Firsts....

This has been a week of firsts for us. We celebrated Matt's re-employment with dinner out - just the 2 of us. We've been talking about going to this neighborhood restaurant for years and we finally did it. We have totally been missing out! Matt's steak and my crabcakes were delicious. But the icing on the cake was, literally, the icing on the 8 inch tall icing on the coconut cake. Oh my.

Since it was just the 2 of us that meant getting a sitter for the Bugster for the 1st time. We were very proud of ourselves - we didn't worry about her and we managed not to talk about her until after the coconut cake. That's not to say we didn't high tail it out of there so we could be home where we belong.

Matt left Saturday for the coast (not a first). He and the Perry's went deep sea fishing on Sunday and caught a boat load of Mahi. Just one of the reasons I think our relationship works - his hobby to hunt / fish / cook subsidizes my hobby to eat / eat / eat. Anyway, I left Sunday morning with Brantley and checked into the hotel. Amy met us there and we hit the beach - my first time back at the beach in almost a year and Brantley's first time at the beach ever. She loved looking at the water - a girl after my own heart. This morning the whole family took a walk which was the best. It's one of my favorite times to be on the beach. We dreamed about the day we have our own place there. I can't describe how happy this would make us - both individually and as a family. I'm actually really happy with my life the way it is - I love my husband and bambino and even my job (well, I really like my job. love is pushing it.) But Monday thru Friday would be even better knowing I could be back at the beach every weekend.

Our little weekend getaway facilitated another first - we had a dog/house sitter come take care of baby #1 and #2. We're pretty over the top when it comes to our dogs - I mean we really love them and it kills us to leave them. Especailly when they realize we're going somewhere and think they think they're coming with us but we know they're not. It totally sucks. But knowing they were in good hands made it much more bearable. We'll definitely do it again - unless we get a beach house and then they can come with us. One big happy family.

Matt just reminded me of another first - we purposefully and pre-meditatively slept in separate beds at the hotel this weekend. How old are we????

You Dern Goat!

Our new favorite show? My Big Redneck Wedding. 2 minutes into the current episode: goat eats wedding arch, guy proposed at a gas station, 15 month old daughter needs to get used to snakes (she does live in the country afterall), "I need dem hogs. They are the main source of meat for the wedding." "That's Georgia style y'all!" Brantley has more teeth than the groom...and, wait for it, bride got her nails done at Walmart! Who knew? Oh, now they're going mud boggin. Oh, so sad. Did you notice the date of this post? It's Friday night. That's right. Monica, you want to hang with the cool kids? Come on over.

This is how we roll

Matt is fishing this weekend so Brantley and I hit the art festival going on downtown. The weather was glorious, we saw some really fabulous pieces from some talented artists and grabbed my favorite sandwich - grilled cheese with avocado and tomato - for lunch. Yum. Clearly the whole experience took its toll on the Bugster.

I'm glad to report that Matt is re-employed. Yay! Let's keep our fingers crossed that this one sticks - at least for a few years. I have to say that it has been a little stressful being a one income family. Monetarily we weren't worried. Let's just say it will be nice not to be the only adult getting up and getting going in the morning. And surely the fights over who should make coffee will end. That isn't to say that Matt not working has its perks - he performed quite a few honey-do tasks which I'm really thankful for. I should have made more. Oh yeah, he doesn't start his new job until June. Where's is my pen?

4 Months

This baby makes me SO happy! She hasn't been sleeping through the night this past week (That does not make me happy. Just ask Matt). This morning she decided 4:00 would be a good time to get up. She was having a big conversation with herself so I let her be and she would doze off and on until I got up at 6:00. I open her door and say good morning and she just cracks up laughing. Like I said, this baby makes me SO happy!

Blue Dog

I like this guy. I had not heard of him before but he has had much commercial success and is now being featured at the New Orleans Museum of Art. I just saw an interview with him on the Sunday Morning show and this is what I like about him - he paints what/how he wants to paint and not how the galleries tell him he should paint in order to get people to buy his work. That line of thinking has apparently worked for him. Now he is a multimillionaire so obviously he can live by this philosophy without losing any sleep about where his next meal will be coming from. But I think he stayed true to himself in the starving artist years as well and it paid off. Good for him.

Another interesting story from today's show was about a woman named Wendy who was diagnosed with MS ten years ago. She decided she better live life now before she was relegated to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. So she ran a marathon which was great...but not enough. She set her sights on climbing the highest mountain on each continent. I think she was living on the east coast at this time and decided to move to CO in order to train. Along the way to achieving this goal she came across this 4th grade class who has embraced her and her goal. They track her progress and she calls them when she reaches the summit of whatever mountain she is on. She often tells them to Climb Your Own Mountain. I love that. These kids are learning to set goals, go after them and if at first you don't exceed, try and try again. We need more Wendy's in the world.

And one last thought for the day. Matt and I read an artlicle about an epidemic sweeping the nation - videoicisis. More and more youth are foregoing a good old game of kickball, riding their bikes, going to parks, hiking, doing sports, fishing - you get the picture - to sit in front of (1) the tv, (2) video games, and (3) the computer (not necessarily in that order). I can see the effects of this becoming so far-reaching - generations of unhealthy, overweight, vitamin D deficient people. And on top of that, who is going to care about our green spaces? No one. So do your part. Get off the couch, get your kid off the couch and go climb a mountain.

Bright, Sunshiney Day

The family took full advantage of this first sunny Saturday in 6 weeks. We started off our morning with a hot cup of coffee and bowlful of Kashi Go Lean - my fav. We had big plans to go downtown since so much was going on there but we had to get the ya-ya's out of the pups first. So we headed to the river. The pure unbridled joy that Lola and Gunner exude when they realize they're headed to utopia. If only we as humans could find half as much pleasure in the small things.
So we were headed back to the truck when I spotted this baby turtle. Let me just say that I'm always so impressed with Matt's ability to spot anything wild - ducks across a pond, deer tracks, gophers, you name it. I on the other hand could probably step on a snake and not know it. So I was really proud of myself for spotting this turtle. The poor little guy was really far from water so I took him back to the bridge so he'd have a chance. I hope he makes it.

We also saw ducks and a rare spotting of this elusive japanese sleeping bug:

Dusting off the sports bra...

It's time. The running shoes are being laced up, new bra is being purchased, my head and wrist bans are ready. I'm hittin' the pavement in preparation for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Half Marathon. I'm totally psyched! Monica got the ball rolling by committing to do the full marathon, I got to thinking about doing the half and since then Kelly has jumped on board and Maurie has at least committed to being there and drinking 'ritas with us. All the roomies from A&M together again. I'm so bringing my Cranberries CD.