The last few weeks in pictures...

Early Lunch Break

When: Tuesday, July 12th. 95 degrees outside

What: I was bending over to put a heavy box down and then RIP. Hearing my pants rip is not fun. Turning around to make sure nobody is around is a huge relief.

Where: UNT football stadium (cleaning out the old suite)

Why: I decided to bring some heavy boxes up and down football bleachers in nice dress pants that were loose.(promise)

How: You know how your clothes stick to you in hot and humid weather? I do. After they ripped, I still had 3 boxes sitting out at the top of the bleachers that I could not just leave out... had to finish the job fast. 

 

 

"Step Right Up"

 

When: Saturday, July 16th.

What: First Book Club Brunch. We discussed Water for Elephants

Where: My Big Top!

Why: I wanted to decorate so that we could feel like we were at a circus (please ignore the mess. This was taken night before) I put streamers up everywhere and made swings in random places. I even had circus music playing as you walked in. I love themes!

How: It was really fun! We talked about the book for about 30 minutes and chatted and ate the other 2 hours! This usually happens at every book club I have been too. 

 

 

 

Jovi came to visit

Taking breaks during play

Jovi's turn to dominate

 

Kona's Turn

So tired, they had to play while lying down

When: Saturday, July 16th - After Book Club

What: Jovi, the great dane puppy came to visit. We were dog sitting for Alex and Loryn Best

Where: Living room to outside. Back in the living room, then to guest room. Back in the living room. Same thing the whole day.

Why: They played so good together despite their sizes. Jovi is double the size of Kona. They were both the same size in March when we visited them in San Angelo. 

3 days after Jovi left, Kona was so sad and would walk by the room where Jovi slept to see if she was still there.

Next post I will post about all the food I have been eating for my Birthday Week. I have so many free coupons for restaurants that I have been taking advantage of. 

(P.S.- So many restaurants have free stuff for your birthday, look into it and sign up! I am part of at least 8 free meal or dessert clubs. Let's just say that during the month of July, I am a happy eater!) Here is the website I visited to get Free stuff! 

$2.99

Jonathan and I had a lovely 4th of July weekend! We got to run errands, shop, eat, clean, smoke ribs, lounge around the house and watch movies. On July 4th, we made our way to Dallas to look at external hard drives to buy so that we can finally upload pictures to our computer without using all our space. (The day is almost here when I will no longer use my iPhone for posting pictures) 


While in Dallas, we decided to visit the old stomping grounds we enjoyed while living in that area. After lunch, we popped into Sprinkles to get a cupcake. I ordered the carrot cake cupcake and Jonathan got the red velvet cupcake. While placing our order, the attendant asked us "would you like a cupcake for your dog?" Both Jonathan and I answered at the same time, but with a different answer. I said "No" thinking that he would say the same thing because we 

1.) Don't feed Kona human food 
2.) They are $2.99 a pop

When I heard a "Yes" come out of Jonathan's mouth, I was shocked. Happy 4th of July to Kona as well. Something she will NOT get used to. 

When we got home later that day, we decided to give her the $2.99 cupcake to enjoy hoping she would eat it slowly and really appreciate it, like I do desserts. This is how much she enjoyed it:

I was very shocked when she was done because it looked like she just sucked it up and didn't even chew. I just hope she knew it was something different and sweet - not fluffy dog food with white icing.

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread

 As far as I can remember and probably smell, my mom would make monkey bread for any special occasion. My mom makes this breakfast bread every Christmas morning, Birthdays, friends sleeping over, biscuits being on sale, and many other holiday mornings. I love waking up to the smell of butter, cinnamon, and melted caramel on biscuits in the oven. It helped everyone wake up quicker knowing that it would be gone fast.

Over the last few years our family has grown, with last Christmas eve having 16 people staying the night at mom and dad's house. With that many people, we made 2 monkey bread dishes that morning to make sure everyone could have some.

Some of the family to stay the night. Christmas 2010

Standing around watching me cut portions to make sure it was equal (2009)

Carefully cutting (2009)

The reason I wrote this post was because I found a different way of making Monkey Bread. I will have to try it out on the next guest who stay with me. (hint hint) The recipe I found had the bread in individual jars. 

Source: Monkey Jars

Maybe this way will help make sure everyone gets the same portion of bread and leave no room for disagreement, which is sometimes funny to argue about, especially over food.

Cupcakes and Babies

Love both of these things. 

