New House, New Workout Shoes and A New Snack

We're finally, officially Texas residents!

 We packed up the rental house ourselves; rented a UHaul and moved all of our shit household items ourselves (with the assistance of one very helpful friend) and then unpacked...okay well almost unpacked all of our boxes.
Mother Nature, who is obviously having an identity crisis, decided to rain on our 'moving day parade.' But like NeNe from Housewives of Atlanta says, "One monkey don't stop no show." We moved in the rain, with our tiny humans getting in and out of the way.
And of course, daylight saving's time was the next day. I'm tired just thinking about it right now. Especially since I'm sitting across from 5 different-sized boxes. Sigh. Life goes on....unpacked or in boxes.

The sellers left us a bottle of champagne in the fridge!

The seller(s) also left us a very nice note filling us in on the neighbors and their families and all of the upgrades that were made to the house since its construction.
We were able to keep the refrigerator since he didn't want to ruin the hardwood floors moving it out. So now we have 2 refrigerators! Which works out perfectly since we need but never bought a deep freezer. Anyway, our congratulatory champagne was a nice surprise.
Something we can do when we sell!

Even though my life was in boxes, my work out gear wasn't. #KeepItTight

I like my shoes. :-) They're the Pegasus' and really comfortable.
Orange laces. Yellow swoosh. #TeamNeon
 

Gotta stay colorful. #KeepItTight

 

We got our new mattress!!!!!!!

Goodbye back pain and hello peaceful night's sleep.
We had to get splurge-y and buy a memory foam. Our old mattress really messed us, well me up in the head. Death to spring-loaded mattresses!!!
I gained 40-lbs with each pregnancy and our old spring-loaded mattress was my support.
"You ain't got to go home, but you got to get the hell up outta here!"
{That's how I feel towards my old mattress}

My new snack addiction. $2.98 at Walmart.

Better than popcorn and pringles! Once you pop, you can't stop!

 

 

Weekend Birthday Pictures - Food & Family

So as I told you here, my 30th birthday was this past weekend and instead of 'painting the town red,' I spent time with and consciously appreciated being with my family.
I only got fed up with constant whining for maybe 5 minutes. Yay!
I was so excited to see them have fun during our day of no schedules.
Which included skipping church and letting Thomas & Friends babysit the boys while we took a nap. Hey, they like to get up between 6:30-7:30am even on the weekends so that nap was much appreciated!
I guess that means that 'schedules' create a bit of stress..............well, maybe it has more to do with always being behind schedule that creates some of my everyday stresses.
Annnnnnnyyyywaaaaaaayy, check out some family-food-filled pictures below.

Saturday, I found a new stylist, got my hair straightened and had a 1/2 inch trimmed off. Waahhh! At least it was a cute style.

I looked pretty darn cute and of course didn't take a picture. We were late to the sitter's house and then to dinner. Ugh. One day I'll get these outfit posts together. Anyway we had theeee most delicious sushi. We pigged out, ordering 5 rolls and spending a LOT of money. Oh well, we had a great time though. If you're in Dallas, go to RA Sushi and get the Viva Las Vegas roll (shown in the picture). We ordered it twice!

Say cheese!

Wake up Sleepy Head!!!

Yep, the front exterior is a gas station. Chef Pointe is near Fort Worth, TX.

#Foodie

The appetizer on the right is SO delicious! They are 3-cheese mushrooms drenched in a buttery, scampi sauce. They are 'smack somebody's mama' delicious!

I'm pretty lucky to have tiny humans that actually stay in their chair.
By the way, my oldest is usually a photobomber and makes the face he has in the picture on the right allllll the time, unless you use your stern voice. This time we coordinated a 'silly face' picture though.
Luckily my youngest doesn't do that yet, but I'm sure he will next year.

How was your weekend?

