December {Weekly Photos}

49 | Backyard Bougainvillea

50 | Winter Weddings

51 | Sweet Students

52 | Berkeley Plantation

December events....
- Weddings! Attending a fun and fancy wedding for a family friend and an artsy one for Matt's coworker
- Happy Christmas parties for work and Junior League
- Several small family Christmas celebrations with my parents in Carrollton, Matt's family in Virginia, and with my sister in Spring
- The unusual holiday excitement at school, no place is MORE FUN than spending time with elementary kids the weeks before Christmas
- Matt ended the fall semester and taught a quick online winter mini-mester course
- A big winter break road trip to DC, Williamsburg, Charleston, St. Augustine, New Orleans, and Houston for family/history/research fun (and lots more miles in the car)

::2012 Weekly Photos::

January | February | March | April | May | June

July | August | September | October | November

Happy Mike Day!

Hope your day is great! We're already counting down to your 60th Celebration at Guadalupe Peak next year - love ya!

Fall Reading Favorites

It's time to call my 2012 Reading Challenge o-v-e-r. I'm at 130 books for the year and I'm sure I'll read a few more before 2013 arrives. I read genres I don't usually prefer (more mysteries specifically) and enjoyed several titles this year I probably would't have found otherwise. Reading 40 young adult books was easy, reading 12 books by British authors was the most challenging - probably because I didn't decide what to read in advance. The best part of challenging myself was making the switch to e-books as my first choice for reading format. I had 24 e-books as my original goal, but upped it to 75 as the year went on. I finally see what all the Kindle converts are raving about.

While I enjoyed pushing myself this year, I'm taking a break from books next year and planning to only read things that really catch my eye. We'll see how many books that turns out to be (probably still a lot unless I make Netflix my new hobby!)

A few books I've especially enjoyed this fall...

November {Weekly Photos}

44 | Back to Biking

45 | Christmas Market

 {4 days of ticket-taking at 'Neath the Weath}

46 | Brewery Birthday


47 | Pea Ridge

48 | Yum

{a too-frequent Sunday tradition: cinnamon-sugar cake donut for me, jalapeno-sausage kolaches for Matt}

November escapades....
- Lots of volunteer (and shopping) hours working the Junior League Christmas Market
- Trail biking at the 428 Greenbelt (not so fun) and Lake Ray Roberts (beautiful)
- Celebrating our 7th anniversary with a fun day in Fort Worth
- A small and delicious Thanksgiving dinner with our parents in Carrollton
- Weekend getaway to Eureka Springs
- Plus Twilight, Christmas shopping/decorating, and fun with friends

::2012 Weekly Photos::

January | February | March | April | May | June

July | August | September | October

Arkansas Anniversary Trip

We extended our anniversary fun with a quick getaway to northwest Arkansas last weekend. We visited the new Crystal Bridges Museum (first rate+free) and the pretty Pea Ridge Battlefield (which is a significant Civil War Battlefield according to my full-time personal historian) on our way to Eureka Springs, which turns out to be quite the happening area. 

We had a great time exploring the tiny town and relaxing at The Gilded Lily, a cute little B&B with an amazing breakfast. Art galleries, shops, cute houses, and good food [Local Flavor and Ermilio's especially] made our visit complete - yay for weekend getaways!

[Elkhorn Lodge @ Pea Ridge]

[Beaver Lake]

A + M = 7

7 already?

We had last week off for our annual anniversary celebration (also known as Thanksgiving break) and packed in some fun...

Fort Worth for the Rahr Brewery birthday bash and dinner at Joe T.'s, bike riding at Lake Ray Roberts State Park (and a new Texas parks pass for our anniversary gift), sleeping in, movie/football watching, and a weekend getaway to Eureka Springs

No matter how we celebrate, another year of marriage is a job well done in my book. Love ya Matt!

Congratulations M+R!

October {Weekly Photos}

40 | Arboretum Art

41 | Macbeth

42 | Galveston Getaway

43 | Day of the Dead Fest

Other October events....
- Fall at the Dallas Arboretum
- Small town fun at the Aubrey Peanut Festival and Denton's little bitty Oktoberfest
- Watching Macbeth from Shakespeare Dallas, very well done
- A long weekend working the American Girl Fashion Show for Junior League, this is the perfect event for school age girls, very fun!
- Galveston Girls Weekend
- Mountain biking nearby on the Corinth community trail, 8 miles and my first time not riding on pavement - Matt says we can do 13 bike trails in 2013 for a "blog thing", we'll see if my bruises agree
- Soapbox coffin racing and artsy fall fun at Denton's Day of the Dead Festival {cause a pumpkin patch theme isn't hipster enough}
- Attending a sweet girly baby shower for my friend Angie (of 27 years!)

::2012 Weekly Photos::

January | February | March | April | May | June

July | August | September

Galveston Girls Weekend

I met up with my friends Megan and Cherie in Galveston earlier this month for our 3rd girls getaway weekend. We really had a ton of fun, who knows where we'll end up next?

Highlights:

• The Spa at the Hotel Galvez (really the main reason we went to Galveston)
• Drinks and great views at The Tremont Rooftop bar
• Lots of good food: Oysters at The Black Pearl, breakfast at Miller's (yum!), a great brunch at the hotel
• Fun midnight roller coaster rides at the Pleasure Pier, Megan definitely peer-pressured us into this one, it wasn't nearly as scary at night though
• Fabulous football watching at The Spot with ocean views + 3 overtimes and a Tech victory
• A quick Sunday lunch with Maggie on the way home and Megan's first stop at Bucee's

Chihuly Fall

I had a great time with my parents at the Dallas Arboretum earlier this month. We finally made it out to see the Chihuly glass installation (a belated Mother's Day adventure) and it did not disappoint. Bonus: the little pumpkin houses were out to enjoy and it was the first weekend cool enough to wear a coat. If you haven't seen the glass yet it is well worth the trip, very nice.

September {Weekly Photos}

35 | Buc-ee's!

36 | Birthday Art

{framed Teton iphone pic from our summer trip, thanks Matt!}

37 | RV Love

38 | Denton's Best Patio

39 | Library Fun

{with our favorite cat Pete}

Special in September...
- Labor Day adventures: BBQ birthday in Houston and Matt's big fantasy football draft
- Matt finished his oral comprehensive exams and submitted his dissertation proposal - officially making him ABD :)
- Hosting a sweet shower for my mom's best friend's daughter, and we're definitely looking forward to Magen's snazzy wedding in December
- Window shopping at the Dallas RV show, all we need is a truck/Airstream Bambi/gas money and we're ready to roll - or maybe we'll just rent a camper one weekend
- Rainy McKinney Oktoberfest celebration with special college friends
- Plus a busy back-to-school month with book fair, weekend test proctoring, and more after-school meetings and night events than I prefer

::2012 Weekly Photos::

January | February | March | April | May | June

July | August