Let the countdown begin...

14 days from today I will be here...

With this guy....

In a country that we love...

For 12 days!!

And I can't wait!!!

Now we just have to work our tails off to prepare to leave...

But it will all be worth it when we are sipping wine and eating pasta and hanging out just the two of us without cell phones, computers and the daily grind.

We LOVE Italy and can't wait to get there!

Out with the old!

Since we moved in our house 3 1/2 years ago we have done a handful of home projects. We have painted every room, built a pergola in our backyard and added new landscaping. Being a homeowner, the list goes on and on for what I want to get done to the house. We love our house, but there are always projects we want to do. Our biggest and most recent project was redoing our master and guest bathrooms. This was a fun project and I am so happy it is done! We left the cabinets and redid everything else. Enjoy the before and after pictures!

We had the shower raised about 4 inches for Dan. He can't wait to not have to bend down to shower! The rest of the door will arrive on Friday.

Here is our guest bath. Ignore the picture of me!

Meeting The Pioneer Woman

On Valentine's Day I left my Valentine at home while my friend Danielle and I went to meet THE Pioneer Woman. For those of you who don't know who Ree Drummond is, you should. She has the most popular blog in the world and is in my mind one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. Not only does she have 4 kids, she home schools them, lives on a ranch, gardens, is a photographer, an amazing cook, and has a great marriage. She writes daily about crazy things that happen on the ranch and talks about motherhood and life from an honest perspective. Anyway, she was as beautiful in person as she is in her pictures. She had brought all of her kids and her husband to the book signing. The signing started at 6:00. Danielle and I had to pick up wrist bands when the store opened that morning to get assigned to a group. We got to Borders at 10:05 and got assigned Group 2. Each group had 100 people. Ree spoke for about 10 minutes and then the book signing started. We didn't walk out the door until 9 pm and we were in Group 2! There were 10 groups! It was so fun to meet her in person and definitely worth the wait! I really wanted to ask her how she stays so thin cooking all of her recipes!

Danielle and The Pioneer Woman

How's your burger?

Emily and I ate at Twisted Root the other day in Fairview and it got me thinking about my favorite burger places in the Lone Star State, and how funny the 'how's your burger' line is in Dumb and Dumber. Here are a few of my favorites:

1.) Mel's Country Cafe - My hometown of Tomball, TX boasts my favorite burger, and is ranked in the top 5 on Texas Burger Guy and one of the Top 50 Burgers in Texas Monthly. If you eat the Mega Mel burger you get to write your name on the wall, and it's no small accomplishment.

The Mega Mel Burger
1.5 pounds of fresh ground beef
1 pound of bacon
.25 pound of American cheese
lots, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, onions & pickles

This place has a lot of great food besides the burgers, my favorite is the chicken tenders, which can feed a family of 4. http://www.melscountrycafe.com/

2.) Roznovsky's Hamburgers - 3401 W. T. C. Jester Blvd, Houston, TX 77018 - If you live in H-Town you have to check out Roznovsky's. The founder was an All-American baseball player for UT back in the 70's. The review on http://www.texasburgerguy.com/ isn't that good, but if you are a Czech guy like me it's a right of passage!

3.) Twisted Root Burger Co - Ranked # 14 in Texas Monthly's Top 50 Texas Burgers, and the only burger place I know that has a pastry chef to help with their menu. Usually a restaurant asks you for your name, and then calls it when the order is ready. Not at Twisted Root, they give you a famous name, for example, Austin Powers or Michael Jordan. They have 5 DFW area locations, including their newest one in Fairview. http://twistedrootburgerco.com/

4.) Burger place in Austin - Sadly I cannot remember the name of this burger place, but I remember eating there at 2:00 a.m. many times in college after going out on 6th street. I'm not sure if it's because it was 2:00 a.m., but they had a great burger. It was downtown somewhere near the UT campus, just north of the basketball arena. Truly I cannot remember the name, but it was great.

5.) Mooyah Burgers & Fries - I asked Emily if she had one meal left on this earth (and it was a hamburger) where would she go? She said Mooyah burger, a great 'build it' burger place with several locations in the DFW and Houston areas, as well as a few locations in Tennessee and California now. Mooyah gives you about 650 toppings to choose from on your burger, and their large fry is enough for 4 people. - http://www.mooyah.com/

Honorable Mention

• Jake's Hamburgers
• Whataburger
• Scotty P's
• Frank's Place - Schulenburg, TX

Check out Emily's business http://www.shoppickledlily.com/

Should I have cabin fever?

Today we were officially iced in. Some people were complaining of having cabin fever, but I loved it! There wasn't much snow on the ground but we had about 2 inches of ice on our driveway and our streets. We both work from home when we can but today we were forced to stay inside. It was really fun to spend the day together and cook all 3 meals together. For lunch we made home made potato soup and for dinner shrimp gumbo. Here is my cutie making his first roux! (we both stayed in our pj's all day...notice I didn't post any pics of me)

We try to cook together every night and we are always trying new recipes. We both love to cook. Two items that are a must have for me are by Le Creuset dutch oven (pictured above) and my handy chopper (below). Both items I use on a daily basis in my kitchen. I think I could get rid of all my other pots and pans and use only my dutch oven.

We aren't sure what tomorrow's weather will bring, but I wouldn't be against being forced to stay inside again! Thank goodness for laptops!

The pups have enjoyed the snow day too!

A Post About Food

It's been way over a month since I have posted. Lots has been going on I just haven't known what to talk about. This post is dedicated to the amazing food we have had recently. Last week was by birthday and Dan treated me to a "staycation" here in Dallas. We do this from time to time and it is so great and relaxing. We can have a great evening downtown and then have only a

30 minute drive home. We stayed at the Ritz (amazing and beautiful) and had dinner at Hibiscus (omg even better than I had heard). I can't believe we have never been there. We seriously were drunk off of food after that dinner and we only had one glass of wine.

My big guy and I in the Ritz lobby

Me and the birthday cake they brought out- We took most of it home

For breakfast we went to Smoke. If you live in the Dallas area you have to try this place. AMAZING!! I had the ricotta stuffed pancakes served with apricots and blueberries. They also have bottomless mimosas! Dan and I will definitely be going back there!

Each plate had a different animal on it

• 

Happy Birthday Emily! - You said nothing embarrasing...

And I won't put anything too embarrassing :) We had a great day for Emily's birthday, we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together which doesn't happen too often during the week. I love spending time with Emily, especially when she wants steak and potatoes for her birthday dinner. Do I have a great catch or what? We celebrated w/ her family this past weekend and then this weekend we're going to have a 'staycation' at the Dallas Ritz, should be a lot of fun. Sounds like a birthday week to me...

So I asked Emily tonight if she could meet any three people who would they be, and she gave me her 'Holy Trinity'. Sarah Palin, The Pioneer Woman, and Oprah. This brings me to a couple of thoughts:

• More guys should admit they watch Oprah with their wives. We have one TV so I don't have much of a choice. I'm not saying to watch the whole show, because I cannot do this either, but at least pretend you are paying attention.
• If your wife is a great cook like mine look up The Pioneer Woman, it will change your life
• Buy your wife a real birthday cake, not one of those $5.99 cakes from your local grocery store. Buying a real cake for your wife provides you with special powers and privileges for 2-3 days.

So happy birthday to my best friend and chief wardrobe inspector, I love you.

As for my top three...Nolan Ryan, W., and Liz Hurley. Liz Hurley from the mid 90's when she was filming Austin Powers, of course!

Emily's been working so hard on Pickled Lily, go check it out!

How you know you are married.

Last week Dan and I were at Best Buy doing some Christmas shopping. On our way to stand in line to check out we passed the home appliance section and I quickly made a detour to look at a new refrigerator that I'm dying for. I want the one with the double doors and the freezer on the bottom. I want a fridge that I can fit an large casserole dish in. One like this:

So Dan and I were looking at all the refrigerators seeing all the new features talking how how cool it would be to have one of these awesome refrigerators. Dan all of a sudden says "Oh my gosh, we are so married we have to get out of here." I laughed out loud and agreed so we left. That my friends is how us married couples spend our nights. Talking about appliances and getting as giddy as we did at our childhood birthdays.

Wouldn't it be great to have one of these though?

Merry Christmas from Dan & Emily!

I know I keep saying this, but I can't believe that 2010 is almost over! What a great year this has been! We have the greatest family and friends that make everyday special. Here is a little summary of the year so far:

This year has been full of trips! We were able to visit Seattle again in the Spring with our friends Adrienne and Glenn. Dan and I LOVE Seattle and would go there every year if we could. We also went to Cabo with our friends Jamie and Dana for the 4th of July. Our big trip this year was a Baltic Cruise to Copenhagen, Estonia, Russia, Sweden and Finland. Dan's company has a sales incentive every year that is always a trip. Dan has worked his tail off and made the trip the past two years. I am so proud of him and his hard work! Dan started selling for ADP almost 3 years ago and has loved it. We have met the greatest people from there who have turned into our really close friends. Dan turned 30 this year and we had a big birthday bash to celebrate. I'll have to do another post on the party.

I am still with Edward Don selling toilet paper. Not really just toilet paper, I sell everything but food for restaurants, but it's simpler to say I sell toilet paper. It's a great job and I have been there almost 5 years! I can't believe it! This year I also launched an online boutique called Picked Lily with my friend Sarah. Sarah and Dan went to high school together and we have been great friends since Dan and I met. Pickled Lily is so fun and I'm loving every second of it. It never fees like work. Our friends and family have been huge supporters so thank you!!

Overall, 2010 has been AWESOME! We worked hard and played hard and loved every part of it. We have been enjoying being home for a while and don't plan to travel until the Spring when we go to Italy again. Life is good and I am thankful for everyone in our lives.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Love,

Dan, Emily, Dylan and Bella

The Big 3-0!

My sweet husband turned 30 last week! Here he is with his birthday invitation :)
His birthday was 2 days before Thanksgiving so we had a low key birthday with family and of course cookie cake. If my husband had to choose a food to live on it would be a close call between cookies and cream ice cream (is HAS to be Blue Bell), cookie cake and salsa. Just a little background on me and my guy, on our first date he told me that if a girl wanted to marry him all she had to do was give him salsa. So, beginning then for every birthday/holiday he gets salsa :) It obviously worked!

For Dan's birthday I got him a new briefcase (with salsa inside) and basketball tickets to the Rockets/Mavericks game. I didn't take any pictures at the game but we had a great time. Dan grew up watching the Rockets and I knew he would love to see them play again. This weekend is the big bash to celebrate Dan's 30th! It should be a good time!!

Don't forget about Pickled Lily when shopping for the holidays! FREE SHIPPING all month plus other great deals!!