What are you doing New Year's Eve?

I'm sure most of you have seen it already, but after seeing this video I can't get this song out of my head. I love it!

Hope all of you had a great New Year's Eve! This year we are in Houston visiting my cute little niece. I can't wait to blog about the holidays when I get home. It's been a crazy busy two weeks, but in the best way! I'm planning on reflecting on the past year and (possibly) coming up with a few resolutions on the ride back....I'll have plenty of time since Buster will be tuckered out from a weekend of fun! :-)

Things that make me smile this week

1) My crazy Buster Boo
He's just so cute and cuddly this week...which I definitely needed after my crazy weekend!

I really can't get enough of this picture!

2) Pinterest
Ok, I know I'm severely late in the game with getting into Pinterest. In the back of my mind I probably knew that it would be way too addicting. And I was right...I can't get enough of this website! So many good, creative ideas. Here are a few of my favorites so far that I WILL be making over Thanksgiving break.

Remember my cork dilemma? Well, I've been the biggest procrastinator in the world and have yet to make anything with my Napa wine corks. I LOVE this idea and hadn't stumbled across something like it yet. Thanksgiving break project? Yes, please!

Seriously. Why have I never thought of this before? So easy and so cute! Wood letters glued to a canvas and sprayed all one color. Love it!

We host a dinner party for our friends every thanksgiving called Friendsgiving. I've been getting some super cute ideas for decorating off of Pinterest. I love this centerpiece!

I also MUST make these. How cute! Votive candle holders made out of small pumpkins. I'm sure the candle won't even need a scent with the pumpkin smell in the room!

3) Soup
I'm obsessed with soup when it starts to get cold out (although in New Orleans, it seems like we only have one cold day every other week - but that's beside the point). This week I made a corn, crab, and shrimp soup. So yummy. I'm currently scouring pinterest for other soup recipe ideas.

Not my soup, but it looks the exact same!

4) Boots and Tights
I love me some boots and tights for the fall! I'm telling you. That one cold day a month just makes me go fall weather crazy! (Although, I have a foot injury that is causing me to currently only wear one specific pair of flip flops...more about that with my upcoming weekend recap...I'm still recovering and am a little scared to write about it haha). I already talked about my boot obsession, and it is getting worse. I've been holding myself back, but I'm pretty sure I'm about to go on a boot shopping spree. Sorry, hubby! I can't help it!

Love this outfit! Must recreate...

Next up: my weekend recap (that I'm still recovering from and scared to write about). Here's a hint. It involved a beautiful wedding, watching the amazing LSU game, my friends getting absolutely crazy, going to the Saints game in a daze, and a cab related foot injury.   :-)

I love you, Taylor Swift (and my 5 year olds that think I look like you)

As I’ve said before, I absolutely adore Taylor Swift. I think she’s such a good roll model for young girls, she writes truthful and wonderful songs, and she seems to be a genuinely nice person. I had the opportunity to go to her concert a few weeks ago, and I fell in love all over again. It was such a fantastic concert...and we kind of had the best seats in the arena (if I do say so myself).

Club level, 9th row :-)

Aren't they amazing seats? I'm not sure I can go to a concert and not be that close again...we got way too spoiled. Also, funny story about the video. I was playing it in the classroom to show my assistant how close our seats were. One of the little kindergarten boys in my class comes up and says "Hey everyone...look! Ms. Stephanie is in a video the computer!" For a few minutes a bunch of the boys were gathered around talking about how great of a singer I am. All of a sudden one of them yells out "Wait, that's not Ms. Stephanie! She has shorter hair..."

I still think it's so funny that they thought all the rest of the video was completly plausible, but it was my hair that gave it away. Yes, children. I sing and perform every night while you're not in school on a glittery stage with ballerinas...oh and I look so much like Taylor Swift. You gotta love 5 year olds!

One of many reasons everyone needs a puppy

I can probably count at least 50 reasons every person should have a puppy, but this is hands down my number one. When you get home from a long day of dealing with 20 five-year-olds, this is the best way in the world to be greeted at your front door. (please pardon me saying "hi" to Buster about 200 times...it's just what we do. I say "hi," he wiggles his butt.)

My puppy has a case of the wiggle butts. I'm assuming it's because his tail is so long that he doesn't know what to do with it when he's happy, but it's kind of the cutest thing ever.

PS: My mom used to have a shirt that said "greet everyone as you would your dog." I feel that should definitely be implemented because Jordan just got home and had the same high pitched "hi, oh hi" response that I did. haha

I sure do love that Buster Boo!

A Shark Week Conversation

First off, let me just say that I have been obsessed with Shark Week on Discovery for years now. I remember watching it way back in middle school and loving every minute of it. There’s just something so fascinating about sharks. And I’m sure many people agree with that because Shark Week has been a very popular topic this week.

