Photobooth Love

D and I went to one of our friends wedding parties this past weekend.  She had my favorite Austin Photobooth there - Annie Ray!  Not many words needed, these pictures are hilarious!!!

By far, my absolute favorite!!!  D's face is perfect! 

They made my morning.
Love B

Travels, friends and a backyard wedding

One of my dearest friends got married this last weekend, so D and I made the long haul up to Kansas for a few days.  This drive is horrible.  I hate I35, plain and simple.  We did enjoy our usual car dance party on the way up as well as the smell of heavy rain in Oklahoma.  I tend to think of the most random questions on the drive, and I found out D's name for pretzel's, aka crunchy twists. Our current play list included Neon Trees, Florence+The Machine, Jay-z and Kayne West and of course Girl Talk.  We got in about 4 a.m. Friday morning.

The weekend was filled with seeing great friends, all their adorable kiddos, and celebrating a super cute couple.  Here was my weekend via Instagram...

The best part was before I left, I wrote my part on our frame and then he added this at the bottom...

Apparently on Friday, I drank a little too much and when D came to get me I was very unhelpful.  I would do anything he asked, in a minute. :o) 
Love B

Austin Restaruant Week

I love Austin Restaurant Week.  It's the best time to get together with friends, try out a new place, or indulge in one of your local favorites.  This year, the boys decided to have a 'man-date' and go to a Brazilian steak house to eat as much meat as they possibly could.  As appetizing as that sounds, the girls went for Mexican at Papi Tino's.  It's an adorable little Cantina right off of east 6th Street.  The restaurant is an old white house, with seating out front under the beautiful trees. 


We, of course, decided to sit outside.  Once it got a dark out, the string lights came on, which are always my favorite. 

For those that haven't participated in ARW, each restaurant puts together a menu for the 2 weeks where you get to try a trio of food for a discounted price. 

We had to start off with their classic margarita, which was quite tasty and had a hint of spice to it.    

I chose Ensalada Martina for my appetizer.  It was quite sweet with the balsamic strawberry nectar vinaigrette.  I think I could have actually eaten it after my meal for dessert, but I thought it was tasty.  The fresh fruit is always delicious.  

For the main course I had the Enchiladas Suiza.   You get three chicken enchiladas with creamy verde salsa, which is spicy!  I loved these, and must admit, I ate every last bite of mine. 

The best part of the evening, friends and dessert, I did not get pictures of.  We had such a good time chatting, as ladies do, and an even better time sharing dessert.  We got the Helado de Mazapan - Peanut ice cream with a puff cruller and strawberries, with the Churros - deep friend pastry filled with cejeta and ice cream!  They were practically gone before they hit the table.  The Churros were amazing.  D, Scott and I always talk about how we should do a Churro truck in Austin!  Anyone want to fund us???  :o)

I would definitely go back for the drinks and definitely the atmosphere!  

Happy New Year

Hello, 2012.  Although, with my job, I've felt like it was 2012 since October.  Not a bad thing!  There is a wonderful comfort knowing that exciting things are coming in the new year AND it's finally here! 

How was your NYE?  Do anything special or particularly crazy??  I must admit that I try to not get too excited with any NYE plans.  I feel everyone gets so excited and makes huge plans, but they never are as awesome as I think they should be.  Am I the only one???

This year, one of my friends decided to have a party at her house.  I of course had to help her decorate!!!  So I went over there that afternoon and we glittered up the house. 

Starting with glitter numbers on the mantle

We had to glam up the treats table!  Plus, why not reuse those adorable Christmas ornaments. 

 Glitter noise makers - PLUS glow bands

Made the frame a little more festive with gold sparkly tinsel 

Party hats?  Check. 

 Made these adorable champagne flags = more glitter!

Even better with a little champagne added! 

Nope not a decoration, but my silly hubby testing out the NYE hats.

My friend also made delicious champagne jello shots! 

It was really nice staying in one place and ringing in the new year with amazing friends.  We watched the ball drop, did a little dancing and just celebrated!  Oh, and of course we had to have some photo-ops.  It really was a great evening!

