A Very Merry Hoyt Wedding

This past weekend we attended the wedding of Katie Hoyt & Jacob Myers. Katie, although not blood related, is like a cousin to me. I've known her all of her life and she and Jacob make a great couple. And might I just add that she looked stunning in her gown. More pics can be found on my Flickr site.

Also, Happy Birthday to my friend Ellen who turned the big 28 today! 2 more years till 30-dom - yikes!

Fiesta San Antonio

Jeff's parents came in from Houston this weekend for a visit. Since Fiesta San Antonio kicked off this weekend, I thought it would be nice if we did the whole tourist thing. Since I'm cheap, I suggested that we should attend the free events. We headed downtown to El Mercado to attend the FIESTAS FANTASÍA at Market Square. It had just started when we got there, so vendors were still busy setting up shop, etc. We toured the El Mercado for awhile but alas, we all came out of there without buying one thing.

We walked down the streets and passed up all the fantastic smelling food vendors. Gorditas, tacos, funnel cakes - oh man, it was a carnival lovers fantasy! But, we prevailed and got out of there before we did ourselves damage.


We then walked several blocks down to the RiverWalk and ate some bbq outside. The weather was fantastic and there was a healthy amount of tourists so the people watching was good!

After lunch, we headed to the Alamo. The line was crazy long to get in, so we decided to check out the gardens behind.

Afterwards we headed back to our house. My folks came over and we made fajitas and played a rowdy game of Sequence (thanks to my cousin Em and her friend Tammy for introducing us to this game).

Check out my Flickr site for more photos!

Weekend Project #2: Hide the Electric Box

Although we finished our second weekend project on Monday, I'm just now getting around to posting about it. It's been a busy week at work, for a change - a very nice change.

We planted red tip photinia's around the electric box. The gigantic, green, ugly electric box that sits in our backyard. Not every house on the block has one. For every four houses, you have one electric box. And we drew the lucky ticket. No wait. I think we must of drawn the short straw.

Here's the before and after pics:

Before

laying it out

cutting out the sod - this was difficult!

After

there was a lot of rock and clay in the soil - i'm hoping they take

red tip photinia

Addicted

I recently read my cousin, Sarah's, post about being addicted to a certain online game. Being that I have an addictive personality I decided to analyze what exactly my "addictions" were:


- Personal Finance Blogs: I read them EVERY day. Even on weekends. I love to hear how people have gotten themselves out of a financial mess! I haven't started my own yet, but I'm this close *holding up fingers* to starting my own. Though you might not be privy to that info! Sorry folks - I share my weight loss with you - that's enough for now.


- Black Beans: Wierd, I know. I eat them at least five times a week. Jeff and I are always stopping by the store to buy more black beans. Seriously - if you need a recipe that includes them, then send me an email.

- Sudoku: I play at least 2-3 puzzles every night before I go to bed. If I can't sleep, then it's several pages worth. I think it's a way for me to exhaust my brain, if that makes sense. I also must solve the puzzle. If I can't solve the puzzle, then I move on to one I can. I don't think I've gone to bed without having finished a puzzle.

- Checking the Mail: Even though all of my bills come to me electronically, I have to check my mail every day (except Sundays of course). It drives me nuts for the mailbox to be full of crap. If I haven't checked it, I make Jeff walk with me late at night to go get it from the box (relax it's 3 houses down). It's an organziation thing, I just know it.

Anyway, there you go. Not the complete list by any means, but a small peek into my bizarre habits. I'm self diagnosed OCD. You don't have to tell me I have it.

Weekend Project #1: Curb Appeal

Jeff and I probably had our first truly productive weekend since we moved into the house. On Friday, after work, I stopped by a nursery and bought 7 red tip photinia bushes to plant around the UGLY electrical box that is in our backyard. I was also on the hunt for some flowers for the front bed, but couldn't find the ones I was looking for. When I got home, I put on my grubby clothes and went to work in the yard. I mowed the front and back and weedeated as well. It was looking good!

Saturday morning arrived and we met up with Sarah and Toby and some of their friends to ride an 18-mile course on Scenic Loop. It was a great morning, if a little chilly, but the ride was beautiful and a great workout (especially this ridiculously steep hill half way through). After the ride we went to Home Depot to buy mulch. I found the flowers I was looking for so we ended up getting them and a bunch of dirt (because the crud underneath our grass can hardly be called soil). We headed home and immediately got to work. I posted some of the pics on my Flickr account. So check it out.

Then, that night I went to a lingerie party for a very close family friend. She's getting married in two weeks. I had a great time - but man was I a walking zombie by the end of the night. I came home and CRASHED!

Today we worked on our backyard project (aka: planting around the electrical box) but that project is not yet complete. I'll post pics tomorrow when we finish!

