Super cute DIY from Etsy

3 Etsy prints for $48 plus shipping from Australia.

 Super cute DIY pictures inspired by Etsy.

We are doing a forest theme for Merrick's nursery mainly because we wanted to keep the deer motif going. With under 3 months until show time, I really needed to dive into nursery decorations otherwise baby would probably be staring at a big yellow wall forever. I was browsing online and came across an Etsy page with the most adorable bear, owl, and deer pictures for a nursery. I was turned off my the price, but completely in love with the images. I decided to go to make a plan and head to Hobby Lobby.

I analyzed the patterns and colors of the animals and bought the corresponding paper. I chose the foam letters with a sticky backing, and they turned out great. The originals from Etsy are 11x14, and mine are 8x10, so I couldn't do the large and small fonts. Plus, I didn't find two patterns of letters that I liked together. 

I started Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday morning. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. On Monday Hobby Lobby's picture frames when on sale, so I bought three funky styled ones. I also found a beautiful forest poster that I had matted and framed, and the blue, green, and orange papers bring out the same colors in the poster. I'm so excited, but the only problem is how do I position everything on the big yellow wall? Wah-waw...

Disc Golf

Last weekend we went to a nearby park we had not visited before because they had a disc golf range there. We borrowed 2 discs from our neighbor and went to try something new together. I wasn't feeling all that well that day, and wanted to practice before taking on the course. I learned a very important lesson. I suck at throwing a frisbee and have no aim whatsoever.

Marshall and I decided we would try the course another time, and instead we just chased after each other's frisbees. I was about 25 minutes, then it started to drizzle, and we went home. We had fun just being outdoors together. I think I'm going to go to Academy, a local sporting goods store, and pick up a decent frisbee or 2 that we can use to do that again. :D

Fondue Fever

Sunday the 12th was my February Fondue Fiesta that I was hosting at my house for my girlfriends from work and Meetup. Of the 9 ladies who RSVP'd, 2 showed up on time, and 1 had told me she was coming late because she had a previous commitment that was going to interfere. 2 other girls later told me about their unforeseen circumstances on their absence, and I understood, moreover, I really appreciated them letting me know that they just didn't blow me off.

I prepared enough fondue for 12 people although I only cooked up enough for us 4 who got to enjoy it. I'm able to use all the left overs, but now I have 4 milk chocolate bars in my baking cabinet that I need to make sure I do not tap in to out of boredom or cravings.

I was envisioning a vibrant party with lots of laughter, conversation, delicious food and wine. I was sad it didn't turn out that way even though my three guests all said they had a good time. I think I'm going to take a break from party planning for a while.

Food Poisoning

I'll keep this short since I've been talking about it all week. On Monday I filled Donny up with 11 gallons of gas from the Texaco that is about 4 blocks from my house. Immediately he started having engine problems. Natasha is still snoozing in the garage, so Marshall got a ride from our neighbors to my office to take a look at what was causing Donny to misbehave. We determined I must have gotten bad gas from the Texaco. He was able to drain 5 gallons, then add 5 fresh gallons (from a Chevron). It must have diluted the bad gas enough to allow the engine to continue running. We were finally able to drive home.

Today's Marshall plan is buy 5 gallons of gas from that Chevron, then drain out Donny's tank completely. Fill it back up with 5 gallons, and hopefully he'll be all better. Cross your fingers! I'm so tired of car troubles!!

Chocolate Fire

I used a paid sick day today because I had a routine doctor's appointment this morning at 9:15. I find that when I come into work after 10:30, the day seems more chaotic because I have to catch up 2.5 hours of missed emails, updates, etc and then get on track for the afternoon. It's better just to not come in really. Plus, I worked all through Christmas without a day off because my coworker was out of town for 2 weeks. I'm enjoying every minute of my three day weekend that is just for me!

I also used the gift certificate to Massage Harmony that Santa put in my stocking. I had a wonderful massage therapist. She was the best out of the 4 that I've had had massages from during my previous visits. My shoulders and back feel so much better--what a miracle!

After my deep tissue massage, I came home to wake up my husband, who was still in bed, surrounded by two of our three cats. I told him I was starving and wanted to take him to lunch. We drove to Pappasito's Cantina, and the food was excellent. Their fajita meat is amazing and Mars loves the seasonings in his beef taco and enchilada. Afterwards we went to satisfy my chocolate craving. We went to Amy's Ice Cream, and I saw 2 new flavors--Dreamcicle and Chocolate Fire. I tried a sample of both. Dreamcicle was excessively rich, and I wouldn't have been able to eat more than a few spoonfuls. Chocolate Fire was creamy and delicious. I didn't know where the "fire" part of it was though. I ordered a small (about 1 cup) of the Chocolate Fire with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups crushed in. I took a bite, and um, I tasted the fire alright. There must have been some sort of habenero in the mix because it made my taste buds dance! It was really delicious, and reminded me of some of the spicy chocolate flavors I had in the fall at a chocolate festival I went to. We sat on some large rocks and watch kiddos play on the nearby playground. Before long we discarded our empty cups and spoons, and drove home.

