iCade Surprise

So Paul goes into the other room, shuts the door and makes a huge deal that I do not come in there.  He said he has a surprise for me and that he's been waiting for it to deliver.  He goes on and on about how I'm going to think it's so cool and that I'll want to get for other people too.

He finally opens the door and shows me this...  

It's an iCade and it has 100 games, including some of Paul's favorite Atari games.  

I have a feeling that Paul made such a big deal about how I'm going to love it, so I won't think he's crazy for buying it.  But, I do know that my nephews are going to dig it.

At least it's cheaper than adding another full size arcade to the game room!

Love, Sarah

300th and 11x2

This post is my 300th post for Kittens and Pitbulls.  Pretty crazy huh?!

Samantha Cangelosi tagged me in her 11 Things Survey post and asked that I and three others answer her questions and tell 11 random things about myself.  

I haven't done something like this since old school chain email.  Remember those?  So I figured, let's give it a go!

Here are the 11 Questions she had for me:

1.  What is your dream job?   

Honestly - one day being a mother.  I don't think there's a more important job than being a parent.

2.  Why’d you decide to start blogging?  

I have no clue!  I wanted to post pictures of my pets.  

3.  Who’s your favorite music artist(s) right now?  

One of my favorite album's to play is Lykke Li - Youth Novels.  I've been going back to listening to it for years.  It makes me happy.  Kari Jobe's new album is also great, I love listening to it when I'm working.

4.  If you had three wishes, what would they be? And no wishing for more wishes!  

This may sound corny, but for everyone that is looking for love finds it, that I realize how much I'm truly blessed, and that I would read more than I watch. 

5.  Cooking or baking?  

Totally baking.  I think it's easier because everything is spelled out for you and all you have to do is follow the directions.  Cooking has to many variables.

6.  School or work?  

Work, I actually didn't go to college and went straight into the working world.

7.  What is the best thing that has happened to you this week?  

My Mother Daughter Day with my mom.  Spending time with her is so refreshing and I hope that a little bit of her rubs off on me every time we're together.

8.  Where is one place you are dying to go?  

Heaven.  That sounds a little creepy, but death doesn't scare me one bit.  I'm more concerned that I'm wasting to much time here on Earth doing selfish things.

9.  Does Toddlers and Tiaras creep you out?  

I've only seen this clip on Hilary's style post.  I think I saw enough.

10.  What’s your go to comfort food? 

Spaghetti, any kind of bread and butter, and rocky road ice cream from Cool & Hot!

11.  Warm weather or cold weather?  

If I have to choose, warm.  I appreciate them both, it really depends if it's early or late in the day and I'm waiting for my dogs to go potty.  Shadow is a slow poke.

Here are my 11 random things about myself:

1.  I've never read the Bible from front to back - but I believe every word.

2.  I want to raise my child some day in Costa Rica.  

3.  I LOVE crap tv (ex: Real Housewives of everywhere, Kardashian anything, and Jersey Shore)

4.  I can do a push-up with one leg behind my head.

5.  I'm addicted to sugar.

6.  I usually order a cappuccino before my meal.

7.  I think taking pictures of yourself for outfit posts are totally weird, but I have so much fun doing them that I don't care.

8.  I have a badass camera but I shoot on automatic.

9.  I'm on AT&T's top 5% of 3G users.  

10.  I was working 3 jobs when I first met Paul.  

11.  I have really awesome friends.

BONUS.  I don't drink.  I choose not to for several reasons, I'm not a fan of hangovers, I would rather be able to drive home, you never know when I will be blessed with a child, and it saves $$ on our tab.  

So there we go - my 300th post and 11 Survey complete.

Love, Sarah

Jimmy's Food Store

Today for lunch I went to Jimmy's Food Store.  Uncle John's from Coal Vine's has been telling me about this place for years.  Then our Italian jeweler Pete told Paul that he picks up their provolone cheese and takes it with him to NY every time he visits his family.  He said they get it in straight from Italy.  So of course I had to finally make a visit.

