OPEN HOUSE! :)

Like I said in the previous post, we have been working sooo hard to get ready for our open house. I think it really finally came together! I realize that I'm incredibly biased since I live here and I picked out most of the furniture, accessories, paint colors, etc, but I really do think it was looking good!

I didn't do so well about taking pictures because I was insanely busy the entire time, but I did get a few.

A couple photos pre-party:





A few of folks mingling:







A few "formal" shots:







We had about 50 people over here at some time or another. Most came at the same time it felt like, so it was good to see how many people our house can comfortably hold, haha.

Many, many thanks to:

Mom & Dad
Ronnie, Celina, Alexandra & Ronnie
MeMaw & Paw
David & Beverly
Joe & Rosemary Loli
Roger, Lety & Maddie
Tricia & Dwayne
Emily & Sean
Meemaw & Papaw
Tammy Mitchell
Jennifer Tewald
Sarah Jupp
Collin Powell
Bryan & Chrissy
Ashley & Fred
Kitt Kirkpatrick
Kirsten,Brandon & baby Isla
Mr. & Mrs. Baldwin
Mr & Mrs Roland
Jacob & Hayley
Dean & Beth
Kathy & Nicole
Jim & Kandi Bryan

for coming!! We loved seeing and getting the chance to visit with all of you!

Around 5:30 most folks had left, but Bryan, Chrissy, Steven & Stephanie stuck around. We had some margaritas and just talked about stupid stuff, which is always nice :) Chrissy & Bryan eventually had to leave, so Steven & Stephanie joined Bryan & I had Los Cucos for dinner. Then a quick trip to Specs and back to our house! Our poor puppy felt like this:



But we were up for some more visiting and then watched The King's Speech - a move I really enjoy! Movie over, it was wayyyy past time for bed. Steven & Steph left, Maverick very willingly went to bed, haha, and so did we!! If you came, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it!!

Pedal Party

Wow, what a weekend! Actually, wow what a last few weeks is what I should really say, because we've been hanging, painting, cleaning, planning, baking, chopping, you name it, for weeks. I wanted to have an Open House for 2 reasons .... 1, because it would give us a chance to show lots of family and friends at the same time what our brand new, pretty and awesome house looks like, and 2, it would give us a "dead line" to get things that would otherwise probably be put off done - like hanging curtains, for instance. But more about the Open House in the next post .... it deserves its own!

This leads me into talking about Friday, though. First, Bryan went to the DPS, which was not exciting, but then we cleaned all morning long- also not exciting :). My parents took us to lunch at La Marias (yum! thanks!) and then came over to help us! (Did I mention my parents are amazing?) Bryan mowed and did some weed eating, Mom steamed the curtains, and Dad & I hung all of the things that have just been sitting on the floor waiting to be hung like diplomas, frames, mirrors, etc. Maverick, of course, was a curious spectator to all of these proceedings. Thankfully Bryan had helped me get a lot done bef0re Friday so it wasn't too bad, but we really appreciated the 2 extra sets of helping hands.

Then my parents took Maverick home with them to puppysit for the evening while Bryan and I took off downtown for Andrew's surprise birthday party. Y'all may already know how friendly Maverick is ... but this has never been a problem until he really wanted to meet some fishermen in the lake a few yards away from my parents house, haha. Thankfully he chose at the last minute NOT to jump in the lake and swim over there. What a nut.

We met our friends at Beavers, a really unique restaurant, with waiters that are intentionally rude (who does that?), but made one of the BEST burgers I've ever had! I wonder what they do to it? Delicious.



Then we all headed over to this warehouse where we went on the "Pedal Party." I had NO idea what to expect, so I was pretty amused when I saw this upon arrival:



(Please excuse all of these terrible pictures ... we had to use a cell phone since I didn't have my camera.)



It's a moving bar! It's a cart made mostly out of wood with two sides (bars) facing each other with "bar stools" that are bicycle seats. In between the two sides is a long space meant for the bar tender who pours beer from the tap of the keg as all of the people sit on their "stools" and literally pedal the cart around downtown. I was basically dead weight because my feet didn't reach the pedals :( But I did lots of cheering for all the hard work of Bryan & our friends!! :) Thankfully Hayley was too short too, so I didn't feel so bad all by myself, haha.

We hopped on, drank beer as we pedaled down the streets of downtown going about 3 miles an hour .... and then hopped off at a pub, ordered drinks, got back on the cart, pedaled to the next bar, got off, drank, etc... Doesn't that sound ridiculous? But it was actually fun! And HOT! Thank you humid Houston. And what surprised me the most was that this was LEGAL. Apparently there's a random "loose liquor" law that makes this allowed.

Here's a picture where you can see Andrew's parents pedaling along, and the tap for the keg:



Bryan and I in front of the cart at one of the bars:



Some of our friends pedaling hard & drinking beer - Jacob, Adam & Adam:



Bryan & Adam at one of the coolest bars I've seen. It's an old, converted gas station made into an open concept bar with games like Jinga & Cornhole to play. They also make a very good Tom Collins :):


Can you see how covered in sweat they are? Moving that cart is hard work!

It was so weird, but also a lot of fun. I'm glad Bryan talked me into going! Like I said, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Plus we met some really nice people, which is always a bonus.

Paint + Curtains = Lovely

In my previous posts you may remember me mentioning days full of painting and hanging curtains in addition to loads of yard work. Well, it's finally (just about) finished (minus the master bedroom), so I want to share some pictures!!! I figured I'd wait until several things were done so it wouldn't just be one post after another about each room.

First, the kitchen curtains (a window seat is in the making):



Next, the formal dining room curtains (I'll post some more later when everything's on the walls):



Finally, the awesomely-fantastic paint job + curtains in the den:





I hope you like the improvements! We sure do!

