the second time we went to austin

You might remember that I gave Jeremy a trip to Austin for his Christmas gift. I was so proud of coming up with such a creative gift that was SO HIM: a tour of Shiner Brewery, trapeze lessons for him, a ghost tour, good restaurants. I had so much fun planning it. Though we're almost a full four months from Christmas, let me tell you about my gift from him.

Our tradition for now is to open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. I was dying for him to open his gift. I made cute little cards with hand-sketched pictures: a beer bottle, a trapeze bar, the logo for Uchiko. As proud as I was of throwing this gift together, the cards MADE the gift. But he wanted me to open my present first. And I don't argue when someone wants me to open a gift. Imagine my surprise when I pulled an envelope from my stocking with "A Weekend in Austin," written on the front. I was so very confused. I don't have the best poker face, so I'm sure that my confusion was evident. Not to mention, it completely overshadowed any excitement.

My reaction was not what he expected, I'm sure. I fumbled through thanking him, looking at each part of my gift, knowing that when he opened his gift, he would understand. Though my gift to him was cuter, his was no less impressive. He is such a great gift-giver, and this one was no exception.

Thankfully, our trips to Austin were a month apart. And quite different. We drove down to Austin in time to make the matinee performance of The Lion King. I've wanted to see it for several years, but haven't had the chance. We were wowed by this musical! The puppetry and costuming, choreography and music is phenomenal. It totally lived up to it's hype.

After The Lion King, we headed to an early dinner. For some reason, we'd both decided on Mexican food. Though I'm sure there are hundreds of Mexican food places in Austin, we decided on a restaurant that's more familiar to me, Serrano's. (Only because I knew exactly where it is and where to park.) When I organize trips to Austin for my students, we always eat at this restaurant, but always order fajitas. This time, though, I decided to stay away from safe options like fajitas and enchiladas. Instead, I had fried oyster tacos. And, oh my gosh, they were great!

The next day, Jeremy had tickets for a food tour along South Congress in Austin. I was only mildly excited about this, hoping it wasn't a bust. And, perhaps, wondering if it was such a great tour, why didn't I come across it in my planning his trip? Boy, was I wrong. This was the highlight of our trip, and included several restaurants that I'd wanted to try. You should know that when I talk about this in person, I've been likened to Stefon on Saturday Night Live. It's actually a compliment.

We met our tour guide--and owner--from Austin Eats Food Tours at Jo's Coffee. He had an option of iced or hot coffee waiting for us, along with morning buns from La Patisserie to munch on while we made introductions among the 15 or so members of our group. Then we headed off to our first restaurant stop: Snack Bar. We were able to meet the owners who were so very passionate about their restaurant. We tried the Tamago Yoko; the description is in the menu picture below. It was so very different from anything I've ever had, and I loved it. It's highly likely that I'll eat almost anything with a fried egg on top. Snack Bar is a restaurant that we'll return to the next time we're in Austin.

Jo's Coffee | Snack Bar

Our next stop was up a slight hill at Guero's. We were seated around a grill where corn tortillas were being made. In front of us, plates with halves of tamales and queso. (If you're not from Texas, "queso" is cheese dip, not just the word for "cheese" in Spanish.) We also had mini margaritas made with fresh-squeezed lime juice. Which made me feel a little better since we were downing them at 10:45am. It's close to fresh-squeezed orange juice, right? Then they wrapped up some warm corn tortillas that we shared as we walked out the door.

Guero's

After Guero's, we headed to Hopdoddy. I claim the hamburger as my favorite food, so I was super excited to try this restaurant! It did not disappoint. Before the food came, we were able to order an adult beverage (Dutch treat). Jeremy and I shared a Black Cherry Hard Lemonade; it was refreshing for the 70 degree January day outside. The burgers that arrived at our tall tables were perfect and paired with Kennebec fries and three dipping sauces; my favorite sauce was horseradish honey mustard. For dessert--because who doesn't need dessert at this point--we had a mini caramel & sea salt shake. They were heavenly. 

hopdoddy: the classic burger

Honestly, I was a little concerned at this point that I was too full. But we continued on our journey to The Woodland where we had shrimp and grits. This was only my second time to have shrimp and grits; the first was in Savannah which clearly has the market on shrimp and grits. Again, these were delicious. I mean, really, if we'd just had one thing that wasn't good, we'd have been much better off at this point. After a peek at the menu, I decided that if we returned for a meal at The Woodland, I'd order the butternut squash ravioli. That's right up my alley.

