The lake house!

This last weekend we drove down to Logo Vista, around Lake Travis, to visit my grandparents for my grandgather's (Papa) 89th birthday. It was the first time Mark has seen the lake house and I haven't been in 10 years. It is always fun to see family, but was a little extra fun to be at the lake.

Their lake house. (It isn't really on the lake, but rather a golf course. Still great views though.)

The back deck.

Around here the deer come right into the yards and sometimes even up to the front doors.

This is a picture of the lake. It is REALLY low. Something like 40 ft I think. The water should be up to the tree line.

Another view of the lake. You can see how low it is again. All that rock is normally covered.

It was nice to be able to have a great weekend relaxing and celebrating Papa's birthday. I hope we have many more to celebrate.

Raisins could kill dogs?

Last week, Wednesday I think it was, Mark and I came home from work and found Dutch with a box of raisins in his mouth. (We are have been trying to ween him into staying out of his crate during the day.) It appears that our precious little boy got bored towards the end of the day and went searching for something to do. He normally likes to get dish towels off the counter and while looking for one he found a box of raisins that was left out.

After we got home Mark looked up the effect of raisins on dogs and found they are VERY VERY toxic. So we called our vet, which was closed, so we called the emergency clinic. The had real concern about the raisins and told us to bring him in IMMEDIATELY. This concerned me, so we brought him in. They made him throw up and he only threw up about half the raisins. (They counted them to make sure.) So they decided that he needed to stay over night for observation and to be given fluids and charcoal to help flush his system.

We were told raisins (and grapes) are very toxic to dogs. It can cause kidney failure, which once it happens they is no way to correct the problem. We were even told that they have seen a maltese go into kidney failure after only consuming 3 raisins. 3! I was shocked. I know Dutch is a larger dogs, but he still had at least 20 raisins in his system! So although the price was high we decided that the best course was to leave him there for observation and fluids. They made it sound like raisins are more toxic then chocolate even, and about as bad as a dog ingesting antifreeze.

Poor guy, we picked him up the next morning and he had a "cone of shame" on and an IV still in his leg. We took him to our vet that day and they kept him a whole day to make sure he was fine. Here are some pics...

We brought him home Thursday night and had to watch him VERY closely as he still had his IV in. So when he went to bed we had to put the cone of shame back on him. 

Thankfully he is all well now. We have him home and he is VERY happy to be home!

BTW... I threw out the rest of the raisins in the house. It just isn't worth it.

May - Date #2: Rangers game!

If you will remember for Mark and I's anniversary I game him 12 months worth of dates. So this month for our date I got him tickets to the Ranger's game! It was a really good time! We saw them play the Angels and they won! This is exciting because although we have been to several Ranger's games since Mark has been living in Dallas, he has only been to one game where they won. So we like it we are there and they win.

This was our vantage point. 9 rows up from right field. Unfortunately no home runs were hit out there for us to catch. 

So date number 2 was a success! I hope that all the rest are as awesome.

Solar Eclipse!

It has been 18 years since the last solar eclipse. Because of my location we were only going to be able to see a partial eclipse at sunset. I love sunsets! So when I heard about the one happening this evening I knew I wanted to catch in with my camera. (I have been really getting into photography.) Here is what I captured. Good thing I had my telephoto lens.

I made Mark ride with me to find the perfect spot. It started while we were still searching so we stopped on a bridge.

This is on top of a bridge. We just stopped hoping no one would come.

Traffic on 35 southbound.  We stopped on the side of the road on the bridge over Lake Lewisville.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud. I caught it just as it was peeking out.

Sun setting right on the horizon. 

I was pretty excited to shoot this. I think I got some really good shots!

Enjoy!

Healthy Crab Cakes!

Normally I don't think of crab cakes as particularly healthy. As mentioned in my last post however we are eating extremely healthy this month. So I was happy to find this recipe at Everyday Paleo.  The crab cakes are SERIOUSLY good! I will be keeping this recipe and making them again for sure!

