Sunday Fun Day

Yesterday, Brando and I attended the Austin Monthly Bridal Bash with my girlfriend and her fiancee.

Side note: How hot is my husband? He's prepping for surgery for his sinuses and has been taking Prednisone to prep (an awful drug along with 90% of drugs in my opinion, but him being able to smell again for the first time in eight years has balanced out my worries) which has completely cleared up his sinuses and has even made his face look different - less swollen and puffed up.

I was sort of expecting a Tribeza type bridal event like Brando and I are used to and were so inspired by, but I'm sad to say it was nothing like it. The tickets were a lot less expensive, and that must make the difference. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure they pulled it off well for the price of the tickets. There were three aisles and the center aisle had a strange inward triangular setup that left some of the booths crowded in the center facing each other with barely enough room to walk in between. There was a lot of bumping into each other at the end of our time there and I am glad we came early before there were so many people in such a crowded space. There were a few booths at the end that were completely uncrowded, which I thought was strange to have them there when the space could've been used to make a more free flowing area for all the booths. Then, there was a gentleman's lounge that perhaps could have been better utilized for more booth space as well to allow more space to walk around. As it is, the gentlemen's lounge was almost unnecessary as there were enough cupcakes and other treats as you walked around to keep most gentlemen happy.

Any way, this wasn't meant to be a review of it, but that's how it went down. We had a blast, any way, til' we had a beer just before we left and our stomachs hurt from the over-carbonation of the Miller Lite. We knew it was the beer and not the freshest yummiest gummy bears ever, because my girlfriend was the only one who didn't drink though she ate the gummy bears as did I and her stomach was fine.

Later in the evening, after I laid out at home for a few hours (love Austin weather!), Brando and I went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory. The evening was perfect to sit outside underneath the gas heaters. Brando had already eaten at home, so I ordered a few fun appetizers, fried zucchini, my favorite, and an oh so delicious gorgonzola, pear, and arugula flatbread.

I also ordered hot tea which felt so quaint with the honey, lemon, and basket of bread next to it.

We enjoyed the quiet patio until it slowly filled up at Austin's normal dinner time - 7pm. Since we already ate, we were happily on our way by the time it got too crowded.

Love the Paris cafe feel and lighting of this photo

A gratuitous photo of Brando and I at the bridal event and I'm off for the day!

Happy New Year and a (belated) Merry Christmas!

One of the highlights of 2011 and one of my favorite Christmas presents for Christmas was meeting Ashley, one of my favorite bloggers. The minute we decided we were heading to Phoenix to visit my Grandma, I knew I would be emailing her to see if she was in town. Turns out she was for two of the days I would be there. We ended up driving to her town, just twenty minutes away from my Grandma's town, to see the Glendale Glitters Christmas Lights. We met her at her house where she greeted us with her sweet barking puppies and "puppy chow" (link to another blogger I've met and love in real life who happens to share a fondness for puppy chow with Shawners and Ashley ;)!) - a yummy chex mix Trav made that I brought home to Shawners who gobbled it up and has been begging for it ever since.

Ashley and I had both already admitted via email that we are shy people until you really get to know us. But I already felt like I knew her via our blogs. She's just one of those people that is easy to know. She also knows me a little more intimately than some bloggers might because she's seen a few more of my personal struggles. So I was crossing fingers we would hit it off as I have with a few of the other bloggers I've met and become lifelong friends with. I had nothing to worry about, because it instantly felt we had known each other for ages. We hugged the instant we met and chatted incessantly from the moment we saw each other. Had our limited schedules not been around, we would have chatted half the night away.

She was so excited about asking Brando about some of his photography tips for her new camera, and Trav was easy to talk to while they talked camera. Actually, Trav was also interested in the camera tips. I had to keep myself from getting distracted, because for some reason when Brando goes to a certain point with talking about camera stuff my head gets all in a muddle and I can't quite follow him anymore. It's almost like I need a notepad so I can take notes to keep up. Regardless, in between photog talks, we snuck some cute, fun pictures and chatted about similar things we are dealing with such as not feeling pretty or cute in photos lately and feeling like we used to be and not knowing what happened! What is with that?! Of course, she is gorgeous in all her photos and so I am crossing my fingers the same is the case with me, but I am so glad to know there is someone out there that feels the same way.