And then? We had a bit of a break. The guide apologized for a delay, but I think that we were all happy for some down time. Actually, I'm pretty sure the break was caused by Texas liquor laws. Since our guide was about to buy local beer to drink at our next stop, he had to wait until noon to make the purchase. (We all know that purchasing alcohol before noon on Sundays is frowned upon by the Lord.) Once the beer was packed to go, we headed to our final destination: the food trucks. I was so excited.

Our first food truck was Hey!...You Gonna Eat That or What? It may have been my favorite stop of the day. We had a Shiner Bock beer battered Monte Cristo with cherry-fig jelly for dipping. To say that I wanted to lick the remaining jelly from the little cup would be an understatement. 

Our second food truck and final stop of the tour was Little Big Mikes. It's a personal pan pizza place and was new to the food truck scene. We had thick slices of Veggie Mac & Cheese pizza, covered with caramelized onions, macaroni and cheese, and sriracha aioli. It was delicious, but at this point, I was overly stuffed. So when I took two bites, and then dropped the rest of my pizza, I was only a smidge disappointed. I'm sure it was the Lord preventing me from being even more gluttonous. 

clockwise from top: local beer, Hey!...You Gonna Eat That or What?,

Monte Cristo with cherry-fig jelly, "i love you so much" outside of Jo's Coffee

Once the tour ended, we strolled along South Congress. Since it was "my" trip, Jeremy willingly went into a couple of junky antique stores before we headed back to the hotel to read and sleep off some of the food. For dinner, we decided ice cream would be enough. And it was. 

As wonderful as I thought Jeremy's trip to Austin was for him, this was for me. We had such a memorable time.

a christmas gift for him

My sweet husband is difficult to buy for. If he wants something, he buys it. But he rarely wants anything.

(I, on the other hand, buy the things I want [that fit into our budget] and have a list a mile long of things I'd also love to have. Anthropologie or West Elm bowls, earrings, anything with a monogram, pens, slippers, mittens: the list really never ends. I love cute stuff, especially for my house.)

Back to Jeremy...for Christmas last year, I did a year of dates. He loved it, and it was lots of fun to put together. Twelve dates plus an extra since it was a leap year. Or since I couldn't narrow it down to one date in February. Whatever. Blue Man Group was in town on Leap Year Day. What better way to celebrate?

This Christmas, I felt a little overwhelmed at the thought of a gift nearly as creative. Since he was taking off the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I decided to surprise him with a trip to Austin. When we first married, we took little trips pretty often. But busyness and life set in, and we chose to stay home during any free time. I knew that he'd love a few days away, though. So the planning began...

[Whenever we go on vacation, I scour Living Social and Groupon for the city we'll visit. The daily deals often include reduced rates for transportation, shows, restaurants, and lots more. I've gotten some really great deals, especially for our week in Chicago last summer. New things are posted every day, so a quick look at lunch every day can save lots of cash. We like to use our saved cash on nicer restaurants while away.]

To start our trip, we detoured just a bit so that we could drive through Shiner, Texas and visit the Spoetzel Brewery. (This was actually part of a birthday present that I gave Jeremy a couple of years ago, but we hadn't done!) It was so much fun! You receive four FREE tasting tokens to taste some of what they had on tap. The tour isn't very long, but you get to see the conveyor and the copper brew tanks.

reflection in the copper tanks

There isn't much to do in Shiner other than tour the brewery, so we made our way to Austin with one other planned stop in Gonzales, Texas. Gonzales is home of the Gonzales Memorial Museum which houses the "Come and Take It Cannon." The cannon is important in the beginning of the Texas Revolution. You can read more about it here or here. We toured the small museum and refreshed some bits of Texas history. (You know we take a full year of that in school, right?)

outside the Gonzales Memorial Museum

Then we headed to Austin! Our first night in Austin was a blast. We stayed downtown. (Thanks Dad for the hotel room!) We were able to walk to dinner. We found Parkside on 6th Street. Amazingly, we got in without a reservation. I had the yummiest oysters and sweet potato soup. Weird combo, but so good! The sweet potato soup had bits of toasted marshmallow on the bottom of the bowl. Just divine.

