Desert Dwelling

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side

>> Tuesday, February 28, 2012 – house, Thoughts I think

Apparently skateboarding is coming back in style. How do I know this? Well, my apartment is currently booming and shaking with each attempt at an ollie our next door neighbor boy is making. It is that echoey garage sound, so each clanking bang is heard- and then heard again, all in a higher pitch because of the concrete. Plus, his garage and our apartment share a wall.

Maybe I should go give him my SkateStreet shirt circa 1997 I just found while cleaning out my dresser. I wonder if he was even born by 1997. No, he definitely wasn't. I just did the math.

I must be getting old.

As far as apartment living is concerned, we are in la creme de la creme and I have no real cause for complaint, except that I am not the hugest apartment living fan. No matter how luxurious, people still live right next to you/ on top of you/ too close for me to enjoy them at a proper distance, as is my preference.

Also, I am an outside person (notice I didn't say outdoor) and I miss terribly sitting on our back porch in the sun, tromping around the back yard and watching our garden grow. Tebow, too, misses our backyard, and I miss the convenience of opening the back door and booting him out.

Though many people have told me to be thankful that the sun doesn't hit our windows, I can't help but be so very sad that the sun never touches our side of the apartment, not even once throughout the day (our windows and doors face only the east side). I get so jealous when Tebow and I walk the complex and see the west facing Apartmenteers growing potted plants or sunning themselves on their patios, drink in hand. I want patio time in the sun!

Evan misses the cathartic effect of painting trim on the house, I miss obsessing over wall colors and having somewhere to put all the furniture I was buying at garage sales, Tebow misses sneaking into the garden and stealing tomatoes.

We are all a bit homesick.

We swooned over this house we saw for sale down the street from our church. Isn't it adorable?

Look at that backyard!

It needs a bit of obsessing over paint color by yours truly, but isn't she a beaut?

Look at all the molding and the built-ins! Ahhhh.

Alas, we don't know where we'll be living next year at this time, or, maybe even 6 months from now. So buying or moving seems a bit foolish.

At least we are "free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change."

But, this free unchanging bird kinda wants a nice cage. With a garage and a big backyard.

Makeup and Margaritas

>> Friday, February 24, 2012 – makeup, texas, Veterans Day

Last night, Emily and I redeemed our "Z-Tejas Happy-Hour Valentines Coupon" from Evan. He even drew us a little dash mark "cut here" rectangle around the coupon. I love that man.

It was perfect timing because Emily had a long draining day, Evan worked his usual hectic 12 hours, and I did a few loads of laundry...

So we were all ready for margarita time.

I love that place, and those people.

And if I look orange, its because I am. I spent the last 3 afternoons in the sun. It was amazing. Today its freezing and windy- howling as we speak, so I'm glad I got my sun on while I still could.

Since I had a reason to get dressed and leave the house (for Z Tejas, of course) I practiced my Adele face. I'm not trying to pose all Zsa Zsa for you, just trying to aim the camera while my eyes are closed- more difficult than it looks!

I am way more orange than Adele, and way less matte. But I'm getting closer! I just need to get more comfortable with the winged out liner. It looks way less dramatic in the picture than how it felt in real life, so I might as well keep piling it on. Its just makeup, it washes off.

Speaking of makeup, yesterday I got some images I worked on (I did hair and makeup) this summer, while in the midst of packing our house for Texas. Isn't this girls hair amazing?

I finally have a few less embarrassing things for the ol' website.

If that image doesn't scream fun and summertime, I don't know what does!

Happy weekend to you and yours!

Bombshell

>> Thursday, February 23, 2012 – makeup

I loved Adele's makeup when I saw her on the Grammys. Okay, I didn't watch the Grammys- but when I saw her perform on YouTube the next day, I loved it then.

Then I saw this Vogue image on Pintrest and almost died.

This one too.

I think my gal Marlena needs to do a tutorial. Well, she did, but I that's not exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm getting close to getting this look down, but mostly I look like Rebecca with a lot of makeup on. I want to look like Adele with a lot of makeup on! She also has incredible lighting going for her, and extensions, and a team standing right there. But still.

Mission Trail

>> Wednesday, February 22, 2012 – San Antonio

Yesterday I got my wish! Tebow and I spent a nice afternoon at the pool together getting our tan on- he got to run around off-leash, and I got to sizzle. Ahhhhhh, it felt so good, for both of us I think.

He needed to get out.

Yesterday morning, Emily and I got out too and checked another San Antonio outing off our list!

