Ruidoso, NM

Hi! 

Garrett and I just got back from a little, verrrry much needed, family vacation in Ruidoso, New Mexico. As you know, we have both been feeling a little down lately with our work schedules, so it was the perfect timing for us to get away for a little bit and to finally get to see family. We hadn't seen his family since Christmas!

After a long night at work Wednesday evening (think staff getting punched in the face!), and a couple hours of sleep that night, we headed out at about 10am with Mcdonald's breakfast in hand. It is about an 8 hour drive from Denver to Ruidoso, so by the time we pulled up we were beyond exhausted but still excited to see everyone. Other than me being sick the entire time we were there, we had a great time and didn't want to leave. It's always a little bit bittersweet going to see family because sooner or later you have to say goodbye.

The Cypert's had rented a cabin for us to stay in, and my parents decided to bring their travel trailer to Ruidoso the same time we were going to be there, so we got to spend time with our families together. My mom and dad got there a day early and made burgers for dinner at the RV park for the rest of us that were traveling that day. My dad makes a delicious burger!

Mom getting the fixin's ready : )

Grillin'

Perfect after a long trip!

Friday, Garrett went golfing with his dad and brother while the girls went shopping in downtown Ruidoso. That night we had a delicious dinner at the cabin. Brett grilled steaks, dad brought ribs, and the moms made baked potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans, and garlic toast. There was no shortage of food on this trip, that's for sure!

YUM!

Hot tubbin' it after dinner.

Saturday I felt like straight up crap. I slept in late, and after the boys were done golfing, we met my family at the horse races. I won a whopping $13.40! My secret? Pick the horse with your favorite name each race, not by it's odds! : ) After the races Garrett, Julie, and I headed to the Casino at the Inn of the Mountain God's so Garrett could play a couple of rounds of Blackjack. About 5 minutes later he was up $65 and cashed out.

That night we had dinner at Farley's, mom and dad brought homemade icecream to the cabin, Brett, Yates, Garrett, and I played cards, and then it was bedtime. 

I bet the big bucks! ; )

Sunday was Yates' birthday, so he got a piece of chocolate cake.

Sunday, Yates opened one of his gifts and we headed to breakfast before leaving to go home. Garrett and I stopped at a bakery/candy store on the way out too.

Snickers Fudge. To die for.

Oh! Garrett and I also stopped at an antique doors place on the way home and he bought me an early anniversary present! They had an old cabinet (for lack of better words) that I fell in love with. I'll share it on here later! 

Even thought it looks like all we did was eat, which is pretty much true, we had so much fun! It was so nice to be in the company of family again. It made us want to move closer to home even more. 

*To our families: Thank you all so much for everything you cooked, bought, and gave to us over the last several days. More than that, thank you for traveling up there to spend time with us, we really enjoyed your company and miss you already! We love you!

Say What You Need To Say

First of all, thank you guys so much for the sweet comments, Tweets, and emails about my last post! I can't believe how many sincere, caring, and helpful true friends that I have made from just writing a couple of blog posts here and there. When starting this blog I never thought it would be possible to "meet" so many new friends, my goal was to simply keep Garrett's and my families updated on our life. You guys were a fun surprise and are such a blessing, so again, thank you!

Since beginning this blog, I have found myself wanting to do more with it than recap our vacations, or post recipes of our favorite desserts. I struggled, and still do, with what I want to write about and how much I should share, what my "voice" would/should be.

 Ideally, I would like this blog to be my online diary. An open account of everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly.  

Writing is an outlet for me. It helps me to communicate things that I may otherwise be unable to. However, it is not simply writing that is in some way therapeutic for me, but it is the conversations/relationships I develop through writing, the hopefulness of finding someone else that feels the way I do.

 So why is it so hard to share some things on here? Because I am afraid of being judged. Being thought of as "weird" for even wanting to share my life/thoughts/feelings to a group of strangers.

The weird thing is that it's not the "strangers" that shy me away from sharing. It's the people I know. What will my husband think? What will my mom and dad think? What will Garrett's mom think? I can hear my dad right now, " You need to watch what you put on there." 

