world war ii memorial

my friend and i wondered over to the national mall last tuesday in dc so we could see the beautiful monuments & memorials at night. i had never seen the ww ii memorial and it was a touching, beautiful tribute to those heroes and our allies.

i found it particularly poignant and tender to see the sweet note from a child to one of our soldiers currently at war (bottom left).  the field of 4,000 stars (bottom right) honors more than 400,000 lives lost during the war - it was absolutely breathtaking, especially with the reflecting pool below.

such a wonderful experience to see this. 
i'd like to dedicate this post to my peepaw and grandpa who both fought in the war, and died before this memorial was ever built. i visited for you both, you would have been so honored!

straight trippin'

last week i was in washington dc for a conference (stephen got to tag along for some fun!) and i am spending some time catching up on things here, there and everywhere.  i've got plenty to share so to start, here's miss roxy trying to come with us...i told her how dog-friendly they were in dc the last time we went and she totally wanted to join...

photo taken using diptic and instagram :)

the commissary

wednesday night mom came in town for a little mom/daughter time, and after a little shopping and a fun pedicure, we decided dinner was in order.

we picked stephen up and headed to the commissary - a new(er) restaurant in dallas' lovely one arts plaza. the food and service were both fabulous.  i tried the special which was tempura fried scallops served on sliced avocados and a delicious sauce. mom got the crabcake burger - it was so good and was mostly just crab meat which was a nice surprise (you know when you get that crab cake and it's all filler? not this one!), she also tried the sweet potato tots which were adorable and yummy. stephen had the tandoori burger - lamb with a tzatziki sauce served in a pita, alongside their skinny fries - delectable.

we enjoyed wine and great conversation, but were just too full for dessert...i guess that means we'll just have to go back, right?! i hope to also go back when it's a bit cooler, as they have a really beautiful outside eating area on the plaza.

if you're in dallas or stopping by, i recommend trying this fun, delicious place, and maybe even enjoy a show or concert or head to the museums afterward, since you're in the largest arts district in the nation!

so i just posted about last weekend...

and it's already friday again! woo hoo! yay for a quick week :) we've been busy busy this week, had some dear friends in town last night and plan on having a nice, long weekend...we will be visiting friends again for the 4th and getting in some more, much needed lake time!

what are you kiddos up to this weekend?? pool times? lake times? inside staying cool times? :)

either way, i hope you all have a fabulously awesome long weekend!!

CHEERS!

(photo from our sushi/sake adventure with friends last night)

a few weekend photos

this weekend we headed out to the lake with my family. fun in the sun, doggies on boats (bowie is a hilarious swimmer!), fishing with the girls, good food and great company. here are a few of the highlights:

 grilling on the boat

 magnificent sunset

s'mores!

 all in all a lovely weekend :)

thank you all for the sweet notes about our anniversary...it has truly been an adventure so far, i can't wait for more!

xoxo

year 6

"if the sun refused to shine, i would still be loving you.
when mountains crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me."

 happy anniversary to my love

(photo by the amazing abi)

have a silly weekend

what are you all up to this weekend?? tomorrow is our anniversary (yay!) and we are going to the lake with my family...should be a riot since lots of fam are in town from far away!! the forecast calls for laughing till we cry, eating till we're sick, and drinking till we tell secrets we shouldn't!

hope you all have a sillyfun weekend :)

xoxo

(photo from the photobooth at the legendary may wedding)

furryface

roxy & bowie getting their cuddle on :)

have a furtastic day!

xoxo

wonderful

the universe seems to be against me already this morning, what's the deal? anyway, i played this on my way to work and it was an instant pick-me-up :) hope you all enjoy!

"i'm going where the living is easy and the people are kind, a new state of mind..."

midnight in paris

stephen and i went and saw this last night. i am in love. i seriously fell in love with this movie, it's characters, the city of paris (again) and the charming, magical story.  stephen even loved it as well!! he got to put a lot of his art history knowledge to use :)

it's a star-studded cast with many surprises along the way and owen wilson is adorable and enchanting.  the romance (not only with people but with art, music and the city) is palpable and the script is enthralling and witty.

now i'm no movie critic (obviously), but i would highly suggest seeing this if you have the time, you will love it, i promise. i can't wait until this comes out on dvd so that i can watch it over and over again!

best bonnaroo moments

well friends, we made it back...safe and sound, all in one piece! bonnaroo was tons of fun.  we met some great new friends and got to hang out with some long-time besties. while i could go on and on about all the great moments, i will narrow it down to 10, not in any order, but just 10 amazing moments :)

