BISCUIT LOVER AND NOE

Check out my friends' (writing as Biscuit Lover and Noe) lovely blog Big Love in a Little Kitchen.

It's all about love in, around and coming out of their small kitchen.

*click*Big Love in a Little Kitchen*click*

There's a link in my sidebar too.

FILLING UP

I love the summer months. It never fails that our days become filled with travel and visitors, and the time in between is spent looking for deodorant in a half unpacked duffel bag, sweeping a layer of dog hair from the living room floor or going to book club.



Sometimes it feels like regular life gets kind of out of control, my to-do list grows and grows. I get worn down from lack of sleep. The "to be shredded" stack piles up. Leftovers start to mold in the refrigerator.



But I love it.



I love that my life is full of family and friends to the point of exhaustion. Long weekend visits and weeknight dinners; Saturdays at the lake and Sunday afternoon movies; sharing Popsicles and singing Blue Skies and Rainbows, again.



Life is made full by the people we share it with, not a seamless household. Yes, I value taking care of my things, but a shiny kitchen sink has never made my heart sing.



Okay, who am I kidding? A shiny sink actually has made my heart sing. But you get the point.



I can't imagine I will ever look back and say I wish I had spent more time at home relaxing.



I can't imagine I will ever say the hours spent traveling weren't worth it.



I can't imagine that an extra hour of sleep will ever outweigh soaking in a smile I love.



I can't imagine I will ever regret leaving a hamper full of dirty laundry to go play with someone who is growing so quickly right before my eyes.



I can't imagine the sound of housework will feed my soul more than the sound of laughter.



I can't imagine my life without all the amazing people God has blessed me with.

CUKES AND BERRIES

Yesterday was my sister's birthday - Happy Birthday Nee! I was missing her real bad, and even though she couldn't attend, we had a party anyway, complete with chicken spaghetti, one of her favorite dishes; cucumbers, which always remind me of her because she loved to eat them when she was little; and Blueberry pie!

The blueberries came from Deep Creek Farm near Tyler. I stopped on my drive home Sunday and picked up a bundle of the freshly picked berries. And last night, a pie for the occasion seemed like the perfect use because they are little and sweet, just like Renee'.

I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful blueberries pre-pie, and of the pie before it was mostly eaten. Nonetheless, here 'tis.

For a few months, Aaron and I have been receiving fresh, organic, mostly local produce from a company called Greenling. You fill your basket online, set a delivery date, and voila! a bin of garden goodness is delivered right to your door! I like this option for the weeks I can't make it to the Farmer's Market near our house. I seem to be out of town on so many Saturdays, and I hate to miss the local, in-season bounty that is found at the market. So Greenling offers the wonderful, affordable alternative: Farmer's Market Delivered to my Doorstep! When we get a delivery, it makes my head swim diving into the freshness.

We got an order yesterday, and although I keep forgetting to take photos when the produce arrives, I did manage to take this picture of our salad from last night (and today for lunch) of green leaf lettuce, tomatoes and cukes all grown within 25 miles of our home. Yuuuumy!

No matter how good the food is, no meal is complete without wonderful friends to share it. The Brewers and Taylors partied it up with us in honor of Renee'.

Rhett, Zoë and Audrey took turns finding out who could make the biggest splash by throwing toys in the water.
Zoë dominated.


Aaron got out his harmonica for Zoë to play with. She was impressed by her Mom's musical talent.


Zoë had just whispered to me that she is secretly writing
a harmonica song for her parents as a Christmas gift.


The Taylors, relaxing after dinner.

LITTLE AUDREY IN THE BIG CITY

Washington, D.C.

SUSHI HIGH

We celebrated Justy Tator and Jess' birthday at Uchi last night. We missed the actual presence of Jessica's Taurus heart, but her spirit was there. Her sake was also there; but don't worry, I drank it for her so she wouldn't have bad sake luck.

Look for Audrey and me in the upcoming issue of US magazine in the "Stars: They're just like us" section. Three, count 'em, THREE celebrities were there getting high on raw fish and wasabi. As we were seated, I recognized Richard Garriott. Then, Audrey stifled her excitement as Jennifer Coolidge walked in. When Aaron came back from the bathroom, he casually mentioned that Heather Graham was sitting right over there in that booth. I dared Taylor to go up to Ms. Graham and say "I don't recall your name, but your fez is familiar?"

Audrey and I made sure to look extra cute using chopsticks just in case paparazzi were lurking.

GIRL TIME

This past weekend Kristen, Zoe and I went to Dallas to hang out with the girls and Heather before baby Kennedy is born. Heather is beautiful, as always. We had a really nice time; gabbing, Pretty Woman, games, playing with Zoe, wine (except the expecting Mom, of course), the most Lovely women in the world for company. . . what more can you ask. We are excited to welcome Kennedy Renee' into our circle.


I have to note, Heather is only in her pajamas because we remembered to take this picture right before we all headed home on Sunday. So the travelers HAD to get out of our pajamas.

GOIN NUTTY

We went to see Kevin Fowler at Nutty Brown last Saturday night. Fun times.

"Beer, bait and ammo yeah they got everything in between"


"I was born with a shot glass in my hand"


"She’s my little butterbean. The cutest thing you’ve ever seen"

MY SPIDEY SENSE IS TINGLING

A lot has happened since I last posted.

We found out that Justy Tator has a brain tumor. It is scary and weird and shifted our world tremendously. But he and Audrey are shining examples of optimism. Taylor will have surgery after Thanksgiving to remove the brain booger; and will know much more about the road ahead once they have the tumor out. Please keep them in your prayers.

