paradise part 1

This summer has been incredible. So incredible that I've been a big time slacker on documenting any of it! 

In June, my parents took us girls and our friends/partners to Punta Mita, Mexico for such an incredible vacation. We dinner cruised, food toured, pool lounged, ATV'd, slept late, zip lined, got massaged, and relaxed at a beautiful home that we rented for our vacation. It was such a sweet time with my people and their people! Ill let the photos speak for themselves:

Next: Maui with Russ' family! [what is my life?!]

5 on Friday

Lots of bloggers I love do a little list of 5 things they're loving on Fridays. So... here we go!

1. Frog Camp

I had the honor and privilege of attending TCU's new student program, Frog Camp this week in Bruceville, TX. My little group of incoming freshmen was made up of truly fantastic people. Seriously - compared to them at 18, I look seriously lame. And the facilitators that led our group were equally amazing. It makes my heart swell when I think about the truly quality students that TCU continues to recruit. And makes me thank my lucky stars that I got in when I did.



2. Joss and Main

I subscribed to Joss and Main e-mails almost a year ago, but haven't shopped their site at all. I recently started clicking on those e-mails rather than just deleting them, and WOW. I am finding so many things for my house at amazing prices. Have you ordered from Joss and Main? Is it too good to be true, or is their stuff really that great?

3. Bar Carts

Maybe it's my obsession with Mad Men, but I've been on the hunt for a vintage, gold detailed, mid-century modern bar cart for about a year now. I was shopping in Canton with RP and his mom and sister last weekend when I saw it - the perfect bar cart! When I got a little closer, I saw that the shelves were made from particle board, not glass or mirror like I'd hoped, but the frame was gold and the wheels were in good shape. When I asked the sweet lady running the booth how much for said bar cart, she goes, "Oh honey, I've been calling that a TV Cart." I'm pretty sure that would make Don Draper look at her like this:

Anyway, I got us a TV Cart for just $15! We have big plans to get glass cut for the shelves. Huzzah!

4. Oceans (Where feet may fail) by Hillsong

This song is just really speaking to my soul right now. The study of 1 Peter with She Reads Truth plus this song about Peter being called out on the water by Jesus is really drawing me to think about the man that Peter was and how much of myself I see in him. Anyway, it's doing a number on my heart and I love it.

5. These.

RP and I have picked up a little habit of having one of these every night before bed. I bought these under the guise of having something to offer people who drop by to see our new house. I need help.

Have a great weekend! 

uh, hey?

Wrote this post AGES ago, and am just getting around to posting it.. Bear with me - this update is all over the place and all took place way back in May! 

closing time:
We (finally) closed on our house on May 14. It felt awesome/terrifying to walk out of our realtor's office knowing that we were HOME OWNERS! We went for a celebratory dinner at Chuy's, because nothing says "Happy Home-owning!" like creamy jalepeno dip, am I right?

moving on...:
After the bliss of closing wore off, we finished packing. It was a beast. I have told RP several times since we moved that I NEVER want to move again, but just add on to our house as we need more space. Seriously. Hiring movers is one of the best decisions I've made in recent history.

unpacking/decorating/organization crisis:
This is the current state of things. I have looked forward to living in a house that I can paint and decorate however I please for years. Maybe this long wait is what has made me psycho about making everything perfect. As in, NOT unpacking a box until their is a FINAL DESTINATION for every item in said box. I need help (psychiatric, that is. don't come in my house. don't unpack anything. i will cut you. it's not you, it's me. issues). And girl lessons on decorating. Y'all hug RP when you see him because he is currently living with a crazy person. I like to think I'm on the other side of the worst of this, but who can say?

my life is on back-order:
LITERALLY (Chris Traeger style) everything we order for our house is on back-order/out of stock. This is really helping the situation outlined in the paragraph above. On opposite day.

real problems:
I have none. These are not real problems, they are just the current state of things. Just had to throw that out there. I am beyond blessed to have a (beautiful) roof over my head and a place to call home.

jai ho:
We attended a Hindu Wedding for one of Russ' co-workers over Memorial Day weekend. We made a little stay-cation out of it and stayed the night at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas (where the wedding was held). Um, most fun wedding ever. Let's just say that the wedding started at 9 am with a bedazzled horse, and ended (for us, anyway) at 12:30 am in the dance party of my dreams. The Indians know how to party, y'all. The ceremony was beautiful and so interesting to watch, the food was spicy and delicious, and the dancing. My word. My feet still haven't recovered. AND - the bride: so. beautiful. She wore three gorgeous outfits and looked like a princess. I felt so honored to be included in that special day.

We woke up on Memorial Day and decided to honor those that have served our country by traveling to the land of Swedish furniture: Ikea. This may or may not have been when the issues I mentioned earlier began. RP talked me off a ledge somewhere between the kitchen and bathroom demos, and we left with two side tables. Bless the man. 

I'll post house photos once things are a little more put together - read: when I'm not frantically searching through a box to find my colander while spaghetti is boiling on the stove. 

