Overdue...Again... (Warning: Long post ahead!)

I am just no good at keeping up with anything right now! So I believe I left off at us leaving to go down to New Braunfels for my grandparents anniversary...

I had a great time! It was so nice to spend time with my family and be together for such a happy event. I also got to see a lot of extended family that I hadn't seen in a few years, so it was also somewhat of a family reunion. Poor Spence, haha, I think he may have been overwhelmed with just how big my family is...and that was just my dad's side! But everyone was excited to meet him and say congratulations and give us well wishes - it made it so much more real! Anyway - a quick breakdown of the weekend:

Thursday night: got there and literally crawled into bed, we were so exhausted from working all day then having to make the 5 hour drive.

Friday morning was an early start because we had our first venue viewing appointment at 11, but had to leave the house at 9:45 due to the drive. First place was super fabulous, but maybe a little small for the number of guests we're having. We headed back to town, grabbed some delicious lunch at Gruene River Grill, and then it was off to appointment #2. This place was the exact opposite of Venue #1. Venue #2 is HUGE and close to town. It is also conveniently located next door to a winery...so what do we do...? Well, when in Rome... Dry Comal Creek Winery had a lovely assortment of wines, and yes, we did try them all. Haha, we even had a "shot" called Shootin' Blancs. "What is that?" you ask? Take a chilled shot glass, fill it with DCC Sauvignon Blanc, add 3-4 jalapeno slices, and voila! - a Shootin' Blanc. You're supposed to sip the wine until there's barely any left in there and then "shoot" it - jalapenos and all. Delicious! Well...we were having so much fun trying new things, we decided to keep rolling with it and went into the little historic district in New Braunfels called Gruene and go to a wine and beer specialty store for some more tasting and sipping. Some of my friends met up with us and we spent the rest of the night catching up, drinking new and lovely beverages, and enjoying a delicious meal.

Saturday we slept in and spent the earlier part of the afternoon lounging around and hanging out with my family. I helped my grandmother, great aunt, and aunt make centerpieces for the anniversary party. Then around 2 my friend Taylor got into town and she, Spencer, and I went on a nice little afternoon float trip. It was marvelous and sooo relaxing! And it was great to catch up with T who had been in Spain for the past couple of months (making it very difficult for us to stay in touch for a while!). After the river, we went to my fave little Mexican food joint for dinner and margarita's. Yuuummm. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out and enjoying life :)

Sunday was another lazy morning followed by a trip to Austin to have lunch with Spencer's best friend at a super neat place (which I can't seem to remember the name of right now... eerrr...) on Lake Austin. Then we had to book it back to NB to make it in time to help set up for the party. After set up we just had to "kick back, relax, and enjoy the show" as they say!

Before we left on Monday, we stopped by a specialty running store that my dad had told us to go to for new shoes. It was pretty amazing what they did there. First they "scanned" our feet and were able to tell us where we held our center of gravity and our balance, they also showed us where exactly we put pressure on our feet (and where it should be, if it wasn't there.......me). That part was cool because it looked like a map of a mountain range and wherever the "peaks" were represented the pressure we put on the part of the foot. Then he did a gait analysis on us and was able to tell us how we run and if something was off (like overpronating, etc.). He recommended a few different shoes and was able to tell us every feature of each one (impressive! This guy knew his stuff!) and we tried a few on. I knew as soon as I slipped my foot inside that little slice of heaven that it was meant to be. Suddenly all the pressure I'd been feeling in my lower back, on my knees, and the heels of my feet melted away and I felt like I was literally walking on a cloud... Ahh, pure *bliss*. Needless to say that I snatched those babies up and they've been working wonders for me ever since! :)

And I'm sure you noticed my lack of pictures... Yeah, epic fail in picture taking of the weekend. Sorry, I'll try to do better next time :(

Then it was back to good ol' Midland and normal day-to-day life...nothing of consequence happened during the week. Just super,crazy, ridiculous busy (hence hardly any blogging - sad face :( ) Except my BFF Jennie drove through Midland on her way back home to Alpine, which pretty much made my week!

