~Our 6 Month Austin Anniversary!~

Wow, I always thought that “time goes by faster the older you get” was just something that people said, but it really does!  January marks 6 months of being in Austin already!  In honor of that, I’m writing about my six most favorite things here so far:

1)       The Texas pride:  Okay, so this is not specific to Austin, but damn, Texans are proud of their state!  From the Texas star carved in the concrete on highway bridges, and “everything’s bigger/better” in Texas slogans (not to mention “keep Austin weird” slogans) on everything from billboards to t-shirts, to specialty Texas/Austin gift stores, these folks are proud of where they’re from!  The local grocery store, H-E-B even has tortilla chips that are in the shape of the state of Texas.  Not joking.   Obviously, I still think nothing is finer than Carolina ;) but the state pride is pretty awesome here.

2)      The people:  SO welcoming, nice, outgoing, friendly… I can go on and on.  I’d say we’ve been so lucky to meet so many awesome people that have become friends already but I think that it’s just how they are.  We’re celebrating Patrick’s birthday tomorrow night by going to dinner with ten others and I’m so grateful for the ease we had settling here with such great people!

3)      The Hill Country:  I had no idea until I moved here, but as soon as you are to the West of downtown, the roads are surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills.  It is stunning.

4)     The winters (or, the LACK thereof):  I never have an will never be a cold weather person, so I am a happy girl!  I haven’t worn a winter coat yet and was in shorts a week ago.  In January!!  We can take Sadie to the park, go on long runs/walks, eat outside, and never shiver!   To everyone living in snow flurries and bundled up, I know I’m rubbing it in but I just LOVE it so much I can’t help it.  I will take 100 plus degree days all summer in exchange for a 70 degree January any day.

5)      The location of our house:  I don’t know how long we’ll be in this specific location but it has been incredible.  We can walk to various restaurants, are close to the highway, and best of all, can walk or run to the pathway around Town Lake in less than 10 minutes

6)     Which is convenient because the FOOD is my next favorite thing….okay maybe my most favorite thing:  Seriously, the food trailers, the Tex Mex, the five awesome Italian restaurants I’m in love with… we are discovering new places every week!  Adding to my love is the fact that almost everywhere has a nightly happy hour ;)

 

Ladybird Lake trail

I can’t wait to see what the next six months have in store for us! 

~Recipe for a Happy New Year~

Happy 2012 Everyone!!  I posted this last year but I just love it so wanted to post again... lots of good resolutions in here!  Cheers :)

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Recipe for a Happy New Year ~ Anonymous

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, prayer, meditation, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing—don't do it), and one well-selected resolution.

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

Happy New Year!!

~Comfort and Joy~

Lucky for me, Patrick had work in Charlotte this month which meant that I got to come to North Carolina for a lonnggg visit this holiday season!  I spent the weekend of the 16^th-18^th in Charlotte and got to see so many old friends there before coming to Cary the following Monday.  Charlotte has two new stores – the SoBo Loft and Boutique and the Boulevard at South End, both of which have adorable home décor items and fun other gifts for anyone who is doing last minute shopping today ;)
 

I took the train for the first time since I obviously don’t have a car when I come home which was kind of fun!  It’s actually cheaper than driving since the $27.00 ticket beats filling up a tank these days.  You can check up to three 50 lb. bags for free and then get to relax in a fairly spacious seat and watch the world go by or read or catch up on email your whole trip.  They even have two outlets in each aisle so you can charge your phone/computer etc.  It’s not quite as cool as getting on at platform 9 ¾ and heading to Hogwarts, but it’s still a great way to travel and I highly recommend it!

After four straight days and nights of parties and get-togethers in Charlotte, I spent the first two days in Cary relaxing at home.  Tuesday night I went with a few girlfriends to Café Caturra which was so much fun, and good for the soul (you just can't beat old friends!)  A wine and tapas restaurant, there is a huge wood burning fireplace inside that we sat next to while we caught up (not that we needed the heat in the 70 degree weather…but the ambiance was nice!) Kudos to Cary on having such a fun, trendy spot!

There really is nothing like being home for Christmas… being with family and friends that are like your family really do bring the most comfort and joy J  I hope all of your final preparations are coming together and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

~The Life of a Housewife~

As someone who, until September, has never been married and never without a job since she was fourteen, “housewife” is definitely a new role for me!  While I am looking for a job and have a few prospects on the horizon (cross your fingers for me!), I am, for the time being, a housewife…weird. 

Maybe it’s my new found love of Mad Men, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m finally taking the advice of so many friends, but the last few weeks I’ve tried to let go of my impatience regarding the lack of bringing home a paycheck and actually enjoy this time (easier said than done).  I admit it's not exactly my first choice, I’m the type of person who's at a loss when she doesn't have a million things to do, but... I know as soon as I start working again I'll be wishing there were more hours in the day!  So I’m using this downtime to read, run, actually stay on top of things like wrapping gifts and mailing packages on time, cook, and of course spoil Sadie with lots of play time/long walks/etc ;).  Since I’ve been cooking so much, I decided to share a couple recipes I’m loving right now.

