The blog is dead...

I'm just not feelin it these days. Sorry, Dad. But really quick, at the request of a friend I will give some restaurant suggestions ;)

1. We're really into Gringo's right now. You must get the Pollo Marisco, but with beef instead of chicken.
2. Lafayette Cajun Seafood. It's in Stafford, kind of a sketchy neighborhood. The chef used to work at Pappadeaux. It's basically just as good but way less expensive. Also, the plates are like eating in a school cafeteria?
3. Lasagna House. I LOVE the Florentine Pasta Salad.
4. I'm also highly addicted to the Enchiladas Verdes at Lopez Mexican Restaurant in Stafford. Though the chips and salsa are less favorite.

Bon appetit

I Love Fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. Unfortunately we don't really get fall weather down here in Houston, but whatever... there's still plenty of football! And footballin' it up is what we've been doing. The man I work for is so fabulous and loves me so much ; ) that he gave James and me tickets to a Texas A&M game. Gig 'Em Aggies! We're like huge A&M fans now. I mean, Roll Tide all the way, but I don't think there's any other sporting event like an Aggies game. They have all these crazy traditions and everyone is just so into the game. That whole east side of the stadium below is students-crazy! And they all stand the whole game because they're the "12th man" for the team. It was so much fun. 

 Then the next weekend we went to the BYU v. UT game in Austin. The Bama game wasn't over when we had to head to the stadium and we were sad to have to miss it, but when we got to the stadium they had it playing on all these screens! So we got to finish watching the tide roll over Penn State.

 A UT game is nothing like an A&M game... I'm just sayin'.

Also in September we said good-bye to James' step-sister Vanessa. She headed to Stanford for her first year of college. I'm so jealous of her and my sister... I really miss being in school!

 And this pic is for illustrating how precious my girls are. They don't have much to do with one another, so anytime they cuddle James and I get really excited. They love to lay in the sun and this is just the cutest thing I've ever seen. Also, I feel like dogs look like pigs when they lay on their sides and I love it.

 For my birthday festivities this year we kept it pretty cas (you know, short for casual..?) Being the big 2-5 is not so fun to me, but eating at Pappadeaux certainly is!

 That there is grilled mahi over cheese grits with andouille sausage. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Also in the way of exciting news, we found a pizza place no more than 3 minutes from where we live and they have killer buffalo pizza. We have been oh so disappointed in pizza since living in Buffalo, NY, because the best pizza we've ever had lives in Buffalo, NY. But apparently it's cousin lives here in Texas and I am so very excited to partake of said pizza in about 45 minutes while watching Alabama beat Ole Miss, because who can't beat Ole Miss this year, right?

For my Dad

Here it is, Dad! My summer activities in a nutshell. The poor man has been hounding me to blog since the last time I blogged... so, for a quite a while. We have been BUSY. I mean, after the move in mid-June the fun just has not stopped. Let's begin:
*Fourth of July weekend we went to Austin to float the Comal and spend time with the families. Loved floating the river, Loved visiting New Braunfels/Gruene, Loved eating at the Gristmill. Loved it all so much we went back for our anniversary (details below). At the Gristmill the little boys strike poses...

The onion rings are huge and delicious (and so is everything else)...

 And the babies are chubby and must be squeezed often-preferably by me.

On the actual 4th we swam and ate watermelon and had lots of fun. We got back home that night just in time to see our neighborhood fireworks show perfectly from our balcony. Nice right? 

 *We have gone to the beach every Saturday this summer. And I mean EVERY Saturday-except exactly 3 where we were out of town or had a special Saturday event. We have it down to an exact science on how to best experience Galveston beach.
1. Go to HEB Friday night for supplies: 5 mangos, 1 pineapple, bag of ice, bottled water, and Diet Dr. Pepper.
2. Get up Saturday morning around 8 to pack ice chest and car. Be sure to include: tent for princess-like dogs so they don't overheat, giant pink blanket, water, and food for princess-like dogs, and extra towels for wet/sandy princess-like dogs to sit on in the car.
3. Leave house around 10-10:30.
4. Go straight to Shrimp 'N Stuff on 39th in Galveston (recently mentioned in Texas something or other magazine, and on a travel show).
5. Arrive at beach sometime before 1 and stay until 7.

