Camping Trip

This past weekend we ventured out to Inks Lake for the weekend.  D and I took off Friday and were able to get ourselves one of the best camp spots to set up our 'home away from home'.  Since all our other friends that met us out there have real jobs, we got to spend all day Friday by ourselves.  I had to share some of the pictures and especially the videos below.  D's commentary is HILARIOUS.  Note to self: hearing yourself talk on video is horrific and I should just not talk while recording. :o) 

This is a view of our home for the weekend.  You can see that we have our own private access to the lake.  It was the best thing for the pups, so they could cool off as needed.  I was amazed the B did so well in the heat, but a TON of that is because we were right on the water.

Another view.  I had to take a picture of the site number, so if we go back we can get these sites.  We got sites 347-348.  They really were some of the best for shade and water access.

This was the other portion of our site.  Doesn't the water just look amazing?  I think I could have stayed there for a least a month.

Bella is hilarious and decides to find the largest tree branch on the ground and start chewing on it.  The bigger the better I guess. 

We had to cheers to spending the day relaxing, not checking my emails, and just enjoying a beautiful day.

  
I don't know about you, but D makes me laugh.  This video is pretty awesome, minus me strutting around in my suit.  I was SO excited that B loves her life jacket and she can actually swim in it.  I had tried to have her use it once before, but she didn't really like it that time.  Now she can not get enough of the water.  She thinks its the best thing since sliced bread.  B could have stayed in the water the entire time that we were there.  We called her our little hippopotamus in the water.  She did so good.  It was so funny to watch her with the life jacket on because she only really moved her front legs.  It was like her back legs were her little rudders and just sat there unless she wanted to turn.  She is a funny girl.

I definitely recommend this life jacket to anyone that has a pup that loves water but is a little too heavy to keep afloat.  It's from Academy Sports and only around $20.  She just kept going and going and pretty much slept the entire day we got home.

This is B's attempt number 1 swimming with out her life jacket.  She was doing really good until she wanted to turn around.  Her back legs hit the ground and she was walking with her back legs and paddling her front legs.  She looked like she was a dolphin.  I wish I had video of this.  As you can see, D is falling over laughing at her = Priceless.

The bad thing now is that whenever she is around water, she has to have it on.  She thinks that she can swim on her own.  As you can see, she is swimming in this video, but she was a sinker the second time she tried this.  I was just glad I was in the water because she didn't understand that she was not floating.  Either way, I'm a proud momma of my little hippo and her swimming {with a life jacket} abilities!

We had a blast camping and I hope we can do it again soon.  My fam took more pictures, but that is all I have so far. 
Love B

Three Years.

Last Tuesday, D and I celebrated our three year wedding anniversary!  That's right, cheers to us!  I have to share the card I got D because 1. I think it's pretty awesome and 2. It's pretty much how I feel about him.

He pretty much is my world - love you D!  We had the best time doing absolutely nothing for our anniversary.  We were just happy to spend the day together. 


D took the day off and we both kind of got to sleep in.  Bella likes to wake us up {especially D} with lots of licks to the face.  My favorite way to begin the day is to take B to a dog park and get some Coffee Bean, which is exactly what we did.  I didn't take my phone out to the park with us, but got this adorable picture of B bears in the car on the way there.  She loves to squish her face up in between the seat and the door.

She has been loving her tennis ball and is all about it in public.  We can actually let her off her leash and she will stay with us and play for hours. 


We had to take her home since it was getting pretty toasty out, and we wanted to try something new out for lunch.  We ventured to the east side for some delicious trailer food!  We ended up going with this bacon filled trailer...

I don't think D could resist everything filled, covered, topped with bacon.  I must admit, it was pretty freaking delicious.  I got the Kick Flip and he got the Fold Over with some bacon wrapped pickles on the side.  RIDICULOUS and amazing.

 He was just so excited to dig in!

As part of our anniversary tradition we always get cupcakes.  After 2 weeks of being married, we ate our left over cake and decided to just get cupcakes for our one year anniversary.  This year, we got them from my most favorite cupcake place ever - Sugar Mamas. 

I had to get the Southern Belle and D got the Odd Couple

The rest of the afternoon consisted of us on the search for camping items for the weekend.  That didn't last too long before we hit up Flemings HH at 5.  If you haven't been there, they have a pretty B.A. HH.  We enjoyed some delicious drinks and yummy appetizers.  If you go, definitely get their HH burger - SO good.

They were also so kind as to surprise us with delicious truffles at the end of our meal - Yum.

We had to save those for later though because we had to end our day of food with the best ice cream sandwiches in Austin from Cool Haus!  So good.

Here is to three awesome years to look back on and 70++ to look forward to!  

Love B

All things new and exciting...

