YeeHaw!!

From the end of February through mid-March, Houston is buzzing about the Houston Rodeo.  I had heard about it before, but never realized what a big deal it is here.  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is centered on the rodeo.  It's on the news, talked about at school, on the radio, at church, and there are even special "Rodeo" sales on certain food items at the grocery store.  

Now, you might be thinking like I was when I first heard about this whole rodeo thing... A bunch of horses and cows running around in a big arena.  No siree! There is a huge carnival that goes on the entire time the rodeo is here, there is a rodeo every night, followed by a concert.  It's HUGE.  Anthony and I were super lucky and got to go twice this year!  (He went three times...but that's besides the point!)  

The first time we went we saw Lady Antebellum (and I have no pictures..sorry!) and the second time we saw The Band Perry.  I only knew the big songs from both artists, but their performances were AWESOME!  Here's a peak at our night!

I didn't think to take pictures of the actual rodeo...but here is when they put up the stage in the middle of the arena~

Is it sad that this is the most "western" gear that we have?

Almost ready! ...The stage rotates so everyone can see, but our seats were right in the *original* middle. :)

 So fun!

I've Dad has been working on some fun new furniture for our house!  Pictures coming soon! 

Love, Sara :)

30 Before 30

A few weeks ago I was reading through some blogs and stumbled on a post called "30 before 30."  It was a blog I had never read before, but the girl has made a list of 30 things she wanted to do before she was 30.  She (I think) is 27 now, but started the list when she was 25.  Every time she does something on the list she crosses it off and writes about it.  I just LOVED that idea!  

The summer I lived with Uncle Don and Aunt Cheryl, I was in awe of all of the things Aunt Cheryl had done in her life.  I started my own mental list, but after reading that blog, I wanted to write it all down.  Besides, I like being able to check things off when I complete them.  :) Now, this isn't  a full I-want-to-do-all-of-this-in-my-life list, so some things are quite simple.  Fingers crossed I can complete it all!!  Here it goes...

1. Fly an airplane.

2. Take a cooking class.

3. Get a dog.

4. Go to a Texans game.

5. Have a picnic on the beach.

6. Go to Australia (this one *might* be extended to the 40 before 40 list...)

7. Finish painting my house.

8. Camp out in the backyard.

9. Plan, prepare, and host a 4 course dinner party.

10. Build a piece of furniture all by myself.

11. Create a "secret recipe."

12. Learn to properly flip an omelet.

13. Play in a fantasy football league.

14. Go to a Rockets game.

15. Go to a soccer game.

16. Design and landscape a yard.

17. Learn to play tennis.

18. Ride the Ferris Wheel at the Aquarium.

19. Take Anthony to see a musical.

20. Go to the ballet.

21. Learn to grill the perfect steak.

22. Go to Hawaii.

23. Open and manage a brokerage account. (And learn what that is...)

24. Ride a horse on the beach.

25. Build a fireplace.

26. Learn to build a fire.

27. Catch, clean, and cook a fish...even if it's small.

28. Record my own cooking show! (to be aired on my blog...we're not talking big-time TV here, people)

29. Grow my own vegetables.

30. Plan a surprise event for Anthony. 

Whew... Is it bad that I already feel behind?!

Love, Sara :)

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday

First off, I have to admit that I lost my camera cord and have not been able to upload photos...KILLER!  I didn't find my cord, but my oh-so-nice friend lent me her fancy smancy card reader thingy.  My photos are back!

Two weekends ago we went back to Dallas for Josh's birthday.  It was the big 3-0, so there was no way we would miss it!!  We went to this fun restaurant down in the Bishop Arts area with the whole fam!

The Birthday Boy!

The gang!

...Didn't want to start a fire with all those candles... :)

 

Similarities?  I think so!

Our grandparents are pretty cute, if I do say so myself. :)

We're not all looking, but it was the best one I had. 

Dad's birthday is three days after Josh's.  Since we wouldn't be there for the actual day, we went to brunch to celebrate.  He got to open our gift early!

 A K-State shirt!  (He always switches between his A&M and OU shirt, so we thought he needed to add his own college into the mix!)

In addition to two birthdays I've celebrated for my whole life, we have a new birthday to celebrate the same week too!!  Our new niece , Addison Jolie, was born on the 23rd!  We obviously weren't there for the big day, but are looking forward to meeting her over Easter!  Here's a sneak peak of the cutie!!

