Photo of the Day - Days 142-154

Day 142:

We've been taking the pugs on evening walks more and more often these days - this is how poor Tele recuperates after her intense workouts. She pants on one part of the tile for a minute until it is far too warm for her, then she drags herself to a cooler spot of tile and pants there for a bit, and on and on until all the tile surrounding our living room rug is just on fire due to her exertion. It's a tough life.


Day 143:
No pic today - :(

Day 144:

Not a thrilling pic, but I was about to leave on a one week vacay and wanted to track the progress of the orchid (I know...so lame of me). Also, while I was out my office was having the interior side of our windows cleaned so I had to temporarily move this lovely from her perch with a view to join this very sad collection of cups and tissues. But check out that trendy exposed duct work - so hip!

Day 145:
No pic today - packing!

Day 146:

Tom and I scored a cheap vacay when one of his cousins had a time share in Florida that she couldn't use. We snapped it up and here was the view from our room the very moment we pulled back the curtains to the balcony...not too shabby.

Day 147:

Happy handsome husband! I was paranoid about sand and my camera, and sand and my iPhone, so I didn't take too many pics actually on the beach...this pretty well shows how happy and calm the trip was though. And check out that romantic lighthouse off in the distance - so east coast.

Day 148:

So as Tom and I have been trying to be healthier and shed some extra pounds, fried food has not exactly been an option for quite some time. We decided to let vacation be vacation though, here is Tom's face after placing an order of conch fritters at this tasty little hole in the wall cafe. So good!

Day 149:

We decided that even though it wasn't exactly close to where we were staying, we wanted to go explore Key West while we were in Florida. We made the 4 hour drive south and got to see the sunset at (almost) the southern most point of the US.

Day 150:

The next day we left Key West (after a couple of really amazing meals and no less than 3.5 pieces of key lime pie...) just as storms were rolling in from the east. I snapped a pic of this little island about to be showered on.

Day 151:

So the weather on our trip was pretty rainy - this was kind of a blessing as it definitely kept us from getting uncomfortably sunburned and we were lucky enough to have a just enough sun to hit the beach for a few hours each day. This *distorted* panoramic pic shows how well our luck played out - clouds to the north of us, clouds to the south of us, but a clear stretch of sky right over our beach chairs.
Day 152:

The last pic of our vacay - it was cloudy but even then it wasn't easy to leave all that relaxation.

Day 153:
No pic - far too busy doing vacation laundry, c'mon!

Day 154:

After many months of being the shop, we FINALLY got the Scout back!!! That inspection sticker did not come cheap but Cal Ripken Jr. Jr. (as Tom dubbed it/him) is now driving like a champ (confession, it may have taken one more trip to the shop and then Tom replacing the starter to be a real champ, but now he's in top form). Yay for Scouting!

Photo of the Day - Days 131-141

Day 131:

Weird moth #2 (here's #1) - this thing was bigger than my hand...almost looks like a weird sea creature washed up on shore.

Day 132:

Happy Mother's Day, Dolly Mama! We made a trip to see Tom's mom and brought her an azalea topiary - Tom even planted it for her while we were there. What a sweetie pie! Thanks for raising the man of my dreams and love of my life, Dolly!

Day 133:

So it's a bit out of frame, but Tom was tossing a ball to the pugs. This shot captured the excitement of the moment - look at Fender, ha!

Day 134:

Hello, I'm Amanda, and I have a flower problem. Oh peonies...why are you so gorgeous? Why do you smell so delicious? Why must I take a thousand pictures of you...?

Day 135:

Even as they wither, they are just so tragically stunning...

Day 136:
No picture today...I'm sure I could scrounge up another pic of flowers on my desk if you'd like...no takers?

Day 137:

Upon mentioning an upcoming trip to DC, Josh, the owner of our fave restaurant, Pieous, suggested that we try out Two Amy's. He had studied what they were doing before he opened Pieous but hadn't been able to get up there to try it himself. Our verdict - it was incredible, but Pieous is better.
 
Day 138:

Weird selfie in an elevator ceiling mirror...that is all.

