7 months in a nutshell...

I realize its been forever since this blog has been updated, I have no excuses really, life just seems to go go go and I seem to take my own precious time keeping up with it! So instead of boring everyone with my dry sense of humor I will sum up the past 7 months with pictures and captions.

JUNE

This is Bella, my siamese daughter. She was adopted shortly after my last post.
She loves to play with anything you leave on the floor and refuses to

leave you alone if you a) are eating tuna fish, or b) are wearing

warm fuzzy socks or slippers.

JULY

July is my niece Alaina's birthday so I went to Colorado to celebrate!

It was the first time I saw my newest nephew Sam and what a pleasure it was!

Just look at how cute they are!! (and Im totally impartial!!!)

August was totally uneventful

SEPTEMBER

Hurricane Ike... boy, what fun! NOT!

I was stuck in a house with 3 dogs, 6 birds, and a cat... for 4 days &

with NO POWER, not to mention my husband, dad, and mom were there too!

It wasn't all bad, we did go have a nice barbeque with some of the

neighbors, it was a combination of all the stuff everyone had

in their freezers that were more like refriderators at that point.

The lines for gas were ridiculous, and the grocery stores only

let like 5 people in at a time, but at least we had something

to kill the time, right?

My dad and I stayed up the whole time IKE was grumbling, and on

the second day we even went outside an videoed the winds! A tree

ending up falling on the corner of my hubbys explorer, other than that,

5 days no power.... I consider ourselves lucky!

OCTOBER

October brought many happy days for me! I got to celebrate my

first anniversary to my best friend! We took a weekend trip

to Brenham for the scarecrow festival, WHAT A BLAST! But, the

highlight of this October was my husbands 65 mile bike ride

in the Tour de Cure 2008. He finished the whole 65 miles,

and I was there to cheer him on the whole way!! Go Michael!

Novemeber and December

Typical holiday months. My sisters family came in from Colorado to

celebrate Thanksgiving with us!! And for Christmas we spent time with both

of our families which was nice!

&

I made some turkey cupcakes for Thanksgiving, I was very

impressed with my baking skills, and they were really fun to do!

We got snow early in December so Michael and I took

advantage of the opportunity and made a "snow bunny".

And this is how we brought in the new year, and Michaels

Bday... friends and fun!!!

Summer blooms....

Cypress Vine!

What delicate and cute star-shaped flowers!!!

Pink, Red and White all over about 5-9 a day!!

Moonflower bloom!!!!!!!!

The beginning of the afternoon... what a huge bud it has become!!!!Just 20 minutes (and a little wind) later!!! The full bloom, just as beautiful and big as I hoped it would be!!!

And what a glorious smell!!!

Another Day, another photo opp!!!

Mercer Arboretum!!!!!!! Beautiful Flowers!!!
Lovely Smells!!!!!
Nature at its Best!!

Softly Flowing Water
Beauty all around!!!!!!
Peaceful serenity

Blooms that amaze!!!!

My day today at the Mercer Arboretum was delightful!! What a bright, incredibly cheerful place to go in such cloudy weather!! I hope these photos bring a smile to all of your faces. This is my second "photo shoot" and I think I am favoring pretty well.

Rainy Day, Beautiful Garden

I woke up this morning anxious to explore another garden around Houston. However, the somberness of the morning has made the appeal of outside a little less thrilling for me. Perhaps the afternoon might bring more cheery weather. For now I will reveal to you my own garden!! Although it is in the middle of a fast paced city, on the second floor balcony of these downtown apartments... it is thriving and flourishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is called the Deep Rose Daisy. I found it at Home Depot for only 12 dollars. I love the little flowers it has, they are so cheerful!!! It brings a lot to my garden, and I smile every time I see the little blooms smiling faces!!!

To the left you see the beginnings of the morning glories I planted about 2 weeks ago.They have taken much longer to grow than my moonflowers but I am hopeful that they will make do just fine. Underneath you see the dwarf morning glories I planted at the same time, I am anxious to see more popping up soon!!!!

These lovelies are the

herbs that I have planted

so far. Ive got the

mint and the rosemary.

Right here you see basil, and french lavender. For my first garden I choose the herbs that were the most fragrant, that way I only came home with a few instead of the whole lot!!! I love to sit on the balcony and smell each herb.

Above and below are my flourishing moonflowers. I planted them about March 12th and they have took off from there. The leafs are about 3 inches now and all the stems are starting to branch. I love to watch this vine grow!!! I have never had moonflowers before, but I hear they are beautiful and fragrant! I cant wait to see the blooms, the plant is already so beautiful now!!

An Adventure in the Making

This is my first try as a photographer. I took these photos at the Houston Arboretum about 2 weeks ago. I hope that my skills improve so I can really capture all of natures beauty.

I found it so peaceful that day even though the rush of the busy city was right outside of this beautiful setting. I am looking forward to finding many more of natures beauties right here in Houston.

Animalus Jordanius (a rare breed)

This is Indiana Jones aka Indy. He is my

husbands dog. He is a rat terrier cross beagle.

His interest are balls, ropes, rocks, bottle caps,

licking your face, and hiding under covers.

This is "my dog" Mimi Anne. She is a DoberCollie

otherwise known as doberman cross border collie!!

She likes belly rubs, toys that squeak, and cuddling

early in the morning!!!