A Year Later....

Carl and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend. It's hard to believe that it's been one year since our first date - burgers at lunch on a cold Friday afternoon (yes, he was still wearing flip flops). But what a great year it's been!

We didn't do much to celebrate this weekend since we were with his family in Houston but that was just as important to me. I've met them all several times now but this was the first time to spend an entire weekend with them and to celebrate a holiday. His family is very different than mine - bigger and louder for sure - but also so loving and kind (that's not the part that's different from mine). I feel like a part of their family when I'm with them and so appreciate that.

I actually think that Stewart Family Christmas is much like Carroll Family Christmas, which is my mom's side of the family. She, too, is one of 5 children and there were 12 grandchildren (to the Stewart's current 7). I have such fond memories of my childhood holidays with all my aunts, uncles and cousins, that maybe that's why it all felt so comfortable and familiar.

I also now have a better idea of how my parents probably coped with the chaos - wine! I had enough to put me to bed (with the lights on) by 10pm. Feeling great the next morning, though, we headed back to Austin. I'm just grateful that I ran my 6 mile run before the wine drinking started.

I won't make this a sappy blog post about how great Carl is and how happy I am that he's in my life but suffice it to say we're in a great place and I look forward to many more years with him.

Traditions

As previously described, I'm a big fan of traditions, especially around the holidays. Some traditions I have with my friends include volunteering with Coats for Kids. I try to find ways to regularly volunteer and this is one event that I really enjoy and look forward to giving my time to. Both Haley and Devon are in the Junior League, which puts on the event every year. It's a great chance to support those in the Austin community who may not have coats to keep their kids warm. I know, it's a bit ironic to worry about coats in Austin, but we have had a cold spell already and our blood is thin here! I need coats (at least 10...)

So Kelsey, Devon, Haley and I started our weekend with an early wake up call to volunteer. I'm already committed to next year and can't wait until Devon and Haley take over this committee and make tons of improvements!

The next tradition this weekend was watching the movie Love Actually. For the past several years, my girlfriends and I have gotten together to watch this movie, all while wearing comfy clothes and eating junk food. This year, we decided to make the event bigger and rented out the Alamo for a morning brunch event and invite other friends to join us. To make it more fun, we did a toy drive for Toys for Tots and had a bingo game to fundraise for Jen's half marathon. The whole event was a huge success and I hope we do it, again, next year!

The final (new) tradition this year was some crafting projects at Devon's house. This time we made some hot chocolate mix and mini gingerbread houses. It was tons of fun and I think our houses make a cute little village.

So it was a quite a busy weekend but full of fun things. This coming weekend I'm going with Carl to Houston to celebrate Christmas with his family. I'm looking forward to seeing what their traditions are!

Mindfulness Project - November Update

During the month of November my goal was to work on relationships. Admittedly I didn't have a specific goal in mind but I did want to work on reaching out to friends that I don't talk to as much, seeing friends that I don't see as often, spending time with those I love and thinking about my relationships at work. Some of the things I did accomplish were:

1. Beginning to work with a leadership coach at work, which led to the completion of a 360 evaluation from my peers. This was a great way for me to learn what people think of me and put goals into place to continue to grow as a manager and leader.
2. Reaching out to friends, via email and phone, that I may not talk to as often.
3. Being purposeful in spending time with friends, family and loved ones and expressing my gratitude for that time.
4. As previously posted, spending Thanksgiving with Carl and honoring that relationship on our first Thanksgiving.

As always, I'm reminded how lucky I am to have such great relationships but I can always work to do more. I hope my family and friends know how much I appreciate them and the support they constantly provide to me.

Oh Christmas Tree....

Last night, Carl and I put up our Christmas Tree. As you may recall, two years ago (at an amazing end-of-the-year sale) I got a fake tree. While I mourned the loss of real trees and real tree smells, I was reminded last night why I got a fake tree. It's a perfect little tree for my perfect little house.

Carl isn't much into traditions, which is something I'm working to accept but he loves me very much and supports my desire to have traditions. So while I was unpacking the ornaments, he put on some holiday music and hung the lights outside on the front porch.

Even though Carl and I started dating right before Christmas last year (our third date was on Christmas Eve) this is our first big holiday together. To kick it off, we already bought our Christmas gift to each other - a great new, 'fancy' SLR camera! I'm excited to take it on trips, especially our upcoming one to California.

Happy Homeversary!

Today marks two years since I bought my house. I can't believe that it's been two years! That was such an exciting day and exciting time. I remember being so proud of my self and scared all at the same time.

It truly was one of the best decisions that I've made and I love my home. Learning to share it with Carl over the past 8 months has been a great experience, too. I look forward to many more great memories in this home and exciting house projects (next up: patio!)

Kelsey also reminded me that our friendship really began to grow when I bought my house b/c we became neighbors! She's been a great friend to me and a great dog sitter to Buster. As we start our half marathon training again I feel so lucky to have such a good friend and neighbor.

Hueco Tanks

For Thanksgiving break Carl and I took a road trip to Hueco Tanks. Never heard of it? Neither had I until a few weeks ago. It's just outside of El Paso, Texas, and is a Texas state park and historic site. It's also got some great bouldering (version of rock climbing), which is what draws Carl and his friends to it. We took off on Wednesday for the 10 hour road trip. And, yes, I'm still in shock that we could drive 10 hours and still be in Texas. Sigh.

We've gotten pretty good at road trips - loading up on snacks and audiobooks. This time we also had Buster so the car was pretty packed with all our camping gear plus a small, cozy spot for little Buster.

We camped on some land of some friends of Carl's, along with about 15-20 other campers. We got in late on Wednesday and settled in and went to sleep in the tent. The temps were cool but perfect camping weather the first night. Buster seemed to adjust quite well, despite starting off nuzzled in my sleeping bag for the first part of the night.

