mia

sorry i've been M.I.A lately. i guess i must be busy or something. we did go to NC to get some wedding stuff done and for our parents to meet. all went well. this isn't a wedding blog, so i won't go into details, but we got loads done, lots of questions answered, and i feel like i can move on to finish planning.

now we're home, and i've been working in the garden, and doing stuff around the house. no great shakes, but just getting stuff done that needs to be done.

one thing i did do this weekend was make cereal cookies. they are quite possibly my FAVORITE cookies in the world. and they are loaded with fat. i'll post the recipe later today or tomorrow. but warning, they have a cup of butter AND a cup of oil, so if you're looking for a low-fat cookie, this is not the place for it. they are JUST the cookies a girl should eat that is getting married in four months. yeah. that's it.

enjoy.

the camping trip that almost wasn't

we started out saturday morning -- a bit later than we had planned, but we knew we didn't want to rush and especially didn't want to forget anything. as we turned the corner from our house, "the pillows! we forgot the pillows!" the "camping trip forgetful troll" almost got us there. but NOW we KNOW we have EVERYTHING!

drinks - check
food - check
sleeping bags - check
dog - check
dog crate - check
TENT! - check
cooking stove - check

we were on our way! about an hour from home, we realized we didn't have a pot to cook in. whops! but easy enough. stopped at the HEB (in the town where my sister lives!) and got a pan. now we're all set! we decided to take the back roads, so even though the drive would be longer, it would be pretty and make us really realize we were getting outta town.

two hours later, "chairs?"
"damn, forgot those too."
"that's ok, we'll do our best to camp near a picnic table. we'll be fine"

we arrive, there's a fire ban in effect. no big deal. would have been nice to have a camp fire, but not necessary to the whole camping experience. but the seaweed is really bad on the beach. high tide's not for 24 more hours (we're on the gulf here folks), so we should be ok for the night. we decide to camp on the beach. we find a spot -- not far from the toilets and we grab the dog and run toward the water. only she doesn't want anything to do with this big, huge, moving water thing! (but have no fear, we get her over that fear and she evenually does love it.) we frolic, my music man swims, i walk with the dawg. we discover that using the cooler as a back rest doesn't work so well, and besides, it's so windy that the sand just hits you in the face. so we start to think about dinner.

"guess what? ... we forgot the fuel for the stove at home"
"left the cans on the kitchen table, right?"
"yep."

we had actually thought at this point about packing up and coming home. seriously. but we couldn't. i didn't want to be on the road for another 4 hours! so i volunteered to go get food. instead, i found an academy sports store, bought chairs and fuel for our stove with the thought that we could then also have breakfast without having to break camp. we cooked us some camping dinner. had our chairs. and sat down for a nice night. took the dog for another walk. she has an issue with pooping in unfamiliar places, so we weren't surprised, but we had to TRY to get her to poop. she didn't. came back to the camp site. sat down, my music man played some guitar. my mind started wandering... to breakfast... pancakes.... mmmm.... syrup? butter? nope. forgot those too.

at this point, i just started laughing. hysterically. couldn't stop. the icing on the cake. guess it's ihop for breakfast!

(i'll post some photos in the next couple of days -- the sunrise really was gorgeous)

what, no post?

ok, so i've been slacking. i've had various ideas of things to post but have dismissed them, but then go back to them.

one of the things i've been thinking about posting (and i guess i'm now going to talk about it) is the fact that a bird family has decided to make a nest in a bucket we keep on our patio. it's up on a high shelf -- well out of the way of laila, but it's kind of strange to think that we now share the patio with a bird family (or soon-to-be family). we, well, I was thinking we should evict them, but that's not very friendly, and so we're keeping them. or rather, letting them stay. so we'll see if we have a baby soon.

we're planting herbs and seeds. i'm planting seeds of thyme because i couldn't find a plant of it. i think that will be a gift to everyone i know, because one little packet of seeds has the potential to make hundreds of plants. we'll see how that goes.

and i'm getting ready for easter. i'm going to cook my famous (or not so famous) scalloped potatoes. and i'm not sure what else we'll have. but i'm sure it will be yummy. i hope you all have a wonderful easter and i'll post again soon. promise!

ps -- also keep an eye out for a post of new designs up on faylas follies. it IS spring ya know!

dresses

i'm lucky, i work in an industry and at a company that doesn't require that i wear a suit to work, or even business casual. i can come to work in jeans and a t-shirt if i want. makes life easier since i don't have to have two different wardrobes -- one for work and one for play.

yesterday, however, i wore a dress to work (and heels!) because it was a nice day and i was going to see a client. so i dressed up - and let me tell you, people noticed! people at work actually asked me if i ever wore a dress before to work. (oh my!) do i really dress down that much? i guess i do! so i was going to finish out the week in dresses, but today is a rainy and cold day and so i bailed on my plan. i even got treated differently when i was wearing a dress. strangers held the door for me and the elevator. it was strange, and nice at the same time.

so now i have a goal -- wear a dress a week, get treated nicely and feel good.

do you wear dresses (or even skirts) in your everyday life -- that is if you're a female! -- let me know!

brief update

because it's been almost a week and i've been on such a roll with posting at least once a week (sometimes twice!), i thought i would give you a brief update.

first, where did the week go? the tulips have all died, but i enjoyed them every day they were alive.

i replaced both toilets in the house! w00t! let me tell you, it was a HUGE "5-minute-project". after multiple calls to my brother-in-law, a few tears and a frantic call to a plumber, they are both fully functional, and i would have to say that they work even better than the old ones. however, that project did consume the majority of my long weekend.

we did get a start on our garden though! on one of the many trips to the hardware store, we bought 4 kinds of peppers (3 of which are seeds), two basil plants, one cilantro plant and some cactus seeds. getting started on the garden!

guess that's it for now. have a lovely rest of the week, and a new more exciting update is in the works -- promise!

stair master no more

as i was trekking up the stairs from street-level to the post office this afternoon, i realized that i hardly ever climb stairs any more. when i lived in brooklyn, well, i was in a 4-floor walk up (for all you country folk, that means, no elevator), and i was at the TOP. and then there was the subway, stairs in, stairs out. i think i even worked somewhere once that i could huff up the stairs in the office building. but alas, no more.

there are a total of 4 stairs that i climb every day - they are located outside the door i use to enter the office building where i work. i used to get in late and have to park on the 4th floor of the parking garage. now i get in early enough to find a spot on the first floor. my house is a "ranch style" (for all you city-folk, that means no stairs).

and i wonder why i gained weight when i moved to texas?! wow. that would sure explain it. and the fact that i never walk anywhere any more. except when i take the dog for a walk around the 'hood. but that can't compare to the amount of walking i did in new york.

have you ever thought of how many stairs you climb in a day?

texas in bloom

where to begin? every day i notice something else is blooming!

my daffodils have bloomed and died. but they were just a taste of what has come...

the pear tree has bloomed and now the petals are scattered across the yard as the fruit prepares to emerge.

the iris in the front yard have popped, they will still be blooming when my mom arrives on friday and they look beautiful in the pre-dawn mornings when i head off to work (also in the early evenings when i get home too!). i finally identified a random plant in my front garden yesterday -- it's snap dragons! who knew?! i also just noticed yesterday that the mountain laurel bushes in my backyard are just starting to bloom so those should be beautiful for mom's visit. and last (but of course not least) i saw some blue-bonnets yesterday. hard to believe i know. seems so early, but it is march and things are coming alive again.

i know i owe you all a post of my garden fence. i have the photo taken, i just need to upload it. so look for it later today or this week.