Milestones

This weekend Ryan completed his first year of his MBA at Rice.  Woohoo!  He's half way there and we have both survived.  And yes, I said both.  I know I didn't actually have to go to class, work on projects and take the tests but I was there mentally for him.  Always cheering him on.  Reminding him it's all worth it.  It's been a tough job but someone has to do it :)  Anyways, I'm super proud of him and for all he has accomplished so far. 

On Sunday night we attended our good friend Sara's graduation party.  Sara recently graduated from Law school and we were so excited to celebrate with her.  Not only did we celebrate Sara's recent accomplishemnt but we also got to hang out with our other good friend Leslie who just graduated from Dental school.  We all went to high school together and it's crazy to think that since that time Leslie has become a Dentist, Sara a Lawyer and Ryan's on his way to receiving his MBA.  Such big milestones and I'm so proud of them all! 

Benny needs a Pedicure

We have a problem in the Rudy household.  We have a black dog, (a.k.a. Bennett, Benjy, Schmoopy, Doofus, etc.) who happens to have the longest nails in lab history.  You see, this is a problem because he scratches the floors.   And he jumps off the bed in the middle of the night and likes to prance around the wood floors to make just enough noise to wake us up.  And these nails hurt when he paws at you at 6 am in the morning.  And did I mention they scratch our floors??

Yes, this is a problem.  However, this problem could easily be solved if Ryan and I took our long-nailed furry friend to Pets Mart to get them filed down.  Or even if we bought clippers and did them ourselves.  Nah...that would be too easy.

It's been months now that we've been saying we need to take care of this problem and I'm not really sure what's stopping us.  Maybe if I threaten to paint them a nice shade of OPI Passion Pink Ryan will take care of these freakish long nails :)

Relaxing Weekend

We've had quite a relaxing weekend in our household which is rare so we made sure to enjoy every moment.  Friday night we hung out with some of our besties (Aaron&Nicole, Mark&Ali) and hit up our usual spot for dinner at El Tiempo and then came back to our place to play some dominoes.  It's been forever since we've all hung out and it was nice to spend some time catching up.  Unfortunately I did not get any pictures that night as it was pouring rain and our hair was soaked once we got to the restaurant.  Oh well, I think we got over our frizzy hair once our margaritas arrived :)

Saturday was also rainy which actually made for the perfect day.  Ryan and I have been talking about how we would love a Saturday where we didn't have much going on and we could just hang out at the house and relax.  We also had my parents dogs over the weekend since they were out of town and I loved being able to spend time with them.  I think Benny was a little jealous with them around though as they were getting quite a bit of attention :)

The weather cleared up Saturday night and we tried a new restaurant that just opened up near us.  I would definitely recommend BRC to anyone in the Houston area and we will be headed back soon!

I'm also sure today has been the laziest day of all.  We slept in, went to lunch and I've been messing around in Photoshop this afternoon and Ryan's been catching up on school work.  Nothing too exciting in our household but it was definitely a nice weekend.

In other news, Ryan and I were discussing at lunch today that our third wedding anniversary is coming up in the next two weeks.  Not only is it almost our our anniversary but Ryan will have soon finished his first year of his MBA and I will have been working for four years!!  Where has the time gone?!?  Either way, I think we'll have a few good reasons to celebrate :)

Spontaneous Date Night

It seems we've been out of town quite a bit this past month and this last Friday afternoon Ryan and I found ourselves home with not much going on.  We were tempted to stay home and relax but we've been wanting to try a local brewery here in Houston as they do a tour and tasting in the afternoons.  We quickly scanned the internet for more details and realized that if we hurried we could make the tasting as they only keep the taps open for an hour or so.  We were pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed ourselves over at Saint Arnold Brewery.  We were given several tokens to sample their beer and enjoyed them all.  The best part about it was the laid back atmosphere.  They had many tables set out and people were playing cards, Jenga, and just enjoying themselves.  We sampled a few beers, played a few rounds of gin and headed home to relax. 

After we came home we decided we would try a local Mexican restaurant for an early dinner and then come back home for the night.  Half way through our meal Ryan looks at me and says, "Did you know Phoenix is playing in town tonight? If we hurry we might be able to make it."  I look up, pleasantly surprised, and say "Let's go!"

The next thing I know we're standing outside Verizon theater, handing over a wad of cash to some sketchy guy outside selling tickets since it was sold out.  Thankfully, we made it in and our tickets were legit.  We walked in just in time to grab a beer and catch the start of the show.  Phoenix is one of our favorite bands and we had the best time at the concert.  I loved that we were spontaneous and just went with the moment.  We truly had the best day together and it's something I'll never forget.

We even had such a good time that when we got home we booked tickets to see Passion Pit in Austin this summer. 

Oh, and since I can't write a post without a picture I'll leave you with this fabulous picture of me at the concert.  I know my eyes look Chinese and I'm slightly embarrassed to show a picture of me with a beer this gigantic but I'm happy and that's what matters :)

Cheers to Good Times in Cali

And now, for the full (and lengthy) recap of our fabulous girls trip in the wine country...  