She was off to Indiana to plan her wedding with her family the next day, and I back to my Grandma's where I had an... interesting weekend that I'm not even close to being prepared to write about. I am so excited for her, and am so, SO glad I took the opportunity to meet her! As I told her, I've learned from past experiences, if you pass up the opportunity to meet bloggers when you can that perfect opportunity may not ever come again. Something I didn't say, but have noticed, is that the blog friendship may dwindle, because if that person was an in real life friend you definitely would NOT pass up the opportunity to see them. This hasn't held true for in-town blog friends, but for out of town friends, it seems to have. And I just realized I have not kept up out-of-town blog friendships with a few people who I go nearby and visit sometimes. Little do they know I have SO many people to see, I rarely see everybody. I haven't seen Justinbustin's godmother in five years!! And she lives in my hometown. I need to remedy that!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

from both of us to all of you and your loved ones!

Here's to an aMAzing 2012!

Adventures with Mai

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!

Inspiration

Love when I hear people look to Brando and I for an example for their own relationship or desire of a relationship. Took a friend to a birthday lunch today and was so excited that her and her hubby had gone to Virginia for a vacation just recently. I mentioned how healthy it is to take vacations as a couple, and she said, "I realized that from watching you and Brando. From watching how you prioritize your relationship and making time for it with all the vacations you take and the outings you do, and how it has worked well for you."

 I literally smiled and clapped my hands with glee I was so giddy that something we had done inspired her to make time for her relationship and her hubby. They are a super neat couple, regardless. Brando photographed their wedding, and they have always been one of the couples we absolutely adore and admire for who they are. It was neat to hear her say that, and it's still making me smile.

Would You Like Your Home Photographed?

Do you love to make your home a peaceful abode? Are you near the Monterey or SF Bay Area? Athena at Athena Plichta Photography recently moved from Hawaii to California with her family and has been keeping herself busy taking store photos. She takes gorgeous photos and is looking for volunteers who would like to have their home photographed. Better yet, hit her up if you want some family portraits on the gorgeous California coast. Here are some of her adorable family shots. I'm not sure why, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Athena. I updated my post on my favorite things to do in Santa Cruz just for her if she decides to visit there. I realize how it is to move to a new town, a new state, away from the ones you love, not know your surroundings and have to start brand new. I am so thankful when I moved here to Texas, bloggers that have now become close friends reached out to me and helped pull me through.

Real Life Friends

Saturday I met Linda from Curious Notions and Girl Eats World. She invited me to a foodie event at Manny's Uptown Kitchen. I'm so glad she did! I've been meaning to meet up with her for at least a year now, and finally this was the perfect timing and opportunity. The foodie blog post version of this will have to wait, because meeting Linda was the highlight of the event.

The thing about meeting bloggers for the first time is you're never really meeting them for the first time if you read each other's blogs. It's more like meeting up with an old friend that you haven't seen in awhile, where you can't stop talking for the next three hours straight. Especially if you've already emailed and commented back and forth quite a bit. What I didn't expect was to laugh so darn much. Along with the non-stop laughing, we never once ran out of things to say. I'm pretty sure we scared our table partner a little bit with our rabbit trail conversations that covered everything from cow parks to the benefits of wearing makeup. At one point we were stifling our laughter as the judges were making their comments on the reuben sandwiches. If I didn't think we would've been kicked out of there, I wouldn't have tried so hard to be quiet.

It's bad enough I was sneaking out my barely eaten leftovers for Brando (sorry, Manny's! But my nephew who we forgot to cancel as a babysitter and who showed up to babysit when we'd already dropped my son off elsewhere loved it so THANK YOU) and got strange looks on the way out as we weren't allowed to take leftovers. Who knew Reuben's were so filling?! Although I still think I gained ten pounds just eating the half Reuben I did.

Besides stifling our laughter and sneaking out leftovers, I'm pretty sure we built a repertoire of inside jokes in only two hours. Two hours which absolutely flew by, that is. Speaking of inside jokes, we were having fun too much fun to take pictures, but I found these two similarish pictures of us instead.

I feel so fortunate to have found a new friend, and such a real, down to earth one that's gorgeous to boot, and can't wait to see her again and conquer feeling too shy together at the next Ladies who Lunch.

Austin Fall Favorite

September was very chill. One of my favorite things I discovered was chilling at Zilker Park with the gorgeous skyline in the background. This was the color of the grass before Austin City Limits. The texture was like carpet.

A girlfriend, Jackie, and I went yesterday and it had been trampled to a dry brown. However, the weather was still gorgeous and there was still the tiniest hint of green peeking back through, enough that it was still just as enjoyable and relaxing to chill on a blanket with a magazine.

