There comes a time in everyone's life...

To say goodbye.


Well, in every blogger's life, anyway!


I need a fresh start. Plus I am tired of having our name as the blog title. Plus Jeremy only wants to blog on his and his brother's make-believe blog, don'tpokethebear.blogspot.com or something. So, I went off on my own!


Check me out!


Yes, the name of MY (all mine, no sharing, as-pink-as-I-want-to-make-it) blog is "Bluebonnets and Blue Bell" - an homage to the great state of Texas, and the great road that connects my home in Houston to Austin, my favorite city of all time.


Bye, thehamblens.blogspot.com!

I love my sister.

This is one of the many reasons why:

(via Gmail Chat today)

Amanda: we just had a MASSIVE explosion in the lab
like we had to evacuate and everything
and im pretty sure i have temporarily lost hearing in my right ear
Sent at 1:12 PM on Tuesday
me: what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sent at 1:13 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: ya, everyone is ok and we are back in now
i had actually just been standing right in front of where it happened bc i was getting something
and then i walked to the other side and 30 seconds later it exploded
me: geez!
was it your fault?
Amanda: i would have been in the hospital with serious injuries
nope, its the other undergrads fault
the thing was supposed to be in an ice water bath
but it wasnt
it was exposed to air
Sent at 1:20 PM on Tuesday
me: ha, you hate him
Amanda: i sent mom and dad an email telling them how awesome my day has been so far
Sent at 1:28 PM on Tuesday
me: hahaha poor manda
Amanda: and somehow, i have some glass shards in my sock
Sent at 1:30 PM on Tuesday
me: haaaaaaaah that's a problem
glad you're okay!!
Amanda: thanks me toO!
actually one of our grad students had a crazy accident in december with an explosion
he was standing right there and glass cut a major vein
and he has CRAZY scars on his arms
Sent at 1:33 PM on Tuesday
me: geez
Sent at 1:34 PM on Tuesday
me: dad just forwarded me your email
heehee
Sent at 1:47 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: you aren't going to believe this
we just had another one
me: WHAT!
y'all are IN TROUBLE today!
Amanda: omg omg omg
now we have to wear masks
me: hahahaha
Sent at 1:50 PM on Tuesday
Amanda: wow
the grad student i dont like is bawling
Sent at 1:52 PM on Tuesday

Working in the chemical engineering lab can be so dramatic! And apparently dangerous! In all seriousness, I am very glad she is not injured and the hearing loss was only temporary. Clearly her experience in college as a chemical engineering major is vastly different from mine as a silly little liberal arts student and I love hearing about her days! Love you, sis!

Halfway to CMA!!!!

My sweet, responsible, smart, determined, driven husband took the second CMA exam yesterday...

AND PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The timing for this exam came up rather quickly, and he decided to bust it studying for 2-3 weeks to be able to take it in June instead of putting it off until September, when it will be offered again. Bust it he did, and he passed and is one step closer to getting those letters behind his name. I am so proud! I certainly do not have the drive to study like that, especially when it's not even for school (not that school made me study anyway...). He just has 1 more exam (that requires about 6 months of study) and 1 writing exam and then he'll be all official.

To celebrate last night, I planned a last minute, sort-of-surprise dinner at El Tiempo with a group of friends. A little crazy for a Monday night, but Jeremy deserved a celebration and we so appreciate all who made it out!!

J - I love you so much and am SO PROUD of you!!

Show Us Where You Live Fridays: Master Bedroom

Today over at Kelly's Korner it's Master Bedrooms day!

Don't get too excited. Though I am posting on the actual day (yay for me), our master bedroom is not cute. Here's a picture I have of the current room...


I love the furniture! It's my "big girl" furniture from my mom's house. If I were to buy new furniture now, I would probably go for darker wood and maybe an upholstered headboard, but this is good furniture and I think the wood color lightens up our small, dark room. Anyway, we have this queen bed (headboard + footboard), 2 nightstands, a dresser and an armoire. I got bedding for our wedding that was white and red, with some white and red toile, but the white duvet cover didn't really work for us. (Live and learn!) So I got this duvet and shams on sale from Pottery Barn a while back and I loved them! The red still matched other stuff we had, plus the flowers on the duvet have some blue that matches our sheets and a blue accent wall (you can just see the blue wall in the far right of the picture - our bed was originally on this wall). And, just so Jeremy didn't feel too girly, the reverse side of the duvet and shams is khaki stripes.

