So I have been severely lacking in my blog-updating lately and I'm going to try to do better! The last few weeks I have traveled all over the state of Texas (mostly for work) and I've had few opportunities to get on here. I've been to the Panhandle and South Texas, Central Texas and I'm headed to East Texas next week. All in a month's time! The trip to Central Texas was for my cousin's baby shower and Husband's and my anniversary. This week I'm thankful for the trip Hubby and I made and the few days we got to escape normal life! I'm thankful for new babies in the family! This weekend was Cinnamon's baby shower and we found out they are expecting a little girl! I'm so excited to welcome another little one! And, it's so much fun to buy clothes for baby girls :) This week, I'm very thankful for WINE. Our anniversary trip was to the wine country in Central Texas and we had such a wonderful time tasting tons of amazing blends! We spent two days traveling to different wineries and broadening our palette. Now, we have to figure out when we can use the goodies we brought back! Our trip was incredible. We stayed at this amazing Bed and Breakfast in Fredericksburg and we were spoiled rotten. Our room was quaint and perfect and the breakfast was delicious. It was exactly what we wanted and when we left, Husband promised to go back soon! I'm so glad I found the perfect spot for our trip! Check it out - Corner Cottage B&B. So this is King George - the Corner Cottage Conman. He tricked all of us into believing he was a starving, homeless kitty and we were shocked to find out that he specializes in conning lodgers into believing he needs leftovers. Though I felt a little embarrassed that I fell for his tricks, I am glad he added to the weekend. Had to make sure I got a pic with him before I left... Isn't he adorable!?
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Happy Valentine's day everyone!! Today, I'm thankful for a day to celebrate love :) Call me a romantic (because I am), but I just love that there is a day dedicated to showing people how much they mean to you. Whether you have a lover or just a good friend or family member that you love, make sure you let them know how much they mean to you today. I'm thankful to spend the rest of my Valentine's days with my wonderful husband. This is our fourth together and I'm so lucky to have many, many to look forward to. I love him more and more each day and I'm blessed to have someone who really makes this day special. Husband gave me an early present yesterday and it made me cry. This is one of the last good pictures we got of Meg before we had to put her down in November. She was on her way to her surgery the 3 days before her last day and she started feeling a little better so she climbed into to passenger seat to look out the window. Husband took a picture to let me know she was doing okay. Yesterday, he framed it in the most perfect frame that I put on my desk at work. Now I can always see her happy and enjoying her ride. I'm thankful for St. Valentine for whom this day is celebrated. It is said that St. Valentine was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers when it was illegal for soldiers to be married due to the belief that men are better soldiers when they are single and have no ties. This day was not associated with romantic love until Geoffrey Chaucer penned a poem referencing St. Valentine and love birds. The connection stuck and evolved into the modern day celebration of Valentine's Day. Either way, today was made possible because of the of its patron saint and the acts that First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Mardi Gras! This Fat Tuesday (today), I hope you all take a moment to enjoy some sort of splurge before we head into the Lenten season. Though I'm not really one to partake in the craziness in New Orleans, I do enjoy the Mardi Gras season and believe we have something to celebrate. I hope you get a chance to enjoy some delicious King Cake at least! As we move into Lent, many of us are wondering what we should give up. Many people will give up sweets, some will give up coffee **gasp**, and others will give up more personal guilty pleasures. I have decided to give up Facebook. Now, some people (ahem: Cate) have questioned me on this particular sacrifice and what it really means to me. Others have argued why Facebook is a tool and why I should not give it up. I've decided to argue my case here (oh good ol' law school coming out...). First, I believe that Facebook is a very valuable tool (you are correct, Harry), especially for those of us who have friends, literally, all over the world. I could never completely shut down my account because it is a way that I keep in touch with childhood friends I met while living overseas and friends I've met at different points in my life who live thousands and thousands of miles away. There are many benefits to Facebook in addition to a means of keeping in contact with people and I truly appreciate it. However, there are also some serious negatives about it. I am hooked. I mean, seriously addicted. Sometimes, I pick up my phone and don't even realize that my thumb has tapped the Facebook icon until I see my newsfeed loading. I check it at least 10 times a day and I never start or end my day without checking Facebook to see what is happening in the Facebook world. I know, it's bad. Also, it strains my personal relationships that I have on a daily basis. I am constantly distracted from daily activities because I'm checking the latest posts or pictures. When I am spending time with Husband, I'm usually also spending time with my 1000 online friends. It drives him crazy and it also keeps me from giving him my undivided attention. I'm sure I do the same thing when I'm with friends and other family members. I've noticed that I'm checking it while waiting at the bus stop after work and while waiting for my food at restaurants. It's a way to pass the time -- at least that's what I tell myself. The thing is, this constant distraction keeps me from appreciating all of the little things in life. The little, daily blessings