Book Review: Symphony On Sand

Symphony On Sand

 

by

 Katrina Jewett Hammons

"Three friends, one year, three events -- Reagan Hamilton is ateacher and a die-hard Democrat. Alexandria Giroud is an attorney and a staunch Republican. Taylor Rays is a corporate executive and an Independent. These women take on the highs and lows of life together until betrayal, deceit and tragedy strike in a heated election year. Suddenly, the friends must make tough choices. Can friendship triumph over the zero-sum game of politics? Only the journey tells..."

A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to meet the author of this awesome book at a publication brunch tour that a mutual friend held for her. Katrina's writing is definitely the kind I enjoy, moderately suspenseful and descriptive with just enough details left out so that readers can use their imagination when visualizing the way the characters may look, dress and act as well as the sex scenes. (No 50 Shades here, which I am personally okay with.)

I like to think of this story as a mild political 'thriller.' Okay, well maybe it's not a thriller since there's no violence or killing. It's just a GREAT fictional political drama. The story revolves around the 2008 Presidential election and covers an example of health insurance corruption. The author, Katrina, had such a balanced delivery when discussing the political beliefs of each character throughout the book. I not only learned about the cracks in health insurance [premiums] but I also gained insight from her politically balanced approach.

I could NOT put this book down and was so upset when I had to ---> motherhood duty calls. I can't wait for the sequel to this book, which she is currently writing, and wish that it could be turned into a Lifetime movie!!!

This is Katrina's first book. She is a former healthcare attorney, but this book is not based on her life nor on the work she has done, just about what she learned can happen - within the fine print of health insurance.

You can buy her book by clicking the links: Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Buy it NOW and tell me how much you love it!!!

Our Ornament Collecting Tradition

Even though Christmas is over its still holiday season so a post about ornaments is still fitting.
Collecting ornaments is another little Christmas tradition of ours. Hallmark ornaments have consistently had the coolest character ornaments around.
Before we had kids, we just collected 2, one for each of us. This year we collected 3, two for the kids and just one for us---a family photo ornament. Ornaments can get expensive so it'll be interesting to see how we handle this in the future.
One way will include me making some of our family ornaments but that will be once I have full cooperation from my brood. I'm sure you can see how ornaments are seemingly fun 'balls' and 'toys' that have to be touched, tugged and just plain taken off of the tree.
Each ornament holds a 'special' meaning for us, whether it is a place that we visited or favorite hobbies (golf or shopping like Minnie Mouse).
After our first son arrived, on Chrismas nonetheless, we were given a couple ornaments as gifts.
The cookie ornament was given from our realtor that helped us find our first house. She wrote a handwritten note on that back so those 1st home memories will always be remembered on Christmas. Of course the cookie ornament is my youngest's favorite.
(And yes as of last night, he was still holding chewed-up food hostage in his mouth for 30+ minutes.)

I love this tradition and eventually our tree will be filled up with special ornaments and not just colorful bulbs. It makes putting up the tree just a bit more fun.
If you don't already collect ornaments, check out some of Hallmark's, you may find something you like.

There's Christmas In July And There's July At Christmastime

It was 85 degrees on December 1st.
I wore knee-length boots, shorts and a thin long-sleeved shirt. And I was still hot.
It was in the low 70's from then until this past Saturday.
Now its 33 degrees with a high in the mid to high 40's.

Winter has reached Texas with unopened arms. Yes, it IS December but wouldn't you be spoiled too?!? Not to keep wearing shorts, but to keep not wearing coats.

For those of you that live in cold weather and have been visited by snow for several weeks....ignore my whine and give me some cheese.

Quick Trip to Austin

Last weekend we accompanied my husband to Austin, TX. He and a few of his co-workers went to represent his company at an minority engineering conference career fair.
During the day the boys and I hung out with one of his co-worker's wife. We've hung out before so we had a good time, shopping, feeding the boys ice cream and getting lost.
Austin is a nice and smaller city. The people were much friendlier and inviting than in Fort Worth and the whole city seemed to have an artsy vibe to it. How cool is that?!
It reminded me of my college town but bigger.
After visiting, I wish we would've moved there instead of DFW......but I'll try not to be too much of a sour grape.
Austin is also known for their food trucks and they had a lot more trucks in one centralized location than the Fort Worth food park.....so we indulged. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my food nor all of the trucks.
One inebriated woman in her mid-30's was actually dancing with my oldest while we waited in line to try the late night popular pizza spot.
Too bad he didn't realize she was dancing with him!