 

Day 139:

We returned home from DC to discover that all of our lovely magenta colored ice plant flowers had been EATEN by stupid SQUIRELLS! Tom and I were both devastated...it still hurts to talk about it. We have since started using squirrel repellant in this area and the plants have grown back a bit, but the blooms haven't returned yet...so sad.

 

Day 140:

Tom was mowing the lawn, meanwhile Tele yearned for his company. How forlorn does sweet Tele look?

 

Day 141:

It rained and I wanted to capture evidence of it so I took a pic of some wet weeds. Lovely, no? You know you live in a place subject to drought when...

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of the Day - Days 120-130

Day 120:

Well - this was the only picture I took this day...but look how pretty these flowers are again! This time, on a COASTER!

Day 121:
No pic today, shhhhh

Day 122:

So, this is a very grainy pic I took in super low light but I just had to post about this sweet guy. This is Indi and we had the absolute pleasure of dog-sitting him for our dear friends Colin and Angie. This charming fella survived the Bastrop wildfires a few years ago and then Colin and Angie adopted him. The pugs loved him - we can't wait for our next puppy play date!

 

 

Day 123:

K, maybe hard to see but those little ice plant flowers are almost the exact same shade as my shoes. Oh happiness.

Day 124:
No photo today, what can ya do?

Day 125:

So I planted a succulent garden! While Tom and I were sweating away getting the planter ready, Tele copped a squat in the nearest bit of shade. Girl knows how to live.

Day 126:

So - while I love flowers, I tend to kill most potted plants. I'm really trying to turn this around this year so I bought an orchid! It lives at my office where me and my manager can enjoy it as well as our view of the hill country. I'm proud to say, that months later this beauty is not only still alive, but is thriving! I fully expect to show up one day to a dead orchid...till then, I'm celebrating keeping it alive this long.

Day 127:
No pic today...ghdjfkdlasnfd.

Day 128:

Breakfast! This little mix of berries and Texas grapefruit was super tasty, and might I add, quite pretty as well.

Day 129:

Selfie - duh. This one was in solidarity of a friend who is PETRIFIED of having her blood drawn. So after I had some blood taken at my annual physical I shot her a pic proving that I survived it. Ended up being the only pic of the day, so...here it is. Kinda gross.

Day 130:

THIS guy. We were eating dinner at our favorite place, Pieous (it's the BEST), and the kids at the next table were being a bit loud. Ezra gave them a look and then promptly stuck his fingers in his ears. We all laughed and he kept up the show for our benefit. What a smarty-pants-problem-solver!

 

 

Photo of the Day - Days 108-119

Day 108:
No picture today - whoops!

Day 109:

We had the most beautiful spring, the weather was perfect and there was enough rain to produce the most beautiful bounty of wildflowers - especially our state flower, the bluebonnet. On our drive to my hometown we drove through blankets and blankets of bluebonnets. So lovely!

Day 110:

 

Requisite selfie! This one on top of the mountain in my hometown, you know...just because.

 

Day 111:



 

 

Windmill! These have transformed the landscape of west Texas, added much needed jobs to the area, and are helping to put green energy into the grid. Some may disagree, but I think they look quite fetching.

Day 112:

Tom's friend, Greg, built a pizza oven in his backyard. Every once and a while we are lucky enough to be invited over to partake - as you can see, Tom is pretty pumped about it.

Day 113:

This may look like just a picture of dirt, but if you look really closely you'll see the tiny beginnings of some baby grass. We spent a few weekends doing work in the yard and just a few weeks later - here's the fruit of our labors!

Day 114:
No picture today - womp womp.

Day 115:

Ezra, being rad, as usual. Look at that lil' piston!

Day 116:

Come on - one Ezra pic isn't enough! That sweet little face is TOO MUCH!

Day 117:

Tom takes his windshield washing very seriously.

Day 118:

Best. Ezra. Pic. Ever.

