College and Maddox

College Ave Party

2012-01-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

College Avenue is a little sad right now. We are losing some dear friends to bigger and better things. Sophie and Jarrod are moving on. They joined a circus. Wait, what was that, oh I'm sorry. They are moving to California. I make that mistake often.

Seriously, we are all sad that our friends are moving on, but we know they will always be friends. This also gives us a great excuse to head out west. So, to show our friend that we will miss them, we had a party.

Another good thing that came from this party. I realized that I do not know how to use our camera. Also, my habit of not announcing that I am about to take a picture does not always get the best result.

In all seriousness, we will miss our friends. We love our street because we know our neighbors. The shared experience of living on College Avenue is something that will bond us to each other forever. Thank you Jarrod and Sophie for being such good neighbors and such great friends.

More Paris

2011-12-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

We took pictures of every meal we had in Paris. I was a little hesitant to take out our giant camera in a tiny restaurant at first, but the food was too good not to photograph.

However, the Iphone also has a camera. Did you know that? So, I took a bunch of pictures with the phone. Still surprised people with the flash, but it is hard not to when the restaurant is the size of small bedroom.

Our Trip to Paris

2011-12-04T08:25:00.001-08:00

Alcon sent Sara to Switzerland for training. Since Basel is just a train ride away from the city of lights, we thought a few days in Paris would be a great way to get into the holiday spirit. So, I hopped on a plane and away we went.

Below is Rue De Cler, where our hotel was located. It was a great neighborhood that was a ten minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. That is why there are so many pictures of the Eiffel Tower. It's hard not to take a picture when you walk by it. It was a great neighborhood that made us feel like locals as we explored Paris.

And did we explore. Rick Steves' travel guides are awesome. We followed his walks through the neighborhoods of Paris and his museum guides everywhere we went. It was like having our own tour guide the entire trip.

I think we took about a thousand pictures on this trip. I will post more pictures after I actually get to look at them. Check us out later on this week.

Dan Barrett For Mayor

2011-05-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I am currently working for Dan Barrett's campaign for mayor in Fort Worth. Dan has been a great mentor to me in my first years in my legal career and I believe he is the best candidate for the job.
With that said, sock puppets are freaking funny. Check out the video as well as the www.danbarrettformayor.com and his facebook page.

Thanks

JP's Pictures

2010-09-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Adventures in the Underground

2010-09-27T18:10:00.001-07:00

When we bought our house, the most we had seen of the crawl space was what we could see through the vents in the skirt. that wasn't much. I wanted to know about the condition of our crawl space but I didn't want to discover a pack of beavers under our house either. So, as with many great dilemmas it was out of sight, so I kept it out of mind.

However, I knew the day would come when I would venture into the nether regions of College and Maddox to discover what treasures dwelt there. As we fast approach the end of this round of renovations, JP and I took it upon ourselves to put some big holes in the floor. The first was to gain access to the mysteries that sat below our house. So as I stood in that closet (there is a joke there I just know it), and basked in the stall; slightly damp air that rose out of the imperfect square I had just cut in the floor, I knew that worst thing that could happen is that I would get stuck. I quickly realized how horrible that would be, put that thought aside and got down the hole. JP took pics so as to memorialize the moment. No buried treasure, no attack beavers; just trash. Oh, and massive amounts of concrete.

Thought this was cool

2010-08-18T14:13:00.001-07:00

These two together, playing in one the coolest venues ever, is very much worthy of a post. This is the one time I am thankful someone held up their phone during a concert. Usually that drives me nuts. Enjoy

Pictures of You

2010-06-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, no. Its pictures of us. Got your attention though. A couple of weeks ago we treked to Tulsa for Aubrey and Drake's wedding. We love Tulsa. We love weddings. Put two together and you get what's happening in these pictures. Its always good to see friends. Weddings out of town always seem rushed and once you catch your breath, you're eating breakfast on your way out of town. Drake and Aubrey, the Drakes from now on, had a beautiful wedding and I was truly honored to be a part of it.

It is wedding season and we attended another wedding closer to home prior to our jaunt to Tulsa. This time we were just guests and enjoyed watching Damian making the rounds. Kid likes to party.

New Bruce Springsteen

2010-06-22T15:43:00.001-07:00

Bruce Springsteen London Calling Trailer from Columbia Records on Vimeo.

I think that anyone who reads this blog knows that Springsteen is my all time favorite. He and the E Street Band are the best live act I have ever seen. I've never been to a Springsteen show and seen anyone not engaged by the show. It's a pretty great thing.

New Alejandro Escovedo

2010-06-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Check this video out. He is one of our favorites. Le us know what you think

What we have been up to

2010-04-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just realized I could do slide shows on the blog. how cool is that? These are snapshots of what we have been up to for a couple of months. The big thing is the big hole in the wall. John, Sara and I took out the old chimney that wasn't working and re-purposed the bricks. they are going in our yet to be built drive way. We'll put a new wine rack and bar in that area. Cool stuff.

Los Lobos and other things

2010-03-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Sara, John, Brenda and I trekked out to Bass Hall and saw one of the greatest bands around, Los Lobos. They are from east LA and have been a favorite of ours forever. I think you can find some of their songs on the music player below. The concert was so awesome and we were so busy singing along with every song that I only snapped a couple of pictures. I finally thought to take a picture after I completely lost the beat and decided to stop clapping.
Our other big event is the giant hole we put in our wall. We are at the beginning of a project that grows everyday. What started as a way to hide cables from our TV turned into quite a project as you can see from the pictures. We had a wheel barrel in the house, that is how you know this was a serious job. As of right now we are still in the demo phase, but will have more to show very shortly. Trust me, its a big hole, and will be hard to hide. I will get those pics up tomorrow. I do not want to overload anyone. Its only been over a month since our last post.

Swearing In

2010-02-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I was sworn into the brethern of attorneys by Judge Steve Owens in the family law center downtown. This was the last step towards being a full fledged attorney. The attorneys from the Texas Attorney's Office, Child Support Central Office join us. I spent the summer volunteering with them. My mom took some great pictures and I wanted to share them with everyone. Here you go.

Our side Stairs

2010-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

A coupl

Christmas Tamales

2010-01-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

First off, this posting more promise is hard!!I am going to start posting email forwards soon just to up the post count. Its going to be all people of Walmart here before you know it.
We had a great Christmas. While Sara and I missed the big Pereda Christmas eve, due to ice and snow in Texas (crazy weather!!) it was just as fun keeping it low key. In preparation for Christmas, we did two rounds of tamale making. The first tamale making session was more of a tutorial for our tamale novices. John and Brenda hosted WLIT and it turn into a Italian/Mexican cooking class as Luciano finished a lasagna that he had started at home. While we ate Sara and Brenda led the ladies in the process of tamale making. The fellas kept to the kitchen and only took over spreading the masa when the it was brought over to us to do.
The next tamale making session took place at Ray and Kim's the Wednesday before Christmas. Watching the family make tamales reminds me of a nascar race. Its fast, everyone has a job that that have to do, and there is always the danger of being hit by a tire.

