Sometimes you just need to get away...

...to another old house in another old neighborhood that looks incredibly similar to the one where you live.

We went to Fredericksburg for the weekend. An old town out in the Hill Country that was settled by German people way back when. It was very cute - lots of old buildings converted into restaurants and shops. We had dinner at a house built in 1908 -- we sat at tables in the front yard and a little band played on the front porch.

The next day we climbed Enchanted Rock. A huge piece of pink granite. My geologist husband was in heaven and lot's of teaching moments were had :)

Texas Wildflowers

If you ever find yourself in a field blanketed by blue bonnets, the only real option is to frolic.

(I was channeling you here, Jill!)

Things my Dad taught me

Lesson #1 - Opportunity Cost

I can buy my lunch every day at work, or -

pb&j sandwiches for lunch for the month of March =

Most productive weekend EVER

Not even exaggerating.

First we went to town on the yard -- we planted two new trees out front where we lost the other ones in the hurricane. Then we weeded and mulched everything.

Then, we traded out the light fixture in the dining room. This involved cutting a new hole in the ceiling, army crawling around in the attic, 1/4 of the insulation that used to be in our attic ending up scattered around the house, and a whole bunch of really tricky electrical stuff that TJ figured out and took care of.

Before:

Middle:

After:

my favorite thing about this weekend

TJ demonstrating "the butterfly."

(from the tootsie roll song)

My kind of camping

This weekend TJ convinced me to go camping. The weather was amazing. A change of scenery is always fun. OK - I'm up for it.


So we bought all the supplies and packed our things. Then we called the camp site...only to find that everyone else had had the same idea. Every camp site within decent driving distance was completely booked.


We didn't want to let all our supplies go to waste.... The solution? House Camping!


Tin foil dinners on the grill.




Followed by a movie under the stars. We stopped short of setting up the tent in the garden...that seemed like an awful lot of work. And let's be honest, you just can't beat sleeping in your own bed.

I do love the Rodeo

Like most things in Texas, when we do a Rodeo we do it BIG.

This year I saw mutton-busting; calf scrambling, bull riding and Rascal Flatts.

This year I didn't ride any rides and I didn't eat any fried oreos. Luckily the Rodeo goes for 3 weeks though, so maybe there's still time....