Friday

I turn 29 tomorrow. I don’t know what it is about this birthday, but I am not too excited about it. usually, I demand a birthday WEEK. An entire week of getting special treatment because my birthday is coming up. Sometimes, I like a birthday MONTH. This year, I have hardly mentioned my birthday….I think it is starting to worry Rell a little bit.

I was in Texas this past weekend for Russ & Erin’s wedding. I also got to go up to Waco to see the family, which was AWESOME!! My new little niece, Ava Marie Brooks was born the morning of May 7th. She is really cute. And I am soooo glad she decided to make an appearance while I was there. I was a little worried that I would miss meeting her by days. Poor little Lilly – she just doest know what to do with a little sister. Lilly came to Austin with Tickie (my mom) to pick me up on Wednesday and we did a little shopping. She was so well behaved! She wanted to walk everywhere…and she was wearing her little squeaker shoes, so everyone we passed thought she was just adorable. Which, of course, she is. She spend the night with us on Wednesday and Thursday we got up and went to the park and ran some errands. She is so full of energy. Of course, that energy could have been falsely inflated by the cake I gave her for breakfast (supplemented by scrambled eggs) and lunch (supplemented by Mac and Cheese and ham) and the massive amounts of lemonade I gave her (supplemented by more lemonade) Hey – they don’t call me Aunt Favorite for nothing! I already miss that little kiddo. I feel like we really bonded this trip. And I am not going to see her again until Thanksgiving. I am so bummed!

Friday morning Tickie and Lilly drove me back down to Austin to meet up with Rell and the Sims for the Lang wedding. Friday night, we went to the rehearsal dinner at Carmelos (yum!) and then out for a few drinks. I was so happy I was able to meet up with Brookie because I hardly ever get to see her. Any of you Austinites reading this, we went to Moonshine, which I have heard has great food, but it also has a great vibe just for drinks. Then on to Star Bar, one of my old favs. There I had Pearl Pomegranate vodka, on the rocks and with Water…..SO SO GOOD! Sounds like a strong drink, but it is really quite sweet. Friday night we were supposed to stay at Erin’s house…the boys were taking over the Sims house and Erin was staying at her parents, so she cleaned her house, set ou goodies (beer & wine) and even had a key for us made. So late night, we head to her house only to find out that they key doesnt work!! oh no!! All that work and effort for nothing!!! Thanks anyways, erin! (Hopefully when you come home from your honeymoon the house will still be sort of clean and the beer & wine will still be there!!) So back to the Sims house, where Leslie and I proceeded to Sing (and when I say sing, I mean scream) our hearts out to Karaoke Revolution. Good times!!

Saturday was a relaxing day – really just had to get ready for the wedding. It was held at green Pastures in South Austin….really need place for a wedding. The ceremony was outdoors under a tree canopy and the reception was inside in a great old house. It did rain a bit at the ceremony, but I don;t think that dampened anyones spirits. It was a beautiful wedding. And I got my husband to dance with me that night (a rare occasion) more that once! (an unheard of event!) Thank you open bar, because I am sure that is what helped facilitate the dancing!!

Sunday lead us back to Arizona (boo!) with a bad case of allergies! I’m still fighting them a bit.

I’ve been going into work this week – getting the lay of the land so to speak. It’s all still a bit overwhelming, but exciting.

My sisters shower is in two weeks. It seems like it was just yesterday that it felt like it was months away. Thank goodness I am a planner and have most of it done. I still just don’t feel prepared yet though! I just want it to be perfect for her!

Oh—and I played Wii Mariocart this weekend for the first time…..I think I am in love!

Leslie & I with the bride

At the rehearsal dinner

The Plumber wins this round…..

So, I’m an idiot!

I went to take a shower in MY bathroom Sunday night – the one with all the faucet troubles. For the past month, I had just been using Rell’s bathroom (Yes, we have separate bathrooms – I highly recommend it) So, I go to turn on the water at the faucet – all works well…..then I turn the handle to start the shower….well, no water is coming out of the shower. Frustrating to say the least. Rell tries it too, to no avail. Monday morning I call the plumbing company to once again have them send the plumber out – third time’s a charm, right? So the plumber – John – comes out and I lead him into the bathroom. By this time, Maggie Mae doesn’t even bark at him, he is such a familiar face. Well, John pops his head into the shower and the first thing he says is “Did you try pushing this?” pointing to a small button on the actual shower head. Apparently, there is a button up there that shuts off water flow to the shower head….why, I have no idea since I sort of thought that was the point of the knob on the faucet. NO, of course I didnt try pushing that button….and in all fairness to me, why would I have, when I didnt even know that button existed? He must have pushed it when he was out here previously for some reason! So, I looked like a total idiot in front of the plumber…..but oh well, that’s why they get paid the big bucks, right? And I do mean BIG bucks!

It’s supposed to rain today, which should be fabulous for our new plants. I got up early this morning and mowed the yard in order to avoid the rain. I’m headed to Texas tomorrow to see the family and then to Austin this weekend for Russ & Erin’s wedding. Yay! Fun times!

Rell and I made this long planter out of steel. we needed something in front of what used to be the garage but what is now the master bedroom to camouflage that big white wall! It doesn’t look it in this picture, but that thing is 10 feet long….it;s pretty big! the tall plants are lady banks roses and should grow to cover the wall pretty well.

The other picture shows our front planter, which if you look closely you can see is lined with wine bottles. We’re not THAT big of lushes….we did save those bottles for FOUR years in order to get enough to do the planter…and we’re still lacking about 4, so I have to drink at least that many more before we put the house on the market. The hanging planters are actually just galvonized boxes that we bought from Ikea for like 6 bucks each. Then we painted them black and drilled holes in them to hang them!

Also, please note the bright green grass – almost no one has that out here…we’re super proud of ourselves!