Happy Birthday America!!!!

Happy 4th of July...

I hope everyone has had a wonderful 4th of July! Chad and I have been enjoying a relaxing day and are going to watch fireworks again tonight... pictures to come tomorrow!

It would be great to be in NYC for the fireworks!

Anytime I think of fireworks I am reminded of our wedding send-off with sparklers. The sparklers were one of my favorite aspects of the wedding.

When fireworks are not an option sparklers are the next best thing!

Enjoy the 4th!

LOVE, MKH-G

Jen Lancaster... How I Love To Read Thy Books

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
I hope everyone has had a relaxing weekend! I know that Chad and I have been complete bums and laid by the pool all weekend. It has been beyond wonderful to relax and just enjoy each other without the ding of phones or email. We should have three day weekends more often. We spent Saturday night scoping out some fun new restaurants and decided on eating at Lockhart Smoke House. I had seen an article in Southern Living (article found here) and thought that it would be a nice change from the Mexican binge that we tend to fall into. We wandered around and finally decided that we were hungry. Inside the restaurant was really different (a la gas station) and the way the food was served reminded us of an old-fashioned butcher shop.

So Happy... parchment paper and all

It even has neon ATM signs like a gas station...

but dont let it fool you. It lived up to the Southern Living hype.

A few weeks ago (before we were consumed with BBQ and relaxation) I was able to meet one of my all-time favorite authors at the local BBN. (my pictures were lost in camera-land until a few days ago and that is why I am just now posting). I stood in line early one morning to get the "preferred seating tickets" and I pre-ordered the copy of her new novel weeks ago. That morning I think I was 10th in line so I patted myself on the back for getting up extra early when I could have hit the snooze button. The week of the book signing it was all I could think about. It was probably what Christmas is like for little kids but it was even nerdier that I wasn't getting gifts but a book that I would put on the shelf and refuse to read for fear of messing up the binding or crinkling the pages. OCD as it may be it was totally worth it as I sat in the second row during her Q&A and book reading. I was even nervous when it was my turn to have her sign my books, (yes I re-purchased copies of her other novels so I would have the full set signed and perfect).

Reading Chapter 7 from Jeneration X....

Signing all 7 of the books that I re-purchased...

She even told me my pants were very "snazzy"

I am loving her newest book and am looking forward to her coming back next year. Apparently she loves the BBN at Northpark and they love her back and she visits often, which is good for book hoarders like myself. I was actually shocked as she didn't have any PR people or press/handlers with her. I know she is an author but she's been on the NYT Best Sellers List and she has had wine with Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today Show so that makes her famous, right? 

Famous or not it was wonderful to get to meet her and have my books signed. I will be counting down the days until she visits again! 

Until next time... Happy Monday

LOVE, MKH-G

Its Baseball Season....

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone has had a great start to the week. Its been wonderful weather here in Dallas and I can't complain. I have been lounging by the pool since the end of March and the summery weather is a nice reprieve from the awful Kentucky winters that I am used to. As I was bringing out my summer clothes a few weeks ago I found my Uggs stashed in the back of my closet. I am a HUGE Ugg lover and this winter I may have worn them five times. They never saw snow, icy rain, or any slushy precipitation and it made me sad for a quick second and then I snapped myself back to reality. I fashioned myself a wintery person while living in KY (which the winters there are not even close to terrible) but then after moving here it was nice to have days where the freezing temperatures were in the 40s-50s. I know Chad is beyond used to the weather and he has been counting down the days until Summer since Christmas. If there isn't snow on the ground he isn't interested in being outdoors from November-March.

In the interest of warmer weather (basketball season is over... GO CATS!) and baseball season has begun. I don't know what Chad likes watching more, but if the Yankess or the Wildcats are playing you can bet that "Casa de G" is planted and watching. For Christmas Matt/Courtney (SIL & BIL) gifted us with some NYY tickets. We were so excited to go to the Ballpark at Arlington (I was there a few days before with a work function) but it had been several years since Chad had been. We had great seats and we sported our Yankee pride (mainly Chad but I am all for wearing team colors..) in a see of Ranger blue and red.

Lexus Club Level... 

We had a wonderful night (as it felt like the weekend but it was only a Monday) and the NYY won. Chad was very confident that they would win and I am so glad that we got to spend that quality time together with no phone/emails/tweets/dogs  children or any other distractions. We went home full of nachos and stadium pretzels and I hope we get to back again soon!

Tomorrow is Hump Day... and I have added more photos to the house progress tab on the right sidebar. Check it out here! 

LOVE, MKH-G

Its Almost May....

Its almost May and I have yet to blog consistently in 2012.... Well better late than never right? I feel like there is so much to talk about. We have been beyond busy (as I am sure everyone has) and there are exciting things on the horizon for MKH-G and Husby. We are broke ground on a new home a few weeks ago and we are beyond thrilled. You can check out the home progress on the right toolbar or follow the link here. It has been so exciting to watch it go from a grassy plot to walls and a front porch. I am beside myself from all of the excitement. I know (more than ever) have a reason to constantly update you all with pictures.

YES we took pictures with the SOLD sign and YES it was windy and NO that picture is not my attempt at a glamour shot. And I asked if I could keep the sign, no such luck...

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still around. I have had several emails about my lack of posting and I am going to try to get back in the routine of posting a few times a week. I hope everyone has had a wonderful few months (that makes me sound like a complete slacker...) and I will be back soon!

LOVE, MKH-G

Hana Pro... AKA Life Changer

Happy 2012...
I will be blogging about the rest of our Christmas/NYE happenings tomorrow but I have to let you all in on a little secret and her name is Hana. I started using a new hair-dryer a few weeks ago and it has totally changed my entire hair routine. My hair is normally very thick/bushy/unruly if I don't blow it out straight after washing it. Before using the Hana I was using a cheapo Revlon hairdryer that I had a coupon for from Ulta. It worked fairly well but sometimes it smelled "kinda burned" and I was almost afraid to use it. Needless to say the Hana came into my life at the right time. It is literally the best hair dryer I have ever used. The temperature controls were wonderful and a much needed baseline for me as I tend to "overheat" my hair sometimes just to get it dry quicker. Using this hair-dryer cut my dry-time in half which I wasn't expecting and the frizziness was minimal. The only downfall to the Hana is that the cord isn't retractable, but the other positives definitely outweigh the cord issue. The online Hana shop also has CHI hair-dryers and other CHI products if you tend to go in that direction. I tend to steer away from product endorsements but I had to let everyone know that you truly haven't lived if you haven't used a Hana hair-dryer.

I hope everyone had a great NYE.
LOVE, MKH-G