summer vacay

I decided I was going to catch you up on what we've been up to this summer, so far...

We have already been on our annual beach trip to Destin, FL with Bill's mom, dad, and sister. This is our 3rd year to make the trip. Every year we've been, we've gone at a different point in the summer. This year was by far my favorite! We went early May, and it was cooler, less crowded, and the water was perfect. This year we also decided to fly to Destin. I was a little hesitant at first about this, because part of going to the beach is the road trip. But, lets just say, I hope I get to fly from now on. Easy peasy. We rented a car once we got there, and it was an hour drive from the Panama City airport to the condo.

The first night we were by ourselves in the condo, Bill's family didn't get there until the next afternoon. We decided to drive to Grayton Beach and go to the Red Bar. I love that place! Of course, I got the famous crab cakes. You just can't go there and not get them. Best you'll ever eat! Then the next day we enjoyed a perfect day on the beach together. Bill's family got there late afternoon on Sunday and we decided to grill burgers that night.

My idea of a beach vacation is, sleep in, eat some breakfast (usually the Donut Hole), mosey out to the sand, situate myself in a comfy beach chair with a book or magazine, and just enjoy the sound of the water until its time for lunch. Eat lunch, repeat the above until late afternoon. Well, my husbands family has a completely different idea of beach activities. They are the family that can't sit still. If its not playing in the water, its throwing the Frisbee or football, boogie boarding, etc. And, as usual, its always competitive. I'll just watch from the sidelines...

This was the 1st sibling activity, paddleboarding. Requires upperbody strength and balance, all the more reason I declined. :) They were both pretty good at it, and Isabelle made friends with the beach chair guy, so he let them do it for free. Oh to be young and cute.

Bill paddleboarding (you stand on it, but he was coming in when I took this)

The second night we ate at another favorite restaurant, Louisiana Lagniappe. Cajun, southern, seafood, delicious! I had shrimp and grits and it was AMAZING!

We did take one day to hit the outlet mall. I found some cute things on sale & I was mostly happy that I found some things for work. That night we went on a dolphin cruise. This was something I've never done before. It was interesting, to say the least. We did see several dolphins, getting pictures of them was rare to impossible. After the cruise, we ate dinner at a Destin staple, The Back Porch. Wonderful, as always.

The girls waiting to get on the boat for the dolphin cruise.

Bill and I on the boat during the cruise.

One of our last nights there, we drove into Seaside for dinner. I absolutely love Seaside. I grew up going there every summer with my mom, aunt, and cousin. Back then (as if it was so long ago) it was "undiscovered", pre-The Truman Show. I still love going back, but it's not the same. Anyways, we ate at Bud & Alley's Taco Bar then walked around the shops and got some gelato at Heavenly.

Every year, we've take a family picture to use as the Christmas card pic. In the past, we've known someone there at the same time as us to help take the picture in the evening. We decided to change it up this year and took the picture in the morning. Not the best idea. The sun was super bright, so we all have our sunglasses on. Oh well, still turned out ok.

Bill and I on the beach. Christmas card pic? I'm not sure...

Beach Pic 2011

Overall, we had a great trip. I'm already ready to go back. Maybe a short trip in early fall?

halfway to 50

last monday was my 25th birthday. i was lucky enough to celebrate while i was on vacation in florida. bill woke me up to be the 1st to say "happy birthday." he came in and gave me a hug, and i rolled over and said, "uhhh halfway to fifty." ha! i am one of those people that thinks their birthday is the best holiday. i'm usually bouncing around all month long excited about it. reminding people of how close it is. this year it was different. i don't know if i was wrapped up in our vacation, or if the luster of my birthday is wearing off the older i get. either way, i had a great birthday, besides the rain and oil on the beach.

this is me with my fancy birthday cake my aunt made for me

there were two things i could think of as presents i wanted for my bday. so, that is what bill got me. well... sorta. i knew we would be in destin on my bday, and they have a fabulous outlet mall there. i looked up the stores and saw they had a Perfumania and a Le Creuset outlet store there. i am down to the last drop on all of my perfumes, so that was gift number one. a gift card to the perfumania store. i wanted to find something new, but they don't have the perfumes out where you can just sample yourself. you have to get them to spray it on a card for you. so, i just stuck with my old standby, Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue. Love it!

