A little bit of bragging....

This past Tuesday I was lucky enough to witness my mother receive an award for being ranked amongst the Top 250 Hispanic Real Estate Agents in the U.S. and one of the Top 20 Hispanic Real Estate Agents in the Dallas area.

For those of you who don't know me or my family I would like to fill you in on some background. My parents were only 18 when I was born. I am sure that you are thinking "typical" but one thing I can retaliate with is this....yes, my parents were still in High School and yes, they were young. They did struggle in the beginning like all young parents do but it didn't take long for them to get on their feet and get their own place. When I look back at pictures of when I was a baby I was always decked out in pretty dresses, big bows and lacey socks. When I was five my sister was born and the trend carried on with matching outfits, bows and all that jazz. All my life I had everything I could have ever wanted or dreamed of.

My point of all this is that me and my sister never went without. If my parents were struggling I had no idea. Neither one of my parents got to go to college because of my grand entrance into their lives and it wasn't until I was 19 that my mom went and got her Real Estate License. This year marks her fifth year of practicing Real Estate and she achieved a very monumental award in those 5 short years she has been in it.

Make no mistake though, I was born to two people who are hustlers. My parents work so hard and are always on the go working on something. I almost feel inadequate at times because of how hard they work. On top of that they are some of the most intelligent people I have ever met. I almost never make a decision without calling them first. That is not because I am a baby I just know how smart they are and will always give me good advice.

I wanted to share all this with you not just to brag on my mom and my dad but because I am so proud of them. I admire and respect them both so much and am so thankful for all that they have done and continue to do for me.

So if y'all are reading this mom and dad I love you and am so proud of all that y'all have accomplished.

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
E

Christmas Family Day 2012!

On Friday Jess set out to the deer lease and I headed up North to Ennis. I had to finish some Christmas shopping and our annual Christmas Family Day was on Saturday.

Christmas Family Day is something we do one Saturday in December that involves some sort of activities done together. Myself, Jess, my mom, dad, sister, my adopted brother Cody and his little girl Kinsley are the attendees. This year Jess was out of pocket but this offseason has been a particularly weird one so we made an exception for his absence.

We started the day out with lunch in the Northpark area and then made our way over to the Gaylord Texas for the ICE! exhibit. I for one did not dress prepared for the freezing cold temperatures. I find myself in that situation a lot (i.e. Las Vegas 2006? 2007?) I figured the parka they provide would have kept me warm enough but boy was. I. WRONG! Next year when I drag Jess back I will be sure to wear my own coat underneath the parka and my Uggs!

Waiting in line for ICE!

Kinny loves her Bubba!

After we basically ran through the exhibit since we were all freezing cold, we headed into the Gaylord Lobby to admire all the lights and Christmas trees they had put up.

A specialty shop that had the same name and spelling as my mom's name.

Center of the lobby ceiling.

We loved all the Christmas Trees!

On the bridge by "Texas Station" in the Gaylord.

We left the Gaylord around 7 and went to the Galleria for some ice skating and dinner. Although I would loved to share pictures I didn't get a chance to take any with my camera and my phone camera didn't take that good of pictures.

All in all it was a wonderful day. We missed Jess but next year he will be there! I hope all of you are getting the chance to spend time with your loved ones this holiday season, it's what I love most about this time of year.

I hope y'all's weekends were spectacular!

Love,
E

p.s.
Finish that Christmas shopping! You only have 9 days left ;)

Dear....

Dear God,
Please be with all the lives that were affected today by the mindless school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Please bring peace and comfort to all of those who are struggling to understand why this happened. Please hold the parents tightly tonight that lost their babies in this sickening act and please hug those babies tightly who made their entrance into your kingdom today. Thank you for your love, protection and grace Dear Lord.

Amen

Emily visits ATX!

Thursday evening I drove half way to Ennis to meet my mom to get my sister from her. My parents had a "date night" Friday night in Ft. Worth so my sister came to stay with me and Jess for the weekend.

Friday we headed to San Marcos to do some shopping at the outlets there. If you haven't been to the outlet mall in San Marcos you are seriously missing out. My favorite stores there are Vera Bradley, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors and Tory Burch. They have amazing deals and so many store! In my opinion when you are shopping you can NEVER have too many choices ;)

Once we got back from shopping in San Marcos we came home and I made dinner around 6:30. We ate then headed downtown to Zilker Park to see the Christmas Tree.

It was beautiful! The night was a really nice one and we enjoyed taking our time walking around it and taking in all the sparkling lights!

Cute little backdrop to take pictures at the Zilker Park Christmas Tree!

Once we got back to the house we baked Christmas cookies! I tried to make it a day full of Christmas activities and luckily Jess really enjoyed it!

