Look what Santa brought! Whoo-hoo!

Oh my goodness! I just don't know what to say (still). I came home from work and opened the front door and there was this itty bitty weenie dog in the hallway. Josh says "Merry Christmas!" and this little guy is so small that I think he is a stuffed animal. I pause to think that that is kind of a lame present but then it MOVES and I freak out. In a good way of course. Anyway, the puppy is from a friends litter and we talked about getting one when they were born 61/2 weeks ago but decided against it. Apparently that decision wasn't final...Anywhoo, the dog is precious and already knows to go on the puppy pad. The cats don't care at all probably because he poses no threat and just sleeps now anyway. Josh has a vet appointment already lined up for Monday. Any suggestions for names? We have no clue. And by the way; I've just learned that I don't really care for surprises....

Are you ready for Christmas??!!!

Last night we had date night and went to dinner and the "Trail of Lights". The trail of lights is an Austin tradition that started in 1965 in a huge park in the middle of the city. All these trees are decked out with lights and cool scenes. The paved trail is a bit over a mile with over 1 million lights. It was freezing (36F) and we each had 2 jackets on but it was AMAZING.

One of my favorite trees; put up by the Fire Department.

How do the DO that?

Josh says we are definitely doing our frontyard trees in blue next year....

The stars and arches were synchronized to music and would blink on and off.

There is a huge smile under that scarf!

It snowed here on December 9th! It was late, like a 11pm and we ran outside and played like kids!!! The snowed stayed through the am next day. Crazy...

Hope everybody is ready for Christmas. I will finish my wrapping tonight. I'm so glad my presents finally made it to Napa today but I wish we were arriving instead!! We leave for Houston on Wednesday afternoon and return on Friday. Josh's family (my family too!) is so much fun! I look forward to new traditions but will be thinking of cranberry scones and bellinis!

Finally!!

I know I've done a ridiculous job at this blogging thing! I haven't been in the mood and quite honestly, the last few months have been rough. Yes, I know, I haven't posted since August but geez. Massage school is keeping me busy but I love it. We bought a massage table for my birthday present! I'm hoping to switch to part time come January to make things a little bit easier on everyone... But anyway, lately I'm feeling a bit homesick. It's the combo of the holidays and being faraway and the loss of my pops. Regardless, I am very grateful for my family and all the love I have for them. And I like to thank my dear, sweet sister for inspiring me to put up a Christmas tree! This season really is magical and even better with decorations. Josh and I are so proud of our first Christmas tree (ever)! The ornaments are simple; just red and white. We still need to find a tree topper and skirt though.

We have 4 more strings of lights to add! Josh is already making plans for next years' lawn scheme.

The menu at "Hey Cupcake!". We went here after breakfast on my birthday

Delicious!

We stayed at the very fancy Driskill hotel. At some point this old hotel was a bank and this is the safety deposit box area.

The ceiling were so TALL in our super cool room.

A trip home is not complete without the Rutherford Grill. We all ate like pigs! I didn't notice the hook 'em horns behind my head (from Josh) until I uploaded this pic!

Josh took this one....

This was our very first appetizer from our deluxe BBQ. Thank you aunti di and UB!
This is shrimp with butter and lemon. I learned this tasty treat from Mr. Mark DeWitt.

Yumm...beef and veggie kabobs.