Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Re-Cap



Saturday morning started early. Very early. It didn't help that Friday night ended with a whirlwind...I left my phone inside Target and Guinness tried to run away. After we resolved those two issues it was past 11 pm and time to hit the hay.

This little trip to Warrenton had been plotted and planned with my two cohorts, Heather and Jana, for quite some time. You see, we are blog/home decor/interior design wannabes. We study and review all the latest and greatest trends on countless blogs. Round Top/Warrenton is the place to spot lots of unique, cool, up-to-speed things for your home (albeit lots of trash too!). So 6:30 am Saturday came early, and we were off!

Jana and I spied some great vintage postcards turned into art. First purchase was made roughly 15 minutes into the day!




Now we were feeling good and on the move. Then Heather found her first patio purchase...score.


We moved "up the hill" towards Round Top and found some additional treasures. I found a fabulous French Hat Rack for the nursery...perfectly painted vibrant yellow. It's my favorite treasure of the day.


And after that find...who did we spy? My family!



Cousin Alison, Moi and Aunt Susan

We knew they'd be there and I had just talked to Alison, but pure luck we bumped right into them! They were on a hunt for a table to seal the deal on Mrs. Sumbera's room re-do. Catch the whole scoop here on Alison's blog, My Little Happy Place.

We moved on to see some more treasure....





And trash...



As the afternoon progresses you see a lot of this...next year we'll bring another pregnant lady to drive us and partake. For this year...we headed to Austin to round-off the trip.

We checked into bachelorette party central, The Hilton. We cleaned ourselves up and headed to Moonshine for dinner. The roasted garlic, goat cheese and crustini appetizer along with horseradish crusted salmon and mac n' cheese left us feeling like this.


We loaded up 40 pounds of dessert to eat in bed and rolled out. It was a perfect end to a wonderful girls' shopping weekend. What a success!


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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Roll-out....and drop at my casa please.


I love that with spring also brings the itch to clean-up, re-arrange and add some happy flair to your home. Looks like this guy did just that at Pottery Barn (you can't see the wording on the boxes well in the picture, but it was a definite PB). He pulled out the BMW convertible and loaded-up.
Warrenton update coming soon....need one additional picture!

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Monday, March 29, 2010

What a weekend!



The weekend started a little early last Thursday with a 14 week doctor's appointment. It happened to be taking place just before Clint landed from his trip to Memphis. He was disappointed to miss it, but was a little settled knowing it wasn't a "big appointment". My fabulous friend, Heather, having just been through this begged to come along. I accepted because having someone listen to your child's beating heart is one of the coolest things.

Dr. Speight recommended some great food finds in Austin for our girls' trip this weekend. We also talked a little doctor gossip regarding Heather's doctor and finally....we heard little Baby E's beating heart. I am positive that is the sweetest sound to date. Everything is progressing normally, and I have the BIG sonogram April 20.


The festivities continued with a fun girls' dinner at R+D Cafe. What a fun, fun night with some great, great girlfriends! Thanks to Heather, Jana, Jennie, Jessica, Kristin and Meredith for a great night!


The weekend was filled with Warrenton, fabulous finds and a night in Austin....stay tuned for the treasures and stories from the trip!


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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Sex and Bedding

Not nearly as scandalous as that little teaser.
Sex of the baby and crib bedding, silly.
We're not finding out the gender of the baby, which to us, is very exciting. I think two people I have spoken to share the same feelings. Everyone else thinks its a little ridiculous and shocked that as much as Clint and I have planned we're not finding out. A little less than 6 months and the secret will be revealed. How fun will that be??

The hardest challenge to this point is the crib bedding. I'm not so much worried about the clothing as I'd prefer more neutrals than EVERYTHING being pink and tutus or blue with baseballs. It's just a personal preference.

As for the bedding, I have gone from one extreme to the next and ended up hating all the options in between. It's either too boy-ish, too girl-ish, too kiddie-like or not nursery looking enough.


This one was pretty cute, but started to look like a big circus after a while.
Too much in the red, yellow and orange department.



This one is super cute, but I think if Baby E is a boy this is way too girly.




This was almost a winner. I pulled it out for Heather one day and decided it wasn't near "nursery" looking enough. This is when the color pallet completely shifted and it's moved to lighter, brighter and vibrant!


After samples, samples and more samples (shown here isn't the half of it), I think we've {I've} decided on an entirely new route. It's pretty darn exciting, and I can't wait to see it come to life!

Stay tuned for the outcome!

Thank you to all friends, family and husband that have endured this debate. It typically causes a glazed over "I don't really care" look on most faces. I don't blame them. It's bedding. It's neurotic to get so wrapped up in it, I know. I just want to love this space and now, I think I will.

Most important thank you goes to Jana. She has dreamed, debated and given me opinions for hours. I'm sure most of the time she wishes I didn't live next door to pop over and "chat" nursery. Jan, thanks for the help and advice!



