Week in Photos

A week has passed since I've been home and I have 1 full day left in Texas. I always start to get sad the last 24 hours I am home. In the profession of Baseball you don't ever know what is going to happen, so while I may be planning to come back again, the only one who really knows for sure if I am is the "man upstairs".  I get super emotional before I leave Jess to come home and then get super emotional when I leave my family to go back and be with Jess. I guess it's just something about my heart that loves them all so much that causes me to feel this strong of emotion after I've done it a million and one times.

But enough with the sad stuff and let me show you what I've been up to while I've been home!

My sister purchased tickets to a Pat Green concert that was in Mesquite on Friday so we had a little ladies night to kick off the weekend!

Saturday followed with a surprise day of celebrating my birthday early! You know I was down for that ;)

We had brunch at The Original Pancake House and then headed out for a day of shopping!

After we shopped while we decided to take a break for some Mojitos and a cupcake! 

The day ended with the me feeling overwhelmingly blessed by all that I have. My family made me feel so special and the day couldn't have been any more perfect! I don't know what I've done to have such a wonderful life but I am truly thankful for it each and everyday!

I hope y'all all had a wonderful weekend as well and got to spend it with the ones you love!

Love,
E

Jess Turns 27!

Saturday was Jess' 27th Birthday. He asked me a couple of weeks ago if we could not celebrate his birthday this year because he is "old". Ha!

He knows how much love I have for Holidays and Birthdays so the fact that he even tried to convince me to let it go unnoticed is brave. I appreciate his effort though. Not really ;)

As resistant as he was, once midnight hit on Friday he was all game for getting his presents. So like a 7 year old rather than a 27 year old he jumped up and got his presents from where I had them hid in our hotel room.

He received another pair of Lululemon pants and some new custom Oakleys! He got his first pair of Lululemon pants last Spring Training and some days refuses to take them off so I got him another pair while I was home in Dallas. The Oakley's he got have his initials in them and they are pretty slick looking if you ask me! The next morning Jess' team was leaving out on the road for the next 11 days so we left to Columbus bright and early. When I opened the curtains we were greeted by SNOW! April 20th and there was snow of the ground?!? Cray!

We took a scenic route to Columbus due to my stupid GPS but enjoyed the beautiful views of farms and open pastures. I was tempted to stop and take pictures but knew that since it was only 30 degrees out, Jess was not going to be up for that.

Once we arrived in Columbus around 11:30am we checked in our hotel and quickly headed to one of our fave spots to eat. We shared pancakes while we each got our own eggs, fruit, toast and sausage. It was a great Birthday Brunch!

Jess did allow me to snap a few pictures on our walk back to the hotel and even though it was pretty frigid it was worth it.

Looking back at the time we were living there it's hard to exactly see why we were so unhappy. It was definitely a learning experience that I am grateful for. Being there reiterated that God has a plan and though it may be hard at the time, there is always a blessing somewhere in the situation.

After Jess left to the field I took a cookie cake and some cookies up to the Clubhouse so the clubby could put them in the locker room for him. I mean it's your Birthday! You HAVE to eat cake! I saw some of the old clubbies and spoke with some of the people who worked at the field when we were there. I was sure they weren't going to remember me but they did! I was greeted with "Hello, Mrs. Todd! How are you?, It's been a while!" Bittersweet moment for sure but it felt so nice that they remembered me. Jess even said he had a nice time catching up with them. 

After that I headed out to Sumita and Mark's house to spend the afternoon with them before we headed to the game. Something about their house feels like home to me. We will be forever grateful for the friendship that developed between our family and theirs and being in Toledo this season is going to allow us to see them a lot. We are totally looking forward to that!

My flight left at 8:30am the next morning so after the game we went over to Boston's and had a nice dinner. Jess was able to catch up with Mark and we all had a ball!