Class of 2011 Graduation

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for the Meloy family. My little brother Grady graduated from Texas A&M! (Along with several family friends and most of his roommates.) Marissa will graduate Saturday with the College of Education. We are so pleased and very happy for all of you!

Mom planned a brisket dinner pre-graduation, catered by C&J's BBQ (yumm), and lots of family and friends of all of the graduates gathered together to eat, and celebrate. Of our family, Meemaw & Papaw, Aunt Mary, Mom & Dad, Grandma, Aunt Jana & Uncle Keith, Aunt Tricia & Uncle Dwayne, and Bryan & I were there. The Baldwins were also there because they're soon-to-be-family after all! After eating, and playing the puppy, we drove over to Reed Arena to watch the graduates walk the stage. Enjoy the pictures!

Grady's supporters:







Grady:





Mom has all of the family photos posing with Grady on her camera, so I'll do another post later with those. Way to go, G!

*Breaking Kennel News*

You may not find this as exciting or impressive as Bryan and I do, but ....

Maverick is now WALKING into his kennel when it's time for us to leave or for him to go to bed. This has now happened FOUR times. This is a miracle. Granted, we still have to get him to the laundry room, but he's no longer fighting us once we get there.

As his size keeps increasing (up to 12.7lbs!!) when he fights me about the kennel, it was getting harder and harder for me to hold him in there and close the door without ending up in a frustrating game of chase or further stressing my back/neck :( I was feeling really desperate the other day and was talking to Bryan about what should we do if it got the point where I couldn't get him in there by myself anymore ... and the very next day? Viola! I think God heard our very sincere pleas for help.

I should clarify that Maverick does not *like* his kennel still, but has accepted that when we're gone he must be contained, and is at least willing to stop fighting us. It was truly a rapid 180 change - one night he was fighting for freedom, and the next he meekly (and sadly) walked into the crate as Bryan was putting him up for the night.

I believe this calls for a loud and sincere HALLELUJAH! :)

We don't have any photographical evidence of this miracle, but I think I'm incapable of writing a post about our lovable puppy without a picture, so here's one of Maverick curled up in an A&M blanket after a long day in the sun and a bath:



It is, after all, very hard work to be a puppy.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm sure if our puppy knew it was Mother's Day, he would have made me a paw-print card or something :) Kidding, kidding.

Bryan & I do want to wish all those mommas and grandmommas a very special Mother's Day!

We were blessed to be able to see my Meemaw & Mom earlier this weekend, and then Bryan's MeMaw today. Grandma, we missed seeing you, but know we love you all the same! You are all so special and dear to our hearts. Thank you for the many, many acts of kindness and behind the scenes prayer. We love you!

Saturday R & R?

R & R around here is not a likely reality ... especially not with a new house, puppy, and events happening every weekend!

In fact, we were very much looking forward to a Crawfish Boil today with our friend, Stephanie, but between fishing & the stuff that really needed to get done, it didn't happen.

This morning started off with shoving all of our living room furniture into the middle of the room or hallway, then running errands to get the paint and supplies we needed to paint the den. Mom joined us around 9am, we had some Chic-fil-a breakfast (yum!), and then started taping around baseboards, windows, etc. Bryan cut in by the ceiling, I cut in around the baseboards & windows, and Mom did the rolling. I actually had to leave around 11 for an appointment, but Bryan & Mom keep working like champs until ... doh!, we ran out of paint :( This wouldn't have been a big deal, except Pittsburg Paints closes at noon on Saturday and doesn't reopen until Monday morning, which means we're not going to be able to finish until then. Oh well. It will get finished soon!





The appointment I had was with a massage therapist. A few years ago I was in a bad car accident, and experienced some pretty severe whiplash. Every once and a while something else happens and "re-injures" the same muscles that were damaged in the accident. A year and half ago I had surgery, and they torqued my neck a bit during the operation which started the process all over again, and since then it takes almost nothing to set it off again. Between moving, painting, yard work, installing a sprinkler system, jet-skiing ... who knows what's done it again, but it's been exceptionally horrible lately ... enough to cause migraines, which just make everything worse. The last straw was last night's swing-falling adventure (read previous post about Port O'Connor). I was in so much pain on the boat that Mom & Bryan insisted I do something about it and booked me the appointment today. It DID help, and the therapist told me I should really get into a chiropractor. She said something about my head not sitting on my spine properly ... who knows. I do know that it hurts horribly, so I can't really lose anything by trying!

Once I returned, Mom, Bryan & I split a pizza, and Bryan and I decided to get some yard work done. I worked so hard to make our yard look pretty and then we temporarily destroyed it when we installed the sprinkler system, and the flower beds looked particularly awful. It was really bothering me so I talked Bryan into some Flower Bed TLC :)

After a trip to Lowes (we should buy some stock with as much money as we spend there!), we came back with a car full of stuff! (Including a water softener, the salt to go with it, a lamp, small items like a timer, bulbs, & spade, as well as 14 plants, 2 bags of top soil, 1 bag of miracle grow potting soil, and 45 stones. My car was groaning as we drove it all home!



Now enjoy the before and after pictures!!!!

Before (sorry about my shadow in the picture):



After 3 hours of TLC:





Notice a change? I hope so! Not looking too bad for our first try at this stuff!! And I was pretty spot on with my estimate of 45 stones ... we needed 42 :) We'll get some more mulch & a few more flowers to finish off the flower beds by the entry way as well as around the trees. That's a project that will wait for another day :) We're pooped!

Maverick, of course, is always in on the fun and games making himself into a very lovable nuisance :)



Had to make sure to include the puppy! Of course after all of his craziness, he did enjoy a nice bath courtesy of yours truly :)