3:10 to Yuma

This past weekend I flew home with the boy to see my family in Arizona. It was a big weekend: my nephew recently turned 6 and today is my sister's 30th birthday! Plus, I got to FINALLY meet my little nephew!



It was an action packed weekend! We toured the Territorial Prison, went to Joey's birthday party at Piper Peter Pizza, and had Sunday brunch with the family at my grandparent's house. Yes, PIPER Peter Pizza. That's how my nephew says it!










A craft project wish came out of my trip: my niece wants me to "fix" her baby blanket. This blankie is barely holding together after 8 years. The top layer has completely come apart from the satin backing and most of the batting is gone. I can't wait to work on this project. Stay tuned! I'll have pictures posted soon.

Sarah Jane Giveaway

I was the lucky recipient of a Sarah Jane blog giveaway back in February! If you haven't been to her etsy shop, go there now! She sells sweet childhood illustrations and prints.



I know you're thinking, "Who wins those blog giveaways?" Turns out, people like me! I couldn't have been happier. I know immediately I wanted the "This much" print. And I also chose the "Dress Up Party" print.



My cousin's daughter turned one in last month and I knew I wanted to send her these prints for her big day. Of course, true to fashion, I was late sending the birthday gift. My cousin and I have a long standing, unspoken agreement: don't expect a gift in time. Which actually is more fun... you never know when something might pop up in the mail!

I hope baby Addy and her mom love the prints!


All images are copyright of Sarah Jane Studios.

Wine Country

Yesterday my friends and I rented a limo to travel to the Texas wine country near Fredericksburg. This is becoming an annual trip!



We stopped at Grape Creek Vineyard first. This was the first of two weekends for the Harvest Wine Tour and the tasting rooms were packed! After a free tasting in the event center, it was off to a the main tasting room to taste their premium wines. My favorite was the Black Label Bellissimo. After our first sip, they showed us how we could pair it with their spicy tomato salsa. I loved it!



Next we headed next door to Torre di Pietra. We visited this winery last year and they have a great covered patio with a live band playing music. After the tasting, we each purchased a glass of wine and enjoyed the music of The Almost Patsy Cline Band. And the Texas Two-Steppers!

Early Bird

Early to bed, early to rise. We all know the saying. Not that I ever followed the practice! At least, not since I was a kid and didn't want to miss one minute of the Smurfs on Saturday morning cartoons.

The month of August I started an early morning workout routine. Two girlfriends and I are doing a month long boot camp and it starts at 6 a.m. sharp! We are working out three times a week, for a total of 13 sessions. All three of us work out on our own, but have always wanted a little push. I had looked into a trainer at the gym in February, but it was not economically feasible at the time. It just seemed so expensive! When we searched Camp Vie, if you calculated the cost per session, it was about half the price of a gym trainer!

So far the sessions have been very basic: you remember all those things you used to do in P.E. class in elementary school? That's what we do. Jumping jacks, jumping rope, running a mile, mountain climbers, hopscotch, situps. But when you put it all together for an hour for speed and agility drills, its a tough workout! Its great having someone there to push me, but also nice to have friends along for the ride.

Our three sessions for this week were Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I was definitely sore the day after all the workouts. Thankfully, Thursday was a rest day. I needed it! My head was killing me all day and I was super dehydrated -- I drank four liters of water at work that day. After a good night's sleep, I was refreshed this morning. And I woke up at 5 a.m., ready for another boot camp day! Except today wasn't boot camp day. It was a cardio day, to be done on our own. I was at the gym before six, worked out on the elliptical trainer for 40 minutes, and was home to shower before seven. Not bad, eh?

I hope waking up on Monday at 5 a.m. will be this easy!

Miracle DQ Treat Day!

Tomorrow, August 7th, is Miracle Treat Day. Visit your local Dairy Queen, buy a blizzard, and help the Children's Miracle Network Hospital.

Just another day on the lake

I made a pact with myself this spring: to try to get out to the lake as much as possible this summer! The goal was to be out there at least every month. May? UTEP Alumni Boat Party. June? Birthday Party Barge. And July? Hanging out with my boyfriends's family on a pontoon boat for the afternoon.





His brother drove in from El Paso for a few days, so his sister organized an afternoon on a pontoon boat. We drove the boat into one of the coves to anchor and swim. We were in the back of the cove near a really cool dock house.





Friends of his sister showed up for a couple of hours and brought with them a boat load of kids. They had a better anchor, so we tied up next to them. The kids had a blast jumping off the boats. The grownups had a blast chillin' in the water with a cold Tecate!



Afterwards we walked next door to Carlos-n-Charlie's for dinner. Its only taken three years of coercing, but the kids are finally getting a hang of making funny faces for the camera. Their uncle is so proud!

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a party for some girl friends. You know, one of those parties where someone tries to get your friends to buy stuff. Except I didn't really care if my friends bought stuff. Sure, if they did, it would mean I earned more freebies. In reality, I just wanted a night of girl's hanging out. I hadn't had that in a long time!

I heard about Pampered Chef years ago, but scoffed at the idea of needing anything so fancy or just plain expensive. Except now... I kind of want the nicer stuff! I planned on buying a few items on my own anyway. Why not have a consultant demonstrate the products by cooking a healthy salad too? Let me tell you... these products sell themselves!



For the party I had appetizers and wine for my friends. I wanted to serve cupcakes for dessert and had an awesome idea about frosting them in the color lime! My wine bottles were hot pink and turquoise and I knew the bright green would be a very cool compliment. The night before the party I prepped: cleaned the entire house, cut up a watermelon, sliced cheese and deli meat, and baked my cupcakes. I knew I would be pressed for time the day of the party with a full day of work, so I wanted to frost the cupcakes that night too.

Let me just say: grocery store, run of the mill food coloring will not make your white frosting turn lime green. The package says yellow and green make lime green, but it lies! The best I could get was sea green. Appetizing, eh?

I figured it was good enough -- they were still going to taste wonderful. I put my cupcakes into airtight containers on the counter for the night and went to bed. All was well when I woke up.

When I got home from work that day, all I had to do was set out the food and wait for guests to arrive. I went to get my cupcakes and immediately I knew something was wrong. I could see a pool of green all along the bottom of my tupperware containers. What had happened? Apparently, if you change the frosting consistency with lots of food coloring and you don't keep your a/c on during a hot summer Texas day, frosting will melt.



The night before I didn't think cupcakes could look anymore pathetic. I was wrong! At least I learned my lesson. Next time I'm going to stick with plain ol' white.