After dinner, we headed to a ghost tour. Before you get all worried about our salvation, you should try one. It's fun to hear even more history of a city with spooky stories thrown in. We love going on these tours when we visit major cities.

The next morning we had brunch at Magnolia Cafe (an Austin institution) before we drove out to do Jeremy's "big" Christmas gift. I found a one-hour trapeze session for him. He had so much fun and was so good at it! I loved watching him from the ground and videoing each turn he had to fly. They recommended he come back for the two-hour session.

 the 30 ft ladder to the trapeze platform

i wouldn't even think about climbing it

my super-talented + cute, amateur trapeze-artist husband

flying through the air, upside down

After trapeze lessons ended, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We are huge Top Chef fans. The winner of last season, Paul Qui, is from Austin. We were desperate to hit up his former restaurant, Uchiko. Y'all. It was phenomenal. I actually don't know if I will ever eat sushi that good ever again. Ever. Unless it's at Uchiko.

Before we left the next morning, we headed to Gourdough's for donuts  Although they have a brick-and-mortar store, we visited the Gourdough's food truck. They make the donuts to order and have the craziest, most decadent combos. Donuts are too sweet for me in the morning, so I opted for a breakfast taco at the truck next door. What a perfect set up!

We had a wonderful time in Austin, and it really was a perfect gift for Jeremy. There was a great mixture of activities and relaxing in the hotel room and eating great food. Next I'll share my gift from Jeremy...

a year of dates

This post has been in the works since, oh, December 26. I've meant to post, but then I needed pictures. And then I didn't like the pictures I took, so I needed new pictures. Let's just pretend that it's not 6 months until Christmas and that I take decent pictures. Okay?

From our early dating days, I knew that Husby loved experiences over things for gifts. For past birthdays, I've given him weekend trips, zip line passes (that I hated with every fiber of my being), and even a day at home with absolutely no interruptions and only good food. These things make his heart happy, and that makes me happy. (Except for the zip lining. That meant my heart almost exploded.)

Last fall, I stumbled on this blog where she gifted her husband with a year of dates. I knew that I wanted to do this for Husby's Christmas present. Wouldn't you know there are a few web sites dedicated to dates? And not just the dinner and a movie variety! I went through ideas here and here, making a list of possible dates. I even password protected a Word document once I had a complete list. And then I forgot the password. So I started all over.

Here's what Husby received for Christmas:

It's a stack of dates. Thirteen dates. I am fully aware that there are twelve months, but I love celebrating fun days, so I had to throw in an extra date for Leap Year Day. I cut pieces (to fit into a gift box) from a leftover cardboard moving box, and then decorated each piece of cardboard appropriately for the date, using paper, stamps, ink, pens and just a bit of paint that I already owned. Because I had planned for a couple of months, I had purchased a few gift cards along the way to be used for some of the dates. My goal was to be frugal in the execution so that I could spend more on the dates.

I'll post more details about each date. Here are all of the cards with a brief description:

1: ha ha comedy club, a comedy club in three acts with drinks & appetizers

2.14: hamburgers & capture my heart (Think capture the flag. I had Nerf guns and little stuffed hearts.)

2.29: blue man group

3: a mystery date (played an computer mystery game)

4: frisbee golf with a twist

   5: friday's for dinner; then to see The Avengers

6: restaurant crawl (a fancy way to say 'progressive dinner')

7: indoor camping (with a fire and the A/C, roasted hot dogs & s'mores, cards & snuggling)

8: italian date night. unfortunately, not in italy. :)

9: his choice!

10: dinner & a ghost tour in a nearby haunted town

11: pizza and a drive-in movie

12: a return to our 'firsts': first date (Barnes & Noble), first restaurant



weekend update

This is the first weekend in 2.5 years of marriage that Husby has been gone. Every few months, I have an overnight stay with a friend or for work. Although I hate leaving him, I think he secretly loves it. He can do whatever he wants. Whatever he wants usually includes playing video games and eating fast food.