There were 12-15 trucks lined up in a checkered manner. These were the two trucks I ate at. My hubs and our co-worker friends had food from several different trucks but the lines were long and there was not time for pictures. The "Coat & Thai" truck was pretty tasty which it should've been for a 20-minute wait. I'm assuming their name had to do with their expensive tasting thai cuisine fit for 'coat & tie' dining. These food trucks had a decent portion size for their prices compared to my food truck experience in Fort Worth.
The cupcakes were so suprisingly delicious! We all got cupcakes and our boys shared a few bites of mine and my husband's. They were moist, yet dense and not too sweet. Gosh they were good!
My mouth is watering for more as I type this. Fort Worth is definitely missing a dessert truck.

My boys had a good time dancing to the music coming from the sub sandwiches bus. They didn't have a line the whole time we were there. I think their prices may have been too high for their food.
The 2 pictures on the far right are of my oldest LAYING in the dirty gravel rocks. Could it have been the cupcakes or the music? I don't know. Boys just love dirt. At this point, we beat the long line to the cupcake truck so they weren't in anyone's way.





What did you do this past weekend?

Trunk of Treating

Note: Snap picture before you get to 3.

For some reason this year, I can't wait until Halloween is over. It seems like its lasting forever, even though its been the same for the past two years (costume 'parade' and trick or treating at  preschool then trick or treating later in the evening).
Maybe the abrupt weather change has me not really in the mood for Halloween festivities over the span of 4 days. Yep, its the weather.

Anyway, this past Saturday we took our boys to Trunk of Treating at their 'preschool.' I had never heard of this until we moved to Texas a couple of years ago but its a safe and fun alternative to trick or treating. Instead of going door to door, we went from car trunk to car trunk playing simple games and getting 2 pieces of candy.

We need to teach them how to pick better candy before Tuesday.....like Snickers, Twix, Whoppers and M&M's. They kept picking Sweet Tarts, and foil wrapped chocolate.
Don't worry, this time I stepped in and pointed their little hands in the right direction. (bleh)
When we got home, we let them eat 2 pieces. My youngest scarfed it down (of course) and my oldest surprisingly did too.
Darn it. I at least wanted to keep him brainwashed desiring fruit and fruit snacks forever.

My oldest decided to drop his weight while I was trying to balance on a pumpkin.



My youngest just couldn't put the candy down.

You know how hard it is to get toddlers to look at the camera if you're not holding it.

What did you do this past weekend? Are you ready for Halloween to be over like me or are you excited to go trick or treating and guide your kids to pick out the good candy?

30th Birthday Adventure

Last weekend was my husband's 30th birthday. A few years ago, he wasn't overly excited about being so close to the age of 30. Matter of fact, he's the primary reason we had our first (and second) child before 30 though I really didn't care either way ----> my mom had me at 33 {shrug}. Anyway, he's just never been excited to be drifting so far away from the younger ages in which he didn't have to try hard to be healthy and fit.

Well, as opposed to a surprise party, I opted to do something different for him. Especially since he has an 8-hour professional licensing exam at the end of the month and he studies for several hours each week.
We did dinner and live music and Ziplining!
Ziplining was fun, thrilling and sort of exhilirating. Tackling any fear is a great accomplishment......and heights is certainly a common fear!
We hung from a pulley, about 50-60 feet in the air, and glided down 4 different lines. The first line was the easiest line because of the small drop in height and the so few trees. We glided at 10mph.
Even my hubby didn't just jump off of the platform.
He counted to '3.'

