Texas Travels

The beginning of February my mom and I took a two day drive to Austin, TX to help my grandmother go through her garage.  We had a blast throughout the week and lots of adventures. On the way to Austin, we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch.  It was really chilly and windy that day!

 We celebrated my grandmother's 80th birthday a week early by going to a seafood place she liked.  We ate avocados stuffed with crab meat and then the server surprised her with really yummy creme brulee.

Look at that smile! Adorable!!

 One afternoon we spent in downtown Austin in an eclectic neighborhood that is quintessential "Keep Austin Weird".  We found a food truck that served only fancy cupcakes, for $3 a piece at that but delicious and worth it.

Then one of the highlights was an amazing costume and vintage shop called "Lucy in Disguise" that was huge and full of treasures.

Of course no trip would be complete without some great before and after shots.  Here is what my grandmother's garage looked like when we started working.

And after! We went through all but a couple boxes and threw away over 8 boxes of paper trash!

We came home with our SUV packed full of memories, photographs, and housewares.   We put all the seats down to fit everything and had things placed just so.  I haven't even photographed all the beautiful things I brought home.

It was fascinating to sift through 85 plus years of family history.  Whether you like it or not, you are like your family members.  The more I dug through old boxes, I realized how much I am like my mother and how much she is like her mother, even if nobody wants to admit it.  It really is quite fascinating I think.

The best part of the whole trip was spending time with my mom.  We had lots of time to chat, bond, and laugh.  I'm so lucky to have become such good friends with my mom.

Who knows what future adventures we will embark upon.

Loving My Life

2014 got off to a very interesting start...

For a couple weeks, we thought I was pregnant.  That was exhilarating and terrifying all at once.  A couple different blood tests confirmed that I'm just me with crazy hormones.  This made us realize that we totally do want a baby, and probably sooner than later.

My work schedule changed from working five eight-hour shifts to three 13.5 hour shifts.  I only have worked one day of my new schedule since I am getting over a wicked sinus infection.  I have Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays off now and am loving getting more time at home.  Let's see how I feel Thursday night though about working 40 hours in three days!

  

Yesterday was an awesome day.  I made hot wings and nachos for my family to munch on while we watched the Bronco game!  I love watching football games with my dad; he always has a running commentary which is so funny.  Plus, Denver is going to the Superbowl this year!!  Hubby, the dog, and I all had our Bronco shirts on so we looked stylin'.

Speaking of my awesome husband... He took such great care of me when I was sick this last week.  Our marriage is ten times better than it was just 3-4 months ago and I'm so grateful for that.  His depression is getting better and you can really tell.  I hope we can keep hanging on to the good feelings we have right now.  I know it will get hard again but I hope that's not for a while.

Lots of different projects are in the works.  Lately, our biggest project is getting organized in the new year.  I own a LOT of stuff and most of it is probably worthless.  I would rather have fewer things but have really wonderful things than lots of stuff I'm only feeling half-hearted about.  Let's see how that goes for us.

Love and coffee,
Lulu