Yum!

My surprise breakfast from David! He makes the best omelets. What a great way to start Friday!

Do Not Disturb...

...Scrapbooking in progress! I finally dragged out all my scrapbooking stuff and have started working on our wedding album. I've spent the weekend with my Sex and the City DVDs in the office scrapbooking away (which David loves because he can play his video games in peace)!

The Final Look

A slight change of plans...I ended up going as Betty Draper. All in all, I think it worked out pretty well, although we really did just look really dressed up. And my friend Amy said we looked like the President and First Lady (which made me really excited - my one and only shot to look like a First Lady!!). Here's the result:

The Drapers...


David as Don Draper...


Courtney as Betty Draper...


Disclaimer: that's a fake cigarette in our pictures. Someone had it at the party as a prop for their costume. If you've ever watched Mad Men, they chain smoke like crazy, so to be authentic, we used it in the pictures.

In other news...we are relaxing today and getting ready to have trick-or-treaters tonight. David's got elk chili in the crockpot, and I've made cornbread and a pumpkin pie. The house smells amazing! Happy Halloween!

Mad Men-inspired Halloween

This year, David and I are both in town for Halloween, and we are going to a Halloween party tomorrow night. In typical fashion, I waited until yesterday to start figuring out our costumes. I really didn't want to go to a lot of trouble and spend a lot of money (which for me is weird!), so I was really looking for something that we already had hanging in our closets. All of a sudden it hit me...Mad Men. I'm going to channel Joan Hollaway and David is going to channel Don Draper.




We have most of the elements hanging in our closets, so it should be easy to put together. Stayed tuned for pictures to see how they turn out!

Pictures courtesy of www.madmenshow.com

Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see. - Linus, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

I'm sorry Linus, but if the Great Pumpkin was ever going to visit any pumpkin patch, I believe it would be Juliana's pumpkin patch on the Nicholson Farm. Does it get more sincere than this?

Will it ever be Fall?!?

I'm trying to will Fall to come to Texas by changing the look of the blog. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that it's orange...okay, maybe a little. :)

Another room checked off the list!

Now that I'm working from home (woo-hoo!), I took over the front room as my office. I was lucky enough to get a nice, huge desk for FREE (thanks, Stephanie!), but that was all I had done. *I also need to say a BIG thank you to David for getting the desk loaded in the car pretty much all by himself. When we got home, we ended up taking the desk apart to get it in the office, and then put it back together once it was in there. After that, I didn't have the energy to do anything else.

I've had grand plans for the office, but hadn't been in the mood to finish it. Well, today was the day! After two months of putting it off, I finally got in there and just started hammering nails into the walls and putting things on shelves. I'm all set for the work week and beyond now! Here's the finished product:

Busy Bees

There's been so much going on since my last post, which is why I haven't been able to update (that, and I might have been a tad lazy about it...). Here's a recap of our lives for the last two months:

1. I got a new job! The day after we got back from the 55th Fighter Group Reunion, I began my new journey as one of three Associate Directors of Area Development for Alpha Xi Delta. I'm loving it! In June, I spent 6 days in Atlanta and 6 days in DC, and it was so great to be back in the land of Alpha Xi Delta. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

2. Juliana turned two! I got to spend her birthday weekend with everyone in Little Rock, and had so much fun at her birthday party. I'm also excited to say that she's graduated from calling me "TiTi" to "Aunt Tourtney"! So cute! She can also say "Uncle David" and loves to call Charlotte "Binks"! She's growing up too fast!

3. David and I spent the 4th of July in Missouri for our annual family reunion and celebration of Meredith's birthday. We had over 100 people at the reunion! It was so fun to see everyone, eat fresh farm veggies, and indulge in homemade ice cream. The funniest part of that weekend was probably when Mom, Meredith, and I decided to grill pizzas on the grill. While they turned out amazing, there was a some fire action involved with paper towels and tongs...

