New Guest Bedroom, New Office-- Part 1

I LOVE SUMMER! There's all this time to do cool things.  Things that need to be done. Things that don't NEED to be done.   So, I've purchased some new artwork, want to do some painting of the walls in our house, created some artwork myself, and decided that our old "office" was totally NOT functional, the furniture was not-so-good for an office and I want an office that WORKS and is organized.  There will be a looooonnnnggg blog post to detail this office process, the furniture hunt, furniture purchases, the amazing JACKPOT I found while in the process,  the new artwork (which is going to take custom expensive framing), etc.  when the office is more complete.   You'll see where my one-track mind and obsessive tendencies come in...But for the short-term-- here's the new guest bedroom post...

Basically, we decided to switch the office and guest bedroom.  Now, when we have children, I have no idea what we'll do... we will have to give up either the office or guest bedroom and at this point-- after the blood, sweat and tears that this office is causing us (actually, I lie-- it's fun stress), I think we'll give up the guest bedroom!  So visitors, my future blogpost will include my list of preferred FW hotels, motels, Holiday Inns! Hahah.
Back to the point--- we switched the office and guest room.  The former guest room (now office) was like a cave-- long, skinny, and with only 1 window.  Not really inviting.   The former office (now guest room) is HAPPY! Except it wasn't happy as the office because (see paragraph 1) the furniture sucked, it wasn't organized or functional, there was no storage and we hated going in there.   But it was happy because it's brighter, with three windows!  Honestly, when we first moved in, I just chose the cave room for the guest bedroom, because I thought the shape was better for the furniture.  I didn't think the bedroom furniture would fit in the "happy" room-- so it became the office.  But as we started shaping this plan of a functional office, Otto kept saying that the bedroom furniture would fit fine, and it did--- beautifully.  So, without further ado--- see picture of new, happy, guest room below.  I think we did great teamwork on Phase 1-- the bedroom.  Now, together, we'll continue to tackle the office. 

The theme is sort of BLACK AND WHITE, now, the Agave picture which I painted, isn't actually going to stay in this room, but for photographs' sake I had to put it there.  A new piece of art, which is not actually black and white and will be the only one in the room that's not, will be going there. Here's a link to the awesome bicycle painting that will go in that spot once I get it framed.

So obviously, you see the Ansel Adams below.

Photography art credit for photos above the bed--- Christopher John McGee.  He took these on his Peruvian travels in 2008. 

Behind the door is a mirror so that guests can admire themselves. It's brown, so it didn't get prime real estate on the wall.

The last pieces of art are on the wall across from the two windows -- you can't see them in any pictures.  And actually, I lied there is another that is not b&w.  It's this weird TCU cartoon from ??? I don't know when.  I don't even remember where I purchased it, but I gave it to Otto as a gift.  It's vintage.  The Horned Frog mascot is clearly OLD and it's about to eat all the other conference mascots in the bowl which reads "Frog Food".  Totally vintage, totally cool.  The other is just another Ansel Adams.  Not too special.

Happy 3rd Anniversary to us! UPDATED

Today, Flag Day, is our 3rd Anniversary....

We started with a love-bird breakfast out on our new patio (see the love bird plates?? :))  Einstein Brother's bagels -- mine with Sun Dried tomato cream chesse schmear-- my fave, and mimosas in our wedding champagne glasses (Thanks Aunt Pat and Uncle Mark). 

Otto got to open his gifts.  Mine are supposed to arrive today in the mail.  Since 3rd anniversary is supposedly the LEATHER year, he received some new Rainbow Leather Sandals, and a new wallet (since his current wallet consists of a rubberband). 

More later... we have a fun filled day planned.

Anniversary Continued.......

