Where In The World Is Mellie?

I've been a bit of a slacker lately on writing blog posts. But it's certainly not because I don't have plenty to write about.  I've just hardly been home.

In the past 10 days I've been the following places.  Austin to Los Angeles to Santa Barbara back to Los Angeles to Austin.  Then Austin to Baltimore to Norfolk to Chicago and back to Austin.  Finally Austin to Chicago and back to Austin.

In between all this travel I've had to try to keep up with work and plan our wedding, which is less than 4 weeks away now. Carl wasn't traveling during this time so while it was sad we weren't both in Austin together I was happy to know he was home with Buster and the chickens.

Oh, the chickens. Sadly I have a Barley update. After a few days of not returning home (again), Carl confirmed his suspicion that she was nesting under the shed and found her little body and over a dozen eggs.  Sadly the eggs were no good and Barley was no longer for this world.  So then there were 4 chickens, 2 of which are now laying eggs.

While a lot of these trips have been work related I did enjoy a long weekend in Santa Barbara with Chris, Missy, Lucie and Audrey.  It was beautiful and we enjoyed lots of great sunsets and time in the pool.

So now I'm home (and so is Carl for some of the time!) until October 10, which will be my last work travel before the wedding.  So the countdown to the wedding and the much awaited honeymoon continues.

Dogs

When Max was still alive, part of my daily (actually twice daily) routine was taking him on walks.  I did this before and after work. Every day.  And I loved it.  It was so much a part of my routine.

For some reason I never got into this habit with Buster. I'm not sure if it's because when I first got Buster he had leg surgery and had activity limitations for 6 weeks. Or maybe I didn't feel ready to share that experience with Buster so soon after Max. Or maybe I just got lazy?

I certainly know I got busier.  I never had to walk Max in the dark before work because I got to work later. I'm often leaving my house before it's light out now so I'm not sure when I would do this.

But every so often I do walk Buster.  And he loves it! It makes him so happy.  Instead of walking him every day he gets to do different things than Max ever did. He goes to doggy daycare once/week and goes out with Carl on adventures in Dripping Springs (and really all over). He's even been camping all over Texas.

Sometimes I can't believe that I've actually  had Buster longer than Max.  Max will always hold a special place in my heart (and on our bookshelf where his ashes are). He'll always be my first dog.  But I love Buster very much and he's such a happy dog. Especially when I walk him, which I did yesterday.

We went for a 45 minute walk after work because the weather has been so amazing lately.  He loved it (let's be honest, he loves going in the car regardless of where we end up) and I loved it afterwards when he slept for hours.

Runaway Chicken

So I'm pretty pleased that we're still getting about one egg/day. It's impossible to tell which chicken is laying them (although we suspect Patricia).  We can tell you one thing for sure - it's not Barley.

How would I know you might ask?

Well, because Barley seems to have found another home. Some days. Most nights.

It's unclear what she is doing but let me tell you how this was all discovered.

Last week both Carl and I were out of town for a night and our neighbors put the chickens away one night. When they put them in their coup, they noticed there were only 4 and Barley was missing. After some searching and coming back the next morning, she was nowhere to be found.

Carl got home the next day and looked for her more (in the rain) and another night passed without her coming home.

I feared the worst and felt very emotional about it.

Then the next day, Carl texted me a picture that she had returned home! I was surprised and relieved and curious - what had she done for 2 nights?

Well, shortly after her return (literally just a few hours), she was gone, again. And was gone all weekend.

And, you guessed it, she showed back up today (she is the all black one below). Just in time to eat it seems. 

So now I'm just annoyed.  I have no idea what she is doing.  Carl is now suspicious that she's actually created a nest for herself under the shed because he saw her go under there one day.  I tried to look and see if there were any eggs (which would of course be annoying if there is a pile of eggs under there) and couldn't see anything.

Long story short.  Barley is a trouble maker but I still want her to come home.

Breakfast Anyone?

I have been waiting to say (or type) these words for months....We have eggs!

Finally, some of the chickens started laying eggs and I am ecstatic (I almost typed eggstatic on purpose but then thought it was cheesy but I sort of couldn't resist anyway).