Hope you're having a lovely [less hectic] summer! 

weekend alliteration

nonna tata nomming 

[Mother's Day celebrating on Friday night with my wonderful MIL, Pam! The food was amazing, and RP took the opportunity to out-order me, as usual. And I didn't take any photos because I'm crazy]

stanley stalking

[took the in-laws by the house for a little peek!

bulldog babysitting

[our friends needed a little help on Friday watching their puppy, Ziggy. I mean, that face... ]

crack of dawn cleaning

[awake at 530 on Saturday AM cleaning and packing our bathroom. Who am I?]

donut devouring

[i was in a treat yo'self mindset]

west elm wishing and crate and barrel coveting

[nothing like a spontaneous little trip to Dallas to dream about furniture and decorating. RP was the champ of champs while I died Rachel Zoe style over end tables and headboards.]

taco tasting 

[on the way home from Dallas we took a little foodie detour to Fuel City Tacos where the barbacoa and picadillo of my dreams sufficiently blew my mind. Magical.]

So simple, so good. 

leo loving

[we met friends to see the Great Gatsby last night, and it did NOT disappoint! The soundtrack may be my favorite part of the movie - I mean, Andre 3000 and Beyonce singing Amy Winehouse?? Crazy In Love as a charleston?! Jay-Z, you are a genius (Chyea).]

kid corralling

[Today was our first day leading Children's Worship at church, which was a little like hearing cats, but mostly so fun. Also, many thanks to the 3 that chose to be baptized this morning a s shaved a good 15 minutes off our controlled chaos]. 

mom and the mercury 

[We met Gail for brunch at The Mercury - so fun! I love my Momma and was so glad to celebrate with her today.]

i'm an idiot (sometimes)

[After a glorious 2 hour nap this afternoon, I declared this weekend the "best ever." I should have known that upon uttering these words I would eat them. I ran up to work to grab the iPad for a training I have tomorrow and somehow locked myself out of my office. Keys, purse, iPad inside. Lovely. TCU Police helped a sister out, and all was well.]

It was a weekend for the books indeed! A little last hurrah of sorts before the home improvement projects begin. Hope you had a fun weekend, too! 

moving on

Whoa, baby, so much for "really blogging" in 2013. Does it count that I've thought about blogging since I wrote that last post?

What's been going on since my last little update? Lots of house hunting. Lots of travel for work - Orlando, Vancouver, Kansas City, Chicago, and Nashville - whew! Lots of events and opportunities to serve at church. Lots of good times with family and friends. And in the last six weeks or so, lots of decisions, paperwork, spontaneous fits of excitement, prayer, and a few near meltdowns, because...

We found our house!!

I've typed and deleted a bunch of cliche metaphors to describe this momentous event like "It's been a journey!" "It's been a wild ride!" "It's been a process!" and "It's been an adventure!"

It's totally been all those things, and also things like "headache" "near disaster" and "end of my sanity."

Above all that, we are just so excited! It isn't the house I thought we'd end up getting (one bathroom, y'all), but it is perfect for us, and we love it more every time we creepily drop by (we may be on a first name basis with the painters and floor guy - what up, Jose and Ramon?!). We have plans to add on in the next year or so, which I'm sure will be a whole new adventure, wild ride, headache, process, etc. Not to mention actually closing and moving in next week.

Anyway, I figure there's no time like the present to give this little bloggy another go. Here's to new adventures in playing house!

happenings

I made a semi-resolution... or really a half-thought on the way home from a New Years Eve party, "I'm going to try to really blog this year." Hah! How about a list of what's been going on?

1. I'm taking one class this semester, because last semester was like a war on my social life and sanity. My grad school actually became like real grad school (my grad program requires no thesis). I was reading/writing/posting/responding every day of the week, and I was a subpar friend, wife, employee, and sister for it. Never again. So far I feel affirmed in my decision to just take one this semester because my brain already hurts from ALL THE READING.

2. House hunting is still a thing. As in, we've been actively looking since September and haven't found "the one." I'm starting to think that Rhianna was talking about her first house when she sang, "We found love in a hopeless place," because Fall 2012/Winter 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas real estate certainly seems like a hopeless place sometimes. Will we find love? Surely. When? Who in the world knows. Right now we are trying not to drive each other crazy in our 1/1 downtown apartment, and trying to enjoy our cool/hip downtown living situation -- as in I was less than a block into my walk to meet friends for dinner last night when RP called me saying he'd pick me up and I jumped on that offer. At least I thought about walking?

3. My word for 2013 is "joy." This seems to be working out a little bit better than the whole resolution situation (see the first paragraph of this post). this book is helping -- a lot. Gratitude journaling is my jam, y'all. I don't know if I seem more joyful, but I sure do feel it in my spirit. Praise God.

4. I got crazy on some MLK weekend sales and bought lots of new big girl work clothes with the rest of my Christmas $$. My office is pretty business casual (I just tried to abbreviate casual to cazh... or casjh. nope), but I got a few fancy things that I'm excited to bust out. I'm also thinking about doing 30 for 30 challenge a la Kendi Everyday to get a little more creative with my wardrobe and curb my spending habit.

5. I'm also reading this book which is a MUST if you love the show, but NOT a good lunchtime read. Trust me on this one. It is also excellent birth control. You are welcome.

5 things on a Friday afternoon seems like all I can muster today. Maybe blogging will become the new house-hunting. Cheers and happy weekend!

february photo a day faves

Did you do the February photo a day challenge?

Here are my favorites from this month:

inside my closet

drink

 green

 hearts

money

something new

phone

 shoes

I missed a couple along the way, but this was a fun challenge to take more photos. 

I'm playing along for March, too!