summer to-do list update + europe stuff.

you'd think that summertime would be the easiest time to keep a blog updated, with the 105 degree days that keep me inside for the hottest hours of the day, the non-stop pictures i've been taking and the overall fact that it's just summer. but, nope.

clearly you can tell this is not the case for me.

 

although, i do have a few updates from my summer to-do list! 2 weeks ago i posted an update: here, and i'm now happily able to cross of #6 which is to read 4 books between now and the day we left for europe. we still have six weeks until we leave!!! which means i'll probably reach this goal 2 or 3 times over, but that's not a bad thing. in the past 2 weeks, i've read:

1. this is how you lose her, by junot diaz. (one of my all time favorite books is another one by this same author, called the brief wondrous life of oscar wao. if you haven't read it and you don't mind crude humor, please read it. it is so, so good)

2. the fault in our stars, by john green. (i am not a person that cries with books, you guys. it's just not my thing. movies? yes, i'll cry approximately every 10 minutes, but not books. this one here is the exception. at one point i'm pretty sure there was a snot bubble coming out of my nose. this book is great)

3. where'd you go, bernadette: a novel, by maria semple. (this. book. is. hilarious. and sweet. and weird. what more could you want in a book?)

4. the dharma bums, by jack kerouac. (this is my go-to book. i've ready it probably 6 times between the time i was 15 and now, and it's one of my favorite summertime books)

 

now that you got my riveting book reviews, i've also planted a few tiny and adorable succulents...there will be more to come since now i want them all over my house. so here's the current list update:

1. host a summer party

2. go to hamilton pool

3. take a day off work during the week to enjoy austin

4. use my nikon more

5. finally check off goal #5: bake my own sourdough bread

6. read 4 books between now & the time we leave for europe

7. plant some succulents and/or create terrariums

8. keep up the yoga routine i have so far


there's also a very important piece of information that has come to my attention this past week:
both of my brothers (and their ladies!) will be joining tucker + i for part of our europe trip in six weeks.
I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED ABOUT THIS!
we get the best of both worlds because the first week of the trip will be just the 2 of us, doing our own thing and filling the days however we decide to fill them. and the last week will be full of family and running around and itineraries and i'm sure tons, and tons of pictures. these six weeks could not possibly get here any sooner.
but of course, not too soon since i do have 4 more things to check off of my summer to-do list. so i guess i should get on that.

since i still haven't gotten around to photographing the entire house (and let's be honest, it's not quite ready for that. still. after 6 months of living here), here are some tidbits and corners, and a calligraphy version of our wedding vows that we are frame-hunting for:

 

 

 



inspiration for a road trip

do you know how hard it is to find a friend/couple that you can travel with?

no?

well, let me tell you: it's incredibly difficult.

it's so easy to say, i'm such good friends with _____, surely we will have a blast together on a trip and we won't get on each other's nerves and everything will be just dandy. well in reality, traveling brings out both the best and the worst in people (at least in my cynical eyes). when you get a combination of a person or people who are super laid back and not really all that concerned about itineraries or flight times or anything really, and put them on a plane or in a hotel room with a person or couple who needs to make sure that things go exactly. as. planned. - well, you can see that things could go sour very quickly.

 

all of that to say, i'm so lucky to know several people that i can travel with. and not just travel with, but successfully travel with. the kinds of trips where i say, yes. that was glorious and i could do that 10 more times!  let's start planning our next trip right now!

well one of those couples is made up of 2 people that we love (they came to lost maples with us and also krause springs recently). we just love them, and are now planning a road trip to destin, florida together (way too far in advance because we're so excited!). and we're throwing in a one-night stop in new orleans for good measure. because, why not?
 

here's my inspiration for that trip since it is goal #26 on my 30before30 list.

 

austin -- new orleans -- destin, fl

 

 

we all look that cute when we travel in a car for 12 hours, right?

 

replace that cute van with some sort of large suv and we can recreate this.

 

my pictures from our trip to new orleans for our 1 year anniversary in 2012

 

 

destin, florida pictures 1, 2 & 3

 

 

(psst: see other road trip inspired posts here and here.)