Our friends Ryan and Ashley are coming over tonight for dinner and I’m making wine stew.  I wanted to share this recipe because it’s perfect for chilly weather and takes no time at all.  I’m a huge fan of crock pot recipes because you can throw everything in and leave it for hours while you go to work (or you know, continue your job search and walk the dog..whatever). 

Ingredients

2 lbs. stew meat (find it in the beef section of the grocery store, already cubed)

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 envelope French onion soup mix

1 cup burgundy wine (I didn’t have burgundy and didn’t want to buy it just for this recipe, so I’m using Cabernet instead, which I always have on hand, naturally)

Instructions: combine all ingredients in crockpot.  If you’ll be around the house, put on high for one hour then low for several hours.  If you’ll be gone all day long, just put on low all day. 

Serve over rice… easy!

And for dessert… Pumpkin cake balls

YUM.  I love, love, love pumpkin bread this time of year however, my recipe makes so much that I had a ton leftover.  Enter pumpkin cake balls.  Easy, cute, and easily adapted to whatever your personal taste (I made two versions).  Basically take half a loaf of pumpkin bread (or chocolate cake or whatever you want, really) and combine with about half a container of icing, mixing together well.  I used half a loaf of the bread with cream cheese icing and half with coconut pecan icing.  Put the mixture in the fridge for a while to cool it down so it’s easy to form balls.  Once cool, form small scoops out of the mixture and place on parchment paper.  Put a toothpick in each individual ball then freeze. 

After freezing for a few hours (or overnight, it doesn’t matter), microwave your preference of baking chocolate squares in a small bowl.  Be careful as you do this, go for about a minute and a half, stir, then heat again in small increments of time to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn.  Once chocolate is melted, dip the balls in the chocolate holding the toothpick and place back on parchment paper.   The chocolate will set almost immediately since the cake balls are so cold but if you’re quick and so desire, you can have a second bowl with finely chopped nuts or sprinkles that you can dip the ball in while the chocolate is still setting. 

And that’s all!  You can keep in the freezer right until about ten minutes before you want to serve, they thaw quickly.  It’s different and I think would be great at a party because you can grab a toothpick for a bite size of dessert instead of having to balance a piece of pie on a plate…. Enjoy!

~Thankful~

Well, it’s obviously been a looonnngggg time since my last post.  I don’t really have any excuse; there’s been a lot going on, plenty to blog about and I just.. haven’t!  Early New Year’s resolution: blog more? ;)

            I write now as Mrs. Emily Agnew (yay!)  The wedding and honeymoon were in a word; unbelievable.  Fabulous, perfect, and (in discussing places on our honeymoon) breathtaking also come to mind.  I suppose everyone has this mentality but our wedding weekend was everything we could’ve asked for and more from our vendors to having SO many of our friends and family there with us to celebrate, we both agreed that we’d do everything again exactly the same way in a heartbeat.  The honeymoon was perfect, having my husband (still get a kick out of saying that!) to myself for two weeks on a Mediterranean cruise with no cell phones, verrryyyy slow and limited internet and lots of great food, wine, and sightseeing is something that we’ll cherish forever.

            And now, somehow, it’s the holiday season!  Don’t know where this year went, but I am happy to celebrate my favorite time of year!  We decided to spend our first Thanksgiving as a married couple in Texas and headed to South Padre Island for a long weekend.  South Padre is about 5 and a half hours from Austin, but we were told that being from North Carolina and used to “beautiful beaches” that we should make the trek as it’s the nicest beach in Texas.  We were not disappointed!  I used vrbo.com (check it out for all your vacation rentals, love them!) and found a one bedroom, dog friendly condo right on the beach with a pool/hot tub, kitchen, and for a bargain.

            While it was definitely strange in a way to be away from NC and not with my family for the holiday, our weekend was amazing.  The weather was perfect, 80 – 85 degrees all three days we were there.  Our condo unit ended up being right next to a classic beach bar, the “wanna wanna”,  with the islands best shrimp, great drinks, and pretty awesome people watching ;)  We had a buffet Thanksgiving and consumed wayyy too much of all the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc and loved the raw seafood stations included.  (No broccoli casserole which is my fave, but it probably couldn’t measure up to my mom’s anyway!).  Sadie proved that yes, she really is our “daughter” as she loves the beach as much if not more than we do!  Between taking her for walks, fetch in the ocean, not worrying about cooking, and just relaxing, it was an absolutely wonderful Turkey day!

