10 BEST cities to live in....

So my good friend Amber sent me this email today and I found this very funny and interesting..

An article on MSN today stated that the following are the 10 best cities to live in:

1. Plano, TX
2. Fargo, ND
3. San Jose, CA
4. Raleigh, NC
5. Austin, TX
6. Minneapolis, MN
7. Boise, ID
8. Santa Ana, CA
9. Virginia Beach, VA
10. San Francisco, CA

I would have to say it is quite an accomplishment to have lived in or near by 4 of the 10 by the age 26. What can I say, I guess I have good taste! : ) Let's just hope I don't add anymore cities to the list for a while! 

Happy Thursday  Everyone! 

A Productive and Oddly Exciting Weekend..

Well I want everyone to take a minute and brace themselves for what I am about to say. This weekend was so unbelievably beautiful outside that I might have fallen in love with California for a split second! Yes, that is right, I was one happy little camper when the warm sun was shinning down on me and I was able to be out and about with out a coat. Meanwhile all my Texas friends and family were freezing! I just want to say haha! :)

No but seriously it was so pretty outside, that it was truly a crime if you stayed in doors. So I decided to clean up the yard and get it looking nice and ready for spring. The Gardner's pruned all the roses, for I really have no idea how to do that. I then planted Pansy's in the walkway. This took me all of Saturday afternoon, this gardening stuff is hard work!  However, I am very excited now that the yard looks great and even more excited to see the flowers really grow and bloom over the next couple of months. Pretty flowers are not something I normally get to see a lot of in Texas.

Along with our pretty flowers, we also did some shopping for our guest bedroom. We currently only had one guest bed, however with just my family coming to visit there was not a place for everyone to sleep and I know poor Randi is tired of getting the couch! So we purchased another guest bed, which means that we obviously think that lots of people want to come visit us! Hopefully Easton will attract some visitors for us! Of course when you buy a new bed, what else does that mean.. yep, your right... Casey gets to go shopping for new bedding and pillows! I really can't complain about sun and then shopping! ;) Here is what we ended up with.

Now I saved the best for last! Mr. Drake needs to get bragged on here, he scored some major brownie points this weekend. Sunday morning I went to church and ran some errands and was gone for a few hours. When I got back around one, I came home to find that Drake had put the WHOLE crib together by himself on his own, and had it all ready for me! I was so happy, I totally expected to have to pull him off the couch and bug him, but no he did it all on his own with out me bugging him! I guess he is ready for Mr. Easton to arrive! :)

You can imagine my smile when I walked in the door and this is what I saw! You can't see the finished product till I get the bedding all put in. However, that should be soon! :) 

After the bed was in place, this is where  I found my two little helpers! All pooped from working so hard, and not missing a second of the football game. 

Venice Beach..need I say more!

Drake and I had a wonderful weekend. We hoped on a quick flight to LA and happen to hit a beautiful weekend with the temperatures in the 80's! It was a nice change from the cold. We were able to see family and attend Drakes Brother's 50th birthday party. The party was wonderful, and I really wish I had pictures from the party to show you( it was not the type of party you could just walk around with your own camera), it was truly the  most beautiful party and so nicely done. I could try to explain the greatness of the party to you with pages of text and it would still not do the event justice, so I will just say great job Maggie, you did a great job on the party!

The  next day we went over to Venice Beach since it was so pretty outside and we were welcomed by some very interesting people, some might even be creatures. :) I know the beach is known for some crazies but it was truly a sight to be seen. I did find it interesting that there we so many activities in one place for people to par take in, and I got very excited about the spring time. I am so ready to get out and explore more of our new city and just be outdoors.



An outside gym on the beach! Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out here, and as you can see it draws lots of interesting people! I am thinking Randi might find her future boyfriend here when she comes to visit! Everyone keep your fingers crossed! ;)  




If you thing is not working out, no worries you can spend the day spray painting the wall! No joke, that is what the wall is for!




You can just hang out and lounge anywhere here, so pretty!




You can spend your day skate boarding, I had never seen one of these skate board park things! There were little kids flying around on this, it was crazy!




You can shop the strip of fine retail shops! Every other shop sells medical marijuana cards, so come and get yours while you can! :)




You can tip all the homeless who want to show of their talents on the sidewalk!




You can go to the Freak show, literally staring freaks, that is how they advertised it!







I saved my favorite picture for last, if you want a good time, come to Venice beach you will "crack" up all day long!



Earthquake..

So I know it might be weird, but when I found out we were moving to California, one of my comments to Drake was, " Oh yea, I bet I get to experience an earthquake while we are there." I know for a fact at that moment he had to rack his brain and wonder why he married me, I know he thinks I am crazy. However, the fact of the matter is, in Texas we deal with hurricanes a bit ( Houston and the coast mainly) and we deal with tornadoes ( across the state), but earthquakes are not on our radar.

 I just thought it would be neat to say I have felt an earthquake before, of course I would never wish a major one on us, but a minorearthquake, what harm is that. :) Well, Friday was my lucky day, I can honestly say I felt the earthquake. It was only a 4.1 magnitude. However, I was at the house in the kitchen and I felt a weird feeling and thought it was a bit odd, but I did not think much about it. What do you know though 10 mins later on the news, there is breaking news of an earthquake that was in Morgan hill and was felt all in the San Jose area.

I can now officially knock off "experiencing an earthquake" off my list of things to experience!

Bring on the burps...

Today I decided to keep myself busy by pulling out my crafty side while at the same time try to convince Drake that I am saving us money with all this baby stuff! Save money while having a baby, yeah right!! Oh well, it was a fun day!

I made Easton some burp cloths! This was the first time I have made them all by myself, normally my mom helps me. However I now have my own sewing machine, so I was able to do them like a big girl! ( I currently have the pull up "I am a big girl now" song stuck in my head) :)

On another note, it was fun to play with my new machine and make something useful. I told Drake," look at these FREE burp cloths I am making".. I am kinda forgetting the cost of supplies, but who cares! I hope they actually work well when I need them!

** Happy New Year!!! **

Well 2010 has come and gone so fast, I think I just blinked and it was over! However, I could not be more excited to finally be in 2011, in 4 1/2 short months we will be able to welcome the newest member to our family!! I do have to admit that I am officially worried about how Chloe will handle this addition, simply because she has been a big BRAT over the last few weeks and thinks she is Miss Thing and can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants.. so needless to say I don't know if she will like 2011, it could be the year of a rude awakening for her! :)

As this year comes to a close however, Drake and I find ourselves blessed with yet again another great year. Although 2010 brought on a bunch of changes for us, we finally have closed out the year realizing that all that really matters is that we have each other and we are healthy! Thus leads me to one of my favorite new year eves to date. Drake and I decided that after lots of travel in the past few months and more travel in our near future, that it would be nice to just stay at home for New Year's this year. We did exactly that, Drake cooked some lamp chops on the grill, and I cooked vegetables, baked potatoes, and creme brulee!! Drake had never made lamb chops and I had never made creme brulee, so we were both a bit nervous about our end results, however I must say that both turned out fabulous! ;) Maybe next year we should take reservations for our house and charge people a set price for a set menu! :) ( I hate how everyone does that on NYE) We then made our way to the couch and watched a movie and enjoyed every minute of the night just the two of us, well plus Miss thing ( chloe)!



Our little dinner on NYE!




Drake's Lamb Chops! YUMMY!




My Creme Brulee!!


“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

                               HAPPY NEW YEAR!! May you have a blessed 2011! :)