For these you will need:

1 pound of crab meat. (We used canned crab meat, making sure that it had no preservatives or sugars in it.)
2 tbsp of finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp of paleo mayo (We made this from the same site.)
1 tsp of crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp of chipotle powder
1 egg
2 tbsp of almond meal (They called for coconut meal, but we had almond so we went with it.)
2-4 tbsp of coconut oil

Mix all ingredients, except the coconut oil, in a large bowl. Heat a large pan with the coconut oil until hot. You will know the oil is ready to go when you can splash a drop of water on it and it sizzles. Form patties out of the mix with your hands. Then put them in the oil for about 2-3 min on each side. You want to make sure the side is browned before you flip it over. This will make around 10 cakes.

We served this meal with some of the homemade mayo on top. To add a little something extra we put  some dill to the mayo. (You can find the mayo recipe at the everyday paleo website as well.) It worked really well with the crab cake. This is for sure something we will be making again.

It is so neat to me that we are working hard to eat 100% paleo and here we are coming up with some awesome food. We wouldn't normally have made ourselves crab cakes, but now that we have I see no reason not to continue.

Enjoy!

A change to the Paleo lifestyle.

For lent this year Mark and I started a new eating plan. (I have not posted about this yet because I didn't want to put it out there and then fail miserably.) We started off with the slow-carb eating plan, which comes from the book the 4-hour body by Tim Ferriss. This book really spoke to us. It is very well written and most of all gives you the reasons behind why you should do things. (It gives you a clear option when you can skip those parts if you aren't interested in them.)

Anyways, the change in diet had a profound effect on me. For the past, well forever, I have been plagued with a constant headache and full blown migraines at least once a week. I had never really figured out what was going on they were just always there. So a little over a year ago I went to a neurologist to find out what might be wrong. They did an MRI and some x-rays and found that I was completely normal. I guess that was good to hear... I mean it isn't like I would want to have a tumor or anything. It was just a little disheartening to realize there was no real reason for the constant headaches. So they diagnosed my with the condition chronic migraines. This is when I found out what I thought was a "headache" everyday was really a migraine. Just a lower intensity then what is normally thought of when talking about migraines. So they gave me some medication and sent me home. From there we tried a few preventative drugs to see if they could lower the number of daily migraines. It was horrible. The first one gave me a SEVERE panic attack. It happened at work and was so bad I wasn't able to even drive myself home, Mark had to come pick me up. It lasted for something like 3 hours of attack and then the rest of the night I was shaking and feeling on the verge of an attack. So needless to say I quit that after only 3 days. The next one I tried was subtly bad. I had just about EVERY side effect they list on the side plus a few extra. They weren't as severe though so I pushed through thinking maybe they would go away. They didn't and started to really effect my life. So we got off it. After that we decided maybe the preventatives weren't really for me. So we just tried to manage it daily. I tried I few other things... one being a juice fast. (A family friend has had great results with changing her food intake. It allowed her to get rid of MS and go back to a normal life. So turning to food was on my mind.) I know that seems strange but I saw a documentary touting the juice fast and featuring a woman that got rid of migraines with it. Well it didn't work for me, not to mention it was very hard to stick with and follow.  Which bring me to the end of my tangent. After just a few weeks on the slow-carb my daily migraines were nearly gone!

The slow-carb diet talking about cutting out basically everything that is naturally white, dairy, fruit, and sugars. So you eat meats, fish, veggies, nuts, and legumes (easy on the nuts). Each week you follow this for 4 meals a day and then on the 7th day you have your "cheat day". I found though that while having the "cheat day" helped me stay on track it also brought back the migraines. So I would have the cheat day on Saturday and then Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I would have the lower intensity migraines. Sometimes full blown ones. Also, I HATE BEANS!!! (Not The Beans if you are reading this Suzy ;)) So I had been talking to my brother about the slow-carb program and noticed that is was very very close to the Paleo lifestyle that my brother lives. So we switched.

Paleo is basically meats (leaner is better), fish, veggies, nuts and fruits. No beans!! So I was all about it! We started after Easter and it was working well. My migraines were going away again. This lifestyle doesn't encourage a "cheat day" per say, but I was still putting it in there from time to time. I did find a WONDERFUL website with great recipes over at Everyday Paleo. They were helping limit the cheating. After talking more with my brother he really encouraged me to do a whole30 challenge.

