The End of August

I know I probably say this at the end of every month but I can't believe that August is almost over! I've been busier than I've been since Billy and I have been hitched and I'm loving it! I've been spending my days working at a coffee shop and my nights working at a wine bar. I have so much fun at both of my jobs and it feel so good to have extra money to save! Billy and I have been seeing less of each other lately but it has definitely been making our days off together that much more special.

A couple weeks ago we took advantage of a groupon offer and took a painting class in Oklahoma City.

Afterward we went to a movie theater in Moore where you can order dinner and cocktails right from your seat!

And if you want some really exciting news... Billy is now a 3rd step apprentice lineman! He took two tests at his class last week and passed! So he's now a little bit closer to being a journeyman (there's seven steps total) and he got a raise!

Anadarko, OK

I've been really busy lately, I meant to post this earlier, but just haven't found the time! I've been working two jobs (one at a coffee shop, one at a wine bar) and have been trying to get all my stuff together for subbing along with everything else going on in daily life and it's been a little hectic!
Last weekend we went to the town about 40 miles north east of us called Anadarko, which is where my grandpa grew up! It was really small, but there was a winery there which gave us something to do and it was just really neat to see where my dad's family came from :)

People also do this a lot in Oklahoma...

Hopefully this weekend we'll get some much needed rest and next week won't be quite as hectic!

The Perfect Summer Cocktail

Lavender Vodka Lemonade. Need I say more?

Billy's been craving lemonade like crazy when he gets home from work on hot days so I finally got around to making some. Then I found lavender syrup at the farmer's market. And the rest is history... :)

Start out with some lemonade (or lemonade concentrate in my case). Start by squeezing a couple pounds of lemons to make around a cup of juice. Then make the simple syrup by dissolving about 1/2-3/4 cup of sugar into a cup of water. Add the two together and you have a concentrate, or you can also add in 3-4 cups of water and make a pitcher.

To make the cocktail just add 1/4 cup of concentrate with an ounce or two of vodka, a couple tablespoons of lavender syrup and fill the glass up with ice and water (or sparkling water)!

If you don't have lavender syrup, I'm sure you could steep some lavender in your simple syrup and it would work just as well :)

Olive's been doing the funniest thing lately...

Every time she here's the water running in the bathroom she runs in and jumps on the counter and just stares at it... I think she must be trying to figure out where it's going.

Window Shades

It is HOT here. I thought Red Bluff was hot in the Summer. No. That kind of heat is nothing, and I mean nothing compared to what goes down out here. It's been in the triple digits all week with over 70% humidity, which is what really makes the temperature unbearable. And it doesn't cool down below 80 until around 5 in the morning when you get a few short hours of cooler air. Basically just enough to taunt you. That's one thing to deal with when you're in a house, with insulation. But it's something totally different in a trailer, with practically no insulation. We've been running our air conditioner 24/7 and bought a fancy fan but it still gets over 90 in our trailer during the day, so I was forced to take things up a notch.
I've seen other trailers with foil in the window, but I always thought it was just a little trashy... Well it turns out I can totally do trashy if it cools down my house. So I bought some poster board, covered it with foil and taped it on the window and it actually worked pretty well... until someone turned me on to sun screen fabric! This stuff is pretty amazing. It really helps block out the sun, and of course I installed it using the least amount of work possible (because who wants to be outside in this heat?!) by just using some heavy duty suction cups and hooks!

It's supposed to storm all next week and I couldn't be more excited!

On another note, there are some massive and absolutely disgusting bugs out here. These grasshoppers are everywhere, one even jumped in my hair yesterday when I was watering my plants!

Playing Catch Up

Oh wow, it's been just over a month since my last post! I have been up to a lot so I thought I'd get you up to date!
I went back to CA last month for a little more than two weeks and I had an absolute blast. I flew into Sacramento and hung out with my mom and friends in Red Bluff and then drove down to see a friend in Southern California. There was a lot of talking, shopping and cocktails involved. It's probably safe to say it was a very girly vacation :)

After living it up for a couple weeks I actually drove my car back to Texas! It was a very long drive, but I made it in two days, and stayed the night in Albuquerque which was kind of exciting because I'd never been to New Mexico before. I got into Sherman around 5 and had just enough time to have dinner with my very missed husband before we drove up to Lawton, OK, where Billy's new job is. It ended up taking much longer than expected to break down the trailer and then we had a 3 hour drive, it was so late by the time that we got to Lawton that we didn't get bed that night until 3 am. And my champ of a husband still managed to go to work in 90+ degree heat the next day. He never ceases to amaze me.
So here we are in Oklahoma! I get the feeling that the town we're in is very nice for Oklahoma, but there's not a Trader Joe's or Anthropologie for miles so I'm trying to make due ;)
We've also been going to a really great PCA church here that we've been totally blessed by so it's definitely safe to say things could be much worse.