I subscribe to a few different blogs, and my typical morning routine {while still in bed} is to read all my blogs that are emailed to me and to delete as much of my junk mail as possible.  oh, hello friend posted a blog about tattoos today, and now I REALLY want another one.  I have been thinking about it before and trying to figure out what else I should get.  I love my first tattoo, and I think tattoos {when done right} are beautiful.  You have to check out her blog - there are some gorgeous images on there.  These are a few of my favorites that she posted as inspiration...

Picture from oh, hello friend

Picture from oh, hello friend

I love written text, I don't know why, but I'm just drawn to it.  I had the idea to eventually have my kids {don't get too excited out there - we are in no way near ready for that :o) yet} names tattooed in their kiddo handwriting.  Just planning for the future - doing what I do best.  So what to get???  I have no idea.  I thought it would be neat to have meaningful dates put down my right side.  I think I have a hard time with images because I might eventually hate {insert whatever you want} birds, owls, etc that I might think is cute now.  But words that have meaning for me now, I don't think they will become less important as I grow old. It's a thought....

D always kept talking about getting me a Kindle because I love reading books.  He laughs at me, but I do.  A good book can completely capture my mind, and I seriously will not stop reading it until it's done.  The funny thing is most of the good ones I have to read again because I missed half of it trying to go so fast. Guess what the boy surprised me with yesterday?   

I am really excited about it!  It's so small, and although I love the feel of an actual book in my hands, I really think I'll like this as well.  It can go anywhere with out being bulky and literally weighing me down.  I just finished a series I was re-reading, and I am excited to start a new one he put on there for me.  I also have decided that I can only read at night.  If I start reading in the morning - there goes my motivation to work or do anything for that matter.

I also had to share the new little family that is outside our front door.  Sorry, these pictures are HORRIBLE, but all I have is an iPhone 3GS.  I noticed a nest outside our door about 2 weeks ago, and there were little birdies chirping away!  I check on them every day - they are so cute.  Even though they make a huge mess on our sidewalk, I'll still think they are adorable.

The view from my kitchen sitting area - where I peek at them every morning! 

 Trying to get a little closer, but they just hide from me...

I have also been really productive lately - rock on me.  Happy Thursday !
B

So. Many. Pillows.

I love pillows - sorry D, but it's true! He thinks I'd cover our whole house with them if I could... and I just might. Ha. No, really! I tend to quickly get tired of decor in the house, so I decided to spice up the living room a little bit. I had a few pillows in there, so I re-covered 2, kept 2 the same, and added a smaller one. This is mostly thanks to my momma. She rocks them out so quickly, and sometimes I feel that I'm just there for moral support. :o)

These are the ones that we re-covered. This shows both sides - pattern on one and grey on the back.

  The was the smaller pillow that we made with the pulled fabric stripe down the side.

Here is a closer look to the pulled view. The left over fabric was not quite long enough, so there are less folds then I originally planned. I still really like the end result though.

Here is the side view of the pattern/grey mix. 

If you recognize the material from the larger pillows, it's because it was hanging on the wall behind our dining room table. Now... what to do with all that new wall space? I found this inspiration picture that I love. I think it could look really amazing in my space AND we have this huge mirror piece from our bathroom remodel I could use. I foresee another DIY project in my future.

I am also in the process of making some yummy mango sorbet as I type this... Can't finish fast enough! Love B

Delicious Strawberry Cake

I've mentioned before my love for the blog Smitten Kitchen. 

Picture from Smitten Kitchen

Picture from Smitten Kitchen Her images are so pretty. I want to make everything she puts up! I tried out this recipe for her Strawberry Summer Cake, and it was everything I wanted it to be! A little sweet cake with the taste of the fresh strawberries - definitely a favorite on my end. You've got to try it!! Yummy!

Loving all the fresh produce in the market! 
Love B

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I LOVE this book series.  

I tell everyone it's a must read {although parts are semi-disturbing}, even though I had to read the first 10 pages at least 5 times before I really got into it. You just have to look over all the German town names, and trust me, it will be worth it. They made the books into a movie in Europe, but now an American version is coming out in December... and I am super excited about it!!! If you love the books like me, you need to watch the trailer they just put out.
Can't wait!! B

13.1 miles....

Seriously. I don't know what I was thinking when D and I signed up for our first 1/2 Marathon. Maybe I had forgot that I've never run 6 full miles in my life, let alone 13.1. This should be fun - can you hear the sarcasm?? I have until November to get my booty in shape. We are running the Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 marathon in San Antonio.

I have started to run in the mornings, which I LOVE. Being a morning person, I love how much energy it gives me and seriously puts me in the best mood! Plus, this way you get it out of the way and don't have an excuse not to do it {i.e. got busy, not done with work, going to HH instead}.

I had my best run yet this morning. I finally put some new music on my iPod and Girl Talk has to be the best thing to run to. The songs have just the right beat to keep you going. I highly recommend trying out both morning workouts and Girl Talk!

TGIF, B