We woke up on Thanksgiving morning (also Carl's birthday) bright and early. We had eggs, bacon, coffee (for him) and tea (for me) and enjoyed meeting the other campers and watching Buster play with their dogs. We then took off for the quick drive to Hueco Tanks to begin our day of bouldering. After a bit of a rough start for me (it's been months since I tried to climb) I finally got the hang of things a bit more and started enjoying myself. I mostly enjoyed watching Carl climb, though, because he's so good.

That night we had a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner with the other campers. It included some usual items like turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pie (tons of pie) but also ravioli (stuffed with traditional Thanksgiving sides), mac 'n cheese and hummus (our contribution). It was a very different holiday for me but I was so happy to be with Carl.

That night the rain began and it didn't stop until late the next day. It rained pretty heavy at times and even hailed. Since climbing was ruled out the next day we drove into El Paso to see a movie and then had some margaritas (ok, the biggest margarita ever) with our friends and some local El Paso mexican food (not nearly as good as Austin's mexican food in my opinion).

Quickly our last day arrived and we got up early to get some last minute bouldering in before hitting the road back to Austin. I twisted my ankle a bit so I just watched and helped Carl out (don't worry, Mom and Dad, my ankle is doing much better).

The trip back to Austin went by quickly thanks to more audiobooks. While it was admittedly a challenging trip for me I am so glad I went. While Carl's birthday may not mean a lot to him, it means a lot to me. It was our first birthday and first Thanksgiving and I didn't want to be with anyone else. And while I don't think that I'll ever live in El Paso, I can see why Hueco Tanks is a hot spot. It's beautiful and unexpected.

Per usual, I'm reminded on Thanksgiving of all the things I'm grateful for in my life. Of course my friends, family and job are on the list. But this year, at the top of the list, is Carl. I'm grateful for his love and patience as I know I wasn't the easiest person to be around on this trip.

Movember

For those of you not familiar with Movember, it's the renamed month of November by a group of Australians who wanted to raise awareness (and funds) for men's health issues, specifically for cancers that affect men.

During this month, men are asked to grow mustaches and show their support for this movement. LIVESTRONG also happens to be one of the U.S. beneficiaries of their fundraising. So Carl decided to grow a mustache this year in support. Not only was this super thoughtful of him, it was a big decision considering he just started a new job not that long ago. But he figured he could use his mustache to launch a conversation about why he's doing it.

While mustaches aren't that rare (note: I have never seen my dad without one) they are a little less likely (without additional facial hair) in younger men. So it's been a fun month to see my colleagues and my boyfriend with facial hair that reminds me a bit of my dad, the past and overall of the fight against cancer.

Staycation

I took this week off work to get caught up on my life in Austin. I've been traveling so much this Fall that I wanted to have a few days to run errands and pamper myself a bit. I've had a very successful few days so far and it's only Monday. I've done the following:

1. Cleaned kitchen cabinets
2. Purged items from most rooms in my house -for Goodwill or Clothing Swap
3. Cleaned make up brushes
4. Made bingo boards for a Love Actually viewing party
5. Got mine and Carl's oil changed
6. Replaced my stolen (from over a year ago) social security card
7. Ran the usual errands

And the fun stuff I've done so far:

1. Got a massage
2. Took a few walks with friends
3. Saw a movie with friends
4. Went to Lockhart and ate pie (yep, they're known for BBQ but pie was the big winner this time)
5. Cooked dinner (with 3 new recipes) for Carl, Jess and Ken

And the things that are still yet to come this week:

1. Facial
2. Hair cut and color
3. Lunch with an old friend
4. Dinner with Chris and Missy (and Lucie and Audrey)
5. Carl's birthday!

And, of course, Thanksgiving! This year, for the first time since 2004, I won't be in Austin for Thanksgiving. It's very strange to me b/c I have a number of traditions during Thanksgiving week. But leaving town is all for one very good reason - Carl. It's his birthday and I said he could choose what we did. So we're driving to El Paso and camping with some friends of his. Buster's coming with us, too (that may not have been his birthday wish) and we'll have some non-traditional turkey ravioli. I know we'll have a great time. Pictures and full report coming soon.....

Family Wedding

Last Friday, Missy's sister, Becky, got married. Carl and I took a road trip to McAllen to attend the wedding. And while it was a lot of driving for one night (and an early wake up to fly to NYC), it was nice to be with Chris and the girls.

The wedding was very large (over 500 people) so I'm sure we wouldn't have been missed if we weren't there but we had a good time and I (not Carl) enjoyed getting dressed up for a night.

Lucie was the flower girl and Audrey got to wear the same adorable dress although neither were very good at posing for me.

NYC

This past weekend, Devon, Haley, Nicole and I went to NY to cheer on Kelsey who was running her first marathon. I was actually there for work, to cheer on all Team LIVESTRONG runners, but it was extra special for me that I got to see Kelsey run, too.

She has trained so hard for this, during the roughest months in Austin. She's run at 4am, weekends, on treadmills and even 17 miles back and forth underneath the Mopac Bridge (1/3 mile each way) during a torrential (the one and only) rain storm last month.

So I had no doubt she could do it!

She'd entered into the NYC Marathon lottery for the past two years and this year she got in and raised money for LIVESTRONG. And she'd never been to NYC before! How perfect was this trip?

Not only did she finish it, she exceeded her goal, completing it in 4:46 - an amazing feat! It's always inspirational to watch marathoners, but even more so to watch a friend. She knew to look for us around mile 18 and the excitement on her face says it all. She felt great and looked great. Jim and I ran with her for about a mile to give her a pep talk and distraction. I like to think that really carried her through the finish.

