The Story of Texas and a catch up of pictures

A few weeks ago when Ali was visiting, we spent the Saturday in Austin. We went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was really neat. While we were a little irritated on the first floor at the number of children and noisiness, we really enjoyed reading about the Story of Texas. It was 'free' Saturday so it was pretty good deal. The museum has 3 floors: the 1st is titled 'Encounters on the Land' and it tells all about the land before it was called Texas - early settlers, Native Americans, etc. The 2nd floor tells how Texas became an independent nations - called 'Building the Lone Star Identity'. And then the 3rd floor, 'Creating Opportunity', talks about ways of life in Texas. It tells about ranching, the different conditions of land and how oil changed Texas. It is on this floor that Ali and I found a murual of the Ellis County Courthouse. It was pretty cool. We really enjoyed it and the first words our of my mouth when we left were: Papa would love this place :)

We couldn't take pictures inside but I took a picture of the Lone Star outside of the building. If you have time, you should visit this place - very interesting.

Before we went to the Texas Museum, we visited the Co-op to stock up on some burnt orange. We came in the back door of the store and in the back parking lot is this huge Bevo so of course, I made Ali take a picture. It was really sunny - that's why her face is scrunchy :)
This lady had her dog posing with Bevo - and you know I LOVED IT! :)

Just another shot of Bevo:

We had a great time while she was here - the weekend's are just too short!

Back in January, Brian and I were in Hachie for the weekend and we all went up to eat dinner with Ali and see her new apartment (which is great!)

She took us to see her office building (aka a mansion). She works at city hall and it's a beautiful place. It was dark so I couldn't get the awesome-ness of it but it is pretty awesome :) There is a creek in the back with a bridge over it - very picture-esque.

We went to eat at a Cajun seafood/steak place and it was really good. I only post these pictures to show you that it is so hard for me to get decent pictures of my family. In my post last week, I had a great picture of my parents but those are far and few between. They are always together so it's not like I don't have the opportunity but when I click the shutter button, my mom is always talking and dad has a problem with keeping his eyes open. Actually, we kind of all have this problem because our eyes squinch when we smile so it's hard to keep them open while smiling for pictures :)

And this one, I just don't even know. Ali, I think, didn't want her picture taken and Brian didn' think he was in the picture.

And this is my plate of crawfish - just because I wanted to share. They were so yummy!

Back in January, we also went to our nephew's 2nd birthday party and while this isn't the greatest, it's the best picture that I got of the two of them. Chaz gets shy so he didn't want to smile for the camera :)

And here are some random pictures of the pups. Jaz just relaxing at my parents:

And Gus begging, as always.

Happy Valentine's Day

I was thinking that I was so behind on posting something about Valentine's Day BUT Jessica, over at Love from Texas, is doing her Tuesday's List about Valentine's Day. So I'm right on time :)

I complained yesterday that my photos wouldn't load and today it only took about 2 seconds to get them on here! Things are looking up - now if my computer could get here already!

Anyway, last weekend, my parents came into town. They didn't come intentionally for Valentine's weekend but we had such a good time. Since I told them that Brian and I were the most un-romantic couple in the world (we just really dont' do much for V-day), we all went out to eat on Saturday night as an early celebration. Truth be told, I was kind of dreading going to the Riverwalk on a Saturday night - but it turned out great. There was lots of people but our wait was only 15 minutes!

Here are me and Brian with our massive "Texas-sized" margarita:

My dear parents:

I swear this is one of the only good "random" pictures I have of them because usually dad has his eyes closed and mom is talking :) I have some other pictures for tomorrow's post as an example.

And here is a close up of the "Texas-sized" margarita. It was about 4 margaritas all in one, big, hugmongous glass! It was sooo good though :)

We had a great time with my parents here and had a great Valentine's Day!

I promise I haven't disappeared!

I promise that I did not fall off the face of the earth, dear readers, all 3 of you :)

I got a message from HP the other day saying that they have a massive back up of computers (not a good thing to tell someone) that need to be fixed sooooo, my computer won't be back in my hands until February 23rd. I mean, that's not too far away but that will have been a whole month that I've not had my computer. That's just as long as I had the computer to begin with - only one month.

I was a little depressed and a little mad but there isn't much I can do about it. The computer needs to be fixed. period.

I did try to blog from work on Friday BUT of course, my pictures wouldn't load onto the blog. So I do have pictures to share, even some from this past weekend when my parents visited.

I will try to get those pictures up this week and I will try to be more dedicated to getting posts up - I just feel like they are pretty boring without pictures!