that God gives us as a reminder of his love. Instead of checking my phone while waiting for food at a restaurant, I could be watching a child and her parents celebrate a birthday or a new couple in that blissful new-relationship stage. Better yet, I could see an older couple still in love and on a date after 60+ years together! Those beautiful things are much better than what the latest person commented about the power outage at the Superbowl or the traffic jam on the way home from work. After a lot of thought and reflection, I've decided that although it will be extremely tough, I will be deleting my Facebook app from my phone and I won't log on until after the Lenten season is over. In doing this, I will also be making a constant effort to look for the beauty around me. It will give me a chance to work on the relationships God has blessed me with, time to meditate on my own faith and the life I live, and remember that the world is a blessing and it is all too easy to be distracted by technology or gossip or what others are up to. Happy Lent! This week I am thankful for my dear friend Maria. It is her birthday today and what better day to celebrate her than today? I am so lucky to have her in my life and to share all of our excited and eventful times together. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend!! I received this book from my sweet sister Cate and I have been reading it in the mornings on the way to work. What a wonderful reminder to give daily thanks for all of my blessings. It is a beautiful written book and I'm lucky to have a sister who wants to share this wisdom with me. Saturday was Max's 2nd birthday and my mother-in-law decided to throw him a birthday party. It was so much fun to spoil him and shre his day with 5 of his dog-cousins. I'm grateful to have a family that can have fun and celebrate little things like my dog's birthday. Dad's birthday was wonderful this past Sunday. I was thankful for an evening of delicious food and board games with my family. More than anything, though, I'm thankful for my dad and all her has blessed me with.
This week I'm so thankful for my sweet, beautiful cat Meg. I got some really bad news from the vet on Tuesday and it's been so hard to accept that my darling girl may not have much longer with us. The last few days, we have had to force feed her and try to make her as comfortable as possible. Last night, she drank on her own and this morning, she was walking around some (which is much more than she has done all week). I just pray she begins to eat on her own and she can regain some strength. She has been in my life for the past 15 1/2 years and I am so grateful to have her today. My dear little sister Caitlin knows just how to brighten my day when I'm having a rough time. Several times this week, I have woken up to hilarious pictures from her. Unfortunately for her (not me!), I learned how to snap pictures from the snapchat app she had me download. Now I get all sorts of embarrassing pics I can share ;) This one pretty much encompasses her great personality. I'm so thankful to have her in my life and know I can rely on her to cheer me up just when I need it! Love you, girl! Last night, I met up with my sorority sister, Fran, and got to meet her sweet little boy Jacob. I hadn't seen Fran in 5 or 6 years (since before Jacob was born!) and I was ecstatic to finally meet him and catch up with Fran! It was soo good to see her and reconnect. It almost feels as though no time has passed! She is welcoming another baby boy next week and I pray everything goes smoothly and I can meet him soon. I'm thankful that I have great sorority sisters and can meet them after years and years and feel as though nothing changes! My husband has been incredible this week. First, he went out of town last week and left little candies around the house for me to find and think of him. I love when he does things like that to let me know he is thinking about me. This week, he has taken such great care of Meg. He is spoiling her rotten and doing everything he can to make sure she is warm and comfortable. He's such a good dad :) He has also been very supportive of the news I received from the vet. There have been a couple mini-breakdowns since Tuesday and he completely understands. I know Meg is so appreciative of how much he is taking care of her and I'm so grateful to see that side of him. Today marks 3 weeks until my favorite holiday of the year!! I can't believe Thanksgiving in so close!! I love the holiday and the family time that we get. I really think it's important to give thanks for the blessings we have and remember our loved ones at this time of year. I can't wait to celebrate with our families and eat lots of yummy food! Tuesday was date night for the bestie and me. For some reason, Salice and I always seem to have dinner dates on Tuesday so I guess that makes it our official date night. This is a good thing because Tuesday is probably my least favorite day of the week (unless it's Fat Tuesday but that's because I love food haha). On the Tuesdays that I have a girly date to look forward to, I feel much more appreciative of the day and it's a little easier to make it through. It was great to catch up with Salice and enjoy yummy steak and wine! I'm thankful for all of the absolutely adorable kiddos in their costumes yesterday. It's great to see kids totally get into the holiday and see what they come up with when it comes to costumes. My sister Cate made the costumes for her family this year - how cute are they?!?! Ellie is Goldilocks and Mom, Dad, and Baby Claire are the 3 bears. I don't think it could be any cuter!! Wish I could have been there to see it in person! Gingerbread lattes are back!! I always get so anxious for this time of year because it means the return of the seasonal red cup at Starbucks as well as my favorite latte flavor. I started out my morning with one and I'm hoping that will set a positive tone for the rest of the day. Basically, I feel like the Starbucks gingerbread latte means the beginning of the holidays (so I'm actually not judged for walking around with that holiday spirit