Ice, ice, ice. Snow, snow, snow.

Sooo, we're going on Day 4 of being snowed in here in North Texas.  To all of you Northerners, I'm sure it is somewhat amusing that y'all deal with this stuff all winter long, and we deal with it for a week and subsequently whine about it 10x what we should.  

Yesterday we were predicted to get 1-2" today.  Famous last words.  So far, we are at 5 inches and it's still coming down...

So, what have we been doing the past 4 days?  The girls have been rotating between Wii, toys, TV, movies, repeat.  I must say, they have been exceptionally good.  I can tell they are wearing down today, but we're heading outside to play in the snow in 20 minutes or so, so that should tucker them out enough for naptime.  Yay!  Quiet!  :)  

As for husbie and I, we're both still trying to get some work done.  Try as I might to get him to let me put a second desk in his office, he's not budging, so I have set up shop in our dining room.  Tuesday I sat on the couch in front of the TV, but I felt like a sloth that wasn't very productive, so I moved in here.  Another reason was to watch as my neighbors tried to navigate our street.  There have been a couple of near-misses (see our neighbor's truck parked in front of our house & where they alley across the street lets out?  not smart, neighbor), but no one has hit anything... yet. 

I haven't been able to run in a week, which sucks big time.  Coupled with the winter food we have been eating, I am feeling like a bowl full of jelly.  Hopefully I can get back on the routine tomorrow!  All of this seriously has me looking around our house for someplace where I can stick a treadmill.  We did make s'mores two nights in a row, which was very fun.  Before this week, Ava thought she didn't like marshmallows (crazy, right?).  Then she tried a toasted one.  Now she is in love. 

We're heading outside now, so possibly more pictures to come later, plus my favorite iPhone apps (obviously Instagram is topping the list these days).  Hope everyone is staying warm, wherever you are!

Snowy day!

I wish our snowy day was today, so I had a day off to play hooky, but alas, it was yesterday.  It's just as well - I live so close to my office that it's never really justification to not make it in at some point during the day.  Winston and Ava had a big time in the snow.  Ava was so excited and squealy morning wanting to go outside.

Here are pictures of my office area this morning.  So pretty and deceptively looks like Christmastime.  i.e. - time to take down the wreaths, people!

I hope everyone is warm and safe wherever you are! 

Oh, and if you haven't already, don't forget to enter to win the adorbs giveaway from Puppy Dogs 'N Polka Dots.  Click here for more info.

Last Week's Whirlwind

Last week was absolute craziness!  I knew it would be busy, but I completely underestimated how much so.  Enough that I will be playing mad catchup this afternoon and tomorrow so that the house, laundry, etc. will be ready for Christmas (and I can maybe? go a few days and not have to do anything). 

The week before Christmas is always parent observation week at dance.  I love this because it means I get to spy on my little darlings to see how much they are goofing off learning during class.  Their classes aren't exactly cheap, so I don't like any surprises come recital time.  I have to say, I am so remarkably pleased by my littlest munchkin.  Did I know she loved dance?  Absolutely.  Did I have any idea how natural she is and how much terminology she actually knows?  Absolutely not.  This is all especially surprising because husbie yanked her out of dance last year because she was spending the entire class wandering around and crawling on the floor like a puppy.  Yay Ava!  This year husbie is completely pleased with everything she has learned and how she is doing.  We have switched dance studios since last year, and it has made all of the difference in the world, for both girls.  Of course, I took a zillion pictures of Ava and a few of Haley.  She's finally getting to the point where it's not cool for mommy to stalk her like mommyrazzi.  Boo.  

Wednesday Ava had her first modeling shoot.  I was completely nervous for her going in, as a lot of times she pulls out the scared and/or super cheesy smile, but she did great.  The photographers and everyone were wonderful and she had a great time and I'm hoping they got some cute pictures of her.  The agency said that they loved her, which is great news!  Extra cashola going into her college fund is fantastic and as long as she is having fun doing it, we'd like it to continue.  I'll post the pictures on here as they send them to us (they are for a Valentine campaign), but here are a few snapshots I took with my iPhone:

The rest of the week zipped by.  Friday we had our annual company Christmas outing.  We went to lunch at Blue Goose and went to see The Tourist.  Awesome movie!  I love Angelia Jolie and think she is so beautiful (although it definitely wouldn't hurt if she would put on 10 lbs - good problem to have).  The fashion in it is amazing - I love the glamorous gowns and dresses she wore.  I definitely recommend it, if you're looking for a movie to see over Christmas.

