Leap Year...

Today is a special day for my parents.

My parents were engaged on February 29, 1976.

Their engagement is only celebrated every 4 years. Actually, they only remind one another about their engagement and laugh about how it was the perfect day.

My dad's birthday is the day before so my mom didn't expect a thing. They also hadn't dated too terribly long.

I have to say - February 29, 1976 is special to me as it was the day that my parents decided that indeed they would get married and on November 27 of that same year they did. And...lived MOSTLY happily ever after.


:) So yes, I love leap year day or whatever you want to call it. It is special to me.

Happy Birthday Dad!

This is my family in 2005 at my UT Graduation

Happy Birthday Dad. I am truly blessed to be your daughter. There are no words that could tell you how much I love you. Thank you for showing both me and my brother how to love, how to be a good person and mostly, thank you for being an amazing leader in our family.

When I was 12, my father suffered a massive heart attack in December of 1995 and wasn't supposed to live. Each and every year since then, I am reminded how lucky I am to still have him in my life. 

Death of a friendship

Has anyone else been there? In that place where you realize that someone isn't who you thought they were? That the "friendship" isn't balanced?

I recently have realized this about someone I had in my close circle, at least she was in my close circle, I was not in hers, but I realized she isn't who I thought she was. We don't share the same values. It is rough.

So I am mourning the death of a friendship. It is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Any advice?

Washington, D.C.

Pictures will come when I am not lazy and upload them!

I spent the last three days in DC with B. He's never been and it was so much fun!
We got in late on Friday night.

On Saturday we met my cousin for brunch at Beacon Bar and Grill where we proceeded to indulge in the Saturday 3 course brunch with unlimited mimosas. IT WAS GREAT!!

From there we went to the Air and Space museum, saw the White House, walked the mall, and just enjoyed being outside. Truly it was wonderful walking around (ok my feet hurt and I was tired at the end of the day FOR SURE!)  

For dinner we went to Siroc - hands down one of the best meals B and I have ever had together. The service was excellent, the meal DIVINE and it was romantic. :) For after dinner drinks we went to the Hay Adams --the Dark and Stormy did me in!

Sunday brought more site seeing - AND COLD WEATHER. We saw the monuments, the  Natural History museum and lots of tourist watching. :)   Lunch was had at Le Pain Quotidien and dinner...well that was a story!

We had reservations at Brasserie Beck - and went. My friend E had said "try the mussels they are the best" - um they were out of mussels...so then he said "try the steak frites" ...they were out of them...so we ordered anyway and I ordered the cassoulet...they were out of it. So I ended up with the trout. It was delicious ...as was the cheese course, B's pork belly and B's dish...and the wine and beer superb. I was just dissapointed...but the service WAS AMAZING. And then at the end we get our bill and the manager had taken off everything except the cheese plate and our drinks. Talk about a surprise. He felt bad that what we ordered was out and took care of it all. Everything we ate was delicious. I would still recommend it. They didn't have to do that, but they did anyway - I mean I made our reservation 2 weeks before we came - they just had a ridiculously busy weekend and never would have thought they would have sold out of most things!


Monday we say the American History museum, walked the mall and then headed home...

Overall it was wonderful - great to get away, see the sites and just be together AND to see my Cousin...as it was a little over a year to the day when his father passed away so it was nice for both of us to spend time together.

Downton Abbey

For anyone that loves Downton Abbey as much as I do....

Fill in the Blank Friday

 TO play along go here


1. The love of my life is .... B!

2. Falling in love is ... easy when you meet the right person. I never understood that until now.

3. Marriage is ...something I look forward to, but I am trying to enjoy each moment as they come and not live in the future...this is hard for me!

4. The longest relationship I ever had was...one that stayed together the whole time...this relationship with B. In college I dated someone for 2 years we took a break and then dated almost another year. He is still such an amazing person and I am truly grateful that we dated but most importantly that we are still friends and truly support one another.

5. The key to a good relationship is ...communication, love and respect.

6. I feel loved when....i feel loved all of the time. That is something I learned a long time ago. Yes, I love people to think of me, call me, remember my birthday etc, but I truly feel loved EVERY day ALL day. Feeling liked...that a whole other thing ;)

7. My favorite quote about love is ... "If you live the life of love, you will love the life you live." I don't know who said it, but it has been my motto since I was about 12.  

What is your favorite love quote?

Valentines

So I am not one that wants everything on Valentine's day to be perfect. I don't care about flowers, food etc - I just want to be with my love.

