Home Sweet Home

How has it been literally an entire month since I've updated my blog? I'm stinking at this whole "I'll update the blog more often" resolution. I have a big update with photos, but don't have time for that now, just as a teaser in includes the patio/deck that we built ourselves, our home improvement updates, my new vegetable and herb garden, and my trip to Orlando with Morgan to see Justin. So delightful! Well, the Orlando trip won't be updated until I get the pics from Justin or Morgan, who seem to be taking their sweet time getting the pics to me. Also, you might remember I'm still waiting to get pics from Annie from our trip to the rodeo in January (Annie, feel the pressure yet?)! This exciting update has no pictures, but BIG NEWS! My mom and dad bought a house in Fort Worth!!!!!!!!!!! It is less than 15 minutes from our house, and I couldn't be more excited! Their house in Lubbock sold in less than 10 days on the market! Shocking. Their house in LBK is awesome, we just weren't prepared for it sell so quickly. So, they had to move quickly to find a house, but they landed on the right one here!! So fun! I seriously cannot wait for my parents to move here so we can all hang out. My parents rock. I'll update with pictures soon. P.S. Andrew's aunt Julie is coming over for a Happy Hour today, she and her hubs (Andrew's uncle, duh) came last week and we had so much fun! She is a super cool lady!

International Night!

Alright - so this is a pre-post, we'll see how the post-post goes....

Andrew is in training right now for an airplane he has flown for over a year now - kind of ridiculous, but whatevs b/c that means he is home every night for dinner with your's truly! Anyway - he has befriended the 3 other guys in training with him for the past week - especially this guy Mathias from Germany. Well, a few days ago Mathias brought Andrew some cigars b/c they had talked about cigars....so today Andrew brought Mathias a bottle of Llano Cabernet Shiraz (our go-to). Mathias loved it - mentioned that all guys should come to his hotel to try the wine tonight since they ended ground training today. My husband gives me a call to see if he can just invite them all over for dinner at our house, of course I said yes, so we are now roped in for a steak night for 7!

I'm sure some of you are doing the math, and 3 plus Andrew, plus me does not 7 make. Well, we had invited our friend Dick who invited his friend Armando over too. So - looks like I'm the only hen in the house tonight with an international schmorgasboard of men. Andrew - we know where he's from, Dick's from here too, but Armando (Mexico), Zach (Kansas City Missouri), Mathias (Germany) and Rayner (Guatamala). Let's hope everyone eats STEAK and drinks wine b/c that's about all we have tonight!!! I'll let you know how it goes - menu below!

Apps - assorted cheeses, crudites, etc.
Salad - brussel sprout, arugula and endive salad. Sounds weird, but get over it, it's delicious and I'm asked for the recipe everytime I make it!
Entree - Steakhouse Ribeyes, sweet corn lasagna (it's Giada's recipe, also incredible)
Dessert - some chocolate deliciousness that Dick is bringing and angel food cake.

Mouth watering yet? Let's see how this goes - hopefully people don't go back to their hometown talking about how horrible the food is in FW!

Movin on down....to the East Side!

Well, I've been waiting to receive photos from sweet Annie from our awesome outing at the Austin rodeo. Her and Austin say they read this blog, so maybe this will peer pressure them to send them this way and I can get going on a blog about the FW rodeo last weekend!

In the meantime - I had a wonderful weekend this weekend in Fort Worth! My parents came in from Lubbuttocks on Thursday night to spend the weekend and look for houses in FW. HURRAH! Kindyle, because she's awesome, took the day Friday showing them around while I was kicking off an event at one of my schools. While they were tooling around cowtown, turns out they found a jewel! Yes, they found a house the really like - and it is only about 10 minutes from our house!!! I'm BEYOND excited, and they are thinking about putting in an offer on the house. It is awesome and it is on Mary's Creek - isn't that funny, our home is on Mary's Lane, and they have a house they like on Marys Creek! Gotta love the Mary's in cowtown! So, everyone keep fingers crossed that things work out - and that my parent's house in LBK sells. Anyone looking for a great house in LBK?

We also had fun just hanging out in Fort Worth! One fun thing - mom went with me to brunch this morning with cousins Becca, Jenny and their mom Tara. It was a BLAST! Becca and Jenny are Andrew's 3rd cousins or something like that, but we are all really close. We are secretly hoping our moms end up bffs b/c they both awesome. I think I've mentioned brunch at Taverna on here before, as it turns out the manager has now taken to hugging me when we come in. Score, it better get us some free stuff!! :) Gotta love a great weekend!