Lately

2009-12-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

OK, we will post something, or that is what we tell ourselves every time we do something we ethink is interesting. We'll run a 5K, get the Christmas tree, put stairs in (all stuff we've done) and be too tired to even do a picture only post. Instead, we take some pics with the phone and put them up on Facebook. Freaking Facebook!!
Well, I am going to risk not living up to this, but I will post more. There will be posts at regular intervals that will contain actual content. Not just links or pictures without context, but actually accounts of stuff we have done. They may be short and made up, but they will be right here; waiting.
This herculean task will be less imposing with the help of our new camera. We retired our old bruised and battered Nikon recently. Gave him a gold watch and scooted him out the door to make room at the table for the new guy. Sara, who is vegetarian mind you, prepared the brisket for the party and it was excellent.
What have we been up to? Well, lets start with the Christmas Party at The Usual. Last Sunday Fairmount took over the newest bar on the block with potluck and blackjack. It was a great time and a fun kick off to the Christmas season.
Sara and I also watched the Parade of Lights downtown on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Downtown is a little winter wonderland right now.

Picture Highlights

2009-11-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Here are our favorite pictures from our very busy fall. There are weddings, cooking demonstrations, Tyler's bday and all sorts of funniness.

What's happening?!?

2009-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy, fun filled couple of weeks at our house. I can't believe that it's already November! In October, we got to be a part of Sam and Robert's beautiful wedding - what a great event and we are so happy for the wonderful couple!

This weekend I got to go to Austin to celebrate at our neighbor's baby shower. It was so cute - a nautical theme, and I can't wait for Luke to make his debut! We are hoping to get some baby-sitting in! Veg Foodie and her hubby (our neighbors) made the road trip with me...it was a blast...two stops at Starbucks, one at the outlet mall, and we made it home in one piece. It was a lot of fun.

While in Austin, I got to see one of my best friends, Laura! She bought a new house this year, so she gave me the grand tour - it was awesome! I completely forgot to take pics, but trust me, it's really nice! For breakfast this morning, Laura, her husband, Adam, Christen, Tyler and I met at Juan in a Million - the fabulous breakfast spot that Sean and I went to a few weeks ago. Just as fun this time.

While I was off playing in Austin, Sean was busy at home - he's working on a flagstone walkways with stone stairs up to our front porch. It's going to be so nice. We were both so excited that we were able to have Jose and his great crew come out to cut down two of our trees (trash-trees). They were not doing so well and covered with Mistletoe, so we were excited for them to come down in a safe manner and not in a storm!

Here's how open the side of our house looks now! So excited about all of the home improvement projects that this opens up :) Busy...busy!

I know this post has been all over the place, but we're trying to catch up from being so lax in posting lately. We will try to post more frequently! Sean and I just signed up for the NYC Marathon lottery with our neighborhood running pals. Hopefully we all get in! Cousin M has been a good inspiration for us :)

Also - it's been over a week since we got to celebrate my bday - my parents treated us to a wonderful dinner at Paco & John's (one of my fave, new restaurants!) I had a great time with my family and I'm looking forward to what the next year has in store! I can't find a picture of all of us at dinner, I think they're on my Dad's phone - so I'll end this post with a sweet picture of Atticus.

Happy November everyone!!!

Austin's Best Handshake

2009-10-20T12:05:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago, Sara and I drove down to Austin for Samantha and Robert's wedding. We survived the rain and the traffic on 35 made into Austin on Friday afternoon just in time for Sara to get a pedy with the girls and for me to find our hotel and check in. The Holiday Inn was full of UT fans in town for the game and just about everywhere we went we swam through seas of burnt orange. But, we did get the chance to check out two very Austin restaurants.
First off, Casino El Camino did not make the best first impression. Sara and I had to slip past a drunk hipster who the bartender wouldn't let in. The hipster was too drunk to stand straight or speak full sentences, but he knew he wanted in. Casino El Camino is decorated like Halloween. Its all gargoyles, black lights and rockabilly. But, at the end of this dark hole is a bright white light, coming straight from the kitchen. Its the cleanest, most well lit kitchen I've ever seen. I think they keep it that way to make sure we know our food isn't coming from some dark dank alley behind the bar.
The food was good. I loved my burger and the fries were some of the best I've ever had. Sara was excited about her veggie burger, but disappointed by the stale bun. She did have the best Bloody Mary she's every had. it came stuffed with celery, pickled okra, asparagus, and olives. It looked like a flower arrangement.
Our next stop was the next morning at Juan in a Million. We had just enough time to stop in for a bite before the craziness of the wedding. Sara and were suppose to take a run, but I forgot to bring shorts and instead we did a four mile walk/run. I wore jeans and tried not to look at silly. Juan's would fit right in around Fort Worth. Packed to the rafters with UT fans filling up before tailgating, Juan's was hopping. The Don Juan is their signature dish. Sara got that while I ordered the Migas. I am kicking myself still for not getting the Don Juan.
The owner, Juan, was voted the best handshake in Austin. He rares back and clamps on to you like a pitbull. Sure enough, when we got up to pay, Juan put the squeeze on me.
While our stops at Austin's local hot spots were great they were not our only reason for being in Austin. We had a wedding to get to.
The wedding was great. The weather held out and the night was lovely. Everyone could tell how happy the bride and groom were which made the whole night all the more fun. It was a busy weekend that sped by. Can't wait to get back down to Austin.

""Vegetarian""

2009-09-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

In the last 3 weeks, the meat consumption has drastically decreased in the Lynch household. With our marathon (not until 2010) and half marathon training (in 2009) - I decided that I wanted to try to get really healthy and had been toying with the idea of becoming a vegetarian for quite a while. I was inspired by the book "Skinny Bi&@H"

I made the jump and have now been a vegetarian for 3 weeks. A friend has said that once I've been vegetarian for 6 months, I'll be official and she'll take the quotations off of it....

Tonight was a true test, b/c I went to a work dinner at Grace - a great steakhouse in Fort Worth. With the nickname "Cowtown," Fort Worth can sometimes be challenging for a new vegetarian, but tonight at dinner I had a great salad and homemade ravioli with mushrooms. Yum!

