Queen for a Day

Happy Birthday Mom!

2012-01-25T21:42:00.000-06:00

My mom turned 50 two weeks ago, and she and my sisters came here for the weekend. We had so much fun! Happy Birthday Mom, love you!

Ode to the Fork, Knife and Spoon

2012-01-16T21:16:00.000-06:00

I saw this on Pinterest several months ago:

Aren't these fabulous?! The original link is from Etsy. They were pretty pricey so I mentioned it to Tate, and look what I got for Christmas...

What I love most about them is that Tate had my mom write several of my favorite recipes on there before she painted them.

Thanks Tate! You're the best!

White Christmas!

2012-01-02T20:42:00.000-06:00

We spent Christmas with my family in Borger. It was the first time I can remember since college that we had a white Christmas!

Here we are on Christmas Eve:

Christmas Morning:

Playing outside in the snow with the dogs:

And I'll leave you with this one of Greta posing with the other bulldogs:

Borger is home to the Bulldogs - just wanted to explain my mother's collection ;)

A Few Good Books

2011-12-29T18:49:00.000-06:00

Well, more than a few. But some good ones nonetheless.

I'm going to start with what I like to call a "smart book." You know the ones you REALLY have to think about when you're reading. These tend to take me months ~~and months~~ to read, and I have to have a "non-smart book" to read at the same time to give all those brain cells a break. They are usually about science or Christianity. This first one is about science...

The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee is exactly what the book cover says, "A biography of cancer." Sounds like a rip-roaring good time huh? I bought this book back in April, and just recently finished it. This book was interesting to me - mostly because I work in oncology and I'm a big nerd. If you've got some serious time on your hands, and you are want to learn about cancer, AND you're a big nerd like me then you'll like this book :)

Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd is like the original book by Jane Austen but with a twist. The twist is the murder - which is good, I like a good murder mystery. But the bad part is how far in the book you have to read to get to the murder. I was beginning to think maybe she had messed up the title, that there wasn't going to be a murder. To sum it up...slow start but a good ending.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks is not your typical Sparks romance novel. Of course, there is romance and two people do fall madly in love against their original inclinations. But this one has suspense. I say read it!

The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan. OK so if I'm honest the only reason I bought this book off Amazon was because it was $.99, and I needed a quick buy before I got on a plane. I'm so glad I did! This is a really sweet story about a reclusive woman living in a small Vermont town. The people in Mill River have no idea the impact she has on them over the years...I enjoyed reading this one.

Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell is a beautiful memoir about friendship. This is a story of two women who share a love of writing, dogs, and the outdoors. Unfortunately they are faced with loss too early in their relationship. Caldwell tells a heartfelt story of dealing with the loss of her best friend. I loved this book - although I don't recommend it if you're already feeling a little down in the dumps ;)

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. I've saved this one for last because it was my favorite out of the bunch. This story is told thru the eyes of Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemingway's first wife. I loved the beginning of the book when these two first met. For an old married woman like me it's fun to relive the excitement of a new relationship! You'll then read about their early marriage when money was tight, stresses were high, but their love was strong. Later on in their marriage they are forced with a lot of adversity, trouble, and distraction. It's not near as much "fun" as the first part of the book but I still couldn't tear myself away. This was a good one...I plan to pick it back up in a few years and read it again.

Peace, Love, and Joy

2011-12-11T20:45:00.003-06:00

We wish you all a joyous and special Christmas this year!

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It seriously is the most wonderful time of the year

2011-12-07T20:23:00.001-06:00

I love everything about this time of year. I love the spirit in the air, the parties, the cold weather (and when I say cold weather I mean boots, scarves, and hot chocolate), the decor, and most importantly the time spent with family and friends. We see my family in a few weeks so for now let's talk about Christmas decorations.

Someone was ready for all this decorating stuff to be done with...so we could get back to important things like balls and chew toys.

Midwest Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T20:12:00.000-06:00

We had a really great time in Ohio last week with Jeris' family. It's always so good to see everybody. The highlight of our trip was meeting our sweet new niece, Tatum. We were totally obsessed with her!