Day 119:

By now I'm sure it's clear that I'm a big fan of flowers - I try to score a little bunch about once a week either for the house or my desk at work. This little bunch of freesia brightened my desk for several days. The amazing thing about this posey is actually the greenery, I thought the color was so beautiful that I couldn't bring myself to toss it with the flowers when they withered. Those stems still look great months later! Now I just add fresh flowers to the already pretty greens and - bam! Instant bouquet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of the Day - Days 92-107

I know I usually go a week at a time with the Photo of the Day posts, but seeing as how I haven't posted in almost 2 months, it would seem as if I have some catching up to do. So - here's the next 10 pictures (not including the days I failed to take a picture...of which there were many, whoops).

Day 93:

Oh look - my lunch. Super interesting, no? For some reason I think that the fact that this restaurant puts a to-go order of soup in this huge cup is hilarious. Clearly this was the only picture I took this day.

Day 96:

A pile of shirts that we made for the crawfish boil! Pretty sure I already posted this pic - here it is again for your viewing pleasure! Check out Tele in the background...watching TV? Oh Tele..

Day 98:

Remember that bib my sister made for my little brother? Well, boy did he USE it! I took this as a "before" picture, and then didn't realize that I took no other pictures that day. Wait a minute and you'll see the after - I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat.

Day 99:

I happened upon Tom playing a show for his fan club - pretty raucous night in our house. I mean, look at them, just falling at his feet.

Day 100:

Happy Birthday, Tom! Picture Tom trying to get me out the door so we can make our reservation at Winflo and me stopping him to take a handful of awkward birthday selfies. Welcome to our marriage. I'm very lucky he tolerates my whims. 

Day 101:

So the day after Tom's birthday, something crappy happened (pun intended) - our plumbing decided to let us know how really old it is. The bright side is that we got quite the show (yup, I'm basically a 7 year old boy when it comes to construction of any type, so fascinating), and part of a new driveway. I felt terribly rude snapping this pic so I did so between the blinds of the guest room in hopes that these fellas wouldn't notice...pretty sure they did. 

Day 102:

Yo, little bro! Mark works across the street from me so sometimes we grab lunch. Here he is enjoying a fancy burger. 

Day 103:

Tom looking adorable at the farmer's market one Saturday morning, enjoying an iced coffee while perusing the veggies. 

Day 104:

At long last - the after shot of the bib! A little Oxy Clean, a little Shout, not exactly perfect but it definitely got more crawfish goodness off than I thought it would. Remember when I titillated you with pics of my lunch? Well here's pics of some LAUNDRY, thrill a minute over here.

Day 107:

So Tom and I were doing some yard work one day and I expressed a desire to remove the railing that was in between the porch posts. Being the excellent husband that he is, he sawed them right off for me! Now we have a bit of work to do to to spruce up the posts that remain, but in the meantime the front of the house already looks better!

Hometown visit

A few weeks ago, Tom and I made a super quick trip to my hometown to visit my parents and grandparents. In between chats with the grands and scarfing down all the hometown-specific Tex-Mex we could stomach, we drove around and took pictures of the place from whence I came. 

So this is the Hotel Settles. Without going into the history of the building (a historian I am not...) I can tell you that's it's been around for a super long time. It was long past its heyday and very much closed by the time I was born. As the only building over 3 stories tall in town (this might not be true...but probably) I basically stared at its broken, boarded up windows and just WONDERED about it for my entire childhood. Flash forward to today, it was purchased by an investor and has been bought back to its former glory. Here are 87 views of it from all over town:

 

Majestic, no?

Here's the inside:

The lobby - and don't look now, it's my pa! Just kidding, I just call him Dad.

 

 

There are these really nifty old timey phone booths in the lobby, I fancy that the black and white makes them look even more nifty.

And the ballroom - painted the most lovely mint green:

It's amazing the things you notice with a camera in your hand that you may have missed/not fully appreciated in 18 years of  residence. This town is full of charming hand painted signs, old quirky buildings and alley ways.

 

 

So one of the cutest things to do in town is to drive around the old air park and scope out the prairie dogs. How adorable are these little guys?

And while we're talking about west Texas cliches - here's a horse. Just hanging out, more or less in town.

So here is the view from Scenic Mountain - basically the last bit of elevation before Texas goes completely flat.

One of the quirkiest places in town is my Mimi and Pappy's front yard. Pappy is an avid wood carver and he's taken to decorating the trees in his front yard with some of his carvings. Who does that? Amazing.