Brown Eyed Girl & Her Beau

St. Arnold's Brewery

So it's been a while, eh? I know, I know. It's been 2 months actually - this is what my wonderful friend Lauren pointed out to me today. I'm a horrible blogger! Little did I know people were actually reading this thing and were expecting me to post more than once every 2 months. Sorry, mom! I will be better. I hope. And I have so much to catch up on! But for now, we will talk about beer. Because, let's face it, alcohol is always a friendly subject.

We live in H-town, and we have a brewery and apparently it's the place to be these days. We've been now twice - two weekends in a row! No, we don't normally visit breweries two weekends in a row but it was a special month I guess. When we first arrived we saw kids carrying fold out chairs, pizza boxes and their own personal beer glasses. Immediately we knew we had screwed up but we made our way inside. It was a blast but I wouldn't recommend going on an empty stomach... The chairs people were bringing in were due to the fact that the place was jammed packed and unless you got there 3 hours before the tours started, you weren't going to be sitting down unless you had your own sweet fold out chair with the color of either maroon or burnt orange...

That was our first experience. We went back the next weekend and this time we actually brought some food. Good ole' KFC came to the rescue. Still, no chairs though. But we had a sweet zebra blanket, courtesy of my sister, Chels.

Here are some pics from the exciting weekend! They had a Rolls Royce painted with the brewery's logo. So, of course we were all over that.

The whole group in front of their big metal tanks that housed the beer. There's a better term but I've had some wine and can't remember what it is

I wasn't going to post this because my legs look ridiculously white and frog-like compared to my black sister - I must say that Chels had just gotten back from Aruba, so of course she's freaking tan!

Ballin' in the Rolls Royce. Take that P.Diddy!

If anyone has stuck through this 2 month gap and is still reading, I appreciate it! If it's just my mom and friends, then that's OK too. I'm going to keep it going because I truly have missed this little blog :)

The Name Game

I hate to admit this but I have had the worst time figuring out how to log into my blog now that I no longer have a blogger blog. You see, when Lauren gave me a makeover; which I love by the way and am so glad to have a friend that will tell me "you're blog is lame and needs a face-lift ASAP."; but it took away the sweet sign in tool at the top of the page. Now I have to go to google homepage. Click on the "more" tab, then click the "even more" tab and finally arrive at the "blogger" button. It's exhausting, really. I guess I could say that's the reason I've been such a slacker in blogging?? But truth be told I am just really lazy and life hasn't been all that exciting lately.

So the other day when I was trying to find my blog, I typed in a url that I thought was mine. When the page loaded I noticed that it was in fact totally not mine. But same name. Obviously the url wasn't the same but all it lacked was the "www." business so it was basically the SAME. I thought for a second my blog designer Lauren was playing a mean trick on me. To which I immediately Gchatted her and was all "what the heck did you do to my blog, Ski!" She of course had no clue what I was talking about. I explained to her what I had come across and she laughed! Now, I'm not one to be all whiney and "someone stole my blog name" bularki. Because, let's be honest, my name isn't that original and if were really being for reals with each other, most aren't. I started my blog on a whim. I needed an outlet since my husband was always on this weak Texas ATM website, which is basically a blogging website for boys. Pretty sure he would just love that I've referred to it as a "blogging site for boys"!

So I didn't really give myself a lot of time to come up with a catchy name. I talked myself into blogging on a Friday night and then early Saturday morning I did my first post. Moral of the story: Don't pick a blogging name on a Friday night after a couple glasses of wine or you'll wind up in my position today.

Which is

I need a new name!

I'm extremely confused and not sure how to go about doing this. Here's the deal. I'm in that transitioning phase. Ya know, the one where you've been married for over 2 years so you're not a newly newly wed, you've already moved into a new house and aren't going anywhere for a good 15 years, you've grabbed up a couple of dogs, one being a doodle and one's a golden, and the babies aren't going to start popping out for a while. A long while at this point. Sads. So where does that put me? I'm not really a newly wed. And I'm not a momma. So no names can come from that. See, this is tough stuff people! It looks like I've got some thinking to do.

Any and all help is appreciated. I'm pretty sure my dad would chime in with Punky Brewster which was my nickname growing up. I pretty much was PB. Loved her hair. Her style of clothes and the way she mismatched her sneakers. My poor poor parents. And look! She has a golden too! Maybe it's meant to be....