Isn't she precious?

Proud Uncle Jeris and brother Adam

Michael, Jessica, and the fam

Jon, Julie, and the girls

Jeris with his mom and step dad

Jeris and I

Jeris with his dad

Having fun watching Michigan beat Ohio State!

Michigan fan in the making....

Borger Trip

2011-11-20T16:17:00.000-06:00

This is how behind I am. A few weeks ago we took a quick trip to Borger for the weekend to see Blaine cheer at her final Varsity game. Always a good time. We also celebrated my dad's birthday, enjoyed the tastiest Cherry Limeades on earth from The Burger, and ate WAY too much food. We're excited to be going back there in a month for Christmas.

Blaine, me, and mom

Shocker! It was cold and windy.

Tate's friend Jamie, Tate, and dad

Blaine on the left

My friend Jamie happened to be in town visiting her parents so we were able to stop by and see her. And their sweet addition to the family, little Ryan!

Girls pic

Boys pic. Aren't they handsome??!!

We also want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! We're looking forward to spending our turkey day with Jeris' family in Ohio!

Eat More Pie

2011-11-12T11:46:00.000-06:00

This was the inspiration for a couples shower we threw a few weeks ago for Tara and Joey. Tara loves pie so once I found this print online I knew we had the perfect theme!

We had peach pie, millionaire pie, chocolate pie, mini chicken pot pie, mini quiche, and baked brie.

The happy couple - getting married in March!

Tara loves burlap so we did it on all of the tables

These are letters I bought and just wrapped in yarn. I thought they turned out so cute!

We did little potted pumpkin cream pie as favors which were a huge hit!

Who wants pie now? I sure do...

October in Pictures

2011-11-07T19:57:00.001-06:00

This month has been cuh-razy people. I haven't had time to do the proper posting so I'm gonna sum it up for you all in pictures.

Visiting Mamaw and Papaw in Lubbock

With Mema and Aunt Debbie

Joey and Tara at the Tech/A&M

With Nyla and Anne in front of the Liberty Bell - we did a little sightseeing after a meeting in downtown Philly

Attending a wedding in downtown Austin

Also got to see these two cuties while we were there - Miss Peyton and Miss Elle

Somebody got to go to game 4 of the World Series...let's just say it wasn't me

Jeris and Dan

Saved the best for last...these two precious boys were in town for a short bit. I cannot believe they are already 7 months old!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

From our little pumpkin...

Which one of these is not like the other ones?

The Doors

2011-10-25T21:09:00.000-05:00

Oh the doors. Why do you torture me so? If only I could have taken you all home with me...

Venetian Doors, where the obsession began

This one seems to say "right this way my dear..."

Moving on to Rome, can't you tell by this first one?

In love with this one

Lastly the rest are all from Santorini, where else?

All good things must come to an end

2011-10-18T20:47:00.000-05:00

Our final pics from Greece...

Santorini

Athens and the Acropolis:

Cruisin

2011-10-11T19:57:00.000-05:00

Third day in gorgeous Santorini we rented a 4-wheeler and explored the island a bit. So glad we did...

Our Dumb and Dumber moment ;)

A Santorini Sunset Cruise

2011-10-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

On our second day there we took a sunset cruise around the island. It was nothing short of amazing.

I'm just going to give you them all

2011-10-01T14:14:00.000-05:00

I've been sitting here trying to decide which pictures from Santorini I wanted to share. But it's too hard to narrow them down. So instead...I'll give you them all. Ok maybe not ALL of them but a lot. Somehow I don't think they'll disappoint...

This is our patio

Our front door

Everyone lined up behind us ready to watch these insane sunsets

More to come...this was just from the first day :)

Roma

2011-09-24T10:40:00.000-05:00

Rome. Oh how I love thee. You and all your ancient ruins, your piazzas, your beautiful architecture, and your romantic streets. Two days is just not enough. I am going to have to visit you again someday. Until then...