Also, tomorrow Andrew and I are going with Les and Kindyle to Nonna Tata's for Vday dinner!! I'm beyond excited! Nona's is one of my favs, but A kind of hates it....he loves it, just won't admit it. Anyway, Les pulled an impossible and got us reservations there a few weeks ago (I say impossible b/c it seats about 20 people and they don't take reservations) and I couldn't be more excited. I promised to bring a camera this time so this blog will actually have some appeal with pics and such!

Hope everyone has a happy vday!

P.S. I have some awesome schools that are doing Jump Rope for Heart, some of them are really low income and the kids try and raise $$ the best that they can, but can't always raise what they want to. If anyone wants to donate to the American Heart Association, let me know and I'll get you to donate through a kiddo that's really trying so they feel like they're making a difference. It means the world to them.

Pantry Challenge Winner!

Booya pantry, I win! So, I am looking at what I can do for dinner tonight. After working out with my trainer and being home with the pups I really didn't feel like going out again to get something. So, that left it to take out or my pantry. Since I had pizza last night with Les and Kindyle, awesome time btw, I wasn't super for take out.

So, I had pasta, a can of diced tomotoes, mushrooms, goat cheese, wine and garlic. I made gnochi with tomato, mushroom and goat cheese sauce. With a side of green beans! And it is DELISH! Too bad I wasn't thinking it'd be that good, so I was paying too much attention to what I was putting in the mix. It is to die for! It's a shame Andrew's been on a trip all week, he would love himself some yummy gnocchi, he can have some when he gets home - if he's lucky!

Brunch!

So - I know that for many brunch is just a girls thing. It was for me forever actually - and occasionally the ladies will get together for a yummy brunch. However, the gals have been busy lately and otherwise engaged, BUT turns out I have a hubby who LOVES brunch. Yes, you read that right, Andrew LOVES brunch. What a lady. kidding.

We tend to go to Taverna for brunch, because it is just yummy and they have $1 bellini's and mimosas. I LOVE our brunches together, and lately we've been able to do brunch almost every Sunday for about a month. It is so much fun sitting with Andrew and our bellinis and just catching up. So lucky for that man! Also, the owner now knows us - so that's fun! So, if you have a hankering for some breakfast/lunch food on a Sunday, come to Taverna and join me and Andrew. I'll even splurge and buy you a $1 bellini, that's right - high roller!

Two more - to tango!

Um, did I seriously forget in my top ten list of 2010 two of my favorite things that happened - yes. Do I have pictures of those two things - UM YEEEEEES! I also want to say, I just love Sara for commenting on the blog, it makes me feel like people read it - even if the people is just you, whatevs, you commented and I'm LOVING it! I'll get you pics of the things you wanted soon.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand - I forgot my 10 year high school reunion and Justin's visit from Orlando! What?!! How could I? I don't know, seriously, I don't. However, the forgetfulness to include the top 10 makes it where they each get a special note!

11. High school reunion - I was able to come home to Lubbock for an AMAZING high school reunion with my besties. Andrew had to fly, but let's be real honest, he wasn't heartbroken he didn't have to sit there and hear us tell stories about high school - never the less, he was missed by me! Anyway - the reunion part was fine, but the stellar part was hanging out with Tawny, Morgan, Justin and Whitney! We seriously transported back to the late 90's. It is such a blessing that I have been able to stay close to my high school friends, and I love that we have all grown into these adults, but when we get together we all melt into these little teenagers that thinking the weirdest things are funny! I seriously had an amazing group of friends in high school that help shape who I am today, and then to reconnect (Mo and Whit live in LBK, I live in FW, Tawny lives in LA, and Justin lives in Orlando) physically it was just unbeatable! I love it! Here are some pics!

Tawny, Reese(Justin's adorable niece) and I under our Top Plainsmen thingy Tawny and Morgan reliving Dance Gallery Days

The five of us at Manna - yum yum

We love each other
We love meeting our friends at Taco Villa
All of us hanging at the best winery ever - Llano Estacado!

Ok - then there was Justin's visit! What a delight! Justin has visited us twice since we've been married. This was his first time to see our house, and unfortunately Andrew had to fly almost the entire time he was here. Boo. But whatevs, we went to the botanical garden where Justin geeked out, and apparently the only place I took my camera. We had friends over for a pizza party dinner, then ended up going out to karaoke. Just so you know, I have a HUGE fear of singing in public, but for some reason when Justin is around, I'll do some karaoke. We may have been booed off the stage, but WHATEVS, we thought we rocked it! Justin also rode with me on my trips to schools one day, he was my good luck charm!