But as I live and learn more, I'm ready for a change again! :) I think master bedrooms can be neglected, especially in a small house like ours where you truly only sleep in it. I don't even use the closet in there! So I want it to feel more calm and cool, like an oasis. A little more modern, not so traditional.

This is what I am working towards:


This duvet cover & shams are from West Elm. I think duvet covers are annoying, but I like this one because it's got "wrinkles" built into it already (in my opinion, anyway). But I want it in this color (the middle one - "Clay"):

I think the clay color would be a nice contrast with the light furniture and walls. Then, the color scheme I have in mind is accents of orange and green. So I bought this little accent pillow on sale from Pottery Barn:


Cute, right?? I love it. For a little $19 pillow, it makes me happy! And I guess that's an important part of design!

Obviously I need to get on covering up the blue accent wall (the rest of the walls are Benjamin Moore Ballet White). I'll also need a bedskirt (would I do white?), a white blanket, and some new sheets. All of that basic stuff can be bought from Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond though. Then I'll need to re-vamp the accessories/artwork we have in there with some more modern stuff.

I'd LOVE a mirror like this over the bed (to create more light since we only have 1 window!):

And this one is only $70 from Target! I love Target.

Any other cool ideas? I just get so stumped when it comes to our bedroom and trying to make it work for me and for Jeremy.

That's it! Have a good weekend!

Update!

I just wanted to post a little update regarding the involuntary removal of the Audi side view mirror. And my rockin' research skills.

As I mentioned in a previous post, based on the police report we obtained (3 weeks after the accident) I could tell this kid's address was near where I grew up. Naturally, I searched for his name on facebook and came up with 2 potential matches, but could not view their profiles (stupid privacy settings getting in the way of justice). What I could tell is that a guy I went to high school with was friends with one of the potential dudes. Additionally, my sister thought she remembered this kid from high school and requested to be his friend on facebook (to see if he had any contact information posted, or to see if any reference was made to his accident or time in jail). No luck with any of that. I finally broke down and messaged my high school friend to see if he did know this guy, etc. Turns out, my suspicions were confirmed and I am sure of which kid on facebook is the guy. My friend let me know where the kid lived (which matched the address I have on him), his cell phone number (which matches the first 3 numbers of the one listed on the police report), AND that his father is an attorney. Jackpot! You better believe I made that call today, but was forced to leave a message. I simply stated the reason I was calling, requested his insurance information, and let him know (probably to his dismay) that it is a small world and we both went to Klein.

We're giving him a day to get back to us, and when he doesn't respond (I can only assume he will not return my call), I am making a call to his father, the attorney. Yes, I google-d the last name, attorney and Houston and came up with a likely answer. He may end up being a total jerk, but I am hopeful someone will do the right thing and pay for our car to be fixed.

This probably all sounds silly - such a fuss over just a mirror being broken, but I shouldn't have to spend time out of my day messing around with all this. Getting insurance information from a kid who was jailed that night shouldn't be this difficult. But don't worry, we'll get it.

Okay, now...I don't want to comment on Jon & Kate, the Longhorns (though I am proud of how far we got!!), Farrah Fawcett or Michael Jackson. All of it makes me sad, but I think enough of it is in the media right now (well, minus the Horns) and not much else needs to be said.

Lastly, keep Jeremy in your thoughts & prayers this weekend - he is working like crazy and cramming for his second CMA exam on Monday. Poor thing is ready to collapse! But he's working so hard and I am so proud! God knows I don't have half that motivation and I probably work half of his hours!

Eh, sorry this is kind of boring. I will have more exciting stuff coming up hopefully!

Places I Will Be, Round Two...

Due to TWO of my trips in this post getting canceled (just thank Apache for that one), I thought I deserved a re-do.

We will be here in 4 weeks...

We're going with one of my favorite couples and we'll get to see another favorite couple and meet their new little one!! I also foresee some relaxing by the lovely Barton Creek Resort pool and eating some of our Austin favorites.

