inch step leading into the garage. So I remembered we had moving circles typically used for moving furniture on either hard wood floor or carpet but I decided they could work just as well on concrete and to our relief, they did. So we scootched (scootched, not skooted. Autocorrect tried to fix this for me, but you and I both know scootched is a word) the cottage to the 6 inch step, Preston lifted and pulled while I pushed (and then he asked me to stop because I was doing it wrong) and then Preston scootched the dog house to its rightful location in the backyard. So in conclusion, I need Preston for his muscles and he needs me for my brain and between the two of us, WE CAN move a dog cottage from the garage to the backyard. YES WE CAN! (This is in no way in reference to any political campaign slogans from any certain candidates in the past decade. It simply works for me today on this blog.)
So without further ado, please admire the most beautiful dog cottage you ever did see.
Do not be deceived. Selma was doing everything she could to avoid taking these pictures.
Although it appears as though Selma is talking to me here, she is actually gnawing on a treat.
Thank you, Patti, for this sweet, pensive photo of you loving your new cottage.
Shortly after this photo, Selma fled through the window because I would not allow her to leave through the front door because WE ARE TAKING A PICTURE AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!
PATTI SIT STILL!
Patti and Selma love their new cottage. I might have thrown some food, several bones and chocolate in there to get these pictures but I am sure they love it. (I did not throw chocolate in the dog house. I said "might have thrown…chocolate" but I didn't. Chocolate makes puppy stomachs explode. Everybody knows that.)
You should also note that the flower pot on the puppy cottage doorstep in the first picture has been destroyed. This is why we can't have nice things.
Monday, September 10, 2012
baby panda sneezes
The Olympics
Our friend Erin had an Olympics party. I encouraged Preston to wear a costume and after much discussion ("You're no fun. Why don't you ever want to dress up?! Fine don't dress up. I don't need you." Silent treatment.) he wore a Polo shirt and threw a towel over his shoulder and said he was water polo. I had a soccer jersey from when I studying abroad in England that I wore with Preston's soccer cleats and shin guards. Erin blogged about the party here and someone talked during the first picture (me) while someone else doesn't understand the meaning of an "action shot photo" (Preston).
Horseshoe Bay
I went with college friends for a reunion at one of the girl's lake houses at Horseshoe Bay. We talked, cooked, swam, laid out, did our make-up and called deer. I have so many great stories from that weekend but what happens at girls' weekend stays at girls' weekend so instead, enjoy these photos...
And this video of Amy's deer-calling. It actually really did work.
Restaurant Week(s)
I went to two restaurants with Preston and one with friends. The first week we went to The Mansion on Turtle Creek and upon arrival were greeted by the Secret Service (not really, but they were wearing ear-pieces so maybe...). The Mansion is a 5-star restaurant and although we were treated as though we were royalty I am confident the waiter probably made more money in a month than I do in a year. The food wasn't our favorite either. I mean, it wasn't by any means disgusting except for the nasty tomato juice/salsa shot they forced us to drink between the appetizer and main course. It wasn't that bad if I dipped my bread it and held my nose as I swallowed. Preston insisted I did not need to finish it but I was determined to
sophisticate my pallet especially because our neighbors thought it was the best thing they'd ever tasted and I just knew that if I kept drinking it my tastebuds would change their minds but alas, they most certainly did not. The waiter picked up our nearly-full tomato juice shot glasses with a look of shock that we hadn't drained them and begged for more.Our meal for the night was as follows:
Starter- Confit Pork Belly summer peach relish, mustard seed condiment, spicy greens
Entrée- Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder crisp potato gnocchi, seared dinosaur kale, merguez sausage
Dessert- poached bing cherry, kirsch cream, chocolate biscuit, tart cherry sorbe
Again, it was good but 5-Star good? Nah.
The next week Preston and I went to Al Biernat's. Supposedly celebrities frequent this restaurant when they are in town so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It took us about three weeks to figure out how to pronounce Al Biernat's because we had heard it pronounced "Beer-knots" and "Burr-Nays". For the record, it's the latter. I liked the atmosphere better here than at The Mansion (not as hoity-toity). In fact, the table next to us was a trio of high school boys who played games on their iPhones throughout dinner and didn't even order off the Restaurant Week menu. The waiter would not allow us to share so Preston and I each got our own meals. My dessert was OUT OF THIS WORLD good. I can't remember exactly what the menu was but here's what we ordered without all the fancy mumbo jumbo:
Preston's Meal
Starter- Escargo and Tortellini. The waiter's recommendation (he assured us they would not be slimy) and it was delicious if you were able to forget for 5 minutes that you were eating snails.
Entree- Pork Chops
Dessert- Chocolate cake with cookie ice cream
My Meal
Starter- A really good mixed greens salad
Entree- Steak
Dessert- Coconut Cream Pie
We more than enjoyed our food from Al's (that's what the cool people call it) and recommend it for anyone looking for a fancy night out.
The last week of Restaurant Week I went to Dragonfly restaurant at the Hotel Zaza with my college girlfriends. We were seated in the our own room, which also happened to be the wine room. Periodically waiters would come in to seek a bottle of wine for their customers. My meal was as follows:
Starter-Warm Corn Soup
Central Market 4th Course- Scallops, which probably would have been good if I liked scallops.
Entrée- Tenderloin
Dessert- Some sort of Oreo ice cream pie
The soup was good but overwhelming by the time I finished it. The tenderloin and Oreo pie were very good.
I call this photo "Demon Eyes".
Lego Land
Preston's brother's family came to visit and we swam, ate at the Rainforest Cafe, watched The Little Mermaid (The twins had never seen it. Atosha and I, on the other hand, knew every word) and spent the day at Lego Land. Atosha told me that as they were driving into Dallas (at night) that the kids had their faces pressed against the car window and couldn't believe how beautiful all the lights were downtown. My niece and nephew have grown up in College Station and now live in a beautiful farm house in the country so big city lights are a new experience.
Too cool. Tats and all.
Helping make legos.
Ready?
Celebrated Anna and Spencer's wedding...
The wind gusted giving me a deceivingly nice-shaped rear.
Brittany's grand entrance.
The most beautiful wedding cake I have ever seen (also VERY tasty).
Ann Marie and I (Fun fact: we were cheerleader co-captains together in high school. Fun fact #2: Ann Marie is a twin girl and she is pregnant with twin girls!)
Decorated for an airplane-themed birthday party (THE NEXT DAY. I die.)...
Surfed Labor Day weekend...
Went to Fashion Night Out at Northpark...
This was just one of the food displays at Neimans. YUM.
Guess how much candy for a $2,500 Neimans gift card! I guess I lost because they never called me.
Fossil friends! Please note my floating right hand holding a cupcake at the top left of this photo.
And laughed so hard at this video we were both crying. I am not even exaggerating y'all. I was wiping tears off my face for a good five minutes.
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