i love cakes & naps

The last few days have been a whirlwind! I worked Friday and Saturday, then went to visit Courtney and her family Saturday night. I haven't seen them for a couple of years, but it was just like the old days...well except Courtney has baby Asa now. I was literally holding him all night, which is why I neglected to take any pictures! If you would like to see how incredibly adorable he is, take a look at Courtney and Nate's blog! I will see them again on Wednesday, and I promise to get a good shot. Saturday night/Sunday morning, Paul and I stayed at Stefan's house. Thank you Stefan! Stefan was a life saver- he helped me make Nanny's Birthday cupcakes and made us an awesome breakfast. The cake part was coconut, and the frosting was supposed to be homemade buttercream with coconut extract, but ended up being store bought frosting. I was slightly disappointed in myself, and I know Martha would be horrified to know I iced her precious little cakes with fake icing...but it actually was pretty good- especially with the toasted coconut. They were pretty for sure! I can't wait to be living within a mile of a Central Market and Whole Foods where I can actually find all the crazy ingredients needed for Martha's cupcake recipes. We stuffed ourselves at Outback, then went for cakes at Nanny and Papa's house. Staishy and Sean- I just wanted to point out that yes, that is a mustache on Papa's face! By the time we got back to Denton, we literally walked in the door and crashed for a three hour nap. When I say we, I really should speak for myself because I honestly was out so fast, I had no idea what Paul did. : )

nest egg

I picked up an extra shift today out of financial desperation. It always sounds like a good thing when I arrange it, but then when I wake up on days I usually have off, I always regret it. Then again I always return to feeling good when I see the paycheck. Oh the cycle. I know...it doesn't get any better. Charlie at work always says, (when customers have to point out that its too bad I can't go outside in the nice weather), "That's why they call it work." But I guess I'd rather them say how nice the weather is than complain over the "downfall of our country", or "those poor homosexuals", or how much they love recent candidates. Just last week a lady says this to me: "I don't know how well she would have done, but she sure would have been a lot of fun!" Oh dear. On a lighter note, the babies are playing hide and go seek on the bed. Of course Baby wants nothing else to do with Leila now that she's been found/pounced on. Of course!

birthday

Happy Birthday Nanny! We love you and can't wait to celebrate this weekend!

ice slab

Saturday night after work, we headed to Dallas to show Paul's dad the new apartment and take more boxes. Our heater has not been working, so we called them for the third time on Friday to make sure it would be fixed for the blizzard, but of course it was not fixed in time, so we spent the most miserable night of all time at our new place. We felt bad for leaving Baby for the night, but later felt envious that he was livin' it up in the warmth of the old place. When the office opened Sunday afternoon we were prepared to pull out our mean eyes, but they called someone who came over within twenty minutes, and fixed it in about ten. How hard was that? Ugh. I definitely had to grab some coffee from the office for warmth more than a pick-me-up. The rest of the day was quite pleasant for all of us. We braved the snowy streets for some good food from the local "Taco King" where the menu is all in Spanish, but the pictures look good...and it was. We thought a couple of small burritos for each of us would be perfect, but were surprised to see that the small are actually about the size of Chipotle's burritos. I can't even imagine what grande might look like. Paul's dad left early this morning- we had a great time, and can't wait to see you for Paul's graduation in May!

wild wings

Thursday, Paul's Dad came to town for a visit! Meredith invited us to her "Family & Friends" night at her new job, so we were able to gorge ourselves on free food- all for the purpose of training of course... We had the most awkward server who kept doing the gun hands in an uncool way. Yes, there is a cool way. Paul and I flash those pistolas daily. We ended the night with some good digesting and dominoes!

catching up.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My last post was about a week ago I suppose, but I have been busy at the new place and working. Last Thursday was Alli's birthday! I don't really know if she reads this, but Happy Birthday Alli! It's kind of strange not to see my friends as much as I used to, but I guess that's the way it goes. I did however get to see Amy last weekend- I'm so excited to be living closer to you dear! It will be like the old days of Daimy. I hope to see Courtney and the fam next weekend! Yay! I honestly don't really remember the last time I held a little baby. Stefan, I hope you are having a great time In L.A.- I had a dream that I was helping a decorator re-do his place...I don't know what that means. Any suggestions? On to family: Dad- it was wonderful talking to you last weekend- I hope to visit this weekend for Nanny's Birthday! Cupcakes will be had by all! Paul's Dad is also hopefully visiting this weekend, so my plans today are to clean and pack more! It is Paul's spring break, so it has been nice to actually see him! Paul and I are adjusting to the new place- we have built most of the furniture and it actually feels like our place now. Leila has had some performance anxiety on bathroom breaks, but hopefully this will go away. Baby I'm sure will love it, but has yet to see it! This was a totally confusing post- but I guess it's hard to describe my week of catching up with everyone. I love you all, and am thankful for you! There. I could have just said that.

