Summer - what an adventure

Available in my Texas Lovely shop

What an amazing summer. I think every summer is wonderful but this one was particularly great - Mr. Right and I got to enjoy a carefree couple of months that didn't involve much travel or any major projects (except for the patio) and it allowed us to just LIVE.

We did pretty well on our summer bucket list, but we also lived some unexpected adventures. We built a patio and the world's largest urban vegetable garden (or so it seems). I started a new business. Mr. Right changed careers. We got not one but TWO handsome little nephews. 

It was definitely an adventure.

So without further delay, here is my FINAL tally of our Second Annual Summer Bucket List Success:

Eat dinner on a patio

Have a picnic on Trinity Trail

Learn to bake a pie 

Take a moonlit walk with Mr. Right on the beach

Wear shorts and heels

Ride my bike

Plan a secret date for Mr. Right

Hold my new nephew
Go to a Rangers Game
Kiss Mr. Right while watching fireworks
Learn to sew something new
Finish my husband's quilt
Host a dinner party
Dip my toes in the ocean
Marry off my dear friend Katie
Do something spontaneous
Get a mentor
Cook with vegetables from our garden
Get a pedicure
Eat a sno-cone
Take a road trip (We just barely squeezed this in - a last-minute trip to Midland to meet our nephew)
Make one of the recipes from my Pinterest board
Eat a candlelit dinner at home
Finish writing Chapter 1 of my book

Visit a state park

Take a photography class
Go to a museum
Pre-plan all my meals for one week
Go to a festival
Dance with Mr. Right in the kitchen
Finish making the Christmas wreaths for my mantle

Get a new dog

Have a fish fry

And that, my friends, is the Summer of 2012 in a nutshell. I am actually quite proud that I didn't accomplish ALL of my goals, because one thing my mentor told me was that I tend to put too much pressure on myself - I'm a perfectionist, and frankly it's exhausting. So it's sort of a relief that I left a few adventures to be had this fall, which officially starts tomorrow, or maybe whenever that Texas heat dips below 100 again, and I get to debut my beloved fall boots. 

Then again, we Texas girls tend to dress for fall long before the weather requires it.

To purchase this piece of art or any others, visit Texas Lovely on Etsy.

My Summer Bucket List Update

It's time for a little Summer Bucket List update (if you're new, here's 2011). We have been busy bees over in the Right house, crossing things off our list and dreaming up new and unexpected adventures. We've done pretty well, considering summer brought some unexpected new items to the bucket list (like starting a new business, building a patio, and a few other things that deserve their own blog posts). I'm choosing to think of this list as pure fun, and if I don't hit all the items, then I'm not going to stress one iota. In fact, it's my goal to add a little slacker-ness to my summer, which is a bit out of my nature. More than anything, this list helps us come up with ideas for fun date nights so we avoid the "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" rut of marriage. Mr. Right and I want to be FUN.

Here's a list of what we've done, with just a few weeks to go before the end of summer.

Eat dinner on a patio

Dinner at the ultimate patio... Joe T. Garcia's

The at-home version - a leisurely dinner on our back
patio one night while Mr. Right was working late -
just me, my ice tea, and The Bachelorette on my laptop. Bliss.

Have a picnic on Trinity Trail

Trinity Trail is like a little oasis in the middle of the city. If you want 
to get some fresh air, have a CHEAP date night, and enjoy a 
little romance, I highly recommend it.

We even brought Harley the Wonder Schnoodle along.

Learn to bake a pie

I learned to make peach cobbler (from fresh peaches no less!). My
definition of "pie" is something that you'd bring to Easter, Thanksgiving
or Christmas dinner. So cobbler definitely falls into the pie category.

I loved my peach cobbler so much I made it over. And over. And over.

Take a moonlit walk with Mr. Right on the beach

Marco Island, Florida

Wear shorts and heels

I actually did this quite often. Each time I felt kind of silly
but also kind of awesome. 

Ride my bike

I may be one of the few people who has a bike with cup holders.
Don't be jealous.

Mr. Right and Harley came along for the bike ride
(they go every single morning).

Plan a secret date for Mr. Right

I surprised him with tickets to Concert in the Gardens in Fort Worth. It was
one of the last cool weekends in June before the Heat Wave of 2012 hit.

Hold my new nephew

Luke James, born June 11, 2012

Man, he's a cute kid.

Go to a Rangers Game

We had a big debate before this game - is it trashy to wear workout clothes 
(running shorts and a t-shirt) to a Rangers game? Do you get a free pass 
if it's 104 degrees? We chose to go with the all-wick-away fabrics. 
And we chose right.

Rangers lost. But I got a lemon chill. So it was a good night.

