Life Updates

Hi friends! The past couple of weeks, I feel like I have been so out of touch with blog world. Sure, y'all still have three weekly posts to read from me, but what you don't see is the behind the scenes of it all-- and to be honest, there really isn't much to see. I have been quickly typing up a post, or publishing drafts I've had saved for a rainy day when my brain just isn't working [happens a little too often].

On top of my surgery a few months ago, Raymond ended up getting a horrible toothache followed by a miserable sinus infection the next week. His toothache kept him from eating for 2 days and from working for 5. Needless to say, we've felt like we're in the middle of a hurricane these days! Saturday was my first day off in 12 days, and about half of those days we're spent working 12+ hours. I have been busting my butt at work to try and help make up for all of the time we've been missing due to our ailments.

Life lately has been a whirlwind. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, life has been hectic, busy, and as I mentioned before, a little trying at times. No worries though, things are finally starting to fall back into place [slowly, but surely] and eventually I'll be able to spend more time chatting with you lovelies again.

Other than working like a dog, things around these parts haven't been all bad. A couple of updates are definitely in store if you're a nosy blog reader like me and like to know everything about the author...

+ With an entire weekend of free time, I decided that it was going to be spent doing nothing productive. My plan was to sleep in, nap, rest, spend a little time watching trashy television, snuggling with Guero, and hopefully convincing Raymond to give me a foot/back rub.

+ Saturday we watched the Red River Rivalry and let's just say it didn't go so well for us Longhorns. That's as far as I want to get into it! Dinner out with my honey at our favorite hole in the wall, and then drinks and pumpkin carving at my best friend's house made for a perfect Saturday night.

+ We have a Halloween party to attend next Friday and are seriously struggling to come up with costume ideas. Last year we were white trash bikers but are at a loss for something fun. Anyone have any good ideas or past costumes to share? Please do so!

+ I know I said that I wasn't going to do anything productive, but Sunday morning I woke up and cleaned the heck out of our apartment. Bathroom, kitchen, living room, vacuuming  scrubbing, dishes, laundry-- you name it, I did it. We had friend's coming over for the Cowboy's game [again- let's not talk about this game either], and not having time to really clean in weeks took it's toll and I couldn't bare to have people see our dump of a home.

+ While carving pumpkins Saturday night, my friend Amanda and I were discussing how we wanted to save the seeds so we could roast them and have them to snack on, when we got the weirdest looks from Raymond and our other friends. I know blog world is crazy about all things pumpkin, so I have to ask-- does roasting pumpkin seeds sound foreign to y'all or are my friends the crazy ones? I thought this was something everyone knew about!

+ Today marks week three of four that I was told to wait by the specialist for my wound to heal. He said it would take a lot of patience but if there is no progress within four weeks, another surgery will be in store for me. Well, unfortunately for me, it seems as though things aren't getting any better or closer to healing. To be honest, I'm ready to just have surgery again and hopefully get things moving. I'm tired of being cautious and uncomfortable and this past week, things are getting a little painful. I'm just over and done with being patient!

+ Guero is getting his chi-chis chopped off next Monday and I'm a bit nervous. I don't know if I should stay home with him for a few days or are we okay to go to work as normal? This may sound weird-- but Guero is unlike any animal we've ever come across and he is just, different [in a good way] and I just have weird feelings that he's going to have a difficult time with this. Anyone have any tips or advice on neutering?

+ Fall weather still hasn't graced us yet here in Austin. I'm constantly wearing my Christmas pajamas and socks and burning my fall candles, but it just isn't enough to make up for the heat.

+ I have had a few readers email me in regards to my I Am The Girl posts [edition one and two]. I am SO thrilled that y'all love them and the idea of them so much so that you want to do them as well! I have created a button that I would really appreciate you add to any IATG posts you decide to write. I believe we all deserve credit where credit is due! I am even considering making it a monthly link-up... would you guys be interested in participating?

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I wish I had more fun, awesome events to share with y'all, but when life is hectic, social life takes a back seat. Sometimes it's okay to be boring, though!

What's going on in your neck of the woods? Fill me in, friends!

Weekend Things

Hello, friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, we sure did over here in our neck of the woods.

