Week 19

May 8, 2011 - Happy Mother's Day! We spent most of the day doing yard work, but tonight we took my mom to BJ's for dinner. One of my favorite restaurants and one of my favorite people!


May 9, 2011 - This picture is from yesterday, but it kind of represented my day today too. Because 1) Our yards look AWESOME today after we pulled weeds, edged, mowed, and swept up for three hours. But 2) I am SO SORE after we pulled weeds, edged, mowed, and swept up for three hours.


May 10, 2011 - Tonight we opened a bottle of wine that we bought in Wimberly about five years ago. We kept trying to wait until a really special occasion to open it since it was more than we would normally spend on wine and you can only get it in Texas, but after we picked up a bunch more bottles different Texas wines during our last trip to Wimberly, we figured we might as well finally drink this one. Unfortunately, it was a little vinegary, but I'm glad we finally opened it!


May 11, 2011 - I have been trying to figure out how to use a piping bag and tips for the last few weeks, and tonight I think I finally figured out how to hold it! I made these strawberry cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese/vanilla icing tonight, and I'm kind of proud about how they turned out!


May 12, 2011 - Today we had a video shoot for work after lunch. As you can tell by my pose here, I am incredibly important.


May 13, 2011 - I love Fridays off. Today Jack had to meet with his business partner, who just so happens to also own a little floating restaurant out on the lake. I went with him and spent the time outside siting on the dock with my feet splashing in the lake, listening to my book until my (amazing, delicious) burger was ready. Beautiful day.


May 14, 2011 - Today was another beautiful day, and we spent the day at Six Flags with a bunch of people from the karate school. It was really fun, although the crowds were CRAZY because the weather was so nice. The new Texas Giant is SO cool!

Week 18

May 1, 2011 - Today was supposed to be Day 2 of BikeMS, but it got very, very rained out. I spent the morning answering calls from the MS Society, updating our Twitter and Facebook page, and returning calls to people on my team, then went back to bed. We got back up around 8 and headed home. The MS Society handled this change beautifully and I didn't mind not riding on day two - My only goal is to raise money to help cure my mom!



May 2, 2011 - I ended up with some weird tan/burn lines. As it turns out, you should apply sunscreen more than once if you're going to be out for 10 hours. Lesson learned.



May 3, 2011 - About a week ago, I really wanted some dill pickles, so I splurged and bought a jar at the store. When I got it home, I realized I had accidentally picked up jalapeño dill. Which was fine, but not what I was craving at all. So today, Jack walked in with not one, but two jars of dill pickles - the good kind!! I was so excited that I opened one of the jars right then and there... and proceeded to spill the juice ALL OVER MYSELF. Smooth.



May 4, 2011 - Today is my mom's birthday!! We went to PF Chang's after work and then I brought over Angel Food cake and fresh strawberries. It was fun!



May 5, 2011 - Happy Cinco de Mayo! For lunch today, we went to a little Mexican grocery store/meat market that has the BEST authentic Mexican tacos and brought back four pounds of it (and plenty of cilantro and lime!) It was a fantastic meal. Viva la Puerto Rico!



May 6, 2011 - My husband cracks me up.



May 7, 2011 - I walked outside today and was literally startled by the state of our backyard. The weeds have totally taken over. This picture doesn't even do it justice. It was wild!

Week 17

April 24, 2011 - Tonight we had a HUGE storm - thunder, lightening, crazy rain, hail, you name it. Maggie, as we all know, does not do well in storms. So what do we do? We take her with us to get coffee so she won't be alone in the house during the storm. Nothing like being trapped in a glass prison in the middle of the storm to calm the neurotic dog down.


April 25, 2011 - And the storms keep coming! Tonight we got out all our lanterns and flashlights, just in case the power went out, and watched a movie together. It turned out to be a pretty good evening.


April 26, 2011 - I love starting my days like this.


April 27, 2011 - I bought this. At a thrift store. But don't worry, this is supposed to be my "before" picture, a la newdressaday.com. This is the goal for what it's supposed to end up like. I might mess it up, but messing up a thrift store dress is cheaper than messing up fabric, so one way or another, I'm going to learn how to sew!


April 28, 2011 - Tonight I was so tired that Maggie and I fell asleep on the couch together. I was still in my work clothes and everything. Usually, Jack wakes me up and takes me to bed a few hours later, but instead...


