Back to New York, New York

Remember the time I accidentally bought a plane ticket departing on the wrong day? Always a fear, never a reality? Until this time. Whoops.

A literal gchat convo with Bethany on Sept 25

Bethany: ahh! speaking of! when are your flights? times, etc?
Me: oh yes, i shall email you flight times right meow.
i get there thursday afternoon and leave monday morning very early
Bethany: WEDNESDAY?!!!! umm. lj.
Me: well shoot
Bethany: itsayswednesday
Me: actually. wednesday. right.
Bethany: haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahh
Me: damnit
Bethany: sorry. not laughing.
Me: i am
Bethany: but actually laughing.
Me: hahaha
Bethany: because it means more play time?!
Me: mehhh, i'm totally ok with it
Bethany: good thing you have me

So that begins my story. Off to a real good start. BONUS DAY.

You'd be surprised how quickly 5 New York days fill up with things to do and people to see and places to eat. The crisp October weather was perfect. Just what I'd been craving. New York was as charming as ever. I strolled the streets and soaked up the sites just like I never left. I suppose that feeling will never go away. Or maybe it does. Someday... But that's another story for another day.

For now, 5 days of New York City. 5 days of headphones in, music up, subway rides, neighborhood strolls. 5 days of best friends. 5 days of staying up too late, eating too many treats, giggling entirely too much. 5 days of pretty great.

Some highlights...

East Village dinner at a fun new place with this crew. Longhorn reunion! (plus husbands, fiances and Bethany!)

Strolling SoHo with Sue! We did some good shopping. And she introduced me to Alex & Ani. New addiction.

Happy houring with these fools. We are good at happy houring. (not pictured: sam + other former co-workers who are awesome. also, yellow cardi. a casualty.)

Upper West Side Friday with my BFF. Shake Shack. Mani / pedis. Banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery with Krista - who had BIG news to share, YAY!! (not pictured: West Village pizza, wine and gelato with Jenna & Nick. Followed by Whiskey Tavern with Caroline, Katy and Mike.)

Sunny Saturday. Brunching at an old faithful. Strolling. Street fairs. Cheering for the TCU Froggies. Cheering for the Longhorns. NYC style!

Question: "what's an insomnia cookie and do i need one?"

Sunday funday! Girliest of all girly brunches surrounded by purple whimsical everything at Sugar & Plumm. Brooklyn flea treasure hunting. We love treasures. And Brooklyn is pretty neat too.

Sunday night dinner date with old 9A roomies and good friends. Pio Pio! So delicious. So much green sauce.

5 days fly by I tell ya.

I'm sure Bethany was happy to get me out of her space. Such a big thanks to Jessyca for meeting me on Wednesday to drop my bags. Such a big thanks to Bethany and Kristen for letting me stay and play for 5 days.

Oh New York. I'm thankful those city streets still feel like home. And so many friends that still feel like family.

Be back soon! Promise!

Luke's Mobile {a baby nursery project}

Oh just another project I forgot to blog. Whoops. I suppose I'm playing catch up. Also I was sick all weekend, so I had some time on my hands. Hah.

Over the summer, my sister was finishing up Baby Luke's nursery. She was in search of a mobile to hang above his crib made of branches to go with her owl theme. She found a super cute custom-made mobile, but couldn't find anywhere to buy it or anything like it. I couldn't either. Trust me, I looked.

After much consideration and much prompting from Les and mom, I decided to at least attempt to create something along the lines of the mobile she wanted. No promises that it would look anything like her inspiration, but I'd sure try!

So. I present the inspiration for this project:

Y'all. This was a hard project. Really. Maybe the hardest I've ever tackled. And this was the photo I had as a guide. So hard.

I present the mess of items we purchased {I won't even talk about how many different Garden Ridge locations we had to visit to get the right branches}.

I also won't tell you how long it took to piece the branches together in any kind of semi-curved shape. Held together with tape for reinforcement and wrapped in multi-colored yarn for cuteness.

And then we started adding things. Lots of draping and wrapping and threading. Ribbons and beads and buttons. And birds too. What's a branch without some birds?

After many hours and lots of patience and maybe at least one broken branch, here's some close ups of the finished product. I love the details. Everything came together really well. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the shape of the branches. But I suppose that's a small thing.

And here's the finished mobile in Baby Luke's nursery! Finished just in time for his arrival last August. I hope he likes it.

The State Fair of Texas

October in Texas

State Fair season!

I went twice this year. For the first time, at night. With some friends. Who have all the good pics on their phones.

Here's one I swiped from Julie's instagram. :)

And for the first time, I rode the giant ferris wheel. 

Please excuse the blurriness. I never thought I had a thing with heights. 

But once we were suspended so high above ground in a swinging cage...

Apparently then I had a suddenly had a thing with heights. Eeeks.

During fair weekend, I also got to see Kayla for some Longhorn football watching...while her husband, brother and dad were at the fair watching the Longhorns in action. 

(or lack of action? it's been 3 weeks and I still can't talk about that awful day at the Cotton Bowl.)

Sunday back to the fair on a beautiful sunshiney day with mom and dad.

Little known fact: I love the dog show. It's so fun!

Then we found these guys and their munchkins. 

Good thing we got one last pic with Big Tex. Because in just 5 short days, he would no longer be standing. Sad.

This is dad. Catching a fish. At kid fish. Hmmmm.

And for our last stop, Blue Bell ice cream nutty bars. So so yummy. 

I love October in Texas. And the State Fair.

Until next year!