1. best show of the weekend - arcade fire, hands down (watch this video for the magic)
2. best artist outfit surprise - jim james of my morning jacket in furry white boots...
3. best late night show + best crowd - scissor sisters
4. most surprising guest on stage - kareem abdul jabbar with bootsy collins....i mean, really?!
5. funniest moment in a crowd - the guy who was enjoying his first funnel cake and asked me no less than 3 times "have you ever had a funnel cake?! do you want to try some???"
6. weirdest moment - string cheese incident, late night on saturday, there was a guy with a jet pack, a guy suspended from huge balloons and a gigantic t-rex...and a visit from the sexy sax man
7. song i never thought i'd see live - string cheese incident, sirens (i love that song.)
8. craziest moment at camp - sunday, bashing our neighbor's van with a crow bar...they asked us to!
9. magical musical moment from camp - waking up from a nap to hear buffalo springfield belting out "keep on rocking in the free world"
10. 3 words: food truck oasis.

in short, everything was amazing. something about being miles away from any kind of reality, bonding with thousands of strangers over beautiful music...it's just wonderful.

and that's a wrap :)

gone roo'ing

well it's finally here, my vacation!! we are heading out today for bonnaroo music festival.  while it kind of sneaked up on us (hello, where did may go?!), we spent the past few days getting everything together for our 4+ day camping and music excursion.

i can't wait to sit in the grass, meet new friends, listen to great music, and eat some delicious food (they are having a food truck oasis this year!!).  just relaxing, miles away from reality....

so i hope you all have a fabulous rest of your week and weekend...i was so caught off guard that i didn't get to prepare anything fun for you....sorry! but i will be sure to recount everything (well mostly everything ;)) when we return.

see you after the farm!

(photo of the bonnaroo ferris wheel from here)

shock me like an electric eel

last weekend when the fam was in town, we ventured over to city arts and while it was really neat, it was just too hot, so we escaped into the children's aquarium to get a little a/c. what a fun place!! it's a very small but entertaining and interactive aquarium.  we even got to feed the sting rays!!

stephen with the electric eel

the whole fam gathered around the tank,  feeding the sting rays - and stephen being too scared to do it! ha!

 

attempting another time :) 

 

uncle stephen and miss paige and some creepy octopus arms!

and here is a nice little family picture with all the siblings plus paige

of course, at our favorite little taco place

good times with the family :)

meddlesome moth

last weekend (memorial day wknd), stephen's fam came in town to celebrate the twins' 21st birthday.  one of the brothers, nick, came in on friday to have a little extra fun time and i took him out on the town.  his favorite restaurant here is the meddlesome moth (and who can blame him? that place is phenomenal!!). here are some of my fave shots from our delicious dinner.

yay for ordering tasty beers at dinner! 21!

 eating their delicious "moth balls" small balls of ricotta with amazing texture, baked in a brown butter sauce and garnished with fried sage leaves.........heaven.

 the pork belly - it's shredded, covered in a blackstrap glace and served over yummy corn pancakes.

the corn. oh the corn. mexicali creamed corn...enough said.

top it all off with the "moth sundae" using creamy mint ice cream from local creamery wild about harry's, bananas with a crispy sugar glace and topped with ghirardelli chocolate chips and peanuts...it was a sweet surrender and we were stuffed to the gills afterward.

all in all a lovely birthday dinner :) if you ever get the chance to visit the moth, do so and you will not regret it!

seahorses forever

dear friends i've been in a whirlwind of activity over the past week and am starting to catch my breath a little.  there is so much i need to catch you up on, and hopefully will get to do that over the weekend and before i go on vacation next week :) in the mean time, this little gem is from our weekend fun at the city arts fest at fair park, taken in front of the children's aquarium.  if you've ever seen this video, you know why it's so hilarious (if you want to watch it now, the language is nsfw so use headphones! but i promise you'll get a chuckle out of it.). 

also, i have been slacking on coming by your blogs too, i am missing my little blog friends and all your fun posts so i hope to be stopping by soon!

love love love

...

i love this. it's from one of my favorite places on earth, my amazing yoga studio.  after having a super fun practice yesterday, i remembered to take a pic of this little reminder on the door when you come in. no matter what kind of day i'm having, i always leave there feeling strong, joyful and replenished. 

what replenishes you? where is your little slice of heaven??

epic girls night

one of my dearest friends is moving away very soon, so our little group of girls decided to have one last hurrah on saturday...it was a girls' night of epic proportions. we had all of ginger's favorite dallas-local foods, made girly drinks like bellinis and frozen hurricanes, watched the shining and princess bride, made brownie fudge sundaes and even broke out the limbo stick at some point...it was definitely the girls night to end all girls nights, complete with sleepover and followed by hangover :)

gingy, we will miss you so, but our memories could last us a lifetime...and denver is just a phone call away!

so, what would be your best girls night??

twenty-one

stephen's little brothers, twins doug & nick, are the big 2-1 today! they are coming in town this weekend to celebrate, along with the entire norsworthy clan, so it should be quite the event with everyone here! happy birthday to my little brothers-in-law :) love you guys

(along with being awesome little bro's and generally fun guys, they are amazing runners and this pic above was from their run for st. patrick's day last year, how cute!)

joplin

my heart goes out to all of the people in joplin. this slideshow was sobering to say the least...having lived so close to here for many years, it's shocking to hear the news and see the pictures. if you are able, here are some ways to help those affected by the storms.

stay strong.