My Grandmother has been graciously hosting the women on her side of the family to a girls trip every Spring.  Last year I was lucky enough to tag along for the boondoggle of a trip to Charleston, SC and this year we headed to sunny California!  

My Mom, Grandmother and I flew into Oakland last Saturday and had the day to ourselves before the rest of the group arrived.  I should have known we were in for an adventure as we made our first u-turn of the trip coming out of the airport to only take us to the wrong hotel.  I'm not convinced it's all our fault though as we saw the first Hilton Hotel and headed straight towards it.  Who in the world puts TWO Hilton hotels right by the airport??   Anyways, we carried on later that afternoon in search of a cold beverage and somehow ended up in the wrong part of town (think gold rims, cars bumping, etc).  After a quick u-turn we were back on the road again and safely headed to our first winery of the trip.  After our first tasting stop we headed over to Jack London Square and enjoyed a nice early dinner on the patio. 

The next morning we woke up refreshed and ready to greet our other fellow travelers.  They got in late the night before and were not quite as bright eyed and bushy tailed as us but after a filling breakfast we were all ready to head out.  We crammed all our luggage in the minivan and settled in for what we thought was going to be a pleasant ride out to the wine country.  Well, what would you expect to happen when you get three generations of women together in a car?  Let's recap.  My cousin and I are Millennials.  I pull out my portable GPS (a.k.a. Karen) and let her direct our every turn (from the backseat).  My mother and my aunt (the Baby Boomers) are up front with the trusty 'ol map.  And my Grandmother (the Traditionalist) keeps asking why we keep making so many u-turns.  All in all, we survived the 90 min trip and decided to let Karen guide us the rest of the trip.  It's more fun listening to an Australian voice when giving directions anyways.    

And now, I'll stop talking and share a few pictures and fun details...

Day 1: 

• First stop - Schug Winery: We were quite thirsty after our "fun" car ride and this did just the trick.  We sampled a few wines as well as a few appetizers and contemplated joining the birthday girl wearing the tiara.  However, our judgment was still clear and we decided against hopping in the limo with her....
• Next up - Gundlach Bundshu or also known as Gun-Lock Bun-Shoe.  And yes, they have shirts that say that.  It was a beautiful winery and yummy wines.  
• And lastly, we ended up at Bartholmew Park which is a sister winery to Gun-Lock Bun-Shoe.  We met a parrot named Olive, picnicked outside with some cheese and crackers and managed to get one more tasting in for the day. 
• We finally made it to our condo, made a quick stop (sort of) to the grocery store and ate pizza back at the condo.

Day 2:

• Another beautiful day in California for wine tasting!  It was a tad chilly but it didn't stop us.  We made our first stop at Ferrari Carano which has the most beautiful gardens.  We walked around quite a bit, took a few pictures, and then of course made it inside for our first tasting.  
• We then decided to head up the hilly road and make our next stop at Silver Oak Cellars.  They make some of the best Cabs and of course this didn't fail us!  
• After two tastings in the morning we decided to fill up our stomachs with some actual food.  We stopped at Dry Creek Grocery and had yummy sandwiches.  
• We all perked up after lunch and ventured out for our third (and final) tasting of the day.  It was a little bit further than we had thought but thankfully Karen took us right to the spot.  We ended at Hanna Winery and loved this one!  I would definitely say this has one of the best views as well as one of the cutest boys working in the wine country ;)  We had quite the good time visiting with Casey and sampling some of their yummy wines.
• After a long day we headed home and rested for a bit before dinner.  We couldn't rest too long though b/c we had reservations at a cute restaurant in town.  We practically had the restaurant to ourselves and the chef gave us first class service.  It was a night to remember :)

Day 3:

• We were afraid we were going to get quite a bit of rain on this day but the clouds stayed away for the most part.  We had our first tour and tasting at Jordan winery and it was amazing!   The grounds were absolutely beautiful and the wine and food pairings were super yummy.  I think this is when I decided I needed to move to California.  Hmmm, how am I going to convince Ryan of that??
• Anyways, we had stayed at Jordan for quite some time and decided to stop and have some lunch.  We ended up at Oakville Grocery which is one of my faves and had a few sandwiches. 
• After lunch we ventured back up the windy roads and stopped at another winery called Gary Farrell.  The wines were OK but the views were spectacular!  I think we spent more time outside taking it all in than in the actual tasting room. 
• And lastly, on our way back in for the afternoon we stopped at Arista.  We had tons of laughs here and convinced the cute boy to serve us a few more wines.  What can I say, it's great to travel with a bunch of fun women :)

I really had no intentions of rambling for this long but I want to look back and be able to see where we went and read all the fun little details of the trip.

We had such a great time on this vacation and I'm really thankful we are all able to get together.  Half of us live in Texas and the other half live in New England so it's not very often that we can get together but when we do we know how to have a good time!  And with that, I'll toast (with my glass of water, girls gotta take a break from all that vino) to all the wonderful memories made with three generations of wonderful women :)

California Recap Tease

I'm still here, I promise!!  I spent most of last week in California with some of my favorite women and we had the best time.  I promise a full recap is coming tomorrow but for now, I'll leave you with this...

And yes, it really was that beautiful in person :)