Oh hai! Let's ketchup.

So I haven't been around much as you can see, but things...life...has been very good. The Omaha trip was wonderful, fast paced craziness but I think next time we'll go the airplane route. There's just too much we want to do when we visit that wasting a whole day in the car isn't worth it! Instead of car-riding we'd like to sip an Irish Coffee @ Mr. Toad...get the creme brule at M's Pub...hit a few more antique shops...the list is endless! This is the only photo from Omaha... a silly picture of Pat (looking a little suspicious) and I at Slowdown before the Lady Gaga show...and as Gaga shows go..it's always too much, too fast.

Work is A-Ok (I got a new office!... with a window!)

A few weeks ago Living Social had a great deal: 20 pilates and yoga classes for $20! I snagged one and so did a few friends so twice a week I've been going to yoga! The first class I signed up for was called "Fundamental pilates"... I'm thinking... ok fundamental.. like.. beginners, right? hooollllyyyy crap..that class was NOT for beginners. I don't exercise regularly. I'm not proud of it, but I would make an effort.. maybe... twice a month. After years and years of gymnastics and cheerleading, I guess I was just over it. So I thought "ok... lets start slow.. ease into it with a little "fundamental" class. NOPE. The instructor was great, but she was going at like...fitness guru pace. She was Denise Austin on speed. She didn't really modify anything for someone who.. oh I don't know... hadn't worked out in a month and had never taken a pilates class in her life. By the end my body was shaking horribly...my muscles feeling like jello. For a split second I though "oh shit...I can't stand up"... and it freaked me out. So with focus... I got up..and walked very slowly to the door...then to the car where I proceeded to get into the drivers seat butt first and lift each leg...one by one.. into the car. It freaked me out and so until I they offer a beginner's pilates...I'm done with pilates.

Probably because I'm a spaz.

Yoga on the other hand... I liked! It was challenging...I learned that I don't know how to breathe which is funny...and that I'm about as flexible as a bread stick now. I have another class scheduled next week! Today I'm doing something called Shimmy Express...which I believe is something like belly dancing? Basically a gut focused work out which it something I am all for. So... I've been working on my fat ass fitness, trying to be  active at least 3 times a week. Swimsuit season y'all. It's still coming.

We went to the Bayou City Arts Fest last weekend which was fantastic! Made By One Girl was there again and I bought two more of her map love notes. I just love them!

Last weekend was also the first Braud family (minus Michelle+Dylan and Peter) crawfish boil of 2011... SO EXCITED FOR CRAWFISH!

{ryan's photo}

My brother's been living in Peru and visited Machu Picchu this last weekend- abso beautiful!:

{pete's photos}

Michelle and Dylan are still surrounded by snow in MN but it's getting better, right? RIGHT? IT HAS TO WARM UP. SRSLY.

This weekend the Final Four is in Houston. I loathe basketball...I hate the squeaking sound the sneakers make BUT...because of the final four there are tons of free things to do in Houston this weekend! (Free is good... the Mercury needed some repair work this week...VERY inconvenient). So Friday the Hold Steady is playing a free show and Saturday-- Kings of Leon! The shows are @ Discovery Green which is one light rail stop from our house! Free things we can walk to! Which means... first we walk to the pub... THEN to the park. It works out.

What else has been going on? Oh, I've just started season 2 of LOST. Y'all I know I'm all late to the party but that show....is so good.

Ryan and I watch an episode of X-Files every night before sleep. It's one of my favorite new traditions. The other night we made an X-Files fort...it lasted like.. 10 minutes before it got kind of annoying (we're not architects...I'm gonna have to look up how to properly build a blanket fort on the Internet)  but it was fun for those minutes.

I hope you've been well, happy, busy (good busy...not the "oh my God I'm going to die" kind of busy). I'll be around more. Getting back to blogging is on my to-do list along with losing 10 lbs, letting my hair grow, eating less crap-food and being a better person.

Candy jar.

This week's Instax is my Mammaw's (my mother's mom, pronounced Meh-Maw) candy jar. It's lost a strawberry and some have been repainted. It was always filled with something good... those little sugar coated orange slices or goldfish crackers (I would eat the whole bowl...I think it's why I still love goldfish to this day). I love having this candy jar- it always reminds me of her.

She died in 1996 but would have been 100 years old today. I hope she's having a martini in Heaven with Pappy.

Happy Birthday Mamma!

Weekend outings!

