What a Weekend

So this past weekend was quite whirlwind! We were go, go, go everyday so it made the whole weekend just zip right on by.

The craziness kicked off on Thursday when hubby's sis, her husband and three kiddos came in town and stayed with us for the night. The rest of his family (his mom, his middle sis, her husband and their son) joined us for dinner and dancing. Dancing was provided courtesy of Just Dance 3 on Wii. Our living room was the stage for a kid vs. adult dance off (which the adults won, by the way).

Friday was an errand evening for me and Chris. When we arrived home after work, it was already almost 8:30 PM. After that, I started making my nieces and oldest nephew a couple of back-to-school gifts. All the kids received a bag of Swedish Fish with a note saying "You're O-FISH-ally in ___ grade!" My oldest niece is headed to 5th grade (in her school district, 5th grade is at the intermediate level) so she'll have her first real locker. We decided to buy a mirror for her new space with a note that said, "Life is like a mirror- smile at it and it will smile back at you," along with a little note wishing her a great year. The other two are still in elementary, but we didn't want them to feel less important, so we gave them each a set of pencils saying, "You're so sharp," as well as a wish for an awesome year. We got the the fish and the pencil idea from Pinterest, so I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. ;) You would think making something like that wouldn't take very long, but we didn't finish everything until almost 1 AM. I'm so sad I forgot to take a photo, but I'll ask my sis-in-law for pics when she gives the gifts to the kids on their first day of school next week. :)

Saturday was our youngest nephew's 2nd birthday. He's a huge Toy Story fan so that was his party's theme this year. Since Chris and I were Woody and Jesse for Halloween in 2008, we decided to reprise our roles for this special occasion-

Chris and I with our smaller versions

Sadly, our little surprise did not go over so well with the birthday boy, but the other kids in the play park seemed to enjoy us. :) We had a few kids come over and talk to us and a couple people ask to take photos. It was definitely a fun, memorable experience and we're both glad we did it.

I took some photos of the party and will hopefully post them here soon. Happy 2nd birthday, Jack! :)

After the party, we made our way over to Great Wolf Lodge, a family indoor waterpark resort, to continue our family time.

We started out in the cabana his sis rented by the pool and then Chris went to play pool basketball with our oldest nephew while I hung with our nieces and watched them collect bubbles in the hot tub.Unfortunately, a storm hit our area, so we had to head indoors. This just gave us time for the MagiQuest with the kids. This particular adventure has taken them three visits at Great Wolf to complete. But, in order to finish the adventure, you must defeat the dragon-

Chris and Julianne making their first attempt

After our quest, we had a couple more hours of quality time. We ate, laughed and rapped (yes, you read that correctly) before Chris and I headed home.

Sunday brought a brunch date with the Linvilles. We met Angeleque, Hunter and Hunter's parents at one of our favorite haunts, Oddfellows. We love seeing Hunter's parents because they're such warm, sweet people who are just nice to be around. :)

As an added bonus, we got to meet up with our friend, Suzanne, and brave the crowds at the mall during tax-free weekend. For all the hype, it really wasn't that crowded this year. And after a long day, we ended it with a quick trip to Velvet Taco for my new favorite snack, corn cups-

YUM!

So that was our crazy, full-of-fun, exhausting weekend. It was fun, but now is time for rest. Have a great week, all!

Friday Surprise

Today, I was the lucky recipient of a sweet surprise gift from my best friend, Jamie. She and I have been official "best friends" since the 7th grade. We have gone through so much over the past few years, but Jamie is about to embark on a new chapter in her life: motherhood. As her best friend, I, of course, wanted to throw her the perfect baby shower (which you'll see later when I finally get around to uploading the photos). As a thank you, she sent me this-

Seriously, how cute is that? A whole package filled with uber-fun goodies. I have to admit, this put me in the best mood today and made me smile from ear-to-ear. My dear friend is about two weeks away from her due date, so the fact that she made the time to go out and get all of this, pack it up and ship it to me in her current state made it all the more special. Thanks, Jamie, for this amazingly thoughtful gift!

Besties and the "bump"

Old Habits

So obviously old habits die hard. I guess you could call neglecting this blog a bad habit, right? So I must apologize (as I have every year since launching this blog three years ago) for not writing more like I promised  in January. Not that this is a great excuse, but life has been a little hectic. For what it's worth, I have thought about blogging...I just haven't sat down and actually done it.
Well, fear not, friends! I'm back and ready to write (I hope). I've been up to quite a bit and will share a few of this year's past events soon. For now, I just wanted to say hello and let you know I'm still alive and able to write.
Be back sooooon!