Saturday we headed to Houston and got back around 3 PM on Friday.  We picked up Winston from WufSpa (best groomer/boarder in Dallas, IMO) and headed home to watch the Steelers lose to the Jets.  We're having my side's family Christmas gathering on Thursday night so we'll have a Steeler watching party / Christmas combo.

On another note - thanks to everyone that sent in their experiences and suggestions on my last post.  I really appreciate it!  It's comforting to know that others have been in similar positions and how it was handled.  Y'all are such a great sounding board!  :)  A PSA - if you don't have your email address set to show to me when you post a comment, and you don't have anything against showing it to the blogging world, think about changing this setting.  That way, I can email you back.  :)

I hope everyone is having a great pre-Christmas week!

Weekend Wrap Up - Christmastime Style!

We had an incredibly busy weekend (with the exception of Sunday) with all sorts of Christmas happenings - my favorite kind of December weekend!

Friday I left work around noon to find a replacement skirt for The Limited skirt featured here.  I did find this one at the Gap, which ended up being (what I thought) was a pretty cute alternative.  I had to go to a different Gap to get it, because of course they didn't have my size.  After I got the skirt I realized I had a jewelry emergency problem.  The jewelry I had already purchased went with the other skirt.  I remembered a couple of my girlfriends talking about Charming Charlie.  OMG, Jewelry Heaven. 

Since everything is color sorted, it was perfect and so easy to find navy blue jewelry to match my skirt.  LOVE it.  They have tons of other cute stuff, too, not just jewelry.  Apparently they have locations in several different states.  I am going to have to go back when I have more time to really look around.

Friday night we packed the girls up and sent them to Granny & Pop's and Austin and I headed to his Christmas party.  We couldn't take any pictures there (security issues), so here we were before:

The party was fine - we had a few drinks and mingled with the work peeps then headed to yumminess:

I'm not going to even bother counting up how many calories and fat grams our dinner had.  ;)  It was awesome!  We went last year for New Year's and it was a total debacle - bad food, bad service, crowded, etc. etc. etc.  I am happy to say that they completely redeemed themselves.  I have to say, I love my husbie, but he is such a photo party pooper.  He wouldn't let me take any pictures.  :(  He sucks.  Love you, mean it!  Anyway, I passed out in the car from a food coma and kinda-sorta woke up enough to put on sweats and get in bed.  Sexy.

The girls spent Saturday going to see a nativity play at one of the churches here while he and I spent the day trying to finish up the Christmas shopping.  Thankfully, we are almost done!  The girls are completely done, we have our nephews and a couple of other people to buy for. 

Saturday night we headed to Santa's Village in Richardson.  If you have kiddos and are in the DFW area, I definitely recommend going!  We took Haley when she was 4 and haven't been since.  My sister came along and even though it was cold and windy, we had a great time. 

 

 

They have tons of cute cottages with all sorts of fun activities - letters to Santa, crafts, Santa video message/interview, you name it.  They also have a stage with performers, including these ladies:

The Dallas Tap Dazzlers!  Okay, so you have to be 45 to be a Tap Dazzler.  I am so signing up as soon as I am eligible!  Think I am kidding?  I'm not.  Haley told me she would be mortified if was a performing adult tapper, which is all the more reason to do it!  In all seriousness, I think it is fantastic that these ladies (most of them grannies), do what they get out and perform what they love.  

Yesterday we had an awesome day full of football and movie watching, with some cooking and laundry as well.  

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Stay warm wherever you are!  :)

46ish things about me for my 64 followers!

I have gotten lots of new followers lately, yay!  Thanks for following my blog and welcome!!  One of my favorite things about blogging is the unique perspectives you get from so many different ladies.  I guess you could get dude perspectives, too, but my following is all Betty's!   

To catch you up on me, here are 46 facts about me.  I thought about doing 64, but that would take forever and I think everyone would stop reading about halfway through.  I know I would!

The only states I have not been to are Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Wisonsin and Maine  

I have recurring nightmares about being trapped in a crashing elevator

I danced competitively growing up - tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical
I spent almost as much time at the dance studio as I did at school

I quit because I wanted a life outside of dance in high school

I wish my mom wouldn't have let me quit

 I met my husband in a bar
I was intending on being with wing-woman for my friend, luckily for me he turned out to be to young for her!

