Painting with a Twist

Painting with a Twist is a fairly new business in College Station. They combine painting with drinking wine--which promises to be an entertaining experience to say the least!

Stephanie saw on their website that they were hosting a paint your pet class, which we (obviously, being the pet-lovers that we are) jumped on!

 I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination and realized quickly that our decision not to partake in the wine was probably wise for our painting's sake.

With so many different paintings, the two artists who were walking around assisting us, had their work cutout for them! It was kind of stressful because I was so scared I was going to ruin my painting. They kept promising that anything we did could be fixed, if need be, and that we would leave liking our finished products.

I greatly needed assistance for Carter's nose…No matter what I tried, it kept getting bigger and black-blob-ier. I was thankful that the artist was able to salvage the nose!

There were several ladies around us that we very artistic. I left being OK with my painting, but feeling that mine looked like finger paint compared to some of the others! After I got it home and sent picture to my family and friends, I decided I didn't do too bad!

Next time, I think I will stick to the classes where everyone paints the exact same thing, that way I can enjoy the wine part!

A Bittersweet Goodbye!

A couple weeks ago, I found this little cutie wandering around the school where I teach and coach. 

My first thought was that he escaped from one of the nearby houses, but after going door to door, this did not seem to be the case. One of the neighbors thought that someone may have dropped him off. 

Since it was after 5 and there was a basketball game that night (meaning lots of traffic), I decided to take him home until I could figure out to whom he belonged.

I sent out an email at school and talked to the kids in my classes about him to see if anyone knew where he came from. When none of that was productive, Jason and I entertained the idea of keeping him.

It took a couple sleepless nights and a few too many accidents in the house coupled with Carter's diminishing spirits and tolerance for the little guy to realize that we aren't really in a place in our lives to properly care for a new puppy. We started asking around and finally posted him on Craigslist.

There was an overwhelming response to the Craigslist post that finally landed the pup, that we formerly referred to as "little dog," now Charlie, a new home.

A recently married medical student came by to meet us and Charlie. It was mutually love at first sight! She took him home to her husband to get his approval and called back to happily say they wanted to keep him.

Although we will miss Charlie's cuddling and playfulness, we are happy that he has a good home with people that are looking for the responsibility of being puppy parents!

We celebrated Charlie's new home at Downtown Uncorked with some Friday Night Flights and Port Chocolates!

Welcome to 2013!

2013 started out with a bang! Jason surprised me with a trip to Barton Springs Resort & Spa for New Year's Eve. The resort and grounds are gorgeous, but unfortunately the weather was not. It was overcast, misty and really cold.

Due to the weather being so gloomy, these are the only pictures I took.

For our New Year's Eve celebration, Jason and I went to Vespaio for an AMAZING dinner and dessert, then came back to our hotel room to drink some awesome wine (thanks Dad and Mom!) and watch the ball drop…it was perfect!

The next morning, we went to one of our other favorite Austin spots for breakfast, Magnolia Cafe. I even treated myself to a mimosa to welcome 2013!

While on our mini vacation, Jason and I discussed our goals for 2013 and brainstormed some strategies for achieving them! It was a very relaxing, yet productive, getaway!

OUR GOALS:

1. Eat at home. Being busy, on the road, and just plain lazy has lead us to eating out for most of our meals over the last couple months.

2. Eat healthier/more "clean." Luckily for Jason and I, we actually like healthy food. We just really like unhealthy food too. We are hoping to tip the balance to eating healthier options as much as we can. When we cook at home, we eat pretty well, its when we go out that we run into trouble…so in achieving goal #1, we will also knock out #2.

So far, we have done quite well on this! We made spaghetti squash, pizza with cauliflower crust, quinoa spanish "rice", homemade black beans and other yummy dishes!

3. Workout more consistently. Jason ordered P90x from iTunes and I reactivated my Golds Gym membership. We both feel better when we workout, it is just starting the workout that is the battle. We are hoping to hold each other accountable for staying on track. 

With my school/coaching schedule, the only time I have to workout is either early in the morning before work, or after practice. I have tried the after work and my effort is not good. I have started the 5:30am group exercise up again. Yay!

4. Get serious about saving money. We would like to move into a "big girl house" sooner rather than later. We have mapped out a savings program that will get us there in 3 years. We don't want to take out a long mortgage or compromise on our list of wants in a new home.

There were many more that we listed, but these four are the ones we are going to focus on!

