trip to Austin!

Over the weekend, Anthony and I made the trip down to Austin to see my sister Kim and her family. We didn't leave Dallas until 7:00 on Friday night, which meant we didn't arrive to their house until almost 11:00. My nephew, Barrett, stayed up for us and he was full of energy when we got there. After he went to bed, we stayed up until 2:00am talking and catching up. Saturday morning we slept in and just took it easy. Kim made a yummy breakfast! We packed up the kids and headed downtown. We did a little bit of window shopping in some really neat stores then headed to Home Slice Pizza for lunch. Austin is such a cool place and it reminds me a lot of San Francisco (on a smaller scale). I love how unique people are and that you can get away with wearing anything! A huge musical festival called South by Southwest was going on in Austin, so we listened to free live music in the backyard of the pizza place. The group was quite good and the kids enjoyed listening and dancing to the music. After lunch, we walked over to a cupcake place and enjoyed some homemade cupcakes!

Two of the cutest kids you've ever seen We went to Waterloo Park after lunch to enjoy some more live music. The kids had a blast just running all over the place and Barrett put on quite the show for all of us.
Barrett running & dancing
Saturday night, the adults went out to dinner and the kids stayed home with a babysitter. We went down to 6th Street and ate at The Iron Cactus. The food was delicious and we enjoyed more great conversation. Too bad the live music being played across the street was terrible.

Me and my sister

Me and Anthony
After dinner we walked around on 6th Street for a while. Kim and I met Brad from the Bachelor as Anthony and Derek stood back and laughed as we acted like silly school girls. It was fun to meet someone semi-famous! He was very nice and quite attractive.

It was a great weekend and we always have a great time being with family.

Say a little prayer...

Lately, I've had a particular family on my mind and I want to ask for your prayers for this family. Many of you who went to ACU around the time I was there probably know Blake Burchfield. I've known Blake for a long time--he grew up with my cousins, lived with Anthony in college, dated one of my best friends, and I traveled with him (and others from ACU) to Trinidad on a mission trip. He's such a great guy and he and his family could use your prayers. Blake moved to Haiti several years ago to do mission work, and while he was there he met an American girl who was living there too--they got married and have since adopted 2 Haitain children. They are currently trying to move back to the U.S., but they have faced many road blocks along the way. One of the kids is HIV+ and they are having to go through all sorts of things with the U.S. government--to their knowledge, no American family has adopted a child with HIV and tried to bring them legally back to America. They have been told that they WILL be able to bring him back, but since its never been done before the government is learning as they go through this process. They are so close to the end, but the date keeps getting pushed back--they have no idea when they will get to come home and bring their children to America. I ask that you lift this family up in prayer. God is in control of this situation and I know He will bless this family who is doing something remarkable.

I am amazed at what Blake and his wife are doing--taking these 2 kids in, raising them as their own, providing for them and most of all, giving them more love than they could ever imagined. I They've inspired me; they have shown what it means to truly show the love of Jesus to others. I am very interested in International adoption, and hopefully one day Anthony and I are blessed to adopt a child of our own.

missing home

Today's weather in Dallas is typical for a Chicago spring day...not Texas!! Not a cloud in the sky and 40 degrees. I know, spring actually doesn't start until a few more weeks but its March which makes me think its spring. Anyway, its hard to believe it was snowing yesterday. Yes, that's right, we got a few inches of SNOW yesterday!!

I went for a run this afternoon because I just couldn't resist being outside, enjoying this beautiful day. Running is therapeutic for me--I do lots of thinking, praying, daydreaming, etc., and today I thought mostly about Chicago. I miss it so much! It's hard to believe we have now been Dallas residents for almost 8 months...when will this place start to feel like home...or will it?? There is no reason for me to complain; I have a wonderful life and much to be thankful for, but why do I find myself missing Chicago so much and wishing we still lived there? Being back in TX has been great for several reasons: we get to see our families a lot more & participate in those fun family events that we used to have to miss, we have so many old & new friends in the DFW area that we get to see often, Anthony has a great job and I have 2 jobs that I absolutely love, we have a great church home where we've gotten involved and met lots of new people and so many other great things. I definitely didn't think it would take this long to feel at home here; I don't think I truly understood how much I loved Chicago until we left. It was more than just a fun city to us--riding the bus & El, walking every where, interacting with people from all over the world on a regular basis, living 100 yards from Lake Michigan was our reality. If you've ever moved from a place you loved, I'm sure you know the exact feelings I'm talking about and I'm sure the new place eventually starts to feel like home, its just hard. Who knows where we'll be in a few years or what the Lord has planned for us, but for now, all I can do is make the most of where I'm at right now and be thankful for my life--because it truly is wonderful.

a wedding, baby shower & birthday party all in one day!

The weekend was a very busy one for me! My mom and sister, Kim, came into town on Friday night and we went out for sushi. It was Kim's first sushi experience and I think she liked it. My mom even tried a few pieces!