The whole30 challenge I started last Monday. It has been going really well. It is 30 days of 100% Paleo. No slips, no cheating, no skirting around the rules.... 100%. I am not even eating out this week because I can't guarantee what they are cooking my food in.  I think I am up for it, so 6 days down 24 to go. The first week was hard headache wise. I think that maybe it was just leftover from a not great food weekend the weekend before and maybe a little bit of my body getting used to a absolutely no preservative diet.

So that is how I arrived at the switch to the Paleo lifestyle. I am really enjoying it and in our quest to eat preservative free and complete the whole30 we have come up with some seriously dominate dinners. So check my next post about tonights crab cakes and check back to see how I am doing and the best recipes we find.

A beautiful bride with a happy groom!

Yet another wedding!

Last weekend Mark and I went to Arkansas to visit my cousin Jessie and her family as well as go to a friend of ours wedding. It turned out to be a really good weekend. I had a great time visiting my cousin, but boy did her children (mostly the oldest) wear us out!

This is picture from last year, but aren't they so cute!

The wedding was wonderful. It really fit the bride and groom with a bunch of personal touches. It was an outdoor wedding with a half indoor half outdoor reception at a beautiful old home in Fayetteville, AR. I do have to mention the wedding cake. It is my FAVORITE type of cake and well lets just say thank goodness we only have it at weddings. This cake is note worthy though. It was FABULOUS! Some of the best wedding cake I have had in a while, almost as good as my friend Laura's grandmothers. I had 2 pieces. ;)

She was such a pretty bride. 

Unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out the best. I just used my "in the purse" camera and it looks like there were a few focus issues.

We had a great time in Arkansas, such a pretty state btw, and were glad that we were able to be there to share in our friends special day. We wish you both the very best!

Trying my hand at scallops!

Today I made scallops for the first time!

Mark and decided for dinner to have some grilled shrimp, so while I was at the store buying them I saw some fresh sea scallops. I LOVE scallops, but always thought they were above what I could make. I decided to try my hand at it. I have to say I really impressed myself. I googled how to cook them and here is what I did...

1) Sprinkle some sea salt onto both sides of the raw scallops. 

*From here on all steps need to happen together. Make sure you are about 5 min. away from serving dinner.*

2) Heat up 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil on the stove. You want to make sure the oil and butter get really hot. If you put your scallops on and they don't sizzle then the pan is not hot enough.

3) Once you put the scallops in the pan you MUST let them sit for around 2 min. Do not move them to look at the bottom. During this step I also spooned some of the butter on the top. I think that it really increased the flavor. *This is a suggested time based on large sea scallops. You might need to scale the time depending on the size.*

4) Check the bottom of the scallops. If it looks nice and bronzed like the above picture then it is time to flip the scallop over. Let cook for just 1 more minute. The sides of the scallops should still be soft. 

5) Let the scallops sit for around a minute to allow them to finish cooking. Then serve!

Note: A perfectly cooked scallop should be caramelized on the outside, but once you cut into it should slide through like butter.

While making these I had this cute little boy patiently looking on. I think he thought I was making something for him. ;)

We added some shrimp and peas to make a wonderful meal.

This was my first time cooking them and they turned out wonderful. I was very pleasantly surprised. I will for sure be making these again!

Enjoy!!

2nd Anniversary... Part 2

In my last post I mentioned that since it is Mark and I's 2 year wedding anniversary we are celebrating 2 times. Mark was in charge of last Tuesday, which was our actual anniversary. It was a wonderful date to Eddie V's. Today was my day of planning. 

I gave him his present on Tuesday which was a date each month for a whole year. The first one he opened was April, that is when he found out what we were doing for today. 

As I was doing some research trying to figure out what to do for our date I ran across some interesting information. The traditional gift for your 2nd anniversary is cotton, where the modern take is a gift of china. So keeping with the theme of 2 I decided to embrace both. 

For cotton we went and got a massage. I know it isn't a literal meaning, but I was thinking cotton/something cozy. I thought a massage would be nice and relaxing. So we went to Massage Envy. It was a nice place and we both came out feeling relaxed. Definitely some place we will go back to.