As you can tell from the icing on the cookies we are superb cookie icing-ers. After all the cookies were decorated we enjoyed a few and then headed to bed. Saturday morning we got up and I made breakfast, we then got dressed and headed out for day 2 of shopping. We even fit in a visit to Cabela's and that made it nice to take a break from the avid shopping.

My mom drove in on Saturday night to stay the night with us. Sunday morning we made a quick trip to Target then had brunch/lunch before her and my sister headed back to Ennis. The weekend couldn't have been any more perfect and I was happy that Emily got to come stay with us for a couple of days.

I hope everyone is enjoying the month of December! It will be gone before we know it!

Love,
E

Dear....

Dear Weather,
Seriously? What is your problem? It's December! I need the temp to be at least 65 and BELOW! Please stop teasing us with these cold snaps. It's annoying having to flip flop my wardrobe every few days.

Dear House,
You are so beautiful. Christmas decor really compliments you. I'm sorry we want to move but we just really want to be closer to our families.

Dear Pinterest,
I. LOVE. YOU. You give me so many food ideas I can feel myself gaining weight while pinning them.

Dear Holidays,
I love you even more. I swoon over everything about you, please last longer.

Dear Mom,
Thank you. I know you are trying your best to get our house sold and it will eventually. We just all have to patient. You are doing a great job and we are so thankful for everything you are doing.

Dear Detroit Tigers,
Thank you for signing my husband. He is a great pitcher and I think y'all recognize that. He is so happy to be joining your organization.

Dear God,
Thank you for everything. Without you nothing is possible. May all the glory be to you through it all. Please help us to always have grateful hearts and to turn to you in all situations. Please continue to watch over our families. Thank you. We love you.

Have a great day.....

Love,
E

"Hey Neighbor!"

...."Where you going to put that tree?"....

"Bend over and I'll show ya!" :)

We spent all afternoon and through 2 showings of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" decorating for Christmas. Before I knew it I looked up and it was 6pm! Jess was starving and I was pretty famished myself. We took a break to have pizza and then I went back to work!

When it comes to Christmas I am a little kid at heart. Growing up my parents did a really good job at making Christmas be a magical time of year. Looking back presents were just a plus to the month of December and all that Christmas entailed. It was about spending time together, seeing all the Christmas lights and drinking hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows.

My grandma Emma was huge on Christmas. This made my dad love Christmas and then once my parents had me and then my sister it just got bigger and bigger! My grandma Emma sang in the "Living Christmas Tree" that the Baptist Church put on every year. I remember getting all dressed up in a nice crushed velvet ruby red dress, patten leather shoes, big bow and a London Fog jacket to add the finishing touch so we could go watch her sing. If Coco Chanel would have seen me I know she would have thought that I looked perfect!

Still to this day when I smell the Aromatique "Smell of Tree" scent or even the scents of Evergreen and Cinnamon I revert back to those days. Her house was filled with those aromas when we went over to her house after the program to have hot chocolate and cider with gingerbread cookies. I can't imagine the love for a child because I love that woman so much and every single day that I spent with her that it hurts. During the holidays I wish at least once a day I was 6 years old again just so I could spend time with her again. Two weeks ago my best friend reminded me that my grandma was with me so I can't help but think she is smiling down on all my decorations down here. Laughing at how mad I get when Jess tells me some decoration doesn't look right or when he won't turn down a street so I can see the lights on a house. I can't help myself. My parents and sister are the same way. My parents house has 5 Christmas Trees in it. WE LOVE CHRISTMAS and it's all because of her :)

Before I met Jess and we got married Christmas was important to me. He made it even more special to me in December of 2008 by proposing. I have got to hand it to him on that one and I'm sure my grandma Emma would agree. It. Was. Epic. I still want to tear up when I think about it. He knew I would FOR SURE say yes on that night. Not that I would have said no but I mean come on! Its like the day/night that I look forward to all year!

We have another Christmas Tree we could put up but have yet to do so. We were going to do it today but our house was shown so when racing around the house to make sure everything and I mean EVERYTHING was perfect for the "potential" buyer we were too tired to decorate some more. My sister is coming to stay the weekend with us on Thursday so maybe I will persuade her to help me do it.

Im off to prep for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. This is one night in particular Jess let's me run the remote....haha ;)

Love,
E

Tour of Texas 2012

We have been touring Texas this past week! Last Sunday we left from Austin with the final destination of that day being West Texas. To be more specific, Colorado City. We spent Sunday through Wednesday there then headed to Ennis where my parents live. We then spent a few days there and then headed to East Texas on Friday night after my girls Christmas party. We left Kilgore this morning around 8 and finally made it back to Austin at 12:30.

We have been keeping the road HOT! We were beyond tired when we got home today but we had to decorate for Christmas :) I had been dying to get it done since the day after Thanksgiving. We are almost done and will be posting pictures tomorrow!

Im going to hit the sack now because I am pooped!

Love,
E