Eat - Drink - Sleep - Repeat!

Our routine this holiday season:
EAT

DRINK

SLEEP

It was rough!!

Stella visits Kentucky!

For the holidays this year, we headed northbound to Kentucky. As mentioned in a previous post, we did in fact drive the 12.5 hours to Kentucky because Stella was too big for the plane ... gulp! Our vet prescribed Stella medication to sedate her for the journey which, of course, did not work and therefore, she spent the entire drive on our laps. Here a few pictures of Stella meeting her Kentucky family. She was quite the hit!

300,000 Miles!

John's junior year of high school his father, Bob, made a deal with John. "Get a scholarship to a university, graduate and I will buy you an SUV of your choice upon completion."

Never one to not take on a challenge, John did just that. His senior year of high school he obtained All-State (for Illinois)Lineman status which made him very appealing to multiple universities. He was recruited to play at schools such as Purdue, Kentucky, Northwestern, Wisconsin and University of Illinois and choose to attend Northern Illinois University.

True to his word, Bob, rewarded John with his SUV of choice - a black 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe with all of the bells and whistles. This month the tahoe hit a milestone: 300,000 miles. Bob called Chevrolet with the news if this outstanding fete and (insert drum roll music here) they sent John a coupon for a FREE oil change. Ohhhh...aahhh.

To our readers out there, please feel free to comment your favorite memory of time spent in the Tahoe.

The big D!

For our six month wedding anniversary, John and I headed for a weekend get-a-way to Dallas. We stayed in the fabulous Adolfus Hotel in downtown Dallas which was very reminiscent of the Driskill hotel in Austin where we had our wedding reception, dined in the famous (and quite fancy) French Room (hands down the best steak either one of us had ever had) and explored some of the museums that Dallas had to offer. Of course we stayed within a stones through of the original Nieman Marcus which called for a walk-through. John learned just how much I am willing to spend on shoes and he probably wished he had never asked!

We were also able to spend sometime with our dear friends the Haney's in their new, FABULOUS home on Friday night. We got the grand tour and can't wait to come back in the summer to swim in the pool! My brother and his girlfriend, Lindsay, also live in Dallas. We watched Nathan coach his rugby team against their bitter rival on Saturday and then met up with them after our dinner.

We left a rainy and cold Dallas for a warm Austin and prepared for our next trip: Kentucky!

Monogram Maddness

Those of your who know me best, know that I LOVE anything that is monogrammed.

When I was a little girl in Australia, I remember wearing a pink t-shirt with my name across the front in blue velor letters. I loved that shirt and when it came time for us to move to America, I vividly remember that my mom told me that the shirt had to stay in Australia because people in America "steal kids with their names on their shirts." True story my friends.

Since then, I have never seen my name on anything - those little license plates that every child had on their bikes, pencils, magnets - of course it doesn't help that I don't have a very common name.

Our dear friends the Haney's, gave us a whole set of towels for our wedding with our initials on them and I'm in love! Thank you Haney's!

5 months ago...

"Scars remind us of where we have been, they don't have to dictate where we are going."

Boy has time flown!? Five months ago today, I had surgery on my right foot to repair a torn tendon. Three months ago today, I also had an emergency appendectomy to remove my appendix, but that is a whole 'nother posting!

I did this little injury of mine 3 weeks before our wedding and had the surgery 4 days after we returned from our honeymoon. You know me - putting those vows straight to work!

I has been quite the road to recovery to say the least. From lots of physical therapy to my impending steroid shots to get my swelling and scar tissues down this recovery has been my toughest one yet. This week, however, I am back on the treadmill running 2 miles in a row. Not a lot, but a starting point and it sure feels good!

July 2009

December 2009

Lights, lights!

As promised, here are the pics of the outside of our house. Even though John is a solid 6' 6", the roof line is way too high for him to be stringing lights along. Instead, we opted to do our trees for as high as we could go. I think next year we'll add some of those hanging light ball thingy's as well.



This Santa was handmade by John's grandfather who is 82 (yesterday!). He made one for John's family and they have treasured it throughout the years. We feel so fortunate to have one of our own. Thanks Jay!

Hook 'em!

Stella was so nervous at the end of the UT vs. Nebraska game on Saturday night, she couldn't watch the ending.

It is OK Stella, we are Pasadena bound!!

Stella meets Santa!

This morning we took Stella to meet Santa. It took her awhile (and many treats) to get her to sit still, but we finally got the shot. Merry Christmas Y'all!

It snows in Austin!

OK, you northerners can laugh all your want, but it is a big deal for us in Texas to actually get some snow. Schools closed half day, the grocery store was crazy busy the day before and we actually turned on our fireplace. Enjoy this short video and a few pics of Stella in her new coat from Grandma Carolyn!

Christmas Decortating!

John and I decorated our new home over the Thanksgiving weekend. Here are some pics. We'll have to get some of the outside uploaded soon. Merry, Merry!