We were talking last night as we went to our favorite Sushi place - not a romantic place nor expensive - just our little place and I said how different this year was.

No $300 meal, no crazy expensive gifts, no flowers - just us doing things we normally do. FOr this year, it was perfect. Sure we are about to go on our trip (that was our Valentines gift to one another) and  so for this year - I loved just being. No pictures, no extras. Just he and I, enjoying a good cocktail and fresh fish. I loved it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life!

This has been going around and I decided to link up on this about us meme.

1. How long have you two been together? 2.5 years or so.

We went on a few dates back when I was 21 and we were in college and decided we should just be friends. 4 years later we went out a few times and still decided to be friends. Then 2.5 years after that we decided to give it a go and it was perfect...perfect for us. I've known him for almost 10 years and during college he was one of my best friends.

2. Do you have any nicknames you call each other? I call him hun. Usually I just use his real name...which isn't "B" ha.

3. Name three things you love most about him.

 He's adventurous, he's incredibly loving and he makes me laugh constantly. Oh and he can fix EVERYTHING...it is a great thing !

4. Tell us how he proposed...Not quite there yet...BUT when it does happen you will be told...probably more than once!

5. Is he a flowers and teddy bears kind of guy or a strawberries, champagne and rose petals kind of guy for valentine's day?  I get flowers and champagne and we go to dinner.

6. Are you a sunset on the beach kind of girl or a pop a movie and relax kinda girl? Both.

7. Tell us one thing you would like to do with your significant other some day? Travel more. I know we travel often but the world is large and I want to see it all!

8. What are your Valentine's Day plans? We are keeping it low key as we are going on a trip soon - but we are going to our favorite sushi place!

9. Are you asking for anything for Valentine's DAy? Nope. Our trip soon is my Valentine's Day present!

10. One piece of advice to keep a relationship strong?  Laugh together often. More often than not.

Fill in the Blank Friday....

Apparently I had nothing to say between last Friday and this Friday....which isn't true - but I am hopeful that I will post a weekend wrapup on Monday!

To Join up click here....


1. I started my blog because .....  I have always kept a journal. I use it to remember my life and look back on. If other people are interested, great, if not, that's ok too.

2. One thing I love seeing on other blogs.... is the reality of life. I love to hear stories and feel like I "KNOW" the person...even if only through blogs.

3. Something I love about blogging....I love knowing that I am not alone. Meaning - when I feel something - someone out there has been through it. It is a great community.

4. A favorite blog post of mine is... oh I have no clue. I love reading about my and B's relationship and how it has grown. I also love reading about all of our trips.

5. Something my real life friends know about me that I have never mentioned on the blog ...   my dad had a heart attack when I was 12 years old. He was healthy and an avid runner. It was the worst time in my life, truly. He was given a 10% chance of making it. Every December we celebrate another year of him with us. I think of that as a birthday present all on its own because that year he came home from the hospital around my 13th birthday. He truly is an amazing dad - I'm told often how lucky I am to have such great parents and I 100% believe I am so incredibly lucky.

6. My favorite blogs to read are... Traffic Jelly, Sweet Caroline in the City, and the others listed on my reader- hello I have 80!

7. Some things I avoid doing on my blog are...I try to be real. I want to be honest and open without revealing TOO much.

Fill in the Blank Friday

It is Fill in the Blank Friday again....link up here

1. If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is      traveling the world for one year.

2.    Escargot and pate  are two things I like that other people think is weird.

3. If my life were a movie right now, the title would be     - hmm have to think about that one.




4. Three things I am looking forward to this month are      picking up my coop orders, going to DC and going to Dallas!

5. My favorite song to sing in the shower is I don't sing in the shower.

6. If I found out that the production of      Reese's    was ending this month, I'd go out and buy as much as I could tomorrow.

7. One thing I'll never grow tired of is     being with B.

TAG! You are it!

So while Beantown Prepster didn't exactly tag me - she tagged her "lurkers" and I was one - so I decided to play.

The Rules:
1. Post the rules
2. Write 11 fun facts about yourself
3. Answer the 11 questions the tagger set for you and create 11 new questions to ask people you tag.
4. Tag 11 people and link them to your post.
5. Let them know you tagged them.



11 FUN FACTS ABOUT MYSELF:

1. I recently joined a coop - I LOVE IT. I think B thinks I am crazy because I talk about it non stop. After reading about Running for Perseverance's coop, I found my own in Htown and LOVE IT. All of the veggies and fruits make me so happy.

