Friday, June 26, 2009

Weekend Fun

I am looking forward to a weekend full of fun and hopefully some progress too. Just what am I anticipating?

Tonight- Packing up our picnic supplies and heading out to Concert in the Garden for an evening of jazz, food and fireworks.

Saturday- Heading to Goodwill and HomeGoods with Holly and getting several projects around the house wrapped up (some of them quite literally).

Sunday- Seeing Josh's band, Fate Lions, and many others at the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards Festival. If you're feeling very generous today you could do us a favor and zip on over to that link and vote for Fate Lions. They've been nominated for Rock Band, Rock Album of the Year, and Rock Song of the Year. They were also recently the feature story in the Weekly's Music section.




























Pic from last year's outing to Concert in the Garden.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Swapping Time!


Guess what guys! Kelly's hosting another Favorite Things Swap! If you're as excited as I am then you better get yourself signed up right away. Who knows? Maybe we'll be swap partners! Click on over for the details.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Work, yuck
-Take out the compost
-Put up air mattress & luggage
-Reorganize spare bedroom closet
-Measure out spare bedroom floor plan
-Wash sheets
-Treat yard with cornmeal and spray deck for ants
-Order pizza
-Tidy desk & put up cork boards
-Eat with Josh and Matt
-Study a bit
-Bedtime

Saturday:
-Up early
-Shower and get ready
-Grab some donuts
-Intro to Digital Photography @ Fort Worth Camera
-Buy camera remote and card reader
-Digital Photography 1 class @ FWC
-Central Market to grab cake supplies
-Leftover pizza for lunch while waiting for Angie
-Make almond flavored yogurt cake with blueberries & whipped cream with Angie
-Head to Rob & LeAnn's for movie party
-Eat manicotti, watch Straight-Jacket, play (and win) Scene It, and generally have a fun and hilarious time with our friends
-Head home late and hit the hay

Sunday:
-Sleep in big time
-Make menu plan and grocery list
-Get ready
-Hit Lowes to make returns and pick up new doorknob, programmable thermostat and water heater insulation
-Grocery shopping and pick up dinner for later
-Unload groceries and clean out fridge
-Clean house while Josh mows lawn
-John & Ann come over for a quick Father's Day dinner
-Shower
-A little Newsweek reading
-Bedtime

Friday, June 19, 2009

Things To Do Tonight While Josh Makes Music

-Take the compost out
-Spray the deck for ants
-Sprinkle cornmeal around the yard for ants
-Use tape to come up with a spare bedroom floorplan
-Put the luggage and air mattress up
-Organize my office a little bit more
-Fix the mistakes I made putting posters in frames last night
-Read more of my photography book before my classes tomorrow
-Clean house (hmm, this should probably be at the top of the list)

Wishing the picture my list painted looked a bit more like this:






















Pic from Real Simple

Thursday, June 18, 2009

DC

DC 2 DC 6

DC 37

DC 5 DC 11

DC 43

DC 19 DC 22

DC 50

DC 34 DC 35

The rest are here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Looksee

A similar canopy idea seen here on Apartment Therapy.

Steve & Meri's Wedding

I'm still trying to edit pics from our various travels, along with some updated shots of the house and food for Small Time cooks, but I made sure to finish up the pics I took at Steve & Meri's wedding first thing. Thought I would share a few of my favorites from their special day. It was a small wedding, just their immediate family and a group of 8 friends which we were very lucky to be included in. Steve's former bandmate Tim performed the music for the ceremony, which was held in a small outdoor alcove at a Unitarian church. A lunch reception followed at a beautiful and private restaurant. The flowers were done by Meri's sister-in-law, Kuan Yin. Overall it was a wonderful event and we had a great time with our friends. You can see the rest of the pics here.

































































Monday, June 15, 2009

Weekend Roundup- Hot Hot Heat Edition

Our A/C decided to surrender just before the Texas heat hit town. Thankfully our house has good windows, insulation and a good amount of shading from our many trees, but let me tell you folks it is still plenty toasty in there. Friday was actually the worst heat-wise since Uncle Gary had to have the door to the garage open while repairing it for us. Luckily he was able to come by and do that though, as that has also helped keep the extra heat out. We're more or less living in the bedroom, utilizing the ceiling fan, a pedestal fan and keeping the well shaded windows open all but the hottest part of the day. We keep all the lights off unless absolutely necessary to keep any unneeded heat at bay. I bought lots and lots of fresh produce and we'll be having almost all no-cook meals this week. I need to boil a pot of pasta tonight, but aside from that everything is either no-cook or a quick turn round in the microwave. Obviously the heat has put quite a damper on our activities. Looking at a week of doing as little as possible, while we wait for our home warranty provider to acquire a new compressor for our little hot house. Aside from being hot I did some reading, hung out a little bit with Holly, and ate some leftover BBQ at the In-Laws. A very unproductive weekend indeed, but who wants to accomplish things when it requires so much sweating? Blech.

