Thursday, December 01, 2011

Adventures with Mai

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Mai is my long-time blogger, real life friend, and best friend. We met thru a group I created here in Austin called Austin Bloggirls. Austin Bloggirls has since gone by the wayside (read: I've been too busy to cultivate and create get togethers), but there are a few of us who remain close. Mai and I being two of them, plus our girl Jackie, and our girl Kiley.

Dropping Mai off at the airport for one of her many excursions.

Mai travels the world often and sometimes I only get to see her in short spurts, but when we do we have a blast doing whatever new, fun, and close to free thing we can discover whilst talking and laughing up a storm. Food trailers, restaurants, events, markets, farms, you name it we go check it out.
 Exploring Boggy Creek Farm

 and wanting SO bad to crash their farm dinner.
 Fortunately, the kind parking lot keeper let us walk around and explore after a spontaneous decision to check out the farm.
Swinging outside my nephew's work. Mai refused to get on so she took a picture of me instead. I took a picture of her with Storm Troopers at the book fair later, only I don't have that photo on my camera!
 Texas Book Fair!
 Frozen hot chocolates after Torchy's. Yum!
 I look like I'm about to hurt you.
 Mai's so cute! She makes me laugh.

Mai is also one of the most supportive people I have ever met in my life. I don't meet a lot of supportive people, because I tend to be the supportive one. But Mai is supportive no matter what. When we moved to Leander, she was there with a meal for our family. When we had Easter in our new house, she was there. I go to her for parenting advice, friendship advice, school advice, life advice, and anything else I can think of.
 Love that I can hang out with her with no makeup and feel every bit as confident, fun, and care free as I do when I wear makeup.
 Yay! Somebody else took a picture for us. Favorite food truck, ever, Regal Ravioli! Love the chef in the background.

 Beet ravioli from Regal Raviol. OH MY GOODNESS. YUM.
Trying to take our own photo before one of the guys at Regal Ravioli kindly offered to take it instead. The take out dish is Mai's stand in for me. She cracks me up.

 
Our not so succesful self-portrait.
 Trailer Perk day when it was still hot.
 Man, this photo reminds me of why I love summers in Austin, especially summer days with Mai!!

I love her!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

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May your tables be filled with bounties of food,
may you appreciate the beauty of the world God has created,
and may you be surrounded with the ones you love this and every Thanksgiving.
 
This year we are celebrating at my nephew's and new niece's bed and breakfast that they run in the hill country. So many changes this year, mostly me turning 30 and going thru a couple rough relationship patches with friends and realizing people aren't all they're cracked up to be, have me looking at this year a bit different. A bit more somberly, sadly. As I saw the other day, "At some point you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart, but not in your life."

On the upside, I have not ever been more satisfied and fulfilled with my family and my amazing husband, and the truly amazing friends that I have realized are true friends. While the boys are growing up, I'm ready to have another. I'm ready to start a new life somewhere, once again. Not in a runaway fashion this time. As a new adventure.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving! I am grateful for each and every one of you in my life!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

I've been officially Pinterested...

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Although it took awhile for me to jump on the pinterest bandwagon as I've been a member for quite awhile, after attending Allison and her Mr. Architect's wedding celebration Saturday, I realized I've fallen head over heels with pinterest. Before we even left for her celebration Saturday afternoon, I twisted my bangs from a pin - a picture that you save onto your virtual corkboard at pinterest. That particular pin, I can't quite find the right pin to show you. But, then, on the drive up to her place I looked up pins that I'd crazily gone pinning on the evening before and did my smokey gray eye makeup in the car by looking up a pin on Brando's iPhone.


Once we got to the friend's house we were staying at, Mere's, I tied a bow in my trench coat from another pin.

And I got no end of compliments on all of my pins and my dress too (thanks, Brando), which made me laugh. Thanks, girls. And since I'm one to give credit where credit is due, I had to share with all you.

My philosophy for pinning? Don't pin it if it isn't beautiful and makes my heart stir. I inadvertently learned this from Alicia at Crowley Party whose pins I absolutely adore - every single one of them. And, now, I love looking at my own pins and sighing a sigh of happiness. My DIY list, is long including this gorgeous picnic bench with built in wine cooler by replacing a plank with a gutter,

my Fashion list is full of fashion inspiration including this glamorous 60s inspiration,

my Inspire list is full of romantic couples having the time of their lives - times I love to have with Brando,

sweet settings full of magical whimsy like these glowing lanterns mixed with wisteria perfect for a garden setting party,

sweet quotes that remind me how grateful I am for the people in my life,


quotes to motivate that jump-start me into doing what I want to do,



and picture ops that are perfectly serene to recreate through the lens another day.


my Decor list is for one day down the road when I kick my booty into gear and actually decorate my home beyond what it is including this kitchen with it's gentle wooden island that I could just imagine walking into and sitting down at the counter to have a conversation with a friend right now,

my Travel list is almost too much to take in at once and that's just how I want to take in each and every one of those places to visit - one at a time including these gorgeous Blue Caves in Greece,

my Delish list is full of yummy, mostly healthy goodness including these delicious looking peach strawberry vodka popsicles perfect for a hot summer day or a cuddle up winter day where you want to imagine the taste of summer,


my Just Because... list is random goodness like this that-has-definitely-happened,

and my Seasons list is full of the upcoming season of goodness including so many winter wonderlands that make you want to walk right in and be completely enveloped in all that is the winter holidays.

The moment I truly fell head over heels was when I realized that I could click 'Everything' and look at everybody's pins, not just the people that I followed. Now, my pins are a combination of everything I like, not just what they like, although it still includes a lot of that as well. I compare it to shopping it with your girlfriends, or exploring their homes and everything they like, which is just as much fun. My pins are a reflection of everything that I love and everything I see from others that I love.


In pinterest you can categorize all your separate cork boards by titles. I shamelessly borrowed the cutesy titles of a fellow pinner, whose name I wish I could remember. They were so simple, descriptive, and perfect, though, and included everything I wanted to pin.

This is me. And the trend is continuing.

Save me, somebody? Or just follow me and fuel my passion. Seems strange you still need an invite, but it's super easy once you have one. Email me for an invite if you need one.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Abandoned Buildings

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One of Brando's and my favorite past times is going on photo shoot adventures. I get to play model, and he gets to play with his camera in new places. This particular time, it was at an abandoned building here in Austin that's about to be turned into an art gallery. I love the spookiness of an abandoned place and all the different textures to play around with. I was a little antsy playing model while he was trying to make art, until I got to pick the shoot locations about halfway through. I love picking the locations while he makes it pretty.








 If I look a little pissed in this first batch, it's because I was. We got Justinbustin a haircut, and, oh, what an adventure that is trying to get a preteen's hair cut who does not want to. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I had to thank Brando and tell him how proud I am of him for his maturity and wisdom in dealing with my crankiness because he stayed continually levelheaded. And, fortunately, after about here the crankiness started to subside. Especially when we got back to pick up the boys and Justinbustin gave me a hug. Whew.



 And, finally, my turn to pick the spots. I love depth, texture, a rustic feel, and nature, as you can see...



Earrings ~ Forever 21, Necklace ~ Gift from my MIL,
Bracelet ~ First anniversary gift from Brando from Dell Williams in Santa Cruz, 
Plaid Shirt Macy's, Tank ~ American Eagle,
Skirt ~ Hot Topic, Tights ~ Claire's, Socks ~ Brando's, Boots ~ Mia from DSW

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