My Scout

My sweet Scout  will be 20 on Halloween.  Best Treat I ever got, no Trick!  Born just after midnight on Halloween morning 1995.

He is a great guy - loving and warm, easy going but a deep feeler, quick to hug or smile, not too organized, lives in the here and now.  Scout is an artist type; a free-thinker, if you will.  Doesn't see a need to freak out about the future.  Remembers the past fondly.  Likes to shoot nature, compose dub step, strum a guitar, hang with friends.  Thinks Halloween makes for the coolest birthday.  Friends, and siblings, mean the world to him.  My curly blond, blue-eyed  baby is growing up and coming into his own.  I can't wait to see where the future takes him.

One word Wednesday #42

view

Gina

Pottery Barn Knock off wine coaster...

 My heart skipped a beat when I saw this on PB's website:

The Cooper wine coaster.  I love it so.  In fact, there are several copper bar utensils on their website I would love to have....however, $23 for a copper wine coaster isn't going to happen right now.  I can think of too many other things I need to spend that money on, and Christmas is fast approaching.  But then, I remembered I had this:

A little flat-bottomed china dish.  I can't remember where I got this from, I've had it forever.  Possibly my sister gave it to me.  It's usually home to a fat candle, but as a wine coaster it functions beautifully.

Fancy that.  And I had it the whole time.  
Maybe I will ask for the copper one from Santa...

5 thing Friday - steaks, healthy habits, cross stitchin', chores, mariachis

Hubby and I recently celebrated our anniversary in style.  A fabulous dinner was had at this place in downtown Austin.  Wish we could eat there once a week!  I'm thinking about asking to go there on my birthday, too.

 I may have put on heels and a dress and wore makeup!

That didn't stop me from feeling critical of myself in this photo, tho...I really want to drop a few pounds and get ready for Turkey Trot.  So, I've been counting my calories and walking as much as possible. On the list of things to buy is a bike, but for now, I walk around the neighborhood, and at a local track.

 After I went yesterday (in a dress and Chaco's, post catering volunteering for the band), I realized I need to be prepared in case I am out and about and want to do a few laps.  So I put together a box I will keep in the car - tennies, socks, ear buds, Gatorade.  All I need is my phone and a lanyard for my car key and I'm ret to GO!

 It's cheesy.  I no care. And, I'm an artist...

Proof:  I made my friend Carol a cross stitch of a saying her hubby likes to use on her.  It's hilarious!  It's also not perfect.  But as we all know, it doesn't have to be perfect to bless her. I sent it to her with chocolate, because duh, chocolate.

We interrupt this blog post to state that the situation in Camp Rustown's kitchen has not changed.  My island looks like this at least once a day.  I am so weary of doing dishes.  Really.  I would choose to do laundry over dishes any day!  And now there's only four of us, so how we make all these dirty dishes is a mystery.

One day last week, I had the car serviced.  After sitting at the dealership, without breakfast, for two hours, I was ready to gnaw my arm off.  I stopped in to the first little Mexican restaurant I came to for the lunch special, closely followed in by a mariachi flash mob.  My ears are still ringing, and they weren't even good.  Everyone is a live music critic in Austin,  Texas!

One word Wednesday #41

Ghoulish!

Gina

Easy Chili for one of those days...

It was a busy Monday, after a busy weekend and I am posting late.  After I left work, I ran by the store, then came home to mountains of laundry and a sink of dirty dishes, despite my best efforts at being organized on Sunday night.  But sometimes Mondays are like that.  I had thawed out some ground beef at the last minute before I ran out the door to play in morning traffic.

 When I got home, I browned that pound of lean ground beef with a large clove of garlic, chopped.  To that I added two chopped tomatoes that were really too soft for use in salads (so yay me, for rescuing them instead of wasting them), and three cans of La Cocina pintos a la diabla.  I added a small amount of seasoning, and simmered it while I made cornbread.  It's the closest thing to a homemade dinner I could muster and it all got eaten, so there's that.  Have you done that recently?  Tossed some things together and called it done after a long day?  Menus and Monday are made to be changed up, I guess!

Temporary art

 It's devilishly hard to photograph these framed "prints" in the front room as they don't have non-glare glass. 

And the lighting in here is very golden-y, and soft, which I really like...but if you look closely at my new art prints, you'll see they are really fabric.  Not prints at all!

I sprayed the old mats with ORB, but eventually I will replace them with white ones.  I ran out of time cleaning this room up for the baby shower, but those old prints that were there had to GO.   I figured, in a pinch, I could use the leftover fabric from some pillows and such I made for the front room.

