Our 2nd Anniversary Day

As usual, our anniversary day was full of stuff -- like work. And baseball. But we made the most of it!

Robert and I were able to meet up for lunch and he showed up with these beauties! A lot of flowers that we used in our wedding arrangements - hydrangea's, spider mum's, vendellum roses, curly willow. He's so thoughtful and pays a LOT of attention to the DETAILS! :-)

 They are gorgeous and smell amazing!

We went to lunch near my office, to Cantina Laredo. I haven't been there in YEARS, and it was still pretty tasty! 

Matt had a 5:45pm baseball game which they ended up LOSING. :( It looked like it was their first time to play baseball. Darnit!

When I got home I was surprised by these beauties!

We then headed to Koto for some fabulous sushi. Koto is special to us because it's our favorite sushi place in Houston AND it's where one of our first meals together came from. Robert brought it over shortly after I moved into my own apartment. We weren't dating yet, but I guess you could say he was courting me. :-) Two months later we started dating!

He gave me a beautiful card that made me laugh out loud and then cry. It was a GREAT Anniversary day! xoxo

Two years ago today I.....

married my best guy friend! :-) And I'm so happy he's put up with me for the last 730 days and that I've managed to put up with him all this time too! ha ha

The journey of marriage is fun, exciting, hard, frustrating and even shocking. I mean who knew you could really grow to love someone more every day than the day before? And who knew that the first year or so can be so hard? I mean, didn't you know that person inside and out before you moved in together or got engaged or walked down the aisle or whatever the case may be.

With all that aside, I love waking up next to him. I love knowing I've got someone to talk to, b*tch at or with, laugh with, travel with, and simply to love.

And a marriage isn't just the two of us, it's the family and friends that surround us and support us every day.

It's the parents that unwillingly and unquestionably love us.

 It's the 14 bridesmaids and groomsmen that stood by us.

It's our sisters and brothers that keep us grounded and will kick anyone's a$$ if we need them to!

It's the friends that we laugh with. (who shook you all night long????!!!)

It's to being showered with love and best wishes, and even rice!!!

It's all those things and a whole lot more! So thank you to everyone in my life that loves me, even if it's just a little, because you're loved and acknowledged in return a lot!

 



And a Shiner wedding just isn't the same without the Hobo Band!







Here's to Happily Ever After, babe and 730,000 more days together......

You're "old" now too Jenny Lynn!

:) So my 'middle' sister Jenny turned 30 on April 11th and I was GLAD to welcome her into her 30's as she so lovingly gives me grief for being "old" ALL THE TIME! :) Especially around March 13.

Robert, Matthew and I were able to make it down to Wharton and meet up with my parents. Mom brought up some of my 30th birthday party decorations, so she and I hung a few around Jenny & Nick's house! :)

There's the birthday girl - looking beautiful as always. She's carrying baby Hudson, so couldn't celebrate with libations just yet!

We then headed down to El Campo for a birthday dinner celebration at Greek Brothers.  The food (steak night!) was excellent and the service very good!

 Mom made a yummy red velvet cake for dessert. Jenny was also sung Happy Birthday by the duo on stage. Turned out the kid was one of Nick's students from his Boling High School teaching days!

Happy Birthday Jen! Love you loads!  

2012 Garden Update

I have to say our garden is looking good! Although I'm a little worried about my tomato plants - I think they should be looking greener and healthier. They may be in need of some Miracle Grow. They do have flowers on them and two have tomatoes already hanging!

Our strawberries have caught on nicely! (they were transplants from our old garden to the new one) One plant is going to give us a nice picking, based on the number of blooms it has!

The zucchini and cucumbers have tons of flowers on them. Our snap peas are 6 to 8 inches tall already!!! (those were grown from seeds!)

Robert saw our first potato plant yesterday -- YAY! Even that is success enough for me since I've never grown a potato before! I remember picking them in Mamo and Papo's garden, though.

Spinach, green onions, carrots have all sprouted!

The bell and jalepeno peppers each have a bud and some of the bells are already 3 inches+ and growing!

And our corn - it's come up just how I'd hoped and right now is near a foot tall!

My garden makes me happy!!! I love mother nature!

