My Road to Becoming a Leg Model

I have a confession. I made a nerdy purchase. So nerdy that I won't wear my purchase in public. It's something I have wanted for a while and I had a coupon so I bought it. Them, I should say. I bought Sketcher's Shape-Ups.

Oh yes I did. Let me reiterate I am not going to wear them in public (like to social events, work, church, etc.), but I have a plan. Every morning I take my dogs for a 20-30 minute walk. I figure if I can get a little extra boost in my bootie from my walks with the dogs, I might as well sacrifice my coolness. Let's be honest...I couldn't care less what my neighbors think about me, and the kids I pass at the bus stop are googly over the dogs so they are not going to notice my shoes.

Jeremy is embarrassed of me, and when I wear them around the house to do random chores, I might as well be wearing mom jeans too. But, he will quickly change his mind this summer when I get a call from Sports Illustrated wanting me for my killer legs. I just hope my already large "volleyball legs" don't turn into even larger "tennis player legs!"

I actually think I have started a trend. Any of you girls out there (or even guys...yes they have guy Shape-Ups) who want to buy some too...don't be ashamed. They are cool. They are comfy. They are the newest hottest trend in late-20s, early 30s fashion! Just don't wear them in public.

Fun in the Big Easy

Last weekend Jeremy and I got to travel to New Orleans with some of our good friends from church. It just so happened that Jack Frost was visiting the same weekend so we froze our booties off! But, don't you worry, that didn't stop us from have an AWESOME time and making some great memories!

In lieu of giving you a play-by-play of the trip, I thought I would break it down into some of our favorite memories.

(Side note: The gospel choir I used to be in and direct at Baylor called BRH used to do something similar to this after our trips...we called it the Poo Sheet. I think it got its name because we would take stories from the trip and exaggerate a little bit so the list was filled w/ Poo...the Baptist way of saying sh**. Anyway, my group of friends from Baylor in Great Britain adopted the Poo Sheet and now I have made the executive decision to call my NOLA memory list the Poo Sheet.)

NOLA Poo Sheet:

1. I love that when all of our couple friends hang out, we revert to our 7th-grade selves. Guys and girls split.On the plane and at meals we always sat with our own gender. Hey, my girlfriends are way more interesting than their spouses! (No offense guys!

2. Our first stop after checking in at the Sheraton on Canal Street was Cafe Du Monde (i.e. Heaven). It is a place flowing with coffee and beignets. These amazing little french doughnuts piled high with powdered sugar made for the perfect breakfast after we had been up for about five hours.
3. Right across from the JAX Beer Brewery (not to be confused with what might be the name of Shakespeare's brother...Jaxbeer), is the St. Louis Cathedral. It's always fun to combine a fun trip with a few educational/cultural experiences. It wasn't quite like the places I saw in Europe, but it was really cool to see something that old with so much history here in the good old U.S. of A.

4. The French Quarter is known for its food and shopping which worked out well since those are two of my favorite things. We patronized some fun little touristy stores that were a little too creepy for my taste with all their voodoo nonsense, but we did find some neat little gift shops with unique merchandise. It's hard not to have fun with all the colorful masks, hats and voodoo paraphernalia so we created a few photo opps. Let's hope we didn't get some NOLA lice from all the hats we tried on!
5. Cemeteries have always been pretty creepy to me and the ones in NOLA were no exception. In fact they were even creepier because no one is really buried...everyone is just in a coffin, above ground. I had heard about this/learned about it in school, but it's just weird to walk through them in person. The most unique tomb that we saw (and by unique I mean Creepy McCreeperson) was the grave of a VooDoo queen. Apparently there are some crazies out there who come to her grave, mark it w/ three Xs, do a dance, stand on their head, do the moonwalk and then make a wish (or something like that). Not kidding. There were Xs all over this thing. You would have thought the grave contained something for "adults" with all the Xs. Anyway...that was enough to scare us out of the maze of tombs....besides the fact that it was freakin' cold.

7. So we found two places that were like Heaven in NOLA...the land of coffee and beignets and the land of wine on tap. There might have been honey...not sure. :) We found an awesome wine bar called W.I.N.O. (Wine Institute of New Orleans). They have over 120 wines along the wall that are literally on tap and you have the option of trying them 1oz, half glass or full glass. I loved this because I never know how a wine is going to taste until I have ordered a whole $15 glass. I loved that I could taste it with my little tasting card and if I didn't like I, I could move on. Jeremy and I both found one we liked so we will be making a trip to Spec's sometime soon!