So not only does Kelsey continue to inspire me, but all the marathoners do. I spoke the words aloud this weekend and I'll write them here. I will do a marathon before I'm 40. That gives me almost 5 years. While I don't think it'll be next year, I'll keep you posted on 2013.

Devon and I took an extra day in NYC to relax and shop. It was so relaxing (and clearly needed) that I had the following conversation following a pedicure:

Me: 'Devon, I'm sleepy but don't know why because I've gotten plenty of sleep.'

Devon: 'Are you just relaxed?'

Me: 'Huh?'

Devon: 'Have you forgotten how it feels to be relaxed?'

Me: 'It seems that way.'

So I now confusion relaxation and calmness with sleepiness. Clearly I need to find more ways to relax.....

Mindfulness Project - October Update

Even though October isn't quite over, it's very close to ending and the next few days will be busy so I thought I'd take time while I could to provide an update on my October goals. This month was focused on health and wellness. Specifically for me it included:

1. Beginning to run again
2. Meeting with a nutritionist
3. Getting a physical
4. Getting my annual dental cleaning

And just overall a focus on my emotional and physical health.

I feel like this was one of the best month's ever. I was super busy with work (traveled each week) but it was good to have such a specific focus.

I did start running again, slowly. Literally I am very slow and having to walk a lot, which is so sad because it wasn't that long ago that I ran a half marathon. But you have to start somewhere and with the temperatures cooling off, this is my favorite time of year to run.

I also decided to meet with a nutritionist. I've been toying with this idea for a number of years (I even had an initial consultation with her a few years ago). But lately I just haven't been feeling great. I've had upset stomachs, headaches and I'm not sleeping well and my acne was getting bad again!

So I met with Carly from Nutritional Wisdom who a number of my colleagues have worked with. She's pretty intense but also very direct. After my initial meeting with her and a lengthy discussion, we both agreed that I'm in good health but that clearly something I'm eating isn't agreeing with me. So I completed a two week detox where I couldn't have dairy, grains, alcohol or caffeine. And while it was tough at times, especially when I was on the road, overall I felt great and sleeping better.

I'm now on a two week maintenance plan where I can introduce some grains, some dairy (goat and sheep's milk) and have some wine. Which, to be honest, were some of the things I've missed the most. I've been enjoying drinking herbal tea instead of coffee (which I never thought I'd say) and I haven't missed sweets at all.

Over the course of this maintenance plan we'll track what I'm eating and see how different things make me feel. It's obvious that if you eat crap, you'll feel like crap but sometimes I just need a reminder.

I also went for a routine physical, which I hadn't done in years. I got my cholesterol tested and everything was all in normal range. Getting my teeth cleaned wasn't hard for me, but since it happened to fall into this month I figure I should get credit for it.

So all in all I feel great about this month. Not only b/c I did things that felt good for me but they are also sustainable and helpful for more than just this month.

Onto November, where my focus is on relationships.

Pumpkins

My mom visited last weekend and since I was out of town most of the weekend I only had one day to spend with her, Lucie and Audrey (and Carl). So Carl was the great boyfriend he always is and spent the day with the girls.

We went to a pumpkin patch (note: a church lawn with pumpkins) and then out to lunch. Lucie insisted on pulling Buster on his leash and I mean pulling! I think the poor dog has some whiplash but I think he still had fun.

Fall Breezes

So Fall seems to be slowly working its way into Austin. The nights are so much cooler (50s and 60s) and tolerable. The days are still a bit hit or miss. Some days have been heavenly with highs in the 70s but most days still seem to get up to the 80s and even 90. Sigh.

In anticipation of Fall, though, Carl took on another home project - installing screens in all our windows!

For some reason, the only window in my house that has a screen is the tiny kitchen one above the sink. Not anymore - now they all do!

I literally left town for a work trip and came home to new screens in all the windows that Carl built and installed. Yep, I'm a pretty lucky girl......

LIVESTRONG Challenge

Every year I participate in some capacity in our annual LIVESTRONG Challenge. It's our signature fundraising event and includes a run/walk and bike ride. I've been both a volunteer and participant. Each year I'm so impressed by my colleagues who put the event on and am honored to support them.

This year I both volunteered and ran the 5k (well, ran/walked it). It's a tradition that Devon and I do the 5k together (our runniversary) and I look forward to it every year. It's also the kick off to my training season each year. Specifically the LIVESTRONG half marathon in February.

It was also an especially poignant event for me as a colleague and friend of mine just lost her husband to cancer. He was only 37 and had been battling his disease for over 12 years. For some reason this loss hit me especially hard and I thought about them a lot during the event. Not only does participating in the Challenge make me so proud of where I work but it reminds me why I do the work I do.

Proud Auntie

Last week I went over to see Lucie and Audrey after work. I hadn't seen them in over a month, since we were all at the beach. I think that's the longest that I've gone ever! It makes me so sad how busy I've been and that there hasn't been as much time for them. Good news is that my mom is coming in town this weekend to watch them while Chris and Missy go out of town. Bad news is I'm gone most of that time. But I'll have all day Sunday with them.

Lucie is growing into such a little girl - in most of the good ways! She's talkative and sweet and playful and still says Buster is her best friend. She's also mastering potty training! What a big girl!

Audrey just turned one and, like clockwork, started to walk. She's more and more confident each time she waddles across the room and is still a snuggle bug and an amazing sleeper.

I love both these girls so much, it makes my heart ache when I don't see them for awhile. Hopefully as work and my travel slow down, I'll have even more time for them.

Mindfulness Project - September Update

Another month has flown by. While I'm so happy that the temperatures are finally cooling off and summer is looking to be behind us, I'm reminded of how fast time flies.