Hihi! So it appears that the holidays are officially over and I'm back to working full 5 day work weeks. ARGH! I'm gonna be counting down until the next day off which is... I don't even know when. I guess all the more reason to enjoy the weekends even harder.. like this one, for instance! We explored the neighborhood and a few little spots in walking distance from our house.

Friday night we tried out a new spot,  Bitterman's Market Square Bar and Grill. We enjoyed  good, old fashioned hamburgers and cold beers while watching LSU beat the Aggies! (Hooray!) Their slogan is "It's every Texan's right to hold a burger in one hand and a beer in the other!" and I couldn't agree more.

Saturday didn't start off as I would have hoped. Ryan was going to go into work to get a few hours of OT so as we're walking to the car, we see the back windshield is shattered. Of course I start to cry because I'm A) super mad and  B) worried about how much the replacement windshield will cost. We couldn't figure out what happened! There was a small spot that looked like the point of impact, but we couldn't really find anything around the car that would have done it. It wasn't theft because the window was broken, but it hadn't fallen through yet. Were there drunks on the patio that just got a little rowdy and threw something?  Was it a freak accident i.e. a rock that hopped from the interstate or from the roof? I guess we'll never know because there are security cameras on parking garage floors 1 and 2...but not on 3. Funny. (Not funny). SO... to the internet I ran, looking for someone who would come out to my complex on a Saturday afternoon to replace it. I found Xpress Windshield, they found a used but in-perfect-condition back windshield and came out to replace it for 160$ total. (Thank goodness).

While we were waiting for the tech to come over, Ryan and I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and try another within-walking-distance place for lunch. I passed The Broken Spoke numerous times to and from work, but always thought it was a little hole-in-the-wall bar! I thought wrong because it is a fantastic Belgian restaurant that specializes in steamed mussels!! One of my favorites! We had the entire restaurant to ourselves at noon on Saturday but it was quickly filling as we were leaving. I had the mussels a la escargot (steamed mussels in a garlic butter sauce) with a glass of Blanc du Blanc champagne and Ryan had the chicken curry salad sandwich with a St. Arnold. Such a good lunch and a great way to take the sting out of the morning. Below are a few shots of Broken Spoke with it's colorfully decorated walls and ceiling murals.

 

    Sunday we woke up early to go to Trinity Downtown Lutheran church. We've been trying out different churches downtown, seeing which ones we like best. This weekend we went to Ryan's (as he's Lutheran) and next weekend we'll try out St. Joseph (I'm Catholic) downtown. Trinity and St. Joseph are across the street from each other (convenient!) so after Trinity we walked over to St. Joe to check it out and I snapped a few photos of the pretty interior.



After church we met up with Mom, Dad and Pete for a little goodbye-brunch at Mia Bella (a favorite!)  as Peter is moving to Lima, Peru on Wednesday! So exciting. I'm going to set up a blog for him so he can upload photos and stories about his adventures.

Happiest Monday!

Christmastiiiiiime!!!

How was your Christmas weekend? We all had such a good one, so nice to relax, eat dinner in your PJs and...well basically live in your reindeer PJ pants for a full 24+ hours. We drank homemade eggnog, watched movies, had a singalong, ate (and maybe ate a little bit more), sat out by the fire pit, made s'mores, went to a nice Christmas mass, slept in and just enjoyed the company of fam. 

Santa brought me a super neato chandelier I had been pining for for my bedroom and an Instax mini camera that i looooove! My sister gave me a fantastic handmade vintage fabric apron that one of the mom's from her school made. LOVE IT! Can't wait to use. My brother gave me the Indie Craft book- so inspiring! My friend Nora gave me a gift card to one of my favorite shops, Paper Source and a Viewmaster with TONS of picture reels! SUCH a fun gift.  My love gave me a fantastic Nan Lawson print, a gift certificate for a spa downtown (that will most likely be redeemed for a massage! Desperately needed!)  and tons of embroidery hoops! He knows me so well! Speaking of,  Ryan left for Omaha Christmas eve morning so the night before we had a mini-Christmas with him, complete with turkey dinner and presents! He comes back to Houston today...Yayyyy! I've missed him! 

Yesterday we rounded out our Christmas festivities with a little bowling, our second annual Boxing day bowling outing!  Afterwards, I went back downtown and spent a little time with my lovely friend Amy who is in town from New York...indefinitely since pretty much all flights are cancelled. BLIZZARDZ Y'ALL.

Now it's back to work...I needed a quadruple espresso today and...probably an extra day to recoup from all the eating that happened (happened...like it's a passive activity. I can not be held accountable).