 We've also shown others how best to enjoy a beach day. Namely, precious babies.

 *We saw lots of long lost friends under unfortunate circumstances-Brent Weaver's funeral.

 *I surprised James with tickets to an Astros game. The real fun here is that I kept the secret for like a month! Thats never happened! Also we found a fab pizzeria downtown-Frank's Pizzeria-you must go given the opportunity.

 *We went to a charity concert James' boss invited us to. That's right, we go to charity events now. Very adult, huh? This was on a Saturday-thus one of the three that we didn't go to the beach. Also, the concert didn't start until 8. Also, I was yawning by 10:00. Also, we didn't get home until midnight and I thought I might pass out. Also, I am a 65 year old woman at heart. But it was tons of fun. There was a VIP cocktail party before the show and then we got to see Jefferson Starship-formerly known as Jefferson Airplane and now known as just Starship-as well as the lead singer from Todo. Now, these are both bands I had never heard of, but I knew just about all of the songs which made it way more fun than I thought it was going to be. They were both really good and we really had so much fun.

The guy waving is the keyboard player for Starship and he is very passionate about his music and also probably not interested in women and very much made my evening magical.

 *We went to Perry's for James' dad's 53rd birthday. It was delicious and we ate way too much, which also means we ate just the right amount.

 In the box is a fab leather jacket.

 Jason and Vanessa-the step-in-laws.

 *For our 5th Anniversary James planned the BEST TRIP EVER to Gruene/New Braunfels. We stayed at this cute little inn right in the middle of Gruene that James picked out all by himself and surprised me with.

 Then on Thursday we floated the Comal, ate lunch at the Gristmill (as well as every other day-we love that place!), and then went shopping for 5 hours at the outlets in San Marcos (we also went back two more times during the trip because you really have to do those outlets justice :)). The J. Crew and I are now BFF.

 The next day we went to San Antonio. I had never been and it was so fun! We did this little boat tour at the Riverwalk that was so informative...

 And we went to the Alamo...

And we ate at Boudro's - a top 50 U.S. restaurant and totally should be because IT WAS FAB. That right there is a ribeye sandwich with MANGO ketchup which might sound weird but is AmAzInG.

 And that is a shrimp club with vegetable chips. Mmmm.

Then on Saturday we spent the whole day at Schlitterbahn, because a love of water parks is something James and I have in common. Then Sunday we did a little meandering before heading back home. It really was the best trip ever and James did such a good job planning it all. Happy 5 year anniversary to us!

*This last Wednesday we got some free tickets to an Astros game and invited a couple from church to go with us. We went to Franks before the game-duh-and our friends now love it, too. We had awesome seats-we may have caught a ball if somone had hit a homerun? Actually I don't know if there were any home runs hit or not because I don't care much for baseball, but I do care for sporting events wherein I can get Bluebell Ice Cream and talk about home furnishings and trendy hair care products.

 *Today is Saturday so obviously we went to the beach, which is always the best idea except today when it was the worst idea because some tropical depression nonsense caused ridiculous winds that made the sand blow EVERYWHERE. We couldn't even put up the tent for the princess-like dogs because it most certainly would have flown away. Lame. But Jason and Vanessa came with us so I guess that made up for the no tent, painful sand, and short stay (only 2 hours).

 An example of the gushing wind. ?.

Other summer events:
-I got a new job! I started on July 26. I work in accounting/purchasing for a calibration company. And not to brag, but I got a promotion and a raise within the first 20 minutes of my first day. What can I say? I'm just THAT good. Ha! Lots to do, but I love it!
-James ran his own 2 week lacrosse camp for the middle/high school boys and is now the head varsity coach for the team!
-Oh! James and I got to spend our first real summer together since we've known eachother! Every other summer he's been out selling so we never got to see one another/do anything. But no more! Because my husband is a banker and they don't take kindly to working many hours, you know. :)

Have I mentioned I love food?

One of the fabulous things about marrying into the family I have, is that James' dad knows how to dine. The week after I got back from Laurie's graduation it was Deborah's birthday and we all went to the Post Oak Grill. I met James at his new office because I hadn't seen it yet and we wanted to drive together. It was so fun seeing where he works and meeting his co-workers! Doesn't he look so smart here? :) 

 Children were not invited to this birthday, except for Brynn because she's so cute.