September's mindfulness goal was to focus on distractions. By this I mean, how I spend my time - at least in the ways that seem to be mindless, unnecessary or even unhealthy.

The things I think I do as distractions that I was looking to modify are:

1. constantly checking my phone - for emails, texts, phone calls, etc. While I don't text and drive, I do talk and drive and will text at red lights and both are unnecessary. Why are we so available all the time?
2. watch tv without purpose. I've done this less and less since starting to date Carl b/c he rarely watches tv but when he's out of town I fall back into my old habits.

To address the above two items I thought I'd try out the following things:
1. leave my phone in my purse or another room in the evenings, especially when Carl is home.
2. not talk on the phone when I'm driving.
3. not turn on the tv in the morning before work or after work, unless watching something I taped on my dvr.
4. turn on music instead of tv.

It was both a good and bad month to do this in b/c I had two vacations scheduled. My thought was that I'd be able to relax on those trips and not think about work. That didn't exactly work, especially on my first trip due to some unexpected deadlines. But working by the pool was still certainly much better than working at my desk.

During Sonoma I was able to disconnect. While I couldn't figure out how to turn email off on my phone, I practiced good will power and didn't work for 3 days.

I've done a good job with changing my tv habits, though (although I'm watching tv as I type this) but I no longer have it on (as background noise) in the mornings and have been listening to music instead when making dinner.

So while I didn't have any big goals for the month, I think I did ok. I'm glad that I am aware of what I use as distractions and will continue to monitor them and try to change them.

Fall Planting

Austin is finally getting some Fall weather. Sadly, Fall around here still means 90s during the day but some cool overnight temps in the 60s. And because daylight hours are shortening, it's not hot for as long and you can actually eat dinner outside (which we did both nights this weekend). Apparently it also makes our garden happy!

For the past 3 weeks our garden has really taken on a rejuvenated life. We thought we were done. That the hot, hot summer had taken its toll on our little garden and we'd peaked in June. Turns out, we were wrong!

Over the course of the past 3 weeks, we've had a resurgence. We had only 2 eggplants all summer but now we have 10 in bloom! Our green peppers and jalapenos are also coming back to life. The herbs have never really suffered so those are still doing great. The biggest news is that our tomato plants have turned out over 30 new tomatoes and more are growing as I type this!

So while I have visions of future eggplant parmesan and pico de gallo, we're making the most of our tomato situation. Last week, we (mostly Carl) made tomato sauce with the tomatoes and herbs from our garden and we finally got around to eating it last night. It was delicious!

We're now planning our Fall garden, which will include beets, onions, lettuce and spinach. We're getting a little bit of a late start and using seeds so wish us luck!

Mindfulness Project Update

Even though it's almost the end of September, I never gave an official update on how my August 'mindfulness' activities went. I was focused on time. Mostly I thought about how I spend and organize my time.

I'm sure most of you know that I'm a pretty organized person but I also tend to over commit myself. I see that I'm free one night so I make plans - rather than looking at the big picture of the entire week and realizing that was my one night free. While I love being busy and social, I equally love having some alone time and down time - when I can just be.

August was a great month to try out some of these new strategies since I was around most of the month. There was one entire week that I did nothing social after work, which is rare for me. Instead I tried to focus on getting things done around the house, which I'm not always great at during the week. I tend to save my chores and errands for weekends, when I have more time. I'm also so tired when I get home from work after a typical 10 hour work day that I just don't want to do anything. I may take a look at my never ending to-do list but immediately feel overwhelmed with how much there is to do and too tired to do any of it.

My friend, Jess, suggested that I just set up realistic goals for myself. That I pick one item on the list and just do that. Then I'll feel both accomplished and slowly chip at my to-do list so my weekend isn't busy with all that I need to get done.

In many ways, this goes against the sort of person I am. Not that I'm all or nothing but I do like to maximize my time and pride myself on being efficient. So, typically, if I'm not going to get 'a lot' done then I'll just put it off to when I can get 'a lot' done. Crazy, huh?

But I was willing to try it and I found that it was just as rewarding! I could get one thing done in a given night (laundry, iron, pay bills, blog) and then it was one less thing I 'had' to do over the weekend. I'm still trying to employ this strategy on a regular basis.

I also created a family calendar for Carl, me and Buster (yes, even Buster has things on the calendar). I use my work (Outlook) calendar for pretty much everything but I've also maintained a paper based calendar for largely just social events. But with a new addition to my family (Carl), who also happens to travel so much I wanted to find a way to put all of the social and travel items in one place.

So I created a Google calendar that we can both access and update. To be honest, I know I'll primarily update it but I'm ok with that as long as he uses it and references it when making plans - and he does! The first time he told me he looked at the calendar to make a plan, I was so happy! It's win-win. I still get to plan and he gets to reap those benefits. But we also have an easy way that references where we are and when. So far, I'm still using this and loving it.

So, while it wasn't as busy of a goal as my July financial month had been, I feel good about what I accomplished.

I'll report back on September soon. Sadly, I'm not too pleased with myself but there is still a week left. Wish me luck!

Sonoma

My stretch of vacations and birthday celebrations has come to an end. While I'm sad to see them end, I'm also happy to get back to a normal life, with semi-regular work hours, not drinking every day and exercising regularly.

Sonoma was my final big trip for the year. It was planned months (maybe even years) ago with Jess to celebrate our respective birthdays. Not only was the trip amazing and beautiful, but it was so great to spend 4 days with Jess - something we've never done before!

After an early flight and a beautiful drive up the coast to West Sonoma where we were staying, we spent the next few days eating good food, drinking good wine, enjoying cool mornings, sitting by the pool, drinking more good wine and going to bed very early.