8. We ate at one of Emeril's restaurants...what more can I say except BAM!

9. Ok, let's talk about things most people would not want to do in 25 degree weather. Watch a parade, skinny dip, drink a sno cone, walk around New Orleans for two hours listening to a cheesy tour guide tell you ghost stories, etc. Well, we partook in the aforementioned Haunted History tour and somehow managed to a. Keep all of our toes and b. Have a ton of fun. Let's just say our shivering bodies were burning off the calories from the beverages we stopped to get along the way. We did get some educational tidbits though: apparently corn has two dimensions (according to Sarah), nuns may or may not have slept around with the priests back in the day and had babies, and if you huddle together like penguins you will stay a little warmer.

10. The famous Tropical Isle Hand Grenades...so tasty yet so sneaky.

11. We packed SO MUCH into our first day there. Who knew we would have a 21-hour day. Needless to say we slept in on Saturday and eventually made our way to the Aquarium. I love animals and it's places like this that always amaze me...God's creations are so unique. How does a jellyfish even work and how did that turtle get so dang big? Anyway, I was proud of Jeremy for facing his biggest fear...he stepped into the jaws of a shark...well sort of.

12. Since we had our fill of Bourbon street on Friday night, we decided to have a low-key evening on Saturday night by cruising the Mississippi. We stepped onto the Creole Queen Mississippi Paddle boat and enjoyed a nice dinner with a live jazz trio serenading us. Apparently David's hidden talent is scatting because he was imitating the singers all night. Actually, I think he heard some Louis Armstrong at one point in his life and picked up on the scratchy voice thing...that's more what it sounded like. (scappity, scooby dooo wop)

13. So here's my confession...I had that stupid Zatarain's commercial song in my head the whole time we were in NOLA. A street car would pass by and that was it...I was "jazzing it up with Zattarains." That was sort of a preface to tell you about the streetcar ride to the Garden district. I was familiar with the way it worked because of the awesome trolley I used to ride from my condo to campus at Baylor. Sarah on the other hand asked "how will he know when we want him to stop...do we just tell him?" I was like "yes, get out of your seat and just yell STOP to the driver. " She did and the driver slammed on the breaks, there were sparks flying on the streetcar line and we all flew to the front of the car. Just kidding. We pulled the cord and got off like normal. But, that story got exciting for a minute, didn't it? :)

14. I think our favorite part of the weekend (mine at least) was meeting Rubie Bell, the sweetest old lady you will ever meet. We were walking along, admiring the mansions in the Garden District that have been part of NOLA history for years when Ruby turned a corner and struck up a conversation. She asked if we were tourists and then said she was just returning from church. She went on to ask us into her back yard and then, when I told her we were all friends from church, she said "well since you are Christians, you can come in my house for a tour." We all cracked up and then felt a little guilty for not going to church that morning. Our private tour of Ruby's home was incredible. She told us all about her husband and five kids and the history of her neighborhood. The coolest part is that her home was actually in our travel guide book! What are the odds!!? The timing was perfect and I don't think it was a coincidence. Mrs. Bell would probably say the same. :)

15. One of our last stops on the trip was the world famous Acme Oyster Bar. The only great thing about this place for a slimy-food hater like myself was the fried food. I would like to thank Acme for an excellent meal consisting of fried shrimp, fried hush puppies, a taste of Sarah's french fries with gravy and cheese (so healthy) and potato salad. (I was obviously not following resolution #9 that day!)

Jeremy and I love that we have friends who love to travel as much as we do. We laughed when we were at the aquarium that one day we would be the crazy parents w/ strollers dragging our kids to see the sites! One day!

Happy New Year

Molly Ann's List of New Year's Resolutions That Probably Won't Be Resolved But We Can Be Hopeful:

1. Blog more. Hey, I think I am doing well considering it's January 4.

2. Finish my scrapbook from when my family went to Hawaii in 2007. Um, yeah, I know it's pretty sad. I got about 3/4 of the way through and then started planning my wedding. (The Hawaii trip is where I got engaged, so the wedding sort of took over.) I used to scrapbook EVERYTHING, but now it seems like really creative photo scrapbooking websites have made me lazy. This makes it even harder to finish documenting that dang Hawaii trip. What used to take hours and days now takes 30 minutes online. Maybe finishing up this one will make me appreciate the hobby again.

One of many Hawaii photos

3. Cut back on eating chips and queso. Don't laugh. I am serious.

4. Go see more live music downtown even if it happens to be a school night. I need to take advantage of the fact that we live in the amazing ATX and don't have kiddos now, and stop being a fuddy dud.

