Russ is Going to Be a Great Dad

He's going to ensure Watermelon does not develop a skill for discrimination.

Worst Wife... Maybe Ever

Russ's Birthday was Thursday.

And all I blogged about was the Oxford Comma.

I didn't get him a present.

I went to my law school classes and role played counseling a client.

(In which role play Russ was a legislative aide for a politician... who had been murdered)

I pulled a major wife failure on celebrating Russ this year.

Today, I attempt to redeem myself by:

1. Planning a simple, but fun, date night tonight.

2. Blogging about my erroneous ways (isn't the first step of repentance acknowledgement?)

3. Letting my husband go on a 7 hour BBQ road trip across Texas (starting at 6:30 am) to get the best BBQ in the state and the best BBQ in the country.

And not minding that he came home and did this:

Overly Excellent BBQ Food Coma

So maybe I'm not the worst wife ever... but I did take a bit of a dip there.

Russ Said a Swear, Russ Said a Swear

(Imagine that in a tattle-tale kids voice).

About That Award Show Thing...

So while Russ and I diligently balloted and balloted for every show, the Oscars fell on a bad night. It was the night before a big week in law school. I recorded the show and watched it post-suergery.

The one neat thing about the Oscars is that they have a cool app to cast your own ballot. Here are our results:

So in the end, I won! Well, technically Nick won, but hey... he's not been playing all along.

So my question is, what should I win?

 A massage? 

A month of no laundry or housework?

A trip to the coast?

A week off of law school?

What should it be?

Oh and PS: Want to know what one I guess and Russ missed? 

Best Directing. Russ said "True Grit" and I said "The King's Speech".

It's That Day Again...

Normally I LOVE Valentine's Day. Pretty much I love any holiday.

But when in law school, my Valentine's Day consists of this:

"Hey would you like a Tootsie Pop or a Blow Pop?" (Girl in my Practice Court Class)

"...Tootsie Pop. My name is Charmaine" (I had never met her before)

"Oh. Here you go. My name is ____" (I already forgot.)


----------------

Really Russ and I celebrated on Saturday night with a fancy cheese plate. And then Russ made this for me yesterday for Lunch (homemade mustard meatballs, homemade cheesy tomato sauce):

I am just really excited to be done with school and get back to enjoying the holidays. Soon enough Chow....Soon enough. For now, BACK TO WORK! Ramming Speed!

SAG FTW

I totally won the SAGs. That's 2 for me and 1 for Russ. Now that I'm winning... what should be my prize if I really do win in the end? Any suggestions?

Look what I Made!

So I wanted to make Russ something for Christmas. And, in case you didn't know, Russ collects gnomes:

See? And those are just the new gnomes that were added this Christmas. There's a dozen more around the house. 

If you know someone who loves gnomes and you want to make a gnome for them, click here.

What do you think of the gnome? More importantly, what should we NAME this gnome???

Night Date With Russell

Last Saturday Russ and I had a date night. With the holidays and family visiting, this was our night to have some one on one conversations and adventures.

Our adventures started off by going to a photography exhibit that I heard about on Facebook. Now... that should have clued us in on what we were going to. Because it was amateur night in Dixie.

The invite said the even started at 6 pm. We showed up at 6:30 and they were still setting up- still hanging photos. When we walked in they looked surprised. They told us that people don't normally show up until 8:30. "Well," I told them, "the invite said it started at 6." They grumbled and said we could look around. The photography was... less than impressive. Photographs of burned mattresses and people standing aimlessly by trees. But I'm glad we at least tried something new!

So after that we decided to go grab some grub. Seems like we had some disagreement about where to go. But we finally ended trying a new Thai place in town. I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was something like "Prik Amp Tak". It was mighty tasty, fair-priced, and had great dècor! Check it out:

This place is great for people watching as well. While we were dining we witnessed:

• Football player and his elderly girlfriend (they were quite friendly).
• Young hipsters talking about how the world is so imperfect.
• A couple dressed all in white- white turtlenecks in fact. They were being photographed by another patron. It was sort of weird. We thought it might be for a really low-budget album cover of a Christmas album.
• Middle-aged people in gym clothes? They were the most confusing to look at. And they looked so unhappy.

After that date night progressed into old married people errands. Partly because there was nothing else to do- all the credit card machines were down because a fiberoptic cable had been cut. So the outlet malls had to close early and no one was taking debit. So we ran some errands and went home. I redecorated the Christmas tree and Russ relaxed (he had been at work since 4 am so he was sleepy).

It was a good date night, photo fail and all!

The Endearing Conversations with my Husband

C: "When I was a kid I had a cabbage patch doll named Abigail and..."

(Russ cuts in)

R: "I had three cabbage patch dolls and one was African American. Another was named Blake."


---------Later on (as if that isn't classically awesome enough)---------------------

C: "I love that you had cabbage patch dolls, it's so grown up of you."

