This last weekend of Spring Break we took a quick drive down to San Antonio. We got to see Charlie, my dad's new dog, and spend some time with each other.

Saturday was a packed day. We first made it to the Zoo.







The weather was wonderful! Neil loves zoos but I had never taken him to the San Antonio and while it was pretty good, it also made us proud of our Waco Zoo. The zoo here is as good as the big city zoo of San Antonio.

Just trying to throw in a little fun there for Spring Break.

That evening we took a drive 20 minutes north to Gruene Texas. It is a small Nisswa-like town. Filled with shops, restaurants, and a river. We had never been there but will definitely go back again, this time with more time to shop!

We ate a very good meal outdoors at The Gristmill Restaurant.


All the guys trying to solve a puzzle game.

It was a fun, quick weekend..... Back to work!

Lost and not Found

I have this tendency to not buy ANYTHING until its on sale - i get this from my mom. For example, sometimes when I need to buy, say, 4 curtain panels, i buy one a pay period so that I can spread out the spending. Sometimes I put items on "watch". These are things that I have absolutely NO need for but really like. But these methods should be used with caution - they can cause a minor heartbreak.

For example.
I saw these stools at Target and they were regular priced $25 each.
I needed three - thats $75! That makes me feel guilty so I bought 1 and then went back the next week to buy another and then went back two weeks later to get the last one and there were NONE! Like zero in all the Targets from Dallas to San Antonio, in Iowa, and online! I called every single one. Apparently they went on clearance within two weeks and sold out. Now I am stuck with two, which I have grown to accept and I guess its better than just one. Lesson learned.


Then there were these curtains that I wanted - $25 each. (the red)

I needed four...you know where this is going....long story short I have three hanging in my house and the fourth is not the same. I thought I was going to return all of them but luckily mom found one in San Antonio. She could not get in touch with me when she saw them and Funny thing is, this lady that taught me to buy small purchases bought me four curtains - just in case. Now I have 7! Lesson learned.


Recently, as in this afternoon, I was browsing through a store I have never bought anything from but love to window shop at- Anthropologie. I have had my eye on this (don't laugh) butter dish for a long time.

Apparently I missed the sale :( Now it is nowhere to be found...not ebay, etsy, or google. I will call around tomorrow.

I was going through IKEA and made it through the whole store without buying much but then I got to the clearance section and found a duvet cover for our master bedroom with ONE pillow cover. All for one $12!
I thought I would just pick up another pillow case next time since I was running out of time. Well, apparently you cannot buy pillow cases separately. You have to buy a 4 piece set that includes the duvet that I already have. This is not too much of a problem but is the principal of the matter.

All this is just the last year! Of course my sweet husband always says "you should have just bought them!" so next time, I guess I will.

College GameDay

This past Saturday we got up at 6:00 to be at College Game Day at 7:00AM!! It was the first time that Baylor has hosted College Game Day but boy did they pull out all the stops. There were free tshirts, free tacos, a poster pit(where you can make posters).

This was my date:

It was three hours of constant yelling and cheering but lots of fun so here is a recap.

ESPN analysts.

This is the poster Neil made. FYI-Barnes is the coach of the Longhorns.

Our players made an appearance coming down our aisle.

Bob Knight coaching our team - it did not end well.

It was a busy day but lots of fun for the Bears. Even the game was better than we expected.

One of these days

The blogging world is super inspiring. Most of what I do around the house, I learn from the blog from someone much cooler than me. There are even great tutorials that have convinced me to paint my counter tops or cabinets.

When I see something that inspires me I usually click on the picture and save it on my computer. I realized recently that others might be interested and that it might be easier for me to keep a "file" of good ideas on the blog.

These are a few I ran across today.

I have been recycling glass and tin cans and jars but we do not have curb side recycling so they are just piling up . What a great way to use them.

Source: eighteen25

This is such a cute idea but a VERY intimidating
Source: Craftstew

This organic farmhouse feel is what I am looking for.

Source: Confessions of a Plate Addict

These are Embroidered napkins. So simple and so cute.

Source: Martha Stewart Crafts

One day, when there is more time in the day, I WILL try my hand at these!

Forcing Spring to come

Our winter is officially over. And it was a bad one this year (for Texas). We had the most frozen days ever! But it is nice to see the 60s and 70s again. Everywhere I go, I see hints of spring popping up. Stores are forcing it upon us and I am not fighting it.

I have prepped our garden plot.
I have brought out the Spring decor.

We have started leaving the windows open!
I am ready for Spring!

I was going through a Homes and Gardens magazine and ran across this outdoor shed. It is really blurry but it gave me an idea for our shed. The window is framed out by a quaint sign and a window box. I can do that, I thought.


This is my attempt at a "quaint" sign.




Next up, window box...

We are the champions!!

Since the end of November I have spent every Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon with a great set of girls - The Sting. I was a coach with UPWARD basketball and we did great and ended with a record of 10-2 .... the best record in our division.

