Rodeo Houston

This year Jonathan and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Houston Rodeo by our dear friend Colleen! If you've never been to the Rodeo I highly recommend it. We decided to go straight from work so we could take the lightrail and not have to worry about parking. I love working in downtown! We got there around 6 so we had a little time to walk around the Livestock Show. I love seeing all the animals. We saw baby pigs, lamb, and chicks! Plus, I pet a pig and Colleen pet a steer! By the way, don't be like us make the mistake of calling a steer a cow even though look almost exactly the same. We got a little lecture on steer when we asked if we could pet their cow.

This lamb was born that morning!

Piglets!

Colleen and Christine petting a cow. At least I think it's a cow...

Colleen getting a lesson on steer

Petting the steer!

After all the animal petting we quickly washed our hands and then went to get BBQ! It was crazy crowded but of course I always love being around tons of people. After food we headed to the Rodeo! Just one little disclaimer, I really do like going to the rodeo. However, I'm always quite terrified that someone's going to get trampled by a bull and I'm usually rooting for the animals to get away when the cowboys are trying to tie them up. I know, that's not really the point of the rodeo, but what did the animals ever do to them? My favorite events are the horse races, the calf scramble, and the mutton busting! The calf scramble is where kids have to run around, catch a calf, tie a harness around it's head, and bring it to the center of the stadium floor. If they do that successfully then they get to keep the calf and raise it. For most of them, it's their first chance to raise their own animal so they're pretty invested in getting themselves a calf. The mutton busting is where kids averaging around the age of 6 have to hang on and ride a mutton/lamb and whoever hangs on the longest gets a prize. It's really adorable to watch. The winner of the competition really went above and beyond. He hung on until the mutton ran the entire distance across the race area and even as the lamb ran into the fence. The mutton then turned and kept running and the boy was still hanging on even though he was being dragged on the ground! That's determination! By the way, all the kids were heavily padded so no one was hurt or anything. Every kid was smiling afterwards so they had fun!

Tying up animals :-(

Chuck wagon races! If you notice, there's a Chevron one.

More tying up animals....

 

See I'm having fun!

So are Colleen and Christine!


After that was the big concert! We got to see Jake Owens. I knew close to nothing about this singer but he ended up being great! He walked around the entire floor of the stadium shaking everyone's hands, taking pictures with the audience using fans' cameras, and climbing up into the audience. He's quite the multitasker because he doing all this while singing at the same time lol.

He also wore a shirt that said Texas. I think he was trying to suck up a little lol.

The stage is pretty cool too because it rotates and you can even see through the screen when the stage is facing away from you. So to sum up, if you haven't been to the rodeo, go! It's like stepping into a totally different world where people ride bulls for a living and raise their own cattle. It's definitely fun to see for this city girl.

-Chelsey

A Cinderella Wedding



Wow! We're back at home finally! We had a great time in London but when Jonathan got back on Friday we immediately headed to Austin for a wedding last weekend. Jonathan's flight actually got in around 4 on Friday and we were on the road no more than an hour after he got home. He was a trooper! We stayed at a cute bed in breakfast and for the most part it was a really relaxing weekend. Jonathan did a lot of sleeping since he was still jetlagged and I read a good chunk of my book, The Son of Neptune. It's the second book in the spin off series from the Lightening Thief series which I'm pretty addicted to lol. Normally the bed and breakfast would have had a view of the lake but because of the drought 2 years ago, that side of the lake was completely dried up. It's so sad! At first we were confused by our view. We noticed some covered platforms not close to anything and eventually we realized that they used to be along the lake. Please pray for some Texas rain!!! We need it! Saturday evening we went to one of our favorite Austin hangouts, Rudy's BBQ. They have a few Rudys in Houston but they just don't have the same character as the ones in Austin. If it's your first time there they'll shout out, "We got ourselves a newbie!" and then reward you by letting you sample all of the menu before you decide what you want. For that reason, Jonathan usually wants to pretend like we've never been there before lol. You also might notice that people who have just dined at Rudy's are usually wearing a sticker that says, "I have clean hands!" That's another Rudy's tradition. They have a special hand washer that as they say, "is like a jacuzzi for your hands!" and after you wash your hands you get a sticker!

To the right is where the lake used to be. It was still a pretty view though!

The deck behind our B&B.

The general area with a pool table, TV, and books.

....and by worst they mean best!

We have clean hands! And we're jetlagged lol....