For lunch we went to Tillman's Roadhouse.  This place is simply awesome.  If you haven't been there, it's worth it just for drinks, the atmosphere, the popcorn, and the awesome decor.  The outside patio is so cool.  It's like retro, mod, country-chic.  I'd only been there for dinner or Happy Hour.  It's quite pricey, so it's usually saved for special occasions.  We had a late lunch at 1pm.  So we were basically the only people in there.  The give you this truffle oil popcorn with pepper and salt to munch on.  We easily ate three bowls of that.  Then we ordered fried bread and butter pickles--- those never arrived (thank goodness. the waiter just forgot to put them in, but it was ok, since my belly was stuffed to the max).  For main course we both ordered the same thing.  Usually I'd go out of my way to order different items, but I'm sure glad I got what I got! We both ordered the 7th street burger--- Kobe beef burger, gouda goat cheese, arugula, fried shallots.  It was amazing.  We both asked for medium rare-- in retrospect, we wish we had asked for medium.  It was so good.  I drank this deliciously sweet blood orange mango punch, which our waiter kindly didn't even charge us for.  And as bonus, country singer Pat Green perused the restaurant while we were in there.  I resisted the paparazzi shot.

Here we are outside on the patio after the lunch.  Like a ding dong, I didn't have my memory card in my fancy camera, so I had to take these with phone. Totally does the decor NOOOOO justice.  I am sitting in a Retro Charles Eames Herman Miller bright orange rocker.  There are cacti, and cut logs as a space divider.  Just love the style here.

After lunch, we shopped around with full bellies.  We had a Starbucks, ran some errands together, looked for decor for our NEW OFFICE (post to come soon!).  We went to a Mexican restaurant because Otto wanted some chips and salsa and a margarita.  I could barely finish my drink, but I managed to down some chips and salsa.  We actually had plans to go to Lonesome Dove , another country-chic 5 star restaurant for dinner, but we were so full that we couldn't.  That's postponed til tonight!  Two-day anniversary, how fun!  

So, my LEATHER gifts actually arrived today.  They came all the way from Bali.  Otto picked out two amazing handbags and a gorgeous wallet from an artisan on the Novica website.  These are handmade and impeccable quality.  Not only that, but they're not the designer type that every other girl in DFW is going to be carrying around.  Otto thought of that, because he's thoughtful like that.  He said that I am too stylish and unique to be carrying around a Coach or Louis bag (no offense if you own one, I have a couple SMALL ones too).  He actually couldn't decide between two bags, so he got both, PLUS the wallet.  They are totally cool and ME!!  They arrived in gorgeous packages, with a handwritten postcard note from the Balinese designer.  Otto did so well.  These gifts were purchased with love-- if you know Otto, handbags, clothes, and accessories aren't exactly things he believes in spending a lot of money on.  But to show his love, he did.  <3

See pictures below--- look at the amazing wrapping.  So cool.

Texas Motor Speedway, VIP style

My friend Courtny is currently living at Texas Motor Speedway (or TMS).  She invited us out to her place for the Friday truck race, which was a special treat!  We arrived around 3:00 pm and went up to the condo for some pre-race drinks and a snack of Babe's Fried Chicken (my FIRST Babe's experience, which was delicious-- fried chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits).  Another delicious experience was that of this new alcoholic treasure called... Pinnacle Whipped Vodka! This stuff is delicious, folks.  And it indeed tastes EXACTLY like whipped cream.  The funny thing about this is that the bottle states it is "Immitation Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka".  Now why would they point out that it tastes like FAKE whipped cream?? Either way, it's a must try.  Courtny said she got it at the liquor store and it was a mere $15 bucks.  Not shabby. 

After having some drinks and snack, Courtny, her friend, Brandon, Otto and I took a ride on the golf cart to the pits and garages.  It was really neat.  We first walked through the Indy car pits/garages.  The Indy cars had just finished up "Qualifying" for the next day's race, so they were now working on these cars, inspecting them, etc.  We were right in the heart of everything.  We heard lots of loud car noises.  We saw them fueling up, changing oil, inspecting, doing tire stuff.    We picked out cars we liked, snapped some photos and then on the way to the truck garages, Courtny took it upon herself to go really close to Ricky Carmichael's (some driver dude) fancy trailer and take a Monster drink out of the mini fridge.  hahahha.  It was actually meant to be for the pit crew and other hot shots, but our passes said "VIP" and Cournty took it to heart.  Some guy walked out of these sliding mirrored doors on the back of the trailer.  He at first acted offended that Courtny had gotten so close, all up in their business, but then as we laughed it off, he decided to share four of the 800 Monster drinks they had with us. 

