Greetings From

Our new MacBook Pro. 

We finally splurged and bought one. I'm having to forget all of my previous PC bad habits and re-learn how to be a Mac girl. 

When Chris and I first met, I'd never used anything but Macs, Then I was given a PC for college. And I haven't touched a Mac since (not by choice).

Chris had never used a Mac before he met me, he was PC's all the way. When we moved to Texas,  and there were Macs all over the house, he always used to say that he'd never be a Mac guy. Well, was he wrong or what? I've been hearing about him wanting this particular laptop for the last three years. Basically as soon as he started working at Apple he was hooked.

Smart man.

Now he can't stand the PC sitting on our desk at home. 

Anyway, it's kind of like riding a bike. I only ever had Mac desktops growing up, so this is my (our) first portable. I'm learning all the lingo and sending Chris texts while he's at work about how to work the trackpad. Is that even what it's called?

So yeah. Now I know how my grandma feels when she's trying to figure out something on her iPhone.

As soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off of my Canon and onto here I'm going to post a big fat end of the year with tons of pictures post..

Give me a few days. 

Date Night

On Saturday night, we decided it was time for a date night. Dinner out and some time at one of our favorite bookstores was on the agenda.

We had dinner here-

If you have one in your neighboorhood, go now. It's really good. I had this-

(Yes, I took the onions off and gave them to Chris.) Chris ate this-

Plus this-

Yep, a cheeseburger, fries, and a hot dog. I guess the boy was hungry. The best thing about the meal? This-

Umm, yum?

Kim, these fries aren't your thing...but go try the burger anyway!

No, we didn't have any room for frozen custard, but it did look good!

And now that I've made you (and myself) hungry, let's move on. After dinner we went to the bookstore and I got to preview a CD I've been wanting for a month. I still want it. But Chris wouldn't let me buy it yesterday.

Ugh.

We did buy my grandma's birthday present though.

Then we hung out and read a little bit.

And I came across these, which after all of that yummy food, I felt like I needed right then and there!

I wasn't in the mood to cook over the weekend so there won't be any recipes this week. Maybe next weekend/week...



Yeah, We're Boring

The weather has finally gotten nice here. It's still not cool enough for me but it's definitely cooled off. A couple of weeks ago (when I didn't have a job, and when Chris had taken a couple of days off) we decided to take advantage of the great weather.

So, we loaded up our comfy chairs and our library books and headed to the park.

It was so nice and quiet. At first, the ducks tried to run us down because they thought we were going to feed them.

When they figured out we didn't have any food for them, they left us alone.

We sat out there forever. We read our books, and we talked. It was nice. I'm going to miss these days when we could just load up and do whatever we wanted. Now that we are both working full time it's harder to get away.

Even if we are just trying to go spend some time together outside of the house.

Thank goodness we are easy to please-as long as we're spending time together we're happy just hanging out with a movie on the couch.

The Nearly Non-Existent Weekend

I can already tell that now that I have a Monday through Friday job that weekends are over before they even begin. Saturday we decided to get all of our "chores" done so that we didn't have anything to do on Sunday.

We're glad we did. Sunday we vegged on the couch and watched football. I made chicken tortilla soup. It was a very chill day and that's what I needed. Especially since I've completely lost my voice. As in, I can barely even whisper. It's bad.

Saturday night, some of my family got together here and we had dinner and hung out outside by the fire. Here are a few pictures I took from that night-

C & T sitting outside after we ate.

My aunt A, and her boyfriend T.

V and C.

The cozy bonfire.

Us!

My grandparents.

C, V, & B.

D and V.

It was fun getting out and getting together with everyone.

Working Woman

That's me, as of this morning. Employed...again. After nearly 2! years.

So, if you don't hear from me for the next few days...I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. I'm just really busy/dead tired.

I am off on the weekends. Helllloooo M-F (9-5) job!

Score!

I've worked for this company before and cried when I had to leave (no, really...I did!). Toward the end of my time at my last job I kept feeling like I just wanted to go back to this company. Now I am and it's going to be so rewarding.

And tiring.

But worth it.

So, after countless interviews over the last couple of years and no job to show for them...it just goes to show, it's all in who you know. It's a small world. For reallllz.

It has been five years since I last worked for this company and I'm sure some things have changed, but I say bring it on!

One of the great things is they've opened a location just 5 minutes from our house. The first time I worked with this company I was having to commute 20 miles one way into Austin.

And....AND!

And even if they don't have an open spot for the actual position that you want- maybe if you're reallllly nice and know what you're talking about....they'll make room for you.

I speak from experience.

The kicker? The new hire training that I have to go to in the morning is at the old location that I used to work at in Austin! It is going to feel so weird walking back into that building and seeing old familiar faces.

I can't wait. For any of it.

Hello, Fall & Other Ramblings

Today is (finally!) the first full day of Fall. I just need to find my door hook so I can hang up my fall wreath outside. Bring on the cooler temperatures! 

