"Wheeling Away Down the Road of Life..."

Chris and I did something wild and crazy yesterday. We purchased bikes! Not those kind of bikes, silly...bicycles!

Since moving to the 'burbs, I've noticed lots of people spending their mornings and afternoons gliding by our house in their bikes. And now that we actually have a garage to put them in, I mentioned the possibility of getting some to Chris. My caring husband quickly obliged and found us the perfect pair!

Introducing the newest additions to our family, please welcome...

Aren't they cute?! I love the vintage look they have! I'll feel like Audrey Hepburn as I zip down my street. ;) And those are the actual Schwinn style names of the bikes (throwing that out there so you don't think Chris and I just named them ourselves...we're cheesy but we're not that bad).

I can't wait to try out my new wheels! Thanks for buying them, babe! :)

PS- The title is indeed from the song, "Daisy Bell"...in case you were wondering.

Remembering My Rock...

Today marks the one year anniversary of my grandmother's passing.

Although she is no longer with us, she is still in my thoughts. It has been kind of rough coping without her. I realize that I took her being a phone call away for granted. How convenient it was to call and talk about my stressful day, or that one time way back when, or about my tire and cavity dilemma (and how I couldn't afford to take care of both). Grandma's solution for the latter issue (with a chuckle): just fill the cavity with bubble gum and spend the money to fix your tire. That is the grandma I remember. She wasn't the elder that slowly lost her wits. Lucky for all of us, it was quite the opposite. Seemed like the older she got, the funnier she became. Sure she got around a little slower than before, but that just gave her more time to keep us up to date on community happenings or the latest Maxine saying. So I just wanted to take a little time to look back on the special woman she was and all the fun times we shared together.

I miss you dearly, grandma. Thank you for the wonderful memories. Love you always.

-Christopher

Visiting Grandma for the weekend at her place in Houston.

29 & Totally Fabulous

So, after much anticipation, Ryan's birthday extravaganza has finally come and gone. Everything turned out fantastic! Her room looked super cute (as shown below), the food was delicious (I'm serious, I can't get over how yummy it was), the guests were awesome and everyone had an amazing time! It was a huge treat to see Ryan so radiant and happy, surrounded by all those she loves and who love her. Chris and I had a blast chatting with her family (I can't believe I hadn't seen her mom, dad and sister in TEN YEARS) and catching up with April and Michelle, some of my old Tigerette (drill team) buddies who were unable to make the reunion. We couldn't have hoped  for a better turnout for our beautiful friend, whom we lovingly call Ray-Anne.

                               The cake!                                     

Everyone enjoying Ryan's signature drink, Ryanmopolitans!

 

                   The beautiful table decor                           

Laughing at the slideshow her sis, Summer, made

Laughing with Ryan and enjoying my tasty drink!   

The birthday gal making her wish...I hope it comes true!

Ryan- you looked gorgeous and so happy. We were honored to be included in your soiree. Everything was perfect and we hope you enjoyed your special night as much as we did! :) We love you!

Sunday:

Chris and I made our regular Austin stop to Hula Hut. I can't rave about that place enough- I absolutely love it! For those of you who haven't heard of it, H.H. is a Tex-Mex restaurant with a little Hawaiian thrown in the mix. The restaurant is located on the lake and has a nice, relaxed vibe. The salsa is probably what I look forward to the most when I visit, but if you don't like things with a touch of sweetness to it, you may not be a Hula Hut fan.

             The entrance to Hula Hut                                         

                                                                      Chris in front of the NEW covered patio

Chris getting ready to dig into his Tubular Taco!

                   

                                                                      I am a member of the "clean plate club" :)

After that, we headed to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. This is a West Coast coffee chain that has the best blended mocha! Ryan informed me a couple months ago that one would be opening in Austin, so I couldn't resist making a pit stop there.

After getting our caffeine fix, Chris and I headed over to Ryan's place to watch her open her gifts and visit with her family a little more. I wish we could've stayed longer, but we headed home at 6:30 PM.

Ryan holding one of her gifts- one of her favorite comedians, Kathy Griffin's, new book! :)

 

So a fun weekend with our terrifc twenty-nine-year-old, Ryan. :)

PS- So, you should all know by now that I love cupcakes. Here's a cupcake stand we found on South Congress~

Recommended Read

So I just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife earlier this week. If you enjoy reading love stories that have a sense of humor and heart but aren't over-the-top sappy...this is a good pick. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I hope it stays true to the book (unlike some other films...). Just know, when you first begin reading this novel, the story is a little far-fetched but it's FICTION so just go with it. ;)

Warning: you WILL cry while reading this...but it's a good cry. :)

Enjoy!

Happy Bithday, Ryan! :)

Just wanted to wish our friend, Ryan, a happy birthday!!! :) Hope you're 29th year is your best yet!

