Pinspiring...

Ever since I started my new job, I've been happier career-wise than I have ever been. I love that I can say that honestly and full-heartedly. I also have been so blessed to be able to be back in the blog-world and also back onnnn the Pinterest Wagon! I've been completely mildly obsessed and if you're not following me than you are missing out! Also, leave me a comment with yours & I'll gladly follow back!

Today as I link up with gorgeous Michelle from Vintage Apple, I'll be showing off my favorite Pinspiring quotes I've found lately. Also funny pins too!
These fitness ones I've been loving b/c I've just started doing this 2x daily thing. Gym @ Lunch time, then Gym with my brother after work. I'll break it up by doing strength/weights at lunch, finishing off with Cardio after work.
Motivation is my hardest issue, so any help I can get I will take! Enjoy!

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There is some "thinspiration" for y'all... now for some funnies! :-)

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via I want this!

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via I wish this were my computer...

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Ok, forcing myself off Pinterest!! Hope you got a good laugh! Be sure to click the button here at the bottom and check out everyone else's pins too!

Happy Hump Day!

Peanut Butter & Carrot Puppy Cupcakes

Friday, we celebrated my little Huxley's 1st Birthday. I initially was attempting to make a cake for him at first, but why not make smaller portions almost in bite size treats for him instead!? He didn't mind..... in fact he barely could take his eyes off these delish muffins when I was snappin' pics... hehe

As you can tell, Huxley was swooning over the yummy smell and couldn't wait to plant his whole face in the plate! I highly recommend this all-natural treat for your pup, and it was super simple to make. So I'm postin' the recipe for all you fur-moms that love pampering your little chunk of cuteness like I do.



Peanut Butter & Carrot Puppy Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup all natural peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix together flour and baking soda
3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well
4. Pour mixture into a 12 cupcake cups in non-stick muffin pan (or  you can spray w/ veg oil)
5. Bake for 30 minutes (they will brown but you can use a toothepick in center to make sure its cooked)
6. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes.

Note: I initially was going to top these with low-fat cottage cheese and decorate with some leftover carrot pieces - but Huxley had enough waiting so we skipped straight to the eatin' part! :-)

Huxley absolutely LOVED these little cupcakes! Although Scott & my brother thought it was a little silly to make a dog food/birthday cake (and blow out a candle w/ him hehe) - I love spoiling my little fur-muffin in any way that I can. :-)

 For more cute Huxley posts, click here

Do you make treats for your puppy? 

What kind of all-natural dog recipes do you love to make?

Bittersweet Weekend

This past weekend for us has been bittersweet as Maddie's 3 week Summer Vacation came to an end (me driving 8 hours yesterday and being sad that last 4 by myself!), Huxley's 1st birthday (thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes!) and some official great news!

Our road-trip to Winnie, TX to meet halfway with my mom and her hubby. Boooooo!

We were having lunch at the ONLY restaurant in Winnie, TX and I got a text from my boo saying he officially received his offer letter for a HUGE promotion at Dell and he starts June 30th!!!!!!!!

We all Cheers'ed to my sweet man! So proud of him!

Last night as much as we miss Maddie, we were so happy to just be alone at home together, and the LION King was on!! This was my fav Disney movie growing up. On the way home, I had picked up a bottle of champagne so we could toast to this new amazing opportunity Scott has! The rest of the night we relaxed and were conked out by 11!

How was everyone's weekend????

Happy Birthday Huxley!

Huxley is 1 yrs old!!!!

We picked Huxley up at 10 weeks old from Bastrop, TX

He was the most independent and playful pup out of the bunch

His parents are Champion Breed Showdogs that were in amazing health and shape

He introduced himself to us by nipping at Scottie's toe trying to play with us

We knew he was our boy.

& from that first day, we fell in love.

He is the most well-behaved and fun puppy I've ever known.

He will sit and lay down, still learning to "paw" and "other paw"

He runs in circles when he hears "Huxley, are you huuungry?"

