My tan is peeling

While we're ridiculously busy around here, I thought I'd stop by a moment to share a couple of pictures from my "Sad-to-see-30-but-I'm-hoping-this-pina-colada-will-help" trip to the Dominican Republic. We had an absolute blast even though this Texas girl was melting on the first day.

I got an awesome tan, but am currently in the dreadful process of peeling. Boo to peeling tans.

We close on our old house this Friday, so we're in the middle of packing everything up and moving into our temporary home at the apartments. We released the contingency on the new home on Mother's Day so we're looking forward to beginning to see some action on our lot! Exciting but stressful times ahead!

I'll check in after the move cause without a house to clean, I'll have plenty of time for bloggin'! Hugs and kisses to you all!
xoxo

Howdy y'all!

We're back from a Christmas up north! We had fun but I'm happy to be back home with my cuddly babies. :)

In these parts, we're getting some real life snow, so I figured I'd just pop in to say hi while I was cozy in bed.

Did everyone have a nice holiday? What did y'all get? Southern Hubby got me an awesome lens for my camera! I was tres excited, especially since I have a class at SMU that I'm taking in February. Can't wait! It's fun to be acutally building up a small arsenal of lenses-- photography is so hard but the results are worth it.

Here are just a few of the pictures from our trip...

Baby Rex, our sweet and utterly adorable cousin.

This was Matty's first Christmas, so of course we had to spoil the heck out of him. Southern Hubby got him some goodies to make up for the past lousy Christmases he spent in the puppy mill.

Southern Hubby and his brother. We were walking to the bar where we ran into this guy...

Guess Santa needs a rum and diet around the holidays like the rest of us...

Southern Hubby's cousin and his wife are due in February. They asked me to take a couple of pictures for them.

We woke up to this type of meal every single morning....yummy sugary goodness. Sadly, I gained almost 5lbs during the holidays. Boo. Guess it's back to my gym after the new year. I'm giving myself a couple more gluttonous days. :)

 

With some cousins-- on our way to see my brother in law play at a bar. He's in an awesome band.

I hope everyone had a fabulous and safe time with friends and family. I have other Christmas goodies I want to share with you in the new year. So, I'll be back soon. Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve. Bring on 2010, baby!!

xoxo

Camping

This has been our third weekend in a row to camp. I think I'm done for a little while. Even in our sweet trailer, I feel like I'm roughing it. I'm not the outdoorsy girl I thought I was. No matter how many purchases at Cabella's I make.

Right now, all I want are my 1000 thread count sheets, Blackberry access, and a Starbucks down the road.

We go for Round 4 in early November. So, I must remind myself of why I love the outdoors.

...the way the sky looks before the rain.

...the fact that calories don't count when you're in the wilderness.

... waiting patiently for my sweet shy boy to catch up,

... remembering how perfectly cute he is when he finally does.

... capturing pictures of things I take for granted most days,

...and of things I didn't even know existed.

Remember, tomorrow is the last day to win that super cute apron! Oh, and Kappa Prep and I decided to make Preppy Blogger Club Mondays a bi-weekly thing, so check back next week for our new selection. :)

Happy Monday, folks! Let's spread lots of love today to those we know and those we don't, ok?

xoxo Y

The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:34

On the road again

Who knew this small town country scene was 2 minutes from our suburban heaven?

We're hitting the road later on today. I've got about a million and one things to do to get the trailer ready for it's first full weekend of camping. Stressed! This next month is our busiest with so much going on- our annual family camping trip (we stay in cabins, so it's technically not camping. lol), Southern Hubby's birthday, my sweet mother in law is coming for a visit, my favorite holiday and our annual Southern Family Halloween costume bash!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Be back on Monday with a new Preppy Blogger of the Week as well as an apology. :(

Happy trails, y'all!

xoxo Y

Our first RV adventure!

We've arrived at our first RV destination- a little RV resort north of the small college town, Denton. I think 'resort' was a little bit of a stretch seeing as we already saw an old man walking around wearing nothing but jeans and a pair of suspenders! (Although Southern Hubby said this counted as a shirt around these parts.)

Unfortunately, as soon as pulled up, we started having trouble. For some reason, SH couldn't get the hitch off of the trailer. It was stuck on there pretty good. After about 15 minutes of working on it, somehow it came off but poor SH was already sweaty and tired. (He was adamant that I not ask for help from the other men camping around us. Men, sheesh!) I immediately went inside with the pups who were having some trouble breathing seeing as it was hot and very humid. Thankfully, SH got the electricity going and things cooled off.

