St Patrick's Day

Gone are the days when we would spend all day drinking green beer in a pub......This year our St. Patty's celebrations were a bit more family-focused and low key.

Mr. B. helped the men's club at church throw - believe it or not - a pretty rockin St. Patty's Day party on Sunday evening. (As in, the bar was empty an hour or so in and the Irish Coffee was pretty stiff, even for Mr. B)

I don't know why I'm squinting so bad. I hadn't even had a drink yet.

Little Junior is technically a quarter Irish (which more than most of us can say) so I thought his little outfit was too too cute.

 

Homeboy rocked the "WTF" face for half the night until he fell asleep because it was way, way, way passed his bedtime at this point. We employed our usual fall asleep in your crib - then transfer to the car seat - and continue to sleep the night away tactics for our evenings out, but this time he finally clued in to the game and wasn't going to miss any of the fun. That and all his teenage girlfriends from church passed him around and around in circles to get their share of baby cuddles. This kiddo is so very loved. And lucky. Funny that.

 



And you WONDER where he gets his dimples from?

 



A House Update and a Coincidental Anniversary?

Wooooweeee it's been a little bit of a crazy week. A little finals, some crazy baby biz-nass and some house chaos is just enough to make a girl pull her hair out. Or take a nap. If you know me, I definitely did the latter. A lot of the latter.

We had the appraisal this week on the new house and well, as you can expect, nothing can just go perfectly smoothly with these things. To make a long story short, the numbers were a little off but we all came to a resolution. <Insert happy endings sigh. Wait, let's not forget the stress and angst that got us to the "happy ending". Let's just move on.> The new deal was all signed and sealed this afternoon. I think? Mr. B is managing that actually.

(BTW - as a side note - I'd seriously like to know how one "becomes" an appraiser? Honestly?! Because it seems like the strangest profession. You just go out there and tell people what their house is worth? But there's about a million and five different, unique variables for each and every house in this country. Who's to say a couple thousand here and there will really matter in the long-run? And no, I'm not talking tens of thousands...I'm talking a drop in the bucket when you think about the total transaction. I'm all for appraisers who are getting a ballpark figure, but I don't quite buy this to the exact dollar approach. Gimme a break. Or sign me up for a class.)

So, yes, we still have a house and we're still on track to close at the end of May. Want to know something pretty neat-o about our closing date? We're closing on the NEW Anniversary Home four days before my parents 30th wedding anniversary. I mean, it's not quite exactly the date, but if you all will indulge me, I think that has to be a good omen right? 30 years is definitely something to celebrate!

Thanksgiving Shenanigans

What a whirlwind holiday! It feels like I spend so much time getting excited for any holiday or vacation, and then, poof!, it's over.

For the first time in a long time, the travel gods were on my side with this trip. I was scheduled to leave Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, but in an excellent decision on my end (if I do say so myself) I decided to head to the airport four hours early to see if I could hop on a standby flight due to the weather. It was only sprinkling, but forecasted to get worse as the day progressed, and PHL is no treat when there are weather delays.

I lucked out and got on a flight at 5.15pm and was back in the great state by 8:30. My original flight landed around 1am. Like I said, a wise move by yours truly.

So what did I do to pass the time while I was waiting for my new flight? Duh. Airport bar.

Wednesday was filled with baking and cooking. Pies, mashed potatoes, stuffing prep, you name it, we did it. I love spending time in the kitchen with my mom. There's not many people you can truly share a kitchen with. They're either in the way, or doing something wrong (bossy Mrs. B!), but Mama H. and I can work it in the kitchen. Get some candles lit, the Christmas carols going, a glass of wine, and voila, Thanksgiving dinner is nearly ready.

On Thursday morning, we have a newish tradition of doing the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. There's seriously no better way to start Thanksgiving than a good trot around the streets of Dallas. This year, unfortunately, it was more of a 5k stroll as I'll be the first one to admit, the whole "exercise" thing has fallen off the map with work, MBA and house nonsense. Must get back on that after the move.



