Gobble 'til You Wobble

"It is not happy people who are thankful; it's thankful people who are happy." I came across this quote the other day and thought it was well stated. We have so much to be thankful for and we certainly gave our thanks this past week. Drew and I stayed in Austin for Thanksgiving this year for a much needed holiday break.

Wednesday

I didn't have to work on Wednesday, so I started out my day with a morning jog which turned into a photo shoot with Zilker. 

The jog was followed by breakfast tacos and coffee with Drew, a co-worker and his wife and baby girl. Then we walked downtown to shop a little and see the city. That night I decided to be "festive" and make a cheese ball (reminds me of home during the holidays) and a chocolate pie while Drew prepared a nice dinner. The cheese ball and dinner were a success...the pie, on the other hand, was delicious but looked terrible. Not sure how I managed to butcher a Pillsbury pie shell.... oh well. We have made this pie every year for Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. Lindsay even wrote a poem about this pie when she was in elementary school. Here it is: Chocolate pie, chocolate pie, if I don't get any I think I'll die. Hahaha Let's just say the looks of my pie was as bad as her poem.

Poor chocolate pie

Thanksgiving
I used to run the Boulevard Bolt in Nashville on Thanksgiving morning with Meghan Sayers and my sister (although Lindsay just left us at the start line each year), so last year when we stayed in Austin I looked into Thanksgiving Day runs. I convinced Drew to run with me and assured him it was only a 5K...oops, it was 5 miles :) Needless to say, I couldn't trick him this year, so on Thanksgiving morning we woke up early and walked downtown for the Turkey Day Trot where we walked the 5 miles instead of jogging-- he was such a good sport. It was so fun and it was a beautiful morning to take the dogs for a walk.

Then we came home and made mimosas and sausage & egg biscuits for breakfast. It was a great way to start the holiday.

That afternoon we went over to our friend Dave's house. Drew and I eat at Polvos weekly since it is walking distance from our house and this is where we met Dave, our waiter and now friend.  He and his girlfriend were having "Friendsgiving" at their house, so everybody made sides and they cooked the turkey. We had a blast hanging out at their house, watching football, and eating some fabulous food. We felt blessed to be surrounded by people who wanted to make sure we had a place to go for Thanksgiving. That night we came home and watched a holiday movie and just relaxed. It was a happy Thanksgiving for sure!

Friday
We woke up and took the dogs to the park where they played swam and enjoyed every ounce of freedom. Since Thanksgiving was over, Drew insisted that he wear his Santa hat to the park.

Tired after a long day

Drew watched football that afternoon while I searched for "Black Friday" deals downtown. That night we went to Polvos for dinner followed by going to see the movie "Arthur Christmas," which was really cute. A great little date night!

Saturday
Saturday we watched the Georgia Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech/"The Nerds" and then watched Alabama beat Auburn. Eventually we got off the couch and packed for our San Antonio Christmas Date Night :) Livingsocial ran a special a couple of weeks ago that offered a one night stay at the Historic O'Brien Hotel in downtown San Antonio with complementary wine, chocolate & roses.....yes please! We went out to a nice dinner on the Riverwalk, which was packed with people because they turned on the Christmas lights the night before - huge tourist attraction, and for good reason; it was beautiful! The weather turned cold on Saturday, so we were in the holiday spirit!

My handsome husband

Off to the Rainforest Bar after dinner.

Sunday



We woke up early this morning and grabbed breakfast at a restaurant on the Riverwalk. Then we walked to the Alamo and took some pictures.



After our tour of the Alamo, we said goodbye to San Antonio and headed to the outlets to do some Christmas shopping. We found great deals and are almost finished with our holiday shopping...yea! We got home and put up our Christmas decorations, turned on the holiday music, and are currently mentally preparing to return to work tomorrow. Three weeks & two days until Christmas break....I think this teacher might be more excited about the break than her students :)

Twinkly lights

Our little Christmas tree

Christmas Elves



Tis the season to be merry...and thankful!