Once or twice, he's had something for work that's called him away for a night, but I've never been on my own for two nights. I'm not a fan. Other than the fact that I have no one to listen to me dramatically tell stories, I also have no one to kill bugs or make me feel secure without using every possible lock on every single door in our house.

After I got Husby out of the door on Friday, I visited the Gresham Barn Sale. It's about a mile from our house. If you're familiar with First Monday in Canton, Texas, then this is similar but only a barn full of stuff that doesn't include nearly as much junk. Within an hour of Husby being leaving town, we were the proud new owners of an antique, handmade Amish seed bin. And it's beautiful. Currently, it's in our garage. It needs just a little TLC before it makes it's new home in our dining room.

Friday night, I headed back to the school to watch our kids perform Bye Bye Birdie. Y'all, it was SO good! I've seen my fair share of high school musicals, and this was pretty amazing. I mean, just look at these cute kids:

On Saturday, I had a visitor. We played outside, took a walk, had lunch, and snuggled while watching The Backyardigans. After three hours, I wonder how stay at home mom's ever get anything done or have a moment of down time. Thus, The Backyardigans. Here's Karis using the slide in our backyard for the very first time:

Cute, huh?

This morning did not start off well. I had to kill two gross bugs. A water bug was on the super tall ceiling in our living room. It took about 45 minutes to come up with a plan to kill it from twelve feet away; I couldn't wait for it to make a descent. Ultimately, I was successful. I'm just hoping the Raid on the ceiling fades over time.

(If you're not familiar with east Texas, "water bug" is another term for "big nasty cockroach." They like our pine trees, but a super finicky when there is too much water or not enough water.)

(If you're wondering about the second bug I had to kill--because, really, who isn't--it was a gross wolf spider. They freak me out. I hate them.)

(I feel fairly certain that the world could go on surviving if water bugs and wolf spiders became extinct. Surely, they don't impact us that much.)

Anyway...Husby is about an hour away from his return. He has homework to complete, but he's going to have to listen to a couple of stories. Mainly about how I can't believe I had to kill two of my least favorite creatures on earth on a day that he's gone.

a happy heart

• Husby brought lunch to school today. He has class until late tonight, so it was a treat to eat with him during the day. I emailed him a disclaimer this morning that eating at a school means noise. I hoped that he didn't have hopes of gazing into each others eyes. Instead of a quiet lunch, recalling the reasons why we love each other, we sat at the teacher's table during middle school lunch, sharing sushi and fruit kebabs. Then he gave me a fun necklace. Note to Husby: I love my initials. :)
• I love that my job means celebrating with students who receive acceptances from colleges. It's such an exciting time in a young life, and each acceptance is thrilling. But when it's the first acceptance, it's even sweeter. I love cheering and congratulating and hugging kids who hear the news while at school. They're on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Today was a day of celebrating...with my student aide, no less.
• I attended a George Washington Tea today hosted by the Daughter's of the American Revolution. The ladies in attendance had classic Southern double-names like Mary-Ruth and Ann Leigh, and there was also Eugenia and Agnes. I obviously didn't receive the memo that these ladies wear red or black or white skirt suits with beige pantyhose and pumps to match the suit.
• I'm not a member of DAR. A student competed in an essay contest, and I was invited to attend as her guest. After attending the event, she thought that maybe her essay didn't win since it focused on the American Indian take on the Revolutionary War. These ladies are very pro-Revolutionary War. I'm sure they didn't quite appreciate her different thoughts on this war. Oops.
• Tonight, I'm sitting by the fire, watching a little Big Bang Theory and reading. Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like Sheldon and Country Living.

• My mother-in-law is the cooking baking queen. Seriously. All of her cookies are fabulous. A couple of years ago, she "messed up" a recipe. Well, it's turned out to be my favorite cookie. And they just happened to be in a box of cookies that she delivered earlier this evening. Along with reading, BBT and a fire, I'm enjoying these:

Top left: fluffy chocolate cookies with fluffy chocolate icing drizzled with white chocolate and topped with a cherry; Right: chocolate ganache cookies (My faves. I totally made up the name.)

