A Texan and A Canadian

Exactly one month ago one of my best friends got married to a Canadian and swept her away up north. I realize I am a bit behind on my events... I thought I would wait and post to wish her a Happy One Month Anniversary. I hope married life is bringing her lots of happiness.

Me and Mrs. Hameister-Ries... try and say it... Kinda like my last name.

We both married into a difficult last name, just another thing we have in common.

Me and my handsome date... he is the best wedding date! This next picture features his dancing face during his favorite song SHOUT! Love him!

Four Best Friends. We miss you L10!

Here's to the Newlyweds! Hope this month has been full of sweet memories. We love you both!

Love you Hameister-Reis family!

New Nephew

The new house guests have arrived. After a Saturday full of load after load and just staring at my new beauties I tore myself away to meet our new nephew. I got to play paper dolls with my sweet niece Hailey Rose while waiting for her new brother. She is precious!

Tom and I are so blessed to be Aunt and Uncle to three beautiful nieces and now 3 precious nephews. Look at that sweet Michael. Not the baby anymore.

After patiently waiting I finally got to meet my new nephew. Love, love, love him!

Look at that squishy face... Sweet Baby Z! :)

He is the sweetest little bundle. I cannot wait to love on this little boy.

Melt my heart... ( I feel the fever spiking :)

A Few New House Guests

The preparations have begun. The floors are mopped, the clean laundry put away, new sheets on the beds, vacuumed, and bathrooms clean. It is sad to admit but it has been a long while since Club Crescent Cove has been this clean. Why? Tom and I will be entertaining a new house guest this Thursday. Feast your eyes on these beauties...

Yes, these are mine! (And my loves.) We made our first grown up purchase this past Saturday. We cried, and laughed when we paid in full for these front loading beasts. And then we cried some more when we walked out of Best Buy with nothing to show for our investment. But soon enough... they will enter my life on Thursday. Like I said the preparations have begun. Why the cleaning? I feel like I am meeting the queen. I must make my measly apartment clean and worthy enough to make a home for my new house guests.

I am hoping that my new toys will never allow the laundry to look like this...

EVER AGAIN! ( I know Kali, I know...)

So after a few loads of laundry to get us to Thursday at my moms I am dreaming about a washer that does not create man made rivers or a dryer that requires 2 hour long cycles. The only agreement... Tom told me I had to stop thrifting for a while. I think my two new best friends will consume enough of my time considering the two mounds of laundry in the master after three weeks without a washer. Here's to Thursday and new friends.

The Sprinkles in Life

My best friend Sprinkles and Wrinkles just welcomed her first baby boy six days ago. She is such a sweet friend with a gracious heart and will be the best mother. Along with my case of baby fever I felt a sadness because I would have given anything to share in her journey preparing for motherhood. I care package was in order. She picked out the cutest bedding for her sweet baby J. I recreated a patch from her crib comforter on a canvas with scrap booking paper.

Don't mind the blur, just protecting her boy. I stamped his name with acrylic paint. How cute is that turtle? I used lots of blue, green and brown ribbon to create a ribbon garland to hang the sign. I love burlap right now.

After hours of blogstalking I had been dying to try some freezer paper art. This was the perfect chance to try it. "No matter where my heart may roam, Texas will always be Home Sweet Home!"

Tom told me I was going to hell for this onesie...

I told him I would do anything to bring that sweet baby down to visit Texas!

Precious little baby bottoms :)

After a rough first day and many, many prayers my sweet friends brought the baby boy home! I cannot wait to meet that little man... a trip to the frozen tundra is in order! Don't grow too fast Baby J :) I love my sweet friend and am so proud of her.

Spring Jubilee

List of randomness. Here is what has been going on lately.

1. Wednesday was my 24th birthday.... 24 really?!? That sounds so old, I know its not. It just sounds so weird. Tom gave me my presents early on Sunday night. Half because he was working the late shift on my birthday and half (mostly) because our Easter night was HORRID and he wanted to stop the tears. And they were flowing.

A belated Anniversary/Birthday present. Traditional paper, love it.

He gave me a charm bracelet. I LOVE it. It is so personal. 4 charms with a special meaning. An engagement ring, my birthstone, a camera charm and 2009 the year we got married. It is so thoughtful. I have always thought charm bracelets were a little chachi but not this one. Maybe because it is special to me and maybe because its Brighton... nothing is chachi about Brighton.

(Yes thats my knee... keep scrolling...)

My inlaws were good to me! They gave me some cash to save up for a new camera. I have started a stash and started looking for a camera. Soon I will be taking pictures, Pioneer Woman quality. 24 is good so far. Look at these cute cupcakes one of my student's parent sent in to celebrate...

2. Kali is doing much better. My kindergartners were very concerned about her when I came back to school on Tuesday. She is back to her normal self torturing the kitties and loving her mama more than her dad :)

3. Speaking of my kinder babies... next Friday is our field trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. Enough said. Lord have MERCY on me! Will you pray for me?

4. The Hruskocy House Hunt has begun. We are tired of the down winds from the dump, the lack of parking, and the swarm of birds that looks like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. And our lease is up in July. We have started looking and we are excited. We are praying that something will come up for rent pretty easily. We are ready to get out of apartments and into a house even if its a rental. YAY!

5. The official countdown to Tom's graduation has begun. In 14 days my husband will be a Texas Police officer. His training is winding down now that he passed his certification exam. April 22nd I will get to pin him on the same day he gets his gun and his badge. I am so proud of my husband!

6. This weather is crazy! 80's and sunny and then last night the windows were left open and I woke up shivering, it was in the low 40s. Texas weather. Everyone in our little family is fighting horrible allergies. Tom has crazy sneezing attacks, I sometimes have to laugh after the 30th sneeze. Allergies and all, I am not complaining. In one month, from February to March, our electric bill was cut IN HALF! I am not sad to wave good bye to this past winter.

7. I found a summer job. I am a key holder at a Hallmark. It like one of the assistant to the assistant manager. My mom called me Dwight Schrutte. I am excited about it! Tom told me that will be my thrifting money :) I never knew there was so much to learn about cards. I love it, its so much better than my days retailing it at Old Navy.

8. I made a baby present from my best friend. She is about to pop and I couldn't be more excited for her. She is going to be the best mom to her little newbie. I can't wait to show you. It's on the way to her so I will show you soon.

9. After 3 nights of Tom working the late shift we got to spend some quality time together tonight. Kali and I surprised Tom with a picnic. Toms sister gave us a real picnic basket with an embroidered blanket for a wedding shower and we used it for the second time tonight. Grabbed some Subway sandwiches and we were on our way. Yeah, we are real fancy... It was such a beautiful day outside. We went to the "Duck Pound" in Flower Mound. Tom had fun using his duck call to taunt the ducks. He was "that guy" and was convinced they were talking back to him. Kali was so happy to be outside of the apartment! We fought the pollen and the sneezing and enjoyed our evening in the sunshine with our Subway.

10. So Tom and I always wonder, who reads our blog? We do it for us and to remember when are to old to do so and for family to keep in touch. Leave us some love in the comments and let us know.

11. Happy Friday in 30 minutes! We hope you are enjoying the Spring as much as we are! :)

Our First Easter and the Million Dollar Dog

Our first Easter as newlyweds was quite eventful... maybe too eventful. It started out just as we had planned. We went to chuch with my family which was amazing. We were able to see the new sanctuary at the Village Church. Yes, it had been that long. Then we started our musical holiday rotation. Tom and I went to my parents house for a delicious Easter brunch featuring some of Pioneer Woman's finest creations. There was even some time to snooze on the couch while watching Prison Lockup (Easter at the Farrells) before heading over for the Hruskocy celebration.

I love that our families live here in the same town. Family is what the holidays are about and I am so glad that we can spend it with both of our loved ones. The Hruskocy celebrations are a bit busier than my childhood holidays. My family always had the Farrell Four because our distant relatives lived as far northwest and northeast as you can get from Texas. With three nieces and two (and one on the way) nephews my mother in law's house is always moving. I love being a part of their family and I truly, with every bone in my body, love my in-laws.

With full bellies and happy hearts, our Easter did turn. This is how the rest of our night went down and will leave us with a first Easter to remember. We walked in the apartment to an awful smell, no not the dump, a guest room full of doggie surprise explosions. Kali is a bit of a spaz so she stays in her kennel but no kennel could contain this mess. Instant buzz kill. (Did I mention this will be a pictureless post...)

After 45 minutes of scrubbing with little to no progress being made we give in and rush to the store to rent a carpet shampooer $40. Thanks Kali. Tom starts shampooing the carpet while I lay on the bed having an all out melt down. It gets better...

After almost 30 minutes of shampooing we decide that I am going to stay home the next day to take Kali to the vet and get this under control. I walk out to get my cell phone to start calling substitutes to find the freakin' Nile river running out of the laundry room, through the kitchen, and on the way to the living room. Our washing machine was pouring out overflowing into the apartment. I scream at Tom over the shampooer, one or many obscenities may have been yelled. Happy Easter.

Then a knock on the door, its close to ten oclock. Its our neighbor from below. The water had gone through the ceiling and was pouring into her apartment. AWESOME! Shaking, crying and hysterical (not Tom, just me) we mop up the floors and greet a maintenance man at 10:30. Typed sub plans until 3 am, took Kali out at 4, vet visit at 930 am.

Tom was so calm and even keeled and I was an absolute mess. I love Tom even more. Every bump, in this case Mt Everest strengthens our marriage and this was that proved that statement. Although it may not have been our ideal night we made it through. Although we both said, "What else could have happened?"

Turns out Kali must have gotten into some craw fish scraps at the craw fish boil and the spices did not agree. She's obviously not Cajun. After a small fortune spent for the doctor's fee, two medications, and one gourmet bag of dog food Kali is happy as a clam. Our poor, sweet little pooper has a skin infection and sensitive stomach. Yes, this pup we got at a 50% off Valentines sale at the pound has well then made up for that discount. With kennel cough, pneumonia, mange, and many, many bottles of folex carpet cleaner, she just may be our own million dollar dog. But we do love you sweet Kali. I have had to look at this picture about 3 thousand times in the past two dayd to keep reminding myself that.

After our vet visit I had a much needed day off. A mental health day for me and my sweet Kali to snuggle and me to rub her sesitive tummy. I do love my pup! Happy (Belated) Easter from the Hruskocys! Hope your brought you no surprise explosions :)

Get in my House!

Good Friday was just that... my mom my sister and I woke up early to go to Canton Trade Days in a small town outside of Tyler. The entire two hour car ride my fingers were crossed praying the rain would hold off. I had been looking forward toward this trip for weeks. After some McDonalds iced coffee we were pumped and ready to go...

See, told ya... pumped!

These are our excited faces driving into the park.

Seesters excited!

Canton has anything you can ever imagine... something for everyone. We were after the flea market steals. Digging and walking through every row of booths. Megan was along for ride and was a good sport (for the most part :) Lots and lots of pretties.

Food, there was plenty of it. Look at those turkey legs. I refrained... and opted for a taco salad and shared some fried pickles. The rest of the food was total state fair style.

Fried snickers bars... dangerous. Luckily there was no fried butter. Way to go Texas, way to go.

One of the items on my wish list was a birdcage to go in my white room or guest bedroom. Megan pointed to this birdcage for me... too literal. My mom found this beauty for $25! Its huge! Huge enough for me to say no thank you, I think she may have fought me for it.
We braved the humidity and rain. We walked through the pavilions searching for a hat to cover up my mad poof. Here's the first option... Rhinestone Cowgirl. (Don't mind the frizz)

Much better! :) Hi sister! Babies on the brain! There obviously is no cure for baby fever... How cute is this Vern?

Inside the pavilions people were vicious. When I took a picture of this artwork, I was scolded. I may have ran like one of my kindergartners in trouble. (How beautiful is this piece? I wish my handwriting looked like that)

You white furniture.... GET IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!! Excuse the arm I took this picture on the run. I was scared!

After running from the camera nazis we decided to head home to beat the weather. My mom made out like a bandit.. I had self control. It was hard, so hard. I will see you again Canton.

Here's is the back seat of the truck. Like I said the rain was coming! And this is the point where my sassy sister showed up. If looks could kill.... at least she got shotgun. Me and my short legs were in the back with the treasures!

I love my pretties. He is my new bedside set up in the guest bedroom. Courtesy of Canton.

Nightstand... $10!! I love how there are 3 colors coming through. Not on the list, an added bonus!

Old weathered shutters... $5!! This was on my list to find for the day.

Glass vase... $1.99 thanks CCA! It matches the bedding perfectly.

Dried bridesmaid bouquet from the Hameister-Ries wedding.

Just need to find a new lamp shade, maybe a new lamp.

PURE LOVE!

I wanted to show you my thrifting transformation.

Remember this beauty?

I took out the glass and backing and hung this hard holder thingie that I found at Goodwill for 99cents and VIOLA!! I love it. I need to sand and distress the frame a bit. Did I tell you I love it?

I got this nightstand for $14.99! It is really sturdy. I cant decide if I am going to stain it darker for the living room or go light for the "white room!" Here it is for now.

Tom's reaction to all of this... "My little thrifter..." I did premise the post walk through of the apartment with. "So I didn't come back with a dog but...." He loves me :)

Hello Sweet April

I cannot believe April is here already... and Easter?!? Already? I wanted to share the perfect Easter wreath I picked up from the local Goodwill this week between parent teacher conferences. If there were thrifting gods... this would be my first encounter. I walked through those sliding glass doors and there it was staring at me, the first thing I saw. The price? $1.99!!!!! Hello Lover!

A few eggs were missing, but with a few tugs and hot glue makeover I am in love. I have wanted one for years but could not bring myself to pay full, even half sale price. Like I said gods of thrifting.

If there are thrifting gods, I am going to Thrifting Heaven tomorrow. My mom, sister and I are planning a trip to Canton, Texas. The mecca of all flea markets, thrifting and everything you can imagine. The camera is charging and I plan on documenting all the pretties and tacky things I see. Acres of antiques... I am pumped!

I just closed the windows due to howling winds and heard that storms are brewing... I am not happy! I am praying for sunshine or tomorrow will be one messy day and I will not be a happy thrifter.