R: "Well I did. One, the African American, was an astronaut. The other one was a premie and had special needs. And Blake was just normal."

Ten Days of Gratitude-Day 4

Blog Short Version: Today I am thankful for Russ.

Blog Long Version: No, I'm not just picking to be thankful for Russ out of mechanical duty. But because last night, I had a moment when I felt very grateful for him. A moment when I really thought about how easy it would have been for us to have never met, or to have met under different circumstances.

How did I meet Russ, you might ask. Although, I bet most people don't care. That's fine. This is more of a journal blog than anything else. (footnote: the other day I looked at an old blogpost of a day I forgot happened. I'm so glad I blogged about it!) 

Anyway, how I met Russ. One night in January 2004, I was walking to the SUU library to study. For some reason, probably because it was cold outside, I cut through the university ballroom to get to the library.

As I walked into the ballroom, there was an event going on- a extracurricular fair for students to get involved. I ended up talking to a friend and from there I met Russ. Our interaction was super cute, but I'll save that for another day. That's not important for the sake of this story.

So last night, as Russ and I watched a movie with some law school pals, I realized how blessed I was to meet Russ at just the perfect moment. Sure-we may have met later on, or under different circumstances. But I think if we had, that my heart would not have been open to dating him or eventually to loving him. I was a bit of a hermit; I had no intentions for love or marriage. I really think I met him and the perfect time, in the perfect way, so that I would be willing to let him into my heart.

Anyway, it just made me grateful last night. That I cut through the university ballroom to get to the library on a cold January evening. I'm even more grateful for the years with Russ. This February is 7 years from our first date. SEVEN YEARS! All from taking a shortcut to the library!

 I am grateful that I get to share this Thanksgiving with Russ, Bonnie (Russ's mom), and Randy (Russ's brother). I can't imagine being anywhere else and being as happy as I am.

(Took this last night after the movie)

Ten Days of Gratitude-Day 1

With Thanksgiving not far away, I'm starting to count my blessing today.

#1 A husband that cooks

Russ loves to cook. When he was contemplating his future career, he debated between a news reporter and a chef. He chose to be a reporter. We often talk about later having a restaurant, or bed and breakfast, or bakery later on in our lives. But for now, we enjoy dishes like these:

Law School is Fun

One of the funny pleasures of law school is the text messages Russ and I send back and forth. Here is a sample:

My message to Russ:




Russ's response:

Tapenade

The other day Russ made tapenade for some veggie roll-ups. It was delicious. We ate it for days around home on bread, in our quesadillas, etc.

I thought you might be interested to try it, so here's the recipe! It is a great way to top off any good sandwich, soup, or roll-up!

Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

Ingredients

• 1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 1 (6 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup drained capers
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the red peppers, artichoke hearts, cilantro, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, capers, garlic, and lemon juice. Pulse until finely chopped and the mixture is blended. Transfer to a serving bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to blend the flavors.

True Friends

When times get tough, you find out who your true friends are. This last weekend I had some car problems and I began to feel like the little red hen, no one would help. I was super stressed with school and Russ ended up driving up in the middle of the night on Sunday morning to help me out, and just to let me know I was loved. (Best husband ever). In the meantime, while I took my car to a mechanic (who turned out to be shady, and gave me unsolicited weight loss advice) I found some true friends down the street.

That sign says: Mix Delicia Mexican & Chinese Restaurant.

I had Mexican, I'll have to come back and try the chinese...

My waiter. He was only about 15, but SO kind. Big tips for this sweet boy.

Why is he sweet? He brought me a squeeze bottle of guacamole. So good.

I realize my posts lately have been about food. Law school finishes at the end of April, and I promise that more exciting posts will occur. But for now...

Buzzard Billy's

Russ and I have a affinity for good food, going out to eat, and trying new places.

On Monday, we went to Buzzard Billy's. We sat on the dock on the Brazos River and had some good ole cajun cooking:

And

Delicious!

Pillow Talk

Chow: "Russ, thank you so much for coming up to visit me at law school."

Russ: "Of course babe! There's nowhere else I'd rather be. Except, maybe at the Technical Academy Awards- you know the one they show on daytime TV?"

A Tweet About Russ:

I don't know who this girl is, but she likes my husband's name. I don't know how I feel about it.

Austin City Limits (Part 1)

I just wanted to share the stories I did during the festival this year. The shows turned out really well and you should just follow the links to youtube and then to news8austin.com and watch the shows but I digress...

Day 1, before the rain...



Day 2, Raining buckets (look I'm soaked)
(FYI this is one of my favorite stories)



Day 3, Mud (although you can't tell from my story)



Pictures and words coming soon...

Photo Essay of Legs By Russ Wilde

Who will help me eat the bread?

Fresh out of the oven and ready for some butter...