The baby's here!!!!

So it's 1:36 a.m. on Friday, April 6th 2012 and I am in dreamland and DANGIT, my alarm goes off. I KNEW I cut it off the night before because I consciously made the effort to cut it off so I could sleep in and OMG it can't be 5:30 already, but wait - it's my phone, and it's RINGING! And it's my mom saying Jill is at 7cm and the baby is coming today! Holy Good Friday!! The baby is coming!

Welcome to the world, Maxwell Edwin McDonald. You arrived at 11:05 a.m. and are so-loved. I'm an Auntie again!!!

Here's our little 'glow worm'... weighed in at 5 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long. He's a tiny boy!

Here's a close up of this cutie while his Auntie Mo was holding him! No one knew whether it was a boy or girl ..... or so we thought. Jill and Thomas knew from week 12!!! I was wondering how Jill would be able to NOT find out....and then how in the heck did she keep the secret?!

And this is him, one day old stretched out in his crib at the hospital. Jill and Thomas were able to take little Max home on Sunday. All is well. The Easter bunny did good for the Chumchal family this year!

And here is Max with his Auntie Mo. And if' you're wondering, Auntie Mo comes from my nickname, Jamo. :) I was introduced to Brody as Auntie Mo, and now that he's talking up a storm it's Mo Mo, but I SWEAR ONE DAY that 2nd "Mo" will be dropped! :) It's cute! He's such a sweetie!

So Max -  let's get this straight now - It's Auntie Mo & Uncle Bert!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Ingenuity and Ignorance and Genius!

Let me start out by saying this post is soley based on the observations and opinions of me, myself and I. Enjoy some of the sights around Houston I've witnessed within the last 18 months. :)

I classify this one as IGNORANCE. I mean who is going to forget their Dr. Pepper on the back of the truck? That's sacrilege! Yummy DP! This one is DEFINITELY classed as GENIUS! It's awesome. (as is the man driving the cooler!) This one I will reserve the classifcation, but still think it's funny! :)

IGNORANCE at it's best. Don't see what I mean? Then look at the NEXT picture. *sigh*

What is WRONG with some people?! Whatever were they thinking? Not to mention this is breaking so many laws. You NEVER put the forks facing out. Could you imagine if someone rear ended this truck? BAD NEWS, jack!

Hmmm - ingenuity, perhaps? (yes, that's adults in there!)

Ingenuity. Nope, that's not Matt and his friend breaking into someone's yard, it's them going across into his friends yard rather than walking around the street. LOL

Ignorance? Ingenuity? Tough call..... (ladder out the window cruising down I-10)

And last, but certainly not least, taken on Sunday April 1st (this is no april-fool's here, folks). It's a guy who is cruising down I-10 with his back glass and back hatch strapped down with bungee cords and oh yeah, his back window is a piece of plexi-glass. Certainly falls under Ingenious!

What did you do this weekend?

This is what I did:

Houston's Mighty Mud Dash 5K!!!!

I claim that I was peer-pressured into it, but in the end, it was a good time. MUDDY, but good! Bethany, Elaine, Liz and I descended upon the course at 9 a.m. and we finished in 50, yes FIFTY minutes! That's not bad, especially considering that some of us are more out of shape than others. (i.e. myself)

Here's our BEFORE picture:
I was very pleased, I have to say. I have been working out since February, however I have not run a long(ish) distance since last September, so for me to finish WITH OBSTACLES in about a 15 minute mile - that was a big accomplishment!

I'm so proud of myself, I may just go do it again, but withOUT the obstacles! :)

Here's our AFTER picture: (just as funny as the before)

I have THE MOST amazing parents

....and I'm wishing them a VERY happy 31st wedding anniversary.

This picture was taken almost 2 years ago, on my wedding day, April 17. I'm going to try and upload one of their wedding pictures if I remember to get one this weekend.

They are amazing parents, friends, confidants, role models and any other flattering term you can give. I'm truly blessed to call them Mom and Dad!

Happy ANNIVERSARY!!! I love you guys more than words will ever portray.