~our beyond happy puppy on the beach~

            We got back in town yesterday afternoon to beat the traffic and went to dinner at a place I’ve been meaning to blog about for some time: Garage Mahal.  If you like Indian food, you HAVE, have, have to come here if you are in Austin.  It’s technically one of Austin’s many food trailers but it is a full service restaurant instead of a trailer where you order at the counter.  There’s a huge tent set up in front of the trailer and there is plenty of outside seating as well.  Heaters are on no since a cold front has finally come through to Austin and the place is always crowded.  They serve amazing naan and truly excellent curries.  To add to the restaurant’s appeal, it’s bring your own alcohol, so you bring whatever beer or wine you’d like to accompany your meal and the waiters are happy to bring glasses and an opener J  Patrick is obsessed with Indian food and since discovering this place, I am too so we’ve been here several times and each time have walked away amazed at how fantastic it is.

            I'm definitely overwhelmed with gratitude for all that has happened and that we've experienced this year.  I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and are ready to jump into the Christmas craziness!!  I don't have room for two trees this year and have no fireplace in our Texas house, but I spent the day decorating and one tree is up, the stockings are hung (on the wall!) and my Yankee “Sparkling Pine” candle is lit… what a wonderful start to the holidays!

~ShOwErEd with lOvE~

So I woke up today with an email from the hair/makeup girl for the wedding saying that she won’t have enough time to provide services for everyone listed and she will “try and find an assistant to come and hopes they aren’t all booked”  this is after I reached out to her to touch base after already giving her this information in late May… total stress/frustration.  On top of the fact that work continually throws new projects my way that I can’t physically complete without working wayyy overtime (which frankly, I’m not motivated to do considering my last day is supposed to be August 31^st).  The same work that hasn’t even started interviewing my replacement which I’m afraid means they’ll want me to continue working… which I really can’t do full time because I have a million other details to finish for the wedding… AHHH!!  Why is it that no matter how far in advance I try to plan things, how on top of it I try to be there are ALWAYS  things that come up?  Life I guess??

Okay, venting time is over, time to remind myself that I am SOOO lucky because I have so many people in my life that are helping and making this entire experience (of getting married) even more exciting and special than I could imagine. 

I’m finally getting around to posting photos of the last few weeks and here are a few from the stunning shower a week and a half ago.

 I am lucky enough to have a mom who is a great planner and friend and even luckier that she has a circle of close friends that are literally like second (and third and fourth and ninth) mom’s to me.  These are women who’ve known me since birth and it means so much to have them be a part of the celebrations. 

~My mom and I~

~The four amazing hostesses~

I adore formal events and love any chance to dress up so the bridal shower was perfect!  The shower was held at McGregor Country Club and was just beautiful from the flowers and candles to the menu cards, to the adorable petit fours for dessert.  I was spoiled with gifts and showered with love!

 

~Last Fling before the Ring~

I spent 10 days back in North Carolina for my Bachelorette weekend, wedding planning, bridal showers and lots of family time.  I was definitely missing Patrick and Sadie while gone but there really is no place like home, especially when you’re home for such fun events! 

We went to Charleston for the bachelorette weekend and it was SUCH a perfect one.  I honestly can’t imagine being any luckier.  It’s been so long since I’ve gone to Charleston without having an agenda and to be able to spend a week in this charming town with 13 of the people closest to me was so incredible!  My sister did have an agenda however, and did such a phenomenal job organizing everyone and planning just enough for our time there while leaving the majority of the time for catching up.  The best part of the weekend was seeing everyone, but there were some other highlights as well:

Irvin House Vineyard and Firefly Distillery

As a surprise on Saturday, we piled into cars and headed about 25 minutes west to Irvin Vineyards, the only domestic winery in Charleston.  They grow the grapes, harvest them, make the wine, and bottle our wines on the property.  It is run by a couple who met while already semi-retired and when they married, decided to follow their dreams and passions of making wine (for Jim) and gardening (for Anne) and planted the grapes in 2001.  Pretty inspiring to take on such a project in retirement and definitely my idea of a retirement plan!  The woman running the little store/gift shop and conducting the tasting were incredibly gracious, so excited to host our group, and just lovely people.  Also helping in running the show are three dogs; Chloe, Cassie, and Harry Potter J. 

On the same property is the home of the Firefly Distillery, which also has a tasting room.  Jim is the co-founder of Firefly and they also have done an incredible job keeping this product local.  For $6.00 you can purchase a flight of six of the ten different varieties of the vodka (including Raspberry, Mint Tea, Peach Tea, and Lemonade) and then purchase what you’d like (the lemonade and spiced rum are only available here for purchase and I’d definitely stock up on the lemonade if you go!).

Dinner at Blossom: YUM.  Dining in Charleston is really always delish, and Blossom was no exception.  I highly recommend the she-crab soup, the yellow fin tuna Carpaccio, and the shrimp and grits (no I didn’t actually eat all of that; best part about going out to eat with 13 girls is sharing!).  We also had amazing BBQ and mac and cheese at Jim N Nicks and a fabulous brunch at High Cotton, which features a jazz band in it’s beautiful bar.

Between the food, cocktails, and best friends anyone could ask for, it was such an incredible weekend and one I’ll forever have wonderful memories from.  *But while it might be last one before I'm an Mrs., it better not really be the last fling - LOVE these girls ;)