road trip photos [part last]

over first wedding anniversary happened while we were on the road home from michigan in september.  we stopped in bardstown kentucky where we had an adorable little cottage booked and where we enjoyed too much dom perignon and veuve cliquot and where we reheated all of our billions of leftovers from the epic eating fest that was our trip up north.

we spent the last leg of our trip in new orleans where some kind of crazy kayak deal got us a room at le pavillion hotel, but where we were unfortunately just too exhausted to do much beyond collapse on our luxuriously smooshy bed.  we didn't even get a chance to take advantage of the hotel's outrageous quirks and services like unlimited pb & j or the drawn bath service with a history of hotel hauntings on a wax sealed scroll, a bottle of wine and your own voodoo doll (seriously).  

anywho, we'll be back up north at christmas time, but these days we're really digging the beautiful november weather in houston!  can't wait for thanksgiving with sarah, dave, josh & lucy!

halloweekend in ATX

bits and pieces include:

austin texas is my favorite city in the US of A.

new life goal is to grow old nestled into the hills near lake travis.

i've been on a white wine kick lately... it's odd, but let's go with it.

howling fantods also come in the form of edward gorey spoof tarot cards.

recipe invention goals:

"accurate replica of fricano's meatballs," 

"how-midestern-can-i-make-this-cranberry-salad,"

"some kind of apple and possibly other fruit crisp"

"suspicious casserole"

13 states in 10 days snapshots

snapshots from our road trip north [part one]

instadump

{instagram}

tralala summer's here, hard to believe it's nearly a year since steve and i moved down to texas.  things lately consist of much happiness.  steve and i both had four day work weeks, which is a pretty big deal for me since it means i actually had a work week because of my new job.  you might be able to tell from the balloons and big smile that it's a pretty awesome addition to life.  austin is definitely still my fave but i'm starting to warm up to life in houston (rightly so, it was 95 degrees today).

i have to admit, i'm still not complaining about the heat.  i don't miss winter one little bit.  for the most part lately we've been soaking up summer, hanging out poolside, taking day-trips to waterfalls, starting a routine, and chilling with our local pals (oh my god friends.  we have them here!  hoorah!)

we've decided that we'll be renewing our lease, which means we will finally be breaking the pattern of moving every single year! GAHH!!  in light of this we will be purging the apartment hard and hopefully making it a sane place to live (or at least as sane as 750 square feet can be).  i spend a lot of time on zillow checking out houses in metro austin.  i'm kind of obsessed with texas guys.

for now though houston is doing pretty well by us.  it kind of feels like we're hitting our stride and in a direction i'm excited about.  and the way there is a ton of fun lately.  i can't oversell it guys:  we're always happy to have visitors!  we can promise lots of fun!  all we need is a little less rain i think.

most exciting is our plan to travel up north this fall to visit friends, see a football game, and celebrate our anniversary (wait already, seriously?).  yesss we are headed up north starting labor day weekend and are planning a great trip between michigan and wisconsin!  i super can't wait for the cross country road trip where we can actually share a car!

otherwise we are celebrating our lease renewal with a deep clean and decor change... we'll see how it all turns out.

xoxo - b

san antonio - {grams}

we became hardcore road-trippers on sunday when we decided to take a day trip to san antonio in 100+ degree heat.  we still had an amazing time on the river walk and walking through the galleries and restaurants.  we opted to split queso and a dos-arita from rita's on the river and after a little bird-related mishap, and lots of sweat we still successfully enjoyed our afternoon in san antonio.

namely, we have a great weekend itinerary planned for a future overnight mini-vacation.  it's a long haul to do in one day though.  but look!  we went to the alamo!  it feels good to be checking out our new digs.

hope everybody has a great week!!

road-trip-to-texas instagrams

here are a few instagrams of the long haul south from ann arbor to houston.  it was a pretty spectacular time-- i just wish steve and i had been able to share a car so we could laugh at the same casino-nail-salon-gas-station-home-of-the-original-deep-fried-pie-on-a-stick and play lots of 20 questions with answer "nicholas cage."  still, we made our way down from michigan via champaign, IL - memphis, TN - shreveport, LA and voila home to houston! the apartment is almost clean enough to document and introduce to y'all!

yes, i say y'all now.  and even though i have more reason than i used to, i'm somehow more self conscious about it.  don't worry.  let's move on... y'all...

over the course of our road trip i have upped my "states visited" number from 39 to 42 (i had never previously been in arkansas, louisiana, or texas).  i'm comin' for you oklahoma, idaho, oregon, mississippi, north dakota, montana, alaska, and hawaii!!

settling in so far!  lots of fun ahead!