Our 4th of July at the Lake!

It is official. Fourth of July is now one of my favorite holidays.

I feel like I have neglected it my whole life. Possibly not realized how fun and memorable this holiday can be.

We made plans to spend the long weekend at our family condo on the lake with no real agenda. It was four full days of family time, boat rides, patio time and good eats.

Both of our children are fish but Clara is beyond brave! It makes me a tad nervous but in the same sense very excited to have a water baby. She hates being in the raft we bought her. She wants to float, kick her legs, put her face in the water and even be dunked. She l-o-v-e-s the water y'all. I think it is time for swim lessons for both babies!

We spent a great deal of time at the pool. Pool time looks so different these days. We take turns chasing Clara and swimming with Skip. Skip is such a strong independent player. You don't have to do much to entertain him. I absolutely love seeing his imagination come to life. While I adore this time in life, don't think I don't reminisce on the days when we sat by the pool reading, taking naps and having lighthearted conversations.

These two had the best time in the pool together! A few times during our stay, I would take Toots back to the condo for nap time and Daddy + Skip stayed to swim. It makes me happy. Putting this picture on the official it is time to print out new pictures list.

This is a picture of Clara telling me that I am smothering her and that I am no longer a cool mom. Totally kidding but she wasn't happy. Again, she wants to swim and not be held.

One to make you smile. We are really into picking our nose these days. :)

We have a few weekends at home and we are looking forward to this! This is such a memorable time of year friends! Let's enjoy it.

Oh, and happy weekend!

Our Last Weekend Getaway

This past weekend Rusty and I were all about getting away for one more childfree weekend before baby CJ arrives. We are fortunate to have a condo on the lake in Hot Springs so away we went.

I really didn't snap too many pictures while we were there but the nice part is these are all iPhone photos. This ultimately means I didn't whip out the big camera. While I love snapping great quality photos I also love times when I am in the moment and the camera just doesn't come out at all.

Rusty and I spent the entire weekend shopping (at the same time versus one wrestling Skipper), eating too much, laying by the pool, watching boats on the lake and resting. I miss it already. The first time I left Skip I sobbed, like hot mess sobbed. I missed him it physically hurt but I am learning that time away from him is good for all of us. The most important thing is our marriage needs it. I cannot say this enough. We got two days of undivided one on one attention. When is the last time I could say that happened? We reconnected, rested together and laughed so much. I love time with my husband. We cannot parent if we are not united. This weekend did just that.

Also when we went to get Skip from my mom and dad's on Sunday he acted like we went and ran an errand, not like we spent two nights away. He could have cared less. Rusty and I laughed so hard. He needed time away from mommy and daddy too!

Below are photos from this weekend plus the places we shopped and where we dined. Enjoy!

Places we ate:
Rocket Fizz (downtown): we didn't really eat here but more or less freaked out over candy! Rusty didn't get anything but I treated myself to a mini air head and a black cherry bottle soda. Their bottled soda collection was insane! I wish I would have been more brave and tried flavors like hot sauce chicken wings and red velvet cupcake. I stuck with my favorite flavor, black cherry. They also had tons and tons of fun candy plus the ultimate taffy selection. It was a treat to see a store like this downtown!

Java Primo (on Central): I may change Clara's name to Java Primo. This is R's and I favorite place for breakfast. Their dinner/lunch menu is bigger but we always dine in for breakfast. Rusty got a waffle plus biscuits and gravy for us to share while I got the Greek quiche with skillet potatoes. We barely made a dent. My quiche had chicken, spinach and feta. It was divine. Rusty always treats himself to their fresh squeezed orange juice. They make it on the spot and it is so refreshing. I got a coffee as big as my face (pictured below). Go here.

Fisherman's Wharf: This is my favorite spot in all the land i.e. Hot Springs. I could eat here every meal. Rusty got their bacon wrapped crab stuffed jumbo shrimp while I savored crab cakes. When I was a broke college student I would save my pennies to treat myself to a meal here once a week. I would savor it and of course eat every bite making the meal last a few days. Thank you lifeguard days at Magic Springs for this memory.

Chik-fil-a: Are you laughing that I listed this one? Well you shouldn't. We don't have one in our town so DUH?!?! this made the list. Chicken biscuit. Drops mic. Walks away.

Places we shopped:

Rocket Fizz: mentioned above. They had other goodies minus candy and soda.

State and Pride Provisions Company (downtown): The cutest y'all! I wanted every t-shirt in there. You know the kinds of shirts that are so soft you try to figure out a way to include them in your every day professional wardrobe. Yep, those kinds. They had vintage decor, hand towels, shirts, everything perfect.

Bathhouse Soapery and Caldarium (downtown): I love this place. It smells good. It looks cute. The staff is awesome and all their products are made their in store. I bought lots of goodies (mostly for mother's day) but my favorite scent is goddess. I am finding reasons to take extra showers. Also they have soap in the shape of a razorback that smells like bacon. I know, genius.

What are your favorite spots in Hot Springs? We can't wait to go back with baby CJ. Our world is about to change again...in the best way possible.