April 29, 2011 - ...I woke up at 4:30 a.m., still on the couch, this on TV. And Jack was still awake. He had stayed up all night (presumably playing computer games or something). I was really annoyed at the time, but we watched the whole Royal Wedding live and it turned out to be incredibly riveting. We went to bed at 6:30 a.m., and slept until about noon. In retrospect, I'm glad we saw it live.


April 30, 2011 - It's finally BikeMS day!! I got up at 5 this morning (I'm not really liking this new trend!) and headed to Frisco with my parents and the Bedenbaughs, and like every year, we headed out for the 86-mile ride (and that's just day one!) I've never actually made it the whole way before, but this time, I did! I rode every single mile! This is my awesome team outside our team tent. I couldn't believe how great they were this year.

Week 16

April 17, 2011 - Today was my BikeMS team's official training ride, and I did 35 miles. It was the shortest route you could take, but it just about killed me! For dinner, I asked for a Jason's Deli baked potato - I needed the potassium. And the cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.


April 18, 2011 - When Jack left this morning, Maggie stayed right where she was when he left and stared at the store like she missed him and wanted him to come back. It was really cute, and kind of sad.


April 19, 2011 - Today my mom came home to a brand new bike - my dad surprised her with it. It's beautiful, and much lighter than her hybrid. I think it will make BikeMS a lot easier for her.


April 20, 2011 - When Jack takes Maggie to my parents' house for "doggie daycare" in the morning, he has her sit and stay, then opens the door, picks her up, and puts her in the truck. It's so cute.


April 21, 2011 - I have been so busy with BikeMS planning lately that I haven't updated the Murphy ATA website, and it was in desperate need of updating. So tonight, Jack didn't let me go to bed until it was done (okay, he wasn't mean about it or anything.) It's not super-pretty, but it does the job for now.


April 22, 2011 - It's Good Friday! Jack and I had such a nice day together. We spent the day driving around, visiting thrift stores and a few Pawn shops just for fun, then we ate lunch at Kelly's Eastside, a little Aggie-run restauruant with the best buffalo shrimp sandwich on the planet. We ended the evening with at Mi Cocina in Watters Creek and then we sat on the grass and listened to music for a few minutes. When the band finished, Jack and I didn't want to leave, so we stayed and played scrabble ("Words with Friends") back and forth on our phones. We had such a fun time together!


April 23, 2011 - Well, we definitely have ground beef in the house now. 40 pounds of it, to be precise. I started buying meat from this wholesaler and I've been really happy with the quality and price - it's just that you have to buy it by the case. You can, of course, split it with another family, but I found that I have really enjoyed having meat in the freezer all the time, so I decided to keep the whole 40. It's a lot of work to package up in quart-sized baggies, but I know it's going to be totally worth it later!

Week 15

April 10, 2011 - GROSS. My parents asked Jack if he wanted them to take him out for a birthday dinner, and they just HAD to suggest Panchos, this all-you-can-eat Mexican place that he just loves. Sometimes with Jack, it's about quantity over quality.

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April 11, 2011 - Today after work, my mom and I went for a bike ride. We had a good time, and I totally tricked her into having to ride up this terrible hill. At the top, we stopped and took this picture. I think she forgave me.

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April 12, 2011 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK! Today was Jack's 32nd birthday, and after he got home from work, my parents came over to help us celebrate. I made him a yellow cake with chocolate icing (from the BOX and the CAN, NOT from scratch, even though I offered - that's what he wanted), plus a steak, baked potato, and salad with real bacon on both. I didn't have any cake candles, so he blew out a regular one. I don't think he minded though.

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April 13, 2011 - Seriously, I don't know what is happening to my husband. This (meatless!) salad was what he ate for dinner. That's IT. I'm so proud.

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April 14, 2011 - Tonight, there was a HUGE storm, and Miss Maggie does NOT like storms. At all. I read on the internet that it helps dogs if you put a t-shirt on them, and so I put one of mine on her. Surprisingly, it actually did calm her down a bit! She still had to be RIGHT ON TOP of me the whole time, but it was an improvement from her constant pawing at me to get me to pet her and hold her. My poor little wimpy dog.

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April 15, 2011 - Jack spent most of the day at a tournament, so I did a lot of baking today. And, as they say, you can't win them all. I was trying to make blue velvet cupcakes (I ran out of red food coloring), and for some reason, they REALLY didn't work out. They kept overflowing and sinking in. I ended up taking the ugly cupcakes and making cake balls out of them.