What foods do you think I will miss most as a vegetarian???

Since I didn't have a fitting pic to put up, I thought I'd add a cute one of Dami eating birthday cake.

Running update: Sean, Zach (our neighbor), Zach and I are progressing on our training. We have an 8 mile run on Saturday and we are now trying to improve our time. Tempo running - here we come!

Uncle Vince's Pics

2009-09-22T15:54:00.001-07:00

This is a lazy post. No text, or context for the pics. Just Pics.

Preview!!!!

2009-09-17T19:37:00.001-07:00

So - I now we've been really behind in our posts, but this weekend we are going to get on the ball and post about Atticus' birthday party, our neighborhood Board of Director elections, our marathon training, etc!

It's all to come this weekend!

Sooner Longhorn Construction

2009-08-23T20:26:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd take a break from my day job breaking bricks to give ya'll a little report on our latest addition.
Do you ever look at DIY network or watch HGTV and think to yourself, "that looks easy." We did. We decided that our code defying pergola wasn't enough. We needed flagstone. Somewhere to sit so we don't muss up the beautiful turfalo.
There were only four steps. Four small steps to our very own flagstone patio. It seemed easy enough. First, clear out the area you want to set the flagstone in of all grass and other materials to create a clean work area. Dig four inches into the ground to insure a solid base. Four inches doesn't seem like much, but we ended up taking out a yard of dirt.

The next step is filling the area with sand and decompose granite. This provides the base in which the stones will set. It also makes your truck look like this

So, we took all that dirt out, wheel barrel load by wheel barrel load and then fill it in again

Zach and I left the truly important job to Sara. She created the pattern and placed each stone right in the perfect spot.

The final step is watering the entire area down to allow the granite to adhere to itself and keep everything in place. Easy enough, but it took a whole day and much sweat. Zach was awesome enough to work for tacos and beer too.

Fairmount Happy Hour

2009-08-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Sara and I want to thank everyone who came by for Happy Hour at Chadra Mezza tonight. The First Fairmount Neighborhood Association Happy Hour was a rousing success. We wanted to create a time where people could mingle with their neighbors outside the monthly meetings. I think we accomplished that tonight. We are already planning the next Happy Hour and hope this continues to be a success.
Thanks again

Cooking with Jason

2009-08-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

it feels a little like a hostel at College and Maddox recently with all our friends travlin' through town. We must be the fun couple to visit because our friend Jason stopped by for a night right after Lean departed.
Jason is a medical supply salesmen and was down our way for a meet and greet in Dallas and a couple of meetings with Doctors in Wichita Falls. Every time he's there he tells me he's going to stop by and I always wonder if realizes how freakin' far away Wichita Falls is. It's not like going to the Eastside of Funky town. It's so far away you need a sherpa and pesos.
Anyways, my buddy is in town and forces me to go and show him around a little bit. I reluctantly leave the exciting affairs of the AG's office and take him to the most touristy thing I could think of; The Stockyards.

Our first stop was the Love Shack. I like the Shack. While Sara will tell you that it pales in comparison to Kincaid's and Dutch's (Which are both great), I am a fan. Maybe its the beer garden decor or the fact you can get roadies (beers to go) to quench your thirst as you wander around the Wild Westness of the Stockyards, but I'm a fan.I tried to talk Jason into the Dirty Love Burger, but he opted for their normal hamburger and thought it was on par with Fred's (We hit up Fred's on his last visit). Not great, but a good burger nonetheless. We then proceeded to discuss in depth the current social and economic problems that have plague our country and the solutions we've detailed elsewhere to combat these grave issues.........

Or, we went to the White Elephant Saloon and drank some beer. However, our day time drinking did produce one fantastic idea; grilling.
Jason is an amateur BBQ enthusiast who will be making his professional debut sometime this year. Sara and I got a sneak peek at our friend in action as he whipped together steaks and veggies using his own recipes and, of course, our "swinging meat" grill.

He whipped together shrimp wrapped in bacon, stuffed with pineapple and his own spicy cream cheese filling. We did bacon wrapped peppers, drilled asparagus, squash and zucchini. Our main course were fat T-bones marinated in his own concoction. It was so much fun to watch him do his recipes and then eat! It was a little like our own cooking school. I think Sara will tell you besides the delicious food, catching up with an old friend, her favorite part of the evening was not having to wash all the dishes we used dirtied up creating this feast.

We've been so lucky to have friends like Jason and Lena. Time may pass and things change, but good friendship do not. Now Sara and I have to return the favor and start making plans for some mini vacations out to Oklahoma and Singapore. Well, Singapore won't be a mini vacation, but you know what I mean.

LMC in the House! :)

2009-08-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

So, I'm late in posting this...but Sean and I had a great friend visit us two weeks ago...it was my world-traveler friend, Lena. She is about to move to Singapore in a couple of weeks for work, so we got to see her before she leaves. Sean and I have also started planning our trip to Singapore to visit her, which will be very exciting!!!

We started the trip off with a trip to Sprinkles (the cupcake place) - they were quite delicious....so much so, that I guess we never even got a pic!

The whole weekend flew by of course, but it was so much fun! Lena is my traveling partner - she and I met while we were in space and have been friends ever since.

On Saturday night we went to a Fort Worth Cats game. I know, I know....a baseball game in TX in July? Are we crazy? Well, yes...but we did actually have great weather!

We met Jen, Chris and Yaya at the game and had a great time...I just wish I had taken a picture of Sean with his delicious sno-cone.....he was a happy guy!

When we got back from the game, we "porched" on the front porch and watched some of the goings-on in the neighborhood....never a dull moment in Fairmount!

Lena also helped me to pick out the newest addition to our furniture collection. Sean has dubbed it "The Lion, the Lynch's and the Wardrobe"...he might write a book about it soon :)

We found it an awesome garage sale on Elizabeth Avenue...here's the house we bought it from...this doesn't really do it justice, but the street is full of gorgeous 1920's mansions. This one was for sale, but it has already sold. Anyways, the couple that was selling it was moving to a modern house and wanted to sell all of their antiques. They were hoping to keep the wardrobe, but it didn't fit in their new bedroom - so we were so excited to add it to our bedroom!!! We need all of the closet space we can get in our old house!

Well, Sean and I have been really productive today. We've done a neighborhood street clean-up, a jog with Atticus, mowed the yard and found a new breakfast taco place - La Original Zacatecas. I still have some work to do before dinner tonight at my parents. Have a good Saturday! We'll write more soon!

