This house is flyin'

Thought it was about time for another house update.  Man alive, the construction on this house is flying!  Every time Casey and I go out there, we are blown away by how much has been completed.  The outside is now completely finished with brick and rock.

Brick and Rock is complete!

They have also completed all the walls and have sprayed them with texture and painted them.

Walls are up

Paint Color

All the cabinets, doors, and trim have been installed as well as the banister on the stairs.

Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets from living room

Stair banister (wood still needs to be stained)

And this week, they installed the fireplace and granite.

Fireplace

Kitchen Granite

Master Bathroom

When we went out yesterday to check on the progress, all the tile had been delivered so I assume they will start tiling the bathrooms and back splash soon.  They still have to put in all the hard wood and carpet, install light fixtures, install the sinks, pour the driveway and lay the sod.  Our builder has told us that we should close sometime in October, we are just waiting to hear a final closing date right now.  It can't come soon enough!  We are so excited to move into this house!  It already feels so much like home.

Long Overdue House Update

Holy moly--I had to scroll back through my old blog posts to see when the last time I had written an update on the new house.  It's been a while.  And SO much progress has been made!  It actually looks like a house now.  The rain has finally decided to hold off a little so that they can get more done.  It looks like last time that I updated, the forms for the foundation were completed and the plumbing had been roughed in.

Reminder of what stage we were in from last post

The week we left for vacation to the Caymans, they were able to get our foundation poured!  Hallelujah!  Now we finally felt like we were getting somewhere.  It is so crazy to see how fast they move once they get the foundation poured.

Pouring Foundation!!!

Foundation poured and drying

Case in his garage

Me in the Kitchen

When we arrived back in the U.S., we couldn't wait to see what progress had been made in the week we were gone.  We knew they had planned to start framing, but when we arrived home it was actually looking like a house!  They got so much done while we were away.

Almost completely framed when we got home

Once they completed all of the framing, they started attaching the sheathing to the exterior walls and adding the roof.  This completely changed the look of the house.  During this time they also ran all of the electrical and installed the HVAC.  We had a walk thru with our builder and there were a few minor changes that needed to be made but all in all, everything has gone so smoothly with this build.  We have been so pleased with the entire process.

Attaching the sheathing

We have a roof!

View from the front door

Living Room

Kitchen from Living Room

Breakfast Nook Area

Birthday Week!!

Wow, am I tired today.  Last Thursday was my birthday and we have celebrated for 5 days straight.  This girl needs an early bed time and a liver cleanse!  And can I just say, I was completely blown away by my husband this year.  He knocked it out of the park when it came to celebrating!

Wednesday night we went over to Reagan and Kolby's to watch the season premiere of the show that will consume us this summer.........

That's right people.....BIG BROTHER.  Now I know what most of you are thinking; "Wow, that show is still on?"  You betcha!  And it's addicting.  I am warning you now, that if you start, you will probably get sucked in.  Allison, Kathleen, Reagan, Kolby, Casey and I all ate a delicious meal of fajitas and cupcakes and settled in to watch!  Such a fun night!!

Thursday morning, Casey and I woke up early and went to eat breakfast at Kerbey Lane.  I love their pancakes, so I figured there wasn't a better way to kick off my birthday!!  Before we left to go to breakfast, Case had a birthday card sitting on the counter for me to open.  I opened it and inside were two tickets to GARTH BROOKS!  On Saturday!!  Oh.  My. Gosh.  I was soooo excited.  I have heard what an awesome concert this is, and was so pumped to go to Houston to see him and Trisha Yearwood!  (Casey also had already booked us a hotel room and taken care of boarding the dogs for the weekend--such a keeper)

My hot breakfast date

Forgot the before pic of my breakfast--obviously I enjoyed it!

We had lunch that day at Z Tejas and I got a special delivery of Tiff's Treats from my in-laws.  That night, we had dinner reservations but I wasn't sure where we were going!  Right before we left the house, Case told me we were going to Botticelli's on South Congress.  This is one of my favorite little Italian food restaurants!!  We got down there a little early and had a few cocktails on their back patio.  This place is a hidden little gem in the hustle and bustle of SOCO.  You should definitely check it out if you are ever in need of a new restaurant in Austin!  

Best cookies ever!

