Grocery Store....

We've all run into this problem when we're in line at the grocery store.... especially when we're in a hurry.

Hey... we went three days without any dog pictures on this blog!

I still try....

So, back in the day I used to to call myself a photographer. I could develop my own film, I could print my own pictures in a dark room, and I would proudly display and gift my pictures to people....

It was a great hobby, but eventually I had to give my camera back to the person I was borrowing it from and I moved to the digital age. Point and shoot.... instant gratification of your picture on the screen!

Well, last year my dad got my a Nikon D40 for my birthday and I have really enjoyed taking pictures again.... so, since we have nothing to blog about, and everyone is probobly sick of looking at pictures of the dogs, so here are some pictures I've taken over the years (some with the new camera... some with the digital point and shoot). Maybe I will start scanning my old pictures and post them here one day. I don't expect any of these photos at an art gallery.... The most I can hope for is one of these to be someones computer wallpaper.

My grandpa has an old tractor in his barn. I thought the cracking that happened to the paint over the years made the coolest pattern.

I took this one on a slower shudder speed while spinning under the Zilker Park Christmas tree with Madelyn.

Everyone has seen this one (see top of the blog), this is a picture I took of a mission in San Antonio. At one point all the outside of the missions were painted these bright colors, but not much remains today accept for this small exterior wall.

This is an older picture. I took this of Madelyn in front of the Bellagio fountains... it's one of my favorite pictures (Also, that's Barbara on her right!)

I don't know why I like this picture so much, but I think it's because it's so dark. I've always been a fan of darker colored pictures. I like that the Transamerica Building in the background is covered in fog.

This is of a bunch of old stamps in an antique shop in Gruene Texas.

Here's another San Antonio mission picture. We took a wrong turn in one of the missions and we
found this stairwell...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Madelyn. We were at Muir Woods near San Francisco. She didn't know I was taking it... and that's my favorite type of portrait.... She looks so pretty.

This is of the lake at Madelyn's family cabin. It's such a pretty place.... this picture doesn't do it justice. There's nothing too spectacular about this picture other then the water being calm enough to get a good reflection.

This is obviously the Brooklyn Bridge. This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken. The flag is at half mast since this is shortly after September 11th....

This little church in the middle of gigantic buildings in Manhattan was just the coolest. Reminded me of this book.

This is at my grandparents farm. Nothing too special about it, but it reminds me of being a kid and going to the farm with my grandpa. I like like the path my grandpas truck has made through the grass over the years.

I've seen a lot of Golden Gate bridge pictures over the years, but I've never seen one from this angle. In all the pictures of this bridge it seems like such and amazing landmark, but this picture reminds me that people use it everyday.... for most people it's just a way to get across the bay.

Nothing too great with this picture either... I just like all the colors. This is one of the few pictures I've taken where what I saw in person translated to a photograph well.

This is another one of the missions... but seriously, any picture you take at this place looks amazing.

Only 6 months ago!

So, yeah, this is another blog post about our dogs.... Are we crazy?

Definitely. But it's our website.... and we can post as many dog pictures as we want!


With the new addition of Sugar (aka, Ms. Sugar, White Dog, Shug, baby puppy... Falcor?) we have been reminiscing about when Rocky (aka, Rockster, Rockstar, Mr. Rocky, Rocks, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Racoon, Rocky Balboa, pups) was a tiny puppy. I know he's only 9 months old, but he's fully grown! Look how big he's gotten!


Here is Rocky, day 1, 14 pounds, 4 months old (Sugar's age now). This is literally 1 minute after bringing him home (exactly 10 minutes after we lost our minds).....

(Here he is pictured thinking "Ummmm, who are you? Where am I? I'm about to pee on your rug")

This is from last week.....He's now 9 months old, 50 pounds, and still the best dog ever. I'm sure he's also reminiscent about the good old days, where there wasn't a white dog chewing on his ear all day long.

(Here he is pictured staring at Sugar making sure she's not near his ears)

Wednesdays Are My New Favorite Day of the Week!

We were invited to an exclusive Project Runway Party last night at our friend Jessica's apartment. She hosted an excellent partay (yes, I meant to spell it that way) complete with snacks, adorable Project Runway themed cookies and gifts!

I took home a tiny sewing kit - love it! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (I'm always forgetting to bring it), so I stole a few pictures from Jessica's blog. Thanks Jessica! I'm hoping this will become a weekly tradition.

Visit from Keri!

We were so excited to have my sister Keri visit a few weeks ago for the 4th of July (sorry I'm a little late on the blog post). She was such a great guest and I hope she had as good of a time as we did. We were thrilled to host to try out the new guest room.

We started her trip by stopping by a taco stand (well, trailer actually) called Torchy's Tacos on the way home from the airport. We felt like it was a good plunge into Austin culture. Many of Austin's favorite eating establishments serve food out of trailers. Torchy's has a nice outdoor eating area so we were able to enjoy our delicious tacos in the cool (80-85) night air.

Cody and I had to work the next morning, so Keri got to spend a relaxing few hours hanging out with the dogs and reading in the back yard. Sugar and Rocky were really excited to have Keri around for extra pets and treats! I was able to meet Keri for brunch at Kerbey Lane, a local chain that serves breakfast all day. We tried their gingerbread pancakes which were delicious! Then we headed to another favorite destination - Super Target. We managed to spend 3 hours and a lot of money buying something in every department (makeup, groceries, clothes, etc.). We had to hurry home in order to make it to our movie in time.

One of the things on Keri's list was see a movie at the Alamo Draft House since we now use that movie theater exclusively. We saw Get Smart which was great and dined on some delicious food. I think Keri really liked the Alamo even though their service wasn't great that night. On the way home from the Alamo we stopped at Tiff's Treats (another favorite!) for some delicious cookies. Thanks to my persuasive email Tiff's Treats will be opening a new location right by our house, so future house guests can look forward to cookies delivered!

