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.

I Think It's Funny When...

1. Ella and Lexi slide around on the wood floors. If Ella knows there is food or ice (her favorite treat) involved, she literally peels out because she can't get enough traction.

2. People use the wrong words on accident.

(e.g. A friend in high school was talking about someone who looked really skinny and she mentioned that person looked "emancipated.")

3. Or when people pronounce things in a funny way.

(e.g. My sweet Mimi loves to eat jalapenos w/ almost everything, so she always asks for them. I will phonetically spell how it sounds when she says it: hal-uh-peen-uhs. Love it. She embraces her West Texas accent. (Let's be honest, I have no room to talk...I say "peench.")

4. News anchors stutter or just have a hard time spitting it out.

5. People fall. I am allowed to think this is funny because I am an extremely clumsy person myself. I think the best way to get a laugh out of me is to turn on that goofy show "Wipeout." Sadly, the heavier the person, the funnier the fall. I'm just sayin'.

6. The clients that I call have ridiculous hold music on their phone. How can anyone take you seriously when your hold music blares "Apple bottom jeans..." or one of my favorites, "It's midnight, in Montgomery?" I am all about personal music preferences, but I wonder if those people have given that number on their resumes. It's like having an e-mail address daddyslittlecutiepie@aol.com.

7. I look through old pictures of myself. I was a fatty with a really bad perm for a while there. Unfortunately, I don't own a scanner or I would share the wealth. But, if you want a good laugh at some old photos, check out one of my favorite sites: Awkward Family Photos.

8. People try to sing but they don't really know the words. The best example of this is on Ellen where they pass the microphone and these excited, over-confident, cooperative audience members sing their hearts out. OMG, you have to watch this:

9. People fall. (I can't get enough.)

10. When Ella and Lexi burp or fart. Lexi farts and then looks at her butt like it surprised her. Love it.

A Brief Rant...

It's Not Okay...

1. For the school bus to sit outside someone's house (next door) and honk the horn for 10 minutes at 6:45a.m. Little Jimmy might be sick so let him stay home for the day...geeze! OR just leave them if they can't get ready in time.

2. To let your dog poo somewhere and just leave it there...invest in some doggie poo bags and pick it up people!

3. To leave your shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot...have some integrity and take it to the little return-cart thing.

4. To go to a Mexican food restaurant and order a side salad and water. Just indulge.

5. To use Facebook as a passive-aggressive way of dealing with confrontation. Status updates can be seen by all...even those who aren't in the fight and could care less.

6. To blow your leaves from the front yard into the street. Walmart sells extremely cheap lawn bags for this purpose. Get your lazy bootie outside, rake the leaves and put them in the bag. That's what we do with our leaves and the leaves that have been blown into our yard.

7. For any spiritual leader to use his/her position to "preach politics."

8. To forget (or just refuse) to say please and thank you.

9. To smoke around nonsmokers. I get it...I have bad habits too, but I don't force them on other people, so please keep your cancer stick to yourself. (I bet when I have kids, this feeling will only become stronger!)

10. To be ungrateful. God has blessed us with so much. I have to remind myself of this a lot, but just play the Glad Game and you will quickly be reminded of what you have!

I Lied

My sweet husband Jeremy is very low-maintenance. He rarely shops, he will eat pretty much anything I cook, he doesn't have to watch every sporting event on tv, he doesn't require very much sleep and he is perfectly content with his wife, his iPod, the dogs and a good book. Having said that, Jeremy is also pretty straight-laced. Spontaneity is not really one of his strongest characteristics; he is a planner. (Thank God, because otherwise I would be a mess.) Because of this, when I started thinking about his 30th b-day present, I knew it had to be something out of the box. So, I lied.

The Lie: The best part about the lie is that everyone was in on it. All of our friends had Jeremy believing that we were going to the Salt Lick in Dripping Springs to have a birthday celebration. Then the next morning (Sunday) all the guys were supposed to go play golf. One of our good friends, Patrick, even told Jeremy that he had gotten some free passes and made the tee time. Jeremy bought the whole thing!

The Lie Almost Revealed: I started getting worried when Jeremy would come home from work and tell me about his friends who were going to meet us at the Salt Lick. I even had a few of his buddies e-mail and call me to ask me what the plan was. It was funny to have to tell them it was all a made up story. THEN, the morning we were leaving for our trip our lab Lexi almost gave away the whole thing!

Lexi's Stunt: Thursday morning I took our dogs over to David and Sarah's house. They kindly offered to keep them while we were gone. It was rainy and muddy, but the dogs loved being in the backyard anyway. Ella's boyfriend is their dog, Kirby! :) Anyway, Jeremy called me mid-morning and said "Why isn't Lexi at our house?!" I flipped! Apparently, Lexi had somehow scaled the 6-ft. privacy fence and gotten out. David and Sarah's sweet neighbor called Jeremy (his number is on Lexi's collar) and told him that he had Lexi. At that point I really thought I was going to have to spill the beans. But, I thought fast and told him they were keeping the dogs so we could stay out late for his b-day dinner. He freakin' bought it!

The Truth: Back in the first week of February, I bought a vacation package to LAS VEGAS!! Somehow I kept this a secret (despite Jeremy's endless invitations to the Salt Lick and our dog, the escape artist). Both of our families knew and even contributed, and he had no idea. When I picked him up from work on Thursday for our "early dinner reservation" I basically told him we had really expensive reservations...at he MGM Grand. His reaction was "holy $%it!" He kept telling me I was crazy and "we don't do this." I quickly told him that HE doesn't do this. He smiled the whole way to the airport and kept asking me who knew and who was in on the lie.

So, thank you to everyone who lied with me! Jeremy was totally surprised and we had a great time! The pictures below will sum up our trip in Sin City and we can't wait to go back! Oh, and we are still up for a Saturday at the Salt Lick for anyone who is interested! :)

Jeremy loved our hotel room at the MGM Grand.

I got a kick out of the statue replicas, so I imitated.

The view from a pedestrian bridge.

Apparently this is the face you are supposed to make right before you ride the "Insanity."

The Insanity...it hangs you about 900 ft. above the ground and spins you...SO FUN!

We did it!

I was a winner at the computer Blackjack...for a while at least.

Biggest slot machine ever! (I lost)

Jeremy wasn't so great at the computer Blackjack, but he enjoyed the free beer.

At our favorite hotel (where we hope to stay next time) the Venetian.

Bellagio fountain