Botticelli's cute back patio area

The bartender that was helping us told us that he would go ahead and let the hostess know that we had arrived.  He came back and said we were all checked in and confirmed it was for a table of six.  Huh?  SIX?!?  I looked at Casey and then told the bartender there was a mistake and there was only two of us.  Then Case said "No, there will be six."  He had invited some of my closest girlfriends to join us for supper!  I was so surprised!!!  Of course, the bartender felt bad for ruining a surprise and gave us a free bottle of champagne!  Thanks buddy!  The food was amazing and the wine was flowing.  It was such a great night!

Enjoying a pre-dinner drink

Birthday Supper-Filet, risotto, and shaved brussel sprouts with a currant reduction

So happy to celebrate with these girls

Friday we had dinner plans with Isaac and Allie as they were in town for a little get away.  We met up with them at Easy Tiger and had a few drinks before dinner and then headed to the East Side to try a new restaurant called Jacoby's.  It was delicious!  I'm so bummed I didn't get any pictures from Friday night :(

Saturday we got up early and took the dogs to the kennel.  Then we went and checked on the progress of the house.  It is looking awesome!!  I  need to do another house post soon.  They have the house framed out and were working on installing the HVAC while we were there.  After the house check, we went and grabbed a quick breakfast at Trudy's before heading out to Houston for the concert.  Once we got in Houston, we stopped at Kendra Scott so I could get a new pair of earrings with my birthday discount. (In case you didn't know, you get 50% off one item in your birthday month).  When we got into downtown we had a little bit of a hard time maneuvering to our hotel.  There were lots of streets closed down because it was also Pride weekend in Houston.  The Supreme Court announced Friday that same sex marriage is now legal in all states, so there was plenty of celebrating going on.  We finally got checked into our hotel and went down to the lobby to grab a quick snack and a few drinks before getting ready for the concert.  Our friends Jonathan and Natalie were also going to the concert and staying in the same hotel as us.  Natalie's family had all come in, so we got to see them for a little while before the concert.  When we started walking over to the Toyota Center, I was sooooo excited!  We had amazing seats as well.  We were on the first level up from the floor.

So excited for Garth

Me and My Love

Let me just say this.  If Garth Brooks comes to a town near you, GO SEE HIM.  Y'all, this was the best concert I have EVER been to.  Yes, better than George.  And how dare I say this....also better than Reba.  The guy acted like he was still 20!  He put on one hell of a show.  He opened the concert with one of his new songs and then said he knew that everyone was here to hear his old stuff, and that's all he played the rest of the night.  Trisha Yearwood also came out and sang about 5-6 songs and she was amazing as well.  Despite the show starting 30 minutes late, he played for two solid hours.  Such an amazing night!!  We went back to the hotel and it was PACKED!!  The Pride parade was going on two blocks from where we were staying, so the lobby bar was full of people in town for Pride and people who had just left the Garth Brooks concert.  We couldn't find a table, so we had our own little picnic in the lobby!  Ha!

Such a great show!

Totally stole this picture from my friend Reagan.  She had gone to Garth the night before and got upgraded to front row seats!  How awesome is that?

Natalie and Casey during the "Lobby Picnic"

Sunday, Case and I grabbed brunch before heading back at Cyclone Anayas.  It was super yummy!!  When we were driving back, Lance and Katie called to see if we would be interested in going out on the boat.  As fun as it sounded, I just didn't think I had it in me.  I'll be completely honest here, if I don't get enough sleep I can be as cranky as a 2 year old without a nap.  And I felt the crankiness coming on.  I needed a nap.....for everyone's sake!  So Casey decided he would go on the boat and I would take a nap and then go pick up the puppies and meet back up with everyone for dinner.  Worked out perfectly.  We went to Maudie's for supper and it was great as usual.  

It was such an amazing few days.  Casey completely blew me away.  I  have a lot to live up to this year for his birthday!!  For this week, we plan on eating healthy and giving our liver's a rest.  Then back at it this weekend when we head to Lake LBJ to stay with Lon and Jessica for the 4th of July!!  

Grand Cayman Island Vacation!!!

Saturday, June 6th, Casey and I headed out to the Grand Cayman Island for a week long vacation with Brooke, Chad, Uncle Jack and Jane Allen.  Getting there was a bit of a nightmare but we had a great week relaxing on the beach once we arrived.  Our flight left at 6:45am on the 6th, so Casey and I arrived at the airport at 5:00 to make sure we had plenty of time to check in.  And HOLY CRAP!  Where in the hell did all of these people come from?!?  I immediately went into panic mode and was concerned we were not going to make our flight.