J and I at botanic gardens - there are a lot more of us seperately, but this is one of the only ones together! So there - it was also 108 that day, and I wanted to pass out. The things I do for plant boy.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Ok - after almost a year off, I'm back to the blogging world! I'm going to be much better in 2011, I just have a feeling! I'm sure the 3 people who read this are thrilled...well, if they even read it anymore! There is absolutely too much to catch up since I last blog, so I'll go from this point forward.

However, below is my top ten list of 2010

1. Andrew and I bought our first home - yeah, it's awesome
2. My cousin, who was diagnosed with stage 4 esophogial cancer and given a VERY grim diagnosis/prognosis has been getting some great news so far - he is actually doing an INCREDIBLE job thus far and is getting healthier by the day. Praise God!
3. Mom, Dad, Andrew and I went to the wine country in October - it was absolutely AMAZING...there is no topping wine country in October! I just love the vacations we have been able to take with my parents - so fun!
4. I have the most incredible job ever! No seriously. I LOVE working for the Heart Association, love being in schools and love my coworkers
5. On the same note - I had a summer-esq vacation due to said job - holla!
6. Andrew is doing a phenomenal job at Executive Air Share, and he even got promoted to Pilot in Command - I've got a HOT pilot husband - holla!
7. My parents told me they are going to look for houses in Fort Worth - wahoooooo!
8. I lost 10 lbs in 2010, and going for WAY more in 2011
9. I went to a Michael Buble concert with Michelle! OMG - seriously, how does he sound better live than on the cd?!?! AMAZING.
10. Andrew and I have been able to completely remodel our office and our garage...I kind of feel like we should be on HGTV or something. I mean really, if you know someone there, you should probably let them know about us. haha.

Ok - miss catching yall up, miss catching up with yall. And I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

St. Louis/Blake and Stacey's Wedding

Long time coming...

One month ago I met my parents in St. Louis for little Blake Williamson's wedding to Stacey. It was just a gorgeous wedding, I was so amazed at the event space, it was beautiful! It was also a TON of fun to tour around St. Louis with my parents and Laura Kirkpatrick.

Of course there was TONS of dancing at this wedding...Blake is a SUPER dancer, and I found out, so is Stacey. So we had a splendid time living it up, I was just sad Andrew wasn't there to dance like crazy with us. We were grossly sweaty by the end, but I think that just shows what a fantastic evening it was!!!

One fun thing that happened: my parents dropped me off at the airport and I'm going through the halacious security line and I hear someone shouting my name. It was the newleyweds themselves!! Turns out they were on my flight to Dallas before they headed to my favorite country, Costa Rica! It was great getting a little one-on-one with the newlyweds!! I will try to get the entire slew of wedding pictures up somewhere, but for now these will have to do.

My Parents and I at rehearsal dinner

The Arch

Budweiser Tour

Event Space...in my favorite color no less!

The wonderful couple

Sweaty Lindsy and I...told you there was a lot of dancing!

JUMP! For my love...

I HAVE A NEW JOB!!! Well, some of you may know this, but I am leaving BRIT for a position with the American Heart Association! I will be doing the Jump Rope for Heart/Hoops for Heart programs in Tarrant, Cooke and Wichita Counties!!

I totally remember doing Jump Rope for Heart when I was in elementary school, and I ABSOLUTELY loved the program, who would have thought years down the road I would be working for them?!?! I will basically be working out of my car, as I get to travel around to schools and visit with PE teachers and principals. sooooo fun!

It has truly been a blessing this past month as prayers for Andrew's and my jobs have been fulfilled. Andrew was put on full-time with Executive Air Share at the beginning of the month, and I will begin work with AHA at the end of the month!! Hurrah!

P.S. I will be posting pictures from this past weekend in St. Louis for Blake and Stacey's wedding soon, such a blast!!!

P.P.S. Happy 28th birthday to Lindsy, my little leprechaun bestie!

Aw, friends award!!!

Ok - so I LOVE checking on all of the blogs I have on my list! Well, I went to check yesterday afternoon and sweet Meagan Hamblen (Bluebonnets and Blue Bell, isn't that the cutest name?) had tagged me in a friend award blog post!

With this little post I have to name 10 things that make me happy, and then tag some blog friends as well. Apparently you are supposed to name 10 blogs or something, but as stated previously, I don't have a TON of blog friends, so I will tag, but it won't be 10. I love you though, and I only put the ones I love on the blog list!!