And unfortunately in 3 weeks, I think my husband has talked a group of us into going here...

Please pray for me if I actually do end-up reliving the summer before my 9th grade here.

Show Us Where You Live Fridays: Laundry Rooms

Okay yes, I am a day late in posting my "room." Anyone surprised?

Secondly, over at Kelly's Korner this week was on laundry rooms, playrooms or bonus rooms. I guess I technically have none of these rooms, unless you want to call our burnt orange room a "bonus room." It's really just our 3rd bedroom, full of mismatched furniture, a big TV, a bunch of UT stuff and all my clothes (our house & closets are so small I use the closet in there, so it's also my dressing room). Unfortunately, my Texas room is a wreck (anyone surprised again?) but that will be remedied tomorrow. Maybe I will post pictures then!

So, in light of having a non-photographable bonus room and no playroom to speak of, I had to post my laundry room.

Prepare yourself.

Because it is awesome.

I won't judge you for being jealous.

Everyone, welcome to my laundry room! It's in our garage, so it's as hot as Hades (it's 100+ today in Houston). That makes laundry loads of fun in the summer! Actually, this is very typical for our neighborhood, and we're pretty lucky that our garage is attached and has this nice little nook for our washing machine and dryer. As you can tell from the picture (which I took with my iPhone because this room doesn't even warrant a real camera picture), we're mid-laundry cycle. The water heater is in our washing nook also, so it doesn't make for the most spacious nook. I have to fold clothes in our living room or bedroom. I do laundry with the roaches in my garage at night. And I can't really hang clothes to dry because I don't think they even dry in the garage, and I don't want them to smell like garage. But the washer and dryer were a housewarming present from my dad, so they're pretty new! And they can move with us to a new house one day with a real laundry room like all the lovely ones pictures on Kelly's blog. But I'm okay laughing about it because this it is funny and I know we won't be here forever! :) I suppose I could hang some things and use some baskets to make it cuter and more attractive to buyers when we sell but it's so hard to be motivated to decorate your garage!

Go there to check out some major creative-ness in such a boring room!

And another one bites the dust...

What an exciting game last night!! Unbelievable...bottom of the ninth, ASU was up 3-2, and UT comes out with TWO HOME RUNS back to back. Boom, roasted, Sun Devils! (I'm sure Jeremy could explain it a much more exciting way, but this is the best a YMCA softballer from 7th grade could do.)

We can't wait to see them against LSU come Monday in the finals!

HOOK 'EM!!!!!!!!!!!

Connor Rowe's game-winning homer!

Randoms.

Just a little Friday morning randomness...

1. Jeremy is busy this weekend and next cramming for his second CMA exam scheduled for Monday, the 29th, so I get to head to Dallas next weekend to spend it being lazy (our fave, right??) with my BFF Becky!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited - how long has it been? Please don't tell me since October for your birthday? Maybe my memory is failing me and I'm missing a weekend you came into town? Anyway, B is a teacher so I feel like I at least need to take advantage of one of us having a real summer break! Even though B has been teaching summer school, poor thing. I think it will be close to being over when I visit, though. So that is fun!

2. I'm just having one.of.those.weeks. Everything upsets me, nothing is good enough, I feel generally unhappy. This new (can I still call it new?) job is very humbling for me, getting laid off is still very fresh in my mind, and my self confidence has just taken a huge hit since April. And if someone says "honey, can you print this for me?" one more time my eyes will explode. Plus our project here is very high profile and we're about to head offshore to start work on Tuesday, so I am a little stressed about all the work that has to come together quickly... Not that I am complaining about having a job. Because that is mean and insensitive. Because I know how lucky I am to have one. But I am allowed to have bad weeks sometimes. I am desperate for the weekend to come so I can start a new week next week, but with Jeremy set to study all weekend and my lists and lists of house and yardwork to do, I'm not sure this weekend will allow for a lot of recharging. I guess I just need to make it to Dallas next weekend!