The Grass is greener on this side

2009-07-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Our backyard has gone from barren dirt farm to legitimate lawn. It hasn't been easy. Our earlier posts have shown just what horrible shape our backyard was in. Nothing but weeds and ancient Corona caps. Every time we'd go outside we'd find a some new and strange trinket like a beach ball or a small onion field as we worked. All the hard work has finally paid off and we now have a lawn to care for. So while we've created an extra chore for ourselves, we no longer have the ugliest backyard in the world.

Here are some pics to compare what we had to what our lawn looks like now.

Preview!

2009-07-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

Well - we've been a little lax in our posting lately, but doing so has enabled us to have a lot to post about all at once! Here's a quick preview....over the weekend we had a wonderful Lena in town, bought an antique mahogany wardrobe and much, much more!

We'll post all of the details ASAP!

Hope everyone is having a good night....Atticus and I are still training for our half marathon - just got back from a run!

Doing time....

2009-06-22T09:06:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone....
I wanted to put a quick post out here in blog-land to let everyone know that I'm raising money for the Muscular Dystrohy Association... I am going to be locked up in "jail" to raise money for MDA. My goal is to raise $3,280 before the event on August 6th!

Your 100% tax-deductible donation will help MDA continue research into the cause and the possible cure of the 43 neuromuscular diseases they cover. Your support of the MDA Lock-Up will also help MDA provide medical equipment, clinic visits, support groups and a magical week of MDA Summer Camp for the families served by the Association in our local area.

Please visit my donation homepage

13.1.....

2009-06-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

MILES!!! So, Sean and I decided that we are going to run a half marathon! We're going to run the White Rock Half Marathon together in December.....unless we find a better one to run in the Oct/Nov time frame!

Atticus is so excited about this and can't figure out why we didn't start training for this a year ago when he joined our family. He's definitely more of a fan or running, as opposed to his normal walking.

This will be my (Sara's) third half marathon and Sean's first half marathon. Let us know if you have any tips for us!!!

And Now it is Complete

2009-06-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well, its 99% complete. A massive storm rolled in just as we were fastening the last board into the pergola. Oh well, just take a gander at what our new backyard feature looks like.

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Check it out!

2009-06-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a review of a local German restaurant:

I Don't Know if this is Tall Enough

2009-06-08T09:12:00.001-07:00

Meet the new addition to our home, our new pergola. Well what is a pergola you may ask? Well, it's, it's that thing right up there. It provides no shelter from rain or wind and sunlight will shine right through the slates of the roof (once we put them on)so it offers minimal shade.
So why did we build it? Because it looks cool. Because it defines the area around it and creates entertaining space out of what was just yard. The pergola is the next step in putting Sara's and my personality into our house. Here some pictures of John and I at work at it. Just like all of our projects, it involved digging.
In case anyone is reading this and wonders if we needed a permit or should have gone through the bureaucratic process that is sometimes necessary in historical neighborhoods such as ours. Remember this; that is a bounce house!

Pics from Cheese-land!!!!

2009-06-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

So - I definitely think that any of our posts are 100 times better with pictures!!! Here are some pics of my trip to Wisconsin...thanks to Megan and Dami. To start it off, we have a Dami sandwich....Mom and I had so much fun getting to spend so much time with Meg and Dami!

Here we are at dinner #2 one night with Aunt Lyria, Uncle Rick, Cousin Ben and Cousin Dan.....I feel kind of short in this picture!

Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Meg and Dami at Oakwood....we had the best time visiting with them :)

And - the bizarre pic from our trip - here I am with....a random baby! Actually, the mom on my flight lost her necklace and I offered to help her by holding her 14-month old son for a moment. Well, that moment turned into over an hour, because although he was unhappy while his mom was holding him - he really liked me holding him. Hence the pic above. He fell asleep in my arms for an hour!! Too funny!

G'night!

Hello from God's Country....Wisconsin!

2009-06-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hi all! This is Sara :)
I just got back from Wisconsin! My Mom, Megan, Dami and I went to Wisconsin for the weekend. We had a great time! We got to see Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Lyria, Uncle Rick, Cousin Ben, Cousin Dan, Roger, Gary and Sonya! Can you tell we were busy!

So....since we're in Wisconsin - I should give you a run-down of all that we ate... let's see - we had two dinners one night - kind of scary, right? We had delicious homemade ice cream from Olson's, Noodles and Company (I may have to open a franchise!), a delicious burger place, the Norske Nook (where my parents met!!!!) and probably too many more to list....and to think, we were only there for 4 days!

Thanks so much to Aunt Lyria, Uncle Rick, Dan and Ben... we got to stay with them and it was so much fun! Dan even let Meg, Dami and I stay in his room - what a sweet cousin!

We took all of the pics on Meg's camera, so hopefully I will have some to post tomorrow!

G'night!

Our Menu and Where we'll be eating

2009-05-19T14:17:00.001-07:00

Before we get to our new kickass kitchen island and what we'll eat on it, I thought I'd share a little life lesson. Today, I had a Dentist's appointment. As I got out of my freshly washed, waxed, and dejunked Talon (For Sale Right Now), A Domino's Pizza Delivery guy pulled up. I could smell the cheese and tomato sauce as I walked in. Delivery Guy walked in right behind me and while I signed in at the front desk, he strolled past the receptionist with a nod and a smile. Pizza fumes wafted through the office as the hygienist showed me to the chair and she got her gear ready.
So, what is the point to this? Well, the hygienist barely applied the Novocaine before the Dentist stuck my gums with the needle. It hurt. It hurt enough for me garble, "ahh, that hurt." My Dentist just smiled and said "Alright, you'll good to go." I imagine he was in a hurry chow down before someone ate all his cheese pizza. The hygenist was also speedy in her work. Later on, in the afternoon, it felt like someone punched each of my teeth individually with a tiny fist. It goes to show you that just like in college, no matter who you are, you will not be able to compete with free pizza.
Anyway, back to our island. It fits in perfectly in our kitchen and will definitely help us with keeping the kitchen decluttered. The best part was it only took twenty minutes to put together and I did it all with just my pinky finger. Or it took way longer than I'll admit and I was left with way too many extra screws. Either way it's great to have.

And if anyone is curious about what exactly we are eating on that kitchen island, here is our menu for the next couple of weeks. If you want to come on meatloaf night, you better let us know early.

Welcome to the ISLAND!!!

2009-05-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hooray!!! The final two pieces of the our kitchen island arrived today! Sean just put it together and it looks great.

In just a little bit, Sean is going to post our new menu. We're so excited that we have two full weeks worth of meals planned! I know...it's silly, but anyone who knows us well...knows that it's amazing that we actually have enough food in our house to plan one week of menus - let alone two weeks!!!