Kiss Mr. Right while watching fireworks

Bucket list fail. I have no pics because I was too busy a-smoochin'. And excited because we hosted 35 friends for a fireworks watching party. But trust me - we crossed this one off the list, and have a few witnesses who will vouch for us.


Learn to sew something new

Want one of your own? 

Finish my husband's quilt

This was a quilt top we bought at an antique mall for $10 - the steal of the century.
The whole thing was hand-pieced, which took hundreds of hours. Mr. Right
picked out the quilt backing (his old sheet from college) and we bound it with
the shirt he bought for his first job at a Young Life camp in Colorado.
The whole thing has a ton of sentimental value.

This is Mr. Right modeling the finished product.

Host a dinner party

We hosted about 27 dinner parties, including one for our visiting preacher 
(that was pretty cool), dinner for about 35 people on July 4th, dinner 
for 15 girls at a bachelorette party, and a bunch with 6-8 guests. 
Each one was a blast - one of the highlights of our summer.

Dip my toes in the ocean

Marry off my dear friend Katie

Photo Source for both photos: www.mcgowanimages.com

Confession: I'm showing this one because it shows off my calf muscles, which I've never had before. Finally, those 800 million bazillion box jumps from crossfit have finally paid off. Oh, and it was a LOVELY wedding.

Do something spontaneous

We did a lot of spontaneous movie/sushi dates. Especially after we 
found out our local movie theater offers $5 Tuesdays. Score.

Get a mentor

Done - but this doesn't really lend itself to picture-taking.

Cook with vegetables from our garden

Man, those are some GIANT tomatoes, eh?

Get a pedicure

Eat a sno-cone

Make one of the recipes from my Pinterest board

This is not exactly "cooking" but I "arranged" based off my Pinterest board. 
Judge says - good enough.

Eat a candlelit dinner at home
If you don't take a picture, does it still count? We've had a few candlelight dinners including one where Mr. Right surprised me with one (along with a love note). That one was my favorite, and I was way too googly-eyed to remember to take a picture.

Finish writing Chapter 1 of my book

Done - but again, not really photo-worthy

Visit a state park

And here's what's left:

Take a photography class
Pre-plan all my meals for one week (confession: I have zero desire to do this, so it's probably not going to happen)

Go to a museum

Go to a festival

Dance with Mr. Right in the kitchen

Take a road trip

Finish making the Christmas wreaths for my mantle

Get a new dog (This will one is probably on hold for a little while)

Have a fish fry (with chicken strips for me, since I don't eat fish)


Two weeks to go - we'll see how many more I can cross off between now and then.

It was a good day... really.

So today I got to clean up a child's vomit, and a man asked me if I was pregnant.

Seriously, people? I haven't had a carb in 30 days! I'm feeling kind of awesome at the moment. I AM NOT PREGNANT AND PLEASE STOP ASKING ME BECAUSE YOU'RE GIVING ME A COMPLEX.

My husband says I should just throw away this shirt. But I love this shirt, so instead I've resigned myself to grabbing the offending person's hand, holding it up to my baby-less belly, and reminding them that I HAVE NOT HAD A CARB IN 30 DAYS AND I'M DOING CROSS FIT LIKE A CRAZY WOMAN. And that I'm not pregnant.

Whew. Must. Take. A. Deep. Breath.

But anyway, other than those two things, I actually had a quite wonderful day.

Did I mention I cleaned up puke? If you know me, you'll know why this is particularly laughable.

My evening is going to be even better, because I'm coming home to a box of freshly picked peaches from my in-law's neighbor's peach tree, and I am going to attempt to make my very first peach cobbler.

My chef husband will probably supervise. And stand there looking all cute and stuff.  

I can't wait. 

Summer Bucket List - Month One Completed

Before we get into my summer bucket list, I need to share with you what's going on in my world right now. Today, May 29, I begin my 30-Day Paleo Challenge. I'm doing it with Mr. Right and my sweet mother-in-law. 

30 Days of no sugar. No chocolate. No bread. No potatoes. No cheese. No cereal. NO SUGAR!

Have I mentioned that I've never in my life gone more than a day without bread or sugar? That is, if you don't count the days I've spent lying on my bathroom floor with the stomach flu. Otherwise, I'm a sugar-loving, bread-eating girl.

So say a little prayer for me. And maybe keep your distance as my body adjusts. It might not be pretty with two people in the same house going through sugar withdrawals together. For better or for worse, right?

Ahh, life as a grown-up. But I haven't felt awesome lately - maybe it has something to do with the fact that I've been on antibiotics non-stop for the past 17 months (my new normal after last year's health issues). Or maybe it's because I've been eating more indulgently since marrying my chef husband. But folks have promised that once you ween yourself off of the bread and sugar (and cheese... oh how I adore cheese), you start to feel really good. 

