sundays

After a hectic week, Sunday comes around as a welcome respite after days of motion. Cleaning the kitchen, going through mail, and watching Miriam play outside with Daddy is so calming. Just being home with the whole family. Time to shower, and plan dinner, and take the dog on a proper walk. Just time to be. Moosh and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that ended up as one giant spread, but it was a happy accident. They got sort of thin, and toffee like. Sometimes all you need to revive your spirit is to beat some eggs and wash some dishes. It's good for the soul.

my valentines

I'm a tad ho-hum about Valentines Day as I get older. It's much more fun for kids I think. We crafted and made strawberry heart skewers.  Miriam happily toted her handmade hearts to all her classmates and was thrilled when I came to her class party yesterday. But, as I was checking out D magazine the other week, I saw an ad for a Valentine's mini photo session. The style of photographer, Kelly-Christine's work immediately caught my eye. I told T this would be the perfect Valentine's "gift" for me. I'm always the one behind the camera, so it's mighty nice to have some memories of our entire family. I think they turned out really lovely, especially the ones of my sweets.

the moms in big D

My momma, aunt Louise, and cousin Lauren all came for a visit last weekend. I'd forgotten how fun it is to have so many people packed in one house! Hair dryers going, makeup on every counter, bacon cooking in the skillet, air mattress in the playroom, magazines piled up, coffee being poured, and everyone in their robes. Just like home. It was lovely and relaxing, and busy, and wild - just like I'd hoped. Even Trevor enjoyed having all these ladies in the house. One of my favorite things we did was a day trip to Fort Worth. What a cool town and the stock show was going on so we spotted trailers, cowboys, and a ferris wheel. Mom steered us to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art which was really fabulous. Little dose of culture then lunch at Tillmans Roadhouse. Let me just say we had more than our fair share of good eats. I did my Texas duty of showing off the wide variety of mexican fare. High (Komali) to medium (Glorias) to low (Rusty Taco) we ate mexican food at almost every meal. When in Rome!
One meal we strayed from the tex-mex was Neighborhood Services. Oh my gosh… it was one of those wonderful nights where everything just goes smoothly. Really happenin' vibe, great waitress, flowing cocktails, and the food was… well, perfect. We stayed up late listening to music and talkin' until we couldn't talk no more. The only thing missing from this trip was Miss Lauren partaking in the libations. Poor thing was fighting off those not so pleasant early pregnancy symptoms. I do think the food helped though and we celebrated her birthday with some pretty sweet cupcakes from Society Bakery. I am beyond thrilled she's having another baby. She is such a good momma and I miss her terribly already. I miss my momma too. I made her get dark nail polish at the salon and she was so not sure, but it looked chic.
What else, might you ask, do you do in Dallas? Shop. We went to all the stores I'd heard about, but never wanted to go to by myself. All the fancy stores that are filled with beautiful things just for looking. The shopping here is endless and I don't even know all the places to go. Some of my favorite spots though were Gypsy Wagon (soooo my style I wanted everything in the store), Blueprint (just because it's so pretty inside), and our last stop was the mall - very exciting, right?! Had to pick up some Hannah Anderson training undies for the babies. I've totally been stalling, but it's time. Oh, and my favorite store was Timothy Oulton. He's the guy that's designed a bunch of things for Restoration Hardware and his only US store is here in town. Anyway, it's beyond cool and they fixed us the best cappuccinos in vintage British mugs so they sort of won our hearts from the get go. They have a giant fish tank with a yellow submarine inside so that should give you a little taste of what was going on. Why do the Brits always get it right? Overall I think they were very impressed with all that Dallas has going on and feeling good about our spot in Texas for now.

Then they were taking back off in a flash. A weekend sure flies by. Back to reality and responsibilities. All the fun made it hard to get going Monday, but it's back to work and back to my little corner of the house. I've been hard at work on my office these days and can't wait to share soon.
 

listening, pinning, cooking, dreaming

Listening to Wild Child with a glass of vino, Paul Simon in NY while I work, and the Pistol Annies when I need a little country twang in the afternoon. 

Pinning these images from Vogue wanting to move in with this family in Brooklyn and give this pony a big hug around the neck.

Cooking Southwestern Sweet Potatoes (Trevor turned up his nose, then went back for seconds), Enchillada Soup, Tomato Soup, Brussel Sprouts, and the best Cauliflower of my life. Sipping Lakewood Lager helps too.

