Tim & Martha...

No no... Tim & Martha aren't our newest pets or the latest celebrity couple. Tim & Martha is what you could have called Brad and I last weekend... Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and Martha Stewart! We took on our first home improvement project together and the end result is great!!

After we are married, I will move into Brad's house with him. He has owned the house for about 10 years and its time for a little updating. So, we have talked about making some changes together so that it will feel more like "our" house. Lucky for me, it is a blank canvas and Brad is a good sport regarding my ideas. So, I act as Martha Stewart coming up with the design (colors, fixtures, overall look) and he is Tim Taylor with the tools (labor and all things that plug in). I get in there and paint and lay flooring too, but I leave the muscle to Brad. 

We decided to start small and tackle the downstairs half-bath. But even this "small" project took us a full day (not counting the prep work Brad had already done days before like taping and pulling off quarter-round). We painted the room, put down new flooring, updated the fixtures and added new decor. I am very pleased with the end result...

Flooring before....

First piece going in.

Flooring after...

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

After...

Before...

After...

After... new faucet, outlet covers and towel ring.

New light fixture.

View from the living room.

The paint is a pretty shade called "Heavenly Blue."

The animals were quite involved in the process. I mean, if we are going to be on the floor at their level, we MUST be there to see them- right?

Samson napping... or supervising the floor installation. Whatever.

Chey stops by for some love while I try to do flooring.

Sneak attack during the faucet installation.

Chey wanted in on it too.

Gypsy was unimpressed and gave herself a bath. It IS a bathroom after all.

"Mom- why are you sitting on the toilet lid taking pictures?"

Flowers & Awards...

Last week some fun things happen so I thought I would mention them!

Monday was the first Valentine's Day for Brad and me and the boy did good!!! Mid-morning I got an email from our receptionist at work that I had received a UPS shipment. I was very busy working on s special project that day, so I didn't breakaway to go up and get it.

A little while later, our receptionist came and found me. She informed me that there was a person waiting for me in the lobby. So, I headed up there to find Brad holding lunch! Sitting next to him on the front desk were flowers... the UPS shipment! (It hadn't occur to me that it might be flowers... why? Well, because of the wedding, I THOUGHT we had agreed to not spend any money on Valentine's Day. Apparently Brad ignored me...) So, we found an empty conference room and enjoyed a surprise lunch of one of my favs- Rudy's BBQ. It was a sweet surprise and couldn't have come on a better day. The project I was working on was exhausting.

Later that night we enjoyed a nice dinner at one of our favorite local Mexican places and a low key evening. It was perfect first Valentine's Day!

The next day at work, we had an "All Hands Meeting" for Engineering and Operations. These are quarterly meetings for these two divisions that are under the same VP (I am in Operations). These meetings are actually held at HQ so we can either listen to them on the phone at our desks or go into a conference room and watch a video feed. I was very busy, so I opted to listen at my desk. These meetings are typically very boring... lots of Engineers talking, projections, sales figures, etc. The most interesting part is at the end... and they purposefully do it that way so everyone stays! 

Every quarter, we are giving a ballot to vote for people in our division that have done an outstanding job. We are allowed to vote for one person per department (Shipping, Facilities and Order Admin make up Operations). Those are then totaled up and those people are given their department's "MVP Award" for the quarter. Well, imagine my surprise when MY NAME was called!! I think I gasped (or shrieked) at my desk! I was then given the choice to choose from a list of prizes as my reward. 

The award meant so much to me since it was voted on by my peers. That is the biggest compliment one can receive at work. It has been a long and sometimes tough year. When I started in January 2010, I was the only Order Admin employee in our Austin site. I was managed remotely and all of my teammates were in California. Since then, we have hired 7 new people, an Austin manager AND the company has moved the department from CA to TX which meant 2 people transferred from CA. Not the OA Department I started with!!! It felt great being recognized for all my hard work and dedication.

RSVPs with character...

When you are expecting RSVPs, it makes the daily trip to the mailbox so fun. The anticipation of those little cards hidden between the constant reminders of life... bills, junk mail, etc. is priceless. Our wedding RSVPs were mailed to Brad's house and I made him promise that he wouldn't open any of them without me so we can share the news together. So, on the evenings we were together, we would open them together and on nights that we couldn't see each other, he would wait until our nightly phone call and open them while we talked. 

We received a few RSVPs that are worth sharing because they had funny comments or other things on them... 

You may not have noticed, but on the back of your RSVP card was a number. This would help us know who the card belonged to, in case people forgot to write their names on their cards (it happens). When we addressed the invitations, we drafted the help of my friend Sally. So, of course, she knew the secret and decided to test us with her RSVP.

I love the random stick figure by James.

Kara's additions to this card cracked us up. I love that she clarified that she and Mike (her husband) are the adults and that the child is none other than "Dylan cuteness- ring bearer extraordinaire!". And her commentary about those that are declining is classic.

My longtime friends Kathleen and Dennis in Dallas... they have to miss the wedding because NASCAR is in Ft Worth that weekend. So far the most original reason for not making the wedding. We will miss you guys!

A caption really isn't needed on this one except the note that "Tim & Marge" are my PARENTS.

And this one takes first place... it was hand delivered by one of Brad's oldest friends, Braden. He was afraid it wouldn't make it through the mail.

Yummy!

On Sunday, Brad and I headed out to The Winfield Inn for our "tasting"... we got to eat all of the food that we chose for the dinner at the wedding. I think we have chosen some items that I think everyone will love. I was worried that picky Brad wouldn't be able to eat at his own wedding but he even liked them... except the salad. Too much green stuff. :o) 

They do a great job of making the tasting an intimate affair. We purposely scheduled it on Sunday so it would be our Valentine's dinner. We were seated in their dining room where they serve breakfast for the B&B guests. 