I also found out that I did not get accepted to the teacher certification program to which I had applied. I'm pretty disappointed on the one hand, you know. I was really excited about the prospect of going back to school and teaching by next August. But on the other hand, I just feel ok about it and I know I'm really where I'm supposed to be right now. I know God wanted me to make that commitment and decision to become a teacher and apply for that program and spend these past few months waiting and thinking about becoming a teacher and being excited about it. So the fact that this isn't the exact route or the time for me is ok. I know His plan is at work; maybe my focus will be needed elsewhere in the coming months. I gained a lot of momentum to pursue my teaching career, and I have not lost that. So all in all, I'm just at peace 'cause I'm trusting God to keep guiding me to where I'm supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I am disappointed. But it feels more like I was really excited about going on a trip, and the plans changed.

Last Friday Aaron's company was a sponsor at a Golf Tournament, and the tournament needed someone to measure for the "longest ball" shot. Aaron got the job, so spent all day on the golf course.


Then Saturday morning, we were playing with the dogs and discovered two tics on Scoopie! EWWWWW! It makes me crazy to think there are tics around, so I had to do a thorough inspection of both dogs to make sure no gross little suckers were hiding. Aaron thought it was a prime photo op.

Aaron took Scoop to the vet yesterday because her little bottom was red and she was licking it too much for my liking. She did indeed have Swollen Anal Glands and had to have them expressed, which I think is very funny because Aaron was the one at the vet with her, and if you know Aaron, he has a very sensitive gag reflex to anything stinky and remotely having to do with bodily functions. So he had to stand there holding Scoop while the vet expressed the nasty, stinky liquid from her glands. When I got home, Aaron was showing me the medicine we have to put on her, excuse me while I giggle, anus. Of course, Aaron had out one of his leather work gloves because there was no way he was touching her poopoo-parts..heehee... but I told Scoopie it was ok, I would apply her medicine sans glove because that's what mommies do.

After the tic inspection, we headed out to the Texas Tailgaters for a little pregame fun. Scott and Gillian invited us to the game, which was a blast, especially since the Longhorns showed up and played a good game against Tech. It was the last home game of the season, so the stands were packed and the fans seemed particularly enthused. I was thankful the weather was beautiful and warm. For a mid-November game, we couldn't have asked for more perfect temperatures.



Bree and Megan were also in town for the game, Bree is a Red Raider, so we hung out with them at Scholtz's after the game. And, of course, we met for Las Manitas brunch on Sunday.


I've also started a Boot Camp class. Twice a week during lunch we run, squat, lunge, sprint, hop, lift, crunch, curl, hold, press, stretch, push, rinse and repeat for 45 minutes. A few ladies that I work with are in the class also, so we have a good time and talk about how sore we are the next day together. It's fun and it feels good to be back in the groove of some intense physical activity.

Aaron rented Spiderman 3 for me last night! Can you even believe I had not seen it yet?! Summer was kind of crazy with the opening of Pirates 3, Shrek the 3rd and Spiderman 3. We aren't the biggest movie-goers, so after our Pirates adventure, the other two tri-quel movies kind of slid under my radar. Anyway, S3 was good. I liked the twist of Peter Parker/Spidey battling an alter-ego, and that sometimes your worst foes become your best friends.

PINK PIRATES WALK THE PLANK

Saturday night, like good pirates do, my Lovely girlfriends and I stayed up into the wee hours of the night gabbing and giggling, eating muffins at midnight and refilling our wine glasses probably too many times.

So when 6:45 a.m. rolled around, we were barely rolling out of bed to join the Komen Race for the Cure. After contemplating Sleeping in for the Cure instead, we decided to buck up and join the other 23,995 pink people.


Our team, aptly named Pink Pirates for various reasons depending on who you ask, also made t-shirts Saturday night, after refilling our wine glasses probably too many times. The result is what you might expect of five giggly girls ironing pink and polka-dot letters onto t-shirts.


We were chauffeured to the race by Justy Tator, and began our walk at a brisk 1 mile per hour pace. Audrey had predicted it would take us 3 hours to walk the 5K, to which some pirates had scoffed. Oh, wise Audrey, you are a regular Confucius.


About, oh, let's say a 1/4 mile into it we begin to realize that the Pink Pirates are really hungry and on the verge of hungover, meaning if we didn't do something fast, this day could go downhill quick. So as soon as Las Manitas came into view, we left our place among the Cure walkers and found a table at the back of the restaurant.

We spent the next hour Eating Breakfast for the Cure.


After huevos and beans, tortillas, chips and hot sauce, we took a shortcut back onto the Cure trail and crossed the finish line, like good pirates do.

TOTALLY TUBULAR

Here are some pics from our day at the lake a few weeks ago. We had a lot of fun tubing! Aaron is the best at driving the boat while pulling a person on the tube. We all got some mad air; Scott did some acrobatics. Angela was the brave first tuber; but everyone was too fascinated watching her skillz to take any pictures of her on the water donut.

Floating

Mr. Fancy Pants Scott

Sargent Sass Taylor

Captain Aaron

Proof I WAS there

Miss Pods

Baby Peters

Miss Pods and G

SUMMER TOUR 2007

Summer Tour 2007 was a success. More pictures to come as soon as I gather them all.

complete with Tour tees



a gnome to watch over you


a really old mountain range


20 hours of car time


there's a big white house up here on the left