merry (late) christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! This post will not be accompanied by pictures because Paulie has the camera ALL the way down in Corpus. Yes Paul and I are apart. I miss you very much my dear! Even with the new fangled technology of video and/or voice chat it is just not the same. My post-season depression is already setting in but luckily I have a whole two days to keep listening to Christmas music before Paul returns and snaps me back to reality. Sigh. I could pretty much listen to it all year... and sometimes do. :) Paul and I have tons of gifts to play with! My personal favorite is my KitchenAid mixer (red of course), which I have yet to name. Any suggestions? She reminds me of a car. I have been considering Christine. Is this creepy? I kind of like the idea of her regenerating and getting jealous of me using my (also brand new) hand mixer. Ha. I might have to fire her up today and make yummy treats... because you know I haven't had enough of them. Other awesome presents: peacock apron, vintage-y tree necklace, turquoise earrings, an array of kitchen gadgets, peanuts calendar (as an adult I still struggle with the spelling of calendar. If it weren't for Google, I would still be doubting), cashmere lotion (yes imagine), snackies, and so much more! Thank you! I have celebrated about 6 different Christmases (you are right about the es Alton), and have enjoyed them all!

In case you haven't heard, which you all pretty much have, my niece has officially been named Ada! I can't wait! Everyone is growing! I was blog-stalking Asa again, and even he is standing and looking like an little old man (Courtney's primary goal). : ) Cameron is due in a couple of months, and Staishy soon after. Eee!

Plans for New Years: Austin!

baby cakes

:)

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you! I thought today an appropriate day to blog. I have missed at least two major holidays and several birthdays, but the cycle stops here. The most exciting news of all is Staishy is having a baby girl! I'm going to be an aunt! I suppose in my book I am already an aunt... although that could spring a political debate over when fetuses/babies are considered people.. and really one of the main duties of an aunt is spoilage which can be kind of hard pre-birth, but I'm sure Mom and Lynn (Sean's mom) are trying. However!! what I am doing a lot of is smiling and loving and congratulating on the timing of a future flower girl-aged child. I think flower girls are a little lame-o but not it if it is my niece! Sure, it has been fun playing Aunt to Paul's nieces and nephew, but this is so exciting! Cameron is also having a baby girl, so yes... thats right, I am in love with Asa, Parker, and Little One. I wonder if I could get them all in one room. Supervised of course. So anyway, since I'm coming off as a little obsessive and creepy I shall change the subject! Eeee!

The pictures:

1. For Paul's birthday I made his favorite- lemon cake with lemon frosting topped with lemon gumdrops! Yes, we were the jerks that picked out all the lemon from the little bin at Target. I know what you are thinking- these are the manliest cupcakes of ALL TIME!

2. When Courtney was in town we went out with the fam for some mexican food. What else do people want to eat when they come to visit? mmm! They gave her a praline with a little pepper bull on top. It was adorable. I'm talking about Asa now.

3. Twisted Root Burger Co. is yummy- sweet potato chips and buffalo burgers!

4. Baby's favorite spot has been in the hamper, and most recently in the closet now that the Christmas box and wrapping stuff have been moved out for usage. Yes, our tree has been up for almost a month and Christmas music has been playing for even longer. I am a freak. Its sad that Paul pretty much just puts Christmas music on as soon as he sits at the computer for fear of a tantrum. I love him. In case you haven't heard, our precious little poopsies fell off of our balcony and fractured her pelvis, but thankfully she didn't need surgery or doggy wheels and has healed just fine!

5. & 6. Our Halloween was pretty uneventful but we did hold our annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! We had Mummy Dogs- although they just looked a little inappropriate with the choice of jumbo dogs. Their mummy bums were a little bare. Paul drew my pumpkin face with a bat mouth. He will be reading this, so I will just go ahead and say that HE would say that his bat looked a lot better but I made him change it and my carving was a little amateur, so his vision was not completely fulfilled. My pumpkin had thick walls and that is all I have to say!

7. Last of all: Thanksgiving! Paul, Amy, and I hosted a thanksgiving with friends, which was a success! Next year we will tell everyone to arrive about 3 hours later than planned, google "turkey carving", and start the rum slush punch drinking (yummy!) earlier in the day. It was worth it! Paul and I have had two more thanksgivings since and will be having leftovers for another week! So we will have been eating Thanksgiving feast for roughly a month by the end of it! Merry Christmas! This is my favorite time of year! Least favorite time of year: January 2-February 13. Who agrees?

birthday

Today seemed an appropriate day to update. I am 24! Ugh doesn't this seem old and NOT exciting? 25 sounds kind of cool at least, although then I would be in my mid-twenties...although better than my late twenties, and better still than my thirties. Although thirties, as I was discussing with Staishy today, seem like they should be depressing, and are possibly at first, but then get better. I asked Paul how he felt about being late twenties, and he says he doesn't feel old and is fine with it especially since he looks young and still has a full head of hair. This is true. So anyway, I have had a wonderful birthday- I started out the celebrations on Thursday with a Michael Jackson tribute burlesque show...yes such things exist. I went to the movies with Paulie last night, and mall/food with Stefan today. I have had lots of birthday wishes, and will drag out the celebrations until next weekend with the family! This month too, Paul and have been together for 3 years! So basically I use August as an excuse to be showered with love and presents. ha. not really... well yeah. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful birthday!