In many ways, the wine country was everything I thought it would be - beautiful, great temps and relaxing. We treated ourselves to massages one day and a driver one day so we could partake in all the wine tastings we want. Turns out, 5 in one day is more than enough for us. By the fifth place you can't really discern if you're drinking good wine anymore.

With over 300 wineries in the area we stayed in, we decided to focus on some of the smaller, more boutique-like wineries and vineyards. Big estate ones aren't really our speed and since we had a limited time, you just need to choose.

Luckily, Jess and I travel well together and had similar ideas of how to spend our days and nights - going to bed by 10 most nights, up around 7 and then a full day of activities. While I really hope I go back one day, I'll always remember this trip fondly. Now time for a detox......

Note: I'm having trouble uploading pictures but will try again later.

Continued Celebrations

I'm lucky enough that I had multiple birthday celebrations. After the yummy dinner with Jen and Sue some friends and I got together for a happy hour on my birthday proper. After some failed attempts at bars (either closed or had private events going on), we ended up at Takoba, a local Mexican place. The drinks were tasty and the company was even better.

After drinks and apps, Carl and I went out to dinner, just the two of us to Green Pastures. It's a historic restaurant in Austin that I'd never been to before. They're mostly known for hosting weddings and for the peacocks that roam their land. The food was really good, too!

I then left the next morning for the next 11 days. First, I had some work travel, where Carl flew to meet me. We then drove to Corolla, NC to meet my family for a week's vacation. I wish I had taken more pictures but these were the only ones worthy of posting. It was a relaxing time with my family and great for Carl to get to know them better. Despite the fact that I worked more than I'd like on on vacation, I got in plenty of pool and some beach time, ate great seafood and enjoyed loving on my nieces.

Later this week, for my final birthday celebration (now this just sounds silly), Jess and I are going to Sonoma, CA for 4 days. While I'm very excited to be home now, I'm equally as excited for that trip!

35 Years Young

So I'm turning 35 on Tuesday. While it's hard to believe and I'm not sure what I thought I'd feel or expect overall I'm very grateful. I have a life that I love and great people to share it with.

Last night was the first of several upcoming birthday celebrations. Sadly, I had a stomach flu earlier this week so this was my first venture out with real food in days. I both wanted to enjoy my meal and not push my luck.

So, Jen, Sue and I went to Parkside - a place I've been wanting to try for a long time. For the past 4 years, Sue, Jen, Haley, Devon and I get together once a month for what we affectionately call 'MGD' (Monthly Girls Dinner). It's a way for us to try to ensure we see each other on a regular basis and get to try new restaurants - some of our favorite things. It's always the last Friday of the month - sometimes all of us make it and sometimes it's just a few of us. But no matter what it's always a great time.

If your birthday happens to fall in that month (and, surprisingly our birthdays are all in different months) then you get to pick the restaurant.

So thanks to Sue and Jen for kicking off my birthday celebrations this year! Today I am especially grateful for the wonderful friends I have - near and far.

All Grown Up

This past weekend my mom was in town to watch Lucie and Audrey while Chris and Missy went on a much deserved vacation together.

It's hard to believe that Lucie is 2 1/2 now and Audrey is 10 months! Time sure flies by.....

While I spend a lot of time with the girls, I often spend more with Lucie - taking her places, playing with her, etc. Audrey is growing and discovering so much right now, though, that it was great to get so much quality time with her. She's such a chill baby and so easy going. She's this close to walking, too - taking up to 5 steps on her own.

Carl was also an amazing boyfriend throughout the weekend and spent much of his free time with us - playing with Lucie, cooking for my mom, going out to lunch with the 'girls. In case I wasn't certain before, I am now - he's a great guy and I plan to keep him around.

For your enjoyment, here are some pictures. Some of the best parts of the weekend were realizing that, in this exact order, who Lucie loves the most is Buster, Carl then Tia Mellie. Ah well, at least I'm on the list. Buster is her best friend after all.

Thanks to my mom for coming in town. It's always great to see her and get to spend quality time with her. I'm glad she got to know Carl better, too. Next up - family vacation at the beach. Assuming Hurricane Irene doesn't ruin that.

Also, I'll soon have an update on my August 'mindfulness project' goals - so stick around. I promise it won't be 3 more weeks without an update.

My Mindfulness Project

I recently read The Happiness Project. For those who have read 'Eat, Pray, Love' - it's like that but for normal people. A woman is on a quest to optimize her happiness so for an entire year she focuses on one aspect of her life per month and seeks to increase her happiness.

Now I love a project and goal setting and while I didn't love everything about this book, I can relate to wanting to improve things in your life. But I feel happy. In fact I think I'm the happiest I've ever been and can't imagine what could make me happier.

But I do think I could learn to focus on and improve a few areas of my life. So I'm coining this my 'mindfulness project'. Where I focus on one topic area in my life each month that I want to pay extra attention to. There is no failing - it's simply that I focus on creating opportunities for improvement.

And by telling you all (my 4 adoring fans) it holds me accountable to them.

So for the last 6 months of 2011, I'll focus on the following:

July - finances
August - time/calendar
September - distractions
October - health/wellness
November - relationships
December - traditions

At the end of each month, I'll let you all know how things went. So, since it's the last day of July, and my last day to focus on finances, I'm happy (mindful?) to report that I had a successful month!

For the first time in my life, I feel good financially. I've spent many, many years living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes even beyond my means. Between a few promotions and raises and sharing expenses with someone, I'm doing quite well.

So how do I ensure that I'm saving appropriately, in the right places and for the right things.

Carl is very good with money and has a lot more knowledge about things like money markets and IRAs. He was so helpful in guiding me into some good decisions that not only made me feel good about what I'm doing with my money day-to-day but also what I'm doing to plan for our future and retirement.