I love those great whites!

Anyway, we have been calling my brother’s dog, Brewster, a shark for a while now. Whenever my brother leaves, the dog starts circling around everything in the house. He also has random other shark-like tendencies while playing with other dogs or interacting with people.

Circling, attacking cameras, and stalking his prey

My brother and me had a nice conversation about this via Facebook today that I just have to share.

Me: Have you been watching Shark Week? If so, are you starting to find more similarities between Brewster and a shark? Because I'm pretty sure Buster is 50% shark at this point.

Joey: yea I have, I’m actually shooting my own documentary to give to discovery channel called The Great Brown Brewster. It's about how even though this beast may be dangerous and hunt pray, it can and will interact with human beings. And till this day, even though many people fear the animal of the deep, there has been no recorded attacks or deaths....

Me: Hahaha! That just made my day!

Joey: I don't know what’s up with our dogs. Some say they get the terrible twos, but I guess our dogs get the sharks. Very rare and incurable syndrome, but it sure as hell beats the alligator gar phase and kangaroo hops.

Me: It appears you are correct. Our dogs do get a case of the sharks. Tell Evan to watch out for Charlie (his girlfriend and her new puppy). The shark syndrome might be contagious. I can only imagine how much Buster is learning while listening to shark week!PS: I kind of liked the kangaroo phase. That was when he was a cute little puppy! What I didn't like the piranha under the table phase...

Buster's piranha under the table phase...good thing he doesn't fit under there anymore!

Weekend Art Market Date

Growing up, me and my mom spent a lot of weekends at different art markets around town in New Orleans. We always had that interest in common. There was something amazingly fun about spending time with my best friend/mom and looking at all kinds of artwork. Our absolute favorite market has always been the monthly art market at Palmer Park.

Some artwork we liked this weekend

A little over a year ago my mom decided to do something she had always wanted to do. She decided to finally become a part of the art market scene. My mom has always been an amazing artist, but it took a lot of convincing to get her interested in selling her work. She now has a pretty nice business going selling floor mats, paintings, and ceramics - Jan Salzer Art.

My mom's first time being in the Palmer Park Art Market

This weekend she took a break from sitting in her booth to have the chance to explore the art market with me - just like we had done so many times growing up. As always there was amazing artwork, live music, and homemade strawberry lemonaid (sadly they didn't have the Fry Bar this time - these french fries are to die for).

Cool artwork, the live music, and the strawberry lemonaid stand - can't get much better!

Even if you don't want to, it's very hard to resist buying things in the fun environment. Luckily, I only ended up spending $2 on this really cool serenity glass. Read the meaning behind it. Everyone needs a piece of serenity glass in their lives.

And after a fun day listening to live music, brousing various booths, and sipping on strawberry lemonaid, we had to do the only other thing that would make the day perfect. We went to the Southern Yacht Club for some gumbo. I have to say, this was one of the best mother daughter dates we've had to date! Love you, mom.

Something I hope never changes

Do you ever dance when no one’s watching? I do. All the time – while I’m cooking, or cleaning, or getting ready, or even watching TV. Apparently I’ve rubbed off on my hubby.

The other day I had on music in the kitchen while I was cleaning before people came over. Jordan grabbed me and started twirling me around. I’m not going to lie – this isn’t abnormal. Ever since I got a super cool kitchen ihome for Christmas, this probably happens once a week.

My new favorite toy!

I really hope the random kitchen dancing never changes.

Not in the kitchen, but you get the idea

In unrelated news, my puppy-doodle is getting a lot bigger. And developing a pretty strong personality. He’s sleeping through the night (I guess we can consider waking us up at 6am every day sleeping through “the night”), learning new tricks, and getting really smart. Seriously. He knows exactly what he’s not supposed to do in our house, and learned very quickly only to do those things when we aren’t looking or are ignoring him. Things such as eating shoes, my camera cord, and dirty laundry.

Who? Me?

The other day we took Buster over to meet his uncle and cousin (both of the dog variety). It was pretty funny. Even though they are both triple his size, Buster decided he was the king of the castle. He got in their bed, stole their toys, and had absolutely no problem holding his own. I have a feeling this is going to get interesting as he gets bigger...

They sure are big, but I can handle them!

Because of this, my hubby decided it was a good idea to start watching The Dog Whisperer. Sorry to break it to you honey, but watching half of an episode doesn’t make you Cesar Millan. Hopefully we can learn a few helpful tips anyway.

And just for fun, here are a few more cute pictures of my Buster!

Next up, my Mardi Gras checklist.

Snacking like a 5 year old

Working at a school, I find the hardest thing in the world is to not snack during the day. There is a legitimate "snack time" built into our day, making any diet unbelievably hard. What else are you supposed to do besides snack?

