Monday, April 29, 2013

Under Bite: The Tail of Two Bulldogs

OMG! I have been neglecting the blog these past few weeks. We have been very busy! We are in the process of moving and building a house so our weekend are filled with packing and trips to the storage unit. BUT onto the loves of my life my bulldogs!

Every time someone comes up to me and says how much they like my bulldog and that they have always wanted one I have to kind of bite my tongue and not lecture them about how high maintenance some bulldogs can be. Lola has had this reoccurring skin issue and it doesn't seem to bother her but I bring her in for a skin scraping every-now-and-then to make sure things are okay and there isn't an infection. We brought her in at the beginning of the month and got the results back 2 weeks later and turns out she did have a small fungal (I know, gross) infection. And then a week later we came home and she just wasn't acting right, I think my mother intuition was kicking in. We brought her into the vet the next day and ran some test and took some x-rays and it turns out my poor baby had pneumonia!!! And then after all that she wasn't eating! After some trials we had to change her meds (and not I didn't get a refund on the ones that didn't work) we got her to stop throwing up and she is finally eating all her food. She truly is just like having a child but I love her so! ... And Coco is doing just fine! Seems my husband was right and getting the Old English Bulldog has saved us some visits to the vet, she is low maintenance!

{Love me, I'm sick!}

{You mess with The Coco, you get The Tongue}

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Kate Walsh's Travel Confessions

Any fans of Kate Walsh out there? I don't watch her TV shows but I think she is a beautiful woman...and she loves to travel!!! Jenny Depper did an article for omg! by Yahoo! and she asked Kate all sorts of fun travel questions. I though it would be fun to share!





Monday, April 22, 2013

A Plane's Most Popular Seat

In a study done by British Airways, read the article here, they claim that the most popular economy seats (on a 747) are those in the back. The reason they say they are are the most popular is because there are only 2 seats to the row and they don't have to share the row with a stranger. These are not my favorite seats at all! I prefer to sit as close to the front as possible, I want to get off that plane ASAP! Usually to catch another flight. 


Where do you like to sit when picking your seat?


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Pinspiration


How many of you out there are obsessed with Pinterest? I know I am! I can be on that site for hours! And that is exactly what I have been doing lately since we started the process of buying/building our new home. I wanted to have everything organized by room so that meant splitting up the 'Home Décor' board into: office, dining room, living room, master bedroom, laundry room, game room and closet. I also wanted things in general to be more organized and to have all my boards contain less than 200 pins each. I now only have 2 boards with over 200 pins and they are 'Home Décor' and 'DIY'. But now I have 56 boards…is that too much? I think once the designing of the new house gets done those boards will be deleted. I also have like 11 boards for kids' birthday party idea and I don’t even have any kids yet!

Anyway, here is your Pinspiration for the month. I first got the idea from Jen over at iHeart Organizing and thought it was a genius idea. Jen's idea below


Only problem was IKEA was out of these little wooden spice racks. No worries, my dad can make some. So he made me 3 and then a few weeks later IKEA had them back in stock so I bought 3 more for later. I loved Jen's use of them for children's books and that’s why I bought extra. And then I saw a picture of them used in the bathroom…PERFECT! Our current master bath is a 60 inch vanity with one sink and I seem to be a hoarder of bathroom products (I have like 10 different perfumes that I rotate through). So I painted them white and attached them to the wall!




Happy Pinning!

Monday, April 15, 2013

How to Make Your Flight Less Miserable


Let's be real, air travel can be pretty uncomfortable sometimes. I have never really been bothered by it, I'm 5'4" and I fit in the seats pretty comfortably but my 6'1" husband does not! So anywhere we go we opt for extended leg room or business/first class if it's within reason (which it usually isn't). On our last trip to Hawaii I was finally affected by the long flight. The flight from Honolulu to Houston was over night and I fell asleep and didn't move once. So when I got up my feet where swollen! What the @*?! Guess I am starting to get old! :P
{More leg room!}


Quick change
Try and make all your seat/flight changes and have your questions answered prior to getting to your gate. You can call the airline in advance to see if you can move seats or help you out with any other questions you may have.

