Pregnant Easter

We spent Easter Sunday with my Mom's family at her house in Lampasas. It was great to see my Grandpa and Aunts and Uncle. This was the first time they had seen me since finding out I am pregnant so they all wanted to see my belly bump and ask a million questions.

We discussed how the next time we celebrate holidays together there will be a baby in the mix. Everyone is very excited about that and can't wait for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to start making appearances in our family again. It's been awhile.

My sister & her husband gave us and the baby an Easter present...our baby's 1st Dr. Seuss book. (There will many, many more to come because Bobby loves Dr. Seuss.)
Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go - a Dr. Seuss introduction book meant to be read to baby in utero.
So cute! I can't wait until Bobby reads it to the baby. :-)

Last night Bobby and I were sitting on the couch relaxing after a busy weekend and we started talking about how next Easter our lives are going to be so different. No more just jumping in the car to go grab a bite to eat, or to browse Home Depot just because. Everything is going to have to be planned out and time allowed just to pack the car. Wow! We are such goers and doers right now. But I guess, at least we understand that a major adjustment to our free lifestyle is in our very near future....

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Hallmark Conspiracy ?

So next week my girls group we will be doing our 2^nd annual Valentines Party.

We decided to do this for a few reasons:

1) A few of my girlfriends are strong, independent, single ladies.

2) Some of our husbands just conveniently forget about V-day.

3) Some of our husbands just despise Valentines Day and don’t understand why it’s an important day to us chicks. Some of them even like to use the cop-out theory that Valentines Day is a Hallmark conspiracy. Well, maybe it is….but I think for the majority of girls, it is still an important day.

I for one, cannot help but get sucked in every year. The red and pink slap you in the face every time you walk into any store…including the grocery store. Hell, I think the grocery store is the worst….they have the pink and red out when the Christmas stuff goes on clearance. If you try to play it off and tell your guy that it isn't a big deal to you, you'll just end up with hurt feelings on Valentines day...and that doesn't do anyone any good.

Regardless of the alleged Hallmark Conspiracy, it is an important chick day…always has been, always will be. For me it started really early in life. Before boyfriends, my dad always got my sister and I flowers, or candy, or both. As we grew up and started getting flowers from boys, he started giving us each a box of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies…we liked those more than any heart shaped box of candy.

Side Note: I remember one year my dad gave us each a box of chocolate covered cherries. (Well that is just gross.) So my sister left her box on top of her stereo speaker which was on the floor. Our Sheltie dog Tippy got a hold of that box, chewed through the plastic wrapper, and ate ALL the chocolate covered cherries. When my sister got home and realized Tippy had eaten the entire box, we all freaked out and knew we were going to have a dead dog on our hands soon. Surprisingly not, a few hours later Tippy had a very upset stomach and gave my sister her chocolate covered cherries back.

Back to the Girls Valentines Party....

We had so much fun with our party last year that we decided to do it again this year. Instead of at a loud happy hour spot downtown, we will have our party at one of the girl's houses. (We've been doing this more often lately because it's a little more intimate in that we don't have to yell over the music and the happy hour crowd.)

For fun we do a Valentines version of the secret Santa thing. We draw names and buy a small gift for the person we drew. Last year we did $15 max dollar limit, and this year we are doing $10 max dollar limit.

(Because we are all saving for our 1st annual Girls Birthday Celebration Trip.) :-)

So for the next week I will be on the hunt for the perfect $10 Valentine. I don't want to do the boring bath soaps gift, and surely I can do better than a gift card....this is for someone I call one of my closest friends.

I am positive that I will find something completely cute and unique while I am out searching... but if you do have any suggestions, by all means, send them my way!

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Holiday Update

I FINALLY got my Christmas stuff down and cleaned up yesterday. I am glad Christmas is officially over at my house. I am already starting to look forward to springtime!!! Winter Solstice has come and gone, so slowly but surely the days are starting to get longer. Whew! Once again I made it through the hardest part of the year for me. The holidays and a few trips always serve as a good distraction.

After the Costa Rica trip I had about a week at home before our trip to Georgia. During that week I hosted my girls group Christmas party (the only reason I even decorated this year at all). We had so much fun laughing and having good girl-bonding time. I hated that the evening seemed to go by so quickly. A few of us stayed up late after the party was over...guess we weren't quite done with the girlie night....we watched the Sex And The City movie. Due to a slight hangover, work the next day was long and torturous. I warned the girls that future parties MUST be on weekend nights! I am getting too old for this.....