The last game ended with a last second shot, and we lost. Tears were shed but I was kind of happy to see that there is a passion for the game that most of them had never played. They are able to see the potential in themselves and the meaning of teamwork.



I also never knew that 4th-6th grade games/parents/referees could be so fierce!

Powder room Re-do

A few weeks ago I hinted about plans for a new upstairs bathroom. Well, I have been working on it VERY slowly... and its still not completely done but here is a sneak peak at our almost done new bathroom.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The color is a light grey but it looks purple sometimes which I love! The original color was all white walls and as part of the makeover, I painted the walls yellow. But I did not like it. So I painted again. That is part of the reason it has taken so long.

I mentioned that it is not completely done. The black and while checkered floor that you see has not been installed. There is some apprehension about tiling under the toilet...we have not had good luck with toilets around here.

Also, the faucet has not been replaced.

Finally, I want to extend the molding that abruptly stops at the mirror.

I will be sure to post those changes later but for now, ENJOY!

Linked to:

Project Green Thumb

I am soooo bad with plants. I kill everything. My mom bought me this awesome big flowering cactus...and I killed it, a cactus...in texas! Somehow, I am now in charge of the community garden at work. Needless to say, I am learning as I go.

This month we had an Indoor Seeding event in which we planted seeds in cups so that we can transplant them later. The group planted about 80 0f these babies.


Then the tough part came....I had to take some (half) home!

I spent some time watering and creating a faux green house around them. Then, two weeks later, we had a meeting at work and the person that took the other half said "I am not a gardener so what do I do with all the plants that are coming up?"

My. heart. fell. Hers were growing and mine were not. I just looked last night. Everyone gave their two sense while I silently moped.

I got home late and after dinner, I started to wipe the countertops (where the "greenhouse" was sitting) and pathetically lifted the trashbag knowing full well that there was nothing there last night.

BUT THERE WAS! A whole bunch of them sprouted over night!!


As per instruction, I moved those that sprouted nearer to a light source. They now sit happily on our window sill. See.


Moral of the story.... its never to late to learn...or, keep on truckin'.... or, it takes practice..... whatever!!! I did it. Low lets see if I can keep them alive for a couple more weeks......

shopping spree

Warning.....this is a girly post.

My birthday gift this year was a shopping spree! I was so excited to have mom and meg come up to shop with me. I really did not have an agenda or list of things I "needed" so it was one long spontaneous shopping day.

List of new items:

• multicolored dress
• blue bracelets
• gold earrings
• vintage looking pink blouse
• pink hoop earrings
• pink and white floral bracelets
• turquoise suede boots
• black leather ruffle jacket
• blue silk blouse
• navy and white dress
• teal cross body purse
• purple and black silk tunic top
• pink lace blouse
  

much of what I bought can be mixed and matched. Also, I did take some of what I already had at home into consideration. I have TONS of purple so I tried to stay away from that. And, I bought whole outfits, jewelry and all. Many times I buy something I like thinking " I'll find something for that" but I never do.

Just thought I would share my shopping finds with you! Thanks for all you actively and financially participated in making this day possible..... ;)

Gracious Alive, I'm 25!

On snow day, my parents still managed to drive up and get me out of work an hour earlier. We spent the first night hanging out and playing some Banana Grams. The next day, was my birthday. We got up early and opened lots of presents. Keeping with the shopping spree theme, they added lots of great clothes to my growing wardrobe. Lots of it was workout clothes that even with a shopping spree I would never buy myself. Then, Neil brought in the BIG 70lb. gift from the shed. I had no idea what it was but it was another great buy!


An elliptical! Over Thanksgiving in Iowa, I fell in love with an elliptical. I mentioned it once and figured they were out of our price range. Well, this is a very simple one that still manages to keep distance, time, etc. Such a great gift! Thanks Neil!

Also, I started P90X .... too many pushups!

We went shopping all day, took a break to go to my basketball game, which we won by one!, and back shopping and then we met the guys at a new restaurant-Heitmiller Steakhouse. It.was.good. I am the only one that did not order steak but everything was so good. We will visit again soon.

And of course no birthday is complete without a birthday cake. They surprised me with Sundae Ice Cream cake!

Birthday Surprise

Friday, Feb. 4th was our snow day. you know the one that I had to go to work on. Well after going 20mph and taking 30 minutes (it usually takes 15) to get to work, I was welcomed by this view.



My office space was decorated to fun by all the girls in the office the day before so even though I didn't want to go to work that morning, I am glad I did. Thanks girls!

Snow Day!...original, I know.

We got snow this past week. I realized later that it snowed during February last year too! Yes, the city shut down and yes I had to go to work.

We woke up to about three inches in our backyard. It was sooo pretty! But I also have to say that I am glad this is not a regular occurrence! There are NO plows in Waco and they have one truck that throws sand?? on the main roads. But we are not on the main roads so I basically had to pave the way to work as I passed three cars in ditches within 5 minutes from our house.









It was nice while it lasted. It snowed all the way to San Antonio. The next day it was 65!