3. I'm going to now tell you all a fun little story about drunk drivers and HPD. On May 30 (yes, that's 3 weeks ago), Jeremy was out with some friends at our favorite little bar on Washington. When he went to leave around 1:45am, he noticed the drivers' side mirror was knocked off. Then he realized the truck in front of him had a broken axle and saw further down Washington was an car that had clearly flipped. (It was rightside up but was scratched all on the roof.) He came to find out this kid was drunk, driving down Washington with 3 female passengers (also drunk), and knocked along several cars parked on the street. I guess he hit the truck's rear wheel with such force that it flipped his car and they skidded down the street. No one was hurt, thank goodness. I'm so glad Jeremy wasn't getting into the car at the same time! The HPD officers took down Jeremy and the truck's info, including address, phone number, and insurance information. He asked about getting the drunk kid's insurance information, but the cop informed him the kid was going straight to jail, he was pretty out of it now, and all that would be on the police report. No big deal right?

Well, the police report was not available for TEN business days because it was a major accident. I called HPD every day to check. Finally last Friday (day 10), Jeremy got a call from the truck's insurance company saying they had the report but the drunk's phone number was not legible. Knowing the report was now available, I called HPD but for whatever reason they could not email or fax the report to me. It was in the file, so I could come downtown to get it. Really?? Luckily, there is a website you can purchase reports from and after some creative searching I found it and purchased it for $7.50. The kid's number looked legible enough to me but sure enough the number I thought it was, wrong number. Awesome. Guess what else isn't on the police report? His insurance information. Great!

Being the nosy little researcher I am, I looked up his address on HCAD, which is in Spring and I'm guessing is his mom's house, and found a listing. Then I googled his mom's name and found what might have been a home phone number. You better believe I called it and left a message, but the machine message is automated, so I have no way of knowing if it was the right person. And of course I have not received a call back. I guess our only other option right now is to contact the HPD officer (who of course only works from 11pm - 7am). I have the kid's name, drivers license number, car make/model/year, VIN number, just not a phone or insurance company! But now cops can determine if you're insured when they pull you over just by running your plates (or something like that, I think) so I am hoping maybe an officer can do the same for me just to get that information. Or, surely if the punk was in jail they have some accurate contact information for him. His address is also happens to be in Spring, where I grew up, and I have half a mind to hand-deliver a letter requesting insurance or payment to fix our mirror AND to reimburse me $7.50 for the stupid police report. It is just beyond irritating. And as it turns out, we should have just paid to fix the car ourselves right away instead of waiting around because I am still driving without a mirror. Awesome.

RIP Audi mirror

4. I JUST BOUGHT BRITNEY SPEARS TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wednesday, September 16 Amanda and I will be there to witness the Circus! THIS MAKES ME WEEK SO MUCH BETTER!

A Whole Lot of Nothing.

Not much going on in this post, but I wanted to show some pictures from the past few weekends!

Last weekend, my friend from NYC (well from Houston, became friends in Austin and now lives in Brooklyn!), Adrienne, was in Austin for a family wedding, so I went up there to meet the girls out on 6th Street.

Me, Adi, Taylor & Gia at Key Bar

That same weekend was our friend Kevin's birthday party - I missed it to see Adrienne, but I hear it was fun! Happy Birthday, Kevy!

We have also seen The Hangover 3 times between last Friday and now. I believe the 4th time will happen this week!

Last week I met up with my ADPi (college sorority) Lil Sis, Sarah C., for dinner and drinks at El Tiempo. She just finished her second year of law school at Pepperdine and is back working in Houston for the summer. What a smartie! I am so proud of her! (No pictures though, boo.)

Friday night Jeremy and I had date night at Ouisie's. It was okay...I mean, the menu is large, it's a cute place. I just think we love places like Glass Wall, Benjy's, and Shade so much and love the food and atmosphere there - we thought it was just okay and pretty expensive okay at that. Saturday we shopped All. Day. Long. And mostly for Jeremy! He was a good sport waiting for 30 minutes at Anthropologie just for me to get into a fitting room though! That night we went out to karaoke - what a blast! Jeremy even shaved in the "civil war beard" for this occasion. And last night we watched our Horns eek out a win against Southern Mississippi in Omaha. Yikes, it was not a pretty game, but a win is a win. We play Arizona State on Tuesday.

Before dinner at Ouisie's - boy, I look tired!!

I just think we're cute!