high that I get this time of year :) ) I have had some computer problems this week and I finally have it up and working again. Sorry I've been unable to blog the last couple days, but I thought I'd make up for missing yesterday's Thankful Thursday post by writing a Thankful Friday post. Most of all, I'm thankful that it IS Friday. I'm definitely ready for the weekend! Enjoy and have a great weekend! I took this pic at the Houston Dynamo game on Saturday night. Husband and I got tickets from our friend Blake after Blake's wife had twin baby girls on Friday. Originally it was supposed to be Blake and Husband at the game but Blake was a little busy... haha. I was thankful to be at the game but I am also thankful for Husband in general this week. More thankful than I am for going to the game with him, I appreciate the little things he does. For example, the other night, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and listening to music when he got home from work. Before saying anything, he walked up to me and grabbed me and started slow-dancing. I love when he is sweet and shows me how much he appreciates me. Lucky me :) So I got some new specs this week. Here's a pic of them. It has been a couple years since I got new glasses and I was ready for a change. I wear them most of the time I work so I get a lot of use out of them. I'm glad I have good insurance that allows me to pick out something practical and stylish. And, I'm glad I got a new prescription so my eyes can get a bit of a rest! Whatd'ya think?? I am so thankful for breakfast for dinner. Last night, I just did not feel like cooking dinner so instead, I made pancakes! These are pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes (my favorite as you know already) with added vanilla protein powder to bulk them up a bit. They were super filling and delicious. We topped them with French vanilla whipped cream and it felt like we were having dessert. Husband really appreciated the change as well :) Plus, we had a cold front come through last night and I figured what better way to welcome the fall weather than with fall flavors?? And, finally, I am so excited about our oranges! We have a mandarin orange tree (and a grapefruit tree and a lemon tree) in our back yard and I always get so anxious when the fall rolls around because I know our oranges will be ripe soon. Yesterday was the first day I could go out and pick some off the tree. Most aren't ready yet but I did get a handful of fragrant, sweet deliciousness! These oranges will make an entire room smell like Christmas when you peel them. I think that's part of the experience I love so much! I was having a bum day on Monday and I was really down. My ridiculously supportive husband sent me a text with a bunch of pictures and told me to see all of the things I had to be lucky for. Instead of the usual Thankful Thursday post, I thought I'd share those pics with you! I am so thankful for the support I have from my husband who would send me texts like this!
I'm sooo glad I found these little trouble-makers when they got out yesterday. I got home to find that Mr. Max had learned how to open the gate in our backyard. Maggie, who will never turn down an opportunity to go exploring, had followed Max out and they were nowhere to be found! I had no idea how long they were out and began driving around neighborhoods looking like a crazy woman as I screamed their names. After 40 minutes of driving around, I came home and started screaming to them from our deck. I look down the golf course to see Max's head pop up from the pond and Maggie just staring at me. Apparently, they had found a swimming hole and decided to cool off. I was so mad and happy at the same time that I sprinted through the golf course to them. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found our babies! Thank goodness they stayed together!! After the dog drama, I was exhausted and hot from frantically running around trying to find them. The last thing I wanted to do was work out even though I had planned all day to pop in my Yoga for Runners video. Husband convinced me not to let the dogs dictate my workout schedule and I decided to listen. Today, I'm so sore from the video and so glad that I listened to Husband. I know my sore back and shoulders (yes, these are the areas I seldom work out and need the most), are proof that I did something worthwhile yesterday. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to do the video with ease and not feel so sore the next day, but until then, I'll be grateful for the soreness and thankful that I pushed myself to devote an hour to my body. This past weekend was tough. We weren't sure we would still have the beautiful Carrie after her battle last week. When we packed for the weekend, I made sure to bring a few extra outfits in case we were forced to stay longer when visiting my in-laws. Husband and I were so relieved to hear that Carrie was released from the hospital and back under Hospice care at her house and, Saturday, we made a trip out to see her. When we got there she was sleeping and looked to be in a lot of pain but when she woke up and realized Husband and I were there, she was overjoyed. Somehow, we managed to perk up and even came into the living room to joke with us and eat for the first time in over a week! She was awake for a few hours and it was amazing to see her true personality making an appearance. We don't know how much longer she will be with us but I cherish every moment I shared with her over the weekend and I'm so thankful for the little miracles I see in Carrie. I'm so glad that my Why Run? post from Monday encouraged my friend Jennifer to run 4 miles! It's great to know that people are reading my blog and that I'm even encouraging some with it!! I'm so proud of Jennifer and her pup Grover! We are both encouraging to each other when it comes to running and this is one more opportunity to see that I'm helping her out. It's also great to know that others may find my blog encouraging. I'm grateful to have an impact, no matter how small it may be :) |
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