As I mentioned before, Saturday was our 5 year anniversary. Unfortunately, Raymond had to work most of the day [the rain has his schedule all sorts of messed up], but I on the other hand, got to sleep in.

Naturally I spent the morning lounging around on the couch watching an Awkward marathon on MTV. Have any of you watched that show? I magically stumbled upon it during the first season and while it's about a girl in high school, the humor and dialogue are completely aimed for an older audience in my opinion-- that or my sense of humor is a touch on the immature side. <--- wouldn't surprise me!

I finally got the will to peel myself from the couch and into the shower so I could run a few errands and ended up hanging out at my parent's house for a few hours. I love that they live only 20 minutes from me & I can drop in and annoy them whenever I feel like it! Another good thing about hanging out at the 'rent's house is the fact that I don't have to worry about food. Does anybody else notice that even though you become and adult and are in complete charge of your own grocery shopping, your parent's always have the best snacks/food at their house? Not complaining, just acknowledging!

Because we're still dating [ahem- meaning not married], we don't go all out and crazy when celebrating our anniversaries. We spent Saturday evening/night BBQ-ing and hanging out with good friends. We ate delicious food and played quite a few games of the beloved corn hole while watching football and listening to music. Life really doesn't get much better than that, and being who we are, it really was a wonderful way to spend our special day evening together.

Of course Sunday was spent watching [more] football and an over-due visit to our favorite little hole in the wall, Crawfish Shack. I've mentioned this place before on the blog and I cannot recommend it enough! If you're a lover of all things seafood, GO! I promise you will not hate me for it.

The weekend was rounded out with snuggles from our handsome baby boy that is growing much too fast and lounging on the balcony watching the rain. A perfectly relaxing weekend if you ask me!

I love him!

Oh just sleeping on mom's pillow like I'm a human. No biggie.

This photo melts my heart. Sleeping on my tummy.

Rainy Days

Using R's safety glasses to chop onions

Labor Day Family Reunion

As I mentioned before, for the long holiday weekend, we had plans to attend a family reunion. Now while I have heard all about Raymond's family and have met quite a few of them, I met about 100 more this past weekend. Being me, of course I brought my camera but left it in my bag the entire trip. I didn't take a single picture, so I must thank R's sister, Sandra for all of these pictures-- I stole them all from her Facebook. Thanks Chach!

Warning: Prepare for photo dump.

Friday started out with dropping off our puppy (waahh) with my parents and hit the road to Brownwood 3 hours Northwest to pick up R's son (also known as Raymond... we'll call him #3). After swooping him up, another, and another 4 hours in the car, we finally arrived in Uvalde. I tell ya, it never felt better to get out of the dang car! After a quick last-minute dinner around 9:30 p.m. we headed back to our motel. No, not for sleeping... for drinking in the parking lot!


Mother, Brother In Law, Sister, Nephew, Son, Me, Father





Sister, Raymond, Me, Cousin

An early Saturday morning wake up called for a delish breakfast of pancakes and then we headed to run a few errands, and off to the park for a day of hot, sweaty fun. The day was made up of activities including a silent auction (cannot wait to share what we won!), sand volleyball, water relay, obstacle course, and tug-of-war. While it may have been disgustingly hot, the sweat and scorched feet from the sand were absolutely worth it and we had a blast.

Around 4:30 p.m. we all packed up and headed back to the motel to quickly shower and take whatever kind of a nap we could, to be at the hall by 6:00 for dinner, awards, and most importantly the dance.

The night was wonderful and while I wore comfotable shoes, my feet hurt the next day from dancing so much! I am so thankful that Raymond has such a wonderful family. While there may be tons of them, they all do such an amazing job of making me feel comfortable and welcome. I feel like I am already a part of their family and to be honest, there really isn't a much better feeling. The entire time we were there, I found myself thanking God for placing them into my life.

Just Call Me Katniss

Hello & happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Our weekend here was filled with a whole lot of... not a lot.

Friday night was the usual for us-- Raymond's softball game. They beat the team they were playing by quite a bit, which made for a happy boy. One bad thing about games at 9:00 pm? No time for dinner between work and game time, so we ended up hightailing it to get some grub (and drinks) at 10:30 at night. So bad, but so so good.