Our little family hasn't been up to much- we took a trip to San Marcos to visit Paul's family and float the river- a much needed vacation. Paul just came back from visiting home and bringing back his first car given to him by his parents. Thank you! This will help so much. I always thought it was ridiculous for families to have so many cars- we don't even have children, but I can see now how it will really help! I am jealous of places with awesome public transportation. Dallas actually does have more transportation options than Denton, which I hope to take advantage of in the future! Yes...I know about the bus system in Seattle! : )

So these pictures have basically been my life for the past month or so. I know it appears that I spend the majority of my time eating, hanging out with friends, and generally being in love with Paul... and this is correct.

what a hoot!

Meredith's birthday dinner was delightful! Thank you Amy for contributing this adorable bag- Meredith's favorite animal/future pet is an owl, so it was perfect! Although you didn't get to use it, its memory will live on my blog forever...or until I run out of useable space. Meredith's friend Kelly made one of Julia Child's chocolate cakes with rum icing! Great job! The real downfall of the night was being the most full I think I have ever been in my life. After good mexican food, we went out for further celebrations, which I was regrettably too full to drink... uh. celebrate. Lets forget for a second that this last picture is creepy- can you find Paul?

fortunate

Happy Birthday Cameron! I love you! I don't think she reads this, but I gave it up to the bloggy universe, so I'm sure she will somehow know. By the way, Cameron's friend/photographer put up pictures of the wedding on her facebook. Hopefully she will put them up on her blog soon! Cameron & Charlie! So last Monday I received this fortune in my cookie: ...It was actually a fortune cookie, although I would like to see if they could come up with a silicone version with a fortune they could bake into regular cookies. That would open up a whole new door of lame-o proposals. I saw one on t.v. where this guy spelled out "Will you marry me?" in pepperoni on a huge pizza. Now, I have told Paul that if he wants to ask me and THEN throw in a pizza for dinner I'd be ok with that. SO back to the fortune. "Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you." I sure hope so, and I'm marking my calendar! So October 5th. It can't be all bad. Staishy and Sean will be married almost 10 years, it won't be so hot, Leila can start bustin' out her doggie sweaters, I can start bustin' out my sweaters, if Paul wore sweaters he could bust them out, and it will be almost Christmas! I'm sorry but I love Christmas, so November 1st, the tree goes up. So anyway, I hope good things are in store for me, and all of you too! I have to say, this is one of the better fortunes I have had. I wanna say I received one that mentioned something about eating more veggies or something. Useful info, yes. Lame fortune, yes. So we continued with the celebration of July 4th with our usual angel food with berries and cream. Yummy! The pic of Stefan was found in the mix with Alton's choice of birthday picture. Yes Alton- you were right. Both pictures were from my graduation dinner. I thought they both looked especially goofy/adorable.

birthdays!

Happy Birthday Alton! I love you! Yes... this means that I owe you double the cupcakes now!

happy birthday!

Nothing too terribly exciting has happened to Paul and me, except our amazing friends and family! For starters, today is Meredith's birthday! : ) We can't wait to celebrate and eat yummy mexican food tonight. Sunday we celebrated Alton's birthday and spent time with the family. I was so set on the food and dominoes that I neglected to take any pictures. Alton- I hope you have a wonderful birthday this week! Also, Amy moved in right next door! Its the closest thing we can get to being roommates again. hehe. Last bit of news: Cameron is pregnant! I don't know that I'm supposed to be spreading the news, but only like 5 people read this thing anyway- probably not even that many these days since I'm horrible at updates now. I'm just so excited to know so many people having legitimate children! Kind of makes me feel old. But good old. : ) yay! My plan for today is to clean, hopefully go swimming if its not raining, do laundry, hang out with my favorite neighbor, (definitely not the couple that lives below us that we can hear fighting all night... then making up all morning), and celebrating Meredith's birthday. Oh yes, an update on our fish babies: Sancho, the sickly one/Paul's favorite and Stormy both died. Its all a part of the circle of (new tank setup) life. However, we have gotten a new fishy, Belvedere, a white catfish who loves cleaning, racing around the tank, and long walks on the beach. He has been a trooper so far, and Sadfish and Sonny are both doing great! Happy Birthday again Meredith! By the way these pics were from our family reunion. We are actually related to geese.

birds and the bees!