He never barks, whines, yelps, but has the cutest somewhat of a "Slingblade" groan/moan all the time

Huxley has taught us the true meaning unconditional love

He sleeps in our bed every night - and snores as loud as Scott does

He is the king of the "Head Cock" when you talk to him

He destroys Tennis Balls, but takes care of his plush toys

His favorite toy is his tricky treat (dispenses treats as he plays with it)

He loves Peanut Butter All-Natural Doggie treats that mommy makes from scratch
He is like a true "son"/child to us.

We couldn't imagine our lives without this little man.

We are the proudest fur-parents, and love you sooo much, Hux! :-)

For videos, pictures, and posts on our little fur-muffin, click here.

Thankful

The past two weeks spending with my baby sis have been incredibly amazing! I only get to see her about every 4-6 months since she lives in Louisiana, and for being 10 years apart, it is ridiculous how much fun we have.

This girl has been through so much in her 14 years of life already living the first half with our struggling family: my dad losing a company/us going bankrupt at 2yrs old, my parents divorce at 5 yrs old, my dad's cancer and passing at 12, and moving constantly... [Now she is in a great school (3.9 GPA!!!!) and my mom is re married to a wonderful man and they have a gorgeous home in Louisiana]  She is so strong as a person and just has so much faith. I love that she loves Christian contemporary music like me, and she loves going to Church- she is just a shining child of God and it makes me want to be a better Christian just being around her. Even in just the past two weeks, I'd come home from work and be stressed and she thinks I am nuts for taking things too seriously and just tells me to have faith and let it go. Ahh so lucky to have her in my life!!

We have been best friends her whole life but mainly since we shared a room when she was 3 years old, and as a music fiend I used to lock her in my room and JAM OUT to the Eastside Boys, Lil Jon, and I got her rapping to "to the windowwwwws" at 4 yrs old. Yep my mom was proud. It was the CLEAN version, okay!? Hello I was 13! :-)

10 years later, and we still crank the radio to the highest and try our best to rap to Nikki Minaj songs and gangsta music. She is determined to get me to learn all the words to Superbass haha, I just can't it's too fast!

Anyway, back to faith! I was saying yesterday how I had missed Church last Sunday, and I have been itching to be in the house of the Lord and just be thankful! We have so many blessings happening in our little family lately. Scott's dad is doing really well at work and he finally found a place in Austin to live where he is by himself (no crazy roomates) and happy...

Another blessing to be thankful for... Scott has been working his butt off like crazy at Dell for over 2 years, literally being in the top 5 out of 400 sales reps on the floor, and we have gotten the verbal (not written juuust yet-but I just know) confimation of a pretty significant promotion that he has been wanting for so long!! He would be working in Specialized Public Accounts still at Dell, and working 2 days a week from home, and let's just say our last buddy that went into that position said it changed his life: He was able to buy his first home, get engaged, have a wedding, etc.;-) No, we are completely happy and fine where we are at together, I believe God will let us know in our hearts when we are ready to take our next step in our relationship. This promotion in Scott's life right now is just such a huge blessing! We are so excited to see what God has planned in our lives. I'm so happy and proud for my boo. :)

All of this constantly reminds me of how much Faith is just so important. I'm not the best at writing about my faith or how to live by God, sometimes I just get lost in a certain song that describes perfectly what I'm feeling, or verses that stand out to me. I love these little sayings I have found on Pinterest lately...

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I am so in love with this verse.

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I want to love this way. :-) I love these where you can find the scriptures accordingly.

I'm most thankful that I realize how far we've come. 3 years ago, Scott and I had bad jobs, barely made enough money to live comfortably, didn't have sweet Huxley, we fought more than I'd like to admit, we were irresponsible and made bad decisions that hurt ourselves and each other, and today we are so blessed with not just jobs but great careers, a gorgeous apartment, a cute fur baby, being more involved and a part of the Church,  and being happy above all things.

This song by Kutless has been on my heart lately too as it is the best to listen to when you are in trying times, needing a little push of faith, or just grateful knowing that you AREN'T alone. My fav part of the song describse that with those same hands that were used in creating us and the world, we are lifted and carried by God everyday.

What are you thankful for lately?

linking up with The Vintage Apple

Ziplining over Lake Travis

As most of you know, this weekend was crazy eventful as I really wanted to make my little sister, Maddie (14 - who has been staying in Austin w/ me for 3wks from Louisiana), and Scott (28- the BF), feel really special as they both celebrated birthdays on Friday and Saturday.