I ordered a turkey sub (I know, not very italian) and added provolone and avocado.  It was delicious and under $5!

Paul tells the story that he use to get a black and white everyday when he worked in NY.  So I picked him up a cookie for a treat.

Half the store seemed to be wine. 

...and I was pleasantly surprised to see Henry's homemade ice cream!

Also good to know that there's Fran's Fryers Better Than All Natural chicken available close by.  

I would say that Jimmy's is all that it's cracked up to be.  

Love, Sarah

Team Beauregard

One of my favorite traits of my relationship with Paul is that we accept each other for who we are.  

I can be super lazy and extremely messy and I never hear a word of complaint from Paul.  His only request is that I don't leave shoes in his walkway to the restroom at night.  And Paul is a worker bee.  I'm talking up to 17 hours a day straight working.  My only request is that we eat dinner peacefully together every night.   And it works.  

I never get the feeling from him that I'm not good enough and he never has to worry I'm lacking attention.  We know that we value each other and that we're on the same team.  I think we both have realized from the past that we hold the key of not tearing each other down and that it takes us both to have a successful marriage.

What key traits do you value in your current relationships?

Love, Sarah

Mother Daughter Saturday!

I was craving some mom time, so Saturday we went out and about and spent the whole day together.  We started with breakfast at the fitting Mama's Daughter's Diner and then headed to the Texas Discovery Gardens in Fair Park.  

TEXAS DISCOVERY GARDENS

At noon everyday they have a release.  We were able to watch these butterflies be welcomed into their new home.  

We worked up an appetite and ate a lovely lunch at the Zodiac Room in the downtown Neiman Marcus.  Then ran through the rain to our car to head over to the DMA.

DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART

  

My mom is very creative and watching her observe art at it's finest is so fun to see how she appreciates every stitch, brush, or carve into the piece.

CROW COLLECTION OF ASIAN ART

We decided to make the dash in the rain over to the Crow Collection of Asian Art as well.  My Mom really enjoyed the display of intricate designed jade and snuff bottles. 

Another wonderful day with my momma.  I could do that every weekend.

Love, Sarah

Last Day Love

We've started a tradition two trips ago that on our last day of our visit we take the whole family to the Tilapia Restaurant and then go to our favorite waterfall.

This is our first family picture all together.  I love how Shadow is looking at me, Oscar is looking at Shadow, and Bexsa is looking at Oscar.

After you fished for your tilapia you wait for them to cook it to your preference.  

They love putting on Paul's sunglasses.

Armando was in San Jose for most the time we were there.  Jose told us he asked to come back because we were more fun and he wanted to see us.  I love Armando so much.  He is the perfect older brother.

Once we got to the waterfall, Alanso immediately started planning the attack on me with the muy frio agua.  

He didn't realize I was right behind him.  Armando was embarrassed, but I got my payback with Alanso.

I tickled him like crazy!  

I can't even explain how cold that water is.  It's so fresca and it's Paul's favorite thing to do.

We're counting down the days to go back and see the kids.  

Love, Sarah

  

Just In Time For Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

Take a look at a short film that Jun Kang created with the help of some friends!

Jun just came up with the story line a few weeks ago.  We were talking in the kitchen and he walked me through the tale of these two characters.  I fell in love with the idea immediately and now I get to watch it play out so beautifully in this film.  

Every film he has created the couple never ends up together in the end.   Take a look to see if he's changed his ways!

Love, Sarah

(Oh, and blow this baby up in HD.  You'll want to appreciate the crafted shots.)

Home Renovations - We've only just begun...

AIR VENTS

We got rid of all these flat air vents on our exposed pipes and replaced them with curved fitted ones. 

Are pipes are different sizes all around the house so they had to measure each one to get the correct vent to match.  It turned out great and adds a little extra clean of a line.

Paul also got these cool air vents for his office ceiling.  He told me something about one of the vents having a charcoal filter to purify the air (or something like that).  