How many Dickies logos can you count in this picture????

The condos behind the track!

After touring the garages, we took a ride to the Speedway Club.  Yeah, we're cool like that. haha.  Here's a few pics from there.  The highlight was meeting (AND KISSING) James Buscher, one of the truck drivers.  Look for our puckered lips on a website near you!

Me in 'da club :)  Hey, do you like my vintage Neiman Marcus western dress?  I thought it was appropriate.  Thanks, Style Station!  http://www.stylestationonline.com/

Courtny, James and myself.  This one wasn't quite good enough for Courtny.  He left and came back and that's when we approached for round two.

He looks pretty happy about round 2.  Nice guy, beautiful smile.  Otto was the only one who noticed my hand in the this picture.

So even with our passes that allow us pretty much EVERYWHERE in the track, they wouldn't let us in to the less desireable "Burnout alley" to see our friend.  This is us walking back towards condo after getting denied...

But wait.... Otto just decides to jump the fence.  Boo ya!

Back at the condo...

And then back on the cart to turn 4 for some very up-close and personal action. 

Cool Picture below, yes?

Here's Otto, laughing at Courtny's expense.  Long story.. hey look! She has a Mavs Finals booklet in her hand!! hahah

The BEST Oatmeal ever!!!

Since I have extra time in the mornings, thanks to my new-ish profession.... I have time to enjoy the BEST oatmeal ever!  If you like oatmeal, but you've never had it with EXACTLY these ingredients-- you must try! It's delicious.

 It includes: 

Quick Oats (cooked for 3 minutes either on stove or microwave)
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (spray butter OR regular butter is fine.  The key is the saltiness)
Brown Sugar (evenly sprinkled to melt on top of butter)
Fat Free Half n Half (Land-o-Lakes.  OR for extra delicious flavor-Coffeemate Fat Free Hazelnut Creamer)
Blueberries

Sliced Bananas

Here's a bonus photo of the 20$ bill Otto received out of the Wells Fargo ATM yesterday... what the hell?!?!

A few "home-ecky" days...

So there are a couple reasons for my title today.  One-- I had a student last year that spelled "Home Ec" like this:  "Home Eck".  I don't know if he actually did it on purpose, as if it was his own personal touch on his papers/folders (because it had somewhat of an artistic design to it also) or if he just had no idea that Home Ec stood for Home Economics which doesn't have a "K" in it.   Or shoot-- maybe he was saying "Home Eck" as in "Ech, YUCK". haha  Anyway, looking back, I guess I should've corrected him more than the couple times that I did.  But since we're supposed to call it "Family and Consumer Sciences", it was a moot point anyway.

Two--- In the past few days, I've done some things that really help me attempt to live up to my "Home Ec teacher" title.  Being on summer break allows for that, which is quite nice.  First of all, I've tried not sleeping in too late.  I have things to get done-- mostly some little errands, house work and the gym  (and that's awfully housewife-ish, is it not??) 

The other day I woke up with Otto because he still had school (I could've slept in and gotten sweet revenge). I made him coffee and some biscuits.  See, here's where the ec-scape part comes in.  They were NOT homemade like my momma taught me to make.  They were from a can.  But DANG! they look good in a photo with my new camera.

And since Otto is somewhat on a diet (or trying to eat well) he ate 1, I ate (cough) 3 and I took the rest to the old people that live down the street.  That's TOTALLY a 1950's housewife thing to do, right???