Do you guys ever get the post- Christmas blues? I sure do. After a whole month (and then some) of preparing, planning gifts, decorating, cooking holiday treats (maybe putting on like.. oh... 8 lbs...) listening to Christmas carols 24/7 and just relishing in the merriment of the season, it just kind of.... stops. Like.. that's it, it's over. Now you have to wait 365 more days for it to happen again. wh... what? Whyyyy? So much build up and then all of a sudden, its December 26th, you're surrounded by piles of wrapping paper, and there's chocolate on your face.

Anywho, here's a teeny amount of shots from the weekend- I hardly took any photos, I was too busy playing and having fun!



Christmas Eve dinner @ Perry's Steakhouse. AMAZING GOOD.



Michelle opening presents Christmas morning.



Stockings hung by the chimney with care....



Have you guys started to think abou 2011 resolutions yet? I need to make a list of mine!

Heavy Hearts

You'll be missed, Gammaw.

I'm Thankful For: Part II

 II: by Lena



"I am thankful for my sweet baby girl, Claire.  She is my little sunshine and I have many reasons to be thankful for her.  One of my favorite times with her is the nights I get to tuck her into bed.  I have come to cherish and love our little routine of reading a book, scratching her back, and singing “You are my Sunshine.”  It’s in this moment that I know she knows just how loved she really is."

Thanks so much for your story, Lena!

To read more from Lena, hop on over to her blog Stella Sola!

I'm Thankful For: Part I

This is the first of a special set of Thanksgiving posts dedicated to highlighting what my friends and family are thankful for (since I'm so thankful for them!). I'll be posting them throughout today and tomorrow and encourage you to let the people you're thankful for know how much they mean to you!

I: by Stacy

"I am thankful for my wonderful grandmother and that I get to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her! She’s been through a lot over the last few years – breast cancer, a double mastectomy, and now bladder cancer twice, which unfortunately isn’t responding well to radiation and chemotherapy this second time around.  We have to be realistic in that this may be our last Thanksgiving with her and although that makes me sad and angry and a whole mix of other emotions, I have to also think that I’m lucky to have had her in my life for the last 24 years. She’s always been there for me, we have a very close relationship, and besides always being supportive of me and full of words of wisdom, she’s never failed to make me laugh. She’s a typical Jewish grandmother, originally from The Bronx, and I will always think of her when I drink my cwoffee and walk my dwawg. Oy vey. I’m getting verklempt..."

Thanks so much for your story, lady! To read more from Stacy, be sure to visit her at Stacy Says!

She's good people.

Stay tuned for more stories of thanks to come!



My brand spankin' new, 40 year old thermos!

This... is my new thermos. After the stressful afternoon on Saturday, Ryan and I went down the street to the Texas Junk Co and poked around for a while. After a few minutes, I stumbled upon this gem! I can't wait to get some red carnations in it.

I sent this photo to my mom. She replied "Oh my gosh! Pappy (her daddy) had one just like it. Amazing!..."

  It was meant to be mine.

You'll have a good time... "I ga-ron-tee" - Justin Wilson

OH HAY!

Ryan and I finally made our way over to the Crescent City for the long labor day weekend. It was Ryan's first visit so of course I made a list of things he had to see/do/eat. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the trip and I still have a few more to upload. Just so happened to be the 36th annual Southern Decadence festival and the French Quarter was buzzing at all hours. We stayed up late and woke up early so we wouldn't miss anything... and I'm not quite sure I'm fully recovered 4 days later.

Napoleon House- oldest bar in the Quarter!

Behind St. Louis Cathedral at night

Bourbon Street

Jax Brewery

Streetlamps

The Dome! (Where the Saints beat the Vikings last night! YUS!)

Where the levees broke, the source of much devastation in the city.

9th Ward. I don't even know...

Sal's snoballs in Metairie!

St. Louis Cathedral

Gift shop silliness.

Cafe du Monde!

(real pretty, me. yeesh...)

We had such an amazing trip, saw so much and walked everywhere and still have some "must-sees" on the list to save for next time. So wonderful to visit with some family, too! The weather was perfection, we ate, drank, strolled and relaxed. You can't not love this city.

GIVEAWAY! 60s inspired lawn ornament hoop bulletin board!

To celebrate my sister Michelle's 26th birthday I'm having a giveaway! Leave a comment here to enter to win this 60s inspired lawn ornament embroidery hoop bulletin board! This contest is open to all facebook friends and blog readers. Winner will be chosen on Thursday the 26th. Yipee!

[please note: there are two small thumbtack holes on the board...]