i did not receive a cast iron skillet as a wedding gift, nor have i gone out to purchase one in the 2 years we've been married. this is something that i've been wanting. and i've been eyeing all the lovely le creuset skillets and cookware. so this is my second gift. a gift card to the le creuset outlet store. i was able to pick out a cast iron skillet, a stockpot, trivet, potholder, and basting brush with my card!

these are my stockpot and skillet. love the cherry red!

now i just have to use them! come on over and i'll make ya some cornbread! ;)

overall, i had a wonderful birthday. i'm so thankful for all my gifts and how thoughtful everyone was. now this year needs to go really slow, because saying 26 really sounds old!

destin vacation

Bill and I just got back from Destin, Fl where we spent 8 glorious days of vacation with Bills mom, dad, and sister. We got up super early Saturday morning, I'm talking 4am early, to start the 12 hour treck to Destin. It went by pretty quickly. As quickly as 12 hours in a car can be at least. We woke up Sunday morning to beautiful weather. We spent the day out on the beach. There was lots of seaweed in the water which was sorta gross, but no oil! My mom and aunt were also on vacation in Destin for a few days while we were there. That night we had dinner with them at one of my favorite places, Louisiana Lagniappe. Its on the harbor and they have a pretty patio to sit on.

At Louisiana Lagniappe for dinner. Bill is talking in this pic, but I liked it.

The next day was my BIRTHDAY! The big two.five. Unfortunately we woke up to thunder and storms rolling in. And what was sitting on the counter next to my doughnuts when I walked in the kitchen? A ginormous tar ball!

This was the biggest one we saw all week. Most were about the size of a quarter.

So, we got dressed and headed to the outlet mall. We spent half the day there, then came back to the condo to celebrate my bday. I got some great things!

My aunt made me a cake from regular pound cake and mixed it with cool whip, then added peaches to the top. it was super delish!

It rained the rest of the day, so we gave up on the beach that day. We got dressed up for dinner and went to a new restaurant in Destin called Louis Louis. It is owned by the same people that opened Red Bar in Grayton Beach. If you've never been there, you are MISSING out! It has the same sort of vibe, and delicious food! The crabcakes are to die for! These are also the same people that own Cafe Prego in Little Rock. You know its good!

Before dinner, we were goofing around. This is what we got.

We woke up to more rain the next day. But whenever it looked clear for a minute we would run out to the beach. Unfortunately it wouldn't last long. We got caught up in some down pours a couple times. And since they are making everyone wash their feet off down by the beach, to prevent oil from getting on the pool deck and in the pool, it really slowed things down.

one good moment on the beach.

Isabelle and me with our matching swimsuits.

It ended up raining 4 out of the 6 we were there. We got a lot of shopping in. I went with my mom and aunt to seaside one day to do some shopping. Other days we went to the outlet mall.

Luckily we got one clear night to take some pics out on the beach.

Me, mom and Aunt Mel

Bill and I on the beach

The fam on the beach. We didn't really plan on a color coordinating them this year, but this somehow worked out. Love it.

Bills family left a day before we did. And what do ya know, Friday was the prettiest day we had. We literally went down to the beach at 8 am and I didn't come in until 5pm! I got a little sunburned, but it made up for the 4 days of rain!

On our last night there we went to Baytowne in Sandestin Resort and used a gift card we had gotten for dinner. We went to Poppy's on the bay and overlooked the marina. Then we walked around the little town, until once again it looked like it would rain.

All in all we had a wonderful trip. We almost canceled in fear of the oil ruining it, but I am so glad we didn't. The oil was present, but the beaches were still open and you could still get in the water. The rain did put a damper on the trip a little, but we made the best of it. It was relaxing and nice to have some time away from work. I can hardly wait until next year!

hill country vacation

this weekend Bill and I took an extended weekend vacay to the Texas Hill Country. we were celebrating our 2nd anniversary which is tomorrow!

