home is where the heart is: 2012

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Rodeo Houston!!

Let's pretend I - for a moment - addressed the fact that I have not blogged in 3 months. Does that brief mention sufficiently acknowledge my blogging slacker status??

Okay, I'm glad we're through that.

Let's take a little gander back to a weekend in March that was one of the best on record! We finally made the trip out to to Houston, TX to visit two of our very closest friends, and we made the most out of the weekend! It went like this:

Amanda picked me up from the airport on Friday afternoon, and we didn't waste any time before going to get some Tex Mex and Margaritas for dinner!

Lupe Tortilla! Yum. Yum. Yum.

We, of course, made our usual stroll through the closest Urban Outfitters store.

Goodness gracious, this gal is awesome!

And on Saturday AM we no doubt embraced the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day!

Green yogurt for breakfast.

Here's a little analogy for you: boots are to Texas as bikinis are to Florida. Here's Amanda's collection.

Boots, boots, and more boots.

We wandered through a store called Bering's, which was a combination of Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Home Depot, Carter's, Dillard's, Things Remembered, Kilwin's + Starbucks. I am doomed if we ever get one of these in Jacksonville. They have EVERYTHING.

Texans are proud to be Texans, that is for sure. Also saw a bumper sticker that said, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could." If only these people were joking.

Aaron was with John David most of the weekend while I was having some girl time with Amanda. We met up on Saturday afternoon to go to the RODEO. My one request of JD was that he didn't dress my husband up to look like some ridiculous wannabe cowboy. Turns out, my man looks GOOD in cowboy boots!!

Pulls 'em off like a champ!

Here we are at the rodeo. So much fun. I'm pretty sure I'll be going every year from now until the cows come home.

Speaking of cows...Here are some sights of the rodeo. It was like no other experience I have ever had! Beats those small-town rodeos in Okeechobee, Florida!

Cow butts.

Guys will be guys.

John David initiated a search for this exhibit (which we all thought he was lying about). Here it is, the animal birthing center! You're welcome for only showing you this pic.

You know it's a good weekend when you're taking photos of your food. A BBQ LOADED baked potato from Pappas BBQ. Oh. My. Word.

Yes. Yes, we did.

There it is. Fried cookie dough.

We walked alllllllll the way to the top of Reliant Stadium to our seats, and gave the guys the good seats during the first half of the rodeo...

And then walked all the way down to the 6th row seats, mostly because we wanted to be an arm's length away from Brad Paisley when the rodeo events were over!

So. Much. Fun.

I love these people!

We went out after the concert was over to make the most of our time together. Who needs sleep when you only have 48 hours!?

There's just something better about a margarita that is made so much closer to Mexico!

And there's nothing really better about beer that is green, except that it's a must-have on St. Patty's Day!

We had a blast getting to know the city that our two great friends live in. Aaron got to stay a few extra days (for a conference), while I had to head home on Sunday after visiting Amanda's church. But that's that, our awesome trip to TEXAS!!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Farewell 2011...

So, I'd have to say, that 2011 was a pretty good year for Aaron and I. The highlights include:

I studied for, took, and PASSED my comprehensive exams for graduate school!
I FINISHED graduate school! (yes, all of these deserve exclamation points)
Aaron still wanted to be married to me after going through 2 years of graduate school! =)
We made the move back to Florida!
We took an awesome vacation to Hawaii!
We welcomed our niece Kaitlyn into the world!
We found a great home church here in Jacksonville and got plugged in!
Aaron started work for a software company in Jacksonville!

It has truly been a crazy time. I cannot believe that all of these things happened in the same year...and some (like graduation + moving) happened in the same week :)

Nevertheless, Aaron and I have a terrible track record of celebrating the old year and welcoming the new year (and we have a lot to celebrate!). Something about having expectations set for the perfect midnight celebration leads us to crash and burn every year. If it's not rain, it's sleep deprivation, or lack of friends in town. We've been in some fun places over the years, but just haven't pulled it together to make the fun last til midnight (case in point: last year we watched FSU beat the Gamecocks downtown with some friends [fun]...only to end up on the Orange Line to Vienna at the stroke of midnight [not so fun]...). Anywho, turns out we did a nice job of turning things around this year. One New Year's Eve Day (that's a mouthful), we made a little trip up to Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island to explore...

The Dames Point bridge. Isn't it lovely?

Some towns have painted manatees, others have painted turtles. FB's claim to fame is the painted shrimp.

We saw the wise men! Turns out one is an LSU fan, one is a Gator fan, and one is a Georgia fan...

We drove down the sandy road by the beach....

And jumped out to see the water on this balmy day. (Wish I'd had my bathing suit or we'd have stayed a while)

On the way back, we made a last minute turn to go downtown to see the Gator Bowl Parade! Pirates! Shooting off cannons! (I was in heaven.)

Ohio State Buckeyes

Florida Gators (couldn't find my little blond sis, Martha, but I was lookin' real hard!)

Let's not forget our attire to the game...an Auburn shirt and Florida State gear.

And then...for the real part, we shared New Year's Eve with our good friends from FSU, Chris and Jackie Correa. They were in town visiting Jackie's cousin, who had just purchased an awesome new house in Ponte Vedra! So...we celebrated in style with good friends and their family, and enjoyed our time together! And...bonus...we made it all the way to midnight!