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April 16, 2011 - Tomorrow morning is our team's official BikeMS training ride, so my co-captain and the captain of our sister team (?) spent the day driving the route and marking it with arrows at the turns. We actually had a lot of fun doing it, and we learned quite a bit about marking paint - like that you should take the lid off before you try to spray it. Who knew?

Week 14

April 3, 2011 - Since the Plain White T's concert wasn't until tonight, Jack and I spent the day down in San Antonio and Wimberly. We had the best time sitting along the Riverwalk, drinking margaritas and eating fresh guacamole, then eating ice cream at the little ice cream place we like down there. The rest of the day was spent in Wimberly, tasting wine and shopping at the quirky little shops, then driving back to Austin for the concert tonight. It was such a fun, relaxing day!! And the concert? That was amazing too! All in all a pretty good birthday present for both of us!

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April 4, 2011 - Since this photo was taken after midnight, I'm counting this as our picture of the day! After the concert, we got to meet Parachute and the Plain White T's and get pictures with them! The Parachute guys were so nice! After we left, we headed to Wendy's and got some crappy drive-thru food, ate it in the hotel room, and basically passed out! It was quite a day. The next day we drove home after visiting with Jack's college friend Susan, and Jack was back at work by the time classes started. It was a quick but very, very fun weekend.

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April 5, 2011 - Aaaannddd we're back to reality. Today when I was doing the dishes, the sink started flooding so I plunged it, hoping to un-clog the drain. The next thing I knew, there was water pouring out of my cabinet from the garbage disposal that I had completely blown out. Note to self: do not put potato peels down the disposal or plunge your kitchen sink with great force. There's a $350 mistake.

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April 6, 2011 - These two crack me up every morning! I'm usually the first one up, which gives Jack and Maggie plenty of cuddle time. It makes me kind of jealous!

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April 7, 2011 - Did I make a from-scratch dark chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream tonight? Why yes, yes I did.

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April 8, 2011 - Tonight was the BikeMS Club 100 (top 100 fundraisers) party at the Rough Rider's game. There were free food and drinks and lots of goodies too! It pays to raise a lot of money for MS. Jack and I had a great time watching the game (and arguing about how many innings are in baseball - fyi, it's not ten, even if the scoreboard has ten innings listed) and watching fireworks after. It was really fun!

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April 9, 2011 - This is our absolute new favorite place for dessert - or in this case, appetizers. There was a long wait at Grimaldi's, where we were having dinner, so we headed over to Bonnie Ruth's and had the most delightful blueberry cupcake ever before dinner. Being a grown-up is AWESOME.

Week 13

March 27, 2011 - If you have known Jack for ANY amount of time, this photo should absolutely shock you. Because this was our dinner. A grilled chicken salad (with dark greens!! Like spinach!) and a baked potato. That's it. My, how nine years can change a person.

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March 28, 2011 - Even though last night's dinner was a hit with Jack, I think he still prefers my not-quite-so-healthy tacos (covered in cheese, of course!)

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March 29, 2011 - Maggie is just so cute. Ever since we let her on the bed in the mornings, she has been reluctant to get up. We have to ask her to get off the bed. Most of the time, I just leave her alone because she looks so comfy.

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March 30, 2011 - I've been working on these cute little labels for my new canisters - they really brighten up my pantry!

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March 31, 2011 - Without Jack's knowledge, I've been working on these little "presents" for him for his birthday - they are clues that I will give him along a birthday road trip this weekend that he knows nothing about!

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April 1, 2011 - Tonight, we decided we would have a little date to Cru (a wine bar), and then go have dinner at home. We had an awesome time tasting wine, visiting, and eating cheese on their patio. Then, we found this new little bakery/bistro with the most amazing red velvet cake, so we got some of that too. After all that eating bad food and drinking wine, we weren't even hungry for dinner! It really was a lovely evening though.

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April 2, 2011 - Today, Jack and I went to Sonic for lunch, and then when I drove away, I drove him all the way to Austin! He had no idea what was happening, and all along the way, I gave him little clues about where we were going. On the second to last clue, he finally guessed that we were going to see a Plain White T's concert in Austin! He was definitely surprised by the whole thing. We even got to meet the drummer for Parachute while we were checking into our hotel. It's going to be a fun weekend!!