Look for Sean's post soon!

Fairmount Historic Tour of Homes!!!!

2009-05-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

This Saturday and Sunday, the Fairmount Neighborhood is hosting the 27th Annual Historic Tour of Homes from noon until 6pm. It's a really neat event and all of the proceeds go toward improving the neighborhood!

Anyone interested - here is a link to the info! http://www.historicfairmount.com/home/hometour.html

Who knows - maybe in 5 years, Sean and I will put our home on the tour! :)

Here are a couple of our recent projects - who knew we were so handy!! :) Sean re-did our front porch lighting and together we re-grouted our tub! :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

"The Law-man"

2009-05-02T22:39:00.001-07:00

So - for those of you that have not yet heard....we have exciting news!!!! Sean passed the Texas Bar Exam! We found out Thursday evening when we returned from our wonderful vacation to VT and NH. It was definitely a great way to cap off a fun trip. We have been celebrating ever since.

We had a party tonight and it was so much fun. We did a shrimp boil, and even with this monsoon-like weather, and less than 24-hour notice, we had a great turnout of family and friends.

Thank you so much to everyone for coming over to celebrate with us - it really means so, so much to us!

Way to go Sean!!!
(we didn't really get any pics tonight, b/c our camera started acting up.....so I thought I'd just post a cute one of Sean!) We'll post more tomorrow, but I better get some sleep before church in the morning!

Phil Pritchett at The Fairmount

2009-04-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Bullfighter Returns by Phil Pritchett from John H. Reynolds on Vimeo.

The Fairmount is around the corner from us and is one of only two places in our barrio for live music. It is, or rather, it was a great bar and is now a BYOB venue. Its future is uncertain and if anyone knows what is going on with it, please let us know. In the meantime get a good look at a cool place to see a band. Phil Pritchett is pretty badass too

We will be signing autographs!!!

2009-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Yes - it is true....we have a mini celebrity in the Lynch household! Atticus Pereda Lynch is an AKC certified Good Citizen. We even have the papers to prove it. He didn't make it totally easy. He made us sweat a little bit, but then ended up passing with flying colors!

Daisy White, Atticus' black lab girlfriend also passed with flying colors, so Christen, Tyler, Sean and I decided to go to Fuzzy's Tacos to celebrate!

We totally forgot our camera for the test, so hopefully we'll get a copy of the school's pictures - if so, we'll post them soon (b/c hopefully you are as enamored with our cute pup as we are!)

Tech Turf and Other New Developments

2009-04-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on since our last post and we're tying to catch up. First thing first, we are in the early stages of an actual backyard. Many of you know that our backyard has looked more like the dust bowl than a yard. To rectify that, we planted Tech Turf, a hybrid of buffalo grass and turf grass that is sturdy and low maintenance. It also doesn't have a running game and is easily walked all over by Oklahoma, thus making it the best grass for us.
It is not the easiest grass to plant. Tech Turf comes in little plugs that you plant individually. The closer you plant them, the quicker you get a yard. Even with our small yard, it took over 600 plugs to cover it.
Prior to planting the turf, the yard had to be tilled and mixed with compost. You can't tell from the picture, but that tiller is kicking my ass. It just shook and shook and rattled my entire body. It was unrelenting. But tilling the yard was essential and made planting the plugs a thousand times easier than it would have been had we not tilled the soil. It also proved that I could never be a farmer.
The grass is in and after the rain this past week, it is looking good. We'll keep everyone updated on how green our grass grows.

The other big news is Atticus decided we needed a new window. During Art Goggle three weeks ago, Atticus decided he didn't like the window in the office and took matters into his own paws. Friends called us, fearing our house had been broken into, and we rushed home. It turns out Atticus broke the window out. Once we figured out Atticus hadn't tried to burglarize us, we called a local contractor, Joe Massey, and went about getting a window that actually opens put in.
As you can see the guys who came over to remove the window and then put the new one in, loved having their picture taken.

So now we have a window that opens and closes. That is a big step for us. Eventually, cross your fingers, all our windows will do the same thing.

And because I do like to take pics, here are just a bunch of recent pictures. There is a sneak peek of a future project in the third picture and the always cute Katie Claire.

Happy Easter!!!!

2009-04-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter day! It's definitely a day to celebrate! We had a wonderful day starting with church and ending with pies....we'll fill you in on the in between in the next couple of days! Goodnight!

(Happy early bday Meg!!!)

Soon....very soon....

2009-03-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

We will have grass in the backyard....to some, this may not seem like a big deal - BUT ever since we moved in to our house - 9 months ago, we've had some form of dirt/weeds in the backyard....and in the next week or so we'll be planting turffalo. This is a cool type of grass that is actually a cross between buffalo grass and turf grass - hence the name! It requires less water and is really hardy, which will be perfect for us.

Needless to say - we can't wait!!! That will be our next major home project, in addition to getting our window replaced. We also are eye-ing this kitchen island - it will double our counter space.
Well, HAPPY MONDAY!

Fun, busy weekend!!!

2009-03-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

Who would believe that this sweet, little Atticus would try to break out of our house!!!

On Friday night, while we were partying at Arts Goggle, we got a call that one of our windows was broken out! Our neighbors, Christen and Tyler found Atticus and Nutmeg and a broken window and gave us a call. We raced home - only to find that Atticus must have broken part of the window out with his paw.

Thankfully, everyone was okay - and our window is going to be fixed in a historic manner...which will be gorgeous!

As for the rest of the weekend, we re-grouted our bathtub and bought two pretty clay pots to plant some gorgeous cannas (sp?) flowers.

At church on Sunday, we worked in the nursery - there were 5 cute little boys - they kept us on our toes! Then on Sunday night, we went to my parents for dinner. We had delicious barbequed chicken, sausage, pasta salad and corn. YUM, YUM!

On another note - time is running out to advertise in the 2009 Fairmount Historic Home Tour brochure - http://www.historicfairmount.com/home/hometour.html

Have a great night!

Art Goggle and Joe's Run

2009-03-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

We have a busy weekend head of us and we want to invite everyone along. First we have Art Goggle. Its a fun Open House type event for the Near Southside, that's our barrio. Restaurants and businesses all along Magnolia along with others will host artists and have music, drinks and appetizers. Its like a house party, a big fun house party. Look at Mat below, that is how much fun you are going to have.

Check out here for all the details. We'll be marshaling the troops at our place around 6:30 pm and heading out soon after. It does kick off at 5, but you don't want to be the first one to the party!

We are also running Joe's run on Saturday. So come and cheer us on or come pick me up from wherever I drop. Check out the details for Joe's Run and the Samaritan House right about here

Two posts in one day!?!?!

