Christmas Menu

I feel a tradition starting...  This year for the holidays we are kind of all over the place.  We've made an art of balancing all the family and friends we see when we come back to our home town.   This year Christmas is not giving us any buffer time since it lands on the weekend.  We will be celebrating the holiday with the Walker family this week, then heading up to Nebraska for my huge family Christmas.  I am pretty excited to see my family up there. Last year a huge snow storm kept us apart.  Then we will go back to Lawrence and finish up our trip there. 

I love the trend we have started with the Walker fam.  What sounds better than waking up and making breakfast in your pj's and opening presents?  Nothing.  We did this last year and will be continuing those plans this year. 

     {Menu}

• Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
• Savory Bacon and Eggs
• My mom's Coffee Cake (I'm attempting to make this year)
• Fresh Fruit
• And how could you forget Mimosas!  

I have to share a few pictures of ordimants that can be found on the Walker Christmas tree - I love my hubby!

Love B

P.S. Bella is pretty much in heaven with all the new pups that she has gotten to meet so far on the trip.  So far loving her first Christmas!! 

Revamp of our Master Closet

Very exciting news...  My dad accepted a great job opportunity down in Austin that begins January 1st.  I can not tell you how happy I am that they finally are moving down here!  I've been actively on them to move since we arrived almost three years ago.  Mom will be staying in Lawrence for a little bit, but will be moved down here before long. 

That said, until my mom gets officially moved, we are excited to have my dad stay with us for a few months.  All I know is that my carpet is going to be so clean!!  (He loves to vacuum)  Since we moved into our house, and immediately started remodeling our bathroom, we have not been able to use our master closet either.  It had some water damage from the shower leak and needed a little revamping anyways.  I have been using the extra room's closet, while D has been keeping his clothes in the hall closet.  Can I just say how happy I will be to be able to have everything in it's place.  I like things organized, and this has not been working for me. 

So before the holidays got here, we wanted to get the closet done.  I measured the walls, and using Ikea furniture, I came up with a design for the space.  I wanted to utilize all the wall space that I could, and I think we found a fit that I will really enjoy.  It's not done yet, but here is a video of what it is in it's current stage.  We still need bars put up and the top shelves.  I am talking in the video and  I always hate listening to myself on recordings.  Silly I know, but it gives you a little preview. 

Ikea also has options to make some of the spaces either drawers or put doors on them.  I also plan on using baskets that can be placed in the spaces as well.  Since we have such a large closet, I am hoping to fit everything in there and not need a dresser in our bedroom.  I can not wait to see the end result!!

My DIY project for the closet was a small ottoman seat for in there.  I am not quite finished, but will post pictures once it's done. 

On a side note, since we were driving all night we got to watch the whole lunar eclipse last night.  Amazing to see.  I never have seen anything quite like it.  So pretty and not something you see everyday. 

Only a few more days until Christmas!!!!
Love B

Sneak Peek of Bathroom Updates

This holiday season has snuck up on me and it doesn't help how busy we have been lately.  Did I mention our crazy idea to completely redo our mater bathroom.  Oh yeah, that. :o)  Well it's still not done, but I had to share a few sneak peek pictures of the major changes so far.  They aren't the best pictures since I took them with my iPhone, but let me know what you think!

 We just put the vanity in last night.  We still need the mirrors up, but so far it's looking good! 

 Little wider view of that wall.

 The shower floor we put in pebble stones! Can't wait to try that one out.  Oh, the walls aren't red, they just haven't been tiled yet and what you see is the moisture barrier.

Did I mention that we have TWO working toilets in the house finally!!  Oh and check out the pretty slate floor.  

Yay for getting things done! 

Love B

Baby it's cold outside

As a tradition, every year D and I take time out of our crazy holiday schedule and drive around and look at the Christmas lights.  I immediately break out the Christmas music and start singing along as soon as we get in the car.  This year we made it even more fun and brought the pups.  Although the majority of the time, Bella was sleeping in the back, she did wake up for the better lights.

