I'm drooling over...

For some reason - every time I've been on the internet lately, this Cole Haan internet ad has been following me around. Having worked in advertising for a few years, I know this isn't a coincidence, but it still freaks me out a little... and I'll admit, I've clicked through more than once (I know, I'm only making it worse). Too bad the internet ad peeps can't also give me the $450 it would take to get me this bag.

Speaking of change...

In lieu of coloring my hair, I decided to "color" my kitchen island.

Here's the before


And here it is after 2 coats of paint...

And one with a flash... in the morning (when I took this) all of the sun is at the front of our house, so it's hard to get a good picture in natural light this time of day.
I can't decide if it's got too much gray in it or not. But, I definitely like it better than the "before" picture, so I'll live with it for awhile. On a decorating note, I wanted to share a quick picture of a new pillow I found on clearance at TJ Maxx the other day!

I think it goes great with the apple green accents I have in our family room -- like my other favorite pillow...

Change is...

apparently something I need on a regular basis. I'm not talking about ground-breaking, life-altering changes like a move or a career change (although I have made both of those within the last 6 months). I'm talking about small, visual changes like taking a different route home, dying my hair (which those closest to me do NOT like), and now, apparently, these changes have reached my blog. I'm slowly learning the basics of blog design, writing html code, etc... and I'm having a lot of fun! I'm not sure if the new post title font is too difficult to read or not... I may change it again, but I like it for now!
What do you think about change?

A few summer house updates

Sorry I haven't been very creative at the blogging titles lately -- or blogging in general for that matter. I just thought I'd write a quick post with a couple updates on the house this summer.

First, I had to share a picture of my crepe myrtles out front. We didn't know what color they would be since we didn't pick out all of our landscaping, but they just started blooming, and I love them!
I also finally added a (very small) bit of greenery to our front porch. Eventually I'd like to get two rocking chairs and a table to go out here, but until the budget permits, we'll just make do with what we have :)


The last update is inside -- we just updated our mantle with a new picture and I think it looks great!

Other than that, life is pretty boring right now. I'm still trying to find a teaching position -- 7 district applications and over 100 different open positions applied for so far. I'm starting to think that the applications are disappearing into cyber-space! If you happen to know any principals in the Dallas area -- send them my way!

Dear Lake LBJ,

I'd like to return the souvenir my skin decided to take over the 4th of July holiday. You see, it didn't really know what it was getting itself into, and would like to get a full refund on that burnt top layer of skin you sent it home with.

Regards,
Brittany

Somehow I made it a whole week in Cabo without burning, and then we head to Horseshoe Bay for a short weekend and I fry my top layer of skin off. I really tried, though. I started with SPF 4, quickly realized it wouldn't be enough and about 30 minutes in switched to 20 (I had 50 on my face all day, so my face is fine). I reapplied about 5 or 6 times throughout the day... but apparently I managed to forget to apply or reapply to my stomach. I guess I was just going through the motions -- legs, arms, chest, back, face.... check! Oops.

Anyways, despite the sunburn, we had a good time celebrating the 4th of July at a friend's lakehouse. As usual, good food was involved, along with a boat parade, and fireworks.

Here's a few pictures from our weekend...

watching the boat parade from the deck - in our festive, patriotic-ware.

The best boat-float in our humble opinion.

Watching the fireworks from the dock.

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!

Apparently summer does not equal more blogging

For the few of you left that still check this page on the off chance I may have posted - this one's for you. We have been so busy this summer that I have had a tough time keeping up with this! Fortunately, we are in town for the next couple weeks, so hopefully I can get around to writing something more than the boring "catch-up" posts. For now, though, that will have to suffice.

We just got back from Cabo San Lucas on Sunday and are slowly getting back into the swing of things. Since I last posted...

• We had a house warming party with a few friends and were finally able to break-in our new house! We set up a volleyball net, made margaritas, grilled and just spent time with good friends.
• I left for Austin to help out with my dad - who was having a minor surgery - while my mom and sister were out of town. I was glad I was able to be there - because the recovery ended up a little tougher than expected and I think it would have been hard to handle it alone!
  
• My dad "celebrated" his 50th birthday (I say "celebrated" because unfortunately he was still on some heavy pain meds) - and we contributed to the celebration by getting him a gift certificate to go sky diving! We can't wait to go back down once he schedules it! Ever since Matt and I went skydiving, my dad has said how jealous he is, so now it's his turn!
  
• We left for Cabo on the 13th and were there for 8 fabulous, sunny days with Matt's parents! Cabo has 300 days of sunshine a year, and we weren't disappointed. Matt and his dad got to golf twice while we were there, and we spent the rest of our time shopping in town, laying out on the beach and at the pool, taking a glass bottom boat tour to Lover's Beach/Divorce Beach, the Arch and Land's End and enjoying LOTS of good food. Here's a few pictures of our trip!

We were SHOCKED at how huge the waves were there -- apparently the tide changes a lot in Cabo and there was a swell while we were there which was making the waves massive.

Summer Happenings

How's that for a creative title?

With school out for summer, I have been surprisingly busy (even after all the craziness in the last post). Last week I spent a couple days with my sister-in-law, Kelly, helping her get settled into her new apartment here in Dallas. I wish we had taken before and after pictures because we got a decent amount of stuff hung - including curtains - which entailed using a drill and anchors and screws (so what if we ended up putting a couple extra holes in the wall in the process).

Friday was Matt's birthday, so most of the week was spent gearing up for his birthday celebrations :) We had originally planned to have our friends James and Kaylan over for dinner on Thursday, but apparently being out of school has ruined my ability to keep a calendar in my head because I forgot that I had agreed to babysit on Thursday night. So, James and Kaylan came over on Matt's actual birthday instead -- and I made all of Matt's favorite desserts. I started with orange pear salad (which is like a jello/fruit salad- and I add pineapples so I guess I should call it orange pear pineapple salad), next I made 7-layer bars (although I couldn't find flaked coconut, so they were technically just 6-layer bars), and last I made cupcakes with Allison's recipe for cream cheese icing! I would post pictures of the dessert montage, only Matt has already eaten all of the fruit salad, half of the 7 layer bars and about 2/3 of the cupcakes. If only I had thought ahead to take before/after pictures ;)

Enough about my husband's eating habits -- we also bought a grill on Saturday, which we are super excited about! Here she is -
We are having a few friends over this coming weekend to "break-in" our house, and a grill was a must for a summer-time gathering. We tested it out last night by grilling hot dogs for dinner -- it is amazing how much better a hot dog tastes after being on the grill versus just the microwave!

We have a few updates on the house as well -- I'll post those when I have more time to upload pictures. I need to get back to my coursework for my certification. Speaking of, I did find out last week, after a few days of anxiously waiting, that I passed my EC-4 test! One step closer -- now if I could just find a teaching position!