Saturday we went to Crudefest! What is Crudefest, you ask? It's only the most glorious thing to ever happen in West Texas! It was a weekend long Texas Country Music Concert held in a field on the outskirts of town. There was a BBQ Contest, beer, good music, a ton of people, and great weather! We just brought a cooler and some chairs, kicked back with some friends, and enjoyed the music and festivities. I'm so glad they finally got something like this out here! This is a very common occurrence in Central Texas (especially in the Hill Country) and oh how I've missed it! Spencer has never really listened to any Texas country but after Saturday I'm proud to say he's a bona-fide fan! :) We got some pretty big names (for Texas country, that is) for the show: Roger Creager, Josh Abbott Band, Cory Morrow, and Brandon Rhyder to name a few. Of course some not-so-well-known bands were there as well and they all rocked.

Of course we slept in on Sunday, but after we woke up we planted some flowers! I was so excited to do this! I've been wanting to plant some for for-ev-errr now! We got some Periwinkle, Salvia, dew plant, Bougainvilla, and a blue one that I can't remember the name of. This combination is supposed to do well in hot weather, as well as attract butterflies and humingbirds. I certainly hope they do!

This week has been the same as the last - just a blur. I'm so ready for the weekend...just 24 more hours... My only plans are to get caught up! Our Rockhounds are back in town, so we'll be heading out to the ball park tonight to support 'em. My dad was announced Employee of the Year yesterday at his job, so to celebrate it's beer (tonight is Thirsty Thursday - half price beer night!) and baseball, two of his favorite things :)

Hope y'all have had a wonderful week so far! I also hope if any of y'all are having a week like me I hope that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I promise it's there!

I'm back!...with BIG news!

First, let me apologize for being MIA these past two weeks. Y'all, things have been crazy busy for me lately and I have had zero time (or energy) to spend on anything but things that have to be done... not fun.

So where did I leave off...? Oh yes, weekend trip to Ft. Davis for some R&R in the mountains. It was a great trip. Nothing but me, Spence, beautiful scenery, and some peace and quiet. The cabin had electricity but no TV or radio, and it was so nice to have all the time in the world to just talk.

We stopped in my hometown of Alpine that Friday night for dinner at my favorite mexican food joint, La Casita (oh-em-gee, soooo delicious!), before heading out to the cabin that evening. When we got there, the sun had just set and the stars (which look crystal clear and are huge and shiney!) had come out to play. So we dragged one of the mattresses from inside out on to porch, grabbed a ton of blankets, and laid down and had a really great conversation (you know the kind that are just soo perfect and deep and reach down all the way in to your soul? yeah that kind). But then a cold front rolled in and covered up the lovely night sky and started to rain on us, so we reluctantly took shelter inside.

Saturday we woke up to snow. Yup, snow. Apparently that lovely cold front that spit rain on us that night decided we should have some snow, too. I made some banana pancakes for breakfast, then we lounged around and looked out the windows at all the animals going about their business. Tons of deer and a javelina here and there. Lots of napping also took place. Later that afternoon after it (kind of) warmed up, we braved the chilly wind and took a little hike to an Indian Cave - soo cool! We went back in to town later that afternoon to grab stuff to make dinner, and spent the rest of the night playing board games and jut being plain goofy.

Sunday was much warmer. So we packed up and stopped to climb some rocks before we headed home. We went back through Alpine and stopped at DQ to have some ice cream with my BFF Jennie and her little brother, then we hit the road back to Midland.

Such a nice weekend. Then Monday came before I knew it! And between my office job and subbing, I barely had to time shower! Kidding...well mostly, haha. The next weekend I thought I'd be able to catch up...but it didn't happen. We had a "Brinner" (breakfast for dinner) party at my friend Lindsey's on Friday night, then woke up early on Saturday morning to run the United Blood Services Bloodgusher 10K. Guess what this girl did? Got a medal! - 3rd in her age bracket! Woot woot!! My time was 61 min 50 sec. Pretty good for my first 10K. Spence ran it with me, although after hangin' back with me the first half, he left me in the dust and finished ahead of me. But, my Dad ran the half marathon (which started an hour earlier than my event) and I got to run the second half of my run with my daddy and finish with him. Perfect! I started with one man I love and finished with the other. :)

Brinner!