car ride

Today Stefan and I had our bi-monthly lunch date! We went to the ol' barrel for old times sake. Cameron and her mom were going there today, so it made me want to eat there! After that we got the oil changed in my car and ran a few errands. Now I'm at home with Paulie and getting ready to head out to Dallas to stay at our new place!

feast

Yesterday Meredith, Paul, and I felt adventurous enough to go to a local barbecue joint here in Denton. It was good. We pulled up to the place thinking it was closed because there were absolutely no cars. It was well worth it because we had a quick, quiet meal with good, (well...pretty good) service! Paul always says the farther away from campus you get, the more weirdos you see- we left about the time they were all showing up! Paul and I are trying to hit all the places we didn't manage to go to in the last 5 years before we officially move. Yes, we will visit, but we still have a list of places to fill! We ended the night watching Kindergarten Cop. Yes. That's right.

move=rain

This is our new place! Obviously we don't have many things there yet, but we are slowly moving. We plan to put a lot of the furniture together this week! Paul and Alton did all the grunt work in the rain. It wasn't even supposed to rain until the evening-if the evening means 9 a.m., then yes...they were quite accurate. We really appreciate you Alton! Aside from the rain, we encountered other problems- when we arrived, we realized we were not given the gate code for our side, so we drove around to the other side to stop by the office. Our office has like an internet/coffee bar- our keys are digital for all the common areas like the laundry rooms, the pool, the gym, coffee bar, etc. Well I didn't realize that the coffee bar thing wasn't open all the time, so as I was opening the door, I read the sign, "alarm will sound if you use your key after hours." So I quickly closed the door and walked away. Of course, Alton and Paul walk onto the crime scene about the time the loud prison-campish alarm sounds. We decided this might be a good time show Alton the new place. All is well now, we know the gate code, and we know NOT to use our key after hours. I felt like a criminal! It's like we got the cruel freshman prank pulled on us. The maintenance man, Michelle, (yes...this is like the Boy named Sue scenario- burly, toothless, and French) informed us he just set it off last weekend, so not to worry. Hopefully we will have more pictures with actual furniture soon. We would like to thank Alton for making the move happen, and to Leila for modeling our only piece of furniture. Thank you! I will be making you a batch of cupcakes soon. Any requests? Alton. Not Leila.

work

We moved! It felt so good to be in a new place. We don't even have many things over there, but it already feels like it's our little home. I worked yesterday, and I work again today, but we are thinking of taking another trip out tomorrow. I didn't really make time to take pictures, I was too excited moving stuff into place! But I will soon! The location of our apartment is on a corner in front of trees- perfect for the babies. Leila had a very exciting day of people watching from the balcony- and only one bark for a creepo! There is a school bus stop right behind our apartment, so there were lots of "Dora The Explorer" aged cute little kids walking by all afternoon. Usually Leila gets concerned over so many people walking by and even more concerned over unusually shaped/sized people, but we saw strollers, parents walking with little kids and even other dogs! No barking! We have truly met our match in an apartment. I suppose she feels fine because she is higher. The apartment below us has a small yard area...we are still constructing a pulley system to lower Leila down for bathroom breaks. haha ; ) We have already hung a few things on the wall, and put together a few small pieces of furniture. When I say we, I mean I gave encouragement and picked up trash around Paul and Meredith. The main challenge I am seeing is kitchen storage. Our counters are heavenly though! I have never had so much usable counter space! Imagine taking all those stupid small slabs of counter you often find in apartments, and making them big counters! Huh! But yes, back to storage. Unless you build your own kitchen there will never be enough storage. We would love for everyone to see our new place...and the moving help would be lovely too! hehe.

smiles

I'm all smiles because I'm moving tomorrow morning! I will take pictures of the new place. Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and general blog stalking. The babies have been living it up with all the commotion and boxes everywhere. Oh, Paul wanted me to specify that we don't have actual babies. They are in fact animal babies...in case you just thought you were out of the loop and thought we had human babies sometime in the past couple of years, and felt like it would be awkward to ask after so long. Can you believe we have been together for 2 1/2 years? Sigh. Baby, (he operates under this alias primarily), is our orange tabby cat- he is about 3 now. His main goals in life are eating, rubbing condensation off windows, chillin' in the bathtub, drinking out of Sad Fish's bowl (our fishy), and being a little gargoyle at the top of the stairs. Leila is our min pin/chihuahua who is about 1 1/2 now...and will stay a little puppy forever. Her main job is being a watch dog and snuggle buddy, but also acts as second mom to Baby. I feel confident that if Paul and I never came back they could pretty much live a normal life and take care of themselves. They are this smart. Enough wasting time, I have packing and cleaning to do!