Friday was the 4th of July and we started the day off with some delicious breakfast tacos at Taco Shack (another thing on Keri's list). Then Keri and I headed to my favorite "US Spa" for some relaxing pedicures. They included hot stone massage on our calves and feet during the pedicure and then MORE hot stone massage on our necks while the nail polish dried. This place is awesome and we loved it. The ladies who were working there also tipped us off that some of the department stores were having big sales that day, so that was our next stop. Keri and I were both looking for new swimming suits (always a dreaded task) and Macy's was having a huge swimwear sale. Jackpot! Of the 15 cute suits that Keri tried on she came out with 5 that she loved! After narrowing it down some more she walked away with 2 really cute suits and I found one. It was a huge success.

While we were out we stopped by Firehouse Subs (another of our favorites) for some sandwiches, which were delicious, and then did some more shopping. Then we headed home to get everything ready for the BBQ we were having in honor of the 4th of July. Keri made some awesome black bean and corn salsa for the party which everyone loved. We threw some burgers on the grill and broke out Rock Band; add all of our awesome friends and you have the recipe for a great party.

girl band (L-R): Jessica on bass, Madelyn on guitar, Keri on drums - we rocked!

I think everyone had a great time at the BBQ and we were even able to see some fireworks from our front lawn!

Saturday we planned a fun day away from home which was supposed to include Barton Springs so we could cool off and try out our new suits. We got all the way down town and even paid to park when we saw the line to get in to the pool. It had to be 200 people long and it wasn't moving...at all. We scratched that idea and headed to the South Congress boutiques for some local shopping. We grabbed a slice of Home Slice pizza (delicious) and spent a fun afternoon boutiquing. We stayed downtown and hit up one of our favorite BBQ spots - Green Mesquite. We weren't the only people who had that idea, however, and it was so crowded that we had to share a picnic table with some other people. It was worth it though. We warned Keri in advance to save room for dessert because they have the best pecan pie I've ever tasted. We each ordered our own piece because I assured her it was so good that she wouldn't want to share. She agreed.

Me and Keri at Green Mesquite

Sunday we spent the morning at home and then headed to Matt's El Rancho (another of our favorites) for an early lunch of delicious Mexican food.

Me in front of the Matt's sign.

Cody was invited for a round of golf near where we ate, so we dropped him off and Keri and I headed to an awesome fabric store called Craft-o-rama which was recommended by our friend Jessica. We spent a long time and a little money there before we headed back to the boutiques on South Congress since we didn't get a chance to see them all on Saturday. Keri found an AWESOME teal parasol to shield her from the sun. As we walked out of the store and Keri opened her parasol a woman driving her car pulled over to the side of the road to ask Keri where she got her parasol. Talk about purchase satisfaction!

We hit up Amy's ice cream on the way to the airport (another request of Keri's) and then, sadly, said good bye as I dropped her off at the curbside checkin. I'm so glad that Keri was able to come visit and we really had a blast. Keri is the perfect guest. She is just the right amount of decisive and flexible to make for an enjoyable time. It's a good thing I will see her again next month or I would have cried (even more) all the way home from the airport.

Brunch in the Hamptons

Madelyn and I had quite the weekend.... On Thursday we headed downtown for a private party at a fancy restaurant that was debuting its new sushi bar. There were lots of people in a very limited space so we didn't stay too long. Since we were all hungry after the party (especially for those of us who don't like sushi!) we had a little miniature after party at a pub close by with all of our friends.

(we thought this wallpaper at the restaurant was cool)

Friday I surprised Madelyn with a fancy night out. Earlier in the day I was given an award at work that came with a gift card to an expensive restaurant. It was nice to order food and not have to even glance at the price.... I can't remember the last time we did that!

(You know why we stick out at a fancy restaurant? Because we're the only table taking pictures!)

Yesterday Tobi invited everyone over for a "Hampton's" themed brunch. Everyone looked really good, we had a delicious brunch, and Tobi even had the radio on the Smooth Jazz station..... the pictures that followed brunch were hilarious.

(We don't dress like this everyday.... but dressing up for this party was surprisingly easy with our current wardrobe. I guess we'd fit in the Hampton's)

(This is my J-Crew catalog ad)

(Life in the Hampton's is fun)

(I know we're crazy dog people but we draw the line at dressing our dogs like people..... but we just couldn't resist this hat that Tobi had.)

Then last night everyone came over to practice cookie making (while Jonathan and I played XBOX) and we watched a Mystery Science Theater from Jonathan's impressive collection....it was hilarious as always.

Best part about all of this? It's only Sunday morning.... we still have 24 hours of weekend left!

Side Note: If you click the "What we're listening to" or "What we're watching" on the side of the page it will now take you to a sample of that show or album! Super HIGH TECH!

Why have one when you can have two?

We owe everyone a blog, but we've been so busy lately we haven't had the time to sit down and make one! In the mean time.... Here are some pictures of our dogs who have really grown to like each other.

Here's Rocky keeping his eye out on Sugar. He needs to know where she is at all times....

If this doesn't make you want to get some dogs then you have a heart of stone!

One of Sugar's favorite things to do (besides chewing on Rocky's face skin) is to stare out the front door.... especially when there is a cat in the yard!

Sugar has already grown a TON since we got her.... but we are trying to take as many side by side pictures so we can look back one day and say "Look how tiny she used to be!"

Sugar is waiting patiently for the treat I promised her so that I could take this picture....

They know exactly what look to give us so that we let them back inside the house...

I like this picture because it looks like Rocky is laughing....

They follow both Madelyn and me from room to room.....