(photos from yahoo news, via ap)

royal hippie wedding of the century

well it was more beautiful, fun and amazing than anyone could have imagined. i mean, we knew it would be fun...but there is something to be said about the bride and groom dancing the night away and playing on inflatable slides till the wee hours of the morning! live bands, taco trucks, l.e.d. hula hoops and flower girls in tutus, what more could you ever want?!

these are just a few shots from abi i snagged from her facebook page (be sure to "like" her and you can see more!). she is such a wonderful photographer and friend, such a joy to be around :)

my heart is overflowing with love and joy for fuzz and melissa, what a gorgeous, loving, & fun couple!! we love you so much!! xoxoxo

(melissa's beautiful gown is lian carlo for stanley korshak and the bridesmaids dresses are from modcloth)

fuzzlahomaroo

sweet friends, we are leaving town today to travel to tulsa for our dear friends' melissa and kevin's wedding. stephen and i are both part of the wedding party so we are super excited to be part of what i'm sure will be an epic wedding day. melissa and kevin are the type of couple that when you're around them, their love is palpable but not in the "oh my goodness you're making me nauseated" kind of way. it's inspiring.

we have been friends with kevin for many years, and he was even our wedding photographer nearly 6 years ago :)  to see his love for melissa grow over these past few years has been quite heartwarming. and to get to know and become great friends with melissa, has been a true blessing in my life.

we wish them strength and happiness in their new endeavor as an incredible married couple!

i can't wait to tell you about all the fun festivities...let me just say that i know a jupiter jump will be involved...

hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! xoxo

(photos by the lovely abi)

missing bowie

as you know, bowie is staying with friends while roxy is on the mend.  we have really been missing our special, scruffy boy. but good news! we'll be traveling on thursday and are taking both of our doggies with us!! i can't wait to have them both on this little adventure.

no worries though, bowie seems to be having a grand time at his foster home :)

feel the burn

gone too soon, yet again...the weekend was quite fun. saturday was my little brother's birthday (he's 20...20!! gosh i'm getting old...) it's hard to be apart from family during big birthdays and holidays, but somehow we get through, right?! i celebrated his birthday by laying out at the pool too long and getting a vicious sunburn.

sunday stephen gave me some beautiful flowers from roxy & bowie and stuffed me with delicious breakfast tacos. after making our calls to mom, we went out to rangers ballpark to see them play the yankees...they lost but it was still a lot of fun! when i got home, i discovered that even though i put on 60+ spf sunscreen on all my exposed parts (day late, dollar short, i know) i had a bonus sunburn that occurred through my tshirt on my back. wow!! didn't see that one coming...

so the moral to this story is, put sunscreen, all over, no matter what.

how was your weekend??

frozen friday

truth be told, i might have had one too many frozen margaritas in celebration of cinco de mayo yesterday! oh well, all in good fun :) it was really nice though to hang out at home and drink delicious margs with stephen! hope you have a fabulous friday and great weekend!

how do you take your 'ritas?!

the original hipsters

hello lovely friends!! first of all, i want to thank you so much for your kind words & patients...it has been rough but may is already looking up so how about some positivity?! roxy got her sutures out this morning and other things seem to be aligning well in our lives...

ok, so have you seen this tumbler "dads are the original hipsters"? it is HILARIOUS, so true and awesome. if you need a little something to help you smile, head on over and sift through the pages.  be sure to read the commentary, as that is the most important part.

hope you all are having a lovely week thus far! oh and it's may 4th....so may the fourth be with you :)

be nice & better things

friends, sorry i haven't been checking in much!! it's just been such a crappy time...for lack of a better word. the entire month of april has been a mess. i'm so ready to start a new month and for new, better things to come along. so, with trying not to be a debbie downer, i'm bidding you adieu until may...mom always said "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"

here is my hopeful, inspirational song for better things to come: "baby don't be unhappy, baby don't be sad...better things are coming, i swear there's truth in that!"

(photo)

recovery & coming home

well friends here is a little update on roxy. thursday when we went to see the neurologist, they ran tests and decided that surgery would be the best option and we had to act swiftly, as she was losing much function of her hind legs.  thursday afternoon roxy went into surgery to have the calcified disc removed and cut away from the spine. while it was nerve-wracking and scary, i believe she was in the most capable and compassionate hands. 

the doctors, technicians, and staff called us with updates around the clock.  on friday afternoon i got to see her for the first time post-surgery.  she was groggy from pain meds and it was quite shocking to see the incision with all of the staples in her back. saturday morning we went back to visit and she was much more alert and mobile.  the doctor says that she is recovering exceptionally well and is very pleased with her progress thus far.  this morning they called and said i can come take her home this afternoon!! i cannot wait to have her home for full recovery and many, many (extra gentle) snuggles.

since keeping roxy quiet and calm is key in her recovery, we will be letting bowie go stay with a friend for a little bit.  while it's hard to not have him at home with us, he will have much fun romping around in a back yard with some new doggy friends.

thank you all for the kind words, prayers and love.  i will continue to keep you updated on her progress!!

xoxo