Weekends, pictures, catch-up...

This post will be mostly pictures since it has been forever since I have posted.  Be prepared for an overload of cuteness and my gorgeous little man!

Mason in a super awesome onesie that Nick's cousin made!

Mason pre-church, rockin' his sunglasses, hat, and shoes!

Mason smiling in his autographed Chabala onesie.  Chabala is our favorite soccer player, and we made this onesie and Mike Chabala signed it for us!

Mason at his first Dynamo game!  He is trying to shove his hands into his mouth...

Enjoying bath time...he loves his bath and being all wrapped up afterwards!

Tummy Time!

Chewing on some rings, his new favorite toy!

This is what happens when my older brother babysits...Nick and I went to see Guys and Dolls and this is what we get a text of!

Mason and his first pairs of Sperrys.  The little blue ones fit now and the brown ones will fit in about 6 months!  They are the cutest!

Nick and I had an official date night!  We went to see Maroon 5 and it was incredible!!

We had an amazing time!

Weekend Success!

With our weekends as just a couple coming to an end extremely soon, Nick and I are making the most of our time together, as well as, getting things ready for our little man!  This weekend was no exception; we had a blast and got some last minute things accomplished. Friday we had kind of an impromptu date.  Let me preface this with some background information…  Nick and I had our hearts set on attending the Haute Wheels Festival (aka, Houston food truck festival).  We were so excited to try all of the fun, different food trucks; however, it didn’t happen.  Needless to say we were pissed, plain and simple!  We then decided to make it our quest to follow and find the food trucks as they make their way around Houston so we can still try them all out.  This is the way you are actually supposed to do it, right?  So, Friday night we knocked one food truck off of our list!  Bernie’s Burger Bus was amazing!  Seriously, one of the best burgers I have ever had, great people run the bus, and as a teacher I love their theme!  Every burger, side order, etc. has fun school related names.  From there we decided to lose our beignet virginity since we were so close to Crescent City Beignets.  I can’t believe we have never had this amazing, incredible dessert/pastry.  It was incredible and totally added to our fabulous meal! From there we got a few items for Mason.  We got a carrier and a pump.  We went with the pump that goes with our bottles to make life easy, and it was on sale which made it even better! Saturday we were able to accomplish are last big thing…coming home outfit.  There are clothes for girls EVERYWHERE, boys not so much.  I couldn’t find what I wanted at all because we did not want just a regular onsie.  We headed towards my parents' house, picked them up, and headed to a boutique in their hood.  It was awesome, and we actually had choices there!  Coming home outfit, check!  We also got to spend the day with my parents which was fabulous.  Plus, my mom is getting closer to having the bedding finished!  Sunday was more of a slow moving day at home and running errands in our neck of the woods.  To finish off Mason’s room we got some true mason jars that actually say ‘mason’ on them!  We were able to get all the little things we wanted to fill them so they could act as decoration for his room.  Everything from barrel of monkeys monkeys to army men to ninjas to cars and more.  His room is done except for the bedding, which should be done in the next couple of weeks.  We of course had sno cone Sunday, did our grocery shopping, and went to church.  Definitely a successful weekend, and we are one week closer to having our baby boy in our arms!

Nothing but love...

So this past weekend was a big one for Nick and me.  Not only was it Valentine’s Day but it was also our wedding anniversary!  We got married the 13th, a Friday the 13th to be exact.  It wasn't the original date but life happens and this turned out to be the date of our fabulous wedding.  At first we weren’t exactly thrilled about it being so close to V-day, but now we have decided that we are fans!  Deals, specials, sales all for our anniversary.  Plus, we get to extend our celebration of love for an extra day (cheesy I know, but true)! Friday: I got these gorgeous flowers delivered to work with a sweet card.  Then, we headed to a spa for a couples massage, pedicure, and chocolate covered strawberries and champagne! The place was fabulous and made it so I could have a prenatal massage and OJ instead of champagne!  It made for a wonderful evening with the best husband ever.   Saturday: This yummy treat arrived at our doorstep in the morning.  I really do have the best husband ever!!  We went to our all time favorite restaurant where we always go for our anniversary.  We had a fabulous dinner, they put flowers on our table for us, and they gave us a free dessert.  A lovely, lovely evening! Sunday: We cooked ourselves a wonderful 3 course dinner.  We enjoyed cooking and spending the day together, not to mention the weather was gorgeous! French Onion soup in our fancy little crocks! Filet Mignon, asparagus, baked potatoes, and of course sparkling grape juice! Cheesecake and coffee (don't worry it was only one tiny cup)! I love my husband to pieces more and more everyday and our anniversary and Valentine’s Day celebrations were wonderful!  To make the weekend even more amazing I felt my baby boy kick for real for the first time!!