My little boo

Today is the last day of school for my little sis, Gabrielle. She has completed 3rd grade and is growing up way too fast! Gabby not only finished 3rd grade but she did it with all A's! In fact, she's never made a B! Definitely not following in my footsteps, but I'm pretty sure she'll be better off :)

I was going through my old computer and started pulling up pictures and came across these below. The first few were taken on her 5th birthday! What a doll is she?!? I am in love with her smile in the first one. I remember it so well. She just made you want to squeeze her cheeks silly and smother her with kisses. This little girl is so much of my heart. I remember the night very well when my parents took me and my older sis out to dinner to lay the news on us that they were pregnant. I hate to admit it but I was not happy. Chelsea, she was ecstatic! Me, I felt a lump in my stomach and couldn't even finish eating. What did this mean for me?? What was going to happen to our family of 4? All the selfish thoughts a 16 year old has. But as my momma's belly grew and time passed I knew it was going to be an amazing thing we were experiencing. I was in on the labor/delivery and it was so incredible - great birth control by the way for a 16 year old ! ;) My mom was so brave and so calm. Not mean at all like you see in the movies! Then out came my little sis - 12+ hours later. She was beautiful! I loved her so so much. And still do! I'm so sad that she is growing up so fast. She'll be 10 in September! But I'm so thankful that I've been able to see her grow up. We're close enough to where we can have sleepovers or play days. I don't ever want her to think I'm not there for her if she needs me. I love my little boo!

Below are a couple of pics when we were dress shopping for my wedding. She was so excited and looked like a princess in each gown she put on! It was really cute to watch her come out in the long gowns and pretty dresses. She pranced around and loved every minute of it! I miss that part of wedding planning. It was always so fun when my mom, Gabby and I got to go to the vendors or dress shopping together! She got to experience the intense planning process at such a young age :) She didn't seem to mind the cake testing though!

Love you little boo!

Workin' Man

Today my wonderful husband starts his new job!! Yes, you read that right. After a long 4 months of unemployment, he has been offered a job! Hallelujah :)

I would be lying if I said this hasn't been a struggle for us but I feel like we've learned a lot about one another and how each of us handles things. I feel so blessed that God walked us through this little life lesson and that we made it! The one thing that amazed me is that Aaron never seemed to give up. He knew he would find a job. It just took longer than we expected.

We've got a lot of recovering to do now. Building our savings account back up, paying off my taxes, credit cards, etc. But we made it through the tough stuff and we will make it through this too!

Our family and friends have been amazing through out all of this. A special shout out to my parents. Could not have done it without them.

Below are some pics of the Mr's graduation day (2 1/2 years ago). He graduated on a Friday and started his work journey with his ex-company the following Monday. Now he is on to the next step in life :)

Love you honey!! Thank you for being such an amazing husband. I'm so proud to be your wife!

Lazy Saturday Mornings

This is one of the faces I wake up to on Saturday mornings. She is quite adorable, yes? We normally don't grant her bed access unless it's on the weekends, and even then, she's lucky if she makes it passed the warden...me

As you can see, she's quite tired. {yawn} or maybe bored.

"Why is this thing in my face at 8 in the morning??" "You know dad and I like to sleep in till at least 10!" And this is totally true. The dog gets irritated if she has to get out of bed before 9. As does Aaron who has come more than accustom to sleeping in late during this span of unemployment...

That's better.

Obviously he's not a fan of the camera either. Would this be the "talk to the hand (paw)" pose??

This is one tired pup. I don't quite know how he got on my bed to be honest. He's not allowed. Sheds way too much for my liking. That's why he's shedder chedder. But one look with those eyes and his daddy melts! Why this doesn't work for me I'll never know.

He's so ticked right here. I picture him saying so many colorful words that I can't post on this blog ;) And look, he's in my spot! How convenient. Oh Chedd!

What a life these kids have. Now how much sweeter would this be if it was two real kids?? Aww pretty sweet. But not nearly as quiet I bet.

Here's the big bear. He is in his deep slumber. Totally doesn't even realize that I'm taking this only to post it on my blog the next Monday. Oh the joys of a deep sleeper!

And yours truly. Gotta love the $5, 5 year old, Old Navy sleep tank

Mmm, breakfast. This is what Saturday mornings are all about. Fun times with the pups and a sleepy hubs!