Mr. B, me and Junior before the start. Please ignore the lack of shower/makeup/hair!

A little plug here for the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. If you're ever in Dallas on Thanksgiving morning, I would highly suggest this event. According to their website, it's the largest Thanksgiving day event of it's kind in the nation, and it's just so fun. 33,000 people, lots dressed up as turkeys, with their adorable pets and babies, running through the streets of Dallas. Awesome times.

The weather was really weird this year and the hanging fog gave it a very funny feel.

From the starting line, and there were tons more people behind us.

My favorite part is the announcer who runs through all the colleges and every cheers for their team. "Do we have any TCU Horned Frogs in the house?"

Um, yes, and I'm going to let you know it too!

Deep Ellum is under attack!

I was nonstop commenting about the fog. I have a slight weather obsession.

Mr. B's artsy fartsy photo of the skyscrapers and the fog.

After the Turkey Trot, we headed home where Mama H. had a huge pot o' chili waiting for us and then we got to cookin'! We ate fairly late this year since we had some of our friends join us for dinner. A long story short, but stick with me here: One of Rich's colleagues in the London office, who moved to Philadelphia around the same time we did (and was transferred to Arkansas last year. Now that we're headed South too, so hopefully we'll get to see more of them.) decided to check out Dallas for the weekend with their three wee-ones.

The rule at my parents house is the more the merrier, so it only made sense to have them over for Thanksgiving. Y'all, believe it or not, the Brits outnumbered the Americans at this year's dinner! What is the world coming to?

I hardly got any pictures from the dinner; it's fair to say I was preoccupied with the last minute preparations, but I did manage to snag this AWFUL picture of the turkey. Friendly readers, Christmas is just around the corner and if you wanted to buy me some photography lessons, well, I wouldn't object.

Seriously, Kate. WTH picture is this?

And there's nothing better after Turkey dinner than some cuddles from the most adorable 3 year old.

Playing some serious clapping games here.

Luckily, Junior was promoted from the kids table this year.



Here's how you know the next generation is going to be super tech-savvy. When one of the little ones told Junior he wanted to watch a rocket (yes, a rocket?), Junior grabbed the iPhone, found a YouTube video of a rocket, and entertained these kids for a good 10 minutes. That's got to be an attention span record. It's so funny to think while this is new, state of the art stuff for us, they're growing up with this technology and it's all they'll ever know. Plus, it melts my heart to see this photo too. Someone's going to be an awesome dad/uncle.

The rest of the weekend was a blur, and by that, I mean we did absolutely nothing. I don't think I changed from my PJ's (or showered - don't judge, you do it too) on Friday. Lots of football. And more eating. And some napping. And football. Some Christmas tree decorating. Repeat.

On Saturday, Mr. B and I headed over to Eff Dub, that's Fort Worth for those of you not in the know, for some Tex-Mex at Joe T's (that requires it's own blog entry), a quick trip to the bookstore to stock up on essential TCU gear and a sneak peak of the new stadium. Let's just say Hello Big 12 and I'm so glad we got season tickets this year because next year will be uh-may-zing. Love me some college football.

Sunday was a travel day and then, well, you saw my Monday post. The Post-Thanksgiving Blues. Which you'll be pleased to know I've officially recovered from thanks to an 8pm bedtime for two straight nights.

That's about it for Thanksgiving. Eating, sleeping, shopping, lots of family time and football. My ideal holiday.

I hope you and yours all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too - here's to the Christmas countdown!

Vacation/Holiday Part II: The Lake

So you can imagine after our whirlwind, amazing weekend in London, we were pretty spent. The type of spent where all you want to do is go home, unpack, cuddle up in your own bed and read a Sunday paper. But that's not how Mr. and Mrs. B. travel. We prefer to pack as much in as possible - you can catch up on sleep on the plane - and get there as soon as possible. (See below for sleeping tips.)