2009-03-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

I can't remember if Sean and I posted about our "road trip" to Austin after Christmas. Yes, I realize that was already 3 months ago, but time flies!

We took a weekend trip to Austin, thanks to Megan and Kevin. They won the trip on a Austin Tourism website, and we had so much fun! Thank you Meg and Kev (and Dami)!!!!

More recently, Atticus has started "Good Citizen Training." He has his 3rd of 8 classes tomorrow night. It is going really well and he is just so smart. He did sneak out of his collar last week to try to get the trainer's attention, but I think it's because he's used to being an only dog - he sure does love his grand-dog Nutmeg though. A couple of weeks ago Atticus had his first sleepover at our house. My friend and co-worker, Sarah went out of town and we watched her chocolate Cocker Spaniel, Duke.
Here we are relaxing on the couch.

And now - our home projects! We have been pretty busy....painting the bathroom, the office, killing weeds in the backyard and recycling brick to prepare to build our driveway. Look at this cute painter - Sean was working hard - and it looks great! We did an accent wall in red and the other three walls are chocolate brown.

Last week, Kristen came into town, so we had a fun night to catch up at one of Sean and my fave restaurant's, Nonna Tata's!

We also got to see Anna and Michael and their dog Aubrey on Saturday. We enjoyed getting to catch up with them! We hadn't seen each other since Laura's wedding this past June! We got to show them our progress on our house and then went to a local restaurant.

We finished off the weekend with a fabulous dinner at my parents' house with Mom, Dad, Grandma Pauline, Grandpa Ramon, Anna, Megan, Kevin, Damian and Sean! What a fun Sunday night. I guess we haven't uploaded the pics yet - we'll add them soon. :)

Well, I think I'm off to bed - I need to get better!

Guess who?

2009-03-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Wow - I guess it takes me being sick for us to catch up on our blog posting. I had to go home from work after lunch today sick and I've been sleeping/resting ever since. So - everyone....take a guess what famous singer my Mom and I took our picture with on Valentine's Day! It's blurry, but I guess that makes the guessing more interesting. A couple of clues are that he played at the Democratic National Convention, he lives in Austin and he played in Fort Worth, TX on Valentine's Day! Dad, Mom, Sean and I got to enjoy the awesome concert and had a great time!!!

WOW!!! Look at "Our Old House"

2009-02-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

So, our neighborhood website has this cool feature that Sue McLean put together....it shows pics of every house in the neighborhood sometime in the late 90's, 2005 and 2008. Here's a link to ours:
http://historicfairmount.com/gallery/College_Avenue_Fifteen_and_Sixteen_Hundred_Blocks/1601_College_2003.aspx
If you click to the next two photos, you will see our house as well!

I'm going to post some more pictures of our house soon - I've been really busy painting (the office is next)! Also, once we have the last freeze, we're going to plant turfallo grass in the backyard!

We had a wonderful weekend too....Friday was relaxing, Saturday night we went to a wonderful Latin fusion restaurant with my parents, Philip and Tim, the McD's, the Moaks and Jeff. It was a lot of fun. :)
On Sunday, we went to church and celebrated Grandma Pauline's birthday with a wonderful afternoon party! It's always so great to get together with everyone.

Well, I better get to bed - morning workouts come earlier than I would like! I'll post pics soon!!!

Hey, How you doing?

2009-01-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, how's it going? Is the new year as you expected? While there are no flying cars and I haven't actually met Springsteen yet, its going pretty good over here. Above are some more pics from New Year's Day and the the tree planting event. Look at the second picture and you can actually see Kevin and I decide not to bury John in the hole with the new tree. The tree looks tremendous in our backyard and is one of the best gifts we've ever received. Thanks to John and Kevin for getting that thing into the ground. I hope everyone is well and we'll talk soon.

Delicious Restaurant!!!

2009-01-10T21:30:00.001-08:00

We went to a delicious restaurant with Mom, Dad, Mat, Anna, Meg, Kevin, Dami and Joseph tonight...it's called Celaborelle's. http://www.celaborelle.com/
This is a place my Mom has wanted to try for years, and we finally did. Thank goodness, because it was great - we will definitely go back soon!

It's a buffet, and although I am normally very anti-buffet, this was delicious. For starters, we had a big group so when we arrived they told us that we could order any of the items off of the menu that we would like and it would be included in the buffet price. Some of the favorites at our table where the homemade falafel, the spinach pizza, the beef kebabs and the chicken kebabs. The tabouli was also fantastic. All in all, everyone loved the place. It is located in an old house and the people who work there are so hospitable. I really loved it, can you tell? I can't believe that I haven't mentioned the baklava - "This is the best baklava I've ever tried," is a quote from my Mom.

Meg and Kev have pics from the restaurant, so we'll have to add some soon :)

I worked on our yard all day long, so at least I got a good workout in before such a yummy dinner. My goal for our yard is to be the "Yard of the Month" in our neighborhood newsletter before July/August timeframe....I'll keep you posted on that.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

2009-01-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

Wow - it's already 2009! I know, I know - it's been 2009 for 5 days already, but I guess I am a little slow! Anyways, things have been busy at our house. We have two new trees - Sean, Dad, Mat and Kevin planted trees - one on Christmas Day and one on New Years Day.

In the background you can even see our new retaining wall (isn't it awesome?) and my herb garden and new plants! I am just getting so excited!!!!

During the whole tree planting process, Mom, Meg, Dami and I stayed busy straightening up other areas outside - we even introduce Dami to his first shovel!

On the weekend after Christmas, Sean and I took a fabulous trip down to Austin (thanks to Megan and Kevin!) We had a wonderful time - we stayed on Lake Travis, went to shop on South Congress, ate at Ranch 616 and relaxed. I'll post pics of that soon too.

We wish everyone a wonderful, happy, healthy, blessed 2009!

KMR Tulsa

2008-12-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad!!

I wanted to post this link. This link right here. The link will take you to our friend Kenny's website. He took the picture at the top of the blog. He does great work and we wanted to share it with everyone.

Merry Christmas

It's already December!!!

2008-12-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone...we figured after the drought in posts, we would make sure to post a few in a row. Our home has been changing quite a bit in the last few weeks. We now have a gorgeous, handmade table base for our pretty glass table. We also have a 7 foot noble fir Christmas tree - and it's all decorated now! We went to pick it up in our Scion...we brought Atticus with us...and amazingly enough all three of us and the tree got home just fine (Atticus did have to sit on my lap.) We've painted a few rooms (living room, master bedroom, and hallway.) Everything is really continuing to shape up!
Outside is shaping up too. I did have to tear out my flower beds and I'll be starting over on those, but Sean planted 4 trees - and my parents just gave us two big trees for our birthdays, so we'll be planting those soon too!!!