Happy 2013 everyone! :)

Tis the Season to be Jolly

We had a wonderful Christmas break this year! We were able to see all of our family and squeeze in a little time for ourselves!

We started out our vacation by making the journey to the Gaylord Ice Exhibit, Merry Madagascar. It was very cool (pun intended)! The tent where the exhibit is held, pumps refrigeration in to make it 9 DEGREES!

From there we had dinner at Patrizios in Highland Park Village. The food was AMAZING…the service, not so much.

I had the Eggplant Parmesan and Jason had the Lasagna…typical.

Next we went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who were AWESOME! The show had great music, flashing and colorful lights, fire and fireworks…what more could you want?!

I'm not sure why the picture of us turned out blurry.

The next day we ventured up to Denton and had Christmas with my family at Josh's house. I'm mad at myself for not taking very many pictures…

Carter and his cousin, Shiner playing tug-a-war with Shiner's raccoon.

Mom and Dad stuffing jalapenos.

We had tamales, fajitas, black beans, and stuffed jalapenos for dinner…amazing Christmas Eve dinner!

From there we made the trek to Austin to visit with Jason's family…again I am disappointed with my lack of photos!

Christmas scratch-offs! Cody was the only winner! 

Cody and Jason got to test out the K1 Racing Track in Austin.

We had such a great time with our family! I am so thankful that we are able to see all of them during our very short break…I go back to work on Wednesday!

26.2

This weekend Jason, our friend Courtney and I completed our first (Courtney's second) full marathon!

The Dallas weekend started off with picking up our race packets and running into one of our fellow Cabin 8ers, Ashley (who stalked us for the rest of the expo)! I haven't seen her since my wedding in May, so it was a wonderful surprise that her and her cousin were running the half marathon!

We run for cupcakes and wine…truth.

Next up, we met our other Cabin 8 friend for her mini birthday celebration at Deep Ellum Brewery. It was a pretty neat place. I would definitely like to go back when I can actually partake in the festivities!

From there we checked into our hotel and watched "Johnny F. Football" win the Heisman! Pretty exciting day for an Aggie!

After that, we met my parents, my brother, my Aunt Jan and her family at Ristorante Bugatti to carb up before the race. I am in love with their eggplant parmesan! It is now a tradition when running the White Rock/Dallas Marathon! We ran the half 2 years ago and happened upon this awesome restaurant due to them being the only Italian restaurant with reservations left.

The next morning we dressed in our cute Santa skirts and zig-zagged around Dallas for 26.2 miles….which was probably the hardest thing I have EVER done in my life!

Though Jason and I's time was not what we had hoped, we finished and met our goal of completing our first full the same year we got married!! I would like to run another (and actually complete our training program) to get a respectable time…we will see if/when that happens! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I officially am a terribly blogger!

Well, October and November have flown by and Christmas will be here before we know it!

Here are some highlights from October and November. I, hopefully, will be a much better blogger this month!

In October, I went undefeated in district coaching my 7th Grade A Volleyball team! Whoop! We only had one loss on the season at a non-district tournament. I am going to miss coaching those girls next year!

Jason completed his first Tough Mudder. 

Everyone asked why I did not participate with him and the answer is…me and electric shock/ice cold water do not get along well. 

Though I was not a participant, I still was part of the action. I purchased a spectator pass and roamed along the course collecting photo evidence of Jason being a BEAST!

November is always fun because it is my birthday month! I thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled by my wonderful husband and friends!

My birthday gift to myself was a girls trip to Florida to run the Disney Wine&Dine Half Marathon. We are princesses in real life, but we decided to dress up as Disney princesses for the race.

From Left: Jasmine (Dana), Cinderella (me), Goofy, Belle (Courtney),  and Pocahontas (Leah)

The coolest part of our race was running through the Osborne Lights in Hollywood Studios!

Finally, November ended with a trip to Galveston for the TAHPERD Convention held at Moody Gardens. Dana and I booked a hotel in Galveston and made a weekend out of the conference where we visited The Spot, The Poop Deck and some other interesting Galveston attractions.

This weekend Jason, my friend Courtney and I will be running the Dallas Marathon clad in tacky Christmas attire. Courtney and I bought some awesome red sequin Santa skirts from Claires that will be sure to make the 26.2 much more fun! I am hoping to talk Jason into wearing a pair of Christmas boxers over his running shorts…we will see how it goes. Wish us luck!!