This was the first weekend in quite a while we haven't had a pre-planned event and were excited to be lazy and get some things done around the house. Funny how we didn't do anything we needed to do - and our weekend was still filled! Maybe next weekend we'll get around to it all?

NWA Re-cap

I believe the tone was set for our trip the night before we left, when Jeremy insisted on driving back to his office downtown to get his study materials. Just in case he needed to study while we were on vacation. Little did we know we would forget something or have to turn around at least 3-4 more times over the course of the weekend! The good news is we got to check out the fire at Star Furniture on I-45 Thursday night on our way back from downtown around midnight. We're rubber neckers like that.

We left very early Friday morning with Jeremy's parents and flew to Tulsa. It's such a quick and easy flight. It should be followed by a quick and easy drive from Tulsa to Northwest Arkansas (henceforth known as NWA - Bentonville/Rogers/Bella Vista/Fayetteville/etc.) You just take 412, which becomes a turnpike, and turn north onto 540 once in NWA. Easy peasy! We took the wrong turnpike first, heading us to Joplin, Missouri (which you can still get to NWA from, I think Jamie and Josh shop in Joplin sometimes). The great thing about a turnpike is that there are few exits and you barely go through any towns. The bad thing about wanting to get off a turnpike is there are few exits and you barely go through any towns. Plus we had to dig for change to get off then back on the turnpike as it was exact change only. A few of us may or may not have gotten a little grumpy on this detour - I won't go into details to protect his or her identity. We got back onto 412 (the correct turnpike) and were happily on our way again. Little did we know...Tony's phone rang, and when he listened to the message, he said, "Do we all have our bags?" OOOPS!! Jeremy and I were in charge of gathering the luggage, and we left Tony's black duffel bag at baggage claim! We just got our 2 matching suitcases, and Tony and Judy's 2 matching suitcases and thought we were good to go. (Did I forget to mention the Hamblen men's ingenuity when it came to squishing our 4 suitcases in the trunk of our Chevy Malibu? They are SO good at packing vehicles!) We turned around (again with the problem of finding a place to do so on a turnpike) and headed back to the airport. Jeremy pointed out taking the wrong turnpike was actually good as we would have been much further away from the airport if we had stayed correctly on 412! So true! Tony missed his (second? third?) cup of morning coffee since he was asleep on the plane, so we promised to stop at Starbuck's for him on our way back into Tulsa. We mapped one on the same road as the airport, how lucky is that?! Until we found out it was inside the airport. No coffee for Tony. Poor Tony. Maybe the "phone incident" was a form of coffee withdrawal?

We did finally make it to Bentonville and met Jamie and Josh for lunch at Whole Hog Cafe (Judy's only request for the weekend), which basically made Josh a traitor to Smokin' Joe's (his regular BBQ joint). But Whole Hog catered their rehearsal dinner last August and it was just as good as we remembered! Then we headed to their house, relaxed, and played Wii. Jamie took Judy and me to 3 of the cutest little shops ever! We bought a few little things and I found something I will need if I ever have a baby girl - a pink blanket and pillow that say "ASAP: As Southern As Possible." I love it! That night we drove to Fayetteville to see the campus and ate at a brewery on their main drag. Poor Jeremy gets really carsick if he rides in the back, and almost lost it by the football stadium (coincidence?), but we could tell he was feeling much better once he started inhaling avocado relleno and beer cheese dip. And we never made the mistake again of having Jeremy sit in the back!

Saturday Jamie made us a gourmet breakfast and then we headed out to the lake. Jamie and Josh bought a boat last fall maybe (?) and we were excited to try it out on Beaver Lake! (Incident #4: We forgot the boat keys and had to turn around for them, though we were still in their neighborhood.) The weather looked like it couldn't decide on rain or shine, but opted for the latter once we settled in a cove to swim and eat lunch. Coming from a girl who jumped on Jeremy's back the whole time we were in the clear blue water in St. Thomas, it means a lot when I say - the lake was so gorgeous! It was dark blue-green and clear enough to see your feet. I even got a little sun! (Only because I refused to put sunscreen on.) We ate lunch on the boat, and move to another little cove further from the marina. Jeremy and I dozed, it was so relaxing. Until we noticed the dark clouds moving in. Until the wind made the waves choppy as we were leaving the cove. Until we were almost bounced out of the front of the boat and completely soaked after slapping a wave. We moved to the back, where Tony and Judy were just as wet and jostled about. We wrapped up in towels and prayed Josh could get us back quick but with no more wave-slapping! If you looked behind us, tons of bigger boats were all heading in also - we looked like an armada! It was a little crazy. Then we passed a stranded lone jet skier and as the southernly southerners we are, asked if he needed help. Jeremy was livid! He yelled "Let them [the bigger boats] help him! What are we going to do??" My husband's callousness was a joke the rest of the weekend! But don't worry, we made it back to the marina safely and right before it really started pouring.