 

what is the best road trip you've ever been on? or your dream road trip?

 

 

 

 



summer to-do list: update

near the end of june i posted my summer to-do list right: here.

i decided to put 8 goals on there because 5 just seemed too easy. and i was able to cross of 2 things already:

hosting a summer party & take a day off during the week to enjoy austin (this may seem like a strange one, but i'm super picky about when i use my time off work! i usually set a rule that i won't take a day off unless i'm leaving the city limits which ensures that i always have enough time for vacations, so i forced myself to make an exception here).

 

we had a small group of friends over the first weekend in july - we played ping pong, tapped out a little half keg, snacked on fruit skewers and chicken taquitoes and our friends were kind enough to stock our bar with several bottles of vodka and wine! they do know us afterall. and while i fully intended to use my nikon to take pictures of the party (since it's part of my to-do list), it just didn't work out that way. between baking more rounds of tostaditas and taquitoes and making sure my cat wasn't having a heart attack (he's skiddish), my iphone was just so much more convenient. so here are a few snapshots of the day:

 

 

 

 

 

then a few days after the party, the husband & i took a day off of work to go to krause springs with our friends john & jamie. but since i made the goal specifically to "enjoy austin" during the week, we also attempted to make a stop for early morning bbq (that's the best kind of bbq) at franklin bbq (named the best bbq in america by bon appetit! no big deal), but decided that time spent at krause springs was more important than the 2+ hours we would've spent in line at franklin...so we headed to kerbey lane, which counts just as much since it's an austin staple. 

after we had very full biscuit bloated bellies, we headed to krause springs and it was every bit as beautiful and fun as we were hoping it would be. we kept extending our time ("we'll leave at 3! okay, we'll leave at 4. maybe we should leave at 5??") because we all wanted to live there permanently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

here's what's left on my summer to-do list:

1. host a summer party

2. go to hamilton pool

3. take a day off work during the week to enjoy austin

4. use my nikon more

5. finally check off goal #5: bake my own sourdough bread

6. read 4 books between now & the time we leave for europe

7. plant some succulents and/or create terrariums

8. keep up the yoga routine i have so far



exactly four years left to complete my list!

today is my 26th birthday, friends!

yep, the big two-six. it's got quite a ring to it, no? that means that i now have exactly 4 years to complete this list of mine...which has got me a little worried because i have quiiite a few things to check off.

but luckily, i'm married to the cutest man ever who takes my list very seriously (more on that in this post: here), and got me a hot air balloon ride for my birthday - in case you don't have my 30before30 goals memorized, that would be #18 on my list. it's not going to happen for a few months because of the fact that it's in the mid 90's by 8am here in austin. so we're thinking of saving it until maybe october or november, but you know there will be an update on that.

 

but what this all means is that i should be able to cross off at least six things off my during my 26th year. these are the ones i have planned so far for the next 12 months:

- learn how to bake my own sourdough bread

-plant a thriving vegetable garden (already started!)

-finish decorating our forever home

-visit spain

-ride in a hot air balloon

-start (and keep) a regular yoga practice (already working on this, too)

 

and who knows what else might present itself as an opportunity to be crossed off - you hear that, radiohead? want to start touring soon so i can cross that goal off??

 

i am so, so looking forward to this year of my life and am beyond excited to get it started.

 

 

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first day of summer + mini summer to-do list

happy first day of summer!

back in april, when it usually starts feeling like summer here in austin, i posted my summer to-do list which includes:

1. host a summer party

2. go to hamilton pool

3. take a day off work during the week to enjoy austin

4. use my nikon more, and

5. finally check off goal #5: bake my own sourdough bread.

 

i'm feeling a little ambitious and wanted to add a few things to it...what better day to add to a summer to-do list than the first day of summer?

so here we go:

 

6. read 4 books between now and the time we leave for europe.(september 17...remember i checked off goal #11 - to read at least one book a month for one year? i want to get back in to it)

 

 

7. plant some succulents and/or create succulent terrariums.

