Meet O'Reilly

Over the weekend, my parents adopted a puppy for my little brother. Meet O'Reilly! My brother wanted to name him O'Reilly, so that's what they're calling him. I wanted to name him Rebel, so that's what I'm calling him. :) Just kidding...sort of. O'Reilly is an 8-week old male Heeler/Beagle mix with blue eyes, and is the cutest puppy I've seen in a long time! He's so funny - he plays & plays & plays and then falls alseep (aka slips into a small coma) in the strangest positions. My favorite thing about O'Reilly (so far) is the bond he's already made with my brother. As soon as he sees him, his tale starts to wag and he follows him all around the house. It's really cute! Welcome to the family Rebel!

Daddy Long Legs

This past weekend my parents were cleaning in their attic and they came across a box of my old books. They found my copy of Daddy Long Legs which is really ironic because I've been thinking about re-reading it since I finished Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I started reading it on Saturday and forgot how much I love this story. It's told in a series of letters, like the Guersney book is, and is about an orphan (Judy) who goes to college thanks to a mysterious trustee. This trustee pays for her tution, room & board, and gives her an allowance, and only asks for a letter every month in return (a letter that he will not reply to). Judy nicknames him Daddy Long Legs because she caught a glimpse of him one night before she left the orphanage, and saw that he is tall and lanky and reminds her of the spider.

This is such a wonderful, classic story and has an amazing twist in it! I think its Annie + Anne of Green Gables + Shop Around the Corner together in one book. Read it or Re-Read it! It's one of my all-time favorites!

Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest

This past weekend Chris & I drove to Balmorhea, Texas and participated in an Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest. This is an annual event hosted by The Best Little Dive Shop in Texas, and some of our friends help to organize it. The last time we were able to participate was 2 years ago, and Chris proposed that weekend. I was hoping for another diamond this weekend to keep up with the tradition, but was disappointed. There’s always next year, right?

The event is so much fun, and has quickly become one of our favorites. The rules are simple: hollow out your pumpkin prior to the dive, no markings or drawings on the pumpkin allowed, a dive knife is the only approved tool for carving, and you must complete the carving with 45 minutes. (and of course, the carving has to be done underwater).

I took 1st place in the competition and Chris took 2nd! YAY! We won gift certificates to the dive shop and can't wait to spend them. This was a fabulous dive trip: no equipment malfunctions, 2 relaxing dives, and we took 1st and 2nd place! I think we’re both already looking forward to next year’s pumpkin carve.

For my birthday in July, my mom got me a new mask and this was the first time I was able to use it. The mask has a pink lens which helps to add the red pigment back into whatever you’re looking at, since red is the first color you lose underwater. I was a little skeptical, and was completely surprised when I could see my friend’s pink mask and purple fins underwater. Balmorhea has a bunch of crawfish that I thought were blue and was amazed to find out they are actually bright red. The last time I dove in Balmorhea, everything looked blue or grey, and I couldn’t believe all the colors when I had the red added back into the spectrum. And, BONUS, this mask doesn’t leak like my last one did. Great birthday present mom, thanks!

Water Gardens

Before we left Dallas after my friend's wedding, Chris had the bright idea to walk around the Ft Worth Water Gardens. My camera battery only lasted for 1 picture (blast!):

The water gardens are so pretty! There are 3 different "gardens" - all very unique. One is a bunch of fountains spraying water different directions, one is a very large calm pool, and the above picture was taken at our favorite spot - the waterfall. The calm pool is also called a meditation pool and it is surrounded by tall trees - my mom thought it would be a neat place to do yoga, and I told her if it was in Austin I'm sure they'd have yoga there. :) The waterfalls are called the active pool and have steps going to the bottom where you can look up and see waterfalls on all sides.

Great idea Chris! This was the perfect thing to do before we had to sit in the car and drive back to Austin!