To spare you the logistical nightmare details of our trip back from London, I'll just set the scene up this way. I was "home" for 12 hours for class and to change out the suitcases and Mr. B had a whopping three hours in between his international flight arriving and our Minnesota departure. (Yes, we flew back separately.) Like I said, we live on the edge.

For once, the travel gods blessed us with good travel karma and we didn't have a single hiccup or hitch with our ri-donk-u-lous itinerary. (Horrible flashback to Christmas 2010 when we were stuck in Ireland for three days and then I flew from London to JFK to Los Angeles with the flu.)

I told you we catch up on sleep on the plane and I wasn't joking. Poor Mr. B had been awake for goodness knows how many hours at this point. And I, the loving wife, couldn't miss a photo opportunity like this.

He's going to be really mad I posted this. HAHAHAH.

We arrived in Minnesota on time and "relatively" rested. We were greeted by beautiful sunshine, crisp late summer air, and best of all, Mama H and Mr. H. Commence family vacation (minus one member of the family, Junior, who arrived on Saturday.)

In the land of 10,000 lakes, our lake was - and no disrespect - pretty much like a lot of the other lakes in the area. But it's special to my family as it's where we spent some summer vacations, my father summer vacationed as a youngster and my Aunt and Uncle met there working one summer at a resort. You could say we know the area well.

My Aunt and Uncle were generous enough to share their amazingly beautiful lake house with us for the week. How could you not relax with scenery like this:

I wish I could say we did all kinds of adventurous, outrageous, wild and crazy things, but sorry to disappoint you friendly reader, we didn't. The purpose of this vacation was to r.e.l.a.x. Not an easy thing for me to do since sitting still for me is about as fun as watching paint dry. We spent lots of time reading, fishing, golfing, sleeping, eating and staring at the scenery. Perhaps the most "active" part of the day was the evening booze cruise.

This was Mr. B's first time fishing and he did a pretty good job. So good, he's named himself the Fish Whisperer and thinks he has a legitimate shot at one of those ESPN bass fishing competitions. You may make your own judgements when you see the "fish" we caught.

Mr. B, Me and Junior. Perhaps we ought to take Mr. B to a more reputable fishing lake before we quits his day job and buys a boat. 

We spent lots of days and evenings cruising around the lake with some solid tunes and refreshing beverages. Miss Annie, the pup, made the traveling team and enjoyed the wind in her face too, when she wasn't asleep.

Dad, our trusty navigator, and if you look closely, you'll see Junior doing what he does best.

Me and the pup enjoying the wind.

And then her passing out.

Mr. B giving us full throttle in what was most likely a no wake zone.

Considering we were far, far removed from civilization, the golf course was surprisingly challenging and in excellent condition. For those of you wondering, yes, I do play golf (really enjoy it as a matter of fact!) so it was great to play with the boys.

Mr. B and Senior teeing off.

The view from the ladies tee.

Senior with his tee shot right next to the pin. Don't be deceived by the proximity to the pin - it was perhaps the ugliest tee shot of all time and he'll readily admit he got lucky. (It bounced off the cart path but Pops defends it well: "Doesn't matter how it gets there as long as it does.")

We sampled some of the local brewskis too. Dad has a mild obsession with the way beer used to be made in the heartland so it was thanks to him we were introduced to some new brews (and subsequent reminiscing). Taste aside, extra credit goes to Schmidt's for their ridiculously outdated, yet highly effective packaging. I'm sorry yall, but nothing says 'Merica like a beer with a grizzly bear or huge bass on the can and box. Don't need the mountains to turn blue or a wide vent for gulping. Just a wilderness scene. It's a real treat to reach into the case and guess what outdoor adventure you'll score next.

We spent a chilly evening by the bonfire with some Robert Earl Keen and James McMurtry and a bottle of red. I've been bugging Mr. B. to make us a bonfire in the backyard for a while now and I think that project is going to have to get bumped up to the top of the honey-do list, especially now that fall is in full effect in our neck of the woods.