Houston Love!

This past week served as a reminder of why I love living in Houston!

Wednesday we went to Carrie Underwood and Billy Currington with my brother and his girlfriend.  It was wonderful, and made me love Billy Currington even more than ever.  So, with this our 'country western' side got some love.  Then Friday we took my dad to see Shakira, and he absolutely loved it which was the most important thing!  Right there we got to please a family member and get in touch with our Spanish music-belly dancing-concert side.

Saturday we hit up some festivals!  Beautiful October weather made being outside completely fabulous and we had a blast.  We went to the Bayou City Art Fest, and it was amazing!  So many incredible artists from all over with genuine talent and vision.  We came home with a couple of things, but our favorite was a print for our formal dining room (whenever we actually get around to furnishing and decorating it!).  It will perfectly tie in the colors of the room, and I just love it!

Afterward, we went to a brand new restaurant called Jus' Mac.  It is in The Heights, close to where I work, and I have been anxiously awaiting their opening.  They only serve Mac and Cheese, but they do it all up in fun, fancy ways.  It was amazingly good, comfort food to the extreme, and we will definitely be repeat customers!  I mean they have fresh Gerber Daisies on each table, what is not to love!

We then hit up Greek Fest with some friends.  Awesome food, friends, and finds.  We got this great lantern for the mantle...pictures to come.  Then we will all went to do some hookah, and wrapped up our night with good company and good laughs.  So, in one day we were able to be cultured-artistic-foodie-shopping fools!

The best part comes today.  Living in Houston means I am close to my family, and today we are all headed to my brother's for burgers and family time.  We will end our evening at a Dynamo game which will allow us to get in touch with our sporty sides too.  It has been a successful week, and our love for Houston is ever growing!

Sweet Surprises

This weekend I went on a lovely date with my fabulous husband!  We decided to hit up The Heights first since that is where I will be working and spending a lot of time.  Our first destination was the Art Car Museum...we lived in Houston about 5 mins away and this was our first trip there.

We also found this super charming place called Dessert Shoppe on 19th in The Heights, and it was incredible.  They had all kinds of yummy, caloric fabulousness, but Nick and I decided on cupcakes.  It was an amazing choice, but I bet everything there is wonderful.

We also saw Dinner For Schmucks, which was hilarious.  I love Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, and the movie really was excellent...as my brother put it, "it is a comedy that actually has a really good plot"!

Dinner was interesting, to say the least.  We decided to try Tokyohana only to find that it had some sweet surprises and some disappointments as well.  To begin, I have never been to a restaurant where a magician walks around.  I am being very serious, there was a magician who walked to each table doing card tricks.  I haven't quite decided if it was off-beat and fun or just odd and a little disturbing.  Anyway, food was ok, the portions were huge, as was the price, and it is the only hibachi restaurant I have ever been to that makes you pay extra for the soup and salad.  It wasn't a bad experience, just not as good as we would have liked.

We had a very successful date, did lots of exploring in The Heights, and enjoyed a day where it was just the two of us!  On a completely different note, yesterday was of course Sno-Cone Sunday, and my brother joined us and spent the evening with us.  He has since decided that he will always join in on Sno-Cone Sunday and Selina, his girlfriend can't wait to come next weekend!  Weekend was amazing, and unfortunately my summer is officially over and it is back to work for me...

Weekend Love

I can't help but wish at times that Nick was a teacher too so we could enjoy all summer like a giant weekend!  On the other hand, our weekends are that much more precious and fabulous.  Plus, I had no idea that going to a new school district was so crazy.  I have several orientation/welcome/information things I have to go to, and since I will be at a Vanguard school I have several GT/Pre-AP trainings to do.  This being said, my summer is slipping away faster then I would like and is making me appreciate weekends again already.