Anyway, today I was so excited about a snack that one of my kids brought in...I just had to share. Do you remember Gushers? I used to eat them ALL THE TIME as a kid! I was so excited about it that I ate three packs. I forgot my coffee this morning, so after three packs of Gushers I was definitely good to go in the hyper department!

This week one of my kids also brought in those crackers with the spreadable cheese. Oh my goodness – it brought back memories. So good! I may have hoarded the leftovers in the cabinet...

What was your favorite snack as a kid?

Our Trip to San Francisco and Napa

Sorry this has taken me so long to write! I had so much fun on this trip, and I figured that if I didn't wait a little bit I would end up rambling on and on about it. No matter what I do I won't be able to stop myself from making this long, so I apologize in advance!

For our one-year wedding anniversary, me and my hubby decided we wanted to take a trip. Being that our anniversary is in January, it was hard to come up with a place to go that wouldn't be ridiculously cold. After a lot of thinking, we finally settled on San Francisco for two days and Napa Valley for three. Neither one of us had ever been to California, so that in itself was exciting. We had a GREAT TIME!

Union Square and our beautiful hotel!

In San Francisco we got to see pretty much everything on our list. Our first day was foggy and rainy, but the second day was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. On day one we went to the Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. I absolutely love being near water, so I loved both of those stops. They are both must-sees in San Francisco! I was glad we walked by the Fisherman's Wharf around lunchtime, because I couldn't have passed up on eating one of those crabs! We had the famous clam chowder and a dungeness crab for lunch that day - one of the best meals I've had in a long time!

Pier 39 was pretty cool as well. We ended up on a non-so-famous pier across the harbor, which had a lot of great views and less people. Although we did have to make it to Pier 39 to see what those seals were all about (they were much cuter over there because they weren't so far away). PS: The seagulls in San Fran are HUGE! I was fascinated by them.

Our less famous pier, the seals at pier 39, a huge sea gull, and Alcatraz

We decided to buy a Muni pass which let us use every form of public transportation, including those famous cable cars. There was a lot of walking involved (and a lot of "hills" - being from flat country the hills were similar to mountains in my eyes). I was very excited to see the Painted Ladies from the opening credits of Full House! It was also a ton of fun to ride the cable car.

Pretty San Fran houses by our hotel, the Painted Ladies, riding the cable car, and one of the "hills" we hiked up

On our pretty day, we were able to take a bus to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. My hubby is a civil engineer, so this was something he just had to see in person. Such a great experience!

We loved San Francisco a lot, but after two days of hiking up and down "hills," I was very ready for a trip to wine country! We rented a car to get there, which was definitely a good plan. We were able to visit 12 wineries in 3 days (don't judge - there's seriously nothing else to do there haha).

Our absolute favorite places were:
Paraduxx Winery - They had a very laid back atmosphere, passionate workers, and great wine. PLUS their wine has ducks on it which made me smile.
Domaine Chandon - They had beautiful grounds and good champagne. We went there in the morning of our anniversary day - great way to start the day!
Cakebread Cellars - My favorite wine hands down! They had AMAZING wine and very fun tour. They even have a room with corks installed in the ceiling...great idea.

Paraduxx, Domaine Chandon, and Cakebread

Beaulieu Vineyards - We stumbled on this one and they had some of our favorite wine. Very good!
Beringer Vineyards - I love their affordable wine, but I had no idea they had really great and expensive reserve wine (we tasted a bottle that was $115)! We did our tasting in a building that looked like a castle, and they gave us a skeleton key to go for a free tasting at another winery. Great experience!
Frog's Leap Winery - I loved this one because they used to be a frog farm and still have a farm atmosphere. The wine was good, but the tour was definitely what made this experience!

Beringer Vineyards, huge pine cones in a fireplace, our key to the next vineyard, and Frog's Leap

I was also very obsessed with the mustard that was growing in the vineyards. At this time of year all of the vines are dormant (meaning they look like sticks without leaves), BUT there are pretty yellow mustard flowers that grow throughout them. So pretty!

There is so much more I could say about this trip. I've always loved wine, but it was very interesting to get to learn so much about the process involved in making it. I now know so many random facts about winemaking that I know I will never forget. I won't be able to look at a bottle of wine the same way again! ALSO, I forgot to mention that we took corks from every winery we visited. Hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of my cork project in the near future!

It was a great time and I look forward to going back one day!

2010 in a Nutshell

2010 was a seriously interesting year of my life. So many big things happened, and as a result I grew up more this year than I think I ever have before. I learned a lot of life lessons; the most important being that no matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can’t change people’s minds. I also had a few pretty harsh lessons in not worrying about what other people think about you (no matter how many times I have had to go through this, it never gets any easier).

Since 2010 has come to a close, I wanted to use this post to reflect on the most important things to come out of this year.