After writing this post, it feels like we didn't really do anything, but that was the point. And in case you're wondering, Mama H. and I were actually on this trip, despite the photos telling a different story. She took lots of pictures - including some family shots - but since she just had shoulder surgery - I'm not going to pester her for those pictures now. Promise I'll share them another day.....

All in all - it was a wonderful week at the lake. I'm thankful for time spent with family and I hope we can do it again next year. (Which means we'll need to start coordinating a date, say, last week.)

Our Vacation/Holiday fun didn't end in Bay Lake though. From there, we traveled to Fort Collins, CO for Whit and Nate's wedding. But that's another post for another day!

Vacation/Holiday Part I: London

Three weeks we headed across the small pond to England for few days to visit family and friends. Each trip home is like a step back in time: things are the same, but they're different. It's comforting and weird at the same time.

Despite the fact we were only there for a few days, we had a blast and made the most of every day.
The highlight of the trip was the wedding for our dear friends, Mike and Naomi. They made the trek to Dallas for our wedding a few years ago, and there was no way we were going to miss their special day. In case you've had your head in the ground this year, or forever, English weddings are quite the affair. Royalty or not, it's a big, all-day celebration with plenty of drinks to keep your spirits up.

We started the day early with brunch in Bermondsey - we'd obviously need full bellies to keep us going all day long. But let's be honest, when you walk in at 11am dressed to the nines, and most everyone is still in their pjs, it can feel a little awkward. And its more awkward when you ask for the wine list and your waiter has to tell you he can't serve it to you till noon. Well, fine, bloody mary's for the next hour will do.

Donald & Donald. I don't think they even know why they call each other Donald.

Thanks for never taking any picture too seriously Donald.

In typical London fashion, it absolutely chucked it down with rain while we were enjoying our brunch. (Oh, it's raining? We should get another bottle while we wait it out.) And in one of the strangest weather phenomena I've ever experienced: from our table we could see one side of the street where it was raining and another side of the street where it wasn't raining. And I promise that wasn't the wine making us see things. It really happened. Upside after the showers? We were treated to glorious sunshine for the rest of the day.

For you architecture buffs, this was from our table - The Shard of Glass.

Construction is coming along nicely...

And then us walking directly beneath it. Let's talk about how Mike and Adam look like my personal security detail here. Thanks lads.

And the wine is kicking in. And we're not even at the bloody ceremony yet.

Undoubtedly, I said something ridiculously stupid or we were planning our dance floor moves for later in the evening. Probably both.

Despite many drinks, getting lost and a minor shoe crisis (Notice the flips girls. Don't even try to walk long distances through the streets of London in your heels.) we made it to the cathedral on time. And yes, cathedral, cause the bride and groom have connections with godly types. A beautiful service - take my word for it - but no pictures cause I'm not that tacky. But outside of the cathedral, it was fair game.

Sometimes life's so bright you gotta wear shades. Except Mr. B.

Sans shades cause we're cool like that.

So here's what you need to know. From the cathedral, we had to walk a short distance to a pier on the Thames to catch our river cruise. (Yes, river cruise, but more on that later.) Well after a good hour in the church, we were, shall we say, sobering up a little, AND England was playing Ireland in the Rugby World Cup. So would you judge us if we made a quick pit stop in the pub on our way? I didn't think so. Thank you friends.

Photographic evidence that, really, there was sports on that we needed to watch.

And watching sports without drinks is lame. Bulmers, Lager and Wine.

So maybe a little too much time passed at the pub and we had to hustle it to the boat. And we were the last ones on the boat. (Oops. Thanks for waiting though!) The bride and groom had catered to our every need on the boat which meant we were greeted immediately with more drinks. Our crew decided to head to the back of the boat and soak up the sunshine and some amazing views. Prepare yourself for a few of my favorite pictures we've ever taken in London.