 Mark arranged for us to eat in this private wine room. WHICH WAS FREEZING! Cuz, you know, they have to keep the wine "chilled."

 Here are the ladies in the shawls the restaurant provides for the room. Parkas would have been more appropriate. IT WAS FREEZING.

 And for her big gift, the woman of the evening got an iPad. Lucky.

The restaurant was FABULOUS. I got two appetizers-yes two, because I could-the crab cakes and steak quesadillas, red snapper, and a chocolate something-or-other cake, as well as a bread pudding to-go! Look, Mark had minimum bill for the room so we were encouraged to order whatever we wanted... I was just doing my part! 

Congrats Grad!

Back at the end of May I went up to Iowa for Lauren's HS graduation. SO crazy that she's, like, a little adult now!  

Her graduation was on a Sunday-odd I thought-so it seemed only fitting that I throw her a Sunday Graduation brunch before the ceremony. We had fruit, danishes, Chile Cheese Puff Casserole, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and "mimosas" (made with alcohol free champagne! they were fab, and I was so excited to find alcohol free champagne because I've had it in my head for years that when I finally have a baby shower I would like a brunch with mimosas and bellinis!)

Here's Laurel with her best friend Jessica. 

The day after her graduation Lauren, my mom, and her friend Jazmin took a bus out to California to see her boyfriend, Jake, graduate from the Marines. I tried my very best to talk them out of it-the people who ride the Greyhound are shaaaaaady looking. But they lived and had a really good time. Jake surprised Lauren when she got there with the news that he had been attending the LDS church on base and had been baptized after 4 of the ten weeks he had been there! So exciting!

The graduation gift I pitched in on... a real pearl bracelet. Jealous! :) 

I love you Laurel and I am so proud of you! 

At last, an update.

Where to begin... Way back when during the first week of April I started working evenings Tuesday-Thursday at a pilates studio owned by friends from church. An answer to prayers, its kept me busy while James was working all the live long day. Also, this is why the blog has suffered. No time=no acitivities to blog about=no time to even blog about not having anything to blog about, so there's that.

Then, at the end of April, right out of NO WHERE, James gets this job interview at a bank. Then, less than two weeks after the interview, he starts this new job. And get this, BANKERS' HOURS PEOPLE!!!!! The hallelujah chorus is still going. I mean we literally went from one extreme to the other. He was home before 5:00 this Friday. Is that not crazy?!?! I mean, what do you do with a husband who is home? I'm afraid I've forgotten entitrely. Yesterday we got to spend hours apartment hunting, which would not be fabulous except for the fact that I haven't gotten to spend hours on a Saturday doing anything with James in over a year, so it was fabulous! (We are moving so he doesn't have an hour commute everyday)

In the midst of all the above happenings, some other fun stuff went down over the past months:
*My cousin Kim who also lives in the Houston area had her first baby in early April so I went to the hospital to visit.

 Here's my Aunt Judy and Uncle Henry with little Evangeline.

 *My niece Brynn had her baby blessing the same weekend.

 *The next weekend was Easter, which Jessica and the fam came to visit for. Tell me you do not want to eat this baby, she is so delicious!

For the Easter feast I made a Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake . I got the recipe from my friend Kayley, she made it for James and me the week before when she and her husband had us over and it is to die for.

 *Mother's Day weekend was James' first weekend at his new job so were able to go to Austin! All the girls went to James' cousin Katrina's baby shower Saturday morning, which was so fun. The hostess was the sweetest girl and she did such a good job.

 Saturday afternoon Sally helped Jennika do to little canning to get her food storage going. I really want to start my food storage but I'm just not there yet... Maybe once I have a house?

So we're still alive over here at the Simmons house. I'll be back to the regular blogging once we get moved and settled and everything slows down. 

Also, my biography kick has continued. I read the Chanel bio and wore black and white and pearls for like a week straight :) I'm finishing one on Princess Diana right now, which, let me just say, I used to blame the Queen for everything, but I don't think Diana was ever "all there." I also finished Catching Fire and just got Mockingjay. And I'm currently reading Water for Elephants (which is pretty raunchy so I won't suggest). Oh, I'm also reading Taking Charge of Your Fertitlity, so there's that.  ;)