Hot Texas!

We're in Austin - arrived here Saturday night going straight to a downtown bar for Katrina's birthday party. It was at a great little dive near downtown Austin with a great outdoor courtyard. It was hot but really not too bad considering Austin has broken a record for heat this month .... over 69 straight days of 100 degree heat! Sunday we just hung out at Melinda's house resting up for our "ladies night." Ashley, Melinda, Katrina and I had dinner last night at The Four Seasons before heading to The Bass Hall (on UT campus) to see the musical, Wicked. It was really good! Ashley & Melinda both read the book and thought the musical was better. I had planned on reading the book when I returned home, but don't think so now.

Today we met a good friend, Heidi, for breakfast and ooh-ed and aah-ed over her new engagement ring! She will be getting married Memorial Day weekend, 2010! After breakfast, we hung out in Melinda's backyard pool and played with Zach. Jake was at school. We haven't been able to go swimming with Jake around since he has a cast on his broken arm and we figured it would be just too cruel to swim while he was watching!! He just started first grade.

Tomorrow, Ashley has to report in to work. So, we will be hitting the road in the a.m. heading back to San Antonio. I'll have a day or two there before boarding the plane on Thursday.

We brought the boys paper hats from Blue Bell and from Cafe Du Monde (New Orleans). Zack has really enjoyed his!! He looks so much like my grandson, Jayce!! Too bad they don't live closer since they're only 2 weeks apart. Zach's birthday is Sept. 6!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures I've downloaded to the laptop. This first one is at our favorite little piano bar in New Orleans - Lafittes. This is the oldest building used as a bar in the US. It's always a stop for us when we are in N.O.

I'm sucking down my hurricane in Pat O'Brian's. I only had one!! I've had experience with having more than that and did not want to repeat history!!

Me on Orange Beach/Gulf Shores .... using that towel to cover up - you don't want to see the full view!!

Finally .... Texas! Ashley & I stop at each state's welcome center and take a picture. We have pictures from welcome centers all over the US!!

We stopped off at College Station/Bryon to visit Scott. Here is a picture of sweet little Cassady - she slept all through dinner.

Texas ... finally!

So, we've made it to Texas!! We spent Wednesday night in Orange Beach (right next to Gulf Shores) with the rain moving us out on Thursday a.m earlier than we had hoped. That's ok .... there was an outlet mall nearby!! We spent a couple of hours there before heading on to New Orleans. We had a great time in N.O. ... sipping hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's and enjoying some great seafood at Mulate's. We topped the night off at the piano bar at Jean Lafitte's. This a.m. we enjoyed beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde ... oh so good! Then on the road again. We stopped in Baton Rouge for a cup of gumbo before hitting the Texas border. Traffic was a little heavy and we picked up quite a bunch of rain en route! That slowed us down so we were unable to meet Ashley's good friend in Houston before she reported for work (she's a ER doc in The Woodlands.) So, we headed on over to College Station/Bryon to Scott & Julie's home. Scott is an old high school buddy of my son's and is like a second son to me. I have not seen him since he got married 2 years ago and now they have a baby - Cassady. She is just a doll and so good at almost 5 months old! We had a good visit with them. It is just so good to see parents who are just so mellow with their kids and don't let having children change their life. They are just going with the flow being parents. Tomorrow, we will be headed to San Antonio and Austin. I will try to download some pictures in the next day or two while at my niece's home.

Family pics

Monday night, we met Marianne at Hickory Tavern.  Her back was acting up on Sunday so she was unable to come over.  She wanted to see Ashley before we left town.  These are the pictures of us I took at the restaurant.  Ashley got her hair cut on Saturday – 10 inches for Locks of Love!!

Monday Mailer – week of 8/24

This is the Monday Mailer I sent this week.  I just got the Medallion stamp and this is the first card I have made with it.  I also used a SU wheel (Whimsey) in the background.  The color is the new In Color Melon Mambo!

4 states down!

Well, we've made it as far as Gulf Shores, Alabama. We didn't get out of Mooresville until about 2:30 on Tuesday. Ashley had to pick her car up at the Chevy dealer, take it to have it weighed (empty and full) for the Army to reimburse her; then she wanted to take her grandmother for lunch before leaving town. We ended up driving about 10 hours yesterday (going through NC, SC, Georgia and Alabama) and stopping at Greenville, Alabama for the night around 11 pm. We got up early this a.m., ate breakfast and hit the road for the beach. We were about 2 hours from Gulf Shores and were laying on the beach by 2 pm!! So nice! I have only been to Gulf Shores once before - about 20 years ago. We brought the family here camping with my Texas sister and her family. We were here a week and I think the sun shined 1-2 days that whole week! Today was a beautiful sunny (hot) day! We hope to get up early in the morning and have a few hours on the beach before we hit the road again en route to New Orleans.

