Last Day In Kansas

We made a trip to the "Big City" to commemorate our last day at home with my parents. Our first stop in Wichita, Kansas was Brooks Brothers. My Jon man can do some damage in BB. He is all about bow-ties, french cuffs, and the smelly leather goods. 

Luckily, we were able to get out of there for under 50 bucks. I couldn't resist this cute wool ball cap. It's his first official wife-to-husband-but-I-was-there-for-the-purchase Christmas gift.

He returned the favor with my fancy new "pobbler" dish from Williams-Sonoma. Also, I need to note that my apple-pie-pobbler is completely gone...it was just that pobbular...did you see what I did there? Hysterical. 

So for record's sake, we ended up with a wool hat and a baking pan....God, we are old.

My Dad also found a treasure in Williams-Sonoma. A pan used to make a brownie-cookie hybrid. My mom is fairly certain it's just a muffin pan, but she just couldn't break it to him.

After dinner at Red Rock Canyon and the obligatory tree photo at Bradley Fair, we went to see J. Edgar at the Warren Theater...strange, oh so strange. Let's just say that some of our nation's smartest leaders were straight crazy, loonies I tell you! *shudder*

All My Love,

Jessica

T-giving Aftermath

We got a slow start on Friday morning. I take that back... I got a slow start this morning. Jon walked the dogs, went to a doctor's appointment, and had two meetings about his post-Army career...all before I had even showered.


I did get some gift wrapping done.  My mom always has the prettiest wrapping paper, so I put it off until I come home every year. 

This time my mom had some gorgeous Marimeeko paper from Crate & Barrel. I suppose it may be time for me to grow up and purchase my own wrapping paper. I'm hoping C&B has some on clearance after Christmas. *Please ignore my lackluster bow- it's a problem and I'm working on it.*


In the late afternoon, Jon and I went over to my grandparents' house down the street for eggnog and some fabulous presents! My grandmother gave us an impressive set of Waterford crystal ornaments dating all the way back to 1978...a wonderful start to our joint ornament collection. 

Hopefully, someday we will have a glorious crystal-themed tree that can compete with hers.


We went to Airport Steakhouse for dinner. Both of the below photos are Jon's idea ;).

All My Love,
Jessica

Thankful

I think it is safe to say I had the best Thanksgiving.


1.) Everyone that I love is in the country (and more specifically, not in a war zone).


2.) My apple pie was delicious, but it was actually more of cobbler...a pobbler, if you will.


3.) My mother made about 10 delicious dishes...and didn't brag nearly as much as I did about my measly pie.


We drove into Hutchinson, Kansas at about 1:00 AM, but my parents left the lights on for us and mi madre even made us some quesadillas before bed. 


The next morning we woke up to the sound of four dogs wrestling downstairs. We brought Buddy back and my brother brought his crazy dog, Roonie. With my parents' two Jack Russell pups, the pack brought a lot of life to the party.

This is Wiley, my parents newest rescue addition. He is sporting what we refer to as the "astro-collar." It is a homemade contraption meant to keep him inside the fence. See that face? He knows he looks ridiculous.

The boys ducked out and went to the golf course while my mother and I cinched up our aprons. 

I "assisted" with the turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, salad, ham, dinner roles and my personal favorite - the sweet corn brulee. This was a side that was supposed to be at our wedding reception, but due to a small mix-up with the caterer, our guests never got the chance to enjoy it. My mom found the Four Seasons' recipe and it was just as yummy as I remembered from the menu tasting.

Mid-afternoon I found the pockets in my apron and then found some hard-lemonade to fill said pockets. 

...about an hour later, I appointed my brother Captain Fruit. I thought it was HILarious at the time. Grant played along.

My grandparents and uncle arrived for dinner just before 4 PM. They came bringing gifts of sweet-potato pie and homemade whip cream. I think they were catering to my husband's Southern taste.

We ended the day by walking the wolf-pack and playing Scrabble. 

Oh, and by the way, "BEAMY" is the lamest word you can play in Scrabble...especially when it is achieved by simply adding a Y to BEAM...ESPECIALLY, when the Y lands on a Triple Word Score. 

This gem was mercilessly played by my brother and his gf, Paige.


Hoping you had a gloriously fattening T-giving as well!


All My Love,
Jessica

Borderline, at best

As we get ready to head back to Kansas this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have been doing a A LOT of laundry. My goal is for every.single.item. of clothing we own to be clean before we hit the road on Wednesday. Ever since we got back from our honeymoon, I've just been skimming the top of hamper and sticking it in the washer each week. I'm fairly sure that when I actually reach the bottom of the basket, there will be a nice pair of the cut-off jorts waiting for me...from July.

On Sunday evening, Jon and I went to Wildfire in Old Georgetown for a celebratory dinner with Jon's boss and his fiance. Since they were unable to attend the wedding, they wanted to treat us (and holy moly, it was a treat). It was SO delightful, especially for a carnivore like me. We passed around plates of lamb, elk, and duck. 

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon And Captain Morgan probably saw each other every single day of the deployment, so I'm pretty sure that there is a certain level of comfort there. And I must say, THANK GOODNESS they are not stuffy. After we had polished off the first bottle of Malbec, and I reached over for another dinner roll and realized that they were gone. I jokingly piped in, "Man, we just ran a train through those rolls." And I admit, it was kind of funny when I heard someone use the phrase for the first time, but they were ROLLING on the floor . At that point, I made a mental note to use the quote again because it sure was a hit.