Loyalty matters
You'll want to join a loyalty program so you can get those free upgrades into business or first class. You'll be more comfortable and get better perks and treatment. AND you'll get much better sleep!

p.s. to get more miles get a rewards credit card from your favorite airline!

Carry on
Checked bags can be expensive these days. If we didn't have our rewards card that allowed us each to have one free checked bag we would ALWAYS try and make it with just our carry ons. I will either take my small rolling suitcase or a backpack and then a large purse. I always prefer to do carry on anyway because my number one fear when traveling is the airline losing my luggage or it being delayed.

Smart security
Ugh, make sure you know the TSA rules before even getting to airport. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting in that line and they guy in front of you goes, "you mean I have to take my belt off too?!" DUDE! Have you not traveled in the past decade?!?! COME ON! That is what I want to yell at people that do that.

In a perfect world I wish they would have 3 lines. Line 1 - People under the age of 65 traveling without children. Line 2 - People traveling with children ages 0 - 13 (all others go to Line 1). And Line 3 - People over the age of 65 and people with disabilities.

Hear no evil
Always have some earplugs when you get on a plane. Whether you plan on getting some sleep or not, you never know when you're going to have crying baby in the seat behind you.

Hydration, hydration, hydration
You should always have water with you, not just while you're on a plane. But staying hydrated it key in staying healthy while on a flight. Once when I was flying from Frankfurt back to Houston I caught a full blown cold about 2 hrs into my 10 hr flight! IT-WAS-AWFUL! You definitely don’t want to get sick while on a plane where you can't lay down and curl up and get some good sleep.   

{Drink 2 of these a day!}
Fliers’ digest
I always try to eat before we go to the airport because the food at the airport and on the plane is a) not good for you and b) expensive! Try not to have a full stomach when you get on the plane, those bathrooms are small and about 100+ or so people are sharing it with you!

{This was like $7.50}
Temperature control
You never know what the temperature is going to be like while your 35,000 feet up in the air. I always bring a jacket or hoodie and I can either use it to keep me warm or as a pillow. And if you jacket does have a hood then you can use it to keep the light out of your face while catch some z's! 



Friday, April 12, 2013

Wildlife While on Vacation


When you travel are the adventitious type? Do you like to do cool and unique things instead of just playing in the hotel pool? Here is a list of fun ways to experience the natural wildlife in so awesome locations!

Swim with Dolphins in Wild Ocean
Swimming with dolphin's in the wild?!?! Sounds AWESOME! I do however get this feeling when I am snorkeling that I am in someone else's home and I feel like I am invading. I mean I kind of am. I also have this fear of swimming in deep water…I don’t think this is something I could do.

See Penguins Down Under
I have always wanted to go to South Africa to be able to see penguins but Australia seems to be a good alternative too! On Australia's Phillips Island the penguins appear every night at sunset. No photography please! You can donate to Australia’s Penguin Foundation, they are dedicated to conserving the species and rescuing and rehabilitating sick penguins.

Florida’s Key Deer
Okay, so deer are kind of everywhere right? At least they are here in Texas. But in the Florida Keys they have a mini deer called Key deer. They stand about 2 feet and weighing in at around 60 pounds. And they can swim!!! When we went to Key West in 2009 we drove north one afternoon and we didn't see any Key deer but we did see some very tall fences (most likely to keep them from jumping into the road) and we saw plenty of signs warning us to break for them if we did see one! But…we didn't see any!

Ride an Elephant in Thailand
While you're vacationing in Thailand (I can't wait) ask your hotel about Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation and the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Both these foundations will let you "adopt" an elephant and in turn you'll get to feed, bathe, and maybe even ride the large creature. Sounds so cool and unique!

Texas Animals A & B
In Austin, TX you can view the flight of the largest urban bat community in America under the Congress Avenue Bridge.  They take flight at midnight! Also in Texas is the nine-banded armadillo and it’s the only variety of armadillo found in the U.S. (interesting, I am a proud Texas but I didn’t know our armadillos were the only ones in the whole United States!)  