We'll see. 

Besides, the real reason is because I popped the button off of my biggest pair of work pants. If I don't do something I'm going to have to go shopping again. And that's just silly.

But back to the bucket list - here's an update on where I stand after my first month. Remember - I chose to begin summer on May 1 because soon it will be too hot to do most of my favorite outdoor activities. I'm pretty proud of the progress - and I have had a blast crossing things off. This is so much better than New Year's Resolutions - maybe I need to start a new movement toward lists of fun things instead of lists like "Make my bed every day." That's so overrated. (Just kidding mom.)

First... my completed items:

Take a moonlit walk with Mr. Right on the beach

Read about it here.

Wear shorts and heels 

I've done this several times but haven't snagged a picture of it yet - I promise I'll take one soon, for documentation purposes. Just be proud of me - every time I do this I feel kind of silly. And loud. But I'm starting to get used to the silliness and have been assured that the look is still age appropriate for this 30-ahem-something girl.

Learn to sew something new

I finally got around to making the ruffle pillow (there's a great tutorial here) I've been swooning over for about a year. It took less than an hour and is now proudly displayed on our bed. I am obsessed with ruffles right now - at the rate I'm going, poor Mr. Right may end up living in a house that looks like a giant ruffle threw up. It's a good thing he's a patient man. And at least they're not pink.

Host a dinner party

I was too busy enjoying my guests to get pictures of the folks who came to our dinner party - but here's a picture of our table before they arrived. You can see my ruffle obsession has also attacked my table runner. We served Mr. Right's famous Argentine soup (he spent a summer there in 2009), a big salad, and his famous pear and almond cream tarts.

I can't think about those tarts right now... they're not paleo-compatible. But oh man, are they good.

Dip my toes in the ocean

You can read about it here. 

Do something spontaneous

We found a sign for an estate sale on the side of the road and decided to take a detour. We found all sorts of wonderful treasures - you can read about it here.

But we weren't just spontaneous once. No, Mr. Right and I have been delightfully spontaneous for weeks now. Just Sunday night we decided at the very last minute to go see a late movie. I felt like I was 16 again. And just like when I was 16, I still made it home before curfew.

I love this picture because I kind of feel like a secret agent. And I was having a really good hair day. Can't you tell in the super-dark photo we took right before the 3D movie began? Yeah, I thought so.

Imagine how good my hair will look after 30 days of no sugar. 

Get a mentor

Cook with vegetables from our garden

I should point out that only the tomatoes were grown in our garden - the rest were grown at the garden down the street called Target. That garden seems to flourish a lot more than my own. And since this pictures was taken, one of my tomato plants has been completely eaten by a caterpillar and another has been eaten by some bug that I've yet to catch in the act. I'm heartbroken over the untimely demise of my beloved vegetable garden. When I went to work this morning I still had several tomato plants left - along with some peppers, squash, and herbs that have yet to yield anything worth talking about - but who knows what I will find when I get home. 

Stupid, stupid, very hungry caterpillar indeed.

Get a pedicure 

I don't have a picture of this, but know that it was absolute bliss. I went after a particularly crummy day and it was just what I needed. At least, it was the low-calorie version of what I REALLY needed - ice cream. But the pedicure was better for my waistline.

Oh my word - 12 hours without sugar and it's all I can think about. Can you tell?

Eat a sno-cone

Gasp. More talk about sugar. We went last night with my in-laws as part of our "last supper" before Paleo. Confession - the sno cone run was AFTER we carb-loaded at dinner. Think twice-baked potatoes and giant rolls. We decided to go out big.

Finish writing Chapter 1 of my book 

I talked about that here. And I've been diligently adding it to it. Such a fun adventure.

Visit a state park

You can read about it here.

 Still left on my list:

Eat dinner on a patio

Have a picnic on Trinity Trail

Learn to bake a pie (this obviously won't be happening in the next 30 days... maybe July)

Take a photography class

Ride my bike

Plan a secret date for Mr. Right (happening this Saturday)

Go to a museum

Hold my new nephew (he's due in one week)

Go to a Rangers Game

Kiss Mr. Right while watching fireworks

Finish my husband's quilt (almost done - I worked on it this weekend)

Pre-plan all my meals for one week

Marry off my dear friend Katie

Go to a festival

Dance with Mr. Right in the kitchen

Take a road trip

Make one of the recipes from my Pinterest board

Finish making the Christmas wreaths for my mantle

Eat a candlelit dinner at home

Get a new dog

Have a fish fry (with chicken strips for me, since I don't eat fish)

And there you have it - my summer continues.