After we ended the dinner with some fab peach cobbler, we said our goodbyes and Jon and I took a little stroll around the town square. It was at that point that Jon finally explained what "run a train on" actually means. I WAS MORTIFIED! If you are innocent child like me, you may need to research it on Urban Dictionary. I get red just reading about it! There is nothing even borderline appropriate about what I said.

In an attempt to redeem myself and prove I do have a little bit of tact, I made my first apple pie for our upcoming Kansas dinner.

It really is anybody's guess on what it actually tastes like, because you certainly can't take a half-eaten pie to a holiday fest- I mean, we are way too classy for that. Mom- you may want to make a back-up pie, just sayin'.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'll be back soon, if we survive in the 9 hour trip with 110 lb. lab in our tinsy Audi.

All My Love,

Jessica

Posh City Living

For two couples living in the suburbs, a night in the city is a sacred event. Nights in Austin are even more exciting when we get to pre-party at our friend Dan's swanky downtown loft. He lets Kelly and I prance around his pristine apartment in our LBDs whilst drinking his champagne and altering his Itunes playlist.

Note: Kyle attempting to imitate our pose. Nice try.

Jon surveying the damage.

Stealing Dan's fruit. Sustenance is necessary.

"He doesn't need to know."

Kyle, Dan & Jon 

Further evidence of a successful night. Many thanks to Dan for humoring us.

All My Love,

Jessica

Two Drink Limit

Jon and I started off the weekend perfectly with dinner at Trudy's with our friends, Kyle and Kelly. Rumblings of an outing began at noon on Friday and by 5 p.m. it was apparent that everyone was ready for their beloved Mexican Martini. 

We had to wait an hour to be seated, but no one seemed to be bothered (except by my amazing photography skills) as long as they had a shaker in hand.

These suckers are magical, so magical in fact that the restaurant will cut you off after your second shaker. While I know the rule well, I subconsciously get offended every time they remind me of the limit when I order Round #2. Am I talking too loud, am I annoying the patrons around me? Did I say something to offend the waitress? Did I unknowingly take my top off?* Are they going they going to kick me out?  

*This has never actually happened, but remembering how many layers I started out with could prove difficult when there's tequila in the mix.

All My Love,

Jessica

Blue Tape, Green Tape

Jon and I had our walk-thru this morning for the new house. Can I just say that LUUUVE this idea of a walk-thru?! We basically got to traipse through the house and mark all of it's supposed imperfections with color-coded tape and they have to fix all of the "issues" before we move in. 

Jon was of course more concerned with nicks, scratches, and the like (green tape). I focused on what "needed" to be cleaned (blue tape). Basically, I was just trying to set myself up live feather-duster free for awhile. We seriously have enough going on with moving in, arranging, filling in areas with furniture...I don't even want see a Windex bottle for a month post-move. I think the construction manager was onto my scheme.

I mostly stayed downstairs during the attic seminar....not.my.problem. Besides, I was making our dinner plans for the evening via text. All I could hear is the construction manager instructing, "you pour bleach in this pipe, you pour water in that pipe." 

When I did finally peek in the attic, I saw about 50 pipes...I think we are going to have to put "Rick" on speed-dial.

Going to the house really brightened my morning and put me in a cheery mood for the rest of the day. It was a much needed change from yesterday. There was a terribly unfortunate incident with my wedding dress that consumed my thoughts and more or less ruined my Tuesday, but more on that later!

All My Love,

Jessica

Introduction

Here we go! After 12 crazy, out-of-control, whirlwind months, I've decided that a blog is necessary. Not only do we want to keep faraway family members abreast of our life-activities, but my new hubby and I would like to accurately remember this awesome time in our lives.

We live in Georgetown, Texas, just outside of Austin. Jon is a Captain in the Army and posted at Ft. Hood and I work for a commercial real estate company in Austin. I moved here 2 years ago after graduating from the University of Kansas, without a penny to my name and a single friend in Texas. Since then, I've met the coolest guy ever (Jon, my husband, of course), moved to the suburbs, made some AMAZING friends, got a dog, and bought a Volvo...pretty cool life. No, really, I love it!

The above paragraph makes our lives sound simple and relaxing....and while that sounds lovely, our lives have never been that way. But I'm not complaining, we really bring this on ourselves. In the past year, we have survived Jon's deployment to Iraq, got engaged, finished a masters, had a glorious wedding, and went on a Hawaiian honeymoon. You'd think we'd be ready for a break.

The weekend after returning from Maui, we went around our neighborhood looking at the houses for sale. It's one of my most favorite hobbies and I think I got it from my mother. Girlfriend loves to house-shop. And low and behold, we found this gem! 

This puppy was brand-spanking new and my dream home...we close on November 28th. I'll take all the blame for this purchase, but Jon fell in love too. And my man is among the pickiest. No joke, I've heard comments like, "that marble would be much prettier it had more black specks in it" or "I wish the carpet was more tan, less taupe." The Colony Glen home has simply left him speechless.

Stay tuned as I try to keep my sh*t together during the move and in the days to come!

All My Love,

Jessica