The thing is, I don't want to watch what I put on here. I want to talk about feeling depressed, or feeling angry at someone, or being excited for future possibilities, or any feeling in between. Why? Because I know that someone else has felt the same thing and that there are such supportive people out there. Not only that, but if I could possibly help someone out or relate to someone else feeling the same way, why not?

Mainly, I want to be honest and open. I want to write without thought of who's reading and what they will think. It will be difficult, because when you are honest some things aren't always pretty. People may not like what I write about, it may be boring, repetitive, or too "deep". I want to get past that and just write, say what I want to say.

So, from now on that's what I am going to try and do.

I'm Missing...

Oh hey guys.

Long time no talk. And I MISS IT!

It's about to get dramatic over here. Just get ready...

Having a full time job is ruining my life!!! 

Ok, not really.

BUT, it sure is making my life difficult and I'm not sure I am loving it. At all.

I'm missing:

Spending time with Garrett. Our schedules are so opposite it's not even funny. For instance, I am off today (Monday) and tomorrow. He's working. He's off Saturday and Sunday, I'm working those two days. Really? I'm not one of those "distance makes the heart grow fonder" kind of gals. Distance makes my heart grow sad and lonely. I need time with my husband people!

Talking to my family. It seems like every time my mom/dad/sister texts or calls me I am at work. By the time I am off work it is past 1am in Texas so they are sleeping. I'm used to talking to my sister on the daily. We already don't see each other often and this missing each other on the phone all the time is getting old!

Blogging. I love to write blog posts and read blogs. I haven't blogged in two weeks, except right now obviously. I miss it, and you guys! However, when I am done with work for the day, the last thing I want to do is sit down and blog. Blogging is a creative and social outlet for me which is something I definitely need. Also, it saves memories.

Having fun. Another reason I have not been blogging is because we have been doing literally nothing except working. Garrett and I are never off on the same days except for one weekend a month. That makes it difficult to do fun things together. I don't even have any pictures to share!

Having a clean apartment. Before I worked full time I had time to do the dishes, laundry, and change the cat litter on a regular basis. Now on the days that I am off I want to do nothing more than be lazy. Spend all day cleaning on my day off? No thanks!

Not being cussed and yelled at. Don't get me wrong, with my job it is just expected to happen on a regular basis. Staff get so much disrespect in this position. Just yesterday I was called a "white bitch" as well as told to "shut the f*ck up". Can you believe that coming from a 16 year old? I guess when you are raised by trash that's what happens. Still, it doesn't make it easy to be talked to that way.

So, you get the point. How do you people that work full time still have lives? I guess it doesn't help that I am on a rotating schedule and work weekends. Regardless, working my life away is not what I want or what makes me happy. It is the complete opposite. I hate it. I don't see how people do it without getting depressed. It literally encompasses everything and takes so much time away from the important things in life.

I'll take back the things that I am missing over an extra paycheck any day. 

You Won't Believe This

BUT....

I think bubble baths are overrated. 

I know, what kind of girl am I? Better yet, what kind of blogger am I? To be a good blogger and a normal girl, I should be Instagramming {is that a word?} pictures of my feet at the end of a bubble filled tub, with a candle burning in a dim room. 

You know, something like this but replace the toys with candles and dim the lights a little:

 

Not me.

Garrett takes more bubble baths than I do. What, was I not supposed to tell y'all that? 

Oh well.

It's not like I don't try. Two bubble baths ago I was about 8 minutes in and I reached up to turn off the faucet and I broke it. It wouldn't turn off and it was filling the tub with cold water. Fail.

Two nights ago I tried again. I threw in some Epsom Salt, bubbles, and a little fizzy thing I had from Lush. I lasted about 10 minutes and I drained the tub and turned on the shower.

My question is: 

What do y'all do in there? I get so bored just sitting there. I can't do it.

Also, I get too hot. 

Do you like bubble baths? Or are you like me and think they are overrated?

Summer Swap Partners!

SUMMER 

SWAP PARTNERS!

Hey everyone!  We are SO excited to announce the swap partners!  Just a reminder of the rules.

The Rules: 

1.  GO SHOPPING!  We want you to buy your swap partner a bright, fun beach towel.  Along with the towel, buy your partner lots of goodies that they can use at the pool, the beach or just out in the sun! 