Another Wedding in Dallas

(the bride & me at her bridal shower)

The first weekend in October we went to Dallas for my friend Stacy's wedding. Stacy and I have been friends since junior high and, by some weird twist of fate, Stacy's mom and Chris went to grad school together. Small world! Stacy asked me to be a hostess for the wedding and to do makeup for her & her mom, & a few bridesmaids. The wedding was really beautiful! The ceremony was outside at sunset and decorated with chinese lanterns and twinkle lights. She had a fun group of bridesmaids and made a beautiful bride! Congrats Stacy!

(walking down the aisle)

(bride's cake - strawberry cake inside, yum!)

(groom's cake)

Church-Shopping

Since moving to Austin, Chris and I have been trying to go Church-Shopping. Basically we've been trying to find a church home and hopefully some new friends with common interests. We’ve had lots of difficulty because we are out of town so often or have plans on Sundays. Also, Chris is Catholic and I am Episcopalian, so that’s only adding to our troubles.

This Sunday we went to mass at

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Capital of Texas highway. St. Michael’s is so beautiful! They had bagpipes playing in the courtyard before and after the service and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The service we attended was a little unusual for them – they had 2 baptisms to do and since Sunday was St. Michael’s Day, they had a special service and celebration for their Patronal Feast. We attended the 11AM service which is a traditional Episcopalian service and included a choir and a handbell ensemble. They also have a 9AM service that is more casual and has a band instead of choir, which I think we’ll check out in the near future.

Anyway, this was one of the largest Episcopal churches I’ve ever been in, and it seems like they are very active. We saw pictures of past mission trips, ski trips, camping weekends, and were invited to a 50th wedding anniversary celebration, a book study, and next weekend’s St. Francis celebration which includes blessing of the animals (bring your pet to the 6PM service).

I am sure we can’t commit to church every weekend, but I told Chris it would be nice to have a church home to go to when we can. One of my favorite services is Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and it would be nice to go to that service at our church this year – a church that we chose together and attend semi-regularly. I told Chris I would happily attend a Catholic service with him, if he found a church he wanted to go to, so we’ll see. Stay tuned for more Church-Shopping adventures.

1 Year Anniversary

Sunday September 20th was our 1 year anniversary. We both were amazed at how quickly this past year has flown by.

I told Chris the gift for the 1st anniversary is paper, but we didn’t have to follow that if it was too hard or if he didn’t want to. He said he thought it would be a good challenge and we should try it. Our anniversary came around, and I gave Chris tickets to see Dane Cook perform in November, and Chris gave me tickets to see the Nutcracker in December. I think it’s hilarious that we both bought tickets for each other, and am really glad we bought tickets to different events. Chris also bought me anniversary toilet paper, it says "Happy 1st Anniversary" on every square – I don’t know what else to say about that, it made me laugh and is a typical “Chris” gift. He says I have one more thing on it’s way, but it hasn’t arrived yet.

We spent the afternoon at my day spa getting couple's massages :) and then decided to go out for fajitas since that's what we served at our reception last year.

We have the best friends and family! We received so many cards and phone calls on our anniversary - it was so sweet of everyone to remember. We also got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my father-in-law's best friends in England, and one family sent us pictures they had taken from our wedding.

We did save the top of our cake and ate it on Sunday - it was just as good as it was on our wedding day. It wasn't dried out at all and the frosting was still delicious. I was so nervous that it was going to taste awful. In case it did, Chris was prepared with a replica cake top that he got from a local bakery. It said "Happy Anniversary" at the top and he put our cake topper on it so it looked authentic. So romantic.

On Friday, we went to Max’s Wine Dive for anniversary dinner – they have an incredible wine list and amazing food. They serve things like a Kobe beef burger, hydroponic salad, and Buffalo Sliders. We got there in time for Happy Hour and half-priced appetizers, so we started the night with Truffle Max & Cheese, Gator Bites and 4 large glasses of Malbec. Yum! For dinner we split the fried chicken and mashed potatoes; that fried chicken was some of the best I’ve ever had! It was so crispy on the outside! For dessert we had champagne and a “Big Ass Brownie” – everything was delicious and Max’s has quickly become one of my favorite places to eat. When in Austin…eat at Max’s.