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Spring Break...a little late



Last week was Spring Break around here. It about drove me nuts. It wasn't Spring Break for me. It was the regular routine. However, everyone I tried to contact was "out of office on Spring Break". Or it was that no one was looking at our house because it was Spring Break. My spin instructor was gone on a trip because it was Spring Break. By the end of the week I was very angry at the term "Spring Break".

So moving on from that takes me to this week. This week Clint is out of town for work. Our house is falling apart. Mr. G is in depression and is patiently awaiting his dad's return at the window. It's pitiful. He hasn't eaten in two days. I haven't charged my cell phone, my smoothies are sub-par and I haven't watched a single tv show. No laughter and no fun has taken place on Matador. The heart-beat is gone.



Is Clint on his own Spring Break? No, thankfully, I'd have the red-ass if he was! He's in Memphis. He has some sort of "training". He is experiencing all the joys of business travel that I used to. No non-smoking rooms, only smoking. No king beds, just doubles. A loss of status on American and Group 6 to board. Suit and tie everyday, all day and meetings at 8 am. He was a real peach thinking about his strict scheduled week. Clint doesn't do tight schedules. He doesn't do sitting in one spot all day. He doesn't do lunch from 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm. He's a madman. He's all over the place.



To make his trip turn from gloom and doom to zippity do-dah, was his achievement award. Clint was awarded Chairmen's Club, which proves he has performed in the top 10% of his department within Regions. He was recognized as one of 30 winners of the 300 private bankers for Regions Morgan Keegan nationwide. He is going to die when he reads that I'm gushing about him, but he works darn hard and would never brag like this about himself. So I will take the liberty myself. He has a motto, "work smarter, not harder". I guess it paid off. Congratulations sweets!



So what in the world does this have to do with Spring Break? Not much, but to add insult to injury was a trip. Chairman's Club achievement typically gets a trip along with the rest of their accolades. AWESOME...maybe I do get Spring Break this year. A little Mexico on someone else's dime...don't mind if I do. Well, thanks to big bank execs that have abused trips, travel and leisure, the Regions trip is a no-go this year. They don't want to appear lavish after the government forced a bail-out on their behalf. I was oh so close. I could smell the beach. But who wants to go to Mexican sans col beer and margaritas? I'll keep tellin myself that.



So when you want something done, you do it yourself. I am seeking a late Spring Break. My Aunt Becky suggested the new JW Marriott outside of San Antonio. A beautiful resort in the hillcountry all suited up with a lazy river and a spa. Sounds pretty fabulous to this pregnant lady! I'm trying to swing this in May during the week before I make my way to Victoria to visit Baby Giese #2! I will take this sweet, little get-away over Spring Break. I think it's going to turn out juuust fine.

Did you take a fun vacation over Spring Break? Did you reflect on your Spring Breaks as a kiddo?


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Monday, March 22, 2010

Cheeses for the Meeces (Mice)

I come from a lineage of rats. I am the youngest child of the rat family. We eat cheese and lots of it. I mean, you name it and I love it. It started rather simple...you know, cheddar, Velveeta and maybe American. Well, this has expanded. Gorgonzola, of course. Goat, one of my favs. Strange kinds from foreign lands I have never heard of, most likely. We’ll save wine and cheese for another post entirely.

I had a conversation with my OB/GYN in November regarding great cheeses. She recommended the Guinness Cheddar from Central Market...yep, now on the list. This is how I truly knew she should be the lady to deliver my first born child. We talked cheese during my annual exam.

The deal is, when I see something that has a wonderful cheese in it, on top of it, baked with or a lovely cheese simply by itself it's highly likely I will want to try it.

Clint came home with this pizza the other day. Ya tried it? It's delicious. Goat cheese is quite wonderful and put it on top of pizza...delight. True delight. Go to Central Market and get this. And a couple of blocks of cheese while you're at it...and invite me over.


What food knocks off your socks?



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Sunday, March 21, 2010

In the Beginning...or really 5 years into it.



I have gone back and forth on starting a blog. I think blogs are so fun and certainly entertaining. I am hooked on complete strangers’ blogs. The happenings of their daily lives, home décor, ideas and insight are fascinating. I read all sorts of blogs from those written by interior designers, stay-at-home moms, cooks, shopping gurus and all the likes inbetween.
“What would my blog be about?”, that’s been the question. At this point, the blog is set-up and ready and I’m still not sure what it’s going to be about. My hope is something entertaining, absolutely random and fun. I’ll keep you posted on the nursery indecisiveness, my pregnancy to some degree, but mainly the craziness that lives within our home. Some days are simply too funny not to post for friends and family to read.
So for now, let’s start there. The man above holding a tequila squirt gun is the husband, Clint. I love him. He’s crazy. He's smart. He’s FULL of life, and I can’t even imagine how boring my days would be without him. He keeps all things without one ounce of seriousness and 100% fun.



He was a mess when we saw this…and then our lives changed forever.

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