The wedding was of our close friends, Katie and Todd. I love weddings. It makes me want to go back to our wedding day! I'm so glad we have the video so we can relive our big day! If you remember, I helped throw Katie's bridal shower and you can read about it here. Since Jonathan works with Katie and we had just gone through wedding planning ourselves, we helped them out with wedding planning quite a bit. I was so excited to see how it all came together. It was a beautiful wedding. It was an outdoor ceremony overlooking the lake. We were really worried that it was going to be a rainy day. Their wedding was on Sunday and there was a 75% chance of rain. Luckily, it only stormed early in the morning and after that the sun came out and it was a clear and absolutely beautiful day! You really couldn't ask for better. The ceremony was really sweet. They wrote their own vows to each other and dedicated part of the ceremony to their parents, including Todd's dad who passed away a few months ago. The reception was inside but there were windows everywhere so we still had a gorgeous view of the lake. Instead of a guest book they asked us to write our best wishes to the couple and hang it on a pretty tree for them to keep in their home. It was a very unique idea for a guest book and a great momento for their home. Their wedding lunch was really good BBQ! We definitely got our BBQ fill on this trip. Todd wanted to give his relatives from California a chance to try some Texan food while they were there.

Look at that blue sky!

The bride! She looked gorgeous!

Getting married!

  

Their first dance!



Instead of the cake they had cupcakes and a cheesecake for the groom's cake!

It was a beautiful wedding and we had so much fun seeing these two finally get married! I think that will be it for awhile with all of our trips! I'm hoping to get back to some sort of normalcy here haha. We always have something going on of course so check back to read all about it!

-Chelsey

We're in Reading!

I know this title doesn't sound nearly as exciting as the last post but bear with me lol. Yesterday Jonathan and I headed to the Reading area since sadly he had to go back to work today. I mean his work is the reason we were here in the first place so I really can't complain. We had a driver drive us here because we're all fancy and such! In case you didn't know, Reading is about an hour west of London. It's pronounced the past tense of read plus ing, is that makes sense. It's pretty much a suburb of London where a lot of businesses are located. It seems to be a pretty convenient place to live where you can actually buy your own house but still go to London quite frequently. However, technically our hotel isn't in Reading, it's in a small town called Winnersh. A tiny town where there's pretty much nothing but a hotel, a few companies, and some neighborhoods. Luckily there's a really convenient train that I can take into Reading. They seriously have trains everywhere in this country! It's only 2 stops away so I'm heading into town on my last day in GB (that's the cool way to say Great Britain here if you're in the know.) Fortunate for me, I get to spend my last day shopping. That's pretty much what Reading is known for. They seem to have several malls along with lots of cute shops. I don't really know how they fit so much into such a small town but it's been a lot of fun wandering around. They also have the ruins of an old Abbey. It's almost 1000 years old! That's unheard of in the states so it's pretty awesome. Of course Westminster Abbey is older I think so I've pretty much been in awe the entire time we've been here. There's so many old buildings here that most people don't even take notice lol! Anyways, some historical facts about the Abbey: It was changed from a religious church to a royal palace during the time of Queen Victoria's rule. Jane Austen went to school there. How cool is that??? I got to wall where Jane Austen walked! Unfortunately the Abbey is unsafe to visit so I couldn't see much or get very good pictures but they're in the process of restoring it so that you can actually tour it!

It's been really fun being in a less touristy area and seeing how residents actually live. It looks exactly how I imagined it to look. Rows and rows of super old houses that all look like adorable cottages. I am spending  the day shopping and having pub food for the bajillionth time (yes that is a word and no I'm not exaggerating.) I'm a little bummed to head home without Jonathan but he's heading home on Friday so we'll only be apart for a few days.

And as always, enjoy some pictures!

-Chelsey

We're in London!

I'm writing this post from London! We've been having a great time. We're currently chilling at our friends' flat (that's British for apartment). Jonathan's playing chess with Patrick, something that he likes to play but doesn't get to enough since I can never remember the rules. I thought I'd take the chance to do a little recap of our trip so far. I'll warn you though, this may not be the most exciting post though since we've only been here for a couple days.

My flight here was actually quite nice. It wasn't a full flight so I ended up having three chairs to myself so I could lay down. I was very grateful because it was a 9 hour overnight flight so what sleep I got would be the only sleep I got for that night. I watched Brave which I had been dying to watch forever. It was really cute. I got maybe 5ish hours of sleep/restfulness, then watch a few episodes of friends and big bang theory, and deboarded and got through customs smoothly. It was about an hour drive to the flat which was nice because I got to see a lot of the city. Patrick was at the flat when I got there and we had a fun day together. We went to a wine bar for lunch and then he made dinner for us at the flat. We mostly just chatted all day and caught up. It was really nice and I was glad to have a chill day since I was still jetlagged.

