dear reader.

I am in Utah.

That is why I am not really posting on the blog (does it seem like I always have a good excuse?).
When I was explaining that really---I LIVE in Texas, but am here VISITING--- to some old friends, their mom corrected me and said, "No, what she MEANS to say is that she LIVES in Utah, but sometimes goes to Texas to visit her husband."

Interestingly enough, Aaron said the SAME thing to someone today at the dental school. Not knowing MY little anecdote. Can you believe it? Does that mean there is some truth in that statement?
Oh, sheesh.
My heart is with my hubby in Texas, but I have to admit, it is still here too. Can't I have my cake AND eat it too???

Yes. I say yes. As long as the airlines keep flying and we score good deals on tickets, then YES. Love will find a way. Sheesh, someone quote me. That was a good statement. Oh wait, I ripped that one off.

But, let's talk people. When the mountain outside my parent's window looks SOOO amazing (pictures to be posted soon) and the backyard is THIS inviting---you would like to vacation here as well. Just sayin'... You SOOO don't blame me. And, add a little bit of CRAZY FUN FAMILIES (yes, another blessing of having our families live in the same town) and DELIGHTFUL FRIENDS to the mix = good times.


But, truthfully, I've only had TIME to take a dip in this pool ONCE since my arrival. I am here on OFFICIAL business. I'm the hired help. My parents decide to go on a delightful vacation, so I am the TRUE babysitter. And, let me tell you, it's not all fun and games.

I find myself saying "Denise-quotes" way more often than I'd like. For example, "I feel like all day long I'm cleaning up messes" or "Lizzy, kick it in gear!" or "Lizzy, I haven't heard you practicing" (the piano), or "I'm on my way to pick up Lizzy."---that last one isn't so much of a "Denise-quote" but what I hear her often say on the phone to me. Lizzy is involved in dance, and that means she has a different dance class pretty much EVERY day.

So, I'm the wo-man in charge. Hear me roar. And, to Lizzy, sorry I have to crack the whip so much with you. But, I want to be hired again, so we gotta make sure we do this to perfection!! (she'll forgive me one day for making her practice the piano at 8:45 p.m. before her lesson tomorrow. One day she'll forgive me).

ANYWAY...

Let's discuss the latest quote I found. Did you know that I just purchased a BEAUTIFUL new printer BEFORE I vacated? Yes, the big purchase is so recent, that I didn't even have time to OPEN the box before I left (see, I knew if I opened it then I wouldn't have done things like LAUNDRY and PACKING... etc.). So, I have been trying to come up with new PRINT ideas that can be put up on people's walls.

Here's something I think needs a home in the melimba.com shop.


"Anyone can be cool, but awesome takes practice." -Lorraine Peterson


How in love are you with that quote? I know. Me too.

So, look for it sometime soon. Perfect for your favorite friend/spouse/sibling/co-worker/you-get-the-drift/but-I-like-this-long-list/so-I'm-gonna-go-with-it/ok/stopping/now.

Anyway, here's a shout out to you, my blogging world of friends.

Feel free to vote in the COMMENT section if you are a FAN or UN-FAN to my latest quote- find. And, if you're lucky, maybe I'll choose you as the winner of a give-away WHEN I actually create the print.

You are on pins and needles. I can feel it.
Let it hurt so good.

A good weekend with old friends

Well, Mark was moving out of the country to New Zealand.

So, thanks to some nice organization, Blake and Jordan and Mark flew into San Antonio the first Friday of September. I picked 'em up and we headed home to reminisce over the good ol' days. We gotta a little rambunctious and woke matilda up. Then stayed up 'til about 2, then woke up 6 hours later to drive up to Dallas.

Everything worked out great, we picked up Scott at the airport just as we drove into Dallas and made our way over to Mark's parent's hotel right next to the new Cowboy's Stadium. That saved us $40 or so (parking up around the stadium is ridicluous). D.R. was gracious enough to buy lunch for everybody so we hung out at the hotel with them enjoying some pizza.

We were outnumbered by OU fans by a count of about 8-10:1


We walked from their hotel over to the game, passing a bunch of OU fans tailgating and boy-howdy do they know how to tailgate. BBQ, big 'ol canopies, and satellite TV was standard fare. Most offered us beer, very well knowing they wouldn't have to give it to us.