I have not had a cupcake in a while, but I did get to make some cupcakes for a friend who just had her baby on Saturday. The only difference is that her son gets to wear them. 

 

I saw the cupcake onesie's here and decided to make them. I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but I put a little tag on it that said "Cupcakes for a Sweet Baby"

To help celebrate 4th of July, I might just have to make some cupcakes, only edible this time.

Yum

 

 

 

Just add a little mint

The Texas heat has been so hot lately. I don't even want to be outside unless it is before 9:00am or after 7:00pm. It's funny, I play a mind game with myself during the winter time when I am out and about and bundled up, I mentally tell myself, "it's hot and I am sweating" just to feel a little warm, and I think it helps. I try not to be outside for long during the summer because after a while, I just feel myself starting to melt/sweat and I try to avoid that unless I am in the proper attire or I am about to jump in a pool.


Today my co-worker gave me a sprig of mint from her house since she knew that I wanting to start growing it. I kept it on my desk and it smelled so fresh and clean. After smelling it for one hour, I could not wait to use the mint at home, so I decided to make a refreshing mid-morning (9:30am) drink. 

This is my version of a "workplace" mint julep. Cool, refreshing, sweetened iced tea with a few pieces of mint. I think this will be an afternoon "must" when 3:00pm rolls around for the summer. 

Ahh, refreshing!

Remember your first everything.

Dove chocolates are one of my favorite chocolates to eat. I might be silly to say this, but what I love about this particular chocolate is the wrapper. I love the inside messages you find once you open the chocolate candy.  I try to open Dove chocolates very carefully so that I can save the wrapper, especially if I like the quote. One of my favorites quote wrappers can be found in our guest bathroom in a heart picture frame. It simply says "Remember your first everything." This was actually the other blog name I was going to use since I love thinking about how many firsts we have in life.  

It is fun to think about my firsts because it brings me back to that moment and creates a feeling of accomplishment or even thankfulness. Some examples (small and big) of my first include: 

-trying sushi (I hated it, but love it now)

-airplane ride (1 hour to Oklahoma)

-getting to sit in first class (one day I will on an international flight)

-love (my husband of course)

-house 

-half-marathon

-first day of work at new places

This past weekend, we started our First Garden! We are playing it safe with the vegetables we are growing and keeping in mind how Texas summers are brutal. We don't have high expectations on what will happen, we are just excited to try it out! But it will be fun to look back in a few years and reminisce about what we grew and how much we will learn from our initial harvest.

  

Kona is making sure we have a place to grow treats 

P.S. - What are some of your firsts you like to remember?

A Happy 1st Birthday!

When I opened my birthday card last year, a picture of Jonathan holding a cute wrinkled puppy was inside. After I looked at that picture, I was sold on having a puppy. (my first pet ever)  Little did we know after picking her up form the breeder, we weren't getting a cute, lazy, sleepy puppy, but we got a cute high energy velcro dog that would change the very way we experience life. Kona has been a great addition to our family, we definitely had times when we almost gave her back or wanted to get rid of her, but so happy we didn't. She has been a joy to have around and I never knew I would love a dog so much - coming from a girl who was afraid of any dog until college.

Yesterday Jonathan and I had a blast celebrating Kona's birthday. I'm sure she heard me say Happy Birthday at least 50 times that day. I know she did not understand it was her birthday, but I wanted to celebrate anyways.

Birthday girl got to sit in the front seat (only for a little bit) Don't worry, I told her not to get used to it

Earlier in the week, I thought about getting Kona a baby pool for her to lay and lounge in the backyard as a birthday present. Jonathan had a much better idea - taking her to swim in the lake. This was Kona's first time to go to the lake, and it looks like it will not be her last. Instead of just lounging in a small pool in the backyard, Jonathan and Kona had so much fun swimming and playing in the water.

 

After the swim, we wanted to bring her to Petsmart.  Shout Out: you can bring your pet inside with you and the best part is, they have FREE treats at the check out counter. (A small side note: This was a itch/dream I have wanted to do just so that she could get a treat) Back to her party- She was like a kid in a candy store just sniffing everything and looking at all the toys. (we left with 2 non stuffed toys. read here why) Also, while we were there, we finally made her a dog tag. - In case we forget her name and our phone number...

I think Jonathan and I had more fun than she did. Just watching her and making a bigger deal of her birthday than most people would was fun - A reason to celebrate! 

P.S. - I don't think I will do this every year, but I just wanted Kona to feel extra special this evening. 

Do you celebrate with your pets or secretly want to?