Mrs. B + full security detail.

Have no idea what we were laughing at, but if you don't know us IRL, this pretty much sums it up.

Always laughing.

Donald, Big Up, Mr. B and hubs with the London Eye.

In case you want to know the story of how Mr. B and I met, blame thanks Donald and Mr. B.

But that's another post.

My fantastically pathetic attempt at getting a group shot in front of Ben. Fail.

Mr. and Mrs. B with Ben and the Eye.

So, fast forward an undetermined time later. (I say undetermined because at this point I have lost all track of time. It was at least an hour? Maybe two?) We arrive at the other end of the arrive and head for the reception at Fulham Palace. Yep. Palace. Cause again, the bride and groom have connections.

Mr. B attempting to get artsy with the iPhone and I just have no idea what is happening.

More drinks in the garden but the threat of showers chased us inside. By this point, we'd had our fill of English sunshine and it made complete sense to position ourselves as close to the bar as possible. Again, loss of time keeping and we're on our way to dinner. The food was amazing. And that's not just because I'd been drinking all day.

Shepherd's pie and mash at a wedding?. Yes please. Delish.

Soon enough it was time for dancing and that's where things started to get a little hazy. If my pictures are anything to go by, the wheels were starting to come off. We left around 1am, at which point Mikey had an absolutely epic (drunk) temper tantrum about the rest of us being (insert choice word) losers for not wanting to go to some seedy, nasty disco to dance and drink the rest of the night away. For once in my life, this was probably a wise decision because we had to be up in the morning, and in decent health, to travel down to Rich's parents. (Some of you may recall a previous wedding where I did not heed this advice and spent much of the train trip home in the bathroom. Thanks Marie.)

We spent a couple days down on the south coast with Mr. B's family. Our visits home always seem to fly by - when does a trip home not feel that way? We spend a lovely English Sunday afternoon at the local fair. I guess for us Americans it would be a cross between a local 4-H gig (but more civilized) but not quite like a state fair (smaller in scale.)

The nephews and I immediately went on a quest for donuts. Mmmmm. We walked around the entire area before we finally found them and they were well worth the wait. And yes, I am the auntie who feeds sugar and sweets...



We wandered around until we found Mr. B and his brother, Matt, up to their usual, highly-competitive, tricks. This iteration included a coconut throwing contest and believe it or not, ended up in a tie!

Playing "Paper, Scissors, Stone" to start the game.

You and I call it "Rock, Paper, Scissors".

Either way its official.

Matt with his coconut throw. Excellent form.

Mr. B following through with his coconut throw.

To finish off the visit, we went for a family dinner (Nanny, Grandpa, Auntie and Uncle, plus Matt & Helen and the boys.) Of course, I didn't take a family picture. Nothing new there... But I did snap this adorable picture of my little nephew with his after dinner dessert. A cappuccino and ice cream. (But the cappuccino is really just frothy milk.) How adorable is that?? So proper!

I headed back to the States on Tuesday (darn MBA class ruins all the fun) and Mr. B came home the next day before our big adventure to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.... stay tuned for more!

Back in the great state

I woke up this morning

with Texas on my mind

thinking about my friends there...

- Pat Green

I did wake up with Texas on my mind. Indeed, today, I woke up in Texas.

And it feels good. Minus the heat. But I don't care.

There's absolutely nothing better than Mama H. picking you up at Love, heading to PL Nail for mani/pedis, taking a few afternoon laps in the pool (more like bath tub?), enjoying a family Tex-Mex dinner and sleeping in the home you grew up in. It feels good. Really good.

I'm in town for a girls weekend for Miss Mods wedding. I'm super excited for relaxation, laughing till it hurts and celebrating my bestie before she gets married next month. Life is good.

I'll be out of commission until next week but I promise to try to remember to take pictures. I also promise not to make promises I can't keep. So maybe I'll just steal some pictures from someone else.  

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend friends!