Friday night we had Scott's Birthday Bash, which I posted about yesterday, and today, I've got all the awesome pictures we took while out in the blistering heat beautiful sun and lake!

Saturday morning started early for me as the "event-coordinator", and I got some extra extra strength head-ache medicine and water ready next to our bed for Scottie (yay for curin' the hangover quickly before it starts!) and whipped up the breakfast of champions with some waffles, fried eggs over easy, bacon, with syrup and nutella out for the spreadin'. They were happy campers :-). I made sure to schedule the zip-lining around 3pm so that we could all feel like "sleepin in"/lying around the house during the day being lazy! Also woke up Maddie with some balloons and a card from Huxley. Although Huxley seemed a bit more interested in the balloons than Maddie. It was too funny!

 

We got there about 30 minutes early to get all prepared, and thank goodness we had been drinking water all day because we were in for a huge surprise with allllll the hiking it really was to get to these zip lines!

We did a total of 5 zip lines, all getting longer and faster each time. It was an experience to remember! The last zip line, you got up to 65mph and it stretches over a 1/2 mile directly over the lake (we had many watchers from their boats on the lake - so fun!)

The tour-guides were absolutely fantastic - fun and energetic. Very motivating while you're hiking, and water was provided at every stop/zip line. Overall it was an incredible experience and very worth the $89 per person (although I was bummed I missed the groupon back on OCT that would have made it only $50 but oh well!)

Best part is - after all the zip lining - you have access to a private beach where you are provided tubes, floaties, everything you need to have a great time - the water was perfect and we hung out and unwinded with a cold beer after ziplining. A perfect afternoon. Scott and Maddie had a great time, and that makes it all worth it for me.

Scott is holding up his shoe because we bought those before zip-lining. He LOVES them - they ar the new Apidure (Toe-shoes?) that are perfect for hiking, swimming, etc. They were only 39.99 at Academy which is NOT bad for the comfort and support he had. He said he felt like he was barefoot! I just can't bring myself to wear these toe-shoe things. Looks so weird! lol!

Once we noticed the sun slowly starting to set, we decided to take off and grab a good table ealy at The Oasis on Lake Travis in Austin. It was about 11 minutes away so it wasn't a far drive at all. Scott got Fajitas, Maddie got Fried Shrimp, and me - Shrimp Tacos w/ Baja Sauce. Oh and a cold magarita too. JUST what we needed after a day of workin' out/swimmin!

Look how breath taking the sunset and skyline was...

It was the perfect dinner, we were feelin pretty tired though and headed home for some Huxley time... he was soooooo happy to see us :-) Cuddled up with daddy right away and we watched a movie and I'm pretty sure we were all in bed by 11pm!

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Father's day has been rough on me as this will be the second one I've spent missing my daddy who passed away in October of 2010. His story is here. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to go to Church where I knew the whole sermon was going to be on dads... I am making it up by attending Church Wednesday evening, but it was definitely hard - and I know it is much harder on Maddie who was only 12 when she lost him so we had an easy morning in the house. Sunday evening I grilled some Steaks, Corn on the cob, Asperagus, with loaded mashed potatos, and we had Scott's dad over to watch the game (for all you Heat fans- OKC will come back strong don't you worrryyy!) and we had a great time. Since Scott's dad had to work on Scottie's bday - I made some homemade brownies and had candles so he felt like he got to celebrate w/ us too.

Ruthie, notice a delicious batch of onion dip half gone? :)
That dip is amaaaazing and was half devoured in 3.2 seconds. Credits to Ruthie Hart for the recipe!

Shrimp Diablo Appetizers (Bacon Jalapeno & Cream Cheese wrapped over Shrimp and grilled)

Huxley made a #1 Fur-Daddy TShirt with paw-prints for Scott for Father's day. He looooooved it!

Well, that was my weekend! Sorry for the abundance of pictures - but I KNOW you enjoyed them! We are still unwinding from all the fun activities and great food. Also a lot of amazing things happening in our little family right now, so stay tuned! God is SO good :-) We are blessed.