bugs, babies, and beer!

What could be more perfect than spending a beautiful, relaxing day lake side with crawfish, friends, and little sweet baby faces?! (this is rhetorical, as there is no better way.) The Earnests were so kind to offer their lake house again for boiling crawfish and sipping beers with friends, but I will note that at the end of the day there were more babies on the lawn than beer cans!

{Briefly before a group boat ride, I snuck away from the crowd 

and took a little nap on that hammock... and it was a good day.}

spending some time in Katy...

 After an evening spent on the patio at Molly's Pub following the Astros game, we picked our lunch spot- BB's cafe. I am currently on a pretty strict wedding regimen and was extremely nervous about blowing it in Houston, but everywhere I went I found delicious salads on the menu. Have these always been here and I just went straight to the more meaty options? Either way, my waistline was appreciative, even if everyone's sandwiches looked divine.

Although Emily and Richard are looking to move around the Heights area in Houston, TX, the suburb of Katy did alright by me! Before heading to their home in Katy, we stopped at HEB's to pick up crawfish for dinner... maybe it was the med's I was on, but wow was I overwhelmed in this place! It was a Super Target on steroids. Tison even said, "This is why the rest of the world hates us!" There were towers of food as far as the eye could see. People were in line hand selecting their crawfish, one by one, and putting them into grocery bags. Oh, you Texans. What are you doing? They must have thought we were nuts when an employee brought out two huge sacks - 70 pounds- of crawfish and put them into our buggy.

As Tison told our little helper Thomas, "You can't be in a hurry when you're making crawfish." The keg of Saint Arnold Lawnmower from Spec's helped pass the time...

Thanks to Mr. Robert's recipe, Emily and Richard's generosity, and Tison's cooking patience - we all enjoyed crawfish for hours!

weekend happenings...

This weekend went by quickly as all weekends tend to do. I always find myself saying on Sunday nights, "Just one more daaaaayyyy!" - in a kind of whiny little girl voice. This is what my weekend looked like:
Friday-
I went to St. Johns to listen to the author of Left To Tell. I haven't read the book but I'm familiar with the devastating Rwandan Holocaust. Her experience moved me to tears. The power of forgiveness is absolutely unbelievable. I am looking forward to reading Immaculee Ilibagiza's book. She is such a beautiful person.
Saturday-
My mom, the Southern Trace coordinator, the florist, wedding coordinator and I met for four hours discussing the details of my upcoming nuptials. Can you believe it is in 82 days?? Me neither. After the meeting, I stopped at the new Wine Country Bottle Shop location for a much needed bottle of wine :) Steve and MC had us over for Crawfish Time and fireside chats. The night ended with a dance fest at Bears. I may or may not have been the only one dancing...

Sunday-
Lauren insisted I put on my spandex and wind shorts for a 90s style roller blade excursion in Spring Lake on Sunday afternoon. Let me tell you- blading up those hills is NOT easy- Neither was the little fall I had at Pierremont Oaks where two seriously concerned older gentlemen had to assist me up off my a$$ when I flipped feet up/butt down off a ramp... no- i wasn't mortified at allllllll..... as we rolled away from the club house I thought Lauren and I were going to pee in our pants from laughing so hard.

Last night was the Oscars. For some odd reason Comcast lost connection about 45 minutes into broadcasting the show - so Russell, Tiffany, Tison, and I opted to watch the James Bond action film Skyfall with a fresh bowl of popcorn. I approve.

SunDay-FunDay...

The weather has been stellar these last few days! I am loving this sunshine :) and we all know what this weather calls for... Strawberry Abita and crawfish! There's probably nothing better than this combo. Ty and I had some friends over for SunDay-FunDay to play in the sun and enjoy the day off.

Since we don't have any games, toys, or whatever else kids usually play with, Thomas, Jimmy, and M.E. used their imagination with the chiminea, played hop-scotch on stones, and found sticks in the yard! These kiddos know how to pass the time!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

mudbug madness...

Memorial weekend turned out to be an outdoor extravaganza! I made a concerned effort to participate in activities that took place outside to enjoy the unofficial start of summer. The 28th Annual Mudbug Madness crawfish festival was held last week in the downtown Festival Plaza and provided quite the hullabaloo. Although the crawfish were small, we had a fun time! The bloomin' onion from Southern Concessions took the prize for vendor favorite at our table :)

More weekend activities to come...