Immortalized

I forgot to mention that while we were only in Texas a few days, Ben had such an impact on the great state that they decided to do
this...
Nice, huh?

Daydreaming

Its been one of those weeks. Work is a blur of phone calls, questions, requests, reports, meetings, discussions, emails, and me making really ugly faces. I can't help it, it really does make me feel better. I should have known when Ben said "Good morning, sunshine!" (yes, he's one of those) yesterday and I replied " Its more like an eclipse. Coffee ready?" that it was going to be a grueling uphill treck of the 72 hours until Friday for me. IthinkIcan, IthinkIcan.....

Please don't think I'm not thankful for my job. And please don't think I hate it. I really don't. I like challenges, and it definitely meets that criteria. It's a good place to be.

Its just that if I had a choice, I would be surrounding my self with other things at this moment.

Things like these:

So if you don't hear from me for a little bit, don't worry. I have probably sold all of my belongings and flown to some beautiful remote island, bought a shack on the beach, taken seasons 1,2, and 3 of Grey's that my girlfriends have let me borrow, along with my library of Picoult novels, my blender, dvd player, and a Snickers cake from Puffy Muffin, (okaaaaaaaay, so I would take Ben and his 183 cases of Mountain Dew with me) and my dog, and will return when I have regained some small portion of my sanity.

I may be a while.

15 hours, 12 stops, 6 tanks of gas, 3 states, and 1 flat tire

Hey ya'll!

Once again, we have returned from a 1000+ mile road trip. The past week we spent visiting my family in Seguin, Tx. We left Nashville and headed West on Tuesday afternoon, stopping in Texarkana for the night at Ben's parents to rest, and to drop off their granddog. We just thought she would have a better time visiting her cousin Max instead of roughing it on the farm, being the city girl she is and everything. We were right. She got loved on and spoiled rotten, was allowed to sleep in the bed, and even had a private pool. Gotta love Grandparents. =)

Wednesday afternoon we drove the rest of the way to Seguin and arrived at Legacy Farms, my aunt and uncle's 24 acre land-of-their-dreams (Please interpret as a 24-acre wildlife preservation).

My Mom was able to come over from Japan for a visit while my Gramps had double knee replacement surgery and help cart him around (he doesn't particularly like to be carted, so she didn't have to do too much of that, but putting up with him is enough work any way you look at it. Love you Gramps!). Granny and Gramps have their home base on the farm, (they live in a gi-normous motorhome and travel anywhere from Alaska to Mexico throughout the year) so that's where everyone congregated. We got to do a lot of visiting and relaxing, and had a such a great time! Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Ben discovering his inner Tarzan:

Feeding and playing with the Dolphins at Sea World San Antonio (this was AMAZING!):

If you look closely, you will see the 13 day old dolphin that was there swimming right beside his mama~ precious.

Mom, Ben, and I had a wonderful, hot (104 in case you are curious), fun day at Seaworld on Thursday, and we were able to see all of the shows again. I need a bumper sticker that says I Love SeaWorld. Really.

We didn't have a powerful enough camera to catch all of the beautiful hummingbirds we got to see every morning while we all sat outside having our coffee. (Okay, so I woke Ben up one morning telling him he was missing the war of the birds outside because they were fighting over the feeders. I may have exaggerated a little, because he said he came out expecting a flock of hummingbirds doing suicide dives over his head, and there were only 4 or 5, but still. I thought it was exciting. I told him it was his fault his imagination expected too much). Or the frisky little squirrels that chased eachother up and down the trees. Or the turkey and deer we saw while we were walking around the property with my aunt. But you get the idea of us being in the country... we were out there. WAY out there. But it was beautiful. It was one of the most peaceful places I have been. I love Texas with everything I've got, so it felt so good to just be back there.

We sat around outside a lot of the afternoons and just enjoyed eachothers company, listening to everyone tell stories of 'back then'. Those can get pretty hilarious in my family. Ben and I deemed it being in The Circle.

I have a picture somewhere that would explain this, but I can't find it. Shoot.

Of course you can't go to Texas without eating a real breakfast taco. My mom and I introduced Ben to the local taco hut, where they made their tortillas and everything else on site. SIGH.......... I miss Texas food. After having Rudy's BBQ, steak, and brisket and my aunt's baked beans, I must confess we were in food heaven the whole time we were there.

The bittersweet part of the trip was getting to see Mom but having to leave her. We get to see eachother once a year if we are lucky, and no matter how much time we have it is never enough.

We love you, Mom!!!

Here's my Granny and Gramps

Saturday morning before we left we found a lovely nail in my tire (luckily we found it before we got on the interstate instead of after on the side of the road). Example of God looking out for us #1. On the way back home we stopped in Little Rock to drop some things off for my sister and brother in law. Somehow I managed to shut the car off but leave the lights and radio running for 45 minutes, so we get back in and ofcourse go nowhere, have to call Heather and Bo back, and my semi-pro mechanic brother in law who carries everything in his vehicle, including jumper cables (we don't. we should get some of those) was our saving grace. Example #2. So we made it home safely, and accident free. Always a good thing.

Now we are back home and back to work, dreaming of breakfast burritos, hummingbird wars, and relaxing in The Circle. We did stop by a local farmers market in Texas on the way back, and picked up some of the best mangos, sweet corn, watermelon, canteloupe, and plums we've had. And yes, it is true.

Even the fruit is bigger and better in Texas.

Can You See Me Now?

Meet Gregg. Gregg is cool. Gregg is Ben's uncle; husband to the beautiful and hilarious Robin; father to the sweet and multi-talented nieces Kelsey and Taylor. We miss them.

Gregg, I am told, is also apparently blog blind.

So in honor of Gregg I have changed the color of the blog text so that it can be easier on his eyes.

We love you Gregg.

Happy Reading!

In Bloom

Here's a few things we got to enjoy this weekend:

The flower garden and plants Ben worked on last fall is starting to take off, and I love it! One of my favorite parts about our house is our deck in the back yard, and the view of the yard we have now. Ben's hard work (because I had nothing to do with this, I would have killed every plant out there) is paying off.
And, since he just can't sit still, Ben decided while we were in Florida that we needed a few citrus trees in our collection as well. So we bought a few little twigs, and on Saturday we went to Old Time Pottery and scored a great deal on terra cotta pots.Then we walked around Lowe's for about 2 hours, bought some dirt, and Ben made a little potting mix (1 part each of 3 different kinds of dirt, I had no idea potting trees was such a science), and now we have 2 orange trees, a lime tree, and a palm tree.

One of the orange trees is already fruitful! =)










Lastly, we have a tomato plant that is taking off. I'm hoping for some homegrown tomatoes.. you know there is nothing better in the summer than a fresh tomato salad. I can't wait....

From our backyard farmers market to yours,
D

Let the Woman

After months of prodding from Amber, a good friend of ours, she finally got me to go see some local guy named Andy Davis play at 3rd & Lindsley this weekend. I have to be honest, I wasn't really feeling up to going. I was tired.
No, I was flat out exhausted.
I had never heard of this guy, never heard his music. Not to say I'm not open to things like that, I was just being my typical skeptical self.
Yeah. Well. Skepticism and tired went out the window.

I haven't enjoyed a live set like his in I couldn't tell you when. He was unbelievable. Seriously blew me away. Singer, songwriter, musician, and comic. I just got back from buying his cd at Barnes & Noble, 'Let the Woman'. Go get one, you won't regret it.
Oh, and he's playing at 12th & Porter on June 19th...

Love and New Music,
D

Pictures speak a thousand words...

Universal

The Magic Kingdom