I think I've more than made up for it by accomplishing plenty this morning, in the cool air conditioning of my office. I changed our electricity plan to get a way better rate, canceled our premium channels before the free period expired, and arranged delivery of our new smaller trash cart and repair of our recycling cart lid. So there!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Another Iron in the Fire

As if I don't have enough plans and projects on my to-do list as a new homeowner I'm constantly coming up with more to add to it. The latest idea that has come to me is to make/build a canopy for the deck in the backyard. I want something to shade the area, especially in these hothothot Texas summers, but I don't want something as big and difficult to move as a patio umbrella. Even when you close them those big umbrellas are still there- like an unattractive fabric obelisk. So instead I'm mulling over some sort of hybrid between these two ideas from Martha Stewart (who else).














I had already bookmarked the first project and discussed it with Josh as a way to string some lovely globe lights around the deck area. With the temperature rising and my thoughts turning to creating some shade I realized that this second picture, which I had tucked away in my house inspiration folder, might be a great solution to work in unison with the first. And I can take down and fold the canopy, and tuck it away when it isn't needed- no eye sores involved. So, it's on the list. Along with organizing my office, hanging the picture rail, putting molding up in the bathroom, putting the posters in their new frames, building my raised garden, finishing the drain work, fixing the doors, etc., etc., etc. It sure is a good thing I like lists so much. :)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

6 Months Down

Wow, it's June already. Can you even believe it? I sure can't. This year has gone by so fast so far. I really haven't been very goal-oriented this year, so I thought I would do a little resolution check-up to try and help get myself back on track. So, what did I have on this year's to-do list again and where do I stand on them?

2009:
Read 15 books- have read a mere 3 books that I can recall off the top of my head, but I'll be finishing a fourth this week and am already into three others.
Set up an efficient new household- I'd say this task is half accomplished. I need to get my office completely organized, but we keep up with the housework and are slowly ticking projects and tasks off our list.
Finish my needed dental work- Don't ask.
Try yoga and tai chi- Haven't tried yet, but I've got a couple of instructional DVDs in the Netflix queue.
Watch 5 foreign films- Haven't started yet, but I've got one at the house from Netflix just waiting for me to find time to watch it.
Travel more- One real vacation and one family vacation so far this year.
Cross 5 things of life-goals list- I can now cross "Visit Washington DC" off the list.

2008 Continued:
More physical activities: pilates & walking- Have been super lazy lately, but I've got a ballet conditioning DVD on the way from Netflix.
Study photography and experiment- I've been studying recommended books, taken a class on my camera, and have two photography classes coming up in the next two weeks.
Keep up with Newsweek reading- I'm currently one issue behind, but so far so good.
See our friends more often- We've definitely been socializing more, and this should only increase once we feel ready to really start entertaining.
Improve my wardrobe- Having a new, well organized closet has helped me know what I need and what I have too much of already. I could still use some improvements though.
Be much more money conscious- Failing miserably at this one. We're still living below our means and saving a lot, but I have a very consumerist mentality after needing to buy so much stuff for the new house. Trying to remember that I don't truly "need" everything I think of.
Try 4 new restaurants- Have only tried one new local restaurant, that I can think of, so need to start chowing down!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Back in the Saddle Again

I'm back home, finally! Well, I got home yesterday, but that was full of unpacking, chores, and time with Josh. Family fun-filled weekend was great, but it's so nice to be home too. I've still got photos to edit from the first vacation and have to drop my film in the mail to get those back so I can share with Meri. And tonight is going to be the beginning of my return to exercise. Pants are feeling seriously snug after two weeks of unsteady eating patterns. I'll share some pics of our adventures later!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Big Sis

Well, I'll be off on trip number two tomorrow. I'm heading down to my dad's house in South Texas for my baby sister's high school graduation. I seriously can't believe that she's 18 already....cause that means I'm....never mind. Anyway, not only are we a trio of lovely ladies, but we're also a bunch of smarty-pants. I was valedictorian of my class, Nicci was salutatorian, and Lindsey is carrying on the tradition as salutatorian of Van Vleck High School's class of 2009! Feel free to be intimidated by our incredibly large brains. :) Can't wait to see everyone and give Lindsey a big congratulations hug!














Lindsey, myself and Nicci on my big day. Pic by Carissa Byers.

Monday, June 1, 2009

The Good and The Bad

The bad parts of our trip:
-More turbulence than I care for on our flight in
-So, so many end-of-year school trips, resulting in a constant crowd of annoying kids in matching t-shirts
-Weather that was unable to decide what it wanted to do from one moment to the next
-Skipping out on the White House because of so much rain
-Annoying/confusing street plan
-Lack of really awesome restaurants
-Crappy H&M, resulting in minimal shopping spree

The good parts of our trip:
-An evening with just Steve & Meri, thanks to arriving in town before anyone else
-Spending time with Diggy, seeing sites and eating junk food
-Finding Phillip L. Mascari on the Vietnam Vet Memorial
-A beautiful ceremony and reception
-Wedding night pub time with family and friend's
-Seeing Kermit & Oscar the Grouch at American History Museum
-The Golden Girls marathon on TV

Just a quick, general recap of our trip. I've got a good amount of stuff to do before I leave again Wednesday afternoon, so pics and more will have to wait.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend making time to clean house before you go out of town. It was so wonderful to come home to a clean and tidy place. Not being faced with rooms full of chores was so nice. We were able to grab a few groceries, unpack, and after two loads of laundry were ready to enjoy a movie and start the work week.