Where do you even begin an "update" post when you haven't blogged in 6 weeks??

Are you wondering if I'm still alive? Maybe not, since I'm sure there are all of about two people that even keep up with my blog anymore. I've been a terrible blogger the last few weeks (six and a half, to be exact!) and I feel terrible about this. Mostly, I feel like I've neglected myself. SO much life has happened since I last posted on my blog and I love the way writing allows me to sort through my thoughts and write about life experiences that I always want to remember. I've missed my blog!

Ok, it's time to catch you all up! Where to begin...

Well, the last time you heard from me, Luke and I were still in New Jersey. This is no longer the case! Over Labor Day weekend, Luke, I, and the pups packed up our apartment and car and drove 1700 miles from New Jersey back to Texas. It was crazy y'all, but waaay better of a trip than either of us expected. The pups did great and we were even able to stay the first night with friends in North Carolina, which was a HUGE blessing. We made it to Texas just in time for a Labor Day BBQ with my parents on Monday evening and it was the best welcome home possible!

After our first night in Texas, we got back in the car and headed down to Corpus Christi for a few days to catch up with family and friends. We had many lunch, dinner, and coffee dates with friends and family over those four days and it felt so good to be back in South Texas! I don't think I had realized how much I'd really missed my old stomping grounds until we were back. Luke, on the other hand, kept saying, "I love it here. I'm never leaving again. Why did we leave Texas in the first place?" Ha! Saying this Texas boy is happy to be home would be an understatement. :)

As if life hadn't been enough of a whirlwind up to this point, that next Saturday I hopped on a plane to Vegas for my company's annual convention. I spent almost an entire week in Vegas attending general sessions, meetings, break out sessions, and a trade show, although the pictures below don't quite depict this, ha! Lucky for me, I work with an amazing group of people that know how to both work and play hard. We had a great convention and I just know this next year of work is going to be the best yet!

 

(P.S. Luke stayed in Texas while I was in Vegas and helped my dad get a few things done around the house and ranch. He's the best son-in-law!)

Since I've gotten home from Vegas (about two weeks ago), work and school have both picked up like crazy! Between my job and taking two courses this semester, I feel like I'm talking marketing and information systems 24/7. Over the next six weeks, I'll travel to Houston, the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Austin, West Texas, and New Jersey (twice!). Throw a couple of quizzes and mid-terms in there and this girl has a full plate! But I must confess that I'm loving it and I'm so glad that I decided to go back to school for my MBA when I did.  As stressful as some days can be, I know that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. 

 

{Left to right: homework, working from my parents' house while the baby sister studies, my 1 year appreciation gift from my company}

 

So, I think that's about the best recap/update I can give you guys at this time. There are quite a few questions I haven't answered, such as, "Where are you and Luke living?" and "What's Luke up to these days?" But answers to these questions will have to wait for a later date. Let's just say both are a work in progress and that God is good. Once I have more updates, I'll share, I promise. :)

 

Hope you had a great weekend!

Girls Day in Brooklyn

A couple of friends and I went into Brooklyn yesterday for a girls day. We experienced the Smorgasburg in Dumbo (on Sundays and in Williamsburg on Saturdays) for the first time, ate ice cream cookie sandwiches that were out of this world (Thanks The Good Batch!), and took Princess Olivia on Jane's Carousel. After hanging out in Dumbo, we took the ferry over to Williamsburg to the Brooklyn Flea, where we ate more food (I practically ran to the snow cone booth, ha!) and we did a little shopping. It was so good to get a little girl time in this weekend, especially in my favorite borough. 

Brooklyn, no matter where I live, you will always be my second home. A piece of my heart will forever stay in Brooklyn. 

Local art show + Morristown adventures

This afternoon, right after church, Luke and I were driving home and noticed an art show going on just a few blocks down the street from our apartment. An art show featuring local art, plus some homemade goodies, jewelry, etc? We were sold! So, we went home, put the pups on their leashes, and walked back down the street to see what kind of trouble we could get into...:)

{Lunch right after church. We love summer and sitting outside for lunch!}

{This is what my husband does EVERY TIME I ask him to take a pic with my iPhone...}

{Exploring new places around out little town}

{Loved the art show! I will buy local art over mass produced art every day of the week. Luke and I walked away with 4 pieces that we're going to hang in our apartment like a collage. I also bought some homemade body butter that smelled like honeysuckle. I can't wait to use it!!}

So far, Luke and I are loving summer in Morristown! Every weekend there is something going on, and even if nothing is going on, there is always NYC just a few miles away. Finally, we're smack dab in the middle of our favorite season. :)

Lately.

As you can tell from my last two posts here and here, two of my best friends came to visit Luke and I last weekend. I still have a third post to write that wraps up the awesome weekend we had, but it can wait until tomorrow or next week. For now, here's a little update on what's been going on around here lately...

We are loving spring in the northeast! Growing up in South Texas, Luke and I have never experienced a real spring, trees that bloom like it's going out of style, or tulip and daffodil-line streets. If you walk through the neighborhood behind our apartment building (where we like to walk the pups) it smells like dogwood and cherry blossoms. This is my favorite season up here so far!

{He gets so shy when people want to celebrate him. Cutie!}

On Thursday, Luke turned 27. Such an old man! ;) Luke isn't big on celebrating birthdays (don't ask me why!), so we kept it low-key. Everyone in the office got lunch from Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate and then after lunch, while we went back to work, one of Luke's employees snuck out and picked up a chocolate molten cake and vanilla ice cream from Applebees. We surprised Luke with his little cake and candles and sang happy birthday to him. This was even more celebrating than I imagined, but Luke was a champ. I'm so glad he works with and for such great people!