Dreaming of a trip with my husband. Thinking we need a short trip, just the two of us, real soon. Maybe Santa Fe, maybe Austin, maybe Hill Country? Sleeping in, later dinner, reading, and driving with my dude. Are we there yet?

images via here and here

girls only

No boys allowed… that's what Miriam kept saying all weekend. You gotta be careful what you say around a toddler, cause boy does it stick! Daddy was off on a ski trip with some buddies so it was indeed a girls only weekend. We had ourselves a big old time. Crafting, a birthday party, banana pancakes at Legal Grounds, a Target jaunt, supper on the patio, and a trip to the bookstore for a new Max & Ruby book. Two and a half is sort of a hilarious age. She says super silly things, corrects me often, walks on her tip-toes a lot, and tells me "that is not my favorite" all of the time. That shirt is not my favorite, that spoon is not my favorite, that fruit is not my favorite… and on and on. I caught her with sharpie last night and she just died laughing as she ran away from me. Dumping her crayon bowl on the ground is another favorite activity. Lordy-pete, she's a spitfire when she wants to be. And that's cool. Exhausting, but I totally dig that she has so much personality. We had burgers at Hopdoddy with her buddy Belle & my buddy Whitney which was so great, but when these 2 girls get together… watch out. They giggle and get all loosey-goosey on us as we try and restrain them to the table.

I spent nap time + night time working on my out of control office. Paperwork, filing, bills, rearranging, ughh… cleaning is not my favorite. Better now though and I have to admit it feels good. Another baby I was taking care of the last few days was Bran. I don't even think I've introduced him, but meet the big buddy. We adopted him from the lab rescue here in town back in December. He's sort of a Cooper twin and is seriously sweet and just wants to curl up next to ya all the time. He had to have a little surgery for his leg which had been broken and worked on way before we got him. Poor guy has been through a lot, but we are sure glad to have him. Anyway, he's on the mend, but he's been super needy since he cant run around. Miriam on my hip and Brando at my side, I was never lonely for company, but I was sure glad to see T roll in the door last night. So much nicer when there's two.

jet-setting for half a second

It was thundering, lightning, and snowing all at the same time Tuesday morning. Who ever said Texas had normal weather? I was rushing around, waiting for my taxi, and waiting on my very late nanny to show. It was a cluster, but I got to the airport and made it to Nashville for my whirlwind trip. I had a big, big meeting for Tenn Hens. I was trying not to be nervous, but impossible. I sampled multiple outfits and wore my grandmothers special bracelet just for extra luck. Currier picked me up and we ate lunch at Bricktops to kill some time. We sipped cappuccinos and discussed all the exciting projects juggling in front of us. Sometimes I pinch myself thinking how lucky I am to love my job as much as I do.

Then it was back to Dallas - such the jet-setter, right?! Back to my baby girl who was so excited when I picked her up from school. "Mommy you all done with meeting?" and "Mommy, you're going to stay with me?" Mmmm, I could eat her up she's so darn sweet. What a week I tell ya and now it's back to basics. Trevor reminded me we were out of bread, milk, and trash bags this morning. Eeeks… reality check after feeling all fancy!

new resolutions

2013… the new year. We drove back from Nashville to Dallas on New Years Eve. It was cold & rainy and there wasn't an inch of extra room, but we survived with a little help from our friend the ipad. It was bittersweet to roll on down the road and leave friends, and family, and the feeling of home behind. Our stay had been packed with good memories …church visits, an evening with my college roomies, burger up, pucketts, shopping, les miserables movie, bond movie, terrible red wine hangover, playdate with tutus, a wedding, cousins dinner at nona, seeing a bobcat on a walk on the farm, seeing babies amelia, jason, annie, lily, & dorothy,  delivering hens holiday gifts, fancy sperrys diner, a day in chattanooga, milk punch, girls dinner, girls party, crepes on xmas morning, makeover day with my sis-in-law, and lots and lots of playing with my girl}… but believe it or not I was ready to get back to our new home and ready to get back into our routine. Driving cross country gave us plenty of time to think on the year past and dream about the next one. We sipped some bubbly then crashed way before the ball dropped. I am praying hard that 2013 is a better year. My list of resolutions and ideas is quite long, but that's what the new year is for. A time to feel inspired and start reaching high all over again.

Now I'm back in my little corner of the house, heater under my desk watching the rain come down and dreaming up plans for Tenn Hens. Miriam is back in the routine of her school days and seemed anxious to return to the busy activity. Trevor is back to his commute to McKinney each day, but returned early yesterday for his bi b-day celebration. His new record player spun some tunes after all the dishes were done and the football game was turned off. Back to our home, back to routine, and back to life in the big D.