Tuesday, April 9, 2013

How to Sell a House

Selling a house can be a stressful time in anyone's life, especially if you have pets and kids. Today I wanted to do a post on how to sell a house (or at least get an offer).

1 - Have professionals clean your house. Currently we have a cleaning crew come and clean our house twice a month. On top of this we are doing a lot of our own deep cleaning. We bought some OxyClean and have been making a paste out of it with water and it has really cleaned up the grout!


2 - Pack up all the clutter and the stuff you don't use everyday. We had some nice custom made DVD shelves that my dad made for us and the DVDs were the 1st things packed and the shelves were put into the garage. We also took down all the personal pictures, they can be distracting to buyers.

3 - Touch up the walls, doors, trim. Like I said in other posts, we started a DIY project in December of 2012 and I finally finished repainting all the baseboards and doors and touching up the walls. Its looks pretty good if I do say so myself! :D

4 - Find some smooth jazz and having it playing in the background all day. That way when you have an unexpected showing they will enter the house and have the background music while touring the house.

5 - Make sure your house doesn't smell funny. Everyone's house has a distinctive smell to it (whether we want to admit it or not) and we have 2 dogs...so ours smells like dog...not dirty dog but just dog. We were given an air purifier/sanitizer a while back but it made the house smell too sterile. BUT having the purifier on AND a few Glade plug ins around the house makes it even out and no more dog smell.

6 - Curb appeal. Having a tidy yard is so helpful! We sprayed and pulled weeds, planed flowers and mulched. But I really like working in the yard so this part is kind of fun for me :)

{Curb Appeal}

Bonuses:

I think its always a good idea/plan that you leave the house in a better state then when you bought it. When we bought the house it had some pretty awful paint colors but the previous owner had removed the carpet in the living room and added laminate floors - UPGRADE. We added much more, we added all stainless steel appliances, a large flagstone patio, new carpet/pad in the bedrooms, new baseboards, and repainted with much more neutral/lighter colors. We all so had my dad, he's a woodworker, build us a beautiful new front door. 

{Our before and after paint jobs}

Friday, April 5, 2013

Travel RoundUp


1 - The Golden Gate Bridge is going digital! After 76 years of having to stop and pay someone you can now just zip on through and be on your way!

{photo taken in 1999, no filter haha}

2 - In a city known for its spires, now the ugliest tower in Prague now has a one deluxe hotel suite. And the best thing about it, the 709 feet tall TV tower from the communist regime is nowhere in sight! You can book the room for about $1,300 a night.

{Prague, 2010}

3 - If you are thinking of letting your kid go to a Disney park while you stay at the hotel and pamper yourself think again. Disney parks are banning unescorted children younger than 14.

4 - Ever want to give a lion a kiss, rub a tiger on the belly? Well head over the Argentina's Lujan Zoo!


5 - Ever wanted to compare the Rockies to the Alps? Well a fellow blogger and Houstonian Debbie has done it for you! Check her post on the subject here.

6 - Imagine walking the streets of Rome, seeing the Spanish Steps and wanting to grab a gelato. Well you better grab the gelato and keep on walking because the mayor of Rome has made a new ordinance that forbids one form eating and drinking anywhere in Rome with "particular historic, artistic, architectonic and cultural value" … I think that’s about everywhere. The fine can cost you more than $600!!!

{Christmas in Italia, 2008}


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Countries to Avoid

Planning a trip? Here is a pretty good map of the world and its safe and unsafe countries.




Monday, April 1, 2013

Extreme Travelers: 2 People 1 Life


Back in 2011 Alex and Lisa started out on their great adventure. In 2011 they packed up their life and bought a 25 year old camper van they loving refer to as Peggy and hit the road to exchange vows in unique and special wedding locations. You can read more about their journey here. They have been all over the Americas having truly unique and different wedding ceremonies. But they funny thing is that they are actually not married…legally anyway. Here are some pictures of their travels

{Facebook}       {Twitter}       {Blog}


{Costa Rica, Source}

{Hawaii, Source}

{Colorado, Source}

{Houston, Source}

{Myrtle Beach, Source}

{UK, Source}




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