Jonathan had a similar flight the next day. You may wonder why we flew on separate flights. His flight was set up by his company since he's being sent here for work. So since we only had to pay for my ticket I was just looking for the cheapest day available. Flying a day earlier was cheaper and it was a direct flight. So it was kind of an obvious decision. Meanwhile, Jonathan got to fly first class! He said that his flight was bumpy so he didn't get as much sleep but he had a four course meal with all the wine he wanted. Lucky him! He got to the flat around noon and I was still asleep! I apparently needed to catch up on sleep more than I thought! We took it easy that day too but we managed to head up towards London bridge and wander around Borough Market. Borough Market was very impressive and had all sorts of different things. As you may know,  we're kind of foodies so this was right up our alley. We also checked out Southwark Cathedral, the oldest Gothic cathedral in London. It just happened to be right next time the market. Of course there are historic buildings and churches everywhere you turn in London.

Sunday we explored Greenwich which is close by where Patrick and Allie live. It is a cute town with a lot of shopping. We explored the Old Navy College, walked by the house where the queen grew up, and checked out the observatory. The observatory had a beautiful view but it was pretty cold since it's at the top of a hill. In the evening we headed to Southwark and went to mass at St. George's Cathedral. It was a beautiful church.

Today we did a free tour that covered a lot of the must do items in London. It was an awesome tour! We saw Hyde Park, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, and lots else. We had a lot of fun and we learned a lot more than we would have if we had just ventured out on our own. For instance, did you know that a different flag is flown over Buckingham Palace whether the queen is in or not? They used to only fly a flag over the palace is the queen was in. However, when Princess Diana died, the queen was out and since there was not a flag flying at half mast there became a controversy. People thought that the queen was showing her distain towards the princess by not flying a flag so now they always fly a flag, just fly a different one depending. We finished the tour at a local pub with other people that were on the tour with us. They were travelers from all over: Germany, Brazil, Japan, Canada, and Argentina. We had a lot of fun and had some great fish and chips.

We have a lot more to see here in London but we've had a lot of fun so far!

-Chelsey

Valentine's Day!

Last week was our first married Valentine's Day! I've never bought into Valentine's Day too much but we always like to do something. We made dinner together, opened a bottle of prosecco and watch a movie! I even made creme brulee! I had never made creme brulee but it's one of Jonathan's favorites so I decided to give it a try. It came out perfectly! I couldn't believe it! Of course then I discovered that our butane torch that we needed to do the brulee-ing had no butane in it. Oops! O well, that just meant that we had a second celebration the next day with another dinner, wine, and creme brulee!

We made prosciutto wrapped chicken with a side of kale!

Fire!

Look how perfect! Just like from a restaurant!

And the rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing! We definitely needed it because this weekend we are off to London!!! We'll be there for about 2 weeks and then we come back and go directly to Austin for a wedding! Our lives get pretty crazy sometimes but we love it! See you when I get back! Of course when you hear from me next I'll be a world traveler and talking with a British accent!

-Chelsey

Covington, LA

Three for three! Check me out! We have a long break this morning so I thought that I might as well post this. I head back to Houston and my amazing husband this afternoon! I can't wait! As I've been mentioning recently, this week I went to Covington, LA for work for three days. It's not the most exciting place in the world but it's cool to get sent somewhere. It's only about an hour north of New Orleans so it's actually cool to drive the 30 mile bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain. Plus it still has all the great cajun food that's in New Orleans! I'm here for a training for a new software that will be rolled out in the next year. It's been a pretty interesting training and we've had a lot of good discussions. I'm glad I came because I've learned a lot.

If you remember my blog post about our New Orleans trip, you'll recall how much I loved Acme Oyster house! Well I was quite ecstatic to find out that they have a location across the street from my hotel here in Covington! I ate there twice, and I'm not ashamed! I also treated myself to an Abita Purple Haze beer. I've always liked Abita beer, but when looking up things to do in Covington I found out that the Abita brewery is very close by in Abita Springs. I was hoping to make a trip out there but their tasting room is only open during the day. Maybe I'll just have to head back here sometime!

Purple Haze is made with raspberries, hence the purple! So good!