It really hasn't gotten that cold here, but on Sunday night the low was in the 30s.  For me this is cold!  We drove around our neighborhood and then headed out to find some new lights we hadn't seen.  We explored the 'richer' areas of Austin and found some pretty amazing displays of lights.  I will share a few that we saw, but of course, the pictures don't do them justice.  We ended the night with a drive on 37th street, which if you live in Austin and haven't seen this street, GO! It's quite funny the things people use for their displays on that street.  We also hit up the Zilker park tree of lights, but I was super bummed this year that the Trail of Lights no longer would happen.

 This was one of the first really crazy houses we came upon.  SOO many lights.  Like I said, the picture does not do it justice.  

 This tree was amazing.  I had to share 2 pictures of it. 

 There were so many lights that it was just illuminating like crazy. Love it. 

 Bella loving having her head out the window - even if it was 35 degrees out. 

 The Tree of Lights.  So pretty.  What you are supposed to do is stand under the middle of it and spin.  It makes you nice and dizzy! 

 They had these silly cut-outs that we had to stand behind.  D is not smiling and Bella is looking at me, but I had to put it in here.  

Scott and Apollo's is way better.  Silly boys.

Typically the evening consists of some yummy coffee, but this year I decided to go for hot coco.  I had made Snickerdoodle cookies earlier in the day and bought some vanilla ice cream.  When we got home from the lights, we made ice cream cookie sandwiches and hot coco with a scoop of ice cream.

 I didn't make the ice cream, but definitely will try it with homemade next time. Yum. 

 We had 2 different types of hot coco, so we boiled up some milk on the stove and then added a small scoop of ice cream to top it off.  The only way coco should be served.  :o)

DELICIOUS.  I highly recommend this as a holiday tradition as well.
Love B

This makes me happy

I found this quote and I adore it. 

Love B

Happiness

We officially made it home from Vegas.  No, we did not win millions.  However, we had a blast.  I'll be posting more pictures soon.  D ordered Real Simple Magazine for me and yesterday my first one came in the mail.  A lot of the magazine talked about how to be happy and happiness in general.  I read this part from the editor and I thought it was so true, so I'll share:
"...we all must grab onto those fleeting joys as fast as we can.  How? Think small, and just look around you. Take off your high heels and put on your slippers. Eat a piece of chocolate. Watch a funny TV show. Read a shorty story. Hug a spouse or a child or a parent - anybody and everybody.  Wipe the crumbs from the kitchen counter.  Sit down and do nothing for once in your life. This is happiness, each of these things. And if you incorporate enough of them into your day - and hit Pause when they come, if only for a moment - you might find that you know exactly what it means to 'be happy'."

Make sure you are taking time everyday to do something for you, whatever that might be. 
Love B

Ladies Night at the Gun Range

When one of my friends suggested taking part in Ladies night at one of the indoor gun ranges, how could I resist!?!

I haven't shot that many guns in my life, so I was pretty excited to go through a few rounds.  We had to go through the normal 'training' before they would allow us to have a gun.  The guy was pretty friendly, I mean who doesn't want to teach 4 girls how to shoot, and suggested we start with a pretty pansy gun.  Not much kick back, easy to load, etc. 

Once we got comfortable with our guns, we headed to the range.  We got to wear much needed ear plugs and ear protection.  Our little guns did not make that much noise, but there were a few deer rifles that sounded like the walls were going to come down!

 Loading the first gun

Locked and loaded!

Gun No.1

We all did pretty good with this gun.  Of course we had to try a few others, just for fun.  Plus, who wants to stay shooting the 'safety' gun.  

Gun No.2

I wanted a revolver, so we choose that as our second weapon.  It definitely had a ton more kickback and it was harder to keep it on target.  We went with a semi-automatic for the final gun.

Gun No.3

We had a ton of fun.  The guy working the desk was amazed how quickly we went through the ammo.  What can we say, we like to shoot some guns!! 

 

I must say I am so excited to take a trip with the hubby tomorrow.  We are headed to the city of lights.  Wish me luck at the slots!!

Vegas here we come!!
Love B