I got to work cleaning and getting things sorted out while SH did some things on the outside like hook up the water hoses. As I started unpacking, I began realizing that there were many (many) things we had forgotten. For example, pots and pans to cook in, a cookie sheet for the cookies I had planned on making that night, trash bags, a sponge to wash the dishes, the toilet chemicals we left in the car at home, paper towels, etc. Oh, and compound all that with the huge tension headache I was having. Things were looking disastrous! So was our little Bee Hive.

After a while, we got most things sorted out. I took a little nap with the pups in the hopes that my bad headache would go away and SH did a little work on the computer. (They had wireless here on the grounds so he was able to log in, thankfully.)

After I woke up, we ate an early dinner (tuna sandwiches and chips thanks to our forgetfulness) and watched Texas beat up on Tech on SH new TV (Hook 'Em!!). Girls, I literally had to force him to get a 19". He was hoping somehow to fit a 26" in here but I thought that was a little much. Thankfully he gave in and we ended up with a great little TV! It fits nicely.

Even though the trip started a bit rough, I think we're going to love it! We settled in nicely and enjoyed spending time in our little Bee Hive. We're hoping to get out next weekend too, although as I type this, it's thundering pretty loudly. Hopefully the ground dries up by the weekend!

Also, please don't forget to don't forget about sweet Mr. Churchill. Sadly, this is what his paypal fund looks like today. If you don't feel comfortable donating via paypal, then please just send a check straight to the animal shelter. I'll have to use the honor system on this one. Send me an email and let me know you did donate so that you can be entered to win all the goodies.

And I've lowered the minimun entry to only one day's worth of Starbuck's coffee and a fat free slice of blueberry coffee cake- $5! That's all you need to donate to enter to win one of Churchill's fab swag gift bundles!!! Let's make this happen for this sweet gift from God!

UPDATE: If you donated to Churchill, I DID get the money! I just needed to go into paypal to confirm the email connected with the account. Sorry about that!!! I'll have first name only list of those who did donate. Thanks so much yall! My heart is bursting!!! -jrb

Here is the link of people who's donations have gone through:

1. Anna S.
2. Baylee C.
3. Stephanie P.
4. Lyndsay S.
5. Lindsay R.

6. Kelley B
7. Susan E. K.

8. Margaret C.

9, Katie B.
10. Amy B.
11. Brittney A.

Happy travels, y'all!

xoxo Y

We are officially RVers!

No, we are not the average age to be doing this, but, after months and months of researching, we finally bit the bullet. We purchased our first new (to us!) RV travel trailer! Our new pride and joy is a 2006 Jayco Jay Feather Sport 197. We love love camping and we're hoping that this little thing will be able to further our camping season. In Texas, the good camping months are really only October-November and April and maybe early May. Otherwise, it's just too hot or too cold.

It may not be new, but it's is awesome condition physically. There are plenty of aesthetic things we want to change inside to fit our needs, but of course we have to do it all as we go. They say updating and customizing your RV is always more expensive than the initial purchase. This definitely seems to be the case.

Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts (Southern Hubby is still working very hard on a big project but will hopefully be finished by this next Friday!) we won't be able to pick it up until next weekend. We've named him, "The Bee Hive" because SH grandparents named themselves the B's. (Our last name begins with the letter B) We even have a couple of family members with very small hidden bee tattoos, too. We think the name is a little silly but we love it! I suggested the Stinger, but SH just about laughed me out of town, so the Bee Hive it is! (I've already got an etsy designer working on a small decal. lol!)

Here are just a couple of pictures of Mr. Hive. Of course, this is before it's been Jennifer-ized. The wheels of my decorating mind have been turning non-stop since we purchased it. I'm dying to get rid of that hideous upholstery (who designs RV fabric?!) but my sewing skills just aren't there. (I called a shop around here that specialized in this and they estimated $150 per 20 inches! Ummm...no!) Guess we'll be living with it for a while. Besides that, there's really nothing that we just hate. Thankfully my skills are advanced enough to sew straight lines so those floral curtains will most definitely be going.

We are beyond excited! Can't wait to take this baby out on it's maiden voyage!

PS- It sleeps 5! We have room for guests! ;) Who's first?

Happy Trails!

xoxo Y

Yay! Re-design finished!