We planned our week's menu and went grocery shopping. Eating healthy is not cheap, let me tell you. It's worth it though. I think of it as buying time. Eating healthy today will extend my lifespan, and don't we all wish we could have just a little bit more time?

I managed to cross another task off of my To Do List; I cleaned out Mac so he can be picked up by the KUT vehicle donation program. Oh, I haven't written about our car situation. Time for a new post!

Not on the Road Again

This weekend was set aside for a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to go to the International Balloon Festival; however, we decided to cancel and stay in Austin. We decided it was too much of an opportunity cost in regards to Marshall missing his classes. We were unable to get a refund for our hotel room, and I could refund the meal Groupons I had already bought.

So, I'm off of work for three days, and I'm catching up on house projects. Yesterday I finished painting our second living room yellow! This morning I'm going to vacuum, and then Marshall is going to move our new bookcases in place on either side of the fire place. I'll take a picture and add it later today. Now I just need to prime and paint a (relatively) small area in the kitchen, and it will be all done!! The next painting project will be finishing up the outside border around the house (white and blue).

Today I want to go to the gym, get a massage, do meal planning, go to a Halloween store, plan my Halloween costume, buy material for curtains for the kitchen window, place books on the new bookshelves and do more painting if possible. We'll see how much I get checked off my list. :)

Going to a Rain Dance

This really awesome guy named Lee is rumored to be coming to Houston this weekend, and everyone's been talking about him like he's our savior or something. He's just going to be passing through, but he's getting a lot of media time. I'm confident he's being talked about every hour on the 8s. We're going to Houston this weekend to see what all the hoopla is about with this dude. It would be so nice if he made his way to Austin though. Maybe he has a cool friend named Nate or Philippe who will be on his coat tails.

Weekend Away

We're currently at Marshall's parents' house for the weekend, the first away from our house since Thanksgiving. So far it is very relaxing (just what I needed). We're going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. No sangria for me. We'll be home tomorrow afternoon.

It is difficult for me to be idle. I'm always trying to plan something, and right now I feel like I have nothing to plan. This is good practice for me to stop and smell the roses.

Extended Birthday Fun

My birthday was on Monday. I turned 24. We had our work Christmas party at a Brazilian Steakhouse, which was delicious. Then I got out of work around 5:15. My husband's parents had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to my work. It was very sweet and made me feel girly. Here's a picture of the flowers along with all the cards I received. My parents sent me a set of sconces I really wanted along with a set of three wall shelves.

Marshall, Amy, Carlos and myself went to an Italian restaurant called Mendola's at The Triangle for dinner. I had mint chocolate chip gelato for dessert. Then we went bar hopping downtown on 6th Street. I rode a mechanical bull, but it wasn't very impressive. The poor creature didn't even have ears or horns. I think I only had three drinks, so I felt good but was still in control.

Tuesday through Friday I took off from work to use up the last of my PTO. I did some more painting on the house. Now it is Marshall's turn to get the very top section of the gable. I've played a lot of video games thanks to my husband getting me a PS2 for my birthday. We did my birthday cake on Tuesday. Marshall sang to me. :)

On Thursday we went to meet with a financial advisor to discuss life insurance for us. It's something we both need to get and we finally had the time off together to go.

Marshall finished his last tests on Wednesday, and doesn't have to return to school until mid-January. He'll be able to modify his classes starting the 6th. We're hoping he can squeeze into a physics class he needs as a pre-requisite for other courses. He plans on spending his winter break working on his newest engineering project, which is creating decals for his mother's Sypder motorcycle. If he's successful, he's going to sell some to the other riders at the Sypder rally in late April.

Friday night we went out with Amy, Carlos, and Lee again. We went to 6th Street again and spent the most time at a gay bar called Oilcan Harry's. The music was the best, and we also played some pool. I had to keep a close eye on Marshall. If he'd have gone on the dance floor, a whole school of male peronas would have been all over him (he's a hottie)! We left at 2am, and I drove Amy's suburban home because I was sober. We didn't get to bed until 3:30am. I woke up this morning around 11am, which is super late for me. I don't expect Marshall to get up before 2pm because he enjoys his sleep.