1. Having my husband on a weekend has now made it all the way up to number 1, b/c it is SUCH rare occurrence now that he is full time with Executive Air Share. 2. To tack on to that last one, Andrew and I are going to my favorite city in the world - Austin, TX - this weekend to celebrate sweet Baby Beicker's impending arrival!3. Hanging with my parents, and seeing them, plus my best friend Lindsy and her husband next weekend at her brother's wedding in St. Louis!4. Stealing this from Meg, but it is SOOOOOO very true in my life. The Winter Olympics are over, regular TV is on, and tomorrow we get to see "The Office Baby"!!!!!!
5. That my husband just got put full time on his flying job, and we can finally start looking for houses!!! He is such a rockstar!

6. Four Vines Naked Chardonnay! So, maybe you're alchy if you put wine in your top 10, but quite frankly this is AWESOME wine! It wins at every competition I take it to, and it is less than $12. 7. That my dear friend Suzanne had a successful, though very long, labor and delivery, and now we can celebrate sweet baby June's birth!

8. That my other dear friend Jennifer got engaged to her amazing boyfriend Ben recently, and they have asked me to be a bridesmaid in the their wedding! (yes, I know the picture below CLEARLY shows my ghost white skin, as Suzanne would say)
9. That I have ONE piece of frozen chocolate pie left in my refrigerator, and I get to eat it when I get home from work!

10. Michelle got us tickets to see Michael Buble here in DFW for June...CANNOT wait for that little diddy!!And now to tag my blog friends in this fun award:
Sara
Suzanne
Denae
Abby
Monica
Whitney
Sean and Julie
Kenley
Rebecca

Parents

I know that most people think this, but I have the BEST parents in the world! Andrew has been flying a TON lately, and it seems that it is always on weekends. Which of course is when everyone else wants to fly, so makes sense, but makes me a weekend widow. Anyway, my parents came down this weekend to spend time with me and keep me company this weekend. Sidenote: Andrew is in Las Vegas this weekend, so fun, and we tried to find a last minute flight out for me to join him, but it didn't work. boo. My parents and I had a BLAST doing some new things in Fort Worth, well, new to me at least. Of course I forgot to bring my camera. However, if you live in FW and ever feel like buying some nuts - GO to the Vending Nut Company on Montgomery. It is local, they have great prices, and it is a really neat little store. Then we headed to the Ridgmar Farmer's Market, kind of a dud b/c they were remodeling. Then of course we took our rascal puppies to Fort Woof...the best dog park ever!! I am pasting a picture of my incredible parents, b/c I like to show off.

This is my parents in Chicago

P.S. Next weekend Andrew and I are off to Austin, YAY for Amy's baby shower as well as fun with friends. Then the following weekend it is Blake Williamson's wedding, such fun! Lindsy, his sister and I have been BEST friends since we were 5, so I really feel like Blake is my baby bro getting hitched!

P.P.S. I am SOOOOOOOO excited that my friend Suzanne and her husband Dan just had their baby girl, Lena June Biase, if you want to see the darling thing she is in my block reel as Dan, Suzanne, Vern, Muef'te and Zeus.

Werner Wine Party - Feb

Terri and Alan threw one of their famous wine parties this past Saturday. It was a perfect Valentines celebration, you didn't have to go to a fancy restaurant and fight crowds for a dinner, you got to celebrate with friends and have delicious food and wine at a fabulous home!

Andrew was called to work all weekend, of course, in Cabo no less. So, being a resourceful lady, I had Dick come as my date! Andrew called Dick prior to heading South and told him he better not be driving tipsy with me in the car, so we had a driver...nice. The party was just a fantastic evening, and I loved hanging with everyone. My $12 Chardonnay won AGAIN in its category, and beat more expensive wines. So, everyone needs to start buying Four Vines Naked Chardonnay...its awesome. Actually, don't buy it, that will probably drive the cost up and then I can't buy it. Forget I said anything!

Below are some pictures of a fabulous evening with friends!

My date and I

Terri and Brent

Christa's yummy deconstructed Sushi
Terri and meDoug posing with food
Michelle and I hanging by the wine tableJeff during the smell competition
Michelle and ScottWerner's cork stash

Snow Day Part Duex

As I mentioned in the post about Michelle's Birthday, we had another snow day on Friday. An even more exciting part to that story, our apartment complex was all over the news due to the downed car ports in the complex. There were 11 downed carports in our complex alone. Luckily, Andrew and I noticed two fallen ones on Thursday evening, so we parked my car outside and not under the port, however, ours never ended up falling. Pictures of the bizarre thing below.