Anyone watching the Olympics? We watched opening ceremonies this weekend and we've enjoyed watching the skiing and some of the figure skating. I always like watching the winter Olympics because of all the different skiing competitions, the ski jumping thing, snowboarding, and speed skating. I have always like watching both the summer and winter Olympics - there is always so much national pride from each country - really neat to watch.

Look for a new post tomorrow! No promises but I'll try :)

Neglectful

I've been neglectful of my blog, I know. It's just hard since I don't have my computer that has all my pictures on it. I should be getting the ole netbook back in the next week or so, hopefully.

Until then, just some fun, albeit old, pictures:

Days at the lake in Oklahoma. Some of us chose to jump off a cliff. And some of us hold our noses.

Love my momma
Barney and Benito :)

Cindy and Benito

Dad and Ali in Vegas back in '07, I think

Me and seester and Hachie Homecoming a couple of years ago - 2008 maybe?

I miss my NT days - me and Sarah tailgating

One of my favorite pictures of my grandparents - dancing at Dawn's wedding

Me and Mom, Simba and Gus - at the lake in OK, on the boat just hanging out

It's been about 4 years since our trip to New York - I wanna go back sooo bad!

Hope to be back full time soon!

Fun/Lazy Weekend

Brian and I have had a great weekend.

Saturday we went to a Home and Garden show with Laurie in Austin at the Austin Convention Center. It was neat - would have been better if we had a home or garden :) - but I had fun. After that, we walked over to PF Changs - my fave! I stuffed my face! It was great. We don't go there often but always enjoy it when we get a chance to go.

Saturday evening, we (Brian, myself and Laurie) went to TGI Fridays and a movie in San Antonio. We went to see Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson. It was good but not totally my type of movie - too much shootin :P Brian loved it and I kept saying that it was my dad's kinda movie too - the "shoot em up" type. I enjoyed the day - a good time with great friends!

Today, I slept in until 11:30!!! I know, ridiculous but much needed! I was so tired from Saturday and just the whole week really. So my dear husband let me sleep in and even went to go get the paper for me. I got up and went through the ads and coupons and then we got ready to go grocery shopping.

So, I've started getting into the the couponing thing. We had $25.00 of coupons today at HEB - mostly HEB coupons with the meal deal and combo locos. But then I went to CVS, Walgreens and Target to use some coupons. I've just been using coupons to stock up on things such as shampoo, lotions, toothpaste, etc. that won't go bad. I try not to use coupons just to use coupons but after reading some coupon blogs, I've learned how to match the coupons with sales to stock up for great prices.

After we got home, it was cleaning and laundry time. I've done 6 loads today and I'm still working on the stupid laundry! We've also been flipping between the pro bowl and the Grammys but neither are worth committing to.

It has been a good, fun, relaxing weekend for us. Glad that it's only been cold and not snowing like most of the country - not that snow happens much around here.

As you can tell, I failed to even take out my camera this weekend and I do apologize, although, even if I had taken pictures, I don't have a computer to put them on. Once I get my computer back I will have more pictures for you AND will do my spotlights on Simba and Jasmine as well.

Have a great week!

Saw

TGIF!!! Brian and I are both so glad it's Friday. It's so cold outside but Brian and I got out and went to Target, Academy and CVS. I have been wanting the new Lady A cd and of course, we ended up with way more than just the cd :) We got a new lamp for the living room too. I had a coupon that I wanted to use at CVS so we went for a quick trip. Then we stopped off at the Redbox to rent a movie. We ended up getting Saw 6. These movies are crazy but we like watching them. I can't stand the gory parts but I like the mystery of it. The clown thing freaks me out though:

It's supposed to be a little warmer here tomorrow but that only means in the 50s. We are going, with Laurie, to a Home & Garden show at the Austin Convention Center and then my favorite restaurant: P.F. Changs! I'll let you know how the show is - we don't have a home to decorate or anything but they have a technology section that I think Brian will like so we are going to try it out at least.

Modern Family

I know I've talked about this before but if you have not seen 'Modern Family', you need to immediately set your DVR to record it. It is so funny. Brian and I love it. We are watching re-runs now and laughing our butts off!

There is a gay couple on the show and I LOVE them! Cameron (the guy on the right) is my favorite. He is hilariously funny.

I know this is a short blog but this is a great show and I am suggesting that you check it out.

And my brand new netbook is broken so I may not be updating my lovely blog every day (not that I did before the broken computer). I know, it's a bummer, but I'm sending it back to hp tomorrow so they can check it out. Frustrating!