Look at those little feet!!

Baby and Mom!

 And the new family of five!

3 birthdays in 6 days...can't wait to celebrate again next year!!  Happy Birthday Dad and Josh, and welcome to the world Addie Jo!

Love, Sara :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday!  I always loved Valentine's when I was younger, but as I got into junior high, I utterly despised it.  I was never all "boy" crazy like most girls and the whole day was just uncomfortable.  

As I've gotten older and am back in an elementary school, I've remembered why I loved it so much!!  When you're younger, it's not so focus on the one person you love, but just love in general.  It's such a fun day at school!  Combine that with Anthony and all of the sweet things he does for me, and it makes it the perfect day!! 

Here's what I took to school for the kiddos.  I printed labels, cut them out, then stapled the label on top of a snack sized ziploc bag.  SO EASY!!

And my Valentine's Bag!!

I make Anthony's lunch on most day's, but here is what I did yesterday:

Heart PB&J!!! ...is it obvious I teach Kindergarten?

They all had little notes for why they were in there.

Anthony left me little surprises all day!  I only got pictures of a few though. :)

A note tucked inside my computer when I opened it at school!

The notes was with a new Kate Spade wall calendar!!!! (I took this with my phone and it won't let me rotate it...grrr)

When I got home I decided to make these layered cupcakes I found on Pinterest.  They were the EASIEST, most YUMMIEST things I've tasted in a while!!

I preheated the oven to 350 and put 24 cupcake liners in my muffin tins.  Then I mixed a brownie mix according to the directions on the back.

I used a mini ice cream scoop and filled the cupcake liners about 1/3 of the way full.

Then I made a strawberry cake mix according to the directions on the back of the box.

I cleaned my ice cream scoop and filled my tins (on top of the brownie batter) so they were 2/3 of the way full.  I had to spread the strawberry batter out slightly so the brownie wouldn't cook up around the strawberry.

Then I baked them for 20 minutes.

The recipe I found called for an actual frosting, but I was being slightly lazy and didn't have any thawed butter....so I put whip cream on top instead!  It was just from a can, but it was PERFECT.  It gave the brownie cupcake *just* the right amount of sweetness.

How fun do those look?!  Hope you had a great Valentine's Day too!!

Love, Sara :)

Thank You Shirley And My NEW KITCHEN!!!!!

First off, I would like to remind you that my dryer has been in my dining room for about a month now. (See pictures here...)  Last week the repairman people came and hauled it off to fix it.  The absence of the dryer re-energized me to finally move all of the painting/repair/junk from the temporary storage unit dining room to the new temporary storage unit guest room.  

After I moved all of the junk out of there, I desperately needed to mop.  Funny, because I didn't have a mop.  I did some research trying to figure out what kind of mop and moppy stuff I needed for my wood floors...I only wanted to have to buy one cleaner...obviously.  After I researched... I called Mom.  :)  She told me what to buy, I grabbed it without hesitation, and headed home.

Then came the REALLY funny part.  I wish someone had been videotaping me because it would have been a hoot.  I got a self-wringing mop.  (That's what it's called, but let's get this straight...I still did the wringing, but there was a twisty lever to help.)  That thing was next to impossible to figure out!  And I didn't even have a clue on how to fix my moppy water.  Yikes...

I finally got everything ready.  As I started mopping and smelling the soap from the mop water, my mind instantly flashed to Shirley.  (It's the same soap Mom uses...remember?)  

Who's Shirley you ask?  Shirley cleaned my house growing up.  She also cleaned Maggie's house, which means I saw her twice a week...(We were probably all sorts of terrors while she was cleaning...this is my formal public apology, Shirley :) )

The more I mopped, the more thankful I became Shirley and all the mopping she did for me growing up.  After I mopped my self into a corner, I sat down and wrote Shirley a letter just saying hi and thanking her for cleaning our house.  She came to our wedding, so I had her address, I just hope she doesn't think I'm crazy!  I'm a HUGE fan of actual letters (Thanks Grandma!) so is there is anyone you're needing to thank?  Here's your nudge to go do it!!

Ok, now for the house.  I REALLY wanted to do an entire before and after post, but that would be in like 5 years, so I decided to go room by room.  My favorite room?  The kitchen of course!!  I love, love, LOVE how it turned out and haven't even complained about cleaning it!!  Here it goes!!