1st stop: Austin, TX

Let me first preface this blog by saying that the entire weekend was a monsoon. it rained 95% of the time. and by rain i mean, nasty misty, constant drizzle, to full out downpour. it was gross, and honestly, made me a little angry. grrr rain. therefore, i did not get a lot of good pictures. i'm pretty disappointed by this, because i love taking lots of pics. so, i'll try my best to paint the picture of our vacation.

moving on... we made it into austin around 11am and decided to grab some lunch before heading out on our adventures. me found a little mexican restaurant in, what i think was called, the arts district. austin is known for its wierdness. they like to be different, and let me tell ya, this different was good. i loved all the little unique shops, and fun restaurants. there was a western store called Allen Boots. two words. BOOT. HEAVEN.

i could have spent all day in here trying on boots. they had SO many. and lots of them were vintage style. oh they were beautiful. if the boot gods are listening, i would like a camel colored vintage pair with turquoise details and roses. thank you.

next we went to mellow johnnys bike shop. bill wanted to check it out because, well he's mr. cyclist now, and this is lance armstrongs bike shop. it was a cool place. i think we spent the most money there. ha!
bill was embarrassed at me taking his picture like this. ohhh, life as a husband.


we went to check out the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. we had to get a little culture on the trip. this place was very nice. it was good to learn a little about this wonderful state we live in.
this was in front of the museum. gotta love the lone star.

by the time we left the museum the skies let loose and it really began to rain. we wanted to go walk around the university of texas campus, as much as it pains me to do so. i mostly wanted to get a pic of me doing the horns down thing in front of some longhorn fans. we did drive around the campus the next morning. it really made me miss being in fayetteville. seeing all the students scattering to class, driving around the football field, and seeing all the school pride and spirit. *tear.

so, that night we decided to drive out to Driftwood, TX to go to a place called The Salt Lick, a well known BBQ joint. it was about an hour drive outside of town, just really in the middle of nowhere. well worth the drive, and getting drenched. good stuff, i tell ya.

we were going to check out 6th street after we got back from dinner. buuuuttt, you guessed it, still pouring. so we skipped out on it, and watched a movie at the hotel.

Friday morning we grabbed some breakfast and headed out towards Fredericksburg. we stopped in Johnson City to see the LBJ State Park. It is where Lyndon B. Johnsons boyhood home is. we got there around noon and they close the exhibits for lunch and we didn't feel like waiting around, so missed out on that. as you head out further towards Fredericksburg, you go by the LBJ ranch. so we drove thru it as much as we could. we couldn't get close to "The Texas White House" because the river you have to cross to get to it, had washed out the road. boo rain, again. oh well, onto the main event.

we arrived in fredericksburg and walked around main street, where all the shops, antique stores, and restaurants are. we had lunch at a local brewery. for those that may not know, fredericksburg is a little german town. so all the store fronts look like a little german main street. and a lot of the restaurants are german, biergartens and all.

we stayed in a little cottage, that is a guesthouse behind someones real house. this place was so adorable. the lady that owns it is an interior designer, and has been recognized for her designs. most recently this cottage was written up in the latest Cottage Style magazine.

this was the bathroom. it had a cute antique sink, and lots of antique mirrors.

this was the dining area. she used all black and white decorating. so many little details too. the pics don't do it justice.

view from the front door. it was so quaint and peace full. we loved it, and i highly recommend it.

these are a little out of order... this is the front of the cottage. not too much to look at from the outside. but we learned that before she renovated it, it was a laundry building because the front house were apartments. the front house was built in 1907.

my best attempt at being artistic. :) this is what the guesthouse was named.

on our second day in fredericksburg, we got breakfast at a little bakery. which i bought a cookbook from. sooo delish. we did more walking around main street. bill actually enjoyed looking in the antique and furniture stores best. i was surprised. there were cute clothing stores as well. there, he was not so interested.

