Weekend Recap

I had a fantastic weekend!!  The husband and I road tripped to Hattiesburg so he could cook in a BBQ competition and I could have girl time with my sister and nieces.  We pulled in around 2:00 am on Friday morning while everyone was sleeping, but we still got a warm welcome.

Our nieces rock.

Girl time on Friday started with a field trip.  Who doesn't love a good field trip?

My sister and I went with Chelsie and all the second graders to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, MS.  We looked at their collection of pastels and the kids got to create their own.  Afterward we picnicked at a very cool park.

The weather was fantastic!  It was a great day for a picnic.  I adore the pine trees in Mississippi; it could be the reason they call it the pine belt.  Hmmm.  :)

Saturday morning we spent a rainy day at the soccer field and then went shopping!  I picked up a bunch of cute fall and Halloween items on sale at Trees and Trends.  Have you ever been to Trees and Trends?  I love that store and wish we had one in Houston. 

Little shopping score preview.

Tomorrow I will give you more details on all my shopping finds.  We also made stops at Dillard's, Target, and Hobby Lobby.  My sister and I can always have fun shopping.

The girls never find us embarrassing.

I love love love these girls!

Lindsey, Courtney, Chelsie...I poofy heart you three.

Sammy does too.

I love spending time in Hattiesburg.  It is really nice to take a break from Houston and spend time in a smaller city.  It is so relaxing.  Plus, fall is one of my favorite seasons and that just makes it even better.

The bonus?  The husband's brisket placed 5th out of 25 in the Downtown BBQ Showdown.  Way to go Daniel!  Not bad for a first time competing in a BBQ competition.

I hope your weekend was just as wonderful!  Enjoy your Tuesday.

Weekend Recap

Phew!!  It has been crazy here.  I have missed all of you so much!  It was a great weekend.  We kicked it off with a little live music on Friday.

We saw Gary P Nunn at Blanco's.  It was kind of goodbye occasion, Blanco's is closing in a couple of months.  It has been around a long time and it is weird that it will be gone soon.

On Saturday one of the BFFs Rebecca had the ladies over for a pumpkin painting party.

And paint pumpkins we did!

There was also some mod podge going on.  I love how the fall leaf pumpkin turned out.

I adore this chest that Rebecca has in her living room.

Doesn't it look fantastic decked out for Halloween?  Love.

There was also a lot of snuggle time this weekend.

Check out how great Sammy and Wags are getting along!  Wags is our foster pup that I introduced you to a few weeks ago.  She is a sweetie.

Sammy has been an only dog for a long time, so she had a little trouble adjusting to having Wags around.  Although she won't admit it, I am fairly sure she is loving her foster sister now.

Proof in the smiles.

Wags is available for adoption through Red Collar Rescue and is so excited to find her forever home.  She has lots of love to share.

 

And she is happy to provide entertainment.

Silly girl.

I hope you had a fantastic weekend!!

Linking Up:

Friday Funday and Insta-Friday #7

I am off at noon today and the husband and I are headed to Jacksonville, Florida to see our friends Liz and Dave.

Liz is having identical twin boys and her baby shower is tomorrow!  It is going to be a fun weekend! 

We had a great week.  There was wine in Fredericksburg...such a pretty place and I loved the vineyards.
 

And there was shopping.  I got cute new bangles and a charm at James Avery. Love.

I also got this silly cow toy for Sammy.

Silly cow for silly Sammy

Halloween was fantastic.  I made my chicken and dumplings while we handed out candy.  Delicious!

My niece made the prettiest cat I have ever seen.

Have a fantastic weekend friends!!

Halloween Recap

Happy November friends!  Can you believe it is November?  I know I can't.  How was your Halloween?  We really enjoyed ours.  Let's review, shall we?

From Mississippi I received this picture...my beautiful nieces the cat, the bumble bee, and Satan. 

She is 13, don't ask...I didn't.  She makes a very pretty Satan though doesn't she?

In Houston we had lots of trick or treaters.  It was so much fun.  I put dinner on to simmer...

...and then the husband and I sat outside on the front porch with our candy and greeted all the kiddos.  We saw lots of super heroes, lots of princesses and two of the cutest witches I have ever seen in all my life.

And then we enjoyed dinner.

Home made chicken and dumplings.  Yum.  And the best part...these are my lightened up chicken and dumplings and they are fantastic.  You can find my recipe in my Home Made Chicken and Dumplings post.

The only thing that could have made the evening better...if it was still cool outside.  It was pretty warm last night.  Sigh.  Maybe it will be cool on Thanksgiving.

Okay, who has heard of the site Dog Shaming?  I find it pretty hilarious.  I am not usually a dogs in costumes fan, but I saw one there yesterday that I thought was very clever.

(source)

Next year Sammy...next year.  LOL.

Your turn...tell me about your Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

Sammy and Jack wanted to wish you a very Happy Halloween!

And I want to wish my sister, Audrey, a very happy birthday!

Love you Sissy!!  I can't wait to see you next month!

Have a great day everyone!

Getting Back Into a Groove

Or trying to anyway.  My exercise has been sporadic at best and my food choices not so great.  I need to get back into my groove...and I think I made a pretty good start last night.  I took a nice walk through my neighborhood when I got home from work...it was a pretty evening.  There is one thing I am sure of after my walk last night.

We have a serious spider infestation!!

Or my neighbors really like Halloween.  I am pretty sure it is the second one.  I am not funny, I know.

My front porch Halloween decorating style is more in line with this family below.

I really like how they have made the most of their front porch.  Their front door is on the left of the porch, which could look a little awkward but I think they have made it a very cute space.

After my walk I was very tempted to order Chinese food.  I am overdue for a grocery store trip and my pantry and fridge are kind of bare, especially in the fresh produce area.  But I found the makings of pasta.

I will share a little trick with you to incorporate protein into your pasta and reduce the amount of pasta you need in your serving.  Egg whites.

Hear me out before you stop reading...I hard boil eggs while I am simmering my sauce and then add the egg white to my pasta bowl.  The tastes really work together, the eggs add protein and bulk to the pasta so you don't need as much.

As my dad would say...don't knock it until you've tried it!  I also had garlic bread...oops...but dinner was yummy.  The grocery store trip happens tonight!

I know you were wondering after yesterday's post about Sammy's new toy.  Well, wonder no more...here is Sam with her new toy cow.

The cow is already appropriately dirty so I would say she loves it.

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Friday Funday and Insta-Friday #6

I missed Insta-Friday last week...I was on my way to New Orleans!

Bourbon Street

Look at these cool lights in the Bourbon House. This restaurant was fantastic.

In case you did not know, I work on a college campus.  We had some changes here this week.  We lost an awesome man, Fr. James Keon.  He had been part of this community since the mid-sixties.

I remember him most for his ice skating skills.

When I was an undergraduate we had ice skating nights and Fr. Keon was always there in his hockey skates, speed skating circles around us.  He will be dearly missed here at UST.  Love him.

If you're interested you can see a campus news story about him here and read about him here as well.

UST also tore down a building this week.

It was a small building, but it was the building that held my first office here.  When I say office I mean all mine with a door and windows (it wasn't my first work space here on campus).

Goodbye Carriage House.

I visited the dentist this week as well.  I was happy this guy wasn't the one cleaning my teeth.

Halloween decorations are cool.

I hope you have had a great week!



Today is also Friday Funday!  I am out of the office at noon and we are on our way to Fredericksburg.  It should be a great weekend!!