Tennessee Whirlwind

Whew! What a fun and exhausting weekend we had. Drew and I helped host a "His & Her" wedding shower in Chattanooga this past weekend for our friends Besty and Will, so we decided to make a big trip out of it. I have not taken off a day from work yet this year, so I was sooo ready for a mini-vacation. I took off work on Friday and had the morning to get ready for the trip before we headed to the airport.

Arriving at the airport

First thing is first. Bloody Marys to celebrate the upcoming weekend :)

We flew into Nashville where my parents greeted us and took us out to a nice dinner at Virago. The sushi was delicious, the wine plentiful, and the company priceless.


Cheers!

Saturday morning we hit the road early and headed to Chattanooga to see Drew's family. Drew's family lives on Lookout Mountain and so the drive up the mountain was just beautiful. The air was cool and the leaves were gorgeous. Drew and I certainly miss having the seasons here in Austin! We arrived around noon and Vicky had an amazing lunch prepared, so we ate lunch and then sat by the fire and watched the Georgia Bulldogs beat Kentucky. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Homemade Keylime Pie

Hanging out in the kitchen

Sam, Ann, Vicky, Drew, Chip & Babs

That night we went to a Bistro in downtown Chattanooga where we celebrated Will and Betsy's engagement. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures from the evening, but it was so much fun seeing the Chattanooga crew...what a lively bunch when they all reunite:) My friend from high school, Grace, and her husband Will Clark were gracious enough to let us stay at their house so we didn't have to go back up to Lookout Mountain that night. Drew didn't want to leave the next morning--he was too busy trying to bond with Cooper, the Clark's dog...but eventually we said our goodbyes and we were back on the road to Nashville for an early Thanksgiving.

We are staying in Austin for Thanksgiving this year, so my mom put together a pre-Thanksgiving feast at their house on Sunday. My Uncle Rick, Aunt Joyce, cousin Tami, her husband Kyle and their two kids Amiah and Sadie all drove in from Evansville, Indiana to join us. It meant so much to both of us that they all drove in just for the day to see us before we headed back to Austin. Lindsay and her boyfriend Jamie & his two kids also stopped by for the meal and so did the Cardens. It was great seeing all of our family and friends join together to celebrate such an important holiday. We are THANKFUL for all of you :) Here are some pictures from the celebration:

Turkey looking over the feast

Kyle, Rick, Tami, Amiah, Dad, Mom, Joyce, Drew, Megan, Sadie, Gary & Lynn

Jamie, Morgan, Lindsay, Connor, Mom, Joyce

Amiah looking cute as always

Pre-Thanksgiving turned into Pre-Christmas for the girls

We flew out late Sunday night and didn't get home until around midnight. The pups were thrilled to see us and even more thrilled to get their new toys from Granny.



24 hours later & this toy is stuffingless



Zoe protecting her toy before it gets destroyed by Zilker



Zilker copied her sister and now likes the flower pot

Though the weekend went by in a flash, we enjoyed every second of it. We are so thankful for both of our families and feel blessed everyday. We are already looking forward to seeing everybody again over Christmas break!

Bed, Bites & Beyond

BED
Exciting news! We bought a new bedspread. The other one was getting a little dingy because sooommeebody (Drew) lets the dogs on the bed to cuddle for a few minutes before we go to bed. Although I don't like for the dogs to be on the furniture, sometimes it's hard to look at those cute faces and tell them to get down. Yes, I'm a pushover and all three of them know it.



BITES

  A Date Night Bite

The fastest way to my heart is through my stomach and nobody know that more than Drew. Fortunately for me, Drew loves to cook so we eat pretty well here in Austin. However, this past Wednesday was an especially good meal at the Murray household. There is nothing like coming home after a long day of work and seeing a beautiful bouquet of "Just Because I Love You" flowers sitting on the table and dinner already started. He grilled steaks while I prepared a tuna & mandarin orange salad and creamy risotto. Everything was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed being wined and dined. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening:





Grill Master

Tuna & Mandarin Orange Salad

  A Deadly Bite

This is what I nearly stepped on when leaving work on Friday. A scorpion. I have seen some dead ones around the school, but never one that was actually breathing. Speaking of breathing, my breathing stopped when I saw how close I was to stepping on this animal. No thank you, Texas.