PAUL'S OFFICE

And speaking of Paul's office, they're still working on it! 

The wood floor has been laid, new coach and chair have arrived, ceiling tiles are stained and still waiting on a few more touches.

MUD ROOM

 This use to be an open closet walking from the garage to Paul's office that had a small table and tons of old art work.  We gave all the art away and Paul had this coat closet and bench made.

 

It's the same cherry stain as his office ceiling tiles.  Paul painted the walls and had the wood floor flow into here as well. 

The office and mud room should be finished by next week so I will post final pictures soon!

Love, Sarah

The Tales of a Costa Rican Spider

I became fascinated with this spider during my last trip to Costa Rica.  I noticed her on the second day and for two weeks she didn't move from her web.  Every morning the first thing I did was go outside to check on what she's doing for the day.  

I think she makes her web like this for two reasons.  One, to hide behind the extra web so her dinner doesn't see her and two, to use the webbing to wrap around her prey.  She then hangs it on the side of her web until she's ready to eat it.  

She was constantly eating.  She even ate one of her children because it was running around way too much.  After she did that her other child didn't move from her side for days.

By the end of the two weeks look how fat she got.  Paul thinks she may have been pregnant again, but I think she was just a glutton.

I'm really hoping she's there when I get back!

Here are a few other spiders I was fond of...

At first I thought this spider was cleaning itself, but it ended up dying.  It had just eaten a rather larger spider above it and I think he may have been poisoned.

When a spider eats another spider they leave the legs hanging on their web.  I think it's like hanging antlers on your wall.  You wanna show off what you caught.

Please click any of these pictures to see them larger.  I shot them with my macro lens so they can be blown up pretty big.

I don't know anything about spiders so I am really hoping to make it to San Jose's college to view their spider museum this next trip.  If you have any names or details on these spiders please let me know.  

Love, Sarah

LCHF - Low Carb High Fat Diet

Most of you that know me, know that I'm not a dieter.  I love my pasta, bread, and desserts.  For new years I was going to just eat "real" food for 40 days.  One year I gave up Facebook and TV for 40 days and this year I thought it would be interesting to see if I have any changes in my mood with cutting out processed junk.

My friend Molly sent me an email while I was in Costa Rica with this video in it asking us to watch it.  It was perfect timing and thought of it as a sign that I was on to something right.  I literally couldn't believe what she was saying.

I then looked up Robyn O'brien's blog and came across a guest post from Maria Emmerich.  She is a an author of several books online and I purchased one titled Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism.  Before even finishing the book, I knew that I had so much to learn and decided to set up a remote over the phone one-on-one consultation with her.    

One of the many things Maria does to help you is send videos throughout the month.  Most are created by her with helpful tips.  But this one was by a talk Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt did titled The Food Revolution.  

I'm not going to use this post as a place to write my opinions on the matter.  I am just asking you to watch these two videos.  It reminds me of Christianity...  I've seen the light, but I can't be that annoying person that throws my point of view down your throat.  I can just eat my protein and butter happily and hope that I make a difference by example!      

Love, Sarah

p.s. click here for a delicious recipe for chips and dip for the Super Bowl!  Go Patriots!!

Right/Wrong

As a parent, I don't think your job is to make this beautiful, perfect life for your child.  It's not to provide them with the coolest toys and fanciest car to drive them around in.  It's not even your job to teach them math.  

Your main job is to teach them right from wrong.  

The rest they can eventually learn on their own.  

Love, Sarah

(a non-human-parent)

Trinity Hall Irish Pub

Today's gloomy weather made the perfect reason to stop into Trinity Hall for some yummy comfort food.

- Click here to see their website with the video that we created for them. -

We ordered all over the menu.

Marius, the owner showed us these special bottles of Champagne Biere.  He told us the story about how they are fermented over a month with two yeats, re-fermented in Champagne Region.  Bottled, plus cellared for 9 months, disgorged, and recorked.  

...The guys just stared at these bottles with serious envy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love, Sarah