Austin Airport while we were trying to check in for our flight

After waiting in line an hour and five minutes to check our bags, the lady at the counter had informed us we were 5 minutes too late and wouldn't be able to check any luggage.  I explained to her that we still had 40 minutes until our flight took off and begged and pleaded asking her if there was anything she could do to get our bags on that plane.  Being the sweetheart she was, she said NO.  She then said we needed to have our tickets re-booked and to go to the end of the counter and wait.  Now I am really panicking that we aren't going to make it.  She says that we can gate check our luggage and still make it on the plane but we can't have over a quart size bag of liquids that we would normally have on a carry-on.  I told her that was fine and we took off running to the security line.  I had to stop and throw away probably $200 worth of skin and hair care products all while secretly crying inside.  Plus panicking.  I was sweating bullets and a nervous wreck.  Casey and I decided when we got to security, I would go ahead and go through and run to our gate and he would make sure the bags cleared okay.  Just our luck, the gate we were boarding at was at the complete other end of the airport so I took off sprinting.  When I got to the gate (completely out of breath) the doors were shut.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  The lady at the gate was probably the nicest person I dealt with all day.  I was trying to book us seats on a later flight out of Houston when Casey called and said that he was stuck in security with a lot of liquids I didn't throw away and they wouldn't let him leave.  Dear Lord, please don't let them arrest my husband.  The lady at the gate was able to get us on the later flight out of Houston, however, I had a seat and Casey was flying standby.  I met back up with Casey in the lobby of the airport and we rushed to our car and high tailed it to Houston.

After making it to Houston in record time, Case went in with our luggage to get checked in while I parked the car.  The lady at the ticket counter kept telling us over and over that there wasn't any way that Casey was going to make the flight with a standby status but he was guaranteed a seat on the flight the next day.  We went ahead and reserved the seat for Sunday, and just told her we were going to take our chances for his standby ticket.  After going through security, we got to our gate and checked Casey in as a standby passenger.  Once boarding started, I waited around until the very end for them to call standby but they didn't so I just assumed the flight was full.  I took my seat on the plane but was noticing several empty seats around me.  All of a sudden, I saw Casey board the plane!!  YESSS!  Hallelujah!  I almost cried tears of happiness haha!  He later told me that they didn't even call for the standby passengers and they were getting ready to close the doors when he had to ask about it.  Good grief.........mama needed a cocktail!  Moral of the story: we will NEVER fly United again!!!

We arrived in the Caymans and waited on the family to come pick us up from the airport.  They had all arrived on an earlier flight and had gone to the grocery store to pick up food/drinks for the week.  Uncle Jack came pulling around in a sweet mini-van and we all piled in and headed to the resort.  (Side note:  Brooke and Chad had also missed their flight that morning and had gone through the stress of having to re-book with a different airline).

It took a while to get checked in at the resort, but once we did, it was totally worth it.  We were on the first floor with beach access.  The condo was amazing!  This is our view off our back porch.  Finally in paradise and ready for a week of relaxation.

Our view for the week

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to just go to the local bar and have drinks and food.  We all had a pretty stressful day and wanted to just lay low.  The bar was out over the water so this was perfect for us.

Sunday was Casey and I's one year anniversary!  We got to sleep late and woke up to a thunderstorm.  PLEASE go away rain!  It rained for quite a while, but then we were able to head out to the beach for a little while.  We had dinner reservations that night for our anniversary dinner and all got dressed and headed out.  It was a nice place on the water and such a great way to celebrate our one year anniversary!

1st Anniversary dinner

At dinner with my love

Side Note:  Casey and I exchanged gifts before we went on vacation.  I have the most amazing husband in the world.  Since the first anniversary is your "Paper Anniversary" we decided we would try to give each other at least one paper gift.  Y'all!  This guy knocked my socks off.  He gave me a box with 365 dates in it.  Each date was rolled up and tied with twine.  He told me it was a lifetime gift.  I can choose to go on the dates whenever I please, however, if I choose one date a month, it will last us 30 years!!  How amazing is that?  I also got some awesome Jon Hart luggage for our trip.

