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!

Grandmother

In loving memory of Grandmother. It's important to note that I did not say "My Grandmother" as she was not just a Grandmother to me and my sister, but to many others. Last week, while we were in Ash Grove, I had a lot of people tell me that she was like a grandmother to them, and so that's what they called her. Therefore, she's not just my Grandmother or Meredith's Grandmother, but Grandmother to all that knew her.

At the service for Grandmother, the preacher mentioned the ordinary days that made her life so special. What struck me about that is, while she thought they were just ordinary days, they were in fact extraordinary days to those who spoke with her or visited with her. She was extraordinary to others in such ordinary ways. She listened, she laughed, and she loved. I'm sure that everyone who knew her would agree.

I'm so blessed to have been in her life. I'm so thankful that she got to meet and get to know David and that she was present at our wedding. I have a lot of wonderful memories of her, and every time I take a "swig" of a Sprite, I will think of her.

"Name Change" Date

Since we've been married, I've been going through the process of becoming a Fluty. That means having to stand in the long lines at the DMV, Social Security office, and the HR department at work (okay, maybe that one didn't have a line). It also means having to call every business I can think of - cell phone company, banks, credit card companies, etc. But, more or less, I've pretty much completed the process of being a Hankins to being a Fluty.

So, with all of this hard work, we (or mainly me) figured a date was in order. David agreed to take me out on a "name change" date to 1) celebrate becoming a Fluty and 2) so that I would stop complaining that he didn't have to change his identity like I did. ;)

On Saturday night, we ventured out into the Austin night. Our first stop was Uchi, a trendy sushi restaurant on South Lamar. David took me there on our second date, so we thought it would be a good place to go (and celebrate being married and not being nervous like we were on that date!). When we arrived, the valet guy said that it was a 2 hour wait and, by the time we got inside the restaurant, it had become a 2 hr. 40 minute wait. Since we didn't feel like eating at 10 p.m., we headed downtown to our next favorite (we did get a $10 coupon to come back to Uchi - pretty cool!).

Our second choice was Truluck's, which is probably where we should have started. We didn't have to wait very long, and the meal we got was fantastic (as it always is!). Seafood and steak don't get much better than Truluck's. After dinner, we decided to go have a couple of beers at The Gingerman Pub, and some friends ended up meeting us for drinks. It was the perfect end to our "name change" date. Here's a picture of us at the bar (note my new 'do - got it done that day):

And, for all the "complaining" I do about how much there was to do to change my name, I'm really just kidding around. It really wasn't that bad and I wouldn't change my new last name for anything. I love it and my husband very much!!