One of the Perks of Being a Teacher...

Spring Break is one of my favorite parts of being a teacher.  At the beginning of the break, Jeni, Kristen, Emily and I went to La Cantera, a resort in San Antonio.  It was the perfect little get a way!

On our drive, we made a quick lunch stop in Austin and ate at the food trucks.  Jeni and I chose the Short Bus, which had the perfect options for teachers.

Once we arrived, we had a little wine tasting and lounging outside by the pool.

That night, we ate Kristen's favorite pizza place called Fralo's.  It was a hole in the wall, sit outside restaurant with some of the best pizza I've ever had!

The next day was filled with plenty of sun time by the pool.  From breakfast until dinner, we lounged, read books and magazines, and sang songs! Great day!

For our last night, we ventured to the Riverwalk and ate at Paesano's.  It was delicious.  We also visited the Alamo... my first time that I can remember! 

Great trip with great friends! I loved every minute of it and can't wait to do this again soon!

Fox Creek Ranch

So this post is LONG overdue! A few weeks ago, my sweet friends from Memphis came in for a weekend trip to the ranch.  I talked about going there a lot in college and I was so excited I finally got the chance to take them!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the weekend! You can see some others on Brooke's Blog.

Valentines and Birthdays

February is a big month for me and Austin.  We have Valentines Day and Austins birthday within a week of each other.

For Valentines, we started the tradition of making heart shaped red pancakes for dinner. Growing up, my mom would make those for us Valentines morning.  When I went to college, I brought the tradition there and now Austin and I have taken it on as our own. Its easy and something different.  We typically don't do gifts, but this year I decided to make Austin a little something.  Yes, I found it on Pinterest, but I just couldn't resist.

First task was to come up with my 52 reasons why I love Austin. Of coarse I have many reasons why I love him, so I just began making a list of reasons as I came up with them.  Once I came up with my 52, I typed them on Word and printed them on Address labels. Next task was to punch holes into all 52 cards.

 Once I punched all the holes, I stuck the 52 reasons on each card.

 I bought some scrapbook paper and printed out the title.  I glued this on the front.

 And this on the back.... so we could remember the date.

 Here are a couple pages of the book.

 Here is the final wrapped product! I think it was a hit... perfect gift for him!

 Finally, it was Austin's birthday! We had a big family dinner/celebration on his actual birthday, but we celebrated together with a Saturday Birthday Extravaganza.  I went to pick him up at noon and headed to Fuel City Tacos.  When we have been taking road trips, we started coming up with a list of things we want to do.  This place has been on our list for a long time.

 We then headed downtown to the JFK museum.  We felt like such tourists, but it was something we hadn't done in forever and it is a big thing to do in Dallas!

 Finally, we decided to drive around downtown and Deep Elem and came across The Farmers Market.  Austin had never been, but we used to go all the time when we were little.  We tried a bunch of different foods and purchased some delicious tamales.

All in all, our celebrations were a blast! I love holidays and birthdays! Can't wait for the next celebration!

Homemade Sushi

So about a year ago, Austin and I went to a Central Market Sushi class.  We learned how to make many different kinds of sushi.  It was a blast!

We hadn't tried to make it on our own until a week ago.  For Christmas, my sister got Austin a sushi set, with chopsticks, sushi press, etc.  We planned a double date at their house and all cooked sushi together!

It was so much fun!  We all made at least one roll each and were very creative about what we put in each....made our own recipes! It was a lot easier than I had thought and can't wait to do it again soon.

Christmas Craft

Thanks to Pinterest, I got the idea to make a wedding ornament for both of my sisters.  I cut up their wedding invitations and curled each piece.  I put them in the clear ball I found at Hobby Lobby and tied a ribbon.  Simple as that, but they both loved it and I loved making it for them.  It will remind them of their special day every Christmas!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

The Best Time of the Year

Christmas time is my favorite time of year.  It has been a tradition for the last couple of years to all gather at Austin's parents house the weekend after Thanksgiving to decorate the Christmas tree and eat a delicious dinner.  This year was a little different because we had 3 little boys "helping" us decorate.  They LOVED all of the ornaments, which led to the bottom of the tree being completely covered and the top being a little bare.  We tried to take a picture of all 3 of them, but it was a bit more of a challenge then we had hoped.  :)
Here are my little buddies in their new pajamas!

Another reason I love this time of year is because it is my birthday month!  I am a huge fan of birthdays and definitely talk about my birthday for a whole month (sorry to all of those that had to listen to me for so long!).  My sweet sister and boyfriend surprised me with a Happy Hour the night before my birthday! All of my favorite people were there, which just made my birthday extra special. 

On my actual birthday, I used my "Gift of Time" at school and left at 2:00. Austin came over and we tried to fish in the lake behind my new townhouse.  We didn't catch anything, but it was fun to just hang out with him during the day!  That night, we headed to my sisters for a fun family dinner which included steak, fingerling potatoes, green beans, and Caesar salad.  It was delicious!

Finally, Austin and I traveled to Fort Worth on Friday night to eat at our favorite restaurant. Nona Tatta is the best Italian food I have ever had, besides in actual Italy.  We met Will and Katie at The Usual (bar in FW) and ate a delicious meal.  As an early Christmas gift, I surprised Austin with a night at the Omni in downtown FW.  When we don't spend the night, we have to worry about leaving too late and this way we could enjoy the whole night and day.  We headed to the hotel and Austin got us upgraded to a suite!!  We had a HUGE room with the most amazing shower.... 5 spickets where water sprayed out! We slept in and headed to Old Neighborhood Grill, TCU bookstore, and drove by Austins old house! I LOVE Fort Worth!!

Great birthday! Cant wait for next year!

Thanksgiving Pies and a Great Surprise

I love Thanksgiving! The food, the family, and especially the pie making.  Austin and I have been in charge of making pies the last couple of years and this year we made 3...2 apple pies and 1 fudge pie.  I took a couple of pictures while we cooked, but I forgot to take the pictures of the final product... Whoops!

Apple pies (too bad I didn't take final pictures... they looked so pretty)

 Fudge Pie!

And my surprise....
That Sunday, I wanted to give Austin a little treat!  I decided he needed a little holiday cheer in his apartment, so I went shopping!  To Target I went and purchased a tree, lights, ornaments, and holiday kitchen towels.  The best part was I found a pickle ornament, which has been a Winans family tradition for years (apparently its  a German tradition! ).  He was very excited to come home from work and see this!

I love the holidays! Makes me happy!