Now, can someone please reassure me that we are not the only family that allows our pups on the beds occasionally?? I did tell A that they might be banned from our room after seeing how hairy our wood floors get! It's a non-stop cleaning process with these two. Especially the orange one. He looks cute but that dude sheds like no other.

I will now be back to regular posting! As you can see, my wonderful and amazing friend Lauren gave me a blog update :) She is just awesome. And fast to boot. She is really getting good with her Photoshop and has some extreme talent! She is such a sweet person and I am so thankful for our friendship. This pic was taken on her wedding day almost 3 years ago! Love ya Ski!

New Look, New Beginnings

Hi! This is Lauren over from Life with the Rudys and I am surprising my good friend Nicky T with a new look for her blog. She hasn't seen this design yet and doesn't exactly know that I was planning on writing a post for her so I hope she likes it and isn't mad :)

I wanted to give her something fun and bright for a few reasons. One, Nicole is such a happy person and needs a blog design that reflects her personality. Two, I'm hoping a new look will give her the motivation she needs to start posting more often. And lastly, because her and A have had a couple of hard months and I'm hoping this cheers up her and makes her smile :)

Here's to a new look and new beginnings with your blog and your life! Hope you like the new look :)

-Ski

Everthing happens for a reason

Those are 5 of the hardest words to hear. Most likely you've heard them when something bad has happened in your life. Your boyfriend breaks up with you, you lose a loved one, your car breaks down, the loan on your first home falls through, you or your spouse loses their job, etc. Those words are hard to swallow when you have gone through something painful. Sometimes they seem so nonchalant and to almost roll off someones tongue. We've all said it before and probably felt pretty good about ourselves after saying it. We feel like we've really helped out the person in need. As if we always have the right thing to say. But when you're on the receiving end it's a different story. You wonder if the person really understands the state you're in and just how discouraged you are. Not that you needed to hear something extremely profound, but "everything happens for a reason" doesn't exactly call for an immediate mood change.

My knee jerk reaction, as I'm sure most peoples knee jerk reaction, is to turn negative when I hit a bump in the road. I know better than to let my emotions get the best of me and think the worst but I still allow the worry and anger and fear set in. After 10 minutes or so I calm down and bring myself back to my "God has a plan" mantra. But those initial 10 minutes can be futile.

This is all stemming from Aaron's job situation. He has been working hard getting his resumes out and staying on top of any job openings for the last 3 months. He had one promising job but it was in Austin. And he has yet to hear a solid answer on it. You can imagine our excitement when last Thursday he received an email regarding a job interview at a different company here in Houston! It had been 3 months and he finally received a bite on something!! It was a happy day! Fast forward to this morning. The morning of said interview. He gets an email saying they will have to reschedule because the manager is not able to meet with him today due to jury duty. Is this for real? My automatic reaction was they must have found someone else and they are letting him down easy. They won't reschedule and the job search will have to continue! All negative, see? Now I do realize that jury duty is common and it does happen. It's just tough to accept another set back.

What's worse is I had told everyone, in my sheer excitement, about the interview (that wasn't) so now I would have to send word that it was not in fact happening today. Of course my emails, chats and calls weren't exuding positivity. I was down. But leave it to my momma to send me back a powerful email that really made me stop and think:

Wow...I am so sorry honey. When I saw the subject on my phone I thought this can't be good news. But it isn't bad either it's just a delay. Another opportunity to trust God that He will not forsake you and He won't. Jury duty happens (Hey, I think we should make a tee shirt that says that!) and it won't last forever. Maybe the guy will get sent home today and he can schedule it for Thursday. Think positive and thank God for another opportunity to trust in Him and remember God loves you and so does Robert Schuller! Love you!!

She's good, right? Kind of corny with her t-shirt comment, but she's good :) "another opportunity to trust God that He will not forsake you" I love that she put it that way. I never see the bad things in my life as an opportunity to trust God. In fact, sometimes I get angry at the big guy. But today, I am going to think of this as an opportunity to continue putting my faith in God and trusting that He knows what path we need to be on. Maybe the interview will be rescheduled, maybe it won't. I have no control over it. But the one thing I can control is my faith.

Thank you all for sticking through the last few mopey posts. I am in fact a fun person and not everything is gloom and doom! I just wanted to share a piece of my life on here so in three years when I am sitting at home taking care of our babies and Aaron is at work at his amazing job with a great company I can look back on this and smile :)