Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fun Weekend

We spent last weekend in Sugar Land, and had a great time! My in-laws were keeping our nephew, Logan, for the weekend while his parents were on an anniversary trip to Mexico. Logan is 7 months old and totally adorable!
I am terrible about taking pictures, so I don't have many from the weekend. These days I usually just use my iPhone. Everyone around us has really nice SLR cameras, so I pretty much leave the picture taking to them and leave my little point-and-shoot at home!
We had a great time. We played with Mr. Logan and caught up with Jennifer and Jamie, Cam's parents. I love my in-laws - they are wonderful and I'm so blessed to have them. They truly love me like I'm their own. One night while we were there, we went to Cam's aunt and uncle's house and had a big family dinner. Cam comes from a big family and I love it when everyone gets together - it's so much fun! Cam and I are very lucky - we sometimes hear people talk about spending time with family like it's an obligation and something to dread, and we just can't relate at all. We truly enjoy spending time with both sides of our family.
It was a fantastic weekend and we can't wait for the next one! I must add that Aurora was not happy at all about her parents helping take care of another baby. She made that clear by emptying my underwear drawer of its contents (again) and knocking over a lamp while we were gone!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Midweek Randoms

- We are officially in the doldrums of summer television. There is nothing on most of the time and I'm looking forward to my regular shows coming back in the Fall. In the meantime, Cam and I have found a few things to watch. The new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm just started on HBO and we are loving it. I've watched reruns of this show pretty casually, but now we're watching it religiously. It is so horribly awkward and funny. At least once an episode, I have to cover my eyes because I just can't take Larry David's lack of social skills! We are also looking forward to the last season of Entourage. At my mom's urging, I've also started watching Damages on Netflix. So far, it's really good. It sounds weird because it's not a horror show or anything, but it frightens me. When I get hooked on a show, I can usually watch one episode after another, but it's much too intense for that. I need a few hours between episodes of this one!

- Our apartment backs up to a really pretty wooded area, but there are a few apartments across from our balcony through the trees. It's usually pretty quiet, but tonight we were treated to the rantings of a mad woman on the phone on a balcony across the way. I don't know who she was talking to, but girlfriend was furious! She even threatened the homes and vehicles of the person she was talking to and each of their family members. Then she sealed it with a resounding, "Believe that!" Classy!!! Have I mentioned how much I just love living in an apartment?!? And even better, soon we will get to pay $200 more every month to witness these type of antics, thanks to a very hefty rent increase. But that's a whole different rant for another day...blah.

- I cleaned the whole house today! There's nothing better than a freshly cleaned house. I always say I'm going to break it up into small parts (bathroom one day, dust the next, etc.) but that never happens. I always wind up putting it off and then knocking it out all at once. It's always tough to start, but I actually enjoy it once I get going. It's therapeutic!

Hope this week is treating you well!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Farewell FNL

Friday night was the last episode of one of my favorite shows ever, Friday Night Lights. I was curious about how they would wrap everything up, and I have to say the writers did an excellent job of creating a really satisfying ending. It truly captured the mood of the best parts of the show. I am so sad to see it go! When we watched the first season, Cam would tease me because I'd end up sobbing at least once during every episode. It's just that touching, realistic, and raw. In some of the later seasons, the show got a little off course in my opinion, but even then it was better than 99% of everything else on TV. The finale really took me back to what the show was in the first couple seasons, and I loved it.


FNL has something for everyone. It really captures what life is like in Texas, what it's like to work with kids in the education field, what it's like to be a sports fan, and what real relationships are like. Plus it was filmed in my dear ol' hometown, Austin, Texas! And the core of the show, Eric and Tami Taylor have the most realistic marriage on TV, no doubt! They are both nominated for Emmys and they so deserve it. So farewell, Friday Night Lights...there will be a huge hole in my televion heart now!




"Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose"

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Duchess

Can we just talk a little bit about Kate?
And her coats?
And her boots?

And her dresses?

And that hair?

OH EM GEE.

There is little doubt that Kate's wedding and recent trip to North America firmly established her as a fashion icon on the world stage. I'd been following Kate's style before that, back when she was known as "Waity Katie", a nickname coined by the British Press because she had been "waiting" so long for William to propose. Gah, can you imagine the pressure on both of them? Poor kids.