My medal :)

Sunday was a full day of church then just resting. With Monday came another whirlwind of a week. But eventually the weekend was here again and it was absolutely wonderful. I spent it with the people I love the most. I went to my first hockey game Saturday evening, the Odessa Jackalopes (semi-pro) had a play off game in town, so me, Spence and my daddy went and watched. Super fun and intense! Who knew I'd like hockey? Also, Spencer's best friend came home for Easter weekend, so we hung out with him and his super sweet girlfriend Saturday afternoon and then again that night after the game. Sunday was Easter service with the fam, then home for some Spring cleaning. That night we did some grilling and watched one of our fave movies - "Top Gun". :)

And now it's another new week and it seems like things are only going to speed up with no sign of a slow down any time soon... (womp womp :( ). I did have today, Tuesday, off, which I am so thankful for. I got caught up on a lot of cleaning and little things, so hopefully this week will go much smoother than the past ones. Tonight we began our small Women's Bible Study and I'm so stoked about it. I stole the idea from my best friend Jennie, and we're doing Beth Moore's "Breaking Free". I'll be sure to let y'all know how it goes :) Tomorrow is Date Night, not sure what we're going to do yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to try out an Asian Shrimp Salad recipe. Thursday night is opening night for our semi-pro baseball team, the Midland Rockhounds! I love going to ball games. It also happens to be Thirsty Thursday (half price tap beer! ), so let the games begin! Teehee. Friday will probably be low-key because we're running in a 5K Saturday morning. Then Sunday is church and cooking out. Hopefully I can keep it together this week and not get behind! :)

So maybe you're wondering why I have "BIG news" in my title and nothing has seemed BIG so far.... Well... here it is....

I GOT ENGAGED!!

Spencer proposed the Friday night we were star-gazing and having that really great talk in Ft. Davis. So, needless to say, I've been super busy with calls from friends and family and have just been emotionally exhausted by the end of the day due to all the excitement.

I am so happy and looking forward to planning an amazing wedding and spending the rest of my life with the man of my dreams. But as for tonight, I'm just ready to lay down and close my eyes. Got a long week ahead of me, and there won;t be any slowing down anytime soon ;)

Gooo Tech!

Whoa, what a week! I have just been a busy bee! The week just flew by...here's what happened: Monday was just a day of recovery from a busy weekend before; although we went and saw "Wolfman" - but it was a disappointment. Tuesday was blah, Wednesday was Dinner and a Movie Night and I made banana pancakes, we made a pallet on the floor out of comforters and pillows, and watched "The Little Mermaid" in our pj's - so much fun! Thursday I started my new job and I love it! Yesterday we saw "Shutter Island" and I really liked it. It's dark, twisted, ominous, and breaks your heart in some parts, Leo plays his role beautifully. If you like thrillers and movies you need to pay attention to, then go see it!

Today we head up to Lubbock (my old stompin' grounds!) for the Texas Tech versus UT basketball game. It should be a lot of fun...mostly because Spencer and I have a bet going (he's a UT alum)... If Tech wins, he has to sport some kind of Tech paraphernalia for one week, and vice versa for me if UT wins. Let the games begin! I'm also excited because I get to see some of my other Lubbock friends that I haven't seen in ages. Yay! Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures this time! Well I'm tight on time, gotta run! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!! :)

WRECK 'EM TECH!!

Valentine's Get-away

Let me begin by saying this may be a somewhat long post with lots of pictures...

What a weekend! It was one of the most magical and best weekends of my entire life. So my wonderful boyfriend Spencer had been telling me for about two weeks that we were going to go to Ruidoso for Valentine's weekend and I was super stoked for it. So Friday morning (finally) rolls around and I had woken up early to pack, double check my packing, and get his present ready...then it felt like I had to wait ages for 9:45am to get here. Oh but it did and I flew into the truck, ready to get away and get our weekend started...

So we start heading out of town and he looks over at me and says, "I may have told you some colorful stories this week... We're not driving, we're flying." Well that's no biggie, save some time right? Nothing to fret about. So we get to the luxurious Midland International Airport and he checks our bags and gets us checked in, and the counter clerk hands him our tickets and says, "Enjoy your weekend in Los Angeles!". Oh. My. Goodness. My jaw just dropped. I probably stood there gaping at him like a lunatic for a good 2 minutes before he grabbed my arm and led me up the stairs to our gate...