5. Having said that, I also want to be more intentional about having restful nights at home enjoying some down time w/ Jeremy and the dogs.

6. Get my wedding dress preserved. When was my wedding, you ask? Oh, February of 2008. Yup, two years ago. Sadly my only excuse for not doing this is that I really want to have a wedding video-watching party w/ some of my girlfriends where we all wear our dresses. Now that I have said/typed that out loud I realize how lame and cheesy it sounds so I guess it's time. (I will let you know if I put it on again and reminisce before I take it!)

7. Sing more. I miss it, and it has been hard for me to find an outlet in Austin that fits my schedule. I suppose I just need to make it more of a priority.

8. Play my piano more. I always hated practicing as a child and in college, but now I can just play for fun. I guess this also means I need to have my poor, old, lonely piano tuned.

9. Purge my life of stuff (material and other). On this note, I have started to become more aware of the junk we put into our bodies, and I hope I can purge my diet of a lot of this stuff. I don't think we were meant to have so many unnatural things in our God-given temples.

10. Dig deeper into my faith. I actually read something recently by John Piper that relates to this one. I would encourage you to read it as well. It's called 10 Resolutions for Mental Health and it just makes sense.

Since I haven't written in a while, I will just say that we had a great holiday season filled with family and friends.

What a blessed year 2009 was and I can't wait to see what happens in 2010. Next weekend we are headed to New Orleans with some good friends and I have no doubt it will make for some good, blog-worthy material! Until then...

Falling in Love with Fall

I have a feeling many of my Northern and Midwestern friends will laugh when I say this, but here goes: FALL IS HERE! It may not be the traditional fall of foreign lands like New Hampshire, Minnesota or any other state north of Oklahoma for that matter, but our Texas-style fall has arrived. I love so many things about this season including the colors, the smells and the cooler weather. On top of that I think I look good in fall colors (rich oranges and reds), even though I think I waiver between being a spring and an autumn on the fashion scale. Anyway....

I wanted to share how Jeremy and I have embraced fall. To do this a little more creatively than a straight bullet point list, I have chosen to use our senses. Enjoy!

Sight
-Well, there's the obvious...FOOTBALL! Even though this one could fall under a few of the senses, I have chosen sight because we got the new television last Christmas and Jeremy's love for football tripled with HD. I also enjoy football and when the cooler weather rolls around, I always miss West Texas football the most! There really is nothing like high school football under the Friday night lights.
(Side note: my husband has a fantasy football team (which he calls "Fake Sports") and since we are talking about sight, I have to tell you about his hidden talent. He can watch a game on TV AND watch his fantasy team on the laptop at the same time. It's amazing. Does anyone sense my sarcasm?)

-I basically turned our house into a Hobby Lobby complete with candles, fall greenery, pumpkins and scarecrows. I used to get made fun of in college for hanging seasonal welcome signs outside our apartment door , but I love that we have a pumpkin right now that says "hello and welcome to the Sylestine household...oh and by the way, it's fall." At Christmas, there will be a Christmas tree or reindeer or something festive reminding people that it's winter. :)

-My favorite sight in the fall (other than the colors) is the costumes. Halloween is the perfect time to dress up your kid/dog, laugh at them and tell them how cute they are! Ella and Lexi both hate costumes but we usually spend about $5 on one just for the photo opp. This year my mom bought Ella a pumpkin costume and after we took it off (and put her out of her misery) she kept trying to find it so she could tear it up. She would not do well in one of those "dress your dog up in a ridiculous costume and prance them around" contests. I can't wait to have kids to dress them up...I hope they like it more than Ella!

She hates us.

Smell
-Who doesn't like the smell of apple or pumpkin spice?! I told you about the candles earlier and I wasn't kidding. I walk in to my house and immediately light those puppies. I love that smell!

-On top of the candles, there are so many yummy smells that come out of the kitchen in the fall! I love making pumpkin spice muffins (I have an awesome Weight Watchers recipe if anyone wants it). It's also a great time to start making soups and stews since the weather is getting cooler.

Taste
-Ditto from the last point above but add to the list Thanksgiving yummy-ness: pies, turkey/dressing, fresh rolls, etc.!

-Does anyone else think coffee just tastes better in the fall/winter? I mean there's the obvious Pumpkin Spice Latte, but I think drinking a hot cup of coffee when it's cool in the morning makes it taste ten times better! I had the privilege of going to Minnesota for a wedding at the beginning of October, and drinking coffee (Caribou) up there with the chilly weather and the fresh air was such a great feeling!