Bottom left: Sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles 

4 years

Four years ago tonight, I went on my very first date with a cute guy from church. A guy with a dreamy beard around his jawline. A guy that complimented me, and even wanted to talk to me again after I totally blew him off. A guy that called me on his birthday to ask me on our first date. And who answered his phone after I was too nervous to pick up the call. (I mean, just his name on the caller ID made my heart race!) Someone who pursued me, while I played hard-to-get for just a bit. Someone who won me over pretty quickly. Someone who won me over for forever.

This is our first picture. I love it. The dreamy beard. A good hair day for me.

Thankful: Day 9

Even though it's felt like a sauna for a week,

I've refused to dress appropriately.

For the past week, I've dressed as though it's fall.

Because, you know, it IS. Except for the temperatures in east Texas.

And I've been overly warm everyday.

 

I love sweater dresses and tights and boots and scarves.

Basically, I love feeling like I'm in my pajamas all day.

So, today I am thankful that another cool front came through!

After yesterday's storms and tornado warnings,we have fall-ish temperatures.

And I didn't sweat on my way up the stairs to my office.

Hallelu!

Now, tonight I am thankful for a toasty fire and my wool boots.
And Husby is bringing home dinner a yummy Vietnamese dinner.
Pho and spring rolls? Yes, please.
My plan is for dinner in front of the television, watching Alias.
Because, you know, I'm 6-10 years behind on a few different series.
I'm not sure why I didn't jump on the boat then,
but now I like to talk about HOW GREAT Alias is,
even though everyone already knows what happens. Shhh...don't tell me.
 I'm thankful for all of you who have put up with listening about the amazing Sydney Bristow.
Maybe one day, I'll get to talk about Lost.

730 days

730 days ago, I made a covenant to do life with this man.

These days have been wonderful.



I wanted to type a 10 point list about the things I've learned in marriage.

But I've only been married 2 years. 

I know that I'll learn so much more in the coming years.

And it's likely that I don't even know 10 things about marriage.

(Though I'm certain I had a 10 point list about marriage before getting married!)

So for now, I'll share two things I know about our marriage.

Laughing together is necessary.

Not just a chuckle, but a good, long, hard laugh.

Like laughing till tears come is a great thing for us.

Smelling his cologne.

Sometimes life just gets in the way.

We kiss quickly in the mornings before I jet out the door, and then return home just as crazed.

When we sit still with each other, I like to be close enough to smell his cologne.

Then, I know that we can connect.

These are my things. Laughter and cologne.

Maybe next year, I'll come up with something more profound.

Or maybe something else just as simple that makes our marriage work.

Either way, I know that I'll love my husband more and more.

Valentine's Getaway

Two weeks between posts seems a tad ridiculous, right? Do you ever have seasons of feeling overwhelmed? I certainly do, and hopefully, I'm coming out of that season. Thankfully, this has also been a season sprinkled with quality time with friends and making new friends. I love that part. I do. I just looked through my camera and wouldn't you know that I pictures from September that I haven't shared?! Maybe this week, we'll take a visit to the past and look at a few fun things. I think I'll start with the most recent. That makes sense, right?

For Valentine's Day, Husby and I take turns planning. He does one year; I do the next. It makes it easier, and it's TONS less pressure. This year we headed to Fredericksburg, Texas.

We live southeast of Dallas, so it was a 5+ hour drive. But totally worth it. See, we spent New Years with our super good friends, Patti and Brent. Patti mentioned that she was planning a secret trip to Fredericksburg for Valentine's Day. What started as a trip for those two turned into a super secret mission for us to meet them in F-burg for the weekend. Husby didn't know where we were going until the night before, and then didn't know we'd meet up with them until breakfast on Saturday. The reaction we got was fabulous! We had the best weekend with our dear friends. Our husbands said that the next surprise trip could be out of the country since we did so well with this one. Ha!

I arranged for us to stay at a private bed and breakfast, Carriage House on the Creek. It was more like a mother-in-law suite with vouchers for breakfast at area restaurants. Perfect! It was so warm and cozy, and our inn keepers (whose house is just in front of the garage/carriage house) were so helpful and kind. We'll definitely stay here again.