With all of the improvements to our home, we still have found time to go to a really fun wine pairing last night at Taverna. My parents invited us, Megan, Kevin, Mat, Anna, Damian, Kyle and Crystal. We all had such a great time...and learned a lot too. I really didn't like one of the wines when I tried it alone, but with the lobster ravioli, it was really quite nice. That's the whole point of a wine pairing - to realize how a wine can change when paired with food :)

Atticus always keeps us laughing - tonight we went to Target to do some grocery shopping and while we were gone, Atticus decided that he wanted to eat the tempeh (soy) that I had marinating on the counter... I guess he figured that he hears me talking so much about the benefits of soy - he wanted in on the action. :)

So - we finished decorating our tree tonight. We'll post the finalized pic tomorrow, but I have put the interim picture up for now. We actually had to get more lights tonight, because our tree last year was only 5 feet tall. With such tall ceilings, we figured we could definitely have a bigger tree! :) I love it :)

Well, that's all for now!!! This is a little late for Thanksgiving, but we want to let you all know that we are so thankful for each of you all!

Thanksgiving Weekend and then some,

2008-11-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

Lets just start with one of my favorite recent pictures

Wow, Do not let anyone tell you it is easy to update and keep a blog. First, you have to actually do something worth writing about. That can be hard to come by sometimes. However, here at College and Maddox, we wait long enough between posts to build up a library of stuff. If we didn't there would be a lot of blogs about groceries and our favorite TV shows. Maybe your favorite TV shows too.
First off, I'm old. This year I turned 28 which is much closer to thirty than twenty, a fact I am very aware of now . Despite my advanced age we still had time to party it up with everyone. It is always fun to watch people who didn't know each other before they arrived enjoy themselves. Plus, I really love the front yard party. It's a specialty of Fairmount.

I hope you noticed the new paint in our living room and Kitchen. Also here, is my second favorite picture from the last few weeks

Here is Little Dami in a bucket. Everything that kid does is cute. Just sitting in a bucket is cute when he does it.

There will definitely be more to come this week. Have fun

A&M and Austin Weekend!

2008-11-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun time in Austin and A&M with Jennifer and Chris!
Look at the pictures to prove it!!! What an awesome game!!!

Here is everyone enjoying the best new entrepreneurial venture in Austin (that might be an overstatement :)) It's called Meatheads - all this after we ate an amazing sushi dinner at Maiko! Jennifer and I got to try the best ever - grilled chocolate chip cookie!!!

Anyways - I have to keep my eyes glued to this election coverage!!!

We're a little late with this one

2008-11-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, we took a little siesta and forgot to add anything for a couple of weeks. But we're back and brought pics!
Jeez, what haven't we've done in the last couple of weeks. We've been to a traditional Indian wedding, chauffeured Pauline and Raymond to a huge concert in Dallas, had someone bust out the window on the talon, and saw a elderly woman drive on the wrong side of the street. And that was just one weekend!
First off, we are adding some color to the Lynch Homestead. What started out as a one room project, our bedroom for Sara's birthday, has turned into our entire house. So now instead of apartment white walls with smudges and fingerprints (what can I say, I have dirty fingers) we have color everywhere.
We also have ceiling fans! John was kind enough to teach me how to wire the fans in. In turn, I was nice enough to change the code on the remote to the fan and not tell anyone. When did ceiling fans start coming with remotes?
Also, two weeks ago, Sara, Chris, and Jennifer went to the A&M and Texas Tech game. College Station was awesome. Tech won, just like they did last night, with authority and we had a fun time in Austin.
Finally, little DP finally crawled!! Forward!! on his own!! The little guy finally got over that last obstacle, which was his own leg, and is on the move. So, that is the quick skinny on us. Have a happy voting day.

2008-10-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hello out there in the blogosphere. We don't have much going this week. The fence is finished, done, kaput. John and I screwed the last few boards in during a downpour on Tuesday. It rained incredibly hard for 10 minutes on Tuesday and it was in that ten minutes we finished. It was us, rain, and fence pickets. I thought it was a thrill to finally (almost) have this project complete. The moment was in no way uneventful, in fact it was a really proud moment for us. But we didn't have anyone to take any pics and this thing is always so much better with pics. We could have been attacked by bears, then got in helicopters to hunt those very same bears and it still wouldn't be worth writing about without pics (that's an Alaska joke. You can hunt bears from helicopters there. I don't know why they don't campaign on that hot topic issue!!) So, we thought we'd just put pics of Atticus up, Damian, and all the other cutesy we have around us. They all are just so cute. and the fence is done, so we go that going for us.

I don't know about you all...

2008-10-08T17:16:00.001-07:00

But that was way too graphic for me! :) This is Sara...

I thought I would post a couple of pics of our new flower beds and our fence! Here is pre-fence...

Here is our lovely fence - with the gate installed! I've also included a picture of Atticus and Nutmeg together - they are so sweet!!!

Brown Gold, Texas Pee

2008-10-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

The very first "challenge" we faced as homeowners started out as a minor inconvenience.
We'd been living with a funny little problem for a couple of weeks before the picture to the left. Our bathroom sink would slowly backup over night. We'd cup out the water in the morning and by the time we got home in the evening it would be almost ready to spill over.
And we just kind of dealt with it. Maybe out of laziness, or the fear that it may be something more than just a giant hairball, we made dumping stank water into our tub part of our morning routine. Right after brushing teeth, and before brushing our teeth again because we can't remember if that was the cup we used to dump out the over flow.
So we went out to eat. And after everyone had just enough, we let Mike Moak and Mike Pounds loose on our bathroom. The beers were there when they got there

Then it got worse. Much Much worse. I'm not watering the grass there. There isn't any grass in that picture, but what is in that picture is sewage. Lots and lots of sewage coming out of the ground like I struck oil in the 1600 block of College Avenue. It turns out the pipes that lead out of our house to the sewer were put together by a kindergarten class who liked right angles and glue. They also liked putting dirt, beer bottles, children toys, and what looked like a class project time capsule in there while they were at it. There was only one thing we could do to remedy this problem. DIG!!

We found a maze of pvc only trained labs would enjoy. With that we found a tough decision. Do we go at ourselves, or do we call in professionals. We made the obvious choice.
We called in Tim.

From these pictures, you can see that we clearly knew what we were doing.
So on our (Sara and I, Not Tim and I) first anniversary, I found myself standing in a half a foot of flies, crap, and pvc trying to figure out how to make shit go down hill. That can be a tall task. But we had a plan and Sara had promised pizza and chicken wings for a job well done for incentive. Maybe even some wedding cake.