  A Yummy Bite
Thursday night we went to dinner with Ashley Yates, a former Chattanoogan, & our neighbors Brian and Jeff, whom we refer to as "The Gaybors." We walked down to 2nd Street and grabbed a bite of food at a new restaurant called Coal Vines. This restaurant is known for their woodfire grill pizzas and wine, so we ordered a couple of both.The atmosphere was fun, the food was amazing, and the company was the best. It was a great way to celebrate the pre-weekend weekday, also known as Thursday.


Brian, Ashley, Jeff & Drew

And this is how we found the pups when we returned from dinner-- Zilker whining at the backdoor and Zoe curled up in the flower pot. Pretty typical night for the Murray dogs.


BEYOND
  Football
Shout out to the Georgia Bulldogs! We beat/creamed Auburn this weekend so now we are closer to being in the SEC Championship! Proud to be a Dawg.
  Music Madness

Saturday night we went to the "Big Sam's Funky Nation" concert with the Sayers. They were playing at Antone's downtwon, so we met there and had a great time dancing and listening to some funky jazz music. Below are a couple of pictures from the night of debauchery.

Meghan & Megan

Clinton & Meghan

Riding a bull on the walk home

  Masks
Sundays are the best because you can just sit back and relax. I decided that my skin could use a little pick-me-up, so I grabbed my Lush Oatifix mask and began applying the mixture to my face (I'll spare you the picture). This is an all natural product that stays in the fridge and is good for two weeks. It felt amazing and did the trick--I highly recommend this product to anybody who likes to be girly every once in a while. Go to LushUSA.com

Well, that's all folks! Next weekend we are headed to both Chattanooga & Nashville--we can't wait to see everybody!


Zilker's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Zilker! Zilker turned 1 year old on Thursday, November 3rd. I can't believe that we have had her for almost a year now--it sees like just yesterday that we picked her up from the breeder in Nashville! As many of you know, we lost Berrie five days before Christmas last year while visiting Drew's family in Chattanooga. It was such a difficult time for us, so we were very thankful when we found an advertisement for puppy Boxers for sale in Nashville. We went to visit the home of the breeder and instantly fell in love with Zilker. Here is a picture of her the day we picked her up.



Merry Christmas

Zoe was a little shocked when we packed up the Christmas presents and threw the puppy in the backseat with her for the 16 hour car ride back to Austin, but now they are the best of friends. Here is a picture of the pups from the car ride...


When we got back to Austin, Drew took Zilker to work so he could help potty train her. Here she is being a good little secretary.

After a couple weeks, Drew started working from home, so she was spoiled even more. Here she is hanging out in the yard with Zoe.

Puppies grow up so fast. We decided that she was finally ready for her first beer. I swear she could be a model for Modelo.

The next series of pictures are from her birthday week. Yes, you read that correctly. Zilker didn't have a birthDAY, she had a birthWEEK. We started the celebration with a trip to the park with her sister. The "Fun, Fun, Fun Fest"concert was going on, so we told her that it was her surprise party. She was thrilled.



Auditorium Shores

Zoe and Zilker love the water despite the chilly temperatures. Water + Orange Ball = Fun

Loving her orange ball

Zoe swimming

 A video of Zilker swimming!

A video of Zilker & Zoe running through the park...

After the park activities, Zilker was wiped. Here she is napping after a long day of fun.

Stretched out on her futon

Drew spoiled both pups and let them nap on him...

Then it was mom's turn to snuggle...

And no birthday is complete without a treat.



Eating a pig ear

Zilker, we love you and hope you had a fabulous 1st birthday!!!

PS: Just a sidenote to my mother...Mom, I promise you will be a grandmother to a child someday, but for now I hope you keep enjoying the slobber of your granddogs because they love their granny (and the toys you send them) dearly :)