Tonight was are meeting up with his parents, who are coming up from Cypress for the evening. We'll do dinner and probably breakfast with them as well Sunday morning. Joy is riding her Sypder up and they are bringing Christmas presents for us. Marshall is going to test fit a decal he was able to get cut out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend the rest of my day relaxing and cleaning.

Make-up Muffins

Marshall's still sleeping, but I'm up. Santa Ana, our orange cat, continues to poke at me to throw his toy mice or favorite string for him. I just saw Misti chasing Santa Ana, so I know she's up now. I'm making a tripple batch of banana chocolate chip muffins, which are absolutely amazing. Last weekend I bought a brown paper bag full of bananas that were in the last few days of ripeness from the grocery store for $2.99. I gave about 15 bananas to my neighbor Amy, which left me with 23 or so. I used 2 bananas in a pretzel/jello dessert, and another 12 for banana chocolate chip muffins, which I brought into work. I got rave reviews!

Now I had 9 left, so I decided to just make some more muffins since the first ones were so delicious. Undoubtedly Marshall and I will eat a few, but the rest I'll bring into work again.

Marshall wasn't feeling well on Wednesday, so he missed his speed reading class that evening. He's going to a make-up session today, which starts at 2pm. He'll be gone for at least 5 hours today. I'm sure tonight he'll work on homework, so I pretty much have the day to myself.

I still need to make my To Do List, but I'd like to do more painting on the outside of our house. On Thursday I did about a quarter of the triangular part above the garage. I need to generate a few more Christmas present ideas too. I'll do some chores, work on a little writing project, and do some exercise like take a long walk through the neighborhood or do my pilates DVD. We did our yoga DVD on Friday night, and whew, it was pretty obvious we hadn't done it in awhile. It was a challenge for both of us.

So, this is our Sunday. I'm glad it doesn't involve raking leaves. Our two trees still have plenty of leaves on them yet, so there's no point in raking the few crunchy ones that have already littered our lawn. :)

3 Tasks in One Weekend

I'm quite excited to announce that I started three tasks this weekend and finished two of them! On Friday night, Marshall and I went to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle, where I had a Cowgirl Cosmo. I had never had a Cosmo martini before, and I don't remember what was put in it to earn its name of Cowgirl Cosmo, but I really enjoyed it. It was either that one or the Berry-Berry Martini.

On Saturday we went to the River Walk in San Antonio, which is one of my tasks. We went because our planned day of being at the horse race track completely flopped. We found our way to the River Walk, and was surprised that it was a bit cooler down there than above (thank goodness). We started walking, and decided to have lunch. We ate at the Iron Cactus (if that isn't Texan enough for you). Marshall had fish tacos, and I a crazy dish of pork enchiladas under a tostada with melted cheese and fried egg on top. It was so filling. We sat and talked for awhile. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the River Walk. It's a complete trap to get you to spend money. You can't go to the River Walk and jog with friends or walk your dog like you can do around places in Austin. There are too many people walking around, chatting it up. At least the river didn't have trash in it, but I still couldn't see through it. So, hmmm, walking on crowded sidewalks, trying not to spend money, and looking at a river that isn't all that appealing. Let's just say I'm glad this task is over and out of the way.

On our way back to Austin, we stopped by a furniture store that was have a close out sale. We have a few pieces of furniture on our wish list, so we went in to see if they had any good deals. We ended up buying a king size bed, something we've always wanted, but were probably going to look into next year after we received our tax return. We got it for 57% off the retail price. It's an 8" Dormia bed that doesn't leave body grooves. It comes with a 25 year warranty, so we feel covered. It's firmer than the queen bed we have, so Marshall fell in love with it right away. I'm glad we got it. King beds are so luxurious to me.

Last night I went online to look at bedding for this new addition, and we found this one. Unfortunately it is back ordered until mid-November, but really it works in our favor. All we need right now are sheets and individual blankets. The comforter set will arrive right when the weather starts getting a bit chillier. This morning I went to JCPenney's and bought Ivory sheets for the time being. I think they will go well with the comforter set. I'm looking forward to our first night on our new bed. Oh, for the time being, we've moved our queen bed into one of our spare bedrooms. :)

Turkey Surprise

So far it's been a great Labor Day weekend, and we will have one more day to go--hurray! Jenn and her boyfriend Joel came up from Corpus Cristi to spend some time with us. While they were on their way from San Antonio to Austin, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things including a bouqet of sunflowers for their room because they are Jenn's favorite. They arrive, and this is the first time we are meeting Joel. We're chatting in the kitchen as I'm preparing ingredients for fajitas for lunch. All of a sudden Jenn blurts out that she and Joel went down to the courthouse on July 9th and got married. Marshall and I were stunned! Then I noticed that she had rings on her left hand, which I had to inspect. I believe they said they were just temporary and that custom ones were in the works. Both are in the Navy, which is why they live so close to us, but there is a good chance that they will be moving to San Diego within six months. Frown-y face.