Would you believe the ONLY pictures we took were from the lake?? Boo!

Starting out the day

The kids + Tony playing in the water

Our gracious hosts, Josh & Jamie

Schmoopies on the lake!

And here is a progression of our trip back to the marina, trying to outrun the storm:

Getting a little choppy...

Still smiling...

Where did Meg go??

We warmed up with some Starbuck's and got showered and changed for dinner out. We went to Fish City Grill at the new outdoor mall, which I thought was really good and was pleased to find out there is one in Houston. We played Imaginiff back at home, which provided many more laughs! That's always a fun game with family, especially 6 Hamblens.

Sunday we woke up to another gourmet breakfast and no plans for the day. The boys went to play disc golf in Fayetteville, and Jamie took us ladies to get pedicures (thanks, Judy!) and we window-shopped around the outdoor mall. (Incident #5: Jamie forgot her phone at home, but we didn't go back for it.) We met the guys back home, and we got to relax while Jamie and Josh slaved away cooking us a feast of ribeye steaks, potatoes, pasta salad, coleslaw and tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and home-grown basil. YUM! It was so good, and it reinforced our desire to buy a gas grill! Jamie also made us strawberry shortcake after we'd digested the feast. That night we played around Target, then went to see Night at the Museum 2. I thought it was pretty cute, but I like 12-year-old girl movies anyway (like when we went to see High School Musical 3 for Becky's 26th birthday!). Don't worry, the Jonas brothers had a cameo in the movie and I was. so. excited. when I found out!

The girls' pretty toes!

Monday it was time to go, so we packed, said our goodbyes and headed out toward Tulsa. We were sure we'd left something, but we didn't and it was smooth sailing back to Houston. It was so nice getting back at a decent hour - we got back by 4pm, got to see my sister who had been house/dogsitting for us, had dinner at El Tiempo, stopped by Target, and set up Tony & Judy's new Wii.

The company was great over the weekend and we're glad we were all able to be together! Thanks for everything, Josh, Jamie, Judy & Tony! Over Christmas I promise to bear some of the load and fix some meals at our place...though I would not go so far as to call them gourmet.

Happy Birthday, Little Sister!!

Happy Birthday, Amanda!!! Neither of us can believe our parents now have TWO kids in their TWENTIES!

You're my best friend in the whole wide world - truly no one understands me better! :) Now hurry up, graduate and move back to Houston. Pwease???

Day 1.

I'll have a long blog in the next few days full of pictures from our trip to the great Northwest...Arkansas, that is. But for now, know this:


Day one was rough. Ouch.

Guess where we'll be tomorrow!

First here...


(because it's a totally recognizable skyline and all, right? It's Tulsa.)

Then here...

We are going with Jeremy's parents to visit his brother Josh and his wife Jamie in Bentonville, Arkansas for the holiday weekend! I am expecting to see some Wal-Mart/Campbell's/SC Johnson love, a little bit of the lake, maybe some shopping, the Hamblen male competitive spirit (aka disc golf), and definitely some Smokin' Joe's BBQ. We can't wait to get away! Can't wait to see you, J&J!

A Quarter Century

Saturday was my birthday, and after a little bit of a rough week with the new job and all those changes, I was SO glad it fell on a Saturday!!

