Lucky Lady

Spending the day with this handsome man...

I'm a lucky lady :)

Love you, boyfriend!

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I am a Texas girl, born and raised, and like most, I love my country music.  Among my favorites are Garth Brooks, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum, just to name a few. 

  

I am not a huge concert attender.  You know, there's those people that always know who is in town when and where they're playing, when tickets go on sale and the best seats to buy for that venue -- ya, that's not me. The last one I remember wanting  to go to and not just tagging along was Keith Urban way back in 2006. So when I heard Lady A would be in Dallas, me wanting tickets was unusual. 

Sometime before Thanksgiving, I asked boyfriend if we could go and he of course said yes -- probably thinking it was in February and there was a good chance I'd forget by then. I suggested we buy tickets when they went on sale and he assured me we could find better/cheaper ones if we waited and scoured Craigslist, eBay, etc.  Being the good and trusting girlfriend that I am, I said OK and waited. 

While patiently waiting, I decided it wouldn't hurt to add the tickets to my Christmas list just in case anyone was feeling generous. Sadly, this did not have the intended effect and by New Years, I was still ticket-less.  I continued to bring up the concert whenever it felt appropriate, you know, as a subtle reminder, but day after day no tickets showed.

About a week before the concert -- and coincidentally just before Valentine's Day -- we talked about going once more and by this point, I think boyfriend realized I could not be talked out of it.  On Valentines, he gave me their newest CD -- which I'm shocked I did not already own -- and mentioned he had been searching for tickets and had hoped to give them to me then but was having no luck.   He searched online ticket sellers -- sold out -- and checked Craigslist and eBay but could not find anything short of a $300 price tag for the two of us, and those weren't even decent seats.  After an unsuccessful ticket search, we decided we'd just go to an early dinner and head to AAC with cash in hand hoping for some scalpers. 

So in the midst of Saturday errands and rain, -- just what you want when trying to scalp tickets -- we went to the ATM and withdrew cash to carry out our plan.  As we talked about dinner, I realized I wasn't even positive what time the concert started so I hopped on the Internet and looked up the event. I saw the 7:30 start time and nearly shut the laptop, when the "Purchase Tickets" button caught my eye. I figured, what the heck and clicked on it, chose 2 tickets and searched for best available. I could hardly believe it when I got results back!  Two tickets had magically appeared -- they were more than half-off the price tag we were finding anywhere else, AND they were floor seats!  At this point, I was convinced anything available just 2 hours before the show started must be terrible so I immediately called boyfriend and asked about them. He was as shocked as I was when he heard they were floor seats and said "Get 'em"!  I made my online purchase and we went ahead with our dinner plans, feeling much more relaxed and at ease knowing we had tickets.  When we left for AAC and it was STILL raining, we felt even more grateful we happened across them. I'm certain trying to scalp in the rain would have been cold, wet, frustrating, and worthless.

Once we picked up our tickets and made our way to the seats, we were even more amazed by how awesome they where. We started talking to the people around us and one couple mentioned how excited they were that it was finally here since they bought tickets months ago. Another girl mentioned she was able to get her seats because she was in the Darius Rucker fan club and got to purchase them early -- little did we know he was one of the performers that night. No one could believe we'd bought ours just 2 hours before the event, including us.  We didn't dare mention what a bargain they were!

We had such a wonderful time and enjoyed all the bands.  The opening group was called Thompson Square, which I didn't think I had heard of. I'm queen of knowing every word to a song, but having no clue who sings it! I was surprised when I recognized a couple of their songs and thought they were really great.

p.s. all these photos were taken from our seats with very little zooming involved :)

Next, Darius Rucker came out. Again, I wasn't sure if I knew a lot of his songs until each one started and I looked at boyfriend and screamed, "I love this song!!!!" I have so few pictures from this part of the night because I was too busy singing along. We both really enjoyed his performance -- he has a great voice and was really entertaining. He even gave us a little flash back to his earlier singing career and busted out some Hootie and the Blowfish before ending with Purple Rain.

Last, but certainly not least, came Lady Antebellum.  They were equally as wonderful and I was so happy to see them! They played all their singles and a bunch from their new album. I managed to snap a few good pictures before singing the rest of the night away. You should know, I don't normally sing in public and only those closest to me have ever heard me try, but it was just way too much fun not to. So, I apologize to anyone around us who had to listen to my tone-deaf singing yelling :)

At one point during the show, all the groups came back out and performed together!

Boyfriend was such a great sport considering he had no clue who the opening performers would be and knew only one Lady A song -- his love of country music does not run as deep as mine :) 

All in all, it was an amazing night and I could never have imagined something working out like this.  For two overly planned people, this was one time waiting seriously paid off! Still not sure I could do it again, but luck was definitely on our side Saturday night!

Sweet Sentiments

I did this project a few months ago for a close friend as a thank-you for helping out during a difficult time. It happened to be close to her anniversary, 10.10.10 -- how cool is that?! -- so I made her and her husband something sweet and personal to help them celebrate their first year of married life.  With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it seemed like an appropriate time to share and hopefully inspire some homemade, sentimental gifts.

Here's what I used to make Katie's Anniversary Art...