Sound
-So, even though I love watching football, I must admit that the droning noise of the crowd is really great for napping. I am not much of a napper, but if I lie on the couch on a Sunday afternoon while Jeremy is watching football, I am done.

-Who doesn't like the sound of an acorn crunching under your shoe?!

Touch
-I love dressing warmly when it gets cold outside. I love the way it feels to put on a sweater, boots, a scarf, jacket, etc. It feels all cuddly and warm!

-It feels so good to go for a run in the morning when it's chilly, and get in a hot shower when you get back.

In what ways have you embraced fall? Do you have any traditions or rhythms that you do every year?

Oh the Places We've Been

Summer '09 was the complete opposite of Summer '08.

Last summer we had one long "Staycation" and we loved it. We had just gotten Ella and we needed to be here in her puppy stage. We also enjoyed being Austinites and took advantage of what this amazing city has to offer.

This summer, we ended up taking several trips (one, a pleasant surprise) and we are ready for a relaxing fall...maybe. Since I have been really bad about blogging all summer, I have decided to do a quick recap:

Trip #1: Jen and Brad's Wedding in Santa Barbara

-Not only was the wedding beautiful, elegant and SUPER fun, but we loved Santa Barbara. We can't wait to go back. It's very quaint with its local restaurants, shops and hotels. Plus, you get the ocean breeze so the weather is perfect. A few highlights for us were: breakfast at Sambo's (they sell re-published books of Little Black Sambo that my grandmother Margaret used to read to me), the wedding photo booth, s'mores, chocolate chip cookies and shots of milk and just being with good friends. We also got to see our friends Julie and Ryan in LA during this trip and meet their puggle, Kenzie, for the first time. Kenzie was the inspiration for us to get Ella, so we were excited to meet her!

Trip #2: The Caribbean Cruise

-We flew back from California after the wedding and left the next day on our cruise. Luckily we left out of Galveston so Jeremy's mom, Renae, took us down there and bid us farewell. As one might expect, we had an amazing time on the cruise. It was a seven-day cruise that stopped in Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We ate A LOT, got some sun, ate some more, went to the beach, zip-lined, drove a beach buggy, ate again, played Blackjack and then rolled off the ship 20lbs. heavier. :) Hey, we were on vacay.

Trip #3: Jordan and Berto's Wedding in Tomball
-Two of my worlds collided the first weekend of August when one of my closest friends from Baylor and my cousin got married. It was such a fun wedding because I got to be around my family and many of my good friends. I sang a David Phelps solo and then sang The Prayer with my good friend Matt Butler. The wedding was beautiful and we had a blast at the reception where there was candy galore! Each table had a candy theme, and we were at the "gummy bear" table. There was also a candy bar, so we pretty much got our quota of cavities for the year after that night!
Trip #4: Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago
-SO MUCH FUN! This was our pleasant surprise. Preface: The weekend we were in Santa Barbara, we got a call (actually lots of calls) at 6:20a.m. Jeremy had entered a random radio contest through KGSR, and they had called his name as the winner of the all-inclusive trip to Lollapalooza! Since we were in Cali, we had no idea. Luckily, we have several good friends (thank you Daniel!) who were listening and called us just in time for Jeremy to call in and claim the prize. Highlights of this trip include: Kings of Leon, Ben Folds, Decemberists, shopping at H&M, eating some yummy Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's, the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower Sky Deck and the fact that it was pretty much FREE! :)

Trip #5: South Padre with my Family
-Trips with my dad's side of the family are always an adventure. This one was no different. We rented a condo on the beach through VRBO. Normally, you can trust this site, but the woman who rented this condo must have been on drugs when she told us how great it was and that it would sleep 11 people. I guess she meant 11 small children. We got there and even though it had a great view right on the beach, it was a mess. The area around the condo was still being rebuilt after the hurricane last year, so we were basically in a construction zone. Also, the sleeping arrangements were far from ideal. We all found a place to sleep but it pretty much consisted of pulling mattresses off bunk beds, cramming three people on a couch bed, etc. BUT, just like always, we made the most of the situation and had a blast. The guys golfed, several of us parasailed, we played on the beach, ate A LOT, played games and watched my dad throw a fit when he lost at Texas Hold'Em and Mexican Train! :) (Love you Dad!) My Mimi cracked me up when she called the South Padre police dept. to get a Mexican food recommendation and they actually gave her a good one.

All in all, we had a great summer. We are still trying to recover and we cherish every moment we have at home. I think the next trip we have planned is Baylor Homecoming so we don't have far to go. I am so blessed to have a husband who loves to travel and expand his horizons like I do, but who also loves just being home. There's no place like home.