Bobby and I spent Christmas at his sister's house in Georgia. We flew in Christmas Eve, rented a car, and drove 2.5 hours to just outside of Evans/Augusta. His sister her best friend had recently finished painting and decorating their beautiful home. We had the perfect Christmas holiday with lots of eating, drinking, games, eating, Wii tennis/golf/bowling, movies, drinking more.....and did I mention eating? Bobby loves to remind me that his sister and I bonded over 4 bottles of Champagne we drank on Christmas Day alone....he thinks there were 7-8 empty Champagne bottles by the end of visit....but who's counting?!?!? (that isn't including the wine and misc other mixed drinks.)
I loved spending quality time with Bobby's family, but especially his sister. She, her husband, and their two girls only recently moved back to the U.S. after living overseas for about 3 years. Before this visit she and I had only hung out one other time....which was the week of our wedding. It was great to just sit and talk and find out more about each other. Of course when I've been drinking I get all kinds of chatty...so she probably learned more about me than she really cared to know.... :-)
Bobby has twin nieces....and I absolutely love them! The were little princess flower girls in our wedding and they called me the big princess. That is when they stole my heart. I was slightly concerned that I wouldn't get that same kind of admiration without the big white dress, but that wasn't the case. They warmed up to me again quickly and were soon calling me Aunt and wanting my attention as much as I wanted theirs. :-)

We stayed indoors all but one day of the visit, which we took a day trip to Stone Mountain. I can best describe it as a theme park, without the rides. Well there were two rides, one was a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain.
The main thing about this place is the Confederate Memorial Carving int he side of the stone mountain. For all you locals...the actual Stone Mountain was like Enchanted Rock times ten thousand.
In the same concept as Mount Rushmore, there is a carving of three figures of the Confederacy on horseback.

I won't bore you with the details...however, I do want to mention the 2nd "ride"... a train that goes around the mountain. OMG! The headache we all acquired by the end of that ride was indescribable and unforgettable. The brakes on that train needed several gallons of WD-40!!! Ridiculous that people were actually standing in line to get a massive headache. The important thing was that the girls had a blast and we all got to spend the day together....and got out of the house.

Sunday we got up extra early and headed for the Atlanta airport. We were at the airport over 2 hours early and it's a really good thing that we were. We walked in the door to see the Delta check in-line was super long and full of pissed off people. So remembering that we had booked 1st-class for this flight, we found the first class check-in line. This line was not nearly as long, but it hardly moved. Evidently many others had not allowed that 2 hour cushion and missed their flights home. So now they stood at the check-in counters trying to change their flights. Unfortunately, we were unable to check-in online or use the kiosks for our check-in. Bobby had purchased the tickets using credit card rewards through Continental for this Delta flight, so long check-in line for us....at one of the busiest airports in the U.S. on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
The airport was no problem at all once we finally made it through the check-in line. After about an hour flight delay we finally made it home....so happy to see our four furry kids.

We ended 2008 at a dinner with some friends, and we started 2009 at family lunch at my Mom's house. Friends and Family....the most important things in life.



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Lubbock Tx in my rear-view mirror...

I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Lubbock visiting my Dad's family. Since there just isn't much to Lubbock, I decided to make a list of my favorite Lubbock things...

* visiting my Dad and Amma (Dad's Mom). I only see my Dad about 2 times a year, and I only see my Amma 1 time a year (when I go to Lubbock because she hates to travel).

* Taco Villa! Why Oh Why do these only exist in the Lubbock area?!?!?
I even joined a Facebook Group titled "I Miss You Taco Villa!!!" It is compromised of 1,126 members. Description of the FB Group: To all of those who miss it so much. You could order with out looking at the menu. It's the first place you go when your back in town. You can't understand why your city doesn't have one. You belong here....

** Dixie Chick Natalie Maines hails from Lubbock where her family is still strong in the lively Lubbock music community.
She documented just how much she loves Lubbock in the Dixie Chicks Song "Lubbock or Leave It" Check it out! ;-)



* Rosa's Cafe - Again, why isn't there one in Austin!?!? There are several locations across Texas, but the closest ones are in College Station, Killeen & Waco. WHY???









* Buddy Holly -this guy has a statue, a street, and a museum in his honor. The biggest "buddy holly" glasses you've ever seen are sitting in front of the museum...pretty cool.




* South Plains Mall - it isn't the best mall...but it does serve the purpose. I spent many hours shopping and working in that mall. ...all good memories.






* and my favorite thing about Lubbock........seeing the city limit sign on my way out of town, and back to AUSTIN!!!


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Happy Turkey Day!!!