We arrived on Friday, both of us having taken the day off work. After we checked into to our B&B, we headed to dinner at Cabernet Grill--a recommendation from our inn keeper, Mitch. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I had a fabulous meal that was half an eggplant, scooped out just a bit, breaded and fried; then it was filled with blue crab and shrimp in an asiago cheese sauce. Yum! Husby had the best pork tenderloin we've ever tasted, along with three cheese grits.

On Saturday once we met up with Patti and Brent, we used our vouchers for breakfast at Rather Sweet Bakery. I had a breakfast sandwich, and it was so yummy! When I ordered, I was amazed by all of the baked goods. I was so close to buying a macaroon, but thought that might be excessive for breakfast. Imagine my delight when Brent decided to buy one for an afternoon snack. It was the best macaroon I've EVER tasted.

After breakfast, we headed to Enchanted Rock, which is a huge pink granite boulder. Patti and I climbed just a bit, and then decided that we weren't properly dressed, so we sat and talked and soaked up the first non-winter weekend we've had in a couple of months. Our husbands climbed and jumped from boulder to boulder, across caverns. Let me just say that wearing a denim skirt with tights and cute little tennis shoes doesn't lend itself to jumping and climbing. I thought that a huge granite boulder meant that it would be like a super smooth hill. I was wrong.



After Enchanted Rock, we headed to the Texas Wine Trail. We visited a few wineries, but they were SO busy that we didn't taste at all of them. Our favorite was Grape Creek Winery. We came home with a Merlot and Riesling from Grape Creek. We also visited a fabulous chocolate shop, Chocolat. They have liqueur filled chocolates. Not a creamy center, but actual liqueur. My free taste was on an Amaretto filled chocolate. I could have eaten a dozen!

Food was obviously a theme for the weekend, as it often is while on vacation. (And by vacation, I mean anytime we're out of town or off work for more than the weekend. Ha!) After Enchanted Rocks and wineries, we took a little break before heading to dinner at Hilltop Cafe. It was an abandoned gas station that was converted to a restaurant. Again, we had great food. Here are a few pics of us at dinner:

 

Then for breakfast the next morning, we used our vouchers at Sunset Grill, which was amazing! They have a separate Sunday brunch menu, and it did not disappoint. I had a wonderful black forest ham and brie panini. I'll eat pretty much anything with brie on it! After a little shopping in downtown Fredericksburg, we headed home. Although the weekend wasn't super relaxing, it was super fun. I loved the quality time I spent with my sweet husband and friends.

Happy Birthday, Husby

P.S. It's also the three year anniversary of him first calling me to ask me on our first date. Eek! I was so excited that I didn't answer his call. Ha! I immediately called him back and made up some excuse. :)

P.P.S. (or P.S.S., whatever) I have the best husband ever!

P.P.S.S. He's also the cutest.

Friday Fives: Favorite Gifts

Y'all know I love a list, and I haven't done a Friday Fives in a while. (You can see others here, here and here.) Today's topic is favorite gifts you've given or received. Let's get to it!

Probably my all-time favorite gift, which I still have today is...

...Crickett Marie! Isn't she so cute?! I received a 2-lb. dog as my "big" gift six years ago. Until then I wasn't a dog person; I casually mentioned to my parents that IF I ever got a dog, I'd want a miniature dachshund. My mom's best friend was at WalMart just before Christmas and saw mini dachshunds for sale. Somehow, she thought that I really wanted a dog and chose Crickett out of the litter. I was shocked when I received her, but I'm so glad that she's mine. Well, now she's ours. It took her about a year of dating to warm up to Husby, but now she's crazy about him.

I've already received a gift this year, and I'm so excited to use it. Husby came on Monday night and announced he needed to give me an early Christmas present. Since I'm not one to squelch the enthusiasm of others, I agreed to receive the present early. And do you know what it was? Tickets to a concert to see...

That's right! Willie Nelson! Don't judge me. I've liked him for years. And I'm super excited to see him in concert. I would have put this concert on my Bucket List, but considering he could be more likely to kick the bucket first, I didn't think it was a good idea. It'd just be setting myself up for disappointment.