 The old prints were so DATED.  I bought them at Garden Ridge about 20 years ago.  But I still like the frames.  I would love some gold prints with cream mats, but for now, this is my quick fix.  Maybe after Christmas...

Whatcha think? 

One word Wednesday #40

pumpkin

Gina

5 thing Friday - Getaway, stitching, mums, furniture, diet plans

Hubby and I spent some time in Dripping Springs with Mabel. 

 We have her pretty much ready, we just hook up and hit the trail.  We stayed at a very rinky-dink trailer park, visited a winery, bought steaks and salmon to cook on the camp stove, and just generally chilled.  It was fab.  On the way home we stopped here for live jazz, brunch, and $2.50 Bloody Mary's.  Lots of food all weekend!

 I'm not cross stitching as much lately as I would like to.  But I will catch up.

 I found some very cute decorated clothespins that I will use to mount my creations with. I have a lot of scrap wood in the garage that will be put to good use, too.  Stay tuned.

It's just not Fall without mums.  I found some $4 ones at Wal-Mart and put them into terracotta pots at the front door.  I didn't add dirt, didn't put moss around the edges, just PLOP.  Done.  They seem to be thriving!

 A long overdue carpet cleaning and repair in our bedroom led to this mess, as I had to empty the room of furniture.  Some it migrated to the front room, too:

However, I did get all of the drawers purged and reorganized, and all of it got cleaned.  Plus, I decided I could live without the giant twin mirrors on my dresser.  It makes the room look less cluttered and slightly bigger.  

 Me like.

Hubby and I saw The Martian at Alamo Drafthouse to cap off our weekend of fun.  We had 512 Pecan Porter on tap, and a couple of small pizzas.  Mine had carmelized onions and mushrooms...YUM.  Then on Monday night we went to Perry's Steak House for the best pork chop I have ever had.  Ever.  And now, dear readers, it's time for me to DIET.  I also have to get walking as Turkey Trot is just a few weeks away...

One word Wednesday #39

Roadtrip

Gina

New wine club members

In honor of our anniversary, and because we'd been tempted at other wineries to do this, we joined the Silver Spur Wine Club at Driftwood Estates.  It was the first time we'd been to a tasting where everything seemed to come together - the quality of the wine, the price, and the ease of getting there to pick it up and attend special events.

 We enjoyed a bottle of Red Rhythm, some gorgeous early Fall weather, and a wood fired pizza for two.  Plus, the views were none too shabby as the shady picnic area looked over acres of grapevines.

I'm sure we will still visit new places, though.  So much fun to discover!

 I think it's going to be great to plan a getaway to the country to attend the wine parties and pick up our wines.  Not sure if we will take Mabel, or just find a B&B, though I like the idea of not having to work so hard for set-up and take-down on Mabel.  Kills the wine vibe!

Such a pretty area - can't wait to go back!

*I know this is a happy post - we had a really good time.  And I realize that today's post on It's Just me, Gina sounds like I am in the depths of despair.  Welcome to my roller coaster!

Babies suck...

Tonight we are doing a baby shower at my house for a co-worker who is having her second baby. Much food and wine will be enjoyed and I am off this weekend, so Happy Dance!   The shower gave me the perfect excuse to do another of my subversive cross stitch pieces.

It was tricky finding an appropriate frame - it needed to be square, with a square mat to hold it up off the glass.  I found one at Michael's, but sadly did not have a coupon.  So the most expensive part of this little gift turned out to be the frame!

Also, the double white mat was sorta blah around the white of the cross stitch, so I mod-podged some pretty fabric onto the front of the mat, then just trimmed it up with my rotary cutter

The little detail-y corners I used my embroidery scissors on. I think it turned out cute!

The mom-to-be told me not to make her this one - too late, I had already done it.  Oh, well...if nothing else she will be able to use the frame and mat.

While I was at it, I stitched one for her two year old.  His favorite phrase is "aw, dang it", but he pronounces it "niggit" which is both hilarious and cute.  I found a little wooden sign with a jute hanger and figured I could just mount the cross stitch with upholstery tacks.

First I sealed the edges with some mod podge.  Then I centered it, pushed the tacks in, and was done.  I think it's a fun way to mount the little small projects - I will be making more of those come Christmas.

She's already seen this piece, just not put together.  

This house is clean, the food is awaiting prep,  and I am pooped - time for a nap before the ladies arrive!