The Long Weekend That Was Too Short

So if you read the novel post below, you know that Chris and I made the drive to Corpus Christi and the Valley this past weekend. Man that drive is a beating! I can't tell you how much I'll appreciate the day when we can teleport like they do in Star Trek. :)

We made it to Corpus close to 3 AM on Friday night, slept in a little and then headed to one of my favorite seafood restaurants, King's Inn, in Baffin Bay, Texas (about an hour outside of Corpus). The funny thing about King's Inn is Chris and I have both been going there since we were kids. I wonder if our paths ever crossed...

After stuffing ourselves silly, we continued our drive to Harlingen. We arrived at Barbara and Lee's house earlier than expected, leaving us with plenty of time to just sit and catch up with them. :) We got the grand  tour of the house they built. They really thought of everything! It is such a beautiful home with so many neat features!

Then it was time to head out to South Padre Island for the reunion. The event was held at Louies Backyard, which is right on the water. The reunion committee really did a great job as far as getting you into the spirit of things. They had a slideshow with old class photos, banners for Harlingen South hung everywhere and just fun decor with their school colors. My favorite part was the video they had playing on the TVs around the room- I was able to see footage of Chris playing baseball and I even saw him walking at his commencement! :) 

Christopher's classmate, Sterling, and Chris after dancing to "Thriller"...just the two of them while the rest of his class and I watched. :)

The Harlingen South Class of 1999

Overall, it was nice to meet some of Chris' classmates and hear stories about their high school days. We ate, drank, laughed and chatted the evening away. As much as I would like to say I can't wait for our next reunions, I can...because that means we'll be OLD by then. ;)

Sunday was awesome! We started with going to lunch with Barbara, Lee and Brian Guerra and Barbara's mom at a Mexican restaurant in Harlingen. The food was great and the company even better. :) After saying our goodbyes, it was time to head back to Corpus.

Lee, Chris, Brian and Barbara

Me, Chris, Brian and Barbara

One of the many fruit/veggie stands on the way out of the Valley

Chris and I went straight to my Aunt Cookie and Uncle Manuel's house for a family BBQ. My little cousin, Allison, came into town from San Antonio, so we were all there- Me, Chris, Mom, Dad, Jason, Alex and Dustin, Allison and my aunt and uncle. We ate, watched a movie, looked at photos from our trip, talked and just had our usual fun time when we're all together. Love it!

Monday Chris went to see his sister, Jamie and his nieces and nephew while I helped my dad run a couple errands. Then it was off to see my Wela (what I call my Grandma on my Dad's side). She's the last grandparent I have left so it's always nice to see her, catch up and lecture her to take it easy. Everyone tells her to let her kids and grandkids do all the "heavy lifting" around the house, but she never listens. I guess that's where I get my stubbornness from... ;)

Me, Shamrock, Wela and Dad

That was it! Chris, Shamrock and I made our way back to Dallas. Like I said, it was a long weekend, but it sure did zoom by...

On the Road Again...

So Chris had been going back and forth on whether he wanted to attend his high school reunion this weekend. Many of his good friends won't be attending, so that made him question if the drive was really worth our time.

To add to the "no, let's not worry about it" column, Chris got sick this week. I guess all the late nights, early mornings and spending a day or two in wet clothes from the couple big downpours we encountered on our trip led to him not feeling so well.

So on Wednesday Chris went to the doctor and luckily found it wasn't anything serious. He was prescribed two medications to help with the symptoms from the virus. One of the prescriptions caused dizziness and drowsiness, so he opted to stay and work from home on Thursday to 1) not spread the virus to his coworkers and 2) make sure he was able to rest when he needed to in order to get well. It was at that point he made the decision that it would be best for us to skip out on this year's reunion (or so I thought).

Thankfully Chris was feeling much better when I arrived from work last night. We ate hotdogs and I watched two NCAA games marking the kickoff to the college football season (YIPPIE!!!!) while Chris nodded off at around 9 PM. I asked him quite a few times before he went to sleep if he was sure he didn't want to go this weekend. I even made him send messages to his old classmates to see if others had changed their minds and were now attending.

I guess him feeling well, coupled with the thought of missing out on what could be a lot of fun with old friends, made him change his mind because this morning I was awakened by Chris with, "So, I changed my mind...we're going." So there you have it, folks! Chris and I are off to South Padre Island for the weekend.

We'll be stopping in CC tonight to sleep and drop off Shamrock and continuing our drive to Harlingen on Saturday (and also making a pit stop to King's Inn- WOO! HOO!). Barbara and Lee Guerra, Christopher's close family friends (and now mine, too), are nice enough to allow us to stay at their house in Harlingen on Saturday night, so we're making a stop there, getting ready and then heading out to South Padre for the main event! Sunday we'll be heading back to Corpus and having dinner with my family and seeing my cousin, Alex, and her husband, Dustin's, new house and then it's back to Dallas on Monday.

Whew! I'm tired just writing about this weekend! I hope all of you have a fun Labor Day weekend! Since we'll be driving a zillion miles and visiting with friends and family, I highly doubt I'll have time to fill all of you in about our vacation so ignore the previous post from earlier this morning- I promise I'll get to it when I have a spare second! Have a great one! :)