So, here's the recap:

1. Opened a money market account
2. Opened a Roth IRA
3. Got a new credit card (that will actually reward me with something)
4. Began storing documents on Carl's computer, which we will now share
5. Created a monthly budget
6. Update my will

Ok, so #6 hasn't been done yet but I'm working on it tonight. I created a will in 2006 and needed to update it but the software I created it with wouldn't work so I bought new software. It's sitting next to me right now, just waiting.....

And since this project isn't about failures, I'll be happy when I get it done, no matter when that is (but hopefully tonight).

So while I'm not seeking increased happiness, I will say that it made me pretty happy to make these changes. It was an investment in mine and Carl's future as well and it was great to have a month to actively focus on that.

Next up is time and calendars - specifically how I best manage my time outside of work ensuring I make time for Carl, myself, friends, family and Buster. I'll let you know how it goes.....

Heat Wave

Austin is (once again) having record heat this summer. Every year I either forget or I'm in denial about how hot it gets here - and for how long. Summer came upon us super quickly this year. Last I checked, we've had over 40 days above 100 degrees so far. And the sad thing is that we have at least 2 more months of summer left.

Some of the only things that keep you cool in the Austin summers are cold drinks (margaritas please!), swimming and air conditioning......

And mine broke. Again. For the third time in less than 2 years my AC broke. I came home from babysitting Lucie and Audrey one night last week to a warmer house. I slept in it that night (it was tolerable) but that couldn't last.

Luckily I have Carl and a warranty. Carl tried to fix it but couldn't. So I called my warranty company and they came out on Saturday morning. Turns out, it was all part of a bigger problem. Luckily, it could be fixed and I didn't have to pay a dime. Unluckily, a part had to be ordered and it wasn't going to be fixed until today. Luckily, Carl just bought a condo!

So we moved to the condo for the weekend. It's close to downtown (and my work) and where I think we'll live in the next couple of years. For now, we're renting it out (to a fellow colleague) but no one has moved in yet so we got to camp out there for a few days. While we didn't have all of our home amenities, it was fun! I'd wanted to do this at some point anyway.

So while I'm happy to be back at home doing laundry and sitting on my couch (yes, I look forward to super lame things), I enjoyed our weekend at the condo and it made me excited to live there one day.

So while the hot, hot summer continues I am grateful for air conditioning, pools and margaritas, of course!

Details, Details....

Several of you have mentioned to me (several times) that I needed to update the description of my blog because I describe myself as a 'single girl'.

Of course this isn't true anymore but it was true when I started this blog. So while I wasn't resistant to change this (love you, Carl....) it was part of the establishment of my blog.

I've gotten over that and made a simple update that will hopefully appease my adoring fans.

DIY: Haircut

Not for me but for Buster.

Buster has hair; not fur. And he doesn't shed, which is glorious. But it means his hair gets long and wiry and matted and he has to get it cut every 6 weeks or so - even more often in the hot Texas summers.

For the past two years I've been paying someone to cut it but in Carl's infinite ability to try anything, he suggested we start cutting it on our own. Sure. Why not?

I bought some clippers (still cheaper than the cost of one haircut) and we gave him a bath and cut away. Turns out, Buster has a lot of hair!

So, on his worst days, especially after spending time with Carl at his land (swimming, rubbing his face in dirt, more swimming...) he looks like this:

After a lovely haircut:

He now looks like this:

Vacation #2

This year I'm scheduled to take more vacation than I've ever taken in a year - almost 4 weeks! We have a flexible vacation policy (note: none) but in general we're expected not to take more than 4 weeks. Granted, I've traveled for work on weekends and worked at night so I'm certain I'm still not taking a full 4 weeks. But it still makes me feel guilty, which is ridiculous.

This vacation was to Puerto Rico. A friend of Carl's from college was getting married there so we decided to make a vacation of it since neither of us had been before. One adorable anecdote is that Carl asked me to go to this wedding after we'd only been dating for 3 weeks. I was, of course, thrilled, but at the time July seemed so far away. Crazy how time flies.....

Suffice it to say that Puerto Rico wasn't really on my short list of places to travel too. I was still excited to go but I didn't have super high expectations that the food, culture or weather would astound me. And while yes, none of those things were super amazing, we had a great time. It was a relaxing trip to say the least and I managed to sleep in until after 10 one morning!

The first day was mostly spent traveling there. It's much further away then you'd think and nothing is easy to get to from Austin. That night we met some of his friends for drinks and dinner and even went dancing. Yes, Carl danced....and seemed to enjoy himself. It was a the first in a series of late nights.

Day 2 was July 4 and the rehearsal dinner. We had breakfast at the hotel, sitting on the beach and then hit the road to check out Old San Juan. We didn't make it far because it was a holiday and many of the roads were closed into town due to parades and fireworks. So we turned around and spent the afternoon at the beach and pool until the rehearsal dinner.

Day 3 was the wedding day but not until 7pm. We hit the road, again, for Old San Juan and had more success this time. We had breakfast, went to the Bacardi Factory, checked out the town, including a fort and cemetery ate more and came back to the hotel. The Bacardi Factory was an interesting experience though. The best part about it was that the tour was free and you got two free drinks as well. The worst is that it took forever and was kind of lame. But I'm glad we did it.

The wedding was that night and a lot of fun. Up until this point, we'd been less than impressed with the food we ate - a lot of meat and cheese and seafood but all overcooked and flavorless. This all changed at the reception. This might have been some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding - lamp chops and prosciutto wrapped sea bass - and a coffee bar and cookies for dessert options. And the reception was a blast - lots of dancing (yes, Carl danced again - in fact all of the men were dancing sans shirts for most of the night because it was so hot).