Michelle's Birthday

Yay, celebrating Michelle's birth! Michelle turned 32 on Friday, and we were able to celebrate with a trip to Mi Cocina with a good group.

Friday was also a snow day, so fun, so Andrew and I spent the morning working out and having fun, then at lunch Andrew got a call to fly to Cabo San Lucas. So unfair. ha. The man who owns the plane was without power due to the storm, so he decided he and the fam would go to Cabo. Which meant that Andrew would miss Michelle's party, and the Werners party on Saturday. That was a bummer, but I am SUPER grateful that we had a snow day Thursday, b/c Andrew and I had a terrific day just hanging out and being together. So, thanks for the snow God, we appreciate it!!

Back to Michelle's bday. We wavered for a while on where to go and how to celebrate, but in the end we decided Mi Cocina, b/c Mexican food is awesome and it was close to Scott and Michelle and me and Andrew. I made a chocolate on chocolate cake for her to celebrate with, and we enjoyed many a marg and Corona. Michelle then ended up coming over for some girl time as did Keri and we had a blast. Once again our intentions of watching a chick flick ended up, us falling asleep by about 10pm, but whatever. Great celebration for a great friend!

Michelle blowing out candles

Michelle and KyndleKeri, me and MichelleMichelle and Scott

SNOW DAY!

I LOOOOOOOOVE snow days more now as an adult than I think I did as a school kid. I especially love them when they come after Andrew has been away on a four day trip, and the two of us just get to hang out all day. We had a leisurely trip to the gym and met Michelle, then grabbed some lunch...then just hung out all day with our dogs!!

I was able to test out the new camera my parents got me for Christmas with Andrew and the dogs in the snow. There were having the time of their lives! I'm excited to note that on Sunday I am taking pictures of Jennifer and Ben as a pre-engagement picture practice session. Though I love shooting pictures of my dogs, I am really excited to have new subjects.

Gus hanging in the snow

Huck probably not happy we were out as long as we were

Andrew with the boys!Handsome Hubs

My Husband - Phil Dunphy

I LOVE the new show Modern Family! It is so stinkin hilarious, and Andrew and I love watching it on Wednesday nights. I will even re-watch immediately after if Andrew came in late from flying or something. So hilarious. Anyway, once the show started, I began getting comments from a lot of friends saying, "the Phil guy on Modern Family is SOOOO Andrew." At first I kind of laughed...then I noticed Phil says a LOT of things very similar to my husband. Main one of note...word for word mind you...is one about swim wear. Andrew always maintains it is fine for him to wear boxers around people, he even jumped in the San Marcos river in boxers on the way home from school one day, as they are the same as a swimsuit. Well, in one of the first episodes Phil comes out in boxers, gets scolded, and he says "what's the big deal, the cover the same thing as a swimsuit." Hmmm, definitely similar. Well the other day there was an episode where Phil tried out a mustache for fun...Andrew did this on Halloween. When Andrew had the stache on it changed his whole personality, it was really funny...anyway, Phil's stache had the same effect. I LOVE it. It's like looking into the future...

Apparently here is my husband at 40....ah swoon.

Jewel Charity Ball

That's right, I'm making up for not blogging for an entire month by posting two blogs in one day! This one even has pictures!

One of our friends invited Andrew and I to be her guest at Jewel Charity Ball. Her name is Leanne, she is a FABULOUS graphic designer, and she designed the invitations for the Ball. JCB is a great organization that does fund raising throughout the year for Cooks Children's Hospital here in FW. It all culminates in January at their HUGE gala ball...seriously, there were 2,000 people there. Basically it is like the fun part of a wedding...dinner, dancing, drinking and an all around good time. It was held at the Omni this year, the food was great, the wine was great and the dancing, oh the dancing. I even got to wear a floor length evening gown I bought from Neimans!!! (on HUGE sale mind you)

Andrew made me proud again, he ended up on stage with the band at one point in the evening dancing. I just LOVE that I have a husband who loves to dance and really gets into making a dancing evening a fun time. We ran into our good friends Doug and Julie Renfro as well, and Andrew and Doug found props to wear during the dancing. Leanne and her husband John were out on the floor with us the entire time...just a great time! The band even played Lady Gaga...hilarious.

Leanne and I during dinnerAndrew and I on the dancefloor

Andrew and Doug with their festive props!Andrew on stage with the bandA little decaf at the end of the evening