4. Mom and Meredith came for a girls weekend in early July. We shopped til we dropped and visited local Austin restaurants. David was in town, so he met us out for meals, and laughed at us as we carried in all our packages!

5. Our good friends, Laura and Chris, got married last weekend. It was such a fun wedding weekend with a small ceremony on Friday and beautiful reception on Saturday. Best wishes to the happy couple!

6. We've officially been in our house for a year! Times flies when you're having fun! We've spent the last two weeks having various people come out to do some minor repairs before our warranty ran out.

And life isn't slowing down for us yet! Here's what we have to look forward to:

1. Mom and Dad will be stopping by to visit for a couple of days in August.
2. We'll be in San Antonio for Holly's baby shower (it's a girl!)
3. I'll be busy with work as recruitment season approaches!

And the biggest thing we have to look forward too...

OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! So excited to celebrate, but can't believe we won't be "newlyweds" anymore. I asked David if we could do it all over again (including Hawaii), and you can probably guess what the answer is (hehe). We are currently planning a nice staycation in Austin, though, to celebrate!

More to come from the Fluty family...who knows when though!

Last Reunion of the WWII 55th Fighter Group

Last weekend, we joined the 55th Fighter Group for their last official reunion in Albuquerque, NM. David and I were lucky enough to go to their reunion in Omaha, NE in 2008, and since we weren't there last year (and it was in Austin, no less! But, right after the wedding), we wanted to make sure we were there for their last celebration as a group.

Because it was in Albuquerque, we also got to see and stay with Jessica (unfortunately Brett was out of town - bummer!). It's always good to see Jess, and we got to see their house and hang out with Watson the bulldog! Jess joined us for the formal dinner that took place during the reunion.

For those of you who don't know, the reason we attend these reunions is because of David's great uncle Joseph M. Fluty (or Mack). He was a fighter pilot for the 55th, and crashed during the war. We are fortunate enough to have a lot of items of Mack's, including photos, journals, news articles, letters, and his uniform because David's great-grandmother saved everything. David has always been interested in Mack and what he did in the war, and in 2007, he and his parents traveled to England to where Mack was based and the crash site. David had done some research online and found Russ Abbey, who is a historian for the 55th and lives in England. He met David and his parents and gave him a tour of the base, and told him a ton of information about the group. Russ put David in contact with Frank Birtciel, who was a fighter pilot and friend of Mack's. These two people were instrumental in us attending our first reunion in Omaha. During that reunion, we had the privilege of meeting many other members of the 55th, as well as relatives of members of the 55th. It was such a great experience and we couldn't imagine not going one more time.

So, that brings us to Albuquerque. David went out on Thursday, and spent the weekend with everyone, which included a tour of Kirtland Air Force Base. I came out on Friday night, and attended the last official business meeting of the group and the formal dinner on Saturday evening.

Here is the group (that was in attendance) after the business meeting:

The dinner was very small this year, but as always, a lot of fun. The stories we heard were fantastic, and hearing about their lives since the war was great. Here are some pictures:

David with Lt. Whitelaw Wright Jr. (or Whitey). He replaced Mack when his plane went down.

Jessica and I with Sgt. Harold Hall (one of my favorite people - he and I had lunch in Omaha together during the Omaha City Tour).

David with Capt. Frank Birtciel (David keeps in regular contact with him, and we see him and his wife, Velma, everytime we are in Arizona).

David with General Edward Giller (he is the President of the association, but hasn't been able to travel to a reunion in years - the last one was held in Albuquerque, where he lived, so that he could be there).

David with 2nd Lt. John Cunnick.

At the end of the dinner, they presented each member with a print of a painting that Gen. Giller and Frank Birtciel's planes on it. Each of the members signed the prints. They even presented David one on behalf of Mack.

Although we were only able to attend two of the many reunions they had as an association, we were very lucky to meet them and get to know them. Anyone who has had the chance to get to know a WWII veteran (or many, in our case!), would understand the awe and respect we have for these gentleman, because without them, we might be without our freedom. We are grateful for all they did for us, and hope you are too.