What a sneaky, sneaky guy! Boy, he had me fooled! For about two weeks nonetheless! I've never been farther west then the Grand Canyon (which was for a middle school field trip) and have always dreamed about going to California... Looks like I found a genie in my boyfriend... ;)

His brother happens to live in LA, so he picked us up from LAX and took us to the infamous In-N-Out Burger for an early dinner. And let me say, it is as good as everyone says it is! Delicious!! After our five star meal, we drove around LA a bit and took in the sights. We stayed in downtown LA at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel, really nice and historic. We were so bushed from a day of traveling and so much excitement that we crashed early and slept like rocks...

We woke up the next morning and he tells me, "You better get dressed, we're going to Disneyland." Ahh!! I nearly died of excitement. Yet another item on my wish list that got checked off this weekend. We had a blast riding the coasters and doing all the things that you just have to do at Disneyland. Lucky for us, we got there early enough to beat the crowds and actually finished up with Disneyland and Californialand by 2pm. It was such a beautiful day that we thought we'd head to the beach and soak in the rays... But LA traffic had other plans for us. It took us about and hour and a half to get back to the hotel, so we opted for naps instead of more traffic time. Room service, champagne, and an amazing dinner were the staples for the rest of our evening...

Sunday morning we did make it to Venice Beach! We walked out on to the Boardwalk and saw some dolphins and just strolled the beach and soaked in the rays for a couple hours. Oh how I've missed the sun and bikini wearing weather!

Then it was lunch with his brother at The Counter, a really cool joint with fabulous food, and then somefor dessert (Yumm-O!! I'm considering opening one in Midland, haha...) before hopping on the plane back to Midland. A perfect weekend with the perfect man :) Oh, and I got a homemade Valentine's card, too! Hope everyone had an equally fabulous weekend and a great week! I start my new job tomorrow - verrrryy nervous and excited!

Pizza for Breakfast and a Weekend Hangover

Actually...I don't know if I can truly consider that I had pizza for breakfast... I mean I didn't wake up until noon, but it was the first thing I ate. And as for the hangover, well I don't mean an actual hangover...it's more of a metaphor. I had a really great weekend and do not wanna wake up from it...so I fully plan on staying in this haze of a dream until I am required to wake up and function like a normal human being. :)

Secondly, I apologize for my extended absence. My computer pretty much shut down for about a week and refused to cooperate with me, so I in turn refused to give it the time of day. That, and I was super busy! We'll play catch up real quick...:

Last Friday I had a "Spa Day" with my friend Lindsey and it was amazing, pure bliss...if only for a day :) and then that night I had date #2 which was just as equally amazing. I spent the rest of the weekend helping Lindsey move into her new and super adorable apartment, eating pizza, and watching movies. Then Monday came, boo! But the week flew by surprisingly fast, yes, even without a computer, haha. I worked mostly but did have date #3 on Wednesday night. We cooked dinner at his place. I made Chicken Piccata for the first time and it was delicious, I didn't give either one of us food poisoning either which was a definite plus. Then we watched Paranormal Activity which left me a little disappointed. I was looking forward to covering my eyes and holding my breath throughout the movie, but instead I giggled through most of it and didn't have to cover my eyes til the very end. Regardless of my poor choice in a movie, it was a great night. And then this weekend rolled around. If I had to use one word to describe it...it'd be: Perfect. He has a friend that's in a band, so we went to see their show at the Midland Icehouse Friday night, they were really good! So that would be date #4... And then later that night he popped the question!! No, not that question!! Haha, we did become "official" though, yay! And we spent the rest of the weekend together. Aaahh...so happy. :):):):):):):):):):) Don't you love that feeling though? Butterflies going crazy in your tummy... smiling every time you think of them... pretty much feeling like a teenager and having your first crush again.

I'm sure most of you are trying to control your gag reflexes by now, hah, so moving on... The Saints won last night! YESS! Hopefully they'll win the Superbowl. My youngest brother turned 18 on Saturday, so in the eyes of the law he is a legal adult. It's so weird. I look at him and still see my 8 year old brother that needs to be taken care of. Other than that, not much else is going on. Still trying to find a job, but everything else is right in the world so I'm not gonna complain. Oh! There is this new show called "Archer", and if you've never seen it, I recommend you start watching it immediately! It is hilarious. If you're a fan of one liners, then this is the show for you. Lindsey and I watched it this weekend and I was laughing so I hard I was crying. Well it's about time for me to get ready for work, I hope everyone has a great day and hopefully I won't have a week long hiatus due to technical problems this week :)