Our Friday was a nice, relaxing end to the week. Poor Jeremy has had a cough for over 3 weeks and finally went to our doctor earlier in the week who diagnosed him with bronchitis. Early Friday morning Jeremy woke up with a very painful ear ache and couldn't hear out of his ear. Poor thing! He went back to the doctor and then to an ENT, all to find out it might be an ear infection. So Jeremy napped on the couch Friday night, and I cooked us salmon for dinner (this "eating at home" thing would have been previously unheard of in our house!). We watched You've Got Mail on TV and ended the night with an 11pm Starbuck's run. It was just one of those nights where you enjoy and appreciate your life so much - just having no plans, being able to do whatever we want whenever. So relaxing!

Saturday, I got to sleep in and sit on the couch watching HGTV all morning! Jeremy was so sneaky while he was out picking up lunch and brought home gorgeous flowers, Chick-fil-a and a cookie cake for me! I went to get my hair highlighted and blown out in the afternoon (another one of my very favorite things!), then Jeremy took my out to dinner at Ibiza in Midtown. It was very yummy - we had french fries with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese as an appetizer, I had lamb chop with grits and Jeremy had grilled shrimp with goat cheese polenta. I think mine was the best, but it was all good. We stopped home for some cookie cake, then headed over to Pearl on Washington and met up with some friends. It was really relaxed, kind of the theme of my weekend! :) Thanks to all my friends who came to celebrate with me, love y'all!

My pretty flowers!

After dinner, before Pearl - our only stinkin' picture together!

Sunday we had lunch with Jeremy's parents, then stopped by my mom's for cake #2, then had burgers and cake #3 at my dad's. It was a fun family day! And again - relaxing. After such a nice weekend I was ready to start the week! I even got a birthday card from everyone in my office, and I've only been working there for 6 days!

Cake #1 - from Jeremy

Cake #2 - from Mom

Cake #3 - from Dad

Thanks for all the birthday love!

Belated Mother's Day & A Fresh Start

First, Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! I always enjoy this day because 1) our moms are way awesome and do so much for us (duh); 2) it usually involves my favorite meal - brunch!; and 3) it means it's really springtime (or summer if you live in Houston) and it means my birthday is close! :)

We hosted a brunch for my mom, sister, brother, and Jeremy's parents. It was so nice having everyone together! As I mentioned in the previous post, we got to use my "new" dining room table to seat everyone. I love using my china and stuff too, so that always makes me happy. The meal was not a fancy brunch, but we did have mimosas, raspberry & white chocolate chip biscuits, my favorite dish Chicken Julianne (aka Hot Chicken Salad), a salad with mandarin oranges and almonds, and a strawberry/cream cheese/pretzel salad. We ended with coconut and chocolate pies from Flying Saucer. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. Not perfect or gourmet, but tasty.

I got my camera out and everything and completely forgot to take pictures. :( It is way too much for the hostess to have to remember to be the photographer too. Boo.

And for the fresh start news...I started my new job today! I didn't want to post anything about it until it seemed like a sure thing, and now obviously it is. I'm working as a project administrator/regulatory coordinator for a company who works with operators to do their platform, pipeline and well abandonment and decommissioning work. First days are always nerve wracking, especially when this change was not initiated by me, but I am excited about the opportunity and know how lucky I am to even have a job at all, let alone one still in regulatory. I'll be kind of an admin on the project, but I will also get to do all the regulatory permit and application filings for this operator! So it's some well stuff I have experience in, and then some new platform and pipeline stuff I am familiar with but haven't done myself. I'm the only person with regulatory experience there, so I think it could be a great opportunity to make a name for myself in what I do. Hopefully! So that's my news. In other news...Jeremy had to report to jury duty at traffic court today for 2.5 hours. Ha!

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Living Room Edition

So I decided since I was unemployed, I might actually have time to clean, re-hang stuff, and take pictures so I could participate in Kelly's "Show Us Where You Live Fridays"! You can see my kitching/dining room/living room all at once since our house is pretty tiny, and apparently once I became a homeowner I became terrified of any color except brown and tan because it's looking pretty neutral around here! And of course there's the obligatory "I want to change this, I want to change that"...we need a rug, our coffee table is currently acting as our TV stand while we wait to buy an armoire, I'd love to add crown moulding, etc., etc. It is what it is for now - this is where we spend almost all of our time when we're home and I think it's pretty comfy.