Landscaping!

Since we've pretty much conquered the task of decorating and putting together the inside of the house, it was time to conquer the outside of the house.

When we first moved into the house, the background was dirt. After some back and forth, we decided to go ahead and put landscaping in the back. Since it was about one week before our wedding, I convinced David that the best thing would be to hire a landscaper, who laid sod, put in flower beds, and planted knockout roses. David's parents bought us two beautiful trees as a wedding present to complete the backyard. Here are some pictures of the initial work (please note David and the tree - hehe):


Now, 7 months later, I'm happy to say that we completed the landscaping (both backyard and front yard) with the help of my parents over Easter weekend. While David and my dad played golf one morning, my mom and I spent two hours in Lowe's. Since I know nothing about plants, it was great to spend time looking at everything and reading about them. With my mom's knowledge and my ability to be drawn to pretty flowers, we walked out of there ready to plant. We laid out everything in the backyard and left it there overnight to make sure we liked the placement.

The next day...after a fabulous dinner party - more to come on that in another post...the four of us (my dad and mom, David and I) set to work.


After planting, lining the flowerbeds with stones and rocks, mulching, pulling weeds, another trip to Lowe's, and a stop for lunch at Torchy's Tacos, it was done. And it looked fabulous.

This is our Herb Garden - Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, and Mint.




The final touch was to put out my birthday present from David's parents - bird feeders! I was so excited to get them - but not as excited as the cats are. They stand in the window for hours watching them!



P.S. - As you can see, this post is, but I'm happy to report that David and I are still doing a good job keeping everything watered and alive. It's so exciting!

Spring California Trip

In mid-March, we were both able to finally take some vacation time and head to out to northern California to see David's parents. It's always so nice to head out west because we know we'll get to eat yummy homemade food (thanks Barbara!) and relax while hanging out with the horses, dogs and cats. It was a great trip that was unfortunately cut short because of flight dilemmas (aka - our standby plan did not turn out the way we wanted - see "Learning to be a Pilot's wife" for more information).

As always, I took a lot of pictures while I was there. I also took many videos of Notebook, but I'm still working on editing it (learning iMovie is harder than I thought!). I'll post it once I'm done. In the meantime, here's some pics I took of Notebook:



David's parents also have two new kittens (or in the words of my niece Juliana, "kitty kitty cats"). Here's Mitsy and Sockie taking a nap in their condo:

We also had the pleasure of watching an otter swim around the pond. While we thought the little guy was fun to watch, he's not the most well-behaved creature. While he was visiting the pond, he successfully ate a couple of catfish and some goose eggs. Not so cute!

And, of course, the picture of David and me that I always take while we are there. It's weird - David always has that "we really have to take a pic now" look on his face...hmm. ;)

David also got on the Kubota while we were there. Here he is practicing his driving:

Learning to be a pilot's wife

What's the first things you think of when you think of being married to a pilot? Flight benefits, right? Well, along with the flight benefits comes the disadvantage of not getting on any flight you so choose.

For those that know me well, I'm not a patient person. I'm a planner. I like to know the outcome of something before I do it. So, I've started a how-to guide on how to be a good pilot's wife:

Be patient.
So, a couple of years ago, David and I thought it would be fun if I went to meet him in San Diego while he was on a trip. I thought, why not? Throw caution the wind and jump on a plane. I made it Houston without a hitch. I thought, well, this IS easy! So, I went happily to the San Diego gate. Which is where it all went south. The flight was totally overbooked and I was waaaayyyy down on the standby list. So, I called David and he told me of another flight to try. Again, way overbooked and way low on the list. BUMMER! I tried another one. No luck. Reminder - this is the first time I've tried standby by myself. Another reminder - in case you didn't read above, I like to have a plan and know the outcome of a situation. Both were not present in this situation. Let's just say the day did not have the outcome I was hoping for (aka, I spent the night at my apartment, NOT San Diego).