*a small frame -- found at Michael's  *a Texas road atlas/map -- which was surprisingly hard to find!  Apparently maps are no longer a necessity with our fancy-schmancy phones these days and when I finally found one on my fourth try, there were just a few left in the clearance section  *card stock of your choice for the background  *date label -- I printed mine on white fabric using freezer paper and my home printer, which I can explain in more detail, but you could simply use a marker, or printer, or stickers, etc.  *thread of your choice *scissors  *glue

First thing I did was cut my background card stock to the appropriate size. I did this by removing the glass from my frame, tracing around it onto the backside of the paper, and simply cutting it out with scissors. Now that I had my background, I could decide how big I wanted my label. I chose to try something new I'd heard about which allows you to use your normal home printer and print right on fabric using freezer paper.  I cut my freezer paper to 8 1/2 x 11 -- standard computer paper size -- and pressed it shiny side down onto the wrong side of my fabric. Then I cut my fabric to the same size and sent it through the printer like it was a piece of paper. Peel of the freezer paper and use your customized fabric however you choose -- in this case, for an anniversary label :)

Since I was using fabric as my label, I wanted a little stitch detail to highlight it.  I secured the fabric label with a very thin layer of glue just to keep it in place and once it was dry, began zig-zag stitching around the edges.

I wanted the stitch length closer than normal and as much thread showing as possible, so I chose these settings on my machine.

I worked my way around the label -- with just a few glitches -- and really loved how it turned out!

Now it was time for my map! Katie and Mike were married in Austin, so I thought it most appropriate to use in their anniversary art :)

I used some leftover card stock to make a heart template -- I didn't trust myself to get a perfect heart on my first try -- and traced it right on the front of my map, centering Austin as best I could.

Next, I cut it out and used glue to adhere it to my card stock.

All that was left was to let it dry, put it in the frame and wrap it up!

Other than hunting down a map, it was such a simple project and has so many possibilities.  Might be a sweet little gift for a special valentine :)

End of Summer Vacay

The boy and I snuck off last week for a little vacation at the beach.  We had the most amazing time and met so many wonderful people while we were there!  In very few words and lots of pictures, here's a short summary of our whirlwind trip...

Our room, which was spectacular!

We had a huge bathroom complete with a large Jacuzzi, walk-in rain shower and plenty of room for every girls bathroom essentials.  We also had a sitting area, small table for eating and a large balcony with lots of seating and a view of the infinity pool and ocean.

We had lots of great food while we were there and not nearly enough time to try it all!

The French restaurant where we had salmon, shrimp and fillet our first night.

The Hibachi restaurant where we had dinner with friends and a ton of sushi, noodles, rice, and dessert.

Oceana, one restaurant overlooking the pool and a great spot for lunch.

Outside of eating, we also played hard -- we went snorkeling, took out a catamaran and kayak, Adam played volleyball twice a day while I lounged by the pool, tried darts, Mexican Lottery, a putting competition, saw a dance show and even did our fair share of dancing.

We also met several fun, newlywed couples from all over -- California, Ohio, Austin, Canada, and Wisconsin -- I'm sure there's more I'm missing!

We were very sad to be leaving on Sunday and can't wait to go back!

Goodbye for now, Cancun! We will miss you!

Texas Bound!

Today begins the long (half) cross-country road trip from Richmond, VA to Dallas, TX!  And yes, I do live in Dallas but this handsome man does not -- until Friday at least :)

Please ignore our outfits -- they were created for a tacky sweater party and not part of our normal winter attire!

But, back to our journey -- against all common sense, I have flown FROM our destination to Richmond simply to de-board the plane, take a look at the apartment one last time, park myself in a U-haul for countless hours and drive back to Texas.  Seems a little silly, huh? Funny what we’ll do for the ones we love!

We have some fun activities planned and will manage to find ways to entertain ourselves during the long drive, but if you know of any unique, entertaining and creative road trip games, please tell me about them!

Our trip begins in a few short hours -- here's hoping the snow has stopped and the roads aren’t bad!

October Happenings

I can’t believe we’re already 10 days into November -- October just flew by! With the holidays around the corner, I’m sure the next two months will pass even faster. I am still getting used to this blog update thing -- I let over a month pass by with no post! This does not mean I have not been working on projects -- I have tons photographed and in the works, just not enough time in the day to talk about them. This past month was filled with family, friends, weddings, out of town trips, and I let the blogging slip right by! Here’s a quick October update -- there may be a hint of a future project blog post…

At the beginning of October, I made my way to Austin to watch these two love birds tie the knot!

The wedding was at a wonderful vineyard just South of Austin -- perfect weather, great friends, and one very happy couple! Here are the girls and I at the wedding -- minus Fun Bobby who was already living it up in London!

Congrats Katie and Mike -- Your wedding was beautiful and you both looked stunning!

A few days after the wedding, I packed my suitcase and headed up to Richmond, VA to visit someone special :) Self portraits may not be our forte...

We had such an amazing weekend -- dinners complete with lots of dessert and wine, movies, pumpkin carving, the occasional football or baseball game, fishing, and just relaxing! Here’s Adam prepping his pumpkin -- time to dig in!

Showing off our finished pumpkins -- too bad UT lost that weekend, and most weekends before and after -- now I know how you Aggies feel :)

Some of our many treats -- these were amazing cupcakes! The cream cheese icing was perfect and my chocolate one had a delicious raspberry filling!

And a picture of sweet little Simba -- he LOVES to crawl into everything! He clearly wanted to come back to Dallas with me...

After my fun trip to Virginia, my sister came to visit and brought two little surprises with her -- meet Bentley and Bella -- my niece and nephew!

The weather was amazing so we spent a lot of time outside watching all the puppies play -- or at least Bentley and Bella playing NEXT TO Shiloh and Nolan. Although mine are a mere 12 lbs. combined, I think they are a little intimidated by their size. I’ll never understand how this is fun for dogs…

We also made time for a little art project -- even the puppies wanted to help! Little Bentley actually fell asleep on my sister’s back while she painted, and Nolan was determined to find out what paint tasted like -- He is truly a curious little boy!

Well, there is the Reader's Digest/picture book version of my October and part of why the blogging fell way behind. I will try to get better about posting and am excited to share some of the projects I did in between these busy weekends!