January was the month I got married and went on an amazing honeymoon to St. Lucia. After over a year of planning every little detail, the big day came and it was seriously the best day of my life. People always say that your wedding day flies by and that you don’t remember half of what happened. Not me. I can still play the entire day in my head from start to finish (although the time spent on the dance floor dancing to songs like Party in the USA and Bye Bye Bye does seem a little bit blurry).

Our honeymoon was in St. Lucia, and it was an absolutely fabulous vacation! We saw a volcano, waterfall, mountains, and other breathtaking scenery. We ate so much wonderful food - on our last night we got to go to a restraunt at the end of a pier and listen to romantic Celine Dion music while dining under the stars. Jordan also convinced me to zip line in the jungle...I’ll probably never do it again, but it was a fun experience. Oh yeah, and we had a butler. I would give pretty much anything to go back right now (although we are heading to San Francisco and Napa Valley for our anniversary next week, so I guess that will do).

The Saints won the Superbowl!!!! Enough said.

My niece, Madelyn was born at the end of March. My hubby is her godfather and we are pretty in love with her. She lives in Houston, so we don’t get to see her much, but we cherish being able to spend time with her! She's just starting to crawl and say things like "ma ma." I wish she were closer so we could see her growing up every day!

One of my really good friends, Molly, had a baby boy named Hart at the end of April. He's such a cutie! He’s so active and fun to be around. I love being able to watch him grow up!

Right before school let out for the summer, my brand new husband got shipped to Mobile to work for BP. He was there for three months working on cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf. He found out that it might be an option for him one day while I was at work, and they asked him to leave the next day. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but we made it through! While he was gone I worked at a summer camp doing things like frog races, and learned how to cook fun things like lasagna. I also decided I was lonely and bought some fish named Dug and Kevin (from the movie Up). They died right before Jordan got home...guess they knew I wouldn't be lonely much longer?

In August I started working as a Kindergarten teacher. As much as I gripe about it sometimes, I absolutely love my job. There is no greater feeling than seeing a light bulb go off in a child’s mind – and knowing that you helped them learn something as significant as reading and writing sentences. I love my K1 Kids!

In October, we became homeowners! YAY!

And of course, there were many great moments spent with friends and family...this is getting long so I can't put the 100s of pictures of these times. Here are a few highlights!

Family

These pictures are from when me and my family went to the Jazzfest together, my birthday, when we spent Easter in Houston meeting our sweet baby niece, and one of my mom's art shows (this year she followed her dream and started painting mats which she sells at some really fun art shows).

Friends

These pictures are from visiting Harley and Lindsay in West Palm Beach, our super fun annual LSU tailgate, my trip to visit Victoria and Nashville, and Friendsgiving.

2010 was a good year, but I'm very ready for the adventures to come in 2011! I've already had a few interesting ones I'll post about soon. :-)

Everywhere you look...

I can’t believe how fast time flies! My hubby and I will be married for one year in mid-January. Since our anniversary will fall on a holiday weekend (at least for a few years), we promised ourselves on our honeymoon that we would do something really special for our anniversary every year while we still can (aka before kids).

Yesterday was Cyber Monday, which is something I have literally never heard of before. If you haven’t heard of it either, it’s apparently black Friday for the internet.

We had been talking about an anniversary trip, but never could decide on a concrete place because of flight prices. (Even though Southwest claims to have $89 flights, the coolest place we could go for that amount was Houston.) So, since yesterday had all of these cool cyber deals, my hubby found a really cheap set of plane tickets to San Francisco! We are now going on a 5 day, 5 night trip to San Francisco/Napa Valley/Sonoma! I literally can’t wait. We really need a relaxing vacation like this together.

So pretty!

We don’t know much about the area, but we do know that we are planning on staying for 2 days in San Fran and 3 days in wine country. Besides that, we haven’t got much of a clue where we are staying in those areas or what we want to do. It seems as if there are a ton of options when it comes to this area!

As much as I try, I can’t get the Full House theme song out of my head when I think of San Francisco. Probably because of this, I am literally only 100% interested in seeing things that involved the show. Clearly this means I NEED to see the Full House house. Apparently it’s called Postcard Row. I can see why! It’s beautiful!

Next I want to ride on one of the famous San Francisco cable cars. Why, you ask does this have to do with Full House? The opening credits one of the years had DJ peeking over the bar of the cable car.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll run into these folks!

As we research Napa/Sonoma, people keep saying that it gets old after a day or two. CLEARLY these people must not love wine as much as I do. Or beautiful scenery. Seriously, how could THIS get old!?

So basically what this boils down to is that we’re definitely going to California for our anniversary, but we have absolutely no idea what we’re doing there yet. Hopefully we can get our act together some time in the next 5 weeks!