Never check luggage when flying standby.
Keeping your luggage with you is the smartest thing you could ever do when flying standby because you have no idea which plane or destination you will actually make it on/to.

When we went to California a couple of weeks ago to see David's parents, we started out bright and early in Houston. We had a plan - we were going to get on the first plane to Sacramento and get there by noon. Worst case - we would get there that night around 9. Well, we never actually made it to Sacramento by plane. Nope, we made it Sacramento by driving. After a long day, David's parents had to pick us up in San Jose (3 hours away) because that's the closest we could get (and we were lucky to get that!).If I had checked luggage to Sacramento, that would have meant going to the Sacramento airport and hoping that my luggage was there. Can you say nightmare?


Plan alternatives.
As mentioned above, trying to get California was extremely difficult. When our initial plans fell through, we went to plan B, and C, and D, and...well, you get the idea. Here's a picture of some of our alternative routes we were trying:

Without alternatives, we would have ended up back at home (just like what happened with San Diego!)

Give yourself a cushion of one day on both ends of traveling.
I haven't actually had a chance to do this, because, well, I have a job that doesn't allow it, but I've heard it's a good practice. Maybe one day I'll get to try it.

Just buy a freakin' ticket.
As you might imagine, this is my favorite how-to, because I only have so much patience. I have to save that patience for times when I don't HAVE to be somewhere. Because, frankly, if I had to worry about getting to a wedding or celebrate a family reunion, I would really freak out in the airport. And, believe me (I'm sure David could vouch for this) it would not be pretty. Plus, it just feels so good to get a free ticket on Southwest. It's like flying standby (cuz it's free) but you're guaranteed to get on the plane. Ahhh, I feel a sense of calmness already.

In conclusion...
I always have to remind myself of these things before we attempt to travel standby anywhere. I'm a work in progress, but David tells me I'm getting better. And I haven't even been a pilot's wife for a whole year. I just know I'll be a pro at this pilot's wife thing in no time!

...and we're back!

So, we're blog slackers. I thought this might happen, but was hoping we'd turned over a new blogging leaf. The good news is that we have been super busy, so I guess we could blame it on our incredibly busy, very important lives. ;)

Anyway, as I mentioned, there's a lot going on. Since we last spoke with the blogger nation (or the two followers of the blog - those of you who don't follow but read it, please show us some love and sign up to follow the blog - sorry, shameless plug), here's what's been happening...

David tried his hand (and was successful!) at changing the oil in his car. So long, Jiffy Lube and your over-priced ways! P.S. - David promises to blog more about this later.


It snowed in Austin! And stuck for ummm...5-10 minutes? And no, I did not get a day off work - boo! ;)


We worked on the house - David killed weeds and hung curtains. I put pictures up on the walls, finished decorating a couple of rooms in the house, and put together a wonderful list of "Honey-Do's" for David!


And, all of a sudden the weather has changed in Austin and it looks like spring is on the way! Gotta love Texas weather - a month ago it was snowing and now we have green grass!



All that and we both have been working our butts off at our respective jobs. It's a good life we lead! And, we promise to be better about blogging, if you promise to follow us. :)

Valentine's Day

For the past couple of years, Valentine's Day has been pretty low key with us. We aren't into the cheesiness of the holiday, although I did make David buy me a heart-shaped pizza last year much to his chagrin (good thing he likes pizza!). This Valentine's Day was actually quite perfect - I read my book, watch a chick flick and sat on the couch while David ran errands and did things around the house. It was an weird feeling since it was such a role reversal...I mean..just kidding David...but it was nice (although I did have sudden urges to clean, which I suppressed, much to David's surprise).

To celebrate this year, we made dinner together and had a wonderful evening catching up on our shows (wow...again, I feel old). David grilled Elk steak and I made mashed potatoes and green beans. It was my first time making green beans, and David said it was a success! The picture above is our Valentine's meal. Yum!