March, the Birthday Month

Well, I hate to admit it, but I celebrated my 35th birthday this month. I know, I know, it's not a big deal, it's just a number, it's all about perspective, blah blah blah. It was a VERY hard number for me to swallow. For several reasons. ANYWAY......I was blessed to share it with some of my most favorite people in the world - my mom, my sister Jenny, and sister Jill, my husband, my youngest step-son, my Sophinator and even my brother as the clock struck midnight and the birthday officially began.

We went to the Miranda Lambert concert and WOW - I have to say - she was a pleasant surprise. Put on a great show. Not to mention - we had some pretty awesome seats....here's the view: (and might I add I'm so disappointed that I did not get a picture of us gals) :(

The hubster sent some beautiful flowers to work, tulips and iris'.

And they were gorgeous when they opened up. I didn't snap a picture of when they were fully opened - but it was so pretty. Great color combo!

And even though I did not need one single thing, I did get some new boots for my birthday, a bag of stuff from Maurice's from Jr., as well as a beautiful bracelet from none other than James Avery Jewelers!

We added this charm to the bracelet as well. . .

Why don't men get that for women, it's a birthday MONTH, not just a day..... :)

2012 Garden

So this is our second year to have a garden in our backyard. I love gardening! We've had some interesting luck as well, which the pictures should show. Our first garden began in September 2010 and it's STILL growing.

This year, however, I wanted bigger, in a different spot and here's the result.

Here's the truck loaded down with 4 HEAVY railroad ties, soon to be heading back to Katy. I had no shame driving back with these. I knew the ultimate destination and was excited about it! Notice, mom and I took safety into very serious consideration and rigged up the wood!

Here's a picture of the ties all set up (cutting them was a hassle - the big chain saw was NOT cooperating and the little one was smokin' by the time Robert was finished!). Notice how all the grass is gone - THAT was back-breaking work done by yours truly.

I finally had a weekend (amidst the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo madness that volunteering brings) and planted the garden. Robert was kind enough to unload the yard of soil into the garden for me. I made the rows and planted - yay! progress!

We have strawberries, cucumber, zucchini, sugar snap peas, potatoes, green onions, spinach, carrots, jalepenos, green yellow and red bell peppers, tomatoes and corn!

And I even took the time to make the markers that I never got to in 2011.
And I had to include this picture of the previous garden (2010), which is still standing, and how much DILL and PARSLEY and GREEN ONIONS I have. Lord, I don't even want the dill! And it was NOT planted this way in the beginning. Thanks to Mother Nature and the birds, we have found dill plants coming up EVERYWHERE, not just in here, but in the side yards as well. (over the fence). It's funny. The dill, parsley and green onions have been growing since Sept 2010. And the onions are still ever-so-yummy! However, they have now flowered and we should have 1,000,000 more seeds soon..... Onion anyone? Dill?

2012

I'm not even sure anyone even bothers with my blog anymore (and that's ok). I think I used it the best and the most when I was traveling and living overseas. It was a way to capture experiences and share them with family and friends back home.

These last many months I've done nothing but neglect it. :( But I'm going to try better for 2012!!

So bear with me as I play catch-up over the coming months from past events, and I'm going to try to upload a picture or two as well!

So for today - it's my "Friday" at work and I'm so glad. Tomorrow I've got a lot going on (as usual!), but our master bedroom-focused! I have my second Plantation Shutter guy coming in for a quote. We are starting slowly and may not ever do more than the front of the house, but that's the focus this go-round. When we build our retirement home someday, THEN it'll be plantation's throughout the house. Our bedroom furniture (sans the bed) are coming in and I cannot wait! We went with the Moultrie Park collection from Bassett and I'm already in love with it.

I am having a hard time with the bedding. I'm not of the mindset to spend $1,00o's of dollars, or even more than $400 on bedding, and not to mention, I'm picky. I'll know it's it when I see it. it doesn't help that we are looking for paint colors as well. We have an off-white chair rail that goes around the entire room. We are thinking of a rich yellow on top and a taupe on the bottom. We've also purchased some stencils for one or two walls to really make them pop. Right now I only have wall paint "squares" up, so who knows what it all will look like when we're done! ARGH! But -- the furniture is coming tomorrow and that makes me very excited!

I promise to post pictures ASAP.

Have a great weekend y'all!