Day 4 was ultra lazy day. We slept in, ate a late breakfast, took a nap, sat by the pool, rested some more and went out to dinner just the two of us. Up until this point we'd been with friends most of the time. It was nice to go on a date and we had a delicious meal downtown. Easily some of the best food I've ever had. Good to know that Puerto Rico has it in them. It just isn't a guarantee. Despite sleeping in, we were asleep early in order to get up early the next morning.

Day 5 took us to Vieques Island - a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. After several hours of being delayed due to rain, we took a small (8 passenger) plane to the island. Carl and me along with 5 other couples rented a house there for 2 days. The house was super nice, with lots of amenities and was in walking distance to a market and restaurants. We did rent cars, though, and on the first day we drove to the other side of the island and had lunch at this amazing hotel. This was by far the rainiest day we had but it was nice to sit and watch the storms roll in while we were safely protected in the hotel. The weather cleared up and we went to one of the many small beaches on the island. After refueling on pizza we went on a night time kayaking tour of Mosquito Bay, which is known for the bioluminescent species that live there. We swam in the water for awhile, watching the bioluminescence appear around us, moving with our own body movements. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done and I know my description doesn't give it justice.

The tour itself was interesting. The tour guide was about 18 and the whole experience was pretty hilarious - nothing like if you'd go on a tour in the States. No waivers were signed, we road in the back of pick up trucks, we swam without life vests. Again, nothing that would ever happen in the States but it was fun, made for some good laughs and certainly was pretty laid back.

Our last full day arrives. We all decided to spend the day at the house because it's so amazing. After a big breakfast, we spent all day in the pool - reading, playing dominoes (my latest obsession), eating and drinking (rum and coke of course). We did make it out for dinner and promptly all came back for more pool and dominoes games.

And then it was time to go. Another early start and a long travel day brought us home last night - to a happy dog, tremendous heat, a garden waiting for us and one more day off before going back to work.

I had a great time on another vacation with Carl and loved meeting and spending time with his friends. As always, there were some memorable things from the trip (and PR) that I'd like to share:

1. Puerto Rico appears to be stuck in 1982 - between the rat tail haircuts and clothing they are a bit behind in trends and fashion

2. The weather - well, despite it being only 86 degrees every day it felt hotter than Austin. The humidity was gross and it rained (or looked like it was going to rain) every day. Such is the life on a Caribbean island I suppose

3. Rum, rum, and more rum. Clearly with the Bacardi Factory on the island, they love their rum. But they also love their 'Gasolina' drinks - picture a capri sun container with red bull and other disgusting concoctions

Even though Puerto Rico wasn't my most favorite place to visit (I mean I do live only a few hours from Mexico) I'll miss the vacation life style. But don't worry, in two more months I'll have another one.

Garden Updates

On Sunday we made the most of our garden and made the following meal:

Eggplant and chicken parmesan: eggplant, basil and oregano from our garden

Bruschetta: tomatoes from our garden

Pesto: basil from our garden

Mojitos: mint from our garden

It's so fun to use items that we've grown to make food! Our lone potato is starting to grow and the swiss chard seems to still be holding on. Our peppers may be stunted at their current size and we have another 10 tomatoes ready to be eaten. All in all, not bad for a small garden like ours!

My Buster, Your Buster

I babysat Lucie and Audrey the other night. When I walked up to their house, Missy told me that Lucie was so excited to see I brought Buster with me. She LOVES Buster (who she used to call 'tee tee'). I think he reminds her of one of her stuffed animals. In fact, I know that's what he reminds her of....

As I walked in the house, she promptly shows me her small, white stuffed animal that she has named 'my Buster'. She pointed to Buster and said, 'your Buster' and then to her stuffed animal and said, 'my Buster'.

So adorable.......

Since Buster recently became a dog with only 3 teeth (yes, 3 teeth), the fact that Lucie loves him unconditionally makes my heart melt.

Shed Complete (I think?)

Today I (finally) finished painting the shed. Turns out, it was a much bigger under taking than I imagined.

Kelsey helped me get started a few weeks ago, I did some work on my own and then Jess helped me with the finishing touches today. Needless to say, this would have taken twice as long without their help and I'm not sure I could have survived that. Between the heat and hand cramps, I feel like such a wimp but painting is hard work!

I'm proud of how it turned out although I had hoped the green would be a little darker. It's a little mintier than I wanted but there is no way I'm doing a second coat.

So what's next? Well, we'll continue to eat the fruits (er, veggies) of our garden and begin to work on building out a patio area near the shed.

We (er, Carl) also bought a condo that we'll lease out. At least for now. It's really close to my work (literally I can walk to work) but our current plan is to stay in my house and eventually move into this condo and then build a house out in Dripping Springs on the land he has out there.

Owning multiple homes wasn't necessarily part of where I thought my life would head. But that's probably because there's no way I could afford to do that alone.

It's fun to have a cool, modern condo and think about what it will be like (one day) for us to live in there.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy our mint green shed:

Livin' Off The Land

Ok, we're not really living off our garden now BUT we are getting creative with what we do.

We have so much basil and mint (anybody need any?) that we had to do something with it.

So we made pesto and mint syrup (thanks to Ken's idea) this past weekend. I plan to freeze some of the mint syrup in ice cube trays so you have ready to drink mojitos (just add rum and club soda) and the pesto we're going to eat this Friday with some gnocchi, fresh mozzarella and some of our tomatoes.

I'm guessing our eggplants will be ready to eat next week so I'm sure we'll grill them and/or make some eggplant parm. And our green peppers are coming along nicely.

Road Trip

Carl and I took our first vacation together this past week. While we were in Marfa a couple of months ago we decided to take a week long road trip to New Mexico. Both because I'd never been and he's been a lot and wanted to show me some of his favorite spots.