Last weekend I flew to Missouri for Cameron and Charlie's wedding which was wonderful! Cameron's friend Leah, who doubled as photographer, also flew to MO- so we bonded over food and drink before our (delayed) flight. I should have known we would get along since we are both friends with Cameron. :) I will put a link to her blog when the wedding pictures are up. Cameron and her mom did an excellent job planning the wedding- the day of was so organized and relaxed. It made a huge difference. I felt like I was just getting a day of pampering and catching up with friends, and oh yeah, a marriage! The wedding was at a park in Illinois and reception was at a restaurant where they served what was called "Fresh-Mex"...hehe it was funny that I visited MO where we essentially ate Tex-Mex. I have to say, it was good! Besides the whole marriage part, the highlights of the day were Cameron's new daughter, Macy, losing her first tooth, riding in the limo trying not to tear up thinking about Cameron and me planning our weddings at 10, and of course Cameron expertly stomping, (with adorable champagne colored peep-toes) on a killer bee buzzing around her feet during the ring exchange. "In the name of the Father, the Son...STOMPPP....and the Holy Ghost". I hope you two had a wonderful honeymoon in Puerto Rico! Love you!

under the sea

I don't have children so I put videos and pictures up of the pets.

It was either this or a video of baby drinking milk out of a glass...

i'd like to be

The family came up to see the new place now that we are all moved in. We basically just have the headboard to put up in the bedroom and we will be finished! I will post pictures in a couple of days of the finished product. This weekend I worked and then cleaned for the family visit. In the chaos of everything I was able to take a little break for coffee with Belen. : ) We have to make time for those sorts of things you know! Thanks deary, I had fun catching up! Paul and I also got our little fish tank set up, so we have new babies in the family. Surprisingly the pet store fish buying process is pretty strict! Growing up, we pretty much just walked in and bought whatever fish we wanted, threw them in the tank, and they did just fine! I suppose people are idiots because you have to tell them every little detail about your $2.00 fishies' future habitat. They were horrified to learn that we hadn't had the tank set up for at least two weeks before considering fish adoption. I figured they would want us to pull out some sort of lineage chart next, but luckily they caved. Our beta, Sad Fish, now happily lives in the tank and we purchased three new little fishies. We got a little glow fish, Sonny, and a striped zebra fish, Stormy- both of which think they are salmon because I haven't really seen them do much of anything but swim against the current of the filter. Our third little baby is a speckled catfish whom Paul has lovingly named Sancho- he seems a little too lethargic... so I suppose there may be an update on him later. The family dinner was a success! Alton grilled burgers and we had angel food cake with berries for dessert. I think Alton got the better end of the deal because he got all the credit for the good food without all the cleaning before and after the family visit! Hehe. I'm glad everyone came ALL THE WAY out to Dallas. : )

i've loved them all

Read and view on for my life over the past month. We just got internet again, so I will no longer be neglecting my blogging that I have missed so much! No, I did not make these cupcakes, but they were just as amazing to eat as they were to look at. : )

out with the old

We said goodbye to the old place and went out for burgers on our first official weekend in Dallas! Paul and I both got hair cuts so we would look presentable for graduation!

end o' college

This was basically Paul's life at the end of the semester. Tabasco was one of his ad client projects... and I would go more into it but we are all sick of Tabasco. Paul claims he isn't. I'm sick of Tabasco. Paul is pleasantly stuffed. Half of the pictures I took of Paul's graduation did not come out, but I put this particular picture up to again illustrate what great couple pics Amy and Paul take. Yes, Amy will be standing in for all major events for the rest of our lives. We celebrated. Responsibly. I'm so so proud of you Paulie! I love you! Paul looked freakin' adorable in his cap and gown by the way.

recooperating

No, we did not drug the babies. This is what we were all pretty much doing the Sunday after Paul's graduation. I made these cupcakes tonight with some leftover chocolate sour cream frosting! I actually didn't like the frosting the first time around but it was especially good on this spice cake with a strawberry on top. Paul has been bearding and video-gaming for the last few days!

hehe

So I literally published my last post and looked over to see Baby doing this.