Volunteering

Giving this mobile posting thing a go:
So many perks to volunteering. The first of which is a huge sense of satisfaction, motivation, and production. Volunteering with my best friend, KT, has the added benefit of three hours of (almost) uninterrupted girlie chat time, plus a celebration lunch of giving back afterwards. On top of all that, we get to enjoy yummy treats like these delicious chocolate covered rice krispy treats of which we used the ribbon ties to make rings out of. I'd post a picture of that, along with a better picture of the rice krispy treat, however I wasn't intending to post them and included brightly colored contact information as the background. Enjoy the thought and if you can figure out how to make them this way on your own, definitely let me know!

I Do, Part Two

Would it be too much for me to ask you for a moment of silence? Let's just take a moment to celebrate the incredulous amount of work that goes into being married for TEN YEARS. Those of you who can say it with me, leave a shout out here. I've always wondered how people can stay together for 10, 15, 20 years then decide they made the wrong decision and move on. The thought no longer keeps me up at night. Every relationship, every friendship, every thing worth having takes work.

When do you know it's too much work? You don't. You work, based on faith, and when the other person has completely warped, twisted, smashed, jumped up and down on your faith, that's when you know. How do you see the warning signs? You don't. Especially when you have a lot of faith.

Fortunately for me, but perhaps unfortunately for Brando, I don't have that much faith, which means I am hoping I am not overlooking any red flags. Brando, on the other hand, has the most trusting amount of faith one has ever seen in every single soul he meets. Hopefully, he's not overlooking any red flags.

Speaking of his faith in every single soul he meets, here are my vows to the man I love:

Brando, ten years ago we had no clue what we were doing and we still don't, but I'm glad we're figuring it out together. When I met you, you seemed so sure of yourself - like you had the world on your shoulders, only it didn't weigh you down.

Through the years - in sickness and in health, for richer or for broke - you have been by my side. I can stand here and truly say thru all the ups and downs in my life you have been my steady horizon - my friend, my love, the one who has faith in me when it feels like no else but God does.

In all of figuring out who I am, you have stayed right where you are - in case I get lost I know where to find you. God put you in my life and every day I am SO grateful. I'm excited to go thru this next phase of our lives together, excited to see what it brings.

Brando, I have fallen even more in love with you since the day we met. I loved you when I married you, but I've fallen in love with you since then because of you and all that you are. You are my horizon, my anchor, my captain when seas are rough,

the hand that reaches out for me when mine is trembling, my friend, my fellow adventurer, discovering new places and new things, my companion figuring out the nuances of life, the solid rock of a father to my children, and the man that every time I look at I fall in love with all over again.

This day means so much more to me than this day ten years ago. Not only do we have the friends and family standing by that have supported us, loved us, and saved us thru out the years, but we have each other, these two precious men standing next to us, and ten years worth of memories together.

Today, I reaffirm my commitment to you, only this time in the presence of family and friends who first showed us how to love, helped us grow, and supported us when we found each other. In the presence of these witnesses I once again promise to love, honor you, and comfort you, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better and for worse, as long as we both shall live.(1)

I do, just like I did then, with every fibre of my being. I can't wait for the next 10 years, then 20, then 30, 40, 50..."

(1) Thanks to the always helpful about dot com for helping me find the perfect wording to include the precious people who attended that were not there the first time due to the small nature of our wedding.

Brando, master of saying what needs to be said in many less words than I, wrote these out and read them to me on the day of our vow renewal:

Rose, ten years ago about twenty-five yards from here, I asked if I can keep you.

I was lucky enough for the most beautiful bride in the world to say yes.

Today, with you in front of me, I am here to ask you again.

I am here to renew my commitment to have you and to hold you, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or for poorer (or broke!), for better or for worse, until death do us part.

To kiss you with passion even when we are watching TV,

to dance with you more often

and to continue growing as individuals, together,

while we raise our two wonderful children.

*My first name and last name*, can I keep you another ten years and every year thereafter?

My obvious answer was yes, just like the first time.

As I typed out our vows here, it struck me how perfectly the pictures coordinated with our words, albeit completely unintentionally. Our friend, Celeste Duran, was our amazing photographer, who, if she's not already, should be an award winning photographer. She definitely wins the award in my book for Incredibly Capturing the Moment and the award for Effortlessly Creating New Memories as she shoots. She operates out of Santa Cruz, California, but also does destination weddings and shoots.