Best Gift Ever

Now back to Sunday night dinner.  After we left the restaurant and were headed back to our hotel, there were these HUGE crabs all over the road.  Brooke thought it would be neat to try and catch one of these crabs.  We stopped the car in the middle of the road and she got out and chased a few crabs.  She was unable to catch any so we got back in the car.  Uncle Jack thought he would be able to catch one so the next herd of crabs we saw, we pulled over and Jack and Brooke both got out and were at it again.  It was like the Thompson circus!  Jack finally was able to catch one (from behind so he wouldn't get pinched) and what do you know.......that sucker reached behind his head with his claw and grabbed Jack's finger.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.  Jack went to pull the crab off and when he did, the claw came out of the joint and stayed on his finger.  HILARIOUS.  Well, it was hilarious for all of us, but not for him.  After we got home and got the crab bite all cleaned up, off to bed we went.

Brooke Gore: Crab Hunter

Crab claw stuck on Uncle Jack's finger

The next couple of days we spent just hanging out at the beach or pool and consuming lots of refreshing beverages.  We went into Georgetown one day to shop around.  Really neat city but also very expensive.  During our trek into town, we stopped to see the blow holes along the beach.  We also went to "Hell".  It was a tourist destination that is coral that is all black and looks like it has been burned.

"Hell"

Wednesday morning a group got up early and went deep sea fishing.  It was only a half day trip but they didn't catch anything.  Bummer!  We were hoping for fresh fish for dinner!  Thursday we hung out on the beach in the morning and then went on an excursion that afternoon.  We were going to get on a boat to go see the stingrays, go snorkeling, and then go to star fish point to hold the star fish.  We stopped by Rum Point  to have lunch before getting on the boat and it was gorgeous there.  The water in the Caymans is absolutely breathtaking.

Case and I at Rum Point

Brooke and Chad at Rum Point

We got to the boat and headed out to the middle of the ocean to go swim with the stingrays.  Okay, not gonna lie.......I was nervous about this one.  First off, Steve Irwin DIED from one of these suckers.  Secondly, for any of y'all that don't know, I am not the best swimmer in the world.  Okay, let's be honest........I freak out if I can't touch the bottom.  But once we pulled up to "Stingray City" I noticed there were lots of people standing in about waist to shoulder deep water just out there frolicking around with these HUGE deadly creatures.  It took me about 10 minutes to gather the courage to dive in, but I finally did it.  I went over to where our guide was feeding them, and holy crap.  NOPE.  Don't swim up and brush against me, Mr. Stingray.  Keep your distance and I will come to you!  You think that mentality worked?  HELL NO!  These beasts were everywhere.  Swimming by me, brushing against me.  Flailing their deadly tails in the air.  I could have pooped my pants.  Our guide and several in our group were feeding them squid.  Apparently they suck the squid out of your hands and it feels like a vacuum.  Well guess what?  One of those things came up and sucked my arm!!!!  That's it people......back to the boat I go!  I've had all I can handle.  I swam back to the boat as fast as I could and cracked open a beer the second my feet hit the deck.  I can definitely check that experience off my bucket list, however, probably won't be doing it again.

The deadly stingrays

After my near death experience (haha), our next stop was snorkeling.  And I'm not gonna lie.  I was done by this point.  Casey and I had gone snorkeling on our honeymoon in St. Lucia and I was terrible at breathing through the snorkel/getting salt water in my mask.  I decided to just sit on the boat and drink.  That was perfectly fine with me!

Our group snorkeling

After everyone had gone snorkeling we went to "Starfish Point".  Now THIS I enjoyed.  Much more my speed.   We were on a beach and right off the edge, there were a ton of starfish.  You could pick them up and hold them.  They were the neatest things.  I hate I didn't get any pictures from here.  Some were as big as dinner plates and some were the size of the palm of your hand.  That night we went to a local little place for dinner that was amazing!!

Sunset boat ride after Starfish Point

Friday was our last day on the island, so we decided to just lay low and hang out on the beach all day.  We went to a nice steak dinner at the resort that night and it was the perfect ending to a great vacation!!  It will definitely be one I will never forget and we are so thankful that Jack and Jane Allen invited us along!

Last day on the beach

Breathtaking

Case and I before dinner the last night

All of the girls

Sad to be going home

P.S. The puppies had a great vacation too!  They love that place we board them and were tired as could be when they got home! :)

So tired her tongue was hanging out

Happy to be home in his bed