We visited four 18th century Spanish Catholic Missions. There are five missions in a row- so close together they have a trail between them. We drove, but perhaps someday we'll bike. The fifth mission is the Alamo, but seeing as we've been to the Alamo 3 million times already this year, we skipped that one.

Until I moved here, I didn't really remember the Alamo, nor did I know there were other missions down the road from it (they all hug the River, in case you were wondering). Turns out these are the largest concentration of missions that remain in North America.

Isn't this one beautiful? Its the Mission San Jose, I think (they all started to run together).

Some were a bit ostentatious and some a little more quaint, like Mission Espada, below.

Of course I loved the Mexican blanketed kneeling benches- and the pews! Someday I'm going to have an antique church bench in my house. I've been on the hunt for years.

Some were under construction- I guess they are going down the line and restoring the Missions one by one. Even though we didn't get to go inside Mission San Juan, we were given an unrequested history lesson on Texas, its Native people, and how Texas got its name.

We got to watch these men on the lift and scaffold work on chiseling the relief- or whatever the sculpture thing is called. It was pretty cool seeing them tap tap tapping away!

Most of the Missions are working churches and you can attend mass on Sunday if you wish.

By the last mission, we blew through pretty quickly and started talking about what makes a great tasting burger and where we should go for lunch. Mission hopping works up an appetite!

All in all a great day! We even accidentally had a shopping spree at The Loft after we finished our touring. Best of both worlds, all in a few short hours of fun!

Warmer Weather

>> Tuesday, February 21, 2012 – San Antonio, Tebow, Thoughts I think

This winter has been a mild one, or so I hear on the news every morning. But I'm itching for warmer weather. There are rumors that its supposed to hit 80 degrees here on Thursday and I can't wait! I'm getting my flip flops ready for the pool.

There is a lady in (one of my) Bible study(ies) that is in a military family and she is praying to be moved to a colder local next- like Ohio where she's from. Or perhaps Alaska. Anywhere with a real (freezing) winter.

This makes me think two things. First, that I had no idea people actually desired to live in Ohio. I thought they just had to. And second, I can't imagine being told I'm going to be moving in a matter of months and not know the destination of my upheaval (over and over again throughout my life, and have little or no say in the matter).

Which makes me extremely thankful that we get to move by choice (sort of) and at least we can always choose to say no. Okay. I guess that was three things. A fourth thing would be that living in San Antonio has made me even more thankful for our service men and women. Because they all make a sacrifice- the whole family- whether someone is in harms way or not, their whole life is in flux.

I am learning a lot from my new military friends, well, their wives anyway. How to be flexible, have faith, be a supportive wife despite constant transition and change, how to jump in feet first and make yourself a new life in a new place.

Wherever we may go, I am very thankful that Evan seems to think the southwest is going to continue to grow and build enough that hopefully we can continue to live in a southwest climate. A climate I know and love. Even if it isn't Ventura's 75 year around.

Tebow likes the warm weather too, so we can take him to the dog park whenever he wants.

Below is Tebow's little sister, Hershey. I kept thinking it was Tebs.

We accidentally attended a dachshund meet-up group at the dog park, the San Antonio Low Riders. Get it???

Tebow was in heaven, having so many short friends to play with!

I was a bit humiliated when Tebow was barking incessantly for attention. He was the only loud doxie, but not the only stubborn one. I asked a guy there if this was more like a doxie support group rather than a meet up group!

Lady A

>> Monday, February 20, 2012 – rodeo, San Antonio

We had a really fun weekend around here! It did go way too fast though. Evan laughed at me when I asked if he got Presidents day off.

Friday night we scored some tickets to the San Antonio Rodeo.

It made our beloved Tejas Rodeo look a bit amateurish. Not that we don't enjoy amateur night- this was just a lot more polished and fast paced.

The best part- the reason I wanted to go at least- was to see Lady Antebellum. They were so good!

If I was a rockstar, I'd totally wear flats on stage. I don't know how this girl did it- my back was aching for her.

It was such a good night, despite being drenched pre rodeo from the rain and not being in bed until 1am! Way too late for these old folks. Haha.

A Day at McNay

>> Friday, February 17, 2012 – San Antonio, Valentines Day

On Valentines Day, Emily and I headed to the McNay art museum. It was such a beautiful day and so fun to have an outing with Emily, as usual. We have a running list of things we want to do in San Antonio and we're trying to get out there more- besides just meeting at the mall (which I kinda love too).

Currently, the McNay has an Andy Warhol exhibit up. It was fun to see and interesting that his pop culture is now vintage JFK era culture.