Before:

 After!!!

Before:

After!!!

Before:

After!!!

Does it look familiar?  Oh maybe that's because.... It's inspired by Aunt Cheryl's kitchen!!!! 

...By the way, I'd like to go on record that I do realize it is Uncle Don's kitchen/house as well, but let's face it...Aunt Cheryl designed it all.  Adding 'and Uncle Don' is an extra 13 characters to type...

I plan on sharing my SUPER organized drawers and cabinets soon!!  Have a great week!!

Love, Sara :)

Who Has A New Vacuum? Me! Me! Me!

We have wood/tile throughout the whole downstairs of our new house.  That means I wear my slippers A LOT.  The other day, I couldn't find my pink fuzzy slippers with the really cute pom-poms ANYWHERE.  I seriously had looked everywhere I could think.  During my search, I looked under our bed and this is what I found....

YIKES!!!! We've only lived in our house about 3 weeks, and I sweep practically every day.  It was more effective for me to pick up each piece of dirt by hand than to use the vacuum from our apartment, so I decided I needed a new vacuum...NOW.  

I headed to the store without any research what-so-ever...(so UNLIKE me).  Mom suggested that I go to consumereport.com, which I did, but still only really new about the vacuum she has.  It was a HUGE deal when she got it a couple of years ago, and she talks about that thing as affectionately as another child.  I got to the store and here's what I brought home...

Tah-Dah!!  The same vacuum that mom has!  Now, I really had no choice in the matter because they were pretty picked over in the vacuum department, and I was determined to buy a vacuum RIGHT THEN.  Otherwise this probably would have been one of those experiences where I check out the item online about 7 bazillion times, see it in person about 12, and then decided I should buy it.  Nope.  This time was different.  And I had ZERO buyers remorse.  It was great!

 

 I had to do the whole self-timer thing, so it's not my best picture, but it works!  And, yes, we currently have a washer/dryer in our dining room...don't ask. :)

 

I only vacuumed about 3 rooms, but this is what I ended up with...YUCK!  And remember that part where I said I sweep everyday?  Yes, this definitely was a fab purchase.  I can't wait to vacuum again!! ...Wow, never though I'd say that!

Love, Sara :)

Happy Birthday To Me! (Cha-Cha-Cha)

If you haven't picked up on it by now, I LOVE my birthday.  After my quarter-of-a-century of a life, I think I've figured out a little why I love it so much.  Being right after Christmas (my favorite day of the year) everyone comes back over.  It's an extension of my favorite day!  Plus, I never had school (now work) and Mom and Dad tried to make it extra special because it was so close to Christmas.  We have traditions that have been going on for YEARS.  Needless to say, I have taken the "extra special" and kind of run with it....

The first thing we've always done is make my birthday cake.  Here's the original...

Dad and I make the same version every year, except it (obviously) changes with the age I am turning.  The cakes have evolved over the years, however, and now not only have colored icing, but colored cake as well.  

The cake always starts as 2 separate cakes.  The numbers we are cutting determine what shaped we do.  This year was two 9x13 cakes.

Dad cuts them into the shape, while I make the *perfect* pink-colored frosting.

The leftovers get put in a bowl so people can munch on them....this might be one of my favorite parts. :)  Please note the AWESOME color of the cake...I think this is the best hot pink we've ever had!

The pink frosting has pink decorations (of course!)

This is the classic picture we take every year, but being a quarter-of-a-century, we recreated the first birthday picture more precisely! (See first picture of this post :) ) And, yes, I wear a tiara.  It started off as a joke, but I, of course, wear it every year now!

Here's another classic!  Please note that the table decorations from Christmas are nowhere to be seen...

Rach and Auds...they have permanent birthday seats.  ...They are slightly rearranged now that Anthony is around, but permanent none the less.

Wow...that's pink!

Mmm!!

My late Christmas gift from Josh...I LOVE Buckee's :)

And my new shoes from Anthony!!  ...I think I need to work on my feigned-surprise face... :)

And in the words of Kindergarteners...

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Sara, Happy Birthday to You!  Cha-cha-cha, Oooh-la-la, It's your Birthday, Rah-rah-rah, High-Ya! Chinese Chicken!!!

(Strange, I know...)

Love, Sara :)