A month-ish after we met

We met when Haley was 3, he loved her instantly - good thing she was in her cute & well-behaved phase!  ;)

She doesn't remember a time when he wasn't in our lives - I love this

Trip to the zoo - she was petrified that the lions were going to eat her - weird!

I am OCD about lists - I love them
I like them to look neat, so if I make a mistake, I start all over

I think this is a problem

I was voted Best Dressed & Most Attractive in High School 

I was on every Court my Senior Year and was 'Activity Week Queen'

I went to a very small high school!  ;)

I once sat behind Snoop Dogg on a flight and was mortified when my dad poked him through the seats to introduce us by calling him 'Mr. Dogg'
We were on our way to a Steelers game, Snoop was too
We're all big Steelers fans, so that makes Snoop my homeboy

I gained 60 lbs when I was pregnant with Haley and swore I wouldn't do that again.

I gained 80 lbs when I was pregnant with Ava

I had a stressful pregnancy - I stress ate - Taco Bueno was my friend

I have lost it all, thankfully

I've lived in three states:  Texas, Tennessee, Missouri
We almost moved back to Nashville in high school
I would love to move back to Nashville - Tennessee is so beautiful

I wish I could find my best friend from Brentwood (Nashville) on Facebook

I have tried several times (Lindsey McCauley, if you're out there, here I am!)

I started college as a Radio/TV/Film major

I wanted to be a news anchor

I decided against it because they make crap $ and have crap hours

And I didn't want to be the chick chained to a tree reporting hurricane wind speeds

I don't like putting red and green together when it doesn't pertain to Christmas
I really want to change the colors above, but I'm going to leave it.  Take that, OCD!

My best friend is my roomate from freshman year

The orientation chick said Good Luck! when I signed up for a 'pot luck' rooming assignment - it couldn't have worked out better!

Erin & Me - August 2009

My natural hair color is dark dark dark brown

I haven't seen it in 11 years

Me & My Dad at graduation - BROWN hair!

I caddy for my dad when he plays in the Byron Nelson Pro-Am every year

My favorite pros he has played with are Luke Donald, Vijay Singh, and Mark Wilson
The Byron Nelson is my favorite thing about May

My very first car was a 2007 Honda Civic

My dad and I made a deal that if I got straight A's my sophomore year, he would buy me a Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible

Needless to say, I didn't get straight A's (damn Geometry!)

My family is my favorite thing in the world!

Now that I have bored you :) with all of these facts about me, it's your turn!  Leave me a factoid about you in the comments section of this post.  The most creative/surprising will win a fun prize!  Get your comments in by 5 PM next Tuesday (11/9) and I'll announce the winner and the prize on Wednesday.

Random! Random! Random! - 100th Post!

I was trying to plan some big, exciting, fun 100th post.  However, I'm have so much to catch up on that my big exciting, fun 100th post is being replaced by Random! Random! Random! 

Halloween
Halloween was great!  We had gorgeous weather here over the weekend and it was around 75* when we went Trick-or-Treating.  Love it!  I hate having to figure out how to bundle up the girls under their costumes.  Russell and Jackson came with us.  Kristin stayed home with Ryder because he was afraid of his Blues Clues costume.  Poor little guy!  Apparently he was also not down with carrying his candy bucket.  As you may have seen from my Tweet, both grandmas were out of town over the weekend.  While we love to have family close by, it was pretty nice to just be us for one holiday.  Here are a few pictures from Trick-or-Treating:

I hate that my camera does not take better pictures in dark-ish settings.  If anyone has a recommendation for a point & shoot that functions well in low light, send them to me!

October marked 1 year since I was diagnosed with and began recovering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome.  I have plans on writing an entire post about this, but wanted to share a quick picture.  During the first week of October 2009, I lost all movement in my face.  I was hospitalized and began the road to recovery.  The picture on the left was taken on October 31, 2009 and the picture on the right on October 31, 2010.  

 

Work, Work, Work... blah!

I'm starting to feel a little stir crazy at work.  I don't know if it is because I have been here almost three years, bored with my current position, don't feel like I'm making any progress, or what.  It's probably a combination of a lot of things.  Yesterday I got to work from home and it was awesome.  I got so much stuff done - work, house, Ava.  I feel like I got more done there (even doing a few personal things at the same time) than I ever get done when I am here.  Plus, I got to take Ava to dance and be a good wifey and have a clean house and dinner cooked.  It will never be like this every day - husbie usually works from home but had to go into the office for training - but I kind of wish it could be.  I'm scared that if I did something that I worked from home all the time, I would go crazy.  I'm also scared that if I ever decided to be a FT SAHM I would go crazy, too.  I'm just in a funk and need to get out of it!