2.  DON'T GO NUTS!  Try to keep a spending limit around $20.  If you want to spend more, feel free!  But you don't have to go crazy spending tons of money on the goodies.  Wal-Mart and Target have so many  miniature goodies in the travel section that would make great box fillers!  please remember:  the $20 limit does NOT include your shipping cost.

Ok, ready?  Set?  SWAP!

CLICK FOR YOUR PARTNER'S BLOG!

Allie & Sarah

Meighan & Kalyn

Whitney & Megan
Mary Britni & Jessi
Lori V. & Elyse
Jenn & Kelley
Meagan & Carly
Kelsey & Libby
Britney & Catherine
Chels & Erica
Britni & Jen
Katelyn & Lori W.
Casey & Brianne
Miranda & Maddie
Krista & Morgan
Abby & Megan H.
Meagan S. & Jessyka

Be SURE to contact your partner ASAP, read their blog, get to know them and get to shopping!
You can find the spreadsheet of information HERE.

Boss Nation

MIA- that's what I have been lately.

I just started my very first full time job! 

Yep, you read that right, my very first. I've worked since I was 16 years old, but only in part time jobs. I'm not a big fan of the American belief that everyone should spend their lives working their asses off and not enjoying their short lives, but that's neither here nor there. I am now one of those Americans. 

Right now I am excited about it! I am one of 3 people who are opening up a new cottage for the girls who live in the residential treatment center I work at. I have worked there for almost two years, so the environment isn't new, just my position. We are starting completely from scratch with everything, meaning that we have the power to choose the rules, the cottage name, our program, everything. It's a ton of responsibility but it's also exciting! We will be one of the first cottages in the state to house short term/community based kids and if it goes well they may open up other facilities like ours! 

So, like I said, we have the opportunity to choose the name of our cottage.  We decided that we would let the girls that will be living there help us choose. Their first suggestion? Boss Nation. Figures, right? Needless to say, we are still trying to think of something so if you have any suggestions I would love them! Some of the other cottage names are: Sequoia, Monarch, Centennial. If that helps you at all. : )

Last weekend, to celebrate my new job, Garrett and I ate at some of our favorite restaurants and went to the Castle Rock Outlets. We recently discovered this place called Dozens and it has the best menu. I can't leave without getting a Pumpkin Walnut muffin. It is the best muffin I have ever had.

At the outlets I got my first pair of Ray-Bans, and my first shirt and a new necklace from J. Crew. I'd say it was a successful shopping trip!

 

 I'll be working most weekends, and I'm not too excited about that, but hopefully it'll be alright. It's going to be hard when Garrett is home and I have to go to work. Oh, the life of being an adult. Everyone else does it so I guess I can too! 

I hope you guys are having a great week so far! 

Ps. If you signed up for our Summer Splash Swap, go here to see your partners! 

Perfect for Summer: Lemon Brownies

Well hello friends!

I haven't shared a recipe in awhile, and this one is really good and perfect for summer, so it had to be shared. I don't know about y'all, but Garrett and I LOVE lemon flavored desserts. They are the perfect amount of sweetness paired with a tangy citrus flavor, and they scream summer. 

Despite the fact that these are called Lemon "Brownies", there is no chocolate in them, brownie just refers to the texture. Which is incredible.

What you need:

(for the brownies)

3/4 Cup Flour

3/4 Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick), softened

2 Eggs

2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

(for the lemon glaze)

1 Cup Powdered Sugar (or to taste)

4 tablespoons Lemon Juice, fresh

8 Teaspoons Lemon Zest

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan, set aside.

2. Zest and juice 3 lemons, set aside.

3. Beat together the flour, sugar, salt, and butter until well mixed.

4. Add in the eggs, lemon juice and zest (2 Tablespoons each). Beat for several minutes until you have a creamy, smooth texture.

5. Pour into baking dish and bake for 23 to 25 minutes or until the edges just start to turn golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle is dry. Do not over bake, these will get dry. 

6. Allow brownies to cool completely before adding the glaze. 

To make the glaze:

Mix powdered sugar, lemon zest, and juice. Spread half over the brownies, let set. Pour the remaining glaze on the brownies, cut into bars, and enjoy!