Can I just say how absolutely, positively tired I am of HTML, tutorials, blog tricks, Photoshop, Photobucket, and my computer keyboard?

I went with popular demand and kept the header I had. Last night I thought it was too much pink, but it looked a lot better to me in the morning for some reason. I now know why blog designers charge so much. They are worth every single penny. And too bad for me spending my month's worth of fun money on this beauty because I was forced to do it myself instead of hiring someone to do it for me! (But I think it was worth it- and even though I didn't need another black purse, she's pretty darn gorgeous.)

We're heading out of town this weekend to visit one of my favorite cities- San Antonio. Southern Hubby and I got married there (even though that is not where we live) and I went to college there so it holds a lot of fond memories for me. Unfortunately SH is swamped with work right now so we're not able to take a summer trip longer than a weekend. :( But SA is a great compromise. :) I'll be back Monday with pictures, of course.

I think I'm going to walk away from my computer now. I'm in desperate need of a good stretch, a long shower, a change of clothes and something to eat. And if I don't leave now, I'm scared that my patootie will become permanently attached to this chair.

Happy early weekend!
xo Y

PS- Be on the lookout for a new button, too!

Smallest Blessings Thursday

Seems I stirred up some controversy with my Mrs. Southern Hubby post! All I can say is that I stand by my words. Having his name as mine makes me feel loved, taken care of and respected. However, I will say that I dropped my middle name and made my middle name my maiden name. I have three sisters and thus, my daddy's name will stop with us. And I just couldn't let it go. It was a part of me for 24 years and I just couldn't part with it. I didn't hyphenate because I wanted to be able to use Mrs. Southern Hubby but still keep my full name.

Anyways, enough of that! On to Smallest Blessing Thursdays.

I know I said we had just started our Dave Ramsey envelope system, however, the real reason we did our budget was to see if I was able to afford to make the monthly payments on an RV with my business profits. Turns out, I was! I've wanted an RV since forever and I'm sooo excited we are able to get one!

We're only looking at smaller travel trailers since it's just us two and the pups and we're first time RVers. Plus, my SUV can only tow a maximum of 5,500 lbs.

We spent last weekend traveling all over the place looking at RVs. We've worked out the kinks with insurance and our bank and are thinking of buying one this weekend. The one I'm looking at is Coachmen. We were looking for new and used but ended up finding a wonderful deal on a brand new one, so we'll probably get that one. It fits all our needs. If we like it when we see it in person and decide to purchase it, I'll be sure to share pictures.

So, for my smallest blessing, I'm so thankful for all the memories we will make out on the road. I'm thankful that my business is thriving and that I'm able to not even touch Southern Hubby's paycheck. I'm thankful that even in this economy, we are able to make purchases like this. We are truly blessed.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Smallest Blessings Thursday!

xoxo Y

PS- Why is Mr. Linky still acting up?! Hopefully this one will work.

The Southern Family and the Riviera Maya

Even though we just got back from vacation, it's really nice to be home. We thrive under routines, so it was good to be able to snuggle up last night with my Southern puppy and a (still) red Southern Hubby. Oh, the simple things God blesses you with.

We've been all over the Caribbean side of Mexico except Cancun, so we figured we may as well give it a try. After first making a reservation on the Cancun side, we decided we didn't want to deal with a bunch of drunk, noisy teenagers so we switched to the Riviera Maya side and made reservations at the Iberostar Paraisio Maya. The grounds were breathtaking at times. This hotel really put in every detail they could think of! The staff was friendly and warm as expected. There were too many pools to count and I got to have all the pina coladas I could handle. It was great to be able to reconnect to SH after such a tough few months. He really needed this.

All in all, it was a wonderful 4 days. :) Here are just a couple of pictures. For some reason, my camera and I just weren't 'clicking.' (Get it!? hee hee) So I'm not too fond of the pictures I took. I don't know what's up with it. Maybe I need to get out there more and practice.

Well, I'm off to get my bags unpacked and get my house somewhat back in order! Hope everyone had a wonderfully relaxing weekend!

Happy Monday!
xoxo Y

I wanted to sneak this bench into one of my suitcases and take it back with me to Texas. Loved it!

Our Junior Suite was bigger than SH first apartment! Lol!

isn't he the cutest!?

beautiful and secluded pathways everywhere!

PS- The Apronista is having a great apron giveaway. Head over there to enter! :)