Of course, what made it even better was the friends brunch we had the next morning.  Best cure to any hangover!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Love B

The last few days

This is a lot of random tidbits put together.  I apologize now, but sometimes you just need to dump all the things that have been going on recently...


We finally went out and purchased our yearly Christmas ornament!  Yep, every year since we started dating, we have gotten a snowman ornament for our tree.  I guess somehow this 15 year old knew that she'd still be with him and why not start on the memories.  I love pulling them out every year.  We make sure to get an ornament that has the date on it, so we will never forget. 

Friday was an all about me day.  I had the most AMAZING client (I now consider a friend) that gave me a spa day at Milk&Honey downtown.  I finally decided to take the day off and just enjoy it.  I got to sleep in and spend some time with the pups before heading out for a day of pampering.  I started off with a 60 minute massage, followed by a facial and then finished off with a manicure AND pedicure!  I can not tell you how great it was.  I feel like I should do that at least twice a year.  I have to share the amazing nail polish I got on both my nails and toes. 

I also got the most amazing buffet this last week!  I found the piece on Craigslist and added the legs!  The girl I got it from actually started doing the re-purposing for a living and you've got to check out her stuff on Facebook, Indie Home.  She is super sweet and her stuff is super affordable compared to others in Austin.  I love it.  It's a vintage grey finish and the original knobs.  I still need to fill it - that will be this weekend's project! 

Finally, to top off the amazing weekend, I had a girls night on Saturday.  A group of us met at The W downtown Saturday afternoon and then headed to blo to get our hair done.  Oh yeah, we got our hair did while sipping on some bubbly.

They have a menu of hair styles to choose from and I went the 'Hollywood' route, which basically means blown out with loose curls.   Here are a few images to share, but the good ones are going to stay hidden. 

After a little pregame in the hotel, we continued with dinner and lots of dancing.  We had an amazing time - enough said. 

Hope everyone's weekend was as great as mine!
Love B

Friends, Family and Delicious Food

Hello and goodbye Thanksgiving week.  This year has just been flying by for me.  I blink my eye and it's going to be Christmas.  This last week it has been really nice to take some time off, although, I still tried to find something to do....

We started the weekend off with our annual Sunday Friendsgiving feast!  A bunch of friends get together, and we bring our favorite dishes and of course drinks to share.  We had everything from pumpkin mac'n'cheese to oyster stuffing, and let me tell you, it all was delicious.

About to walk out the door for the party.  Little did I know I'd spill a few cupcakes on my lap on the way and we'd be back.  Great start on my part... 

The girls getting 'Mary' out of the fryer.  I'm not sure the exact process for cooking this turkey, but it was freaking delicious.   

Wouldn't be the holidays with out a little spirits. 

Jen and Corbett hosted this year.  They broke out the fancy china and silverware.  It looked so pretty! 

Another great shot of Mary and Joe's fabulous cutting skills. 

 

The final delicious spread...

Then on to my favorite - Dessert! 

It was such a fun evening with such good friends!  Now if we didn't have enough food to last us until next year, we of course had to have our family Thanksgiving on Thursday. 

Our annual tradition here in Austin is to host at our house.  I was excited to finally get the rest of my pretty green glasses, so I decorated our table with those in mind.  Not completely Thanksgiving-ish, but it was pretty. 

I actually had it all placed on Wednesday night and got up to make yummy cookies and cinnamon bread Thursday morning.  Since Scott bought a smoker, we didn't need the oven room for the turkey and could have a more relaxed afternoon.  

He got apple wood and pecan wood chips for the smoker, then soaked them both in water and they were good to go.  Scott had to add them in every 30 minutes or so throughout the day.

We rubbed the bird with butter and sage and placed it on the smoker.  He started on it at about 8 a.m.  This was just getting started... 

The bird is on and looking good!

This was at the end.  How good does this look!!!?!

Here was our final spread for our Thanksgiving...

We ended the evening by watching a super entertaining show called Punkin Chunkin.  Yep, the perfect conclusion.

I must say I really enjoyed the run Friday morning to burn off all these delicious calories.  We didn't do much Black Friday shopping, but did venture out to the dog park!  I love all the time I can spend with the family, especially over the holidays!

Hope yours was just as wonderful as mine! 

Love B

Happy Thanksgiving

Love B