Monterey in Pictures

I promised three posts last week and only got to two but HEY (!!!) that is better than none like the last 6 months. :)

Can we address the sunshine? The constant sunshine in these photos of Monterey is my favorite. Sunshine on my face and the sound of the ocean, ah. It makes me happy reminiscing and typing these words.

I have a handful of posts coming with restaurants, our lodging and what all we did but I thought pictures upon pictures were needed first. I really did fall in love with this city and the kind people. Of course, we learned a handful of lessons too.

Lessons from Monterey: California in the winter is cold. People told us this but I refused to take/keep up with a big coat so it got left behind. I was freezing anytime the sun wasn't directly shinning on me.

Health + green. Don't get me wrong. You can find clam chowder full of cream and dishes of fish soaked in butter but for the most part everyone in Monterey is a health nut. I love the influence. The night we arrived the downtown had two blocks blocked off for food trucks and a farmers market. The produce still had dirt on it and I was all jealous of fresh goodies. I was still getting over a sinus infection so I stopped by a fresh pressed juice booth and grabbed a bottle of juice full of goodness and ginger. Give me the burn and all the ginger. I seriously love ginger.

They also walk everywhere or bike. Trader Joe's is a shrine in their bustling downtown. Also no bag are sold to tote off your groceries. You paid to get a plastic sack. Everyone had their tote bags handy. Little things like that were principles in New Braunfels but not all that much in El Dorado. In fact, I used our reusable sacks at Walmart when we first moved here and had the cashier yell over to another person, point at me, point at the bags and then they both burst into laughter. Not sure the joke that I missed.

Their seafood comes from the ocean that was over your shoulder. I could stick my feet in the water while eating the food that came from it. It was perfect. We tried everything but my absolute favorite was the truffle crawfish mac' n cheese with fontina, parmesan, crawfish and white truffle oil. It was so rich and delicious and I did take one sip of R's restaurant brew, Buzzlight beer.

The Monterey Plaza Hotel Spa is first class, top of the line, perfect, never wanted to leave. R and I were very fortunate in that his business trip started our last day in Monterey. The company that was hosting the soiree scheduled massages for Rusty and I. We have both had massages from spa's to other hotels and this was hands down the best service I have ever had. I changed into a fresh robe, had fresh fruit and water, spent over an hour getting rubbed down and took the longest hot shower of my life. Their spa has a sun deck and hot tubs on the roof of their hotel that overlooked the ocean. It was magnificent and the lady who massaged R is retiring to Hot Springs (in Arkansas) soon.

Monterey Again and Again

A new friend today and I were chatting. She said, "You should totally blog." I laughed and said well I do, well did.

There is a whole list of reasons why I don't as much or ever really but instead I would rather focus on life and get a few words in when I can.

This past fall Rusty came home exclaiming he was going to the SUPER BOWL! Isn't that the coolest? We started throwing around the idea of me going with him to California for a few days before his work trip/SB50. We were all excited about it but the more we looked into it we thought financially it wouldn't be a good idea.

Of course, I cried. The selfish gal in me wanted to see California so bad. It has been on my list of must visit places for a while now especially the coast.

We let the idea go and we continued to get excited about R's trip. I mean, hello (!!!). The Super Bowl is a once in a lifetime deal!

About a week after Christmas Rusty walked in at lunch time. He tossed an envelope down on our kitchen island. I asked what it was and he instructed me to open it. Inside was a plane ticket to Cali! I squealed and of course hugged Rusty. Rusty did a lot of searching to find the best flight for us. We had to drive to Dallas the night before we left but it saved us $300 on my round trip flight plus no stops.

Rusty's business trip started on a Thursday evening so we headed out Tuesday. His accommodations for his trip began on Thursday so I booked the loveliest Airbnb for Tuesday and Wednesday. I plan to share much more about our trip like our rental, where we ate, how we saved and what sights we saw but all that will come in later posts (I promise!).

I did want to share our video that we made of our time in California. It is beautiful and I could make every shot of the ocean. California, you are a beauty.

Fourth of July + A Selfie Stick

While I live for a pretty image, sometimes I count those weekend where no camera was used but your phone a complete success.

I am lucky to say that was this past long weekend.

A group of friends and my little family loaded up ours cars on Thursday and headed to Hot Springs for a nice getaway. Thursday night consisted of dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and I was so thrilled to share this spot with one of my best girlfriends. If you get the chance Fisherman's Wharf is a must. Their sweet potato fries and crab cakes totally knocked my socks off.

Friday detailed my husband learning how to work a selfie stick (pictures below). While I love my husband, his awareness to new technology or social media trends is lacking. It is quite comical. I promise the pictures will make you laugh. It rained all day Friday so we spent a lot of time relaxing inside (minus wings for lunch and a new flea market) but the second the sun came out we raced to the pool. Our pool overlooks Lake Hamilton and that place is one of my favorites. I really adore that space.

Saturday brought us perfect weather, not too hot and a little breeze. Skipper enjoyed his first cupcake, we played baggo, drank Miami Vice's (Rach, you are the best at festive celebrations), ate Hibachi, laid in the sun, took naps by the pool and did a little fishing. 

This weekend was so great and it was such a treat to spend it with dear friends. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend! 

(Thanks Rach for all the pictures you took! #bc)

my loves.