we decided we wanted to do a little exploring, so we did a little hill country driving. we found a spot in the middle of nowhere to have lunch. it was called the Hill Top Cafe. such a cute spot, and amazing cajun food.

this, sadly, is the only pic i have of both of us... this is in front of the hill top cafe. my favorite place we ate.

after lunch, it had actually gotten sunny out so bill decided he wanted to take his bike out for a spin. and i went and did some more shopping. much easier to take my time and look when the hubby isn't waiting outside the store for you. ha. i found a few souvenirs, and gifts for other people.

that night we ate dinner at a german restaurant called, Auslander. i had wiener schnitzel. well actually it was called texasschnitzel. regular schnitzel with a texas twist. it was tasty!

after dinner we decided to drive out to Luckenbach, TX. they were having their first annual hat festival. oh my. so fun. luckenbach is all of like half a mile long. there is what used to be the post office, now a general store and souvenir shop and a dance hall. ha! this was pure country folks. the bands were really good, and lots of two-steppin' going on. of course, we joined in.

famous luckenbach dance hall.

"...out in luckenbach texas, aint no body feelin' no pain."

famous, and some not so famous, peoples signatures are scribbled all over the store.

to get home today, we decided to take all back roads so we could see the country and the wildflowers. it was such a pretty drive. i've never seen so many bluebonnets. of course, i didn't get a pic because well, you know.... trust me it was pretty.

all in all, bill and i had a wonderful weekend. it was relaxing. there was no schedule or agenda. just enjoying our time together celebrating 2 years of married life.

4 day weekend

what a wonderful weekend we had here. i have been off the past 4 days from work, finally taking my Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. originally the plan was to visit my friends in Fayetteville. well, that all went down the drain when some wintry weather moved in. it really put a damper on my spirits, because i was so looking forward to this trip for several reasons... i was going to get to spend time with my 3 best friends all at once. i was going to get to go to Fayetteville (where University of Arkansas is, and where I went to college for those that may not know). i have only been to visit Fay. one time since i've graduated. that is SO sad! so, its been over 2 years since i've been. lastly, i was looking forward to seeing my name on the sidewalk. everyone that graduates gets their name on the sidewalk on campus, and i have not seen mine yet! HUGE bummer. i wasn't about to risk my life on the roads though, and the weatherman didn't disappoint this time. basically all of arkansas got it bad. snow and ice. on to plan B.

So, i just stayed in Dallas and got to spend some quality time with the husband. we had a good weekend. Friday night we had our usual tradition of Fat Clothes Friday over at my dads. we enjoyed a big pancake breakfast and watched the 20/20 story on John Edwards. i know this sounds super boring, but actually it wasn't. i had no idea this man was such a whore! excuse my language. but really. did anyone else watch this? crazy! if you didn't see the story, or if you have no idea what i'm talking about, i recommend you do yourself a favor and brush up on your politics. praise the lord he didn't become the leader of our country! i digress...

SATURDAY! my first saturday off since august! woo hoo! i slept in, of course, then bill and i decided we didn't want to just sit around all day, even though it was super cold outside. there was a place i had been wanting to try so we got dressed and headed out for an adventure.

the place we went to is called Bread Winners Bakery. there are actually 4 different locations across the metroplex. we went to the one in Inwood Village, a cute little shopping center at Lover's Lane and Inwood Road. one word for this place... aaahhh-mazing! we did have to wait a little bit, for the obvious reason that we were not the 1st to realize its greatness. bill had chicken fried steak and eggs, and i had Monterrey enchiladas. i really wanted to splurge and get a mimosa, because you got your own little bottle of champagne, but it was $10 and i just didn't see any good in a $10 mimosa. but, it was sooo cute! i was really tempted by the bakery too. lots of goodlooking cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. this is definitely a place i will frequent.