Steps leading to Santa Maria

First view of the Colosseum

Roman Forum

After dinner in a piazza in Trastevere

Outside the Vatican...

Inside Leonardo da Vinci's living quarters at one time. Side note: The man in the left side of the picture was our tour guide. If you ever visit the Vatican I highly recommend booking a tour in advance. We didn't have to wait in line once we got there, plus he took care of all the logistics with our tickets and everything. Not to mention we would have been LOST without him. We really felt like we were able to see all of the important parts, and he explained them to us perfectly.

Laocoon and his sons

Apollo Belvedere

Hercules

St. Peter's Square

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Look at this yummy pizza with an egg in the middle!

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain:

Making a wish!

I'll leave you with this. I developed a huge obsession with doors and windows on this trip. But that's another blog post ;)

Venice

2011-09-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

Venice is so charming and cute. We absolutely loved it there. If you've ever been to Venice you know how hard it is find your way around! We learned this the first night we arrived. The directions to our hotel seemed so simple at first but we quickly learned this was not the case. 45 minutes ~~and several heated arguments~~ later, I finally gave in and asked a local where we were and where was our hotel? We were relieved to find out it was just right around the corner. We were also just as relieved that almost everywhere you look in Venice, you'll find a tourist studying their map. So we were not alone ;)

This was literally the first picture Jeris took our first morning there. Can you get over it?

Campanile in St. Mark's Square

This was at the top of the Campanile overlooking St. Mark's Square.

Doge's Palace

A few of St. Mark's Basilica up close...

Grand Canal behind us

We took a boat tour instead of the ~~overpriced~~ gondola. These were all from the boat.

We visited the island of Murano our second day there where they make the famous Murano glass. It was kind of like a miniature Venice.

more Murano

Just Venice:

Last night

First Stop

2011-09-08T19:26:00.000-05:00

Switzerland.

We were so glad we ended up going here. It wasn't where I originally thought we would go first but Jeris suggested it. Switzerland was beautiful, and we were amazed at how clean (and expensive) it was. I wish we would have been able to spend more time here and see more of the country.

We took over 600 pictures on this trip so needless to say I'm going to be splitting the blog posts up by city after this. Starting with Zurich and Lucerne...

Outside our hotel in Zurich

Streets of Zurich. They love them some Swiss flags.

Lake Zurich behind us

We made the mistake of spending, *choke*, 11 euros the first day on a bottle of water at lunch. You can imagine how excited we were to find this water fountain while we were wandering the streets of Zurich. Why did no one tell us this before we went? Oh well, lesson learned quickly. We didn't buy water during a meal the rest of the trip. Take that!

How lovely is this bridge in Lucerne?

Why I look forward to waking up in the morning

2011-09-02T09:43:00.001-05:00

Is walking out to this...

Where we have breakfast every morning

So handsome

Love this place. You can see why we are sad to leave tomorrow.

Goodbye for now. We're off to watch this one last time...

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Saying goodbye to Italy

2011-08-31T08:09:00.001-05:00

We said goodbye to Italy this morning. Sad. But this Santorini stuff is....well there are no words to describe it. Before I get to that, a few pictures from Rome...

Colosseum

St. Peter's Basilica

Trevi Fountain

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Swiss francs to euros

2011-08-27T15:05:00.001-05:00

We made it to Switzerland safe and sound, where we spent our first two days. We were soooo tired the day we arrived but other than that we're doing great!

Switzerland is gorgeous! Zurich is awesome and Lucerne is pretty much fairytale land. See for yourself...

We are in Venice now. L.O.V.E by the way. One more day here and then we head to Rome!

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All our bags are packed

2011-08-24T00:09:00.001-05:00

and we're ready to go...

via pinterest

I'll try to do a few updates on the trip. Stay tuned!

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My two loves

2011-08-16T18:19:00.002-05:00

Aren't they cute? I think so ;)

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Can't hardly wait

2011-08-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

For some reason the closer it gets the slower time goes by...

via Pinterest

Two weeks from now these pictures will come from my own camera. I can hardly wait.

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