good use of space

I have been way busier than I enjoy. It will be worth it in just a few days because we will be out of Denton. I will miss friends and miss the light traffic but I will not miss our ugly countertops and carpet! Baby has been very helpful during the move by making sure he fills empty spaces so the place doesn't feel bare I suppose. He has currently been opening and filling all the unoccupied cabinets, boxes, laundry baskets, and bookshelves. When we take another filled box to the car Leila makes is known that she is still in the apartment and not to forget her. Last weekend Paul and I worked, got haircuts, and watched How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. I personally hate this whole 3d phase and am ready for the next lame fad that makes them more money. 3D is wasted on me because I forget I'm watching 3D until something comes dramatically forward in the movie or I go to rub my face. But enough on that, Paul has heard my rants quite frequently lately. While we are on ranting, the new Scrabble rule of allowing proper nouns would make the game too easy! Basically those who currently hate the game will now like it for all the reasons they hated it before, and the avid, serious, rule abiding players will hate it for all the reasons they liked it. Does this make sense? Probably not haha. Comments? So back to the weekend. Sunday, Mom and Dad came to Denton to take some furniture back, so I am currently typing off of a clever set up of a box desk thanks to Paul. My goal today is to clean this mother top to bottom and pack up all of our remaining junk. I will let you know the status tomorrow. : ) Everyone have a good day! By the way, Paul guessed right off which frozen yogurt was mine-even before Mom and Alton totally gave it away. hehe.

spicy

Yesterday Paulie and I got to catch a quick dinner at Crooked Crust, a little pizza place in Denton, before he had to whisk away again to class. Poor thing has been so busy with school, but all will pay off in a couple of weeks. I'm so proud of you Paul! We got some sort of spicy sausage pizza, which was so pretty and pretty spicy. Yummy!

stuff(ed)

Last weekend Mom, Dad, and Alton came to visit the Dallas apartment! I hope everyone liked it! We almost have everything in, so I will take pictures of the finished product. Just a few more days in Denton thankfully! After lunch and Half-Pricing we went to a frozen yogurt shop located next to Container Store, which is located within a mile of the apartment. Yes, be jealous! Can you guess whose is whose? We all finished them! Thank you guys for coming to visit and taking us out to eat! We also got to talk with Staishy and Sean, and yet again experience the awkwardness that is the speaker phone. I'm sorry to say, but the family is obsessed with it! I never use speaker phone unless I accidentally push the button and then get confused as to why everything is too loud. But still happy to have the conversation anyway! : ) I love you all!

unfertilized eggs...

I have not been in the mood to blog, but today I am! So to catch you up, last weekend, Paul and I had a relaxing day at home, (first in a while), and dyed Easter eggs! I love it! The week was busy with the usual: work, cleaning, packing, etc. Wednesday, Stefan and I hung out around Denton, and by that I mean, we got ice-cream. What else is there to do? Wednesday night Paul and I went to Dallas and hung out with Amy, who by the way will be our new neighbor in a couple of months! We love you Amy! Its my own sick way of getting closer to having her as a roommate again. Yes, Daimy is back! The next day, Amy and I went to WhichWich for lunch. MMM yummy sandwiches and cookies. So after Amy and I payed, the cashier rings this bell and yells, "Hot wiches!!!" to which all the workers reply with the same cry, but louder. I figured they say this every once in a while to spice things up, because after all their sandwiches are all indeed hot. So, Amy takes our drinks up for refills... after a few moments I hear the bell ring and, "Hot wiches!!!". My back was turned, and I slowly turn around to see Amy annoyed and shaking her head. Oh Amy, you are indeed a hot wich. We decided to make our own sandwiches and cookies next time! Last night I did actually make chocolate chip cookies, and I would have taken a pretty picture but the new Pam I got was useless and the poor cookies are still stuck to the foil. No worries, they are still living out their cookie potential. fully. So this past weekend was busy with work, and doing laundry. The real low point I would have to say was when a customer asks how I have been feeling lately... to which I reply that I was feeling well... and then she asks if I knew yet whether I was having a boy or a girl. Wow. Thankfully the new apartment has a gym.

i love paul

The Easter bunny came early! I came home from a long day at work to find the best Easter basket. Thanks babe! It was a complete surprise and Paul can never contain himself when we walk in and I walk right past it, and then linger around for about half an hour not noticing. Yes, this is how messy the place is, (because of moving of course...) hehe. I did the same thing at Valentines day with the flowers he got me, and I'm pretty sure I did it at Christmas too with new presents appearing under the tree. I love Paul because he knows me so well and always gives the best gifts. I'm gonna have to step it up a notch for his graduation present. Speaking of graduation, Paul was officially approved for his graduation! Congratulations Love. Not only did I come home to yummy/fun goodies, but I forgot that I was making food in the Crockpot all day, so we had dinner waiting too! Alton would probably call it his "Pantry Raid Surprise"- it consists of pinto beans, rice, random veggies, chicken, and spices. Mmm tortillas complete the meal. Tonight we are going to relax with good food and fun! Thank you again Paulie. I love you!