next, bill decided he wanted to use up a few gift cards he had. so we went to Jos.A.Banks and he got a new pair of dress shoes. Then, we headed over to The Shops at Willow Bend so check out the Brooks Brothers store. There he got a new belt to match the new shoes. Willow Bend mall is also where Anthropologie is, so of course, we had to stop by there. I couldn't hold bills attention very long in there, so i just breezed through and we were outta there. soooo many cute things though. i'll be going back.

after a little rest at home, and a quick workout for bill, we decided it would be a good night to catch a movie. i had been wanting to see Up In The Air, so we decided to go to Studio Movie Grill. we love this place because you can get dinner there too. we split a pizza, had a couple beers, and shared some popcorn. they have the best popcorn, and its only $3! you get way more than at a regular movie theater, and you get a cup of warm butter to pour on it! yummm!

this morning, bill was still not feeling well. he's got a cold, and it just wont go away. so i decided to make some breakfast. i saw a recipe on a friends blog for this blueberry bread thingy, and thought it looked pretty tasty. http://kendallandkeith.blogspot.com/2010/01/blueberry-breakfast.html. there is the link to the recipe. mine did not turn out at pretty as hers, but definitely (i'm assuming) just as tasty. Bill at about half of it! we've really just been pretty lazy. i worked on my photo albums, picked up the house, did some laundry, and now i'm working on planning our anniversary trip. we are taking a trip through the Texas Hill Country. I'm working on all our little stops and where to stay, shop, and eat! hopefully we'll be bringing home lots of pictures like this one, of pretty bluebonnets. they are the native wildflower to texas, and very predominant in the hill country.

ok, well this post got sorta long... its back to work for me tomorrow. boo! hope everyone has a wonderful week, and a happy grammy/pro bowl watching night!

vacation

bill and i just got back from a weeklong vacation in destin, fl. we spent in destin, fl with bills mom, dad, and sister. it was a fun filled week of the beach, outlet mall, good food, and laughs. we are still trying to get readjusted to real life again. here are some pics from the trip...

isabelle and i at tommy bahamas

family photo

lynne and i at the back porch

me and the hubby

isabelle and bill boogie boarding

bill and al on the beach

it feels good to be home. i really missed my lucy dog! she is getting bigger everyday! i hope she doesn't get too big, i can hardly pick her up anymore. plus she is a giant wiggleworm! its also time to get back to doing some things around the house. we finally got blinds on the back windows, and a deadbolt lock! i feel so much better and safer.

its time to start gearing back up for football season. when july hit we started getting huge shipments again. i've already rearranged the store twice, and we get new stuff in just about everyday. its fun, but a lot of work. sometimes i'm not sure if i can handle another season, but other times the job is so rewarding. i'm just praying i can make it! :)

well thats really it right now. i'm kinda not in the blogging mood.... maybe this weekend will bring something interesting that i will want to share with the world! goodnight!

i love lucy

wow! what an eventful past couple of days. my in laws got in town friday afternoon with a HUGE, i'll repeat HUGE, uhaul truck. Our house actually looks kinda full now. i just need some more accessories, but no rush. i'm just glad to have furniture! so, for the past couple weeks bill and i have been seriously talking about getting a dog. we wanted to rescue a dog, and we had talked about a basset hound, and daschunds (weenie dogs). but i had found a sweet little dog named ava on the adoptions website, and we decided we wanted to go look at it. so we called and they were having adoption day at PetSmart, but by the time i got to talk to anyone little ava had been adopted. we decided to go anyway and look at the other dogs. well, little Freckles, Avas brother, was there as well. Love at first sight! Decision made in about 10 minutes, and an hour later we're out the door with a puppy, crate, food, and toys in tow.

