This year has by far been the biggest year of my life. The year started with a bang on the shores of the Sea of Cortez and will end next to the Pacific Ocean, our new home.

2011 began with our engagement. I thank God everyday for bringing me through so much heartache and blessing me with Ike. He is my best gift.

2011 brought us both new careers and a new home in California. We are beyond blessed with jobs we love and opportunities that will allow 2012 to be as big as we want it to be.

On September 24th, 2011, I had my dream wedding with my feet in the sand in paradise, I'm now a Mrs.

2011 had some struggles, too. Unemployment affected our home creating some trying times. Fortunately, we are blessed with amazing families that helped us in more ways than they'll ever know.

2011 was a huge year for my husbands' Baylor Bears...Unfortunately, my Longhorns weren't quite as lucky.

In 2001 I was in Cabo San Lucas twice and traveled to Louisiana, New York and Canada.

In 2011, we moved way too many times. Next time we move we promised each other we'd hire professionals!

In 2011 we attended 2 World Series games and one Bowl Game.

2011 Let me see my love, Wille Nelson in concert 1 time ❤.

In 2011, I ran two races; The Capital 10K and Beach to Bay.

This year was my best year yet. I look forward to what's ahead for us in 2012. Here a few of my favorite memories from 2011!



Happy New Year!!

This week while visiting Ike's family we tried to set out some time to re-connect with our Austin friends. Obviously, we didn't get to see everyone, but our close friends Marcus and Anna drove an hour to spend the evening catching up with us! I met Marcus 4 years ago when I was doing high tech sales. He's always been a big brother to me and once I met his wife, Anna I knew we would have a life long friendship. They attended our wedding in Cabo, too.

As soon as the guys got together Ike introduced Marcus to his friend, Red Breast (Irish Whiskey). You'll also notice in the pictures below the guys have a beard competition going, clearly Marcus won! We ate fajitas (I overloaded on tex-mex while home), drank margaritas and thoroughly enjoyed each others company. They brought along their daughter Abby, who quickly took a liking to Ike's mom, Sally. Since we've moved I've so missed having friends to meet up with. I'm very anxious to meet friends in LA.

Our time together wasn't nearly long enough, but I'm grateful for the few hours we shared. Next time we see them will be in LA, sometime this spring!!!

My wonderful mother in law surprised me with the Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow pallet and it's the best array of colors! I can wear it for day or night and it even comes with a primer! Go get it before its gone!!

These two were reunited this week and they are pretty much inseparable.

Let me preface this post by saying I love both sides of our families; we are extremely blessed with lots of love and light on both sides and we enjoy being with each-other's family. This post isn't a dig or a gripe session, simply a way to express how hard it is to share....

Merry Christmas! This is my first Christmas as a Mrs. and I'm loving it! I'm going to say this though, sharing families and splitting time has to be the hardest thing for any married couple. Since we met we vowed to do each Holiday with both families, and since we are living in Los Angeles now, we flew into DFW to spend 5.5 days with my family and will fly out of Austin after spending 5.5 with Ike's family.

It just so happens that saying goodbye to my family hit on Christmas day after dinner, which meant a very emotional goodbye to the ones I cherish most. I've lived in Austin since I was 20 years old and am used to saying goodbye to my family but I knew was simply a 3 hour drive away. Now, I'm 1500 miles away, a 2 day drive or 3 hour plane ride. How do you simply say "goodbye" when you're not sure when you'll see that person again? Does it ever get easier? That's what I'd like to know. Will it be like this EACH time somebody comes to visit, too?

I'm excited to get to be with Ike's family, they're a HOOT! But why can't we all live in a compound and be together all the time? Why must goodbyes always be so hard?

No pics tonight, just my rambling thoughts. Lots of love and light.

Making your grandpa's famous homemade bread, wearing matching slippers and being with the ones who make you whole.

We went to a Mexican restaurant and asked for queso.....This is what we got. I'm so excited to be in Texas for 10 days to load up on my Mexican food.

WHAT a fun weekend! Friday evening was Ike's company Christmas party! I love everyone he works with, so that made for a great evening! We started off at his office 3 blocks from the beach in Santa Monica for an artist cocktail hour and then walked to The Ivy at the Shore for dinner. I got the famous "Ricky's fried chicken" and wasn't disappointed. After dinner, there's a company bonus tradition that I got to partake in. It was a fun gambling game and Ike and I both doubled our bonus!! :) I'm a horrible wife and didn't get one pic of Ike and I all fancy, we looked good though if I do say so myself.

Saturday I laid on the couch all day and enjoyed cable tv and a quiet day to myself. Saturday night Ike and I used a wedding gift (serving plate) and had a date night parked on our couch, (maybe my fav kind). We had Amelia and Lane over to watch SNL which was a perfect way to end a beautiful Saturday.

Today we slept in and did our Christmas shopping. We hit up the 3rd street promenade, my fav spot so far and then took a ride up the PCH for more shopping. It was a BREATHTAKING drive right at sunset. You can't help but realize how small we really are.

Tomorrow I work for a few hours and then we pack for our flight Tuesday at the crack of dawn to Texas. We will be there until the 30th. I'm so pumped to get home and unwind!!!

And that's our weekend wrap up, y'all.