I'm currently on the job hunt and am hoping to start subbing when school starts again, but everything seems pretty up in the air on that front. Billy called the Cal/Nevada JATC a few days ago and found out he's #14 on their list. #14!!! That's huge! I'm so proud of him! He could actually get called out by them any day, and at this point he's thinking he'd accept, but they have more interviews scheduled at the end of this month so there's also a really good chance he'll get bumped back down again... so we'll see. We're completely content with where we're at now which makes it easy not to be anxious about what we're really hoping happens.

Last weekend Billy took me to the top of this mountain that had the most beautiful view of the area we're living in. We're in an area rich with Native American history and there's a lot to see and learn about here. The biggest downfall is it's ridiculously hot. And HUMID. And Oklahoma's experiencing a drought. Have I mentioned how amazing my husband is for working 10 hour days outside? I can't imagine.

Here are some pictures from our lovely date :)

Super Simple Cocktails!

I really like wine. And beer. Especially with my dinner at night. But there's something about sipping on a cocktail while I'm cooking that I absolutely love. What I'm making that night for dinner tends to dictate what I'm in the mood for, but I never want to spend too much time or energy making a drink when I have other things going on. I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to mixed drinks, the simpler, the better. So each of these is very easy to make and very tasty!

The Mojito

It's light, refreshing and screams of summer and made a previous appearance on this blog for good reason.

The one pictured has a handful of strawberries muddled in with the mint, but feel free to leave them out for a simpler and less fruity drink.

1-2 ounces of white rum

7-10 mint leaves

4 ounces of club soda

1 lime

1-2 tablespoons of sugar

Ice

Cut the lime into slices or wedges and place in the bottom of your glass. Add in the sugar, mint leaves and optional strawberries and muddle (I use the back end of a knife for this). Fill the glass with ice, pour in the rum and club soda and stir!

The Margarita

Goodness do I love a margarita. This is such an easy drink to make and so much better made with real ingredients than with the store bought mixes. 

1-2 ounces of tequila
1/2 ounce - 1 ounce of triple sec (The one pictured has the juice from an orange instead of triple sec for a healthier version, and grapefruit juice is also a wonderful option!)
1-2 limes
Agave or Maple Syrup (I used a hybrid... because it was cheaper than pure maple syrup :)
Course Salt
Ice

First take a wedge of the lime and wet the rim of the glass before dipping in the salt. Fill that glass with ice. In another glass (or  cocktail shaker) mix the tequila, triple sec (or juice), juice from the limes and sweetener. Pour over the ice in the salt rimmed glass!


My favorite: The Gin and Tonic

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this drink. LOVE! It's the easiest to make and tastes the best!

1-2 ounces of gin
4 ounces of tonic water
Juice from one lime

Mix everything and pour over ice!

Bensimon Shoes

Do you have a favorite pair of shoes that you absolutely love, and wear them until they are completely worn out with holes and stains and instead of just throwing them out you go buy another pair of the same ones because they are really that amazing?
Well, I had a pair like that when I was 5 and 6 years old. They were these amazing pink, sparkly cowboy boots with fringe down the sides and I'm sure if you asked enough people from my kindergarten class you would find someone who remembered them, because I wore them every. single. day. And when they wore out (or my feet grew too big), I made my mom buy me a new pair. I loved those shoes, and I still remember the day I went to replace my current ones at JC Penny's and they only had them in black. It was the end of an era.
Until now. I ordered these shoes last week and they came today:

They're Bensimon tennis shoes and they're honestly some of the most comfortable shoes my feet have ever slipped into. I can picture myself wearing them with jeans, dresses, skirts, and even swim suits at the pool and beach. I'm in love, and I have a feeling I'll be a lifelong fan, replacing them every few years when they get too raggedy to be seen in public with :)