She's an Australian Shepard Labrador mix. They are also called "Shepradors" or "Aussiedors." We call her Lucy. She could not be any sweeter. She was the runt of the litter, but who doesn't love the runt? We brought her home, and she slept all afternoon. It was storming all day, and she never cried or got scared. She is already good about letting us know when she needs to potty. When we put her in her crate last night, she cried for about 2 minutes and never heard a peep until 6am! I mean can we say perfect? I'm just waiting for this phase to end, and I wake up one day and my sweet little puppy dog is bouncing all over, chewing on my shoes, and scratching at the door. Keep your fingers crossed. She's a little shy and timid right now. We took her on a couple little walks today, and she gets nervous around the cars. But she is super curious and we encourage her a lot. I think we'll make good parents! :)

Since the puppy came home, I haven't gotten much decorating done. I'm too consumed with her! But, hopefully I will get things in order, and get some pictures hung before my friends come in a couple weeks. Side note: I'M REALLY EXCITED MY FRIENDS ARE COMING!!! I have to go back to work tomorrow...UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not excited! I had too much fun being the housewife this week, and actually getting to hang out with Bill and my family. One day, one day, I just keep reminding myself.

K, here are some pics of the pup. Enjoy!

vacation: day 2

wish i could say i've done something super exciting and fabulous, but i really haven't. i have just been concentrating on getting all our earthly belongings out of our apartment, and moved over to the house. our lease is officially up tomorrow. i will miss our little apartment, or "hotel suite", as bill would call it. it was our first "home" as a couple, and it made a quite nice one to say the least. however, i love our new house, and i am very excited about making it our home!

okay...so lets talk about this swine flu thing. the first person in the US to die from the "pandemic" was in texas. for anyone geologically challenged, texas is THE border state to Mexico, or as they like to call it, "ground zero" of the disease. I'm watching the news as i type and they are telling me that whole school districts are closing down for up to 3 weeks as a precaution to this. i wasn't really that concerned about this, since it hasn't affected that many people yet. but now i'm getting a little worried. i mean, if these mexican people start coming to my state to get help or, just trying to sneak across the border to get away from it, then how am i safe? should i be wearing a mask? ugh...now i'm freaking out! where did i put my hand sanitizer?

so, when bill and i moved into our house, it came with a present. baby birds! the previous owner left a bird house in our back yard, and it has 2 baby birds in it. as much as i love mother nature, these things chirp ALL DAY LONG! its pretty amazing though, the mama comes and goes all day long bringing them food. so sweet. but, i'm ready for them to grow up already, so i can move the bird house a little farther from my window. until then, we stay inside, don't want to scare the mama away. my back yard is pretty much an aviary!

looking forward to vacay day 3!

Here's a pic from our anniversary!

3 hours till vaca...

Surprisingly this day has gone by pretty fast, considering in 3 hours
I'll be on vacation until Monday! This will be the longest I've been
away from my store since I started, and I've been here almost a year!
I don't think I'll miss it too much. I will mostly miss my daily
gossip sessions with Pam, she owns the Bath Junkie, next door. Quick
plug for Bath Junkie: LOVE that place! You make your own bath stuff,
and the best is the salt scrub. Bill even uses it (don't tell him I
told you!) they are all over so check it out if you've never been!
Anyways, super pumped about vaca. I'm getting my hair highlighted
tomorrow. First time I've done any progressional coloring since my
senior year in high school. Cross your fingers! Other than that, I'll
be unpacking, decorating, cleaning, grocery shopping, and maybe
tanning (I really need it).

On another note... I picked up this months issue of Cosmo this
morning. I don't normall read it, bc most of it is pretty trashy. But
I heard there was an article about Anne Pressly in it. The article is
about women who live alone, and the dangers they face. I didn't know
Anne really well, but enough to have a casual conversation if we ran
into each other. She used to live down the street from me and my mom,
and she would always tell me she idolized my mom bc of her position in
TV. She was a wonderful person, full of personality. I think anyone
that watched her on TV, or had the chance to meet her loved her. She's
in a better place, and we'll meet again another day. Just keep praying
for justice against the person who did this to her.

K, happy thoughts again! One of my best friends, Brittany Binns, got
engaged this weekend. Of course I felt like the worst friend ever bc I
didn't even know the guys name! We haven't talked in a while, but to
give me the benefit of the doubt, they have only been dating 4 months.
I am super happy for her, and can't wait for wedding festivities to
begin!

Allison Davis
Sent from my iPhone