This weekend was full of whoopie pies and Lady Gaga!  Nick and I decided to not only try and make whoopie pies, but to also use our cake decorating and piping kit.  His dad basically manages all kinds of restaurants, and for a while he was in charge of all the Baskin Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts in the North Carolina-Virginia area.  This meant he actually went to Donut University and learned how to do all kinds of cool stuff, i.e. decorate cakes.  Well, we have cake decorating stuff that he gave us and we have never touched so this was an opportunity to at least play with the piping bags and tips!  Without further ado, here are our whoopie pies...recipe from Bakerella.

Classic Chocolate Whoopie


1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, sift together, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
• In another bowl, beat butter, shortening and sugar with a mixer on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes.
• Add egg and vanilla and beat for two more minutes.
• Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk and beat on low until incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour and milk and beat until combined.
• Using a tablespoon, drop batter on baking sheet two inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes each or until pies spring back when pressed gently.
• Remove from oven and cool for about five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

1 Tbsp of batter should make about 48 two-inch cakes or 24 pies.
2 Tbsp of batter should make about 30 four-inch cakes or 15 pies.

Salty Peanut Butter Filling


3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (or crunchy)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

• Beat peanut butter and butter on low until creamy using a mixer.
• Add sugar and salt and beat on low to incorporate. Increase speed to medium and beat for about four minutes until the filling is light and fluffy.
• Spread filling on flat side on one cooled cake. Top it with a second cake and press gently.

They are so yummy and crazy sweet.  It makes a lot, and since they are so super sweet you can't really just eat them one after another; therefore, Nick's office loves us and the yummy whoopie pies!


Next there was Lady Gaga!  You can say what you want about her, but:

• She can truly sing...she sings the entire show while dancing!  No lip singing, recordings, just her
• She dances for most of the show, and she dances well!
• She has amazing musical talent when it comes to instruments!
• While eccentric, her message is clear: Don't judge others, love yourself, and Jesus loves everyone!  I don't think anyone can argue with that, and many of those who don't like her are judging her so I guess they should stop and think about why they dislike her.

Anyway, we had a good time and thought the show was great!  There were some interesting people there, but the concert was fantastic.

Movie Night!

This past weekend in Houston was full of rain!  The rain was horrible, so many streets and highways were flooded.  Nick and I decided it was best for us to stay in.  This then lead to a practically free date night!  We had our movie night at home...picked a movie from our vast dvd collection, popped popcorn, and bought some candy.  It was perfect!  I highly recommend it as a cheap, wonderful date night.

Austin and Conan!

Nick and I left for Austin on Friday afternoon, and it was such a wonderful weekend!  The whole reason for the trip was to see Conan O'Brien, who Nick is crazy about!  I actually really enjoyed the show, here some pictures...

Conan sang, danced, and wore purple paisley pleather...there wasn't much not to love!

The rest of the weekend we just relaxed and took in Austin.  We went to the Texas State History Museum, which was awesome!

Of course, some amazing food was involved!  We went to Salt Lick for some famous bbq, and it totally lived up to all the hype!  We also got seated with this really nice/awesome couple, so that made the experience good as well.  The food was pretty incredible and the Lauren Sauce was ridiculously good!

We also went to this awesome bar and lounge where we got to make s'mores at our table...so fun and so good!

We had a blast, and I am so ready for our summer trip to Tennessee, and I only have 8 1/2 days of school left!

DOUBLE Date Night!

I know, I know!  I have been quite the blogger slacker lately, life has been hectic!

Last weekend, though, Nick and I double dated with two of our most favorite people...Eric and Selina!  We did some bowling, made chocolate covered strawberries, baked some cookies, and just hung out at our house.  We always have fun with them, and this was no exception!

It is not bowling without the butt shot!

The strawberries were amazing! 

Stay tuned, the next double date will be at a drive-in!  We can't wait to go see movies at the drive-in, and kick it old school with glass bottle Dr. Peppers and fun candy!
Plus, this weekend, Nick and I are doing Austin.  Can't wait to be done with this week, and this trip will make everything better!  AND...tomorrow is field day so I will truly get to end the week in the best way!