I'm in the mood to bake. Good thing because Chris has a birthday this weekend. 


At the beginning of the week Kim, Kinsley, and I met for lunch here-

It was yummy as usual, and we got to catch up on our gossip. If you live in the area, go now. 


After lunch, we walked around the square and found ourselves in a children's boutique (of course!). Kinsley fell in love with these-

I'd heard of them but never seen them. Hilarious.


I'm supposed to be staining a shelf that we bought last weekend at Ikea, but I can't get into it. Maybe tomorrow. 


I feel like a single woman these days (ya know minus the "single" part) because Chris is working so much overtime right now. He leaves at 9:30 am and he doesn't get home until 12:30 am. 


That is all.

Cheap Entertainment

I'm not gonna lie. We are broke. Like, flat broke.  But it's all good because we've got freedom! and privacy! which come along with bills. 


Last weekend we spent half of our Saturday at the library. Hello! I should have named this post "free entertainment" but I guess it did take gas to get there. We loveeee the library. Like, loveeee. But if you are one of my 2 readers then you already knew that.


Of course we always get books while we are there, but the main thing we do is read magazines. Chris reads all the science/car/sports ones and I read the foodie/entertainment/photography ones. Sometimes he picks up the photography one first. Then I knock him out and run and sit on it.


Kidding.


And it may sound boring to you, but that's how we spend our "we're broke and bored" Saturdays. 


This week I picked up-

Mockingjay was also in this stack, but I already returned it. Didya see the CD's at the top of the stack?

I've been on the hunt for that Enya CD since right after my mom died. It was one of her favorites. 


Chris got a couple of books but already read/returned one so I didn't take a picture. 


Anyway, go to your library. It's fun!

Another Cupcake Post

Maybe I'm obsessed, but any time I can get someone to go to the cupcake bakery with me, I jump at it. While my brother was here I took him because of course, he'd read my blog post about this place. He's boring so he got the vanilla cupcake, which is good! but there are so many other flavors to choose from.

Anyway.

I'm usually boring, and when I find something I like I usually stick with it, but I tried something different.

Lemon. Also known as "Satellite".

It. was. so. good. I'm not even kidding. I don't know what it is with me and lemon these days but, yum.

*If you want to make your own lemon cake, I have the best recipe.*

Tyler was happy with his choice of cupcake, and he proceeded to make fun of me while I was eating mine. What can I say? They're as messy as they are good.

Water, Water, Everywhere

It's freakin' hot here right now. I can't wait until this time of the year. So, since we still have a couple of months of sweltering heat left, we are always looking for a new way to stay cool. There is a small water park in Round Rock that we like to go to. My cousins had never been before so they tagged along as well.

Tyler and Chris like the water slides.

These kids have no fear of water.

For real.

Piggy back rides from Chris.

After swimming all afternoon we went to dinner at my most favorite place-

Seriously, I love this place. Chris? Not so much. I will wait hours to get a seat here. And wait we did. So we took pictures and talked.

Not sure what I'm looking at in this one.

Finally it was time for the FOOD!

This face cracks me up!

He loved Chuy's. Of course he did, he's my brother.

Vacation-Part 4 of 3

The last post ended up being much longer than I anticipated so here is the rest of our Sunday...

After floating the river for a few hours we were starving. My aunt suggested going to The Salt Lick, and it worked out great because Chris has lived here over three years and we still hadn't made it out there. Also, we were already out that way so we went to the Driftwood location. The boy loves BBQ. But, BBQ is different in Tennessee that it is in Texas. There, you can get pulled pork just about anywhere (that's his favorite), but here it's much harder to find. Beef rules in Texas.

Well he got lucky because we happened to go on a Sunday, and guess what was on the menu just especially for that day? A big fat pulled pork sandwich. He was nearly dancing on the table. Seriously, ask one of the other seven people that were with us.

This is his, "I can't believe I am here and about to get this awesomely delicious pulled pork sandwich!" face.

The sandwich took up over half of the plate. You can't even see the cole slaw, beans, or potato salad that he also devoured.

I'm not even sure he realized I was snapping pictures. But this...this is what got me excited...

Pickles. Yum. Chris ate the onions. Yuck.

 Chris also ate half of my plate. Sausage and brisket included.

Oh, and he tried some of Mason's baby back ribs. I think he may have eaten something off of nearly everyone's plate. He had to try it all!

At this point, we are all wondering if he has a hollow leg or something. I hadn't seen him eat this much in years. I'm not exaggerating. But then he stopped. And I thanked God because I had to ride home with him and his onion breath.

 But oh no, he didn't stop because he was finished. Nope, he had another trick up his sleeve.

His most favorite dessert ever. He and Megan shared this massive slice of warm pecan pie.

He may or may not have been shoveling it in eating it with his hands. The look on my aunt's face says it all. We just couldn't figure out where he was putting all of this food. And then it was gone.

Countdown to our next vacation- 9 days.

*Where Chris is bound to gross me out by eating some sort of critter that lives in the ocean.*