Okay, now one of my favorite gifts I've given was to Husby a couple of years ago. We had a ski trip planned, and I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. Husby loves experiences more than things, so I knew that I could hit it big in the mountains of Colorado. We went dog sledding!

It was so much fun! The picture above is Husby driving the sled with me in the passenger seat. These dogs were so amazing! We both had so much fun. I'd highly recommend it!

Okay, this wasn't a Christmas present, but I just checked the rules (that don't really exist), and so I feel fine posting it. The first birthday present Husby gifted me with was a hot air balloon ride. (He really is all about fun experiences!)

Although I'm terrified of heights, this was so much fun. The balloon doesn't move very fast; it doesn't have jerky movements. It's very serene. Just a side note: don't wear a dress or skirt when hot air ballooning. There is no way to modestly climb into the basket wearing such an outfit. But I looked cute. Which is important.

Oh, my goodness. I have the best husband ever! He's such a good gift giver. (I'm breaking the non-existent rules again.) Last year for my birthday, he gifted me with tickets to see:

This is my all-time favorite musical. (Sorry, Les Miserables.) It was playing in San Antonio, which is quite a drive for us. He found a wonderful bed & breakfast and booked two rooms since we were still engaged. We walked the Riverwalk, toured the San Antonio missions--including the Alamo, ate amazing food, drank fantastic margaritas, bought way to much chocolate to eat in one night, and saw Wicked. It was such a good weekend, and most importantly, he liked Wicked, too.

Okay, I could go on and on with the boom box/CD player I received in 7th grade, my American Girl doll, Kirsten, the super cute wool hat Husby gave me last Christmas. I think I should stop. And as much as I love telling you about the gifts I've received, I do love giving gifts even more!

What about you? What's a favorite gift? Do you hand-pick presents for people?

I Think I'm Back

Oh my goodness. October was the longest month on record! I was never so happy to see November roll around. It doesn't hurt that it brought cooler temperatures, either. (I was finally able to wear a dress with tights and boots. Yea, cooler weather!)

Perhaps you read here that I had my wisdom teeth removed and assumed that I recovered. Well, let me tell you, I didn't. The day of this post, I had dry sockets that were diagnosed as bruising. (Psst...a dry socket is where the blood clot over the removed tooth releases and exposes bone and nerve. Ouch!) So, I lived in pain for four days until another dry socket formed. Then I knew the problem. And had it fixed, which is not at all fun or pain-free. All was fine until I contracted a stomach virus. This all happened during the busiest work week of the year for me, since we had so many November 1 deadlines to meet. I pushed really hard to make it each day, and succeeded until Thursday of last week when my boss pretty much told me I had to go home. It was SO hard for me to leave my kiddos. Thankfully, my boss who's on maternity leave was able to cover for me. On Friday morning (after having dry sockets packed again), I was back at work and felt like a new woman. And we met all of our November 1 deadlines. And I still have painful dry sockets that can't be packed again.

The end...but keep reading.

Husby and I celebrated our first anniversary in October. We decided to do the traditional gift, which is paper. Wanna see what it was?

Paper tickets to see Shrek the Musical! Clever, huh?! It was such a fun musical. And at the end, the whole audience stands and sings "I'm a Believer." So fun and so funny! With our Shrek tickets, we had access to the State Fair of Texas. Husby had never been, so we decided that it was a perfect time to go. A few pics (minus the Big Tex pics since Blogger hates them and won't upload them correctly)...

Love it!

Gross. We did not eat this.

On one of the rabbit cages. I think I might see if this method works. :)

It was a fun way to spend our anniversary together. Oh...we also used public transportation in Dallas to get to and from the hotel and Fair Park. Let's just say that Dallas folk don't quite know how to use public transportation like the people of San Francisco or Chicago or New York or Budapest or Vienna or Prague.

This weekend, I'll spend a night away from Husby. I'm going to hear Shauna Niequist, author of Bittersweet, speak on Friday night. I'm so excited. Have you read it yet? You should. It's absolutely wonderful. My college roomie and I are hanging out for the day on Saturday, and then on Saturday night, we have a wedding, and I don't have a clue what I'll wear. I probably need a new outfit. Don't you agree?