Operation Renovation- 2012

So this past week was a first for us- our first home renovation! We painted a few rooms and added wallpaper last year, but we haven't made any major changes (like cutting into walls!) since we purchased our home. Like most people who buy a house they didn't design, we have had a few things we wanted to improve since we moved in. One of the first places we wanted to make a change was in our master bathroom. Here is what it looked like Wednesday morning:

As you can see, we had quite a few items sitting on the vanity simply because it was the only storage available in the room. We have another cabinet, but it's filled with towels and is not the most convenient place to house toothbrushes and face products…since it's over the toilet. ;) Chris and I decided medicine cabinets would be the perfect solution to this issue. Here's a photo of our bathroom one more time, but without anything in it-

So Wednesday morning at 9:30 AM, the work began. Chris was able to work from home so he could supervise and document the progress. Here are a couple of shots of the work being done-

Cutting into the wall for the medicine cabinets

Prepping for the new ceiling light

We also had work done in the upstairs guest bathroom and added a few outlets throughout the house as well. Here is a before shot of the guest bathroom before and while it was worked on-

The work continued into Thursday and Chris was able to continue to work from home. Unfortunately, the work was not completed as planned and spilled into Friday. Thankfully Christopher's sis, our brother-in-law and nephew were able to monitor the work for us since we couldn't stay home ourselves. I have to say, even though the project went fairly smoothly, the whole process was still stressful. I am SO glad the job is done and happy to report the outcome was (almost) exactly how we envisioned. Here are the end results-

Master bath

Guest Bath

I say the outcome was almost exactly as envisioned because we discovered we need a double sconce in the master instead of the single in between the medicine cabinets and we will need a little more work on the upstairs bath wall texture in a couple of spots. Nothing major, though, so overall we are very pleased with the results. We are relieved our first contractor experience was not a poor one and are better prepared for the next time…because there will be a next time. ;)

Happy Hearts

Yesterday was, what many refer to as, the "most romantic day of the year." I like the fact that there's a day dedicated to expressing love to those in your life…even if you should be doing that on a daily basis. ;) And I don't think it needs to just be a significant other's love celebrated, but those important to you as well (Chris and I sent Valentine's to all of our family members to remind them we love them, too).

This year, I decided to surprise my wonderful hubby with a little something sweet at his office. I ordered a dozen Bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes and delivered them to him during my lunch hour. Here's my handsome hub with his Valentine's day treat-

Not the best angle of my Valentine (in his opinion), but you can see his gift.

Bundtinis! White chocolate and red velvet- Christopher's two favorite flavors.

Of course, Chris knows the key to my heart is my stomach and he brought home these fabulous desserts from one of my favorite Dallas bakeries-

Yum!

Since Valentine's fell on a Tuesday, Chris and I decided we would rather pick up dinner (ordered to-go from Brio) and celebrate the evening together at home. To be honest, even is Valentine's fell on a weekend, I don't think I would have wanted to celebrate it any other way. I am so thankful for my amazingly charming, thoughtful, sweet, handsome, caring, funny Valentine and could not imagine being any luckier.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day! And, as I wished all my friends on Facebook, I think it's important to remind everyone- whether you're in a relationship or not, you are loved. :)

Veggie Tale

So, as of late September, Chris and I have made the choice to no longer eat meat. It all started with a photo I took of Shamrock on my phone. He was laying on his back and had his legs in the air. In this particular photo, his little back legs resembled chicken wings! At that moment, it struck me and this picture sums it up-

I immediately began doing research on how to become a vegetarian and what steps I needed to take to do so. After reading a few articles, I called Chris and informed him of my decision and explained my rationale. Of course, being the amazing hubby he is, Chris promised to support me. I did not intend to stop eating meat "cold-turkey" initially. However, once that realization hit me, I no longer wanted to eat another animal. After a few days, Chris joined me in this journey and we've been meat-free since. To be clear, I'm not sharing this to convert anyone to vegetarianism. This blog is a window to our life and, since September, this has been a big change in our lives so I wanted to share. I do not know if this choice will become a permanent one, but, when I see the photo above, I certainly hope it does.

It All Started With a Question

12 years ago, Chris asked me something no other guy (outside of elementary school) had ever asked me. That very question was, "Will you be my girlfriend?" It was such a sweet moment. Me being me, however, I couldn't help but laugh because it was so unexpected. Not that I didn't see us being exclusive, I just didn't anticipate him actually asking me to be his girlfriend. It was almost as if he asked if I wanted to go steady. ;)  I, obviously, said yes and the rest is history. I love celebrating this anniversary, almost more than our wedding anniversary since this is where it all began. I will always cherish the moment that skinny, funny guy asked me to be his girlfriend in my dorm room…and then headed to Mexico with his fraternity. Yup, true story. At least I knew he wouldn't do anything silly. After all, he was my boyfriend. ;) Happy 12 years together, babe! I love you! :)