(this is one type of plant my cat won't eat)

 

 

8. keep up the yoga routine i have going so far.

goal #21 on my list is to start a regular yoga practice. i mentioned a few weeks ago that i've been going to sweaty yoga 1-2 times per week for the past 7 weeks now, and i am going to try really hard to make sure that stays consistent. once i reach six months, i feel confident that i can cross it off my list because at that point, i know i'll keep it up!

 

1 // 2 // 3

 

(ps. i've already scheduled off work on july 12th to spend an austiny day with the husband & maybe some friends galavanting around town, and a summer party is in the works. so far, so good!)

 

what's on your summer to-do list?

 



seattle, you are lovely.

we're back from seattle!

 i mentioned last week that we were flying up there because my super smart older brother got his master's from university of washington. both the husband & i had been to seattle, but we had never been there together so we were excited to get 4 days to explore. and since it became a pretty big family trip (tucker & i, mom & stepdad, dad, step sister & her wife and of course brother & his girlfriend), i was prepared for a non-stop family-filled weekend. but we were able to get the perfect balance of family time + alone time, and had one of the best trips we've ever been on.

it helps that the hottest it got was 76 degrees, and that there was not a single mosquito in sight...which for these texans was pretty much the equivalent of heaven.

 

i'd say we walked a combined 10 miles throughout the weekend and learned how small seattle really is because we now know we saw so much of it on foot. but all that walking allowed us to do everything we wanted to do - we stopped at art galleries, found fantastic little breakfast spots on our way to our hotel, spotted perfect little brick houses with the most beautiful ivy climbing up the walls, and i got to wear in my new converse that are now not as white as when i got them :)

 

all that walking also allowed us to realize just how ridiculously beautiful seattle is. i mean, we both quickly realized that on the trips that we've made there before, but it is just pretty near perfect. i can definitely say that it's one of the cleanest cities i've been to, and i can really appreciate a place that is so loved that it's residents actually take care of it - can't you?

as much as i was cursing the steep, steep hills when i was walking up them, when we would turn around to look down the hill, it was so worth it. you could see the water on one side, adorable unique homes climbing up a hill on the other, and nothing but green on another side.

 

and sure, it rains a hell of a lot in seattle and sometimes there's no sunshine seen for weeks, but hey! we were there for four days with nothing but sunshine and perfect weather, so let's pretend that's how it is all the time, okay?

 

 

 

 

if you've never been to seattle - you have to go, and make sure you go in june or july. we've now been a combined 5 times, so if you ever need tips on restaurants/bars/parks, etc, let me know! i'd be happy to send them your way.

 

updates (3 goals being worked on!)

i've been a terrible blogger, yet again. i just now realized that i never even posted my pictures from sunday night supper #3 that i hosted at my house last month. but i guess the important part is that goal #14 on my 30before30 list is still being worked on and i have not forgotten about it! just forgotten to post about it.

since i've been MIA for the past two months, here's a little recap of what's been going on around my parts-

 

 

 

 

the first picture is proof that the sunday night supper actually happened! there have also been bike rides, date nights, memorial day parties, trips to deep eddy pool and non-stop working on decorating our house.

and those last two pictures are proof that i haven't forgotten about the fact that i created my 30before30 list for a reason - those perfect little round tomatoes actually came from my garden, as part of me working on goal #9, to plant a thriving vegetable garden. and the most recent photo was just taken last night as part of goal #21 - to start a regular yoga practice. i've been going to a hot yoga class 1-2 times a week for the past 5 weeks and am absolutely loving it.

last summer, i did bikram yoga pretty often and also loved (LOVED) it, but truth be told - it's entirely too expensive. so i can justify hot yoga because it's donation based (aka: affordable), and 75% of the poses are bikram poses. it's a win win!

 

now that the past 2 months have been covered, we can move on.

the husband & i leave for seatle early, early friday morning - we're talking 5:30am - because my brother, the smart one in the family, is getting his masters. this means that we're going from 98 degree highs to about 70 degree highs, and i could not possibly be happier about that.

i vow to post as soon as we get back, and to keep focused on my list!

 

PS. Three months until Europe.