While driving through South Carolina, I wanted to stop and try to find the first house Sonny and I had bought when we first married. We were married in 1973 and lived in Greenville, SC. We bought a house in the fall of '73 in Taylors, SC. At that time, Taylors was merely a wide spot in the road! It has grown considerably since then. I was very proud of myself that I was able to find our house although it didn't look anything like the house we had lived in. As I was out on the street taking pictures, the lady who lived there came out to see who we were. When I explained the reason I was there, she invited us in and I got a tour of my old house! How nice! It turns out that they had a fire 3 years ago in the garage that destroyed the garage, kitchen and utility room. When they began to rebuild, the city made them lift the house up because of the creek that runs in the back. So, they added a nice front porch, screened in back porch and knocked down some walls within the house to redo the kitchen and bathrooms. (Plus, it was air conditioned! We only had 2 window units which my daughter thought was crazy!!) It was so much fun to take that little trip down memory lane. The sad part was that the house next door was not in very good shape. When we lived in our house, the sweetest older couple lived next door. They were a god-send to me when I had Ashley - acting just like our grandparents. They ended up being Ashley's god-parents and we were all sad when we moved away (when Ashley was only 2 months old.) They have since died and the family sold their home. Unfortunately, whoever is living there now does not keep the house up like he should.

Have a cow!

My daughter arrived safe and sound Sunday night and we enjoyed a yummy fish dinner (caught by my hubbie on Lake Norman) on Sunday with my family.  She has been telling us about her trip to Kenya and the safari and it has been very interesting.  The funniest thing to me was her visit to a neighboring village.  One of the medical school students she was working with (he has been in the US for about 10 years and is serving in our military having received his citizenship) took her and another colleague  to visit his family for the weekend.  She said they were treated like royalty and there were a bunch of kids there from all over the village mainly to see the white people!!   I asked her if she had been able to take them a gift or something for their hospitality.  After they left, the following week she asked what they could do to thank the family – her thoughts were to buy a goat for the family.  Dan told her his grandmother didn’t like goat so much, so she decided to buy her a cow!!  The next time Dan went to his village, he stopped at the market and purchased a cow …. a WHITE cow …. and took it home to his family.  He told Ashley that his family would be talking about that gift (and visit) for quite some time!!   Keep that in mind the next time you don’t know what to buy for someone!!

On the Road Again .... Just Can't Wait ...

I will be leaving Tuesday with Ashley to drive with her on her move to Texas. I have a few posts set for the next few days. But, I will also try to do some posts while on the road. We are hoping to stay a day or two at a Florida beach, spend an evening or more in New Orleans, visit friends in Houston and/or College Station, visit the "little creamery" (Blue Bell) in Brennan, Texas, arriving in San Antonio sometime Saturday. Ashley has a welcome party Saturday afternoon we will be attending. Saturday night we are driving to Austin to help my nephew's girlfriend, Katrina, celebrate her birthday. Sunday we have tickets to see Wicked in Austin and will be going with my niece and Katrina. On Monday, we are having lunch with a good friend (Heidi) and driving back to San Antonio. Tuesday, Sept. 1, Ashley will be reporting to work at Brooke Army Medical Hospital. I will be returning home Sept. 3!

Whew!!

Last week's Monday Mailer

Here's last week's Monday Mailer that I received. A great simple card .... Designer Paper, Sizzix letters and a fancy brad!

Enjoy the Journey

Hope your weekend was great.  I had a good one.  Saturday I did my class at Stamper’s Alley and afterwards, my friend Judy and I went to lunch together.  Aren’t friends great?! 

As I’m typing this, I’m waiting on my daughter to arrive.  She turned over her condo keys to the realtor yesterday and left her place in DC for the last time.  We were sure hoping she’d get a contract before she left (like maybe from the couple who have been back to see it 4-5 times!!) but it didn’t happen.   All she can do is wait.  In the meantime, she’ll be staying with friends or in a hotel for a while.  If it drags on too long, she’ll have to rent a place in San Antonio.  The Army will store her stuff for 90 days. 

I’m excited to share this book with you that I made for Ashley.  The title is Enjoy the Journey and I thought it would be ideal for her Kenya pictures and journals of her trip.  I bought the kit at CK Convention last week from The Button Farm and I really like the way it turned out.  Their instructions are the best!!  Plus, I added a few touches of my own – buttons, brads, etc.  And, I kept some of the pages plain so Ashley could embellish as she wants.  Each page is an envelope so you can insert pictures, memorabilia, journaling, etc.

This is the front of the book:

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Here are a few of the pages: