Classic Justin.

Last night Justin and I were both working and Jeopardy was on in the background. One of the categories was "Tom Time." The answer was:

"He and his band were runnin’ down a dream as the halftime

entertainment at the super bowl in 2008."

Justin blurts out confidently "Bruce Springsteen!" over my obvious response "Tom Petty."

Clearly it is not Bruce Springsteen (or any other guy with a band whose name is not Tom) given the category. Of course, when he realizes his answer was very wrong, Justin's reaction was "well I didn't know what the category was." Sure.

(photo: jeopardy.com)

Please note that the Jeopardy story was much funnier last night. It must be one of those stories where you had to be there -- but I wasn't going to delete what I already wrote and the lovely picture of Alex. Take my word for it, it was funny.

Tonight, I asked Justin if he heard about Tony Romo breaking up with Jessica Simpson the day before her birthday. Without missing a beat, his reply was "Smart move. At least he doesn't have to buy her something for her birthday."

(photo: newyorkdailynews.com)

Maybe I should be concerned since my birthday is less than 3 weeks away.

Aveeno.

I just discovered the best shaving lotion ever. Aveeno daily moisturizing body wash. This is Justin's daily body wash (yes, it is slightly girly), and I stole it the other day to shave. My legs were so smooth and silky -- I didn't even have to put on lotion. And it smells nice too!

Try it. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

(As a type, Justin is dancing to the Jack in the Box "mini buffalo ranch chicken sandwich" song. Amazing.)

Score at J. Crew.

We ran to J. Crew last night because they were holding a pair of the Joley pearlized-patent peep toes for me (previously blogged about here). I was thrilled they had them in the store because their sizes tend to be pretty inconsistent.

They are a dream! It took everything I had (and a couple of stern looks from Justin) not to also grab the red and pink ones (which looked more brown in the store than online, if I remember them correctly).

The shoes are actually very comfortable. I wore them the whole day and didn't get any blisters. I have a feeling I may live in these shoes. I plan to stalk to jcrew.com for the other colors to go on sale.


The heel height is perfect for me -- not too tall, not too short, but just right. I like how the peep toe part is a little bigger/more open than some. I can't explain how awesome the leather looks -- it is shiny, and it has a pearlized look to it too. The pearlization (is that a word?) is more noticeable on some of the other colors, but the black is great. You can kind of see it below, but I had a hard time getting it to show up in the pics. In case anyone is planning on getting them, I think they run about a half size small. These are a 7 and I have other pairs of J. Crew shoes in a 6.5.


I also happened to find the atelier jacket while I was perusing the sale section. I have been eying the gray one online for a long time (and have balked on it several times when there was free shipping). After trying on the one in white, I was sold. And, the best part -- it rung up for $30.00 cheaper when I checked out. Love it when that happens!!

Close up. Love the ruffle neck!!


The jacket and shoes combo.

I had a long day at work and was in no mood to smile or worry about my hair/make-up for the picture, hence the headless shots. Don't judge.

5 things . . .

(Man, I am bad at keeping up with my list of things I am thankful for.)

1. Getting the holiday weekend off! Watching fireworks with friends this year was much better than hearing the fireworks go off while working in the office last year on the 4th.


2. Having a partner-free Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week at work.

3. Having a day in Houston that stayed below 100 degrees!

4. Chick-fil-A's peach shake. Not to be confused with their slippery floors, which I am not thankful for. [Side note: If your husband asks you to "share" a shake with him, watch him like a hawk to make sure he splits it fairly. He sipped it the whole way home and then says "do you want half of what we started with or half of what's left?" Next time I will order my own small!]


5. My Nana's "nanner pudding" lovingly made by my sweet mom. Thanks mom, you're the best! My waistline has expanded thanks to the 7 servings of banana pudding I had to eat before the bananas got too ripe.

Dining Room Chairs.

I mentioned last week that we bought some great fabric for a little DIY project. We covered our dining room chairs. I am thrilled with the results.

Here are the chairs before with a plain flax linen seat. Nothing terrible, but nothing special.

Of course, Riley offered his help by holding down the fabric for us. We had to move him multiple times off the fabric. He also liked chewing his toy on the seats when they were removed from the chair. Such a good helper!


Here is the side-by-side after:

Close up of the fabric:


Here are 6 out of the 8 we recovered. They turned out great and make such a big difference! Now it has us motivated to find the perfect fabric for our breakfast room table chairs.

Marine Biologist.

This has nothing to do with anything (not that anything in my blog ever does), but I saw the marine biologist episode of Seinfeld the other night. George re-capping the experience ranks in my top 5 Seinfeld moments. Kramer and Jerry's faces are priceless. It was too good not to share here:

Riley (again).

Riley gets into the strangest positions. This night he was running around like crazy and then jumped into the chair and landed like this.

He ended up falling asleep in the position. (click to enlarge to fully appreciate his awesomeness). I love his teeth!

I can't help but smile when I look at these pictures. He is such a funny dog.

Sunday Dinner.

The past 2 Sunday evenings, we have made dinner together, which has been nice. Making dinner isn't something that has happened recently since we have been so busy at work. Last Sunday was Justin's famous shrimp scampi. Delicious!

Tonight was steak with tons of sides. We could have fed an army. You know the meal is crazy when you have to use 3 plates (1 for your salad and 2 for your steak and sides). As you can see we had: salad, steak, grilled peppers, sauteed mushrooms, broccolini, microwaved baked potatoes, bread, and wine.

I used the recipe here for the broccolini. Very easy and very good. I also used my grandma's trick and microwaved the potatoes to save time. You just clean the potatoes, poke holes in them, microwave on high for 4 minutes on each side (or longer if big potatoes), and then wrap in foil for a few minutes before serving. They taste like they baked in the oven, but without the wait! Everything was so tasty!

Wonderful Sunday.

I had a great Sunday (and didn't have to work for 1 minute)! We slept in and had coffee and Lucky Charms (breakfast of champions). We then ran some errands (the antique shop close to our house, High Fashion Home, and Pottery Barn).

Justin was sweet and dropped me off at the nail place so I could get a mani/pedi while he went to store to pick up items for tonight's dinner. (Post to follow on the delicious massive meal we had).

We ran back to High Fashion Home, which sells furniture and great fabric, after we checked out some swatches we had grabbed earlier in the day. I will have a recap of the little DIY project we started today. I am super excited about the results. Stay tuned for the before and after!

Riley: Before & After.

BEFORE:

As you can tell, Riley was in desperate need of a hair cut. I promise he has eyes! (His leg was partially shaved for his teeth cleaning). He looks like a big furry stuffed animal!

AFTER:

He looks completely different! I barely recognized him when he came back from the groomer. We normally don't get him cut this short. On the bright side, his shaved leg doesn't look like a poodle-paw anymore! I am sure he loves the summer cut for the 100 degree weather we have been having here, but I miss his curly hair.

5 things . . .

It has been too long since I have done my list of 5 things. Here are 5 things I am thankful for . . .

1. UT getting to the national championship series, even if they blew it in the 3rd game.

2. J. Crew getting some new pumps in. I am loving these simple black peep-toes. Believe you me, a good simple pair of black peep-toes is not easy to find.

These ones are gorgeous too. I love this deep red color. Maybe I can convince Justin I need both pairs.


3. Getting to go on a mini-vacation to Austin over a weekend in mid-July with some great friends. Me and the Barton Creek spa may have to have a little date while I am there.

4. Having our new bed delivered in a couple of weeks! Now we just have to buy a mattress, side tables, bedding, etc. Wish I had some spare time to look around.
5. Jon and Kate + 8 being on an 8-month hiatus. They should have stopped the show a long time ago. I will refrain from getting on my soapbox!

Texas Fight.

Heck Yeah!! I am totally rocking my burnt orange shirt at work tomorrow.

Hook 'em Horns!

Bathroom Idea.

I love this bathroom! If I could only convince Justin that the venetian mirrors are awesome. He's not so sure.

(photo: http://www.myhomeideas.com)

I love the glass tiles behind the mirrors. Just beautiful! (Thanks mom for sending this along).

Our sconces should be here this week from Restoration Hardware for the bathroom update. We still have the mirrors from RH after they shipped us new ones that were in the correct finish and not broken. I think they ended up shipping us 10 mirrors total before they got it right. What a hassle. I am excited to see them with the sconces. Updates on the master bedroom progress to come . . .

5 Year Anniversary!

So I am over a week late, but I have to recap our wonderful 5 year wedding anniversary. I got back home from Denver on our anniversary early in the afternoon and was able to avoid going into the office. Justin picked me up and we spent the day together! It was great.

We had Justin's favorite cake (yellow with chocolate frosting) from Carrie Made the Cake. (Thanks mom for taking care of that while I was out of town).

Justin ordered beautiful flowers for me from a new place down the street. He was extremely disappointed since he ordered peonies, roses, and hydrangeas in pink and this is what he got. However, they were still pretty and I appreciated the thought.

After a nap (I had been up since 4:30 a.m.), we headed to dinner at Pappa's Brothers Steakhouse. It was amazing, to say the least. They had a great special -- 2 salads, 2 filets, 10 oz of rock lobster, and a side dish (we had asparagus). Of course, we also ordered a side of mac and cheese with crab. DE-LISH!

Here is the lobster (taken with Justin's blackberry):

We also had a tasty dessert -- chocolate mouse with heath bar and dark chocolate ganache with a homemade marshmallow. It wasn't Justin's favorite, so he enjoyed scotch instead. More dessert for me!

I forgot to take a picture before we left, so this is us with extremely full bellies once we got back home.

It was a great day. It's hard to believe it has already been 5 years! I have the most wonderful husband in the whole world. I couldn't imagine loving anyone as much as I love him. I am so blessed and look forward to many many more years of great times ahead.

Hook 'em Horns!

Dear Cameron and Connor,

Thank you for being ballers. Nothing like a walk-off home run with 2 outs. You both provided a great end to an otherwise generally crappy week.

Thanks,
Emily

P.S. I like your names.