When we got home from work that day, there was a package waiting for us from my mom with some birthday goodies. She'd already sent us both something for our birthdays back in March (I'm in March, Luke is May), but I had needed something from home. Instead of sending it by itself, she added a few more birthday presents for me and Luke. Luke got some shirts and a new man-loofa w/body wash and I got a scarf and new sandal wedges! Both the wedges and scarf are perfect for spring. Thanks mom!!!

On Friday, we took the dogs to their first-ever dog park. I know, bad puppy parents, right? But until we moved to the northeast, our dogs had yards to play in and dog parks just aren't as big where we're from. We were a little nervous about how they'd react to the other dogs, but they LOVED it! I have to say, our dogs were pretty popular; every dog wanted to play with them. :) After they'd had enough time in the small dog area, we took them over to the large dog area. No, they are not large and Brooklyn wasn't the biggest fan, but Bentley went crazy! He runs really fast and the little dogs just couldn't keep up with him, but in the large dog area, he was out-running the labs and German shepherds! I was also surprised that he wasn't scared of them chasing him. We met some really nice people and had a great first experience. We'll definitely be going back!

Aubrey and Sarah Visit NJ/NYC: Part 2

On Saturday, A, S, & I caught the 9:23am train into the city from Morristown. I knew I wanted to take the train at least once into NYC while they were here so that the girls could experience it. Plus, it's always nice to be car-free in NYC and you could feed a third-world country with how much it costs! ;)

{On the train; Beware: there are quite a few 3-headed pics in this post, ha!}

This was Aubrey and Sarah's first time in the city and it was so entertaining to see their first reactions to  the city as we took the escalator up out of Penn Station! We grabbed some Starbucks and headed straight for Times Square. 

After the girls got the chance to soak up the craziness that is Times Square, we headed over to the the Gershwin Theatre. We put our names in the lottery drawing for Wicked tickets, but did not get drawn (boo). After my mom heard this, she did the sweetest thing and bought us Wicked tickets for Sunday afternoon. Score! From the theatre, we took off on our day-long adventure of seeing as much as possible in the city. 

{Spring in NYC is lovely}

We then walked up the Central Park. Side note: we did a TON of walking on Saturday. Could we have taken the subway more? Sure. But it was way more fun to walk and see so much, plus I didn't have to worry about getting my Saturday run in. Pretty sure I burned 1,000 calories just walking around NYC!

Experiencing Central Park in the spring might have been my favorite part of Saturday. As many times as I've visited and even lived in NYC, I've never done either of these while the sun was out the way it was on Saturday. There were people and dogs EVERYWHERE! Running, laying out, playing with footballs/frisbees/soccer balls/etc. I even took a quick video and sent it to Luke. If you can't find me in June, it's probably because I'm at Central Park! We took tons of pictures (which I've limited for you, you're welcome) in all of the beautiful trees and ate street tacos for lunch.

We then traveled down to Soho to visit Kate Spade NYC, Georgetown Cupcake Soho, and Purl (where I'm pretty sure Aubrey was in heaven!). And from Soho, we continued south into Brooklyn so that I could show the girls my old stomping grounds, Brooklyn Heights. We walked Montague St. and ended up down at the Promenade for another photo shoot.

{Pic stolen from Sarah}

We then decided to walk the infamous Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan. At this point, you can imagine that my feet were about to fall off. But of course, walking the Brooklyn Bridge is always worth it!

While in lower Manhattan, we stopped by the World Trade Center Memorial. I had never been to the new memorial and it was definitely a humbling experience. I'm forever grateful for those that gave their lives to fight for and protect America.

We ended our day with dinner in Hell's Kitchen and a quick trip up to the top of the Empire State Building. I'm a firm believer in people visiting the ESB at night vs. during the day. The view is absolutely breathtaking!

{Pic stolen from Sarah}

See? I was not lying! We did a TON on Saturday! But I must say, I was pretty proud of us. We took the train back to Morristown and crashed. It was good that we did though, because we still had another full day in the city to conquer. Sunday's adventures up next... :)

Our first hometown parade.

We live in a very Irish town, full of history and tradition. So when we heard that Morristown's St. Patty's Parade was happening this weekend, we knew we needed to check it out! 

Saturday's weather could not have been more beautiful, or more perfect for a parade! The sun was shining and I even took off my jacket because I was getting hot (PTL!). The streets of Motown filled up quickly, with people of all ages trying to claim a good parade-viewing spot. Vendors were selling hot pretzels, hotdogs, and St. Patty's accessories (necklaces, hats, etc). I think the pups enjoyed being out and about even more than Luke and me! Brooklyn and Bentley were the center of attention of both adult and kids. We probably had 20 different people stop and pet them! Of course, they couldn't get enough attention. :)

{Yikes! This guy took dressing up for St. Patty's to a whole new level!}

We had so much fun at the parade and really enjoyed having so many people hanging out in our little town. Apparently after the parade, everyone goes to the bars and drinks green beer the rest of the day, but we opted for afternoon naps and a little relaxation.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

A Christmas surprise.

So, it's been snowing like crazy in upstate New York and all the way up New England, but all that North New Jersey was forecasted to receive was some rainy, slushy stuff. So this evening, we went outside to let the dogs out and much to our surprise...

It was snowing!!!

Of course this prompted a photo op. :)

Thanks to my sweet momma for the Christmas PJs and thanks to God for our second white Christmas ever! Second, you ask? Why, yes. Do any of my South Texas friends and family remember Christmas Eve 2004? That was NUTS!

{And Tim Lawley--if you see this, I borrowed your pic. Hope you don't mind. :)}

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas Eve!