The Chevron campus out here is really beautiful. There are tons of trees and lakes and there is a track that circles the entire campus. I decided to take a walk around the building during one of our breaks in the class. It was so relaxing. If I worked there I'd probably be out there all the time.

This is the front entrance.

This is the back where there's a pavillion.
It's a brand new facility since they moved here after Katrina.

There are at least 4 or 5 lakes on the property.

A weird thing that I noticed about Covington is that they seem to not believe in sidewalks, making it hard to go for a run. It's a really pretty area with trees everywhere, but how can you enjoy it without being able to walk around?

On my last night in Covington, I tried a new restaurant that someone mentioned was good. It was called Zea Rotisserie Grill. They brew their own beer so I had to try some! It was delicious! I ate way too much on this trip if you can't tell.

According to the label, they follow German brew making techniques from 1950 something.

It paired great with this: mediterranean hummus!

So it was an interesting trip. I always like going to new places and trying new things. Of course our next trip is going to be way more amazing: London!!! Jonathan is being sent there for work and we're going a week early for a vacation! I can't wait!!! London baby! I need to watch all the Friends episodes in London to prepare! Feel free to leave a comment with all the fun things we should do in London!

-Chelsey

Jonathan's 30th Birthday!

Two posts in two days?? That never happens! You know I must be slightly bored while here in Covington haha. It actually hasn't been too bad but I was hoping to make a trip to Goodwill tonight but found out at the last minute that the hotel shuttle doesn't go there. They do go to Walmart though which is actually a farther trip. Make sense? I didn't think so. Anyways, tomorrow I will be back in Houston with my husband! I'm looking forward to be home and having a long weekend!

So I need to continue catching you up with all that's been going on. Well I mentioned before that the cruise was partly a birthday thing for Jonathan. Well it wasn't just any birthday. This year he turned 30! It being Jonathan's 30th birthday, I knew I wanted to celebrate big. Unfortunately, with the cruise being the weekend after his birthday and us having a wedding before his birthday, we didn't have any time to do anything until the weekend after. (Not that we were upset for to be doing all those fun things.) I decided to plan a surprise scavenger hunt! Not only that, but I decided to make it 30 themed! Either the clue, activity, or both had 30 somewhere in it. I definitely had fun coming up with everything, and Rachel and Colleen helped me pull it off! Saturday morning I took Jonathan out to brunch. I took him to a restaurant called BRC, which has a great brunch and serves southern comfort food. Jonathan kept asking me what we were going to do all day and I wouldn't tell him anything. Meanwhile, Colleen and Rachel let our friends into our house so that when we got back home Jonathan was greeted by his surprise party! It worked like a charm!

Jonathan at brunch, clueless!

We took tons of pictures! At each location there was an activity that each team had to perform before getting the next clue. They were quite funny so I have to post some pictures!

Trying to get 30 ping pong balls out of a kleenex box taped to  their butt!

Then they had to complete a relay race while  keeping themselves on a towel!

Ok enough of the embarrassing photos! It was sooo much fun, and I have to say, I was very impressed with how well everyone did! Want to test your own Houston knowledge? Read the clues below and leave a comment with your answers!

1. Picture of a statue of George R. Brown
2. The second killer bee was traded to the Houston Astros on August 30, 1990. Go play some ball with him and take a picture!
3. 30 minutes into the game, 60 to go. Grab your cleats and head to the game
4. Did you know that Venus is just under 30 million miles from the Earth? (Approximately 25.8 million miles.) Lucky for us, we have the entire system here in Houston!
5. These owls aren’t at the zoo. You’ll want to find a building that’s fitting for today’s celebration
6. 30-love, don’t lose the game now. You’ll be remembered for this one
7. Phew! That took long enough. I think I’ve aged 30 years! First one back wins!

The winners!

Second place!

Third place! Hey that's still bronze!

After the scavenger hunt, we met back at our house and watched the videos of us all making a fool of ourselves. That is, until my computer decided to completely crash for no reason. No matter, we still found plenty of games to play and hung out all day! We had a 12 hour party! I think I'd call that a success!

Of course we had to sing the 30 year old Happy Birthday.

O yea, and the winners each won a Crave cupcake!
Everyone got one of these cupcakes that I made. Everyone was happy :-)

Fluxx!

Phase 10!

As you can see, Jonathan had a great birthday! The next day we slept in, lounged around, and watched the super bowl. It was an awesome weekend!

Until next time,
- Chelsey