For china I decided to go a touch more literal. The website I was looking at suggested buying another place setting to our wedding china. While I am not apposed to that idea, I thought that wasn't very fun. So I needed to find something else. Now Mark and I LOVE food. All kinds from a dive to fine dining, we love to try everything. So I decided on a chinese restaurant. I searched on open table and came up with Yao Fuzi Cuisine. The food was delicious, it really brought up your traditional chinese food. We both really enjoyed ourselves and our meals. I just have to say that has some SERIOUSLY delicious curry calamari. 

So thus ends the celebration of our 2nd wedding anniversary. It was a great time and we both really enjoyed planning our separate date and surprising each other.

2 Year Anniversary... Part 1

Today Mark and I have been married for a wonderful 2 years. It is surprising to me that it has been that long. It honestly feels like just yesterday. It has been a great 2 years.  We decided that since it has been 2 years we would celebrate 2 times. So Mark was in charge of tonight, our actually anniversary.

First I received these beautiful flowers at my office.

Then we exchanged gifts. He got me a really pretty light pink pearl necklace. I gave him 12 months of dates. 

I thought this would be a fun gift, and something different. I feel like even though our lives aren't super busy right now, we sometimes forget to have romantic or fun dates. We go out to eat, or we go to a movie, but it normally is about the same. I think this is going to be a year full of fun. Plus he has something to open every month. The gift that keeps on giving.

Then Mark took me to Eddie V's! Mark and I first went there last August for Restaurant week. We love fine dining and like to take that chance to find nice places that we really like. We enjoyed it so much and knew we wanted to go back. It was a nice surprise. 

We had a great waiter and everyone was very nice, coming over to wish us a happy anniversary. They even gave us a wonderful dessert. We had Banana Foster Cake. It was amazing.

When we came home we lit our wedding candle.

My parents got us this candle for our wedding. It is a family tradition to get your wedding invitation turned into a candle. My parents have one as well and light their wedding candle every year on their anniversary. We hope to keep up the tradition.

Keep the spark alive! ;)

That concludes part 1 of our 2 year wedding anniversary. Come back this weekend to see part 2.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter! 

Baby Shower Gift...

About a year ago a good friend of mine had her first baby shower. I was so excited for her and her new venture in life. I really wanted to give/make her something special for this momentous occation. After some thinking I decided on some fabric blocks that spelled out her new daughters name. I got the idea from my friend Biz that makes wooden blocks for friends. I figured if I made them in fabric then a baby could play with them.

This is what I came up with for Madeline:

Sorry I don't have step by step pictures. These were made before I started planning for a blog.

They turned out so well.... and my friend was super excited. 

This is the picture she sent me the other day.

I am really glad these blocks are well liked and being used.

If you would like to make some blocks like these I found this website with instructions.

http://www.sewfun.com/2009/11/04/how-to-make-perfect-fabric-baby-blocks/

A quilted carrot for my painted bunny...

I have started to put out my Easter decorations since it is now March and came across a super cute ceramic bunny I painted back in 2006. This year I thought a cute quilted carrot would go with him, so I set out to make one.

For this project you need:

7 assorted designs or orange fabric (I used the pre cut fabric quarters and had PLENTY of fabric.)

1/4 yard of orange fabric for the backing of the carrot

1 green fabric quarter

1/4 yard of felt or another stabilizing fabric.

You want to make sure you iron the fabrics before you start cutting. This will help you keep control of the fabric.

Now cut your 7 assorted design fabric into 1 inch strips. I used a rotary cutting tool to help me with it. It was my first time using the tool, I would highly recommend using it. It was very efficient. 

I cut out only 8 strips of each design. It was more then enough. Of course the larger you want your carrot the more strips you need to cut out.

After you have cut out all your strips you can start to sew them together. Make sure you sew the fabric design side together. This way when you turn it back around the seam is on the bottom and the design side of the fabric is up.

When you are finished you will have a long row of fabric that you can cut the carrot out of. 

After I sewed the fabric together I sketched out a picture of a carrot and the stems on paper. This allowed me to get the size and shape just the way I like it.

From these designed I cut out the paper and used the newly created pattern to cut out the stabilizing felt for both the carrot and the stems, the green fabric for the stems, and the orange fabric for the backing of the carrot. After you have all designs cut out you want to sew the respective portions together.

I sewed the stems onto the carrot and then added a trim around the carrot to hide the unfinished edge of the fabric. 

With that my bunny has a lovely quilted carrot!