Our five chickens turn 6 months old next week but since they turned 4 months old (which is typically the earliest chickens will lay eggs) I have been anxiously awaiting this day.  Due to the heat and the fact that they are less likely to lay eggs during extreme temperatures, I was trying to be patient.

So today when I went to let them out in the morning and saw two brown, perfect looking eggs I screamed.  I literally was jumping up and down in our yard like I'd just won a game show.  I even scared Buster a little bit.

So while it's hard to tell if one or two of them have finally started taking some action, I'm hoping that they will soon all follow suit since they all seem to do the same thing all the time already.

We've been collecting empty egg cartons for months and finally got to use one of them today to put the two little eggs in.  I'll wait to eat them with Carl when he gets home this weekend and hopefully we'll be able to share other eggs with our friends and neighbors who have part of the chicken stock.

Luckily for these chickens this happened.  Carl was threatening them with chicken soup and rotisserie chicken warnings.  Whatever works! I just hope the 104 degree day we had today won't put a stop to their production.

Happy Birthday Mellie

As someone who typically loves my birthday it certainly didn't feel like as big a deal this year.  It may be because the entire month leading up to it I spent celebrating with friends. It could also just mean that I'm getting older and 36 isn't nearly as fun as 26. But it sure does feel better than I thought it would.

I'm not sure what I thought my life would be like now but I really have no complaints (accept the occasional headache after too much wine).  Overall I have a great fiance, great friends, wonderful family, a job I love (which is also part of some of the headaches noted above) and a lot to be happy about.

So after a relaxing day off of work including a facial and pedicure, I went to dinner with Carl, Jess and Ken.  I didn't even have cake or blow out any candles and we were in bed by 10:30.

But the big celebration was going to San Antonio for the weekend with Carl. While it was certainly my birthday weekend (and Carl pretty willingly let me milk that all weekend) it was mostly an excuse to relax and spend 3 full days with Carl, which hasn't happened in months.

And relaxing we did! From the moment we go there, we did a lot of sitting around - sitting on the bed (as you can see here), drinking wine, sitting by the pool drinking cocktails, sitting in inner tubes enjoying the lazy river.  I also squeezed in a massage and we slept 9-10 hours each night.  I'd say we enjoyed the down time for sure.

We did manage to write our wedding ceremony and go for a run one morning so we weren't completely lazy the entire time.


It was so important to me to have that time with Carl and, as we joked, when going to sleep back at home, that won't happen again until our honeymoon. Which is just 8 weeks away!

My Happy Place....

Many of my friends know how much I love Anthropologie. While I may not always love the price tags I love the clothes and enjoy the Anthropologie shopping experience so much.  In a recent dinner with some girlfriends we listed things that make us happy. Sure enough, Anthropologie was on mine.  So, when Jen, Devon, Sue, Haley, Kelsey, Missy and Nicole got together to begin to plan my Austin shower it quickly rose to the top of the list as the perfect choice.

And perfect it was!  Every little detail came together so well and I loved the entire experience.  Of course once I knew it was going to be at Anthropologie I had to get a dress from there. Little did I know how much shopping would happen that day, too.

In top of all the usual shower things - games, mimosas, delicious food and gifts - there were some extra special details as well.  The water bottles had labels that matched the shower invitations, there were cookies as party favors, also with matching labels and I got a personal shopper! While the store supplied a personal shopper for me, many of my friends took on this role as well and there were lots of clothes tried on and purchased. And not just for me!

I've never been to a bridal shower where I've been naked so much but the mimosas and having such great friends helped!  It was extra special to me that my mom, nieces and future sister-in-laws got to be there, too.

As I've already described - I feel like such a lucky girl and this is just one more reason I feel so grateful for all my friends have done for me - this year and always.   The monogrammed caftans (hooded robes featured above) were only a small way that I could think to thank my giflfriends.

After a month of celebrations it's time for a bit of a quiet month, though.  Carl and I are starting a 2 week detox and I'd like to get my exercise and eating routine back on track.  While there is plenty to do for the wedding this month I'm so happy to be able to look back on all the exciting things that have already happened to celebrate Carl and me.