I'm New at This

Being a neighbor is proving difficult for me. I thought I'd be better at this. It's just that we are all so new and probably unsure about each other, so it causes some hesitancy on everyone's part.

I found a frisbee in our yard today when I got home. It was orange and said UTSA on it. I thought Jeff brought this home for Sonny. It's plausible considering my Mom works there and I thought Dad must of gotten it and relayed it to Jeff. That's the path my mind went at least. So after a few throws around the yard, the frisbee got a little "wear and tear" to it. Then I hear a knock from the other side of the fence and a little boy's voice "Um, that's our frisbee." OOPS!!! I guess the thought that it could be our neighbor's is a logical choice. Why didn't I think of that? So I grabbed the frisbee, complete with chew marks and dog slobber, tossed it over the fence to where I see a little boy and girl and say, "I'm sorry, I think my dog got a hold of it" - then I hear them talk about how it's chewed on . Cue my embarassment. I had to go inside, I felt to awkward to stay out there and be interrogated by a five year old. I think to remedy the situation I'm going to buy a frisbee at lunch tomorrow and write a little note saying "I'm sorry for chewing up your frisbee, I just like to play. *paw print* Sonny the Dog, from next door". How do you think that sounds? I'm open to suggestion.

We have been getting a lot of new neighbors moving in across the street. Recently an older couple moved into a house adjacent to us. They have had a few ratty trailers parked outside their house since moving in about 3 weeks ago. At first I could excuse this because, okay, moving is moving and I can give you a break. But guess what, a month has almost gone by and if you don't do something with your precious trailer by mid-month, the homeowner's association is going to hear from me. I hate to be that neighbor, but guess what, I want the value of my house to appreciate as well.

Then, I met another neighbor down the block at the mailbox the other day. He seems real nice, late forties, early fifties more likely. He and his wife live there with their 20 year old son. We've since passed him and his wife walking around the block or out doing yardwork. The other day we were out trying to get Sonny used to his leash again. We encounter Steve and we tel him this is our dog, etc. Well he reaches out his hand to let Sonny sniff him, but Sonny was just NOT having that. He started growling really loud! I was like, "I'm so sorry, he's just used to the country...." etc, etc, etc. I was embarassed, but at the same time I'm glad Sonny is a good guard dog. But I'm going out of my way to be nice to this neighbor cause I don't want him to think we have this uber aggressive dog, etc. People can draw a lot of conclusions.

I don't want to be a hobbit in my own neighborhood, but we've had some recent encounters that have proved embarassing and have not boosted our popularity. For anyone who's lived in a close community before, I'm all ears for some advice.

Muy Seco Ranch

Today was Kelli and Rick's last day in San Antonio, so we took a visit out to her Mom's ranch, the "Muy Seco Ranch" (Very Dry Ranch) in D'Hanis, TX. Mrs. Knutson used to live out in Lakehills only about 10 minutes from my folks place. About 1.5 years ago she sold her ranch there and bought her current digs. Kelli had told me that her Mom was living in a "shack" while her custom house was being built, but I guess I never realized what a "shack" actually meant. I got the full experience today.

The Shack, complete with rusted roof, peeling paint, dillapitated shutters and shag carpet was nestled in between 100+ year old oak trees. It had a cute charm to it that, while after living there for 18 months might be hard to appreciate, lured me in. The Shack was apparently the "original" owners engineering prowess of putting two houses together, so you can only imagine the floor plan. Though every wall and door in the house had peeling paint, I knew it was the type of place that the privelaged would pay big money for to decorate their houses with.

I give kudos to Mrs. Knutson for making it a home! I am sure she'll have great memories of the place in hindsight. She's about one month out on moving into her new home, about 1/4 mile down the road. Complete with a pool, this place SCREAMS hill country living at it's finest. I'm stealing some ideas for my "final resting place" that Jeff and I want to build eventually.

I took some pictures with my "dinky camera" which is having some shutter issues. Enjoy.

The Shack

The New Place

Weekend Visitor's

Jeff and I've been entertaining this week! Kelli and Rick came into town for Kelli's little brother's (Todd) wedding. I can't believe he is getting married. I've known him since he was about 5 or 6. Man, I feel old.

Rick came into town on Tuesday. I made sure that Jeff was the "cook" because I had a cooking "incident" a few years ago that Rick ate and I haven't been able to live that down since. So I played it safe and didn't take responsibility for any of the meals. ha!

We've had a great time. Kelli and I don't get to spend nearly enough time together since she moved up to Minnesota (and yes, I blame Rick!) but every time we get back together it seems like no time has passed. We've always had that type of relationship though. It's good to have a friend that you can have that experience with.

Hopefully, I'll be able to go up to Minnesota to visit her soon, but I never want to commit to anything in case plans fall through. Spontaneity is key.