This is looking into the room when you come in the front door. Lots of our furniture is hand-me-downs, but really nice ones from my mom, grandma and friends! :) I LOVE the sofa table (thanks, Mom!) and Jeremy bought me the large urn and tall things when I said I needed something to add height. Isn't he adorable? We have rearranged the living room 3 times, but I love it this way. It's long and narrow and couch placement can be difficult, but my mom is an awesome stager and suggested angling the couch. We used to have a HUGE 5 piece sectional against the wall with the TV and the TV was against the wall I am standing against taking this picture, so it was an awkard layout to say the least. We sold the couch on Craigslist and bought this new, smaller one for $650 from the Star Furniture outlet. (If you are unfamiliar with couch prices, that is crazy cheap besides buying one from Ikea...or Craigslist.)


This is a close-up of the sofa table.

Looking from the "dining room" (okay, dining room/walkway/weird, small, open space) into our living area. You might be able to see a little green peaking out from the ottoman - it is totally lime green with purple trim. Another hand-me-down from my mom's old house that matched my little sister's room (the purple chair is in our burnt orange study, and yes, it matches beautifully). But since we are without a coffee table for now, I have to have something to prop my tootsies up on! The short side table we bought from Ikea, the chair we got from the liquidation sale at Bombay Company, and the round pedestal table my mom got me for college. Like I said...I am dying to get an area rug to anchor the couch, and we did have a Target one until our dogs decided to use it as their bathroom. Surprisingly, my husband's idea of hosing it off and letting it dry outside did not fix the smell, so it's still outside (and no, it was not an outdoor rug to begin with). So I am hesitant to spend any more money on a rug that will be ruined again.

Close-up of my pretty table and chair. The lamp is from Target and I LOVE it! They have such a great, cheap lamp selection. And any Nester fans out there might notice the tassel on my lamp - one from her major sale a couple weeks ago!

View of the couch, and into the guest room (far left) and other bedrooms (far right). I loved all the pillows that came with the couch, and the wood accents.

This is the wall space between our big window and the front door. Jeremy and I both love Texas, UT and Texas history, so we also love those rustic stars! We have this large one and a smaller one on the sofa table.

This is the wall opposite the TV wall, near the guest room and front door. When we find someone stronger than me, we'll move my grandma's buffet under this. The frame I got from her house and I just rubbed some bronze paint over it (because it was gooooooooold), and the painting in the middle is our married monogram, painted by my most artistic BFF Adrienne. I have had this since college (before we were married) and I LOVE IT!

This is the pass-through into our kitchen, something we loved about the house when we were looking. Our whole neighborhood is 50's ranch style homes, which are typically very closed off with small rooms, but ours had been opened up a lot! It feels a lot bigger than 1181 square feet (sometimes...) and we decided we were fine with smaller bedrooms and more open living space for entertaining. I added a couple wedding pictures and the Welcome sign above the pass-through just to add some interest...it looked too boring.

This is the bookcase under our pass-through. It's nothing special, but we need the storage for our books and I like having surfaces to display more pictures on! The blue "H" canvas I painted myself. I might have a thing for monograms... :)

The pup, the TV, and a pretty antique box from our friends who moved to Australia. We reeeeeally need an armoire because I can not wait to shut the doors and not have to see any of that junk!

Oh, look, the other pup!

And since it's basically attached/the same room, our dining area. We just picked up this table and chairs from my grandma's house last weekend and I am THRILLED to be able to seat more than 2 people. The table is set for our Mother's Day Brunch we're hosting on Sunday. Mirror is another hand-me-down from mom! The red room is our kitchen, and the door goes into the backyard.

Two more views from the dining area into the living area. I LOVE the ceiling fan! Oh, and if you noticed the rod and tiebacks above our window, yes, I am also trying to figure out our curtain situation. I would love some just for decoration (obviously, because we have blinds already) to add some softness and some color. Because I think fabric is expensive, and curtain panels are even more expensive, I might buy some cheap fabric from fabric.com and do some window "mis"treatments with my hot glue gun. I just can't decide on a color or pattern!

Hope you enjoyed! I would tell you to check out the rest, but with over 300 rooms already...I'm not sure how feasible that actually is! Happy weekend!