The boys all got a nice welcome to the Texas weather. We were all nice and sweaty by the time they opened up the stadium. That was nice. The place was incredible! Inside there was A/C, an HDTV that stretches 40 yards, and seating capacity for over 100K people.

I think all the boys bumped into people they knew at the game. I saw some friends from dental school (jon and quintin).

Our seats were on the very top row, we thought that was kind of a bummer, but turns out everyone thought it was great way to watch the game.

Cougars won, we all lost our voices (except Scott, he's a news reporter and has his voice trained well), and took pictures with this great OU fan as seen below. It was a great trip.

drumroll please...

okay, okay.

the cat is OUT OF THE BAG!

My little sister (Becca) and I started a little venture earlier this summer. Remember all the fun things that can happen in a 5 + week period when you are on vacation? Yes. Me too.



So, we designed a fabric line and... shocker of all shockers... it's being produced in REAL life by a REAL company that WANTED our designs! So, what does that mean? Well, I'll tell you. They are PRE-selling it at the Quilt Market in October, and then it will hit your local quilt shops and favorite fabric places this next SPRING!

I know, we are dying too!!!

Our design "alias" is melimba & beccabury. You can guess who is who.

Pretty darn exciting. We can't believe it all actually happened, and it's been a ton of work to fine tune every little detail... hence, why we have been neglecting the blog-o-sphere for a looooong time.


Anyway, you want to see the rest of the line? Really? Well, okay. We'll allow it. Feel free to check out my new website (www.melimba.com, under the fabric section) where you can see what we've come up with.

We're already in the thick of coming up with more designs, so we're thinking this is pretty fun venture---not to mention a life-long dream. I guess Becca being a graphic design major and me graduating in painting/drawing wasn't such a bad idea after all!

Let us know your thoughts and also, what you think we should do for another line. We'd love to hear your opinions/thoughts/comments/whatev's.

Anyway, thought you'd like to know the news and see the goods! We've had to be pretty "hush hush" about it all, but now we've received the go-ahead to SHOW and TELL. So, there you go.

Gracias for your patience!

i caved.

so, this is a morning of note.
hence, this is me, taking note.

p.s. I was going to attach two images... one of my running/walking shoes, and one of my jeans... but alas, blogger was having issues. so, just IMAGINE those two images as you read. ok. good. thanks.

A few weeks back, I asked Aaron to pull down my MATERNITY box of clothes from the tippy top of our garage. We had both noticed my expanding belly, so I decided to have him grab the box for me.

So, he did. And, it's been sitting at the edge of our bed for a few weeks. I pulled out a few items to remember what clothes were in there (as if it's been THAT long), and cringed at the selection. By the time I had Matilda, I was SO sick of those blasted shirts. I got to a point of recycling the same 5 shirts every week for so long----let's just say, the memories came flooding back.

So, here I am at 20 + weeks (sorry, I have no idea what week I am), and even though I can still wear my regular pants, and they button up fine---they are getting a tad bit uncomfortable, as you can imagine.

I put on my trusty GAP maternity jeans from the last go-around, thinking it would be a sad day in my life----but it's just the opposite! I AM SO STINKIN' COMFORTABLE!!! I keep thinking, why didn't I cave earlier!?!? No shame, people. No shame.

So, I've got the Pants on (I think I should capitalize them, like they do in the book Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, b.c they feel THAT special to me). Feeling good.

That's my story. There's the 411.

Oh, and to forewarn my neighbors of the site you may be witnessing early in the mornings---the whale of a tale you see each morning JOGGING with a little Matilda in tow? Yes, that would be me. I know. Why I decided to start jogging is totally beyond me.
I've always had the motto of "don't run unless you are late, or being chased"---but one day, I just decided to do it. And, I've been at it each morning for almost two weeks now (well, to be TOTALLY honest, I skipped Sunday and Labor Day Monday with the boys in town). But, still... if you aren't impressed, I am. And so are my mom and sisters. Not to mention, Aaron. He's like, "What? Really? You ran and you weren't scared someone was following you?" Well, he didn't say that in so many words, but I know he was thinking it.

That's the story of our lives for this very moment in time.