My surprise for them was that I was going to be cooking a turkey and that the four of us were going over to our neighbor's house for a Thanksgiving style meal. Both Jenn and Joel love to eat good food (which is why Jenn likes to frequent our house), so I knew they would be all for this idea. Dinner went well although I over cooked the turkey and it came out dry. Now I won't mess it up for Thanksgiving in November though. We really enjoy spending time with Amy and Carlos next door, and the first time we had dinner at someone else's house while living in Austin. :D

Sunday morning we went to Waffle House for breakfast because we didn't have any more clean dishes in the house after cooking on Saturday, plus I didn't have anything prepared. Afterwards, Jenn, Joel, and I went to the outlet mall in San Marcos. We spent 2 1/2 hours walking around the plaza style set-up, and that was only half of it! Overall it primarily had clothing stores, which doesn't do me any good because I dispise clothes shopping. None of us had been there before, so now it's nice to finally say, "yes, I've been there." We said our good-byes; they drove off to hang out in San Antonio, and I drove home to see Marshall. I spent the rest of the day taking it easy and finishing up my book I'd started a couple of days ago.

While we were eating our salads for dinner, we were making a 101/1001 list for our lover boy cat Santa Ana. Some of his tasks are:

1. Meow so much that the humans throw mice.
2. Meow so much that the humans give me tuna.
3. Meow so much that both of them want to pet me.
4. Take 10 naps in a single day.
5. Play fight with Misti at least once a day.
6. Meow so much that the humans open a window.
7. Spend 15 hours on blankets.
8. Rinse and repeat until they equal 101!

Needless to say we were busting up laughing!!

Monday is going to be my first non-working Labor Day that I'm getting paid for. I kinda like it. :)

Wacky Wedding Weekend

Saturday was a great day! Marshall's cousin Jenn, who is one of my bridesmaids, came up from Corpus Christi to Austin. I had a dress fitting planned and she said she wasn't going to miss it. She arrived, and after hugs I put a plate of southwest quiche in front of her for breakfast. Then...I showed her her dress that I was able to pick up for her on Thursday. Within 15 minutes we were on the road heading up to Round Rock for my dress appointment.

It was a complete surprise to me that my favorite lady who worked there, Janet, was no longer there. I was really bummed because she had been a huge help during this whole process. Jenn would have liked her too. Well, Jenn tries on her dress and sparkling diamond jewelry. She looked so amazing and comfortable. She loves the wine color and it looks really good on her.

After here, I went in the little dressing room to put on my wedding gear. At my last fitting on May 1st, my veil hadn't arrived, but it was there yesterday! I got to wear the complete sha-bang! Jenn starts rattling off compliments right and left. The seamstress really liked my jewelry. I'm getting an American bustle put in and the bust taken in about an inch. They are going to call me when the alterations are done, and I will try it on one more time before I pick everything up on July 24th. :D

After wearing our pretty dresses, we went to have salads at Jason's Deli. We chatted and chatted and gossiped some more before going to Amy's Ice Cream. Amy's is an Austin icon. They have the most outrageous of flavors. I got chocolate + orange + almond ice cream with Reeses peanut butter cups and Jenn had fuzzy navel ice cream with peanut butter cups and gummy bears. She said it was so wacky yet delicious. I replied, "That's how we do it in Austin." That was a cool experience for her, and she really liked it.

Marshall was so sweet to have gone to the grocery store and picked up everything on the short list I had made for him. The ingredients were for lasagna, which is one of his favorites, so I didn't really expect him to put up a fight, hehehe. We unwound a little bit, then Jenn and I discussed some more wedding details, specifically the much anticipated wedding favors. She came up with some good ideas about using a karaoke machine to solve our music issue during the ceremony. It would have a CD player, speakers, and a microphone. See what a genius she is?!

I made two dinners last night. One was lasagna, and the other was chicken & biscuits, which I really wanted Jenn to try. I'm sending her home with some along with 3 jars of plum freezer jam that I made a few weekends ago. She can't stay for long today, but I'll make everyone a delicious breakfast to start the day off right.