Summer is here... and FLYING by!

Wow... Summer is here and it is already June 19. It seems like it should still be March or maybe April..but NOT mid-June already! T and I thought that this was going to be a low-key summer but it seems to be booking up quickly. We had a EXTREMELY busy spring (with a couple trips back to MN (one being unexpected), visitors, a trip out to Georgia, and my girls trip to D.C.) so thought that a low-key summer was in order, but does not feel like it is shaping up that way! Oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Since it has been awhile since my last post, I will give a quick update about what has been going on with us. We took a trip up to Minnesota to visit with friends and family. We had a lovely time and were able to see lots of people that we hadn't seen in awhile! (we even got to see my bro, Erik, play some softball- - even if he did break his hand... poor guy!)

Other than that trip, we have been around the house..being really busy but not really doing anything. I have been back to the job-search (which I am REALLY sick of.. and now considering non-legal opportunities and/or opening my own firm). Travis on the other hand is still loving his position at Clark and staying really busy there.

Finally, we are getting excited for some visitors this summer and just hanging out in our pool.

Girls Getaway....Baltimore & D.C

Just got back from Baltimore and D.C with my mom and Kathryn (the trip was our third official girls-getaway and a Christmas Present from Mom and Dad!) It was another fantastic time filled with history, museums, laughing and bonding!

We started in Baltimore, which was wonderful, before this trip Baltimore had never crossed my mind as a place to visit. So I was very pleasantly surprised how much Baltimore had to see and do. We took 2-free tours, given by the Tourist Board, which were some of the best town tours I've been on, and they were free. We then went out to Fort McHenry and of course dinned on crab and other delicacies of the sea!

Once we finished our fun on Baltimore, we headed over to D.C (might I add that I LOVE the train system that the East Coast has-its so refreshing to not have to take a car everywhere!). Once in D.C, we did our best to cram as much into our 5 days as possible. We saw all the memorials (during the day and night), went to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, the Natural History Museum, the Capital, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Portrait Gallery, the White House, the Holocaust Museum, Arlington National Cem., the Americam History Museum, and Mount Vernon. Then, when Mom and Kathryn had to catch a flight home, I added on the American Indian Museum and the National Gallery.

We saw and learned so much, I don't think it would have been possible to get in one more thing!

Girls Get Away!!!!!

I can not wait... tomorrow I am leaving for a MUCH-ANTICIPATED girls getaway with mom and Kathryn. We are first headed to Baltimore and then to Washington D.C! I am so so excited, it has been 2-whole long years since we have done a girls trip!

I really feel like these trips are so important for us girls to stay close.. and even more so since we now live in three different states! So anyways I can not wait.. and in honor I have included some pics from our last getaway to New York!

Mother's Day!!

To my mom...

Thank you for all that you do for me, for all the advice, encouragement, support, and especially the friendship that you have given me! Its not everyone who has a mom that they consider to be a best friend, but I do, and I am ever so thankful. I love you so much!!

Snowbirds Flying North!

Our family snowbirds, Travis' mom and step-dad, are finally heading north from their first full winter in Arizona and on their way they made a pit-stop in Texas. We had a fantastic weekend.

On Saturday, we went to First Monday Fair Trade Days in Canton, TX- which for those of you who love markets and flea markets, this is THE one to hit up!! Its a mixture of new "botique-y" stuff and flea market treasures! We all loved it (well maybe not Eldon-but he tolerated it) and I found some fantastic vintage cameras and jewelry.

Then on Sunday, Carol and Eldon, wanted to stay around home and help us with some yard projects that we had been putting off. And who are we to argue with help with boring yard projects, so we did some major work. T and E edged off our patio, put in a small patio for our garbage can to sit on, and took out two trees (I know taking out trees on the day after Earth Day is sort of anti-Earth day.. but we are going to plant two more and they were dying!) In the meantime, C helped me plant my flower container gardens (which was so fantastic because she introduced me to some really beautiful new flowers that I had never used before).

All in all, it was a pretty fun and productive weekend. Thanks for the pit-stop!

Going Home...

Wow.... What a week. In case, some do not know, my grandfather passed away last Wednesday. Therefore, T and I made a quick trip home. The memorial was very nice (or at least as nice as it could be under the circumstances). And it was great to see all my family and friends- again, not under the circumstances. While, I know he is in peace, it is still very hard to not have him around and I will certainly miss him. I am just so happy that I was given so many years to have my grandpa Johnson in my life.

A little bit about me.... thus far!

I guess I was feeling a bit introspective this evening and I stumbled upon this quiz.. while I usually never take these or fill these out, I thought I would tonight!

A quiz for all of you if you feel like posting it…

Family members you can't live without?
Travis, Mom, Dad, Kathryn and Erik

Girlfriends you can't live without?
Jamie, Erin, My law school gals,

5 foods you can’t live without?
Raspberry's, Peanut Butter, Cheese (any kind but more pungent the better), A good crusty french bread, and wine (is that a food group?) Oh yeah... and any type of Mexican

5 favorite movies?
Pride & Prejudice, P.S. I Love You, Emma,

5 favorite TV shows?
Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, 16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom, Golden Girls, Murder She Wrote

5 biggest pet peeves?
-Ignorance and Prejudice
-Cockiness
-Kids/Toddlers not wearing covering on their feet
-Whining

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5 places you have visited and loved?
-Edinburgh

-Stockholm

-Portugal

-Lima

-Kyoto

-Sydney

-London

-New York

-Chicago

(this one was tough because I have not met a new city that I have not wanted to move to.. except Gary, Indiana!)

5 places you want to visit?
In the U.S

-Maine

-Oregon

-Santa Fe, NM

Outside the U.S

-EVERYWHERE!! But especially, Delhi, Hong Kong, Brazil....

5 memories that you will never forget:
My wedding day, all my family vacations (like Kentucky, Colorado, Sweden....)

5 things you love about your house/location?
-The POOL!! (We CANNOT live without it in Texas!)

-Our patio

-Having an attached garage

-Having 4 bedrooms

-our new white kitchen

5 things you wish you could change about your house/location?
-MORE STORAGE!! (wow.. do I accumulate....although I do try to be mindful of this and have a continuing effort to downsize.. I just have such a hard time!)
-I wish we were in different neighborhood... although we love the physical location( i.e the closeness to everything) we wish we had more young people/families and could be even closer (like walking distance) to bars and restaurants.;
-I wish we had a bigger garage,
-I wish we had a basement... although this wish will remain nothing but a dream while we are here in Dallas!

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5 projects you are working on or want to accomplish this year?
-Finish staining the fence

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5 material possessions you can’t live without? .
Camera, Computer, Vehicle, Coffee Maker,

5 reasons you blog?
-For memories... to remember all the small things I'd easily forget
-To create a place that all my family and friends can visit and keep updated with us

-For fun