I am back in Texas now until the 30th so I will be soaking up all the nice weather (hopefully) until I head back up North. I hope y'all enjoyed the weekend and are out getting some pretty pictures taken in the flowers that Spring has sprung ;)

Love,

E

Spec House Completion

Thursday morning we got up bright and early! We had an important date at a Title Company to sign docs to close on the sale of our Spec home!

We started the home in October and finished it during Spring Training. I picked everything from top to bottom and all the outside. Jess had a little bit of input but not too much. He told me to take the wheel so I did!

These pics below are from about 2 weeks ago. The couple that bought it moved in on Easter. My dad landscaped and planted grass and if the pictures were in better quality you could really see how beautiful it turned out!

We are so blessed that God guided us through this project and for all the help and advice my parents gave us through it all. I am very lucky they did not kill me in the process because I am such a psycho, OCD, perfectionist that I was all over every detail of this house. The interior is just as beautiful as the exterior and I hope this family will enjoy living in it for many years to come!

On another note if you need me to design your new home I will! I take payment in form of clothes, shoes and purses ;) jk! jk!

Happy Friday Y'all!

Love,

E

Full Swing

Season is in full swing now and we have gotten somewhat of a routine going. We found this fun little spot called Focaccia's that we LOVE to eat breakfast at. Jess is no early bird but since the restaurant stops serving breakfast at 11 he makes me set the alarm for 9:30 just so we can get there in time for it!

Our "usual" consists of Jess ordering the Focaccia's Special and half an order of pancakes. We share those and I order a toasted bagel with fruit. They make all the bread there from scratch and it is absolutely amazing!

Duke our old roomie was in town for this series so we took him there this morning. Not that we needed a reason to go we just wanted to share the hot little spot with him. Good food and great conversation was had by all!

I found this photo of Jess from Opening Day and thought I would share. It perfectly depicts just how he is on the field. Rough looking with a mouth full of dip! ;)

He has been throwing a lot which has been such a blessing. He is really doing well and he is so happy. I thank God everyday for the opportunity/ies that he gives Jess and couldn't be more thankful. May all the glory be to God in all that we do!

Jess' birthday is on Saturday and he is not looking forward to it. He is turning 27 and you would think he was turning 40 by the way he acts about it. He asked me if we could not celebrate birthday's anymore, I looked at him like he had 3 eyes! Holidays and Birthdays are my specialties! I can't just pretend that they aren't happening! I have some fun surprises in store for him that will hopefully ease the pain of turning 27!

We will be in Columbus for his birthday so heading back to his old stomping grounds might be a little bitter sweet. We plan to see our good friends Sumita and Mark so that is one thing we are really looking forward to! 

I want to share a quick note of just how saddened I am over the Boston Marathon Bombings. I feel for everyone impacted by the event and I pray for peace, healing and comfort through this unbelievable time. May all the families look to God to see them through and for understanding. 

I love you all.

-E

Tornado at the Airport!

On Wednesday afternoon I headed out from Dallas to Detroit. I had to stop in St. Louis for a plane change and was supposed to head out from there at 7:10. Mother Nature had other plans for me as well as many others. The weather progressively got worse in quick and in a hurry which resulted my flight getting delayed. 7:10 turned into 7:40 then 8:40 then 9:10 then 11:00 then to 11:55 and then rounding out and finally boarding at 12:05 which in result left at 12:25am!

I had given up "soda" but these delays sent me over the edge and I had to have a nice, icy, cold Coke Zero hit my lips. It worked wonders for my mood because I really thought I was going to lose it. All of these delays were because a Tornado decided to touch down near the airport. They came on the overhead speaker telling everyone to get away from any glass (which was impossible the whole dang airport was glass) and to take cover in the hallway of the bathroom or get under a table. They concluded the message with "Do not panic", uhhhmmm you just told me to take cover for a freakin' tornado, I'm going to panic a little bit!!!! Or a lot bit, you can make your own assumption on how I reacted ;)

At least I can mark #399 of my bucket list "Take cover for a tornado at an airport" off. Not really though, I hope that never happens again! In the end I made it to Detroit safely and soundly, praise The Lord! It was a long day and night but I was safe and back with my husband so I couldn't have been more thankful!