That night for dinner, I made a salad for us to eat. And with it, I made some delicious roasted asparagus.  I had a fabulous presentation of my "Margot's Cobb Salad" with asparagus on the side--- took a great photograph with perfect aperture setting and then BOOM... there was no SD card in the camera and I didn't realize it until now when I tried to post the picture. boo. But here is what is in the salad.
~Chopped Romaine (Otto buys it at Costco-- I think it has 5 heads to a package)
~ Hard Boiled Egg
~Turkey Bacon (cooked in microwave until very crispy and then broken into small pieces)
~ Feta Cheese (would've preferred blue cheese, but didn't have any)
~Finely chopped Orange (or yellow or red) bell pepper
~Finely chopped red onion
~Chopped carrot 

Otto is strange and doesn't like dressing.  I think he secretly likes it, just doesn't want to add the calories.   But I still add some red wine vinegar and olive oil to it.   On mine, I add the heavenly-- SASS dressing. See below.   It's  Sesame Garlic.  I think you can only get it at like Central Market or maybe Whole Foods.  But it's delish.

The next day (which was yesterday) I went to Aunt Pat's house to learn to paint!! Before leaving, I made a cute little lunch for the two of us.  It consisted of Tuna Salad on thin Oroweat breads, bell pepper slices, mozzarella for tuna MELTs, an orange, and laughing cows wedges. mmm.  Oh yeah, and an egg for me. 

 Auntie (as she calls herself sometimes) has so many talents.. she can quilt, ride/train horses, bead (make jewelry), write articles, scrap (make scrapbooks, but she's also quite scrappy.  I bet she could fight if it came down to it), PAINT, and even wear fake Jessica Simpson hair like it's going out of style!  Since she's really taken to this new hobby of painting, I decided to let her teach her talent to ME.  So, I purchased a 24" x 24" canvas and headed out to Argyle to learn to paint.   I had an inspiration print.  Here it is... Agave by Jillian David. 

So the painting was difficult to get accustomed to.  At first I was soooo nervous and worried.  Aunt Pat was working on another project and would come check on me.  She was probably thinking "we're going to be here for days".  I was working at the speed of molasses.  I started with the yellow.  It was hard to know where it should go and in what shape?!? Afterall, there wasn't really any pure yellow in the picture.  I didn't understand yet how you could paint over colors, blend colors, etc.  Well, I finally got the hang of it, thanks to Pat's quote "We are not afraid of paints and paper" as she stroked wildly on my beloved canvas to show me how to do it.   It did, indeed take all day.  We started at about 11:30 or 11:45 and painted until about 4:45.  There was NO pool/tanning  time like I had planned.   We were originally going to paint the background black like in the inspiration print.  Well, we ended up liking the turquoise base that we put down.  So we kept it.  Aunt Pat says we can always paint over it in black if I decide to.  The last 20 minutes of the paint session was tweaking and touching up the artwork.  It's amazing how just a few added strokes, colors, details, outlines really make your art POP! I wanted the Agave to go above our fireplace, but really, the square shape doesn't work for there.  So I'm going to find it a different fabulous home.  But I was very pleased with my first piece of art.  I already have my next inspiration piece picked out!  

"Slip n' Slide, take it to da house"

That title is for all of you that remember the Trick Daddy "Take it to da house" song circa ????  So on Sunday afternoon, Otto and I saw our neighbors outside.  They (Kelly and Tyler) moved in a few months ago and they have an adorable 2 1/2 year old named Blaine who loves Otto.   Apparently, he always asks for Otto which is simply sweet.  He used to call him "Ah-go" but now he has "Ot-toe" down really well.  Since Otto hadn't been over to play with Blaine for a while, we went over there so each of them could get their "fix".  The next thing you know--- we're all SLIP 'N SLIDING. I only went twice...IN MY WORK OUT CLOTHES, at that... but MAN, it brought back some great memories of  yester-year.  SE 8th Street, Ocala Florida... did some major Slip n' Slidin' there.  Blaine's is way more fancy and cool though. Take a peek at the highlights below.


Blaine would run and fall on his knees, thus Otto's "OUCH" face...

Tyler decided to tell Blaine to put his arms straight out like Superman and throw him to teach him proper Slip n' Slide method...

.


There goes Otto... he needed about 10 more feet on the end!

Blaine, one more time...

One last run before some water gun fighting....

Blaine kept saying he was making Otto go to sleep-- by shooting him with the water gun, that is.

He's AWAKE! 

Peace treaty...

Fun times....