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.

Postcard from Marco Island

I just got back from a glorious four-day trip to the beach where I felt like a newlywed all over again. 

Mr. Right had a conference in Marco Island, Florida, and I happily hitched a ride with him and turned it into a mini vacation. Emphasis on the vacation - I did almost nothing but lie on the beach, lie by the pool, sip diet coke and soak up some new books. 

And write. Every morning I took my laptop down to the pool and hashed out pages of my new novel. Did I mention that I finally got the nerve to start the novel I've been day dreaming about for years? It's absolutely terrifying and I'm not yet ready to divulge much about it, but it's also exhilarating and a bit dangerous - in a good way - to finally sit down and pour out my thoughts onto paper and see where it all ends up. Who knows where that will be.

In the afternoons Mr. Right would join me (laptop-free this time) on the beach or by the pool for more sitting and doing absolutely nothing. I never just sit and do nothing at my house, so this made me over the moon happy. Besides, Mr. Right looks even dreamier while hanging out at the beach.

Two of our evenings were filled with conference obligations (which we enjoyed, the people there were a lot of fun), but one night we had all to ourselves, and Mr. Right cooked up a little plan to wow me right there in Florida. We got takeout Chinese food for dinner (he called it the "best bad chinese food" on the island), and we had a picnic on the dock of a yacht club, watching the sun set into the ocean as we dangled our feet in the water.

It was quite romantic.

And then we topped everything off with ice cream. It doesn't get any better than that.

Our trip also allowed me to cross TWO items off my summer bucket list. 

1. Dip my toes in the ocean. This photo shows my toes in the sand, right next to the ocean. The picture of my toes in the ocean makes my toes look funny. And I'm a girl and I don't want you to see my toes looking funny (I think it's something about water reflecting light and making things look distorted? I should have listened in junior high science class.). So here are my toes in the sand. But trust me when I tell you that I not only dipped these toes in the Gulf, but I swam all the way to my shoulders. You see, I don't like to get my hair wet. Even for special occasions like bucket lists.

2. Take a moonlit walk on the beach. We put this off to the last night there (because the other two nights we were in food comas from so much dessert), and on that night it rained. But I couldn't let a little rain (and mild lightening... mama, I promise it was very mild) stop me, and so we took a moonlit walk on the beach, in the rain. It was like something straight out of the Notebook. It was also my favorite part of the whole trip - standing in the dark, barefoot on the beach, listening to the waves and kissing in the rain.

I wish I had gotten a photo of it, but it would have looked like this:

So instead I'll leave you with this - an almost equally bad picture of us enjoying dessert, just the two of us, right before our rainy moonlit walk. The quality of the photo may be poor, but it's a good reminder of a special date filled with big conversations and lot's of chocolate cake.

The Great Camping Trip of 2012

We have been wanting to go camping ever since we got married - I'm not the most outdoorsy girl out there, but I do love a weekend camping trip. There's just something about sitting in a lawn chair, cooking dinner over an open fire, sleeping under the stars, and peeing behind a tree that just says FUN.

Oh wait, maybe not that last part. But seriously, I LOVE camping. Especially when the camping is so short I don't have to shower in their facilities. In this case... an 18-hour campout, 45 minutes from our house.

It has taken us two years to find the perfect weekend with the perfect weather for our little adventure, but a few days ago Mr. Right sent me a text that said "How about a campout Friday night?" And the trip was on...

We headed out to Holiday Park at Lake Benbrook, just the two of us, Harley the Wonder Schnoodle, a tent, and a car full of stuff. Mr. Right took care of all of the details (he is such a catch, isn't he?) and all I had to do was pack an overnight bag. 

We made our way to our little paradise in the woods (Campsite #97... totally worth the $14), quickly put up our tent, set up our gear, and breathed in the beautiful outdoor air.

And just then, a giant van pulled up, and out spilled an entire troop of junior high boy scouts, destined to take the two campsites right next to ours.

It was like my favorite movie, except boys. Eager, excited, extremely awkward boys experiencing their VERY FIRST CAMPOUT EVER! (insert squeals of excitement here) It was so funny to watch them skip around in pure glee over their weekend adventure with the dads.

While the boy scouts were enjoying their hotdogs and chips, my gourmet chef of a husband made us steak, grilled veggies and dessert wontons cooked in our cast iron skillet (filled with nutella and banana... they were outstanding). 

I've decided everything tastes better when cooked on an open fire. Especially when it's cooked by your smoking hot husband. We basked in our cozy steak dinner and turned it into a really special date.

That night, thanks to our new air mattress and my trusty ear plugs (and who are we kidding... a hefty dose of Benadryl), I slept better than I usually do at home. 

The next morning Chef Right whipped up homemade french toast cooked in a cast iron skillet, and french press coffee for each of us (we even do "his" and "hers" coffee when we camp). Again... it was glorious.

Side note: I love how when you camp, it's perfectly normal to have a roll of toilet paper next to all of your kitchen things. 

Since we were only about 15 minutes from my in-laws' house, they met us for breakfast. They are so dear to us. 

We finished the camping trip by taking Harley the Wonder Schnoodle on a long walk around the lake, admiring the many spring wildflowers and enjoying the gorgeous weather.

After we packed up the car we decided to swing by to watch Mr. Right's dad do some roping practice. His hobby is team roping, and I'd never seen him do it before. They've got a great set-up that includes a remote-controlled gate to release the cows. He even let me go on a quick ride on his prized horse Pokey. (Yes, I realize that hot pink polka dot running shorts are not exactly appropriate horse riding gear... you can also note that I'm still wearing the same shirt I wore the day before... gotta love camping.)

And then we headed back home for a hot shower and a two hour nap. Which is exactly how I like to end my camping trips.

Stay tuned, it's a big week on the blog... I'll tell you about the night when someone asked me, "How does it feel to be the only white person at this party?" And, I'll debut pictures of my sister's baby shower and THE baby quilt.