Greek Food, A Soccer Game and a Successful Vegan Mexican Food Night

Billy and I had the most fun last weekend! I was so excited about going to Dallas for the night and I was not disappointed! We started off the evening by going to the BEST Greek place I've every experienced (Platia Greek Kouzina if you're ever in the area). They had an amazing veggie plate and BYOB, so we were able to drink a bottle of vino on the cheap :) We splurged and got an appetizer and desert and I tried the Greek coffee, which was surprisingly good. They boil the water, grounds and sugar together and don't strain anything, so you have to drink it before all the grounds cake on the bottom of the cup, but not so fast that you drink all the grounds and lose your ability to sleep for a few nights ;)

After the most wonderful dinner date, we went to the soccer field where it was raining, but nobody seemed to notice. FC Dallas was playing the San Jose Earthquakes and Dallas won, 1-0.

You can tell my husband loves having his picture taken... :)

And last night I made the yummiest strawberry mojito with strawberries, sugar, mint, limes, rum and sparkling water, I've decided that when it comes to cocktails, the simpler, the better.

I also made tamales for the first time! And I was so worried, but they turned out delicious! I mixed the masa with water and olive oil and filled them with roasted mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini and onion. Even Billy liked them, which is saying a lot when it comes to vegan food. 

May Happenings So Far

Whew! Where is the time going? I can't believe it's almost the end of May already!!
Billy and I have been doing more of the same down here in Texas. Work has been keeping us busy, and the tornado watches are starting to make my crazy! But it seems like today the weather's taken a good turn and hopefully we'll have some sunshine to finish the month. It looks like we'll be moving to Temple, Texas sometime in June, although nothing is set in stone yet. And I am going back to CA for a visit in a few weeks! I can't wait! I also gave my notice over at Logan's so I'll be working my last day there on June 8.
There's an American style pub down the street from us called Cellarman's and we've been wanting to check it out since we got here, so we finally did a couple Saturday's ago when they had $.79 oysters on the half shell and $2.75 margaritas! But there we're so many good beers to choose from we ended up only taking advantage of the oysters!

Goodness, I love this man :)

Not that long ago when I went to pick Billy up from work, they were still at it, so I got to see him in action! He LOVES working out of the bucket!

I also got tired of using plastic bags every day to pack Billy's lunch in so I decided to make him his own lunch bag one afternoon :)

And I loved it so much I decided I needed one too!!

Poor little Olive also got spade about a week and a half ago :( I take her to get her stitches out this Friday.

And last weekend THIS was outside my window!!! I don't know what kind it is but Billy didn't think it was poisonous...

And on a happier note, my herb garden is doing really well! My first basil plant died after a couple weeks, but I think it was already sick when I got it. My new one's doing great and the mint has been absolutely lovely for my mojitos!

This weekend Billy's taking me on a date to Frisco to watch my first professional soccer game and go to dinner :) I'm so excited!!!

A Day in Dallas and My Herb Garden

We've been so busy lately! It seems like time flies by now that I'm working part time; thankfully Billy and I both had yesterday off so we took a little trip to Dallas for the day!

We went to Village Church in the morning hoping to listen to Matt Chandler preach, but unfortunately he was on vacation. We still enjoyed the service though.

I found a groupon deal a few weeks ago for $19 to get professional pictures taken in a park in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that included printed pictures and a CD so we decided to take advantage of it and ended up having a lot of fun! We went and got lunch from whole foods and had a picnic before we were supposed to meet our photographer. It was nice because it was only 30 minutes and someone that was with me doesn't have fun doing things like that unless they're very short and sweet :) So we both had a good time and hopefully our pictures turn out well!

After pictures in the park we went to this little winery/wine bar for some fancy wine tasting. They had a gorgeous patio and grassy area and mellow live music. I tried 3 texas wines: a sweet white and a red and a dry rose. Billy tried wines from all over: a fruity red, a sweet sparkling wine and some mead from Ireland, which we couldn't really make up our minds about.

We rounded out the day with some shopping at Verizon (a new phone for Billy) and the most glamorous mall I've ever been to! (For some shorts for me).

And last but far from least, dinner at In N Out!

Practicing our smiles while we waited...

La Buena Vida

Yum!

During summer it seems like I always spend ridiculous amounts of money on fresh herbs so this year I decided to try my hand at gardening and plant a little potted garden!

I have two types of basil (for anything and everything), thyme (for roasted veggies and pastas) and mint (for mojitos of course!). I'm notorious for killing any type of plant in my care but I have high hopes for these! And if my green thumb doesn't appear, they only need to last a few months!