There was a lot of activity going on at the Inn that day, but they closed the doors and it was so quiet in the dining room. It was like we had the whole place to ourselves and were being served a private dinner.

First a couple of side notes... the dinner will be buffet and not presented the way you see here. Also, I was so excited to try everything that I would forget to take a picture until AFTER I had already started to eat. So, please pay no mind if things look like that have pushed around on the plate or the already eaten chicken!

Passed Appetizers:

Top: Summer Sage Sausage Meatballs with Red Delicious Apples - Bottom: Bruschetta with Pesto and Sun Dried Tomatoes (There will also be stationary appetizers such as fruit and cheese.)

Salad:

Light vinaigrette, homemade ciabatta croutons and super yummy grape tomatoes

 

Main Course:

Balsamic & Sage Chicken, Garlicky Green Beans with Lemon Zest & 3 Cheese Creamy Pesto Penne

The happy (and very full) couple:

A + B in the snow...

You may have notice on our wedding invitations that there were a couple of initial carved into the tree... "A+B". You will see this throughout the wedding as our theme.

When we first started getting to know one another I was on a business trip to California. We corresponded a lot via email and text. Over time we began signing our emails "A" or "B". Then we just started calling each other that, so it became our thing. Now everywhere we go, things with our initials jump out at us!!

I tell you all of this to explain the following pictures... you see when Brad was running around outside taking pictures, he got an idea. He didn't tell me about it until I was looking a the pictures he had taken. He is so cute...

The hood of his car.

 

His driveway.

Merry Belated Christmas... even though you lost.

For Christmas last year I gave Brad tickets to the Texas Tech vs. UT Basketball game. Brad played basketball for most of his younger years and still plays on a league one night a week. So, I thought this would be a fun night out! The game was finally here last Saturday so we got dressed in our appropriate school gear and headed down to the Frank Erwin Center for the game. 

We had good seats and enjoyed the game. Of course, it may have been a TAD more enjoyable for me since we had home court advantage, the UT band was there and all the fanfare was burnt orange and white!

Singing "The Eyes of Texas"

The teams entering the court.

Singing the Fight Song

Brad was a good sport about being in a sea of burnt orange. There were a few Red Raiders around and when they would see one another, they will flash the Tech hand signal and smile at each other.

UT is currently ranked #3 and Tech is, well... not. So, Brad didn't go into the game with high hopes. I, however, was hoping for an upset because it was his Christmas present!!! Unfortunately, Tech didn't get the memo about winning for Brad...

Final Score

It was a fun night regardless and since it was a present, I didn't gloat... too much.

"Blizzard of 2011"...

Well, it is rare, but if it going to happen, this is the time of year for us... there is a small window of time in Texas that is actually winter and since that window is so small, our odds of getting snow are slim. However, even more rare for us is that we actually had 3 days that we actually never got above freezing!!! As my favorite weather guy, Jim Spencer, said, "Our Texas computer models aren't even setup for this kind of cold!" 

With all of the weather men quoting their "computer models", we had been expecting the snow for about a week. As with any other weather phenomenon in Texas, you believe it when you see it. We were told that the snow would happen overnight on Thursday. But not just any snow- measurable snow. That is the key in Texas. We may get snow, but the ground is never warm enough for it to actually stick. So, it snows and melts. However, since we hadn't gone above freezing for days, it was expected to stick. It didn't disappoint and Friday morning was beautiful!!! 

I was disappointed when I went outside to take pictures and found my camera battery to be dead. So, I didn't get any pictures in Leander, but Brad took plenty in Georgetown.

Brad's street

Brad's House

Brad's Car

Backyard

He also got some fun video of the dogs playing outside. The cold weather made them frisky.

(Folks getting this post via email will need to go here to view this video.)

This particular picture makes me really laugh. One of Samson's really bad habits is that he likes to take our things outside. He doesn't chew them up or destroy them, he just wants them outside. He especially like to take clothing, ALL of his toys (and Chey's) and our shoes. He has even been known to drag out his doggie beds (squeezing them through the dog door)! If we are ever CERTAIN we put something somewhere and it is gone, we check the backyard and find it out there. So, apparently the night before the snow, he had taken one of Brad's flip flops out... Brad found it as he was taking pictures.

Look closely for all of Samson's toys that are in the snow.

Pretty girl

Crazy boy

I had brought my laptop home in anticipation of the weather. I am so glad I did because they predicted the snow but hadn't predicted the layer of ice that would form BEFORE the snow fell. The city quickly shut down because of icy roads. So, I set up shop in Laurie's kitchen and worked for several hours. The very few of my co-workers that did make it into work quickly cautioned everyone else against trying it. I am the FIRST to admit that the cars around me don't want me on the icy roads anymore than I want to be there. I am terrified of driving in it and not good at it. So, I wasn't even going to try it!!

After working for most of the day, I called it quits due to some remote connection issues. I decided to brave the grocery store and bought stuff to make for dinner at Brad's that night (he had gone into work) and headed that direction. 

We enjoyed a lazy night with the animals, a couple of movies and a nice fire in the fireplace. 

Zoe yawning...

For some reason, my cat Gypsy is mesmerized by the fire. She will lay there for hours staring into the fireplace or curled up asleep in front of it. She loves it.

So, that was the Blizzard of 2011. There is a possibility of ice again this week, but I think we have seen the last of our snow for the year. So, it is not quite like my friend Kara gets in Boston, but we will take it!!