2.  I, just like Beantown prepster, cannot function without earrings. My grandmother used to tell me that a lady doesn't walk outside without her earrings and her lipstick. While I wear gloss mostly- I still adhere to this.

3.  I'm left handed.

4. I always have a book on CD going in the car. Library is where it is at! Sometimes I have the hardcover book and the book on CD checked out of the library at the same time. Just to read it faster!

5. I laugh at the most unopportune time. Like when a mom is scolding her child for running around all crazy at the grocery store - I am that person that has to go an aisle over to laugh. I can't help it - I think it is because I just feel awkward so I laugh.

6. Starbucks is my favorite coffee place - B and I used to meet there all of the time in college - at the Starbucks off of Far West in Austin.

7. B and I went on our first date when I was 20. Afterwards I said I just thought of him as a friend. Then when I was like 24 or 25 we went on another date - to which he said we should just be friends. Then...almost 2.5 years ago we gave it another shot. This time it was perfect. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we would have been together all of this time. I think life between 20 and now has made me appreciate him so much more than I would have at 20. Either way - I am one lucky gal.

8.  I like to cook - I enjoy it - I just don't think I am that great at it. I'm learning. Does anyone have a good recipe for Kale or Bok Choy? Those apparently I cannot cook!

9.  I detest tomatoes. Unless they are cooked, in ketchup or a sauce - I don't like them.

10. I also detest mustard. Just the smell makes me nauseous.  I don't mind a sauce made with it as long as it isn't TOO mustardy.

11. I smile ALL OF THE TIME. If I am not smiling - run. ;)



11 Questions from Beantown Prepster:

1. If you could have a theme song to play when you walk down the street what would it be? Beautiful from Carole King.

2. If you could only watch one TV show for the rest of your life, what would you pick? Right now? Downton Abbey. I love it.

3. French Fries: Skinny and Crispy or big and mushy? Skinny and crispy!

4. What is your guilty pleasure outfit?  This is embarrassing - I have a pair of Red old Abercrombie running pants from college that I wear paired with an old Texas long sleeve shirt, hair in a bun and socks. I feel so comfy in it - but I would NEVER wear it out of the house.

5. Soda: Fountain, bottle or can?  Fountain is my favorite - but it just depends on where I am going and such - if I am in my own car - bottle- can't have drinks spilling in my car!

6. Favorite thing to do at the gym? Sauna...oh you meant activity - I like intervals on the treadmill.

7. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why? I always say somewhere in Europe (preferably the Italian coast) but I think that would be too far from my parents and my brother - but I would love to for a little while!

8.  What was your first animal and do you remember its name? Around my parents 1st wedding anniversary they opened their front door and a beautiful Irish Setter puppy was lurking around. They raised her - Chi Chi - and when I was born she was my first pet. I loved her. She was beautiful, so sweet and protected me and let me use her as a pillow. She lived with my parents for 17 years. We were devastated when she passed away.

9. What is the one thing you carry in your purse that you absolutely cannot live without? Hand cream. My hands are SO dry.

10. What is your most embarrassing habit? I bite my nails. I know---I KNOW!.

11. If you could meet and be BFFs in real life with a blogger that you follow, who would it be and why? I think it would be Al (Traffic Jelly). She was the first blogger (That I didn't know IRL) that I connected with and got to know. I just think she is amazing and wonderful and SO INCREDIBLY STRONG.  Plus she loved Guac and Wine....need I say more?


The people I tag are:
1.Traffic Jelly
2. MmmApron
3.The Happy Dash
4.Greetings from Texas
5.Her Highness of Cute
6. Hungry Meets Healthy
7. Reasonably Swanky
8. Leggings are Not Pants
9. Baby Steps with Catalina
10. Running with Perseverance
11. I'm leaving 11 open to people I also don't hear from that read :)


The 11 Questions I have for you are:

1. How do you begin your day? (What is your morning routine?)

2. What is the one beauty product you couldn't live without?

3. Are you a coffee or tea person?

4. What is your favorite board or card game?

5. What is your favorite spice to cook with?

6.  I'm always curious if I take longer than the average woman to get ready - from shower to out the door, how long does it take you?

7. Of all the places you have travelled to, where would you recommend others go?

8. What is your favorite alcoholic drink?

9. What is your favorite book?

10. What is your favorite movie?

11.  What is your favorite indulgence?

Thank you for playing! Please comment back if you do!