I was given a friendly push. {smile}
The last 3 lines had larger drops in height causing us to glide at 20-25mph.
I yelped for the first 3 lines and was a pro by line 4.

My "gift" of ziplining was to help re-route my hubby's perspective on getting older while starting a new tradition.

• View each birthday as a new time to do something you never thought to do or even considered doing.
• Make new personal (tackling fears), spiritual and career goals.
• I actually just suggest to make one goal in each of those categories and take the whole year to master it.
• Add a new goal in each category around your birthday.

I feel this will help to focus and physically see the internal growth achieved with each new year. One of my favorite sayings is, "If you're not growing, you're dying." Having goals to focus on and achieve will help us to see and enjoy the positive things around us, giving the negative things less power.



This is with Mom's Monday Mingle.

Shoe Passion And A Bit of Fashion

My house contains three males........THREE!!!!! My husband has always been into sports [because he played football in high school and college]. Like, when he gets home, the tv typically goes to ESPN. And wouldn't you know it, my 2.5 year old watches basketball and golf like he knows what's going on???? Yes....in real life.

I used to be really into sports until I gave birth to two boys and now.......I am officially giving up sports because I just can't let testosterone run everything in this house! Okay, for a while at least. The one thing I WON'T give up for now is the ESPY's. I used to think it was such a useless awards show but now I love it because the men are always in the flyest suits and the women are always in the cutest .::kyoo - test::. oh and I guess athletes should be recognized just like artistic entertainers.
The ESPY's fashion is also a nice and 'summery' change of pace from the usual formal attire seen on the Oscar's and Grammy's red carpets.

My favorite was Jessica Biel's dress......AND SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!

I want, I want, I want! I really want to find some knockoffs, ha ha.

Christian Dior dress

Nicholas Kirkwood pumps

After she presented the award 'Best Breakthrough Athlete' I went to her twitter page to see what she said about the awards show and to see if she posted any more pictures of her ensemble. Instead of a picture, she tweeted something like, "....this is supposed to be about sports but LOOK AT MY SHOES!!!"
All I could do was chuckle because I thought the same thing. Now....I wonder how many different colors these come in. {scratches head}


Another gorgeous outfit was strutted by Olivia Munn.

Lavendar tank gown by Giorgio Armani

I'm so covetous of tiny and perfect stomachs!

When I looked for pictures from the ESPYS red carpet, I wasn't sure if any pictures did this dress justice. It was simple yet to me, beautiful. You have to have a pretty amazing and practically flawless body to pull this off!


I figured since I mentioned  "fly suits," I needed to post one, although they looked better on television than in pictures.

Aaron Rodgers - Green Bay Packers

Same Nicholas Kirkwood shoe, different color......

$398 on www.thecorner.com 

I prefer the neon color being on the heel instead of the shoe. Still such a dope shoe!

What do you think about this shoe? Did you watch the ESPY's? I'm sure I was the only one in blog land watching, ha.

Humor Me Friday

Just some things I saw on Pinterest, while perusing for [p]inspiration and happened to see a few things that made me chuckle or say, "What the....?

Nuff said.

Source: urbanoutfitters.com via Deia on Pinterest

What the fudge?? I couldn't do that BEFORE kids or when I was 8!

Source: ballettothepeople.com via Deia on Pinterest

This is a banana as a hot dog with peanut butter and jelly and a mango cut up as fries. My kid would KILL me if I tricked him like that, lmbo! I guess its creative though....?

Source: katheats.com via Deia on Pinterest

I could realllllly use those ideas. Too bad they weren't listed!

Source: simplelittlehome.com via Deia on Pinterest

Cute.

Source: suburbanpsychosis.blogspot.com via Deia on Pinterest

I hope you all have a lovely Friday!

Our San Francisco Thanksgiving Treat!