I've always been fascinated by the Royal Family. I love the history of it all. My Mom was always a fan of Princess Diana, and my sister and I loved her too. Mom always says she and Diana had their babies together: Prince William and I were born a few months apart, as were Prince Harry and my sister Elizabeth. I remember waking up early to watch a royal wedding with my Mom when I was a wee lad (maybe it was Fergie's?) and we got up early to watch Diana's funeral years later. I had a huge crush on Prince William and remember wondering if he might possibly break protocol and marry an American girl living in Cental Texas. But alas, I found my own Prince Campbell and I think it's safe to say Wills definitely found the girl for him.
The Royal Wedding will definitely go down as a highlight of this year for me! I got really into it and watched all the coverage for weeks. My Mom, sister, and I had a wedding watching party and stayed up all night to watch everything happen live. It was so much fun! My cute Mama even had decorations and English food. After hours of waiting, when we finally got the first glimpse of Kate's dress, I literally squealed with glee. Not only was her dress beautiful, it was lace! I love lace - I think it is romantic and timeless, which is why I chose it for my own wedding dress.
I was so impressed with her dress selection as well as all the other wedding details. To say it was a gorgeous wedding would be a huge understatement. I could go on and on, but I'll stop. If I sound a wee bit obsessed, it's because I am. I've just been so impressed with Will and Kate and how they've handled the pressure and scrutiny with such grace. For royalty, they actually seem quite down to earth.
Maybe the tradition will continue and Kate and I will have our babies together? That would be awesome! Either way, I'm very much looking forward to whatever these two do in the future.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Strange Sleeper

Last night was another night of odd sleeping behavior for me. I am a weird sleeper - I talk in my sleep and have even been known to sleep walk. I sleep very deeply and Cam is a light sleeper so he usually wakes up during these antics and reports back to me the next day about them.

I've been staying up really late for the last couple weeks - I've slipped into a pretty lazy summer routine. Last night Cam had been asleep for awhile and I was playing on my laptop in bed with the TV on. When I finally laid down to go to bed, I kept the TV on for a bit - something about listening to news channel chatter helps me wind down, and I remember turning off the TV right before I feel asleep.

Cue to the morning: I wake up and realize that the TV is back on AND the clock radio is on at very low volume. Of course I have to ask Cam what happened because I have no memory of it. He tells me he woke up at 3 AM because I was talking in my sleep - he can't remember what I was saying. Then he heard a weird noise and was trying to figure out what it was. Hearing that sparked a memory - I do remember him talking about a noise and listening for it. Clearly I wasn't too concerned about it though, because I passed out again. Later on in the early morning I somehow managed to pick up not one, but two remotes to turn the TV back on and change the channel from FOX to MSNBC. And then to complete the crazy sleep cycle, I turned the radio on. What the heck? Do other people do this stuff, or is it just me? Remember those news stories a few years ago about people who would do crazy stuff in their sleep when they took Ambien? I remember seeing a video of one of those people in their dark kitchen devouring food in the dead of night completely asleep!!!! This is my worst fear - haha! I am doing this stuff without Ambien or any sleep meds! Bizarre.

Do you have any strange sleep habits?

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Video Fun

Cam made a video about our cat Aurora (aka Binks) today. It is awesome and I smile each time I watch it! The music is from one of Cam's favorite video games. Enjoy!





Monday, July 11, 2011

Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Friday night I made dinner and we watched the next to the last episode of Friday Night Lights. I can't believe the show will be over next Friday - I think I'm going to need a box of tissues to get through it. Then we stayed up late finishing off a season of Entourage on HBO On Demand. Side note - we just got HBO and we are in love! It is so much better than Showtime!

Saturday morning Cam went and helped a friend move and I hung around the house. Then we went to the movies and saw "Midnight in Paris", which was great (see gushing blog post below)! Saturday night we met our friends Amy and Blair and their daughter Brooklyn for Mexican food. It was so fun! Brooklyn turned 1 in May and she is an absolute doll! We weren't able to make it to her birthday party so we finally got to give her a birthday gift and catch up. She is super friendly and reached out her arms for us to hold her immediately. She also gave Cam a baby staredown. I don't know what it is, but babies (particular baby girls) stare Cam down! It was a great night and so fun to catch up with friends!