Saturday was spent running a few errands, doing a few things for the blog, and cleaning out our closet and dresser helping R clean his motorcycle. I wasn't in the mood to sit inside the house, so my crazy self marched downstairs to the oh-so-hot garage and polished away on the chrome of his bike. By the end of it all, I was in desperate need of a shower and water! I don't recommend volunteering to clean anything ever if you don't have to.

In other random news, I posted this picture to Facebook and my grandma said "Katniss Sheridan?" (Sheridan is my last name for those of you that don't know, and Katniss is obviously the main character from The Hunger Games.) I didn't even think about it when I braided my hair that morning, but I wont lie and will admit that I am totally digging the comparison. Just call me Katniss! I also got Tomb Raider from an old friend (Hi Kyndal!). I'll let you all decide for yourselves:

via

via

I am not a big fan of Angelina (Team Jen!), so I'll take Katniss over Lora any day of the week, as if it really matters haha.

Moving forward from my obsession, Sunday was spent grocery shopping, and making phone calls to the surgeon's office. I had my stitches removed over a week ago and I noticed Sunday morning that my wound was starting to re-open. Totally gross, I know, and totally LAME. Now I've got to drive another hour and a a half both ways just to have it looked at. I'm not excited at all and it totally ruined my plans to finally go swimming and get back to working out today.

Luckily my sulking was overshadowed by a Sunday Funday we had planned to meet some of our newer neighbors. We ended up having a blast BBQing, letting the dogs run wild, and chit chatting for hours.

Another great weekend in the books, and now it's time to sail through this short week before we head out of town on Friday for a family reunion!

See you all on Wednesday!

The Most Handsome in All of the Land

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend.

We spent our two work-less days doing a whole lot of nothing, and it was awesome. Saturday morning after making breakfast we took Guero to the lake across the street from us and walked along the trail to give him some exercise. Luckily rain was near-by and kept the skies overcast and the temperatures not too high or in other words-- bearable.

On our way back Raymond insisted that we let Guero ride in the back of the truck. Obviously I was completely against the idea in fear that he would jump out while we were driving. My argument lost and we drove slowly back to the house while the baby had a blast eating wind (and an old piece of bread he found... don't ask me why it was back there). Now, I might be a bit biased, but I cannot lie when I say that our dog is the most handsome in all of the land. I am in awe of these beautiful pictures I snapped of this stud!

For being such a good boy we came home and snacked on popcorn while watching the rain storms on the balcony.

I also got a chance to throw together a new yummy recipe that I think you guys are really going to enjoy, especially for these colder months coming up! You're just going to have to wait until Foodie Friday to catch a glimpse of it, though! Until then you can check out the other two installments here and here to hold you over!

I kid you not when I say the rest of the weekend was spent on the couch watching old western movies and of course non other than The Hunger Games. I love the books and saw the movie in theatres and was so thrilled that I snagged myself a copy of it!

What did you do this weekend?

Random Recap

My weekend was completely random and almost completely boring thanks to being unable to move around too much...

Raymond went out Sunday morning to pick up breakfast and brought back tacos... and an extra one just for Guero. I cannot get over how spoiled rotten he is!


Big head, Sitting on daddy's lap, Nap time


Being forced to sit still and move with caution really makes me realize how much just walking to the car can do for a person. I Cannot wait to heal and get back to our usual weekend water volleyball games and working out. I'm weighing the options of canceling my gym membership. I really want to get into running (seriously) again and I don't feel like I can do it on a treadmill. I want to invest in some DVDs such as Brazilian butt lift and some yoga videos.


Taking care of mama while daddy works


I ended up making a sprinkle cake for our friends' going away party the other week. It actually turned out pretty cute but my crappy cell phone picture just doesn't do it justice. I will say that the entire thing got wolfed down before the other gourmet cake that was there. Homemade for the win!