Neither of us had been to Taos, though, so we decided to start the trip there and then head south to some of Carl's favorite camping and climbing spots.

I took notes during the trip so I wouldn't forget the details but there is no way this blog will live up to the actual experience. So many of the details won't be as amusing to others but Carl and I crack ourselves up so we had a great time.

Brace yourself. This post is a doozie.

Day 1 started with a 13 hour drive to Taos. I (of course) brought along many hours of car ride entertainment - audio books, crosswords, book of questions and snacks aplenty. Miraculously the long drive went by quickly. We got to Taos around dinner time and got food from a local restaurant that Kelsey and her parents recommended.

Day 2 was spent being lazy in the morning - sleeping in, making breakfast and planning our day. We decided to hike up Taos ski valley and picked a short 7.5 mile round trip hike. This may be the most intense hike I've ever done. Not only because we started at 9000 feet elevation (and climbed over 2500 more) and my breath was harder to catch but it was steep and windy.

It was a beautiful hike and Carl was very patient with my need to take many breaks. I almost stopped about 50 feet short of the top because I was just so tired but I pushed through (mostly because Carl was going to go with or without me) and I'm so glad I did. The hike took us over 4 hours and we were pretty worn out that night. We went out for a nice dinner and were asleep by 10ish (a theme throughout most of the trip).

Day 3 led us out of Taos after stopping in town for some coffee. We drove through Santa Fe and made a quick stop in Albuquerque at REI and Whole Foods to stock up on camping, climbing and food supplies.

We got to The Enchanted Tower around 6pm and set up camp. Now I've been camping before. In fact I lived in a tent for almost 2 months in Americorps but we had bathrooms and showers accessible. This was a bit more primitive. We had to pump and filter our own water from a cow trough, shower outdoors by letting the water heat up in a sun shower and there were no bathrooms to speak of. I was prepared for this so it didn't bother me. What I wasn't prepared for was the mass amounts of flies and wannabees (our names for the flies who look like bees but are really just more annoying flies).

Day 4 started after a great night of sleeping in the tent with a cool breeze. We slept in and got up to make coffee, bacon and eggs. This is when the flies and wannabees swarmed in. There were so many it got to be comical - watching Carl and I use our flip flops to swat them away. During this time I managed to spill hot coffee on myself (twice) and get stung by a bee. I was pretty close to tears of frustration but was really trying to stay positive.

We packed up our stuff and began our hike up to the climbing spots. I'm still trying to stay positive and focus on making the most of the day. The fact that there were less flies at the higher altitude of climbing helped my mood but it still took me awhile to bounce back.

I've only climbed a few other times and still have a lot to learn. There's so much about climbing that's mental. Clearly you need physical strength too but you need to understand how it works and get past your own fears. Carl was (as usual) very patient with me - even when I wouldn't even look him in the eyes because I was trying to (not very successfully) fight back tears.

I managed to bounce back from my sour mood (which I think Carl was most appreciative of) and got a good last climb in, improved my skills in belaying him so he could have a few good climbs and had another early night to bed after hot dogs, apple sauce and cookies for dinner (yep, we ate like 5 year olds).

Day 5 started much better - less flies due to our much earlier wake up. We both love leisurely mornings with many cups of coffee and good breakfasts. So mornings have always been a great time for us to spend together.

We decided, since we were having an early start to our day, that we'd leave this camp spot a day early after an afternoon of more climbing. This day of climbing was so much better! I did two climbs right away without the hesitation, fear and insecurities I had from the day before. I was so proud of myself and loved how proud Carl was of me. He then, once again, had an amazing climb. He is so confident and skilled in climbing that I love watching him do it - everything from the process of how he'll do it to watching him actually succeed. His dedication is pretty inspirational.

So we hit the road in the early afternoon with the plan of driving about 5 hours to the next camp site in Sitting Bull Falls in Lincoln National Park.

Unfortunately we didn't make it. We knew there had been a terrible fire in the park in late April and was temporarily closed. It remains closed 6 weeks later so we tried to come up with an alternate plan. Then the lightning and heavy rain set in. At this point, we're near Carlsbad, NM and it's 10pm. We can either stay in a hotel or persevere and drive through the night. After a quick meal at Sonic (and a jump start from a local) we decided to drive straight home - an approximately 8 hour drive.

Carl did most of the driving but thanks to an audio book, some delirium and good music, we got home safely at 7:30am. We crashed out for a few hours and now get an entire weekend in Austin before going back to work on Monday.

While the day by day recap gives you all the details of what we did, where we went and how far we drove (almost 1900 miles), it wouldn't be me if I didn't summarize the most memorable parts of the trip with a list:

1.our first food stop in Lampasas and being served by a woman wearing blue glitter eye shadow (at 8am)

2. playing the longest game of trival pursuit (90s edition) EVER

3. drinking the smallest espresso ever at a restaurant in Taos

4. going to bed before sunset

5. hearing a bear (and later having nightmares that I heard many other animals)

6. stopping at Camel Rock outside of Taos (trust me - it's not worth the stop)

7. the names of the towns we passed (I can't write them without offending someone)

8. the morning that I spilled coffee, was stung by a bee and surrounded by flies - all within 5 minutes of waking up

9. car games that included 'listography: your life in lists', which was a gift from Jess. My love of lists actualized. Carl may have rolled his eyes but he willingly participated.

10. eating sea salt and vinegar chips - a staple in mine and Carl's diet, especially on road trips

After spending almost an entire week together with some days where we had no contact with any other people, I think it's safe to say we not only got along, but we didn't get sick of each other. But I think we're both happy to be home, out of the car for a bit and using plumbing again.
Our next vacation is only 4 weeks away, though, so I can't complain too much about going back to work. Maybe just a little.....