Sunday afternoon we went to my parent's house and had dinner with my family. They cooked out steaks and we had twice baked potatoes - is was delicious! It even RAINED a couple drops! We actually went and stood outside in it like the rain-deprived people we are. It was a fun night, although the end was a bit nuts. My parents have the sweetest cat named Abby. She is fluffy and I love her to pieces. We've had her since I was in middle school. We were walking out to leave and Abby ran in the house from outside (she is a mostly indoor cat, but goes outside a little bit). She was acting strange and I looked down and thought she had a piece of string hanging out of her mouth, but then I realized it was drool. Poor Abby was literally foaming at the mouth and one of her eyes was squeezed shut. It smelled horrible outside and we immediately thought skunk. Mom and I went to work cleaning off her face and giving her cat eye drops. We were worried maybe she'd been bitten, but there was no sign of anything. I did some research online and started to think maybe she had tried to eat a frog, because apparently frogs give off some horrible smell that causes cats to react to it. Everything calmed down and Cam and I left a few minutes later. I would be lying if I said I wasn't in tears. It's very upsetting to see a childhood pet in that state, and Abby is older and has kidney problems, so anything else could really throw her for a loop. Luckily my Mom was already scheduled to take her into the vet to get her kidney levels checked so she was there first thing this morning. The vet could tell immediately she had been sprayed by a skunk, checked her over, and said she was okay. The foaming and eye trouble are a normal reaction to try to get the spray out of their bodies. She had a de-skunking bath at the vet this morning and is doing better. Poor thing! I hate seeing animals in pain.

Not counting the evil skunk, it was a good weekend! And if you made it to the end of this long, rambling post, God bless you!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Must See Summer Movie

Cam and I went to the movies today and saw one of the best flicks I've seen in a long while! It's a Woody Allen movie called "Midnight in Paris". It's set in Paris (duh!) and stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard. It was witty, clever, and nostalgic. Perfect for a nerdy history teacher who spends half her time imagining life in a different time! Owen Wilson was perfectly cast and so likeable! This is definitely the type of movie he should make in the future. Rachel McAdams did a great job - her character was absolutely horrid and I couldn't stand her! I am Rachel Mc's #1 fan so for her to make me dislike her was quite an acting feat! And Marion Cotillard was fantastic too. They talk about it in the movie and it's true: she has one of the most beautiful faces ever. Seriously makes me jealous! I want to come back looking like her next time around.

Run, don't walk, and see this movie if you haven't yet! You won't regret it. Besides, what else is there to do when it's this hot outside?


Friday, July 8, 2011

Vinegar to the Rescue

I have to share my latest housekeeping victory! We have these weird stains on two parts of our living room carpet. They've been there since right after we moved in. They aren't mud - we've never been able to figure out what caused them. Truth be known, it's probably just cheap apartment carpet. But they've hung around for nearly two years despite several attempts at getting them out. I asked our apartment complex if they could possibly clean our carpets since we've lived here awhile now (and have given them oodles of money), but they said they only do that when you re-sign your lease. Well, that would have been nice to know when we re-signed ours last year...but whatevs. We thought about renting one of those carpet cleaner machines at the grocery store, but that is a lot of effort to go to for rented apartment space! So I had resigned myself to having gross carpet until we move out, but giving up isn't really my style. I've heard people say that vinegar is a great cleaner, so I did a little research, bought a jug of vinegar for 1 whole dollar, and mixed up a little cleaning solution. And it worked! Stains were gone in about 10 minutes! Now our carpet looks so much better and my OCD tendencies have been relieved. It's really the small things that make me happy!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Crazy Cat Lady

Yes, I'm one of 'em. Aurora the cat is like a child to me and my husband Cam. She is such a dear and I've been getting to spend lots of time with her while I'm off this summer.

Then (just a few months old)
Now (3 1/2 years)
We call her Binks. I have discovered that she will sleep as late as I do and that she will follow us into the kitchen every single time we walk in there and beg like a dog for treats and/or beef jerky. She is pretty independent and can entertain herself when we're gone, but she does have her limits. This is my sock drawer after a weekend away.


The Help

I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett last week. I know I'm a bit late getting on the bandwagon with this one, but it was such an amazing book! I always get sad at the end of a book, but this was different. I did not want to say goodbye to the beautiful characters in this story. The movie comes out on August 10th and I plan to be there with bells on! Until then I'll be dreaming of cooking lessons with Minny & Celia and evenings spent around Aibileen's kitchen table.

Where to Begin?

I've thought about starting a blog for a long time. I love reading blogs - it's one of my favorite hobbies! It's so fun to peek into people's lives and see how they spend their days, but starting a blog of my own is a whole different animal. It's intimidating to put yourself out there and wear your thoughts, your life, and your writing on your sleeve. But this summer I've found myself with more free time than I've had in years, and I decided, why not? So here goes nothing!