Here in Austin there are a few bridges that are known for housing bats. A lot of people will go stand on/under the bridges and wait for them to fly out. There are so so many bats all at once and it really is a pretty neat thing to see.We went to dinner with some friends on Friday evening where we sat outside on the patio. The restaurant is close to one of the bridges (old McNeil and I35 for you locals) and we just so happened to catch all of the bats. I just wanted a picture and wasn't expecting anything good because it was on my cell phone, but I ended up with this really amazing picture of R throwing up the Horns.

Obviously I've been having to take pictures with my cell phone and it's because my digital just blows these days, and am in the market for a new one. I don't want anything big and fancy but something that will still take quality pictures without breaking the bank. I would love any recommendations!

Saturday night I was actually able to get out of the house again for a few hours and it was to wish my BFF a happy birthday. She's an old lady now (29) so I had to make sure I could be at her party in support of her last year as a 20-something. Happy birthday again, Val! Love you, ya old hag! ;)

PS My aunt is having foot surgery today, so any prayers and well wishes sent her way would be greatly appreciated!

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was wonderful! So wonderful that I am absolutely exhausted and although I had the greatest intentions of waking up at my usual time this morning for the beginning of week two of boot camp, I reset the alarm and opted for more sleep. Sometimes, it is just necessary. And that workout can always be done at another time!

Despite the nasty weather, we packed up and drove 2 hours straight through rain. As usual, we needed to conduct our road trip photo shoot that takes forever before we just give up. PS- Don't try this, it's not the safest thing to do while driving in the rain.

We made it to Brownwood but found that we were left to find our own entertainment until the family was all together that night. (Everyone went their separate ways to either run errands, work, or visit family.)

Once we all reunited, we drank and ate mounds of food before calling it quits around... I actually don't even know what time it was, that's how sleepy I was!

Sunday, to my surprise, the sun was shining and the cold had somewhat subsided. It was a perfect day to be spent outside. So, that's what the boys did, and us girls (me, R's sister, and mom) headed into town for what they like to call a little "retail therapy". Sounded good to me! I made it out of the stores with just a few items (more on those later), and I'm sure my bank account is thanking me right about now. I never knew I could be so disciplined when it came to shopping, usually I am a mess!

Eventually evening rolled around and we needed to hit the road and head back to town. The upside to that was that we brought R's son back with us for Spring Break. Now I've got TWO smelly boys to deal with for a week! The downside - we ran over a skunk on the way and my back tire reeks of... well, skunk.

All in all, the weekend was fantastic and relaxing and was just what we needed for a mini getaway! It's a good thing, too, because we are going to be out of town for the next two weekends as well for wedding festivities!

Hot 'n' Pink...

... isn't just the way I like my steaks cooked. But we'll get to that in a minute.

This weekend was pretty stinkin' awesome if I do say so myself. The weather here in Austin was absolutely amazing and probably couldn't have been any better. Which is why the entire 2 days were spent outside.

Friday evening Raymond and I met up with some friends of ours for dinner and drinks. We tried out a new-to-us restaurant, Longhorn Steakhouse. Everyone was pretty satisfied with their meals, except for me. It wasn't awful, but my steak was just a bit (a lot) chewy for my liking. The pricing was average for a steakhouse, though. It also didn't hurt that we had good company!

Saturday morning was an early rise for us, being that we had a kickball tournament all day. I actually didn't take part in the games, and just went along for what we like to call "moral support" aka free beer and food. We arrived to the fields around 10:30am. Being as responsible as I am, I managed to wait until almost noon to crack my first beer. It's a good thing, too, because 8 hours later... we we're still going at it. Now, I don't know if you've ever drank all day in the sun... but it sure does have more of an effect on me than drinking indoors does. Something about that hot sun makes that beer go down as smooth as water. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say we all had a great time! The night was finished off with a sushi dinner and we were asleep by 10pm.

With the weather being perfect again on Sunday, we met up with some friends for a little softball practice. Again, we had an absolute blast and spent about 4 hours in the blazing sun catching, pitching, and hitting.

Evening eventually rolled around and we finally called it quits for the weekend. It was a long and tiring one, but if I could do this every weekend, my life would be complete. I had so much fun and the weather could not have been more fantastic! The only downfall would be this:

Pretty sure raccoon-eyes and redneck aren't my best looks. Ouuuuchhhh....