We decided to go to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. It was a somewhat last minute decision. My mom currently lives there and its actually my husband's favorite place to visit. We like to call it our second home. My mom can throw down in the kitchen, so the food was ridiculously good. We had turkey, gravy, macaroni and cheese, greens, sweet potatoes, and traditional cornbread dressing and cajun cornbread dressing that had andouille sausageas the kick. For dessert, we had a 3 layer red velvet cake. The food was so good, it made you wanna eat more even if you weren't hungry! I mean it was soooo good! Whew!

We go pretty often so we do our own thing and then do stuff together, while my mom watches the kiddos for a couple hours. This time, I ended up going to my mom's Afro Belly Boogie exercise class at 24-Hr. Fitness and it was a crAzY workout. I thought it would be nothing but other 60-yr old women not doing much. No, this was a class with Beyonce dance moves at 100 moves per second! I wish they had something like that in DFW because it would relieve any kind of stress accrued during the week. Anyway, we had a great time! Here are some more pics:

The best crab cakes and crab sandwich are here!

I had a lobster roll. It was good.

But the dungeness crab roll was better! Amazing!

 This crab roll was so good, my hubs had the cook come out so he could tell him just how much he enjoyed it. Yes, for real. The crab roll was tossed in warm butter and put on a big piece of sliced texas toast. It was scrumptious. We ate there twice and had both rolls the crab cakes. Mmmm!

Feeding and chasing the birds.

My boys on the pier.

My hubby is an avid golfer!

The crooked street!

Alcatraz!

Classic vintage!

If you ever make it to San Francisco, wherever you choose to dine, get crab and sol! The fish is so fresh and delicious! The main reason I love the northern west coast!

What's your favorite vaation spot that you call home?

Funky Nails & Twists

I'm feeling kind of "blah." Dying my hair was fun, but I think I need to do something else.
Like I said before, going natural put me into a DIY - Do It Yourself - mentality.
I want to somehow do an animal print design....zebra to be exact....on my nails (hands and feet) but I'm starting to chicken out. I may just have to go and get that done!
I saw a girl at Old Navy with the cutest soft-colored rainbow nails. We started talking about my twist out, youtube, etc.
She said she was good at copying youtube nail designs but not hair and I told her I was the complete opposite.
Anyway, I'm really wanting black+white zebra print nails. I want them sometime in the next 2 weeks so I'll be studying youtube videos all weekend to see if I have the courage to do them myself or run to get them done.

Check out Rihanna's:

A little zebra and tiger....

love her.

 

Close-up. I love these, minus the 'bling.'

And these:

I love these! This is my goal....minus the pink.

These are cool, except for the two that look like Easter eggs. :-\

If I chicken out, i'll just try buy these and hope for the best. :-[

I'm afraid mine will look like the 'Easter egg' picture instead of the first picture, my favorite. Gosh! I gotta study this really good because I don't want to chicken out and buy the strips. ::crosses fingers:: I already have the white and dark brown. I'll buy black too and try them both out.

Absolutely none of these animal prints!

Shut the front door.

Or these-

Get out of here!

Lol.....WHAT?!?

That was too much! Can you believe these photos actually came up from google's search engine?!? Wth! They can't be serious. Two words: atrocious and hideous!



Protecting My Tangles

My edges are extremely thin...this sucks. I really don't know when or how that happened. I know I've had post-partum shedding for two years back to back. Yikes! It is noooooo joke! But from what I'm trying to remember, my edges were thin after my first baby and now thinner after my second baby. Ughhhh!

Thin - between my temple and ear. :-(

So this means no more ponytails for me for a while. It also means castor oil massages a couple times a week and henna treatments once a month. Oh and no more gel....well very little. I'm taking it back to protective style twists and twist outs. Although my ends are exposed with twist outs, my edges won't be under any tension and that's what most important for me. I've started doing some of these things but I haven't really been consistent.

Pinned up like the old style french roll.

When you feel "blah," what do you do? Are you doing anything creative to your hair (styling, coloring, etc.) or nails? Do you study youtube to learn new things you can do yourself?