Christmas is Around the Corner

I'm so completely craving Christmas this year - not sure why!  I always love the holidays, but this year I feel like I'm looking forward to it more than usual.  I don't love the inundation of toy commercials.  Every 30 seconds I hear Ava screeching that she wants a different toy.  Boy toys, girl toys, baby toys, it makes no difference.  Those toy marketers are smart, smart folks.

Fall-ish Weather... Finally!

Fall-ish weather has finally come to DFW!  I'm sure we'll have another couple of doses of warm before winter really hits, but if every day could be the mid-50's to low-60's, I would be a happy girl!  We kicked the heater on for the first time last night.  I do not love the nasty burning smell it makes after it has been turned off for 7-8 months!  I need to pull my sweaters down from the top of the closet and maybe pick up a few new things.  Here I come, LOFT & Limited!

H&M

Dallas is finally getting an H&M.  WOO-HOO!  For the last few years, every time I travel I carve out a couple of hours in which I can find an H&M and go shopping.  I have always thought it was complete BS that we didn't have one.  It's opening in North Park in 2011 and it cannot open soon enough for this girl!

Ava's Birthday

I can't believe my little baby is going to be 4 this month!  We're having a party for her girlfriends on the 14th (eek - less than 2 weeks!) and her family party on her actual birthday, the 21st.  Both will be Tinkerbell themed and I hope they turn out cute and that the weather holds for her friend party!  We're getting a Tinkerbell bouncy and a simply do not know what I will do if we can't use it.  Note to self:  need to come up with plan B just in case!

World Series

I've watched more baseball in the last 3 weeks than I have in the last 3 years combined.  Sheesh!  So proud of the Rangers for all they accomplished this season!  My brother, SIL, sister and nephew got to go to Game 5 (thanks for the invite people!  not!).  Luckies! 

White iPhone4Word on the street is that the release is being delayed until the Spring of 2011.  Not cool!  I have been holding out waiting to get a white one and it's looking like I might be caving before then.  Apparently there is some issue with the opaque white over the IR receiver and two different manufacturers are making the front and the back, and can't get the whites to match.  What a debacle!  

I think that's it for the current moment!  Hope everyone had a great Halloween and is having a great week!

Weekend Wrap Up - Photo OVERLOAD!

We were so busy this weekend!  I have lots of pictures, so bear with me.  :)

Friday night we watched the Texas Rangers make it to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.  Woo hoo!  

Saturday morning Ava had soccer pictures and a game.  

Her game got called for lightning with a few minutes left and not 5 minutes after we'd gotten home the tornado sirens started going off.  So I got the kids and the dog in the closet while Austin watched the storm.  It's so crazy that we're having all of this severe weather in the fall when we went through spring unscathed.  The girls napped in the afternoon and then Haley, Ava and I headed to North Park for dinner and shopping with my sister.  Ava loves NP for the ducks, turtles, and sliding:

Sunday morning we got up and went to Another Broken Egg Cafe.  OMG, this place is so yummy!  Sis and I already have big plans to go back and have the Brie & Lobster Omelette soon. The things the girls are playing with are Wikki Stix.  These things are awesome and are totally going on the Christmas list!

After breakfast we headed over the the Arboretum where husbie met us for a couple of pictures.  Of course, Socke Monkie came, too.  He hasn't been out in awhile!  Oh, I forgot to mention that on the way out to the car from breakfast, Ava ran her sweet little face smack into the side view mirror of a car in the parking lot.  Of course, said car couldn't have had a nice, rounded sideview mirror, it had a pointed one.  Poor baby!  She recovered quickly, but still has a little bruise.  :(

We headed home to change and get ready to go to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm with our friends, Kristin & Russell and their two boys, Jackson & Ryder.  Originally we had planned on going Saturday, but the crazy-a weather spoiled that.  Luckily, the weather on Sunday was gorgeous and it wasn't too muddy.

 Russell & Austin joining in on the animal feeding.  I think they were hoping
to fatten this one up to turn into a steak...

 Trying to get these four to all look in one picture = impossible!

 Hayride!

 I loved this little chapel!

 Taking a picture of me taking a picture.  He was over mamarazzi at this point!

It's probably needless to say, I was so wiped out last night!  As soon as the girls went to bed, I did too.  All-in-all, it was a great weekend and I was sooo not ready for Monday to be here. 

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!