I have a BIG exciting BOMB to drop here in a minute. Well, both my sister, Becca, and I do. And, it's been in the works for a few months now, and we are finally at liberty to SHOW and TELL! Whooo! Whooo! Hold on to your hats, folks. It's pretty rad.

Stay tuned.

Until then, I'll be sweating my guts out here in the big San Antone with my very COMFY stretchy waistbands!

Bring it, yo! Bring it!

my little sunshine.

Matilda has days where she is happy for me to take her picture.
There are other days, when she is not happy for me to take her picture.

Today was a happy day.

So, we went for it.















are you not in love with this girl? gee whiz.

she is definitely my little sunshine. am I lucky or whhhaaaaat?

what a toodle noodle.

dear reader.

well, here we are. yet again, playing the same tune we've played before.
if you haven't figured it out by now, posting pictures of matilda mae has been my fall back these last few times. and, it will continue to happen, so there you have it. but, when she's so cute and hanging out with me in the kitchen, I can't help but snap a few.

I miss Aaron. But, in a good way. Not a "don't you ever dare leave home again with out me" way. :) He's been gone the entire weekend, but for good reason.

Aaron is in the BIG-D (aka dallas) on his way home with some of his favorite buddies from his life (they've known each other since elementary, and have been best friends ever since. no joke). ANYWAY, four of the best friends were able to FLY down to Tejas to spend some male bonding time and cheer on the cougs of BYU. Pretty crazy.

Let's just say, when three of them arrived in San Antonio Friday night (Scott met them in Dallas), they picked up right where they had left off. I swear, I could see them all as 10 year olds. It was great.

I talked to Aaron yesterday on the phone BEFORE the big game, and asked him how it was all going. He said something along the lines of, "I think this is one of the best days of my life." And, the game hadn't even happened yet. Wow. They must have had fun.

Here's ONE picture I found on Facebook from Mark's older brother. I hope it's okay I copied it and put it on here. Keep your fingers crossed.
But, get a load of those happy mugs. If that isn't true elation, I don't know what is. And, where is Blake in this photo??
p.s. Blake and Mandi did a GREAT job on the t-shirts. Go team Taylor, go!

More pictures are to follow. This you can be sure of. I know I took like 15 pictures of them posin' it up before they left to Dallas. And, they will be a treat to behold. Of this, I am sure.

Anyway, I'm posting these next few of Tillie differently than I normally do. I'm not quite sure if I'll like it, but we'll see.

another fun day in austin!

A while back, our friends, Tara and Jared, suggested we take a trip to the beautiful city of Austin. So, we did. It was fun.

On our way, we made the stop at the outlets in San Marcos (how can you ever just drive by?). That was lovely. Found some great things, and the newly weds found some delightful silverware on sale at Pottery Barn (score one for them!).

Then it was off to Austin. We first made a stop at the infamous "Hey Cupcake!" trailer to buy ourselves some treats. They were pretty good, but unfortunately, it was really hot and I wasn't quite ready to eat them the moment after we purchased them (I know, weird, me not being able to throw down a cupcake spur of the moment. ...so unlike me.)----so, by the time we ate ours, they were a melty-sugary-mess.

We dropped our blankets in the park (to save our spots) for a free community theater production. They put on Music Man, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. The costumes were great, the talent was good, and you couldn't beat the venue. It was fun!

But, before we actually watched the play, we headed to the Salt Lick. A pretty major BBQ place. Aaron and I had been there one time before and this time we loved it just as much. We ended up eating our dinner on our blankets in the park just before the play started. Delish!


All in all it was a fun filled day!

We, however, maybe should have left at intermission, b/c by the time we left the park it was around 11:00 and we still had the almost 2 hour drive to get back to San Antonio.

Outlets + cupcakes + BBQ + fun = tired family. Aaron and I almost fell asleep driving back. It was AWFUL trying to keep our eyes open on that LONG LONG freeway home.

But, in the end, we arrived safely at home and had a good long sleep.

Good times in the Lone Star state with good friends. Yee-haw (it just seemed fitting AND i'm a texan, so I can say things like that. duh!).

p.s. to those of you who do google reader or blog lines--sorry to publish this YET again, but the layout before was driving me NUTS, so I did it again. gracias.