Opening day was yesterday so in usual fashion I hit the ground running when I got here. The game was at 5pm Eastern time and just as opening ceremonies started so did a light rain. It ended up raining pretty much the whole game but not enough to stop it. Jess pitched 1 inning and he said it was the coldest he had ever felt on the mound. They were all breathing smoke the entire time they were out there, it looked absolutely miserable. Poor guys! They got through it though and now the Toledo Mudhens 2013 Season is underway!

I hope y'all are enjoying y'all's nice springy weather! I think we will get some spring-like weather somewhere around June ;)

Happy Friday!

Love,
E

Save Sunday!

Hello there!

This past weekend has been so much fun! I have been able to spend some time with my Dad (who is a WORKAHOLIC), enjoyed some family dinners and went shopping in the big D!

The tulips in the quad at NorthPark were absolutely flawless. We had a mini photo session while we were there. (as you can tell)

It has been nice to be home and enjoy some warmer weather but I am ready to get back to my husband. I was able to get him a few birthday presents while I've been here so I am glad to have gotten that squared away. 

In baseball news....

With 4 games down, the Toledo MudHens are 1-3. Jess has thrown twice and today he got the save! I was so proud of him! When he called after the game he was tickled with himself and we both couldn't help but laugh. He is having a lot of fun and enjoying the guys on the team and I am so happy for him. 

Woo hoo!

I hope that y'all have enjoyed this beautiful weekend!

Love,

E

Toledo Ohio

I honestly can't express to y'all enough how excited I am to be in Toledo. I have always been intrigued with the Northern States and being so close to Canada, New York and The Great Lakes just makes me even more excited to be on this adventure.

This is the view outside our hotel room. The Maumee River flows right by it and there are restaurants that run along side of it. I have actually been to one of the restaurants there that is Italian with Kellie Gimenez in 2010 when our husbands played for the Columbus Clippers. I can't believe it has been that long since we have been here! 

These pictures are from that series in 2010! The top one is the view from our restaurant, the ambiance was so nice and relaxing! I can't wait to go back once the temperatures are out of the 30's!

In home front news we have yet to move into our apartment due to the Hockey Team making the playoffs. This organization has team housing that is so convenient and just what we are looking for, the only downside is that during the offseason of baseball they rent it out to Toledo's Hockey Team. So we are homeless....again. Our living situations are keeping me on my toes these days but I guess it  makes for a good blog post every now and then. We are making due this month since there are only 8 home games but secretly we hope that something gives soon for their hockey team, if you know what I mean ;)

Until then we will continue to live like gypsies. Homeless in all states we reside in, lol.

I hope all of you are enjoying the first week of April!

Love,

E

We have arrived!

Hello from FREEZING Toledo Ohio!

No complaints here though! We are so very happy to be here and get the season rolling! I have a feeling Season 2013 is going to be a great one and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us.

We made it to Toledo around 4:30pm on Easter Sunday. We left Lakeland at 8:30am on Saturday but I ended up getting sick on our drive up. After stopping 5 times, Jess decided that we should call it quits for and try and start back up the next day. Thank goodness I woke up feeling a little better and we were able to finish the 8 1/2 hours we had to drive. God is so good for getting us here safely and without any accidents in the car by me ;)

Today is Opening Day for all of MLB but the minor league season does not start until Thursday. We will be here a few days and then on Wednesday I will head to my parents and Jess will head out on his 8 day road trip. Jess is pretty excited to be playing here and we are both looking forward to being on a new team, making new friends and returning to some places we have been before.

Jess is at the field now and then will return tomorrow for a Team Luncheon, Team Picture and their first team workout. The field is very nice so I will post some pictures of it soon!

I hope all of you enjoyed your Easter yesterday!

Love,
E