Saturday started with a yummy breakfast at The Original Pancake House then I headed downtown for Lisa Waldron's (friend from ACU) wedding. I didn't get to stay long because I was hosting a baby shower for my sister, Kara, at my house that afternoon, but it was fun to see old friends and watch another happy couple get married! The baby shower started at 2:00, and it was fun to see family and other friends. Can't wait to meet baby Peyton in just a few weeks! Here are some pictures from the shower:

After the shower was over and we got the house cleaned up, Anthony and I headed to Ft. Worth for cousin Jamie's 30th birthday party at Joe T's. It was my first Joe T's experience and the margaritas were quite tasty. We had a great time chatting with more family and enjoying good food. Is it bad that I had a piece of cake every place I went on Saturday?!?

Presidential Race

For all of you Texans...March 4th is the Texas Primary and I hope you will all do your civic duty and VOTE! Early voting has already started if you are really on top of things and want to get it done early.

Also, take this 10 question quiz to see what candidate you agree with most on the following issues/statements: http://www.votechooser.com/
I'd love to hear your results. Here were mine:
Barack Obama - agreed on 9
Hillary Clinton - agreed on 7
Ron Paul - agreed on 3
Mike Huckabee - agreed on 2
John McCain - agreed on 2

10 years with my Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your day and got to spend it with someone special. Yesterday marked the 10th Valentine's Day Anthony and I spent together as a couple, and I have to admit--life with him gets better every year! In honor of our 10 Valentine's Days together, I thought I would highlight a few of them:
Valentine's Day #1 (1999)
Anthony invited me over to his house for dinner and he cooked for me! It was an Italian-themed dinner, the dining room table was decorated accordingly, and the rest of his family was upstairs so we could "have the place to ourselves". He made salad, homemade pizza, and pasta. I don't remember what we had for dessert but I'm sure it was tasty just like the rest of the food. For the most part, he did it all himself but he did have some help from Tina.
Valentine's Day #3 (2001)
This was one of Anthony's all-time surprises--we were Freshman at ACU. He told my friends to make sure I was dressed and ready to go by 2:00 (they all knew what he was doing but wouldn't tell me; just told me what to wear). He picked me up around 2:00 at Nelson dorm and we were off...driving down I-20. Frank Sinatra was playing and he had packed some snacks since he knows I love to snack on roadtrips, and that's what we were doing...going on a roadtrip! I soon figured out we were driving to the DFW area but had no idea what all he had planned. He had made dinner reservations at this quaint little Italian restaurant--it was a really nice place and we were just glad to be out of Abilene for a date :). After dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert (this used to be my favorite place) and we each got our own piece of cheesecake. I had to call the dorm around 11:00pm to tell them I was going to be late for curfew since we were still in Dallas and my curfew was at 11:30pm. I explained the whole story to them and it was all fine. We got back to Abilene around 3:00am, which was no big deal since we hardly ever went to bed before then freshman year! Oh to be 18 again!!
Valentine's Day #4 (2002)
We spent February 14th in Moody running through our Sing Song act...how romantic! I'm sure we celebrated on a different day.
Valentine's Day #8 (2006)
We were living in Chicago for this one. It was an extremely cold day/night but we bundled up and headed out on the town. We had dinner at a French place called Mon Ami Gabi and it was very tasty. They had an old fashioned wine cart and this man walked around all night, pushing his cart, trying to get people to try & buy wines. This was my first French restaurant experience and soon after this, we became big fans of French food!
Valentine's Day #10 (2008)
We decided to stay in last night--Anthony was in charge of dinner and I was in charge of dessert. When I got home from work last night arount 6:30, I found my hubby working hard in the kitchen. He prepared a WONDERFUL dinner for us--ceasar salad (none of that bagged lettuce stuff and even made his own dressing) with pancetta and his special homemade croutons AND linguine with shrimp. The pasta was soooooo good!! It had a nice lemon/olive oil/white wine dressing, fresh parsley, garlic, red peppers and pancetta. He outdid himself for sure! We also had a nice bottle of sparkling wine and for dessert we had chocolate merigune pie. It was a great night and I was so excited to have him home when I got home from work. That's a rare treat!

I hope you all enjoyed your day and took advantage of eating lots of chocolate!!

Drink PINK!!

On Saturday night, Anthony and I hosted a wine-tasting party and we had such a fun time! The theme was PINK so we had a variety of sparking and still Rose wines along with several different desserts and cheeses. There were 16 of us, and it was so much fun seeing old friends and getting caught up with people we hadn't seen in a long time! Here are some pictures from the night.

Some of the different wines we tried...Anthony did a great job of making sure every one was trying different wines and keeping those glasses full!
Our spread
Some of the cheese we served. We also had individual heart-shaped containers filled with raspberry mouse type dessert.
We had a Chocolate Fountain and had strawberries, pretzels and marshmallows to dip in the chocolate. I also made mini strawberry cupcakes to go stick with the pink theme.
Some of our guests Andrew came and was a big hit! He is such a good baby.
The Brocks drove in from San Antonio and its always great seeing them.
They were a big help getting everything set up pre-party
Me and my Honey :)

I think this will become an annual party we host! It was fun, we love having people over, and I always welcome a chance to bake!