Tim and I thought we'd get at this project in pieces. We'd take a part of the pipe off, replace it and move to the next piece. We pulled on that first piece of pipe and the entire tangle came off. Broke off like a chopstick. In our confusion I said "Shit," in exasperation. Tim Said "Shit," pointing out that in fact shit was coming out of the pipes. We tossed the poop tube as far as we could and looked at each other in bewilderment as the reality of the job hit us much as the horrendous smell that suddenly permeated the yard.

But, we made it work. Tim and I untangled the pvc mess left for us and made it work. Shit now does roll down hill at the Lynch household and that is all you can ask for.

It's almost Friday!!!

2008-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a busy week - I know that Sean and my parents agree - our fence is totally coming together...which is really exciting! :)

Tomorrow night, we're all going to an event in our neighborhood - Magnolia on the Green. Anyone is welcome to join us. The entrance is simply a can donation and there is going to be live bands and food from Chadra Mezza (a yummy Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant.) http://www.fortworthsouth.org/FWS/resources/Poster1stFriday.pdf

Hope everyone is doing well!

Fencing Us In

2008-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Look at this!! That is a Fence!! Well, it's an almost finished fence but its still a fence ( A fence, mind you, that will be done by the time you actually see it in person). There is no more tree/chain link fence monster marauding all over our yard. That there is an actual fence. It's something to behold after all the work that's gone into it.
Someone told us that every project we take on will take twice as long and cost twice as much. While this hasn't been quite true for us, there is a big grain of kosher salt in that statement.
To build this fence we have dug out enough concrete to build a skate park. We have found everything but oil buried in our yard (and if we did find oil we are not telling anyone). We clear cut our back yard like a brazilian rain forest to make room for the fence and still pulled roots the size of baseball bats out of the ground and our way. I think we found an actual baseball bat. Take a look at how this project has progressed.

Bill the Tree Guy took out all the trash trees that had taken over our backyard.

After he cleared out the backyard we got to work. The first night Johns and I thought we'd knock out 10 or 11 post holes before the end of happy hour. We got one hole almost dug. One, that's it. We'd dug out an inch at a time. Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption dug faster than we were. You'd think we were using plastic spoons. That was when the scope and size of this undertaking became terribly clear. It was going to bust, at the very least, my ass.

That guy there, in the blue, who is working while I just sweat. That is AC. He saved me from having to dig everyone of those post holes by myself. If that had happened We'd have 8 Ft of fence and it wouldn't be in our yard or in a straight line.

As you can see everyone had their special jobs. Grandma B had to keep Damian from running out into the yard and making us look bad with his brute strength. I made sure there was enough sweat in every picture. Mat and John made sure it looked effortless

We did so much work on this project that it requires two posts. Plus I'm tired. So take a peek at what else we did.

Thanks to everyone, it looks AWESOME and is making our house even more of a home!

FENCE!!!!

2008-09-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Our fence is going up...right as I type this! Sean and I will post plenty of pictures later - and write all about it, but I just was too excited not to share the fun news. It's going to look great. Sean and my Dad are still hard at work - but we'll post more news soon!!!

Now With Posting!!

2008-09-23T08:37:00.001-07:00

Hey faithful readers,

Sara and I are new to the blogosphere and are working out the kinks here as we go along. With that, we fixed it so anyone can post a comment if they so chose. So please, have at it and comment away at the shenanigans we publish

Thanks

The Gospel According to HOB

2008-09-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues is fantastic. Every Sunday there's fried chicken, waffles, people clapping with the beat (ahem, I'm looking at you All Saint's members); just everything you want right after Church. and waffles!!
As you can tell by the pics, We had seats up close and personal with the Johnson Family Band from Bay City. They made it past Ike to come to Dallas and put on a show.
Take a look at these pics from the HOB and clap along with the beat in your head. Oh and imagine the food, especially the best bread pudding (excluding Great Aunt Eleanor's) and cajun mac'n'cheese because no one could stop eating long enough to take a picture.

By the way, Caleb Young, pictured below, had much more fun than this pictures may show. He can shake his rump like a natural.

What's New?!?!

2008-09-21T19:52:00.001-07:00

We've had a busy few days.....first - here are the pictures of our cute shrubs! :)

Here's a wrap-up of our weekend - on Friday night, we went to the Rangers game with Sean's work....it was a lot of fun! The weather was perfect for a baseball game and it was fun to meet all of Sean's co-workers. Atticus had the most fun though, b/c he went to hang out with my Mom and Nutmeg.....he and Nutmeg were home along for a little while - so Atticus decided to eat a whole bag of whole wheat tortillas from Central Market - doesn't he have such good taste?

Then on Saturday, I had to finish some work...but we did make time to take Atticus to the dog park...he had a great time - I think he wants Sean to campaign for him to be the Mayor of "For t Woof" - http://fortwoof.org/
We stopped at Meg, Kev and Dami's on the way to the dog park - look at this cute picture of them on their porch!

I guess I'm not writing in chronological order, but here is a picture of Kristen, Atticus and I...she was in town for a couple of days for work - so it was such a blast to get to see her - we went to a fabulous restaurant right near our house (w/in walking distance) - Yucatan Taco Stand. Then we came home and Sean and Atticus got back from having dinner at my parents' house... of course we had to taste-test some of our wine from Sonoma/Napa...yum! Here's a pic of us in the really huge 12-passenger van that Kristen had to drive (quite a change from her Mini Cooper!)

Here are a couple of pictures from today at my parents house....Sean said that Atticus and Nutmeg were "dancing cheek to cheek...."
Look at how cute Damian is - his teeth are growing in so fast!!!

Mom and Anna came over for a delicious dinner made by Sean - gorgonzola and spinach stuffed chicken, brocolli and mashed potatoes...yummy!

Sean's going to write more tomorrow about our trip to the Gospel brunch at the House of Blues in Dallas....and don't worry - his post will be funny...hope mine isn't too boring :)

Happy Tuesday! Cali Trip Pics

2008-09-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

We now officially have 6 shrubs in our front yard....and although this may not sound exciting to some - we are ecstatic! I'll put a cute picture up later - but first I wanted to add a few pictures from our trip to California. We were so excited to go to celebrate with Stewy and Gretchen for their beautiful wedding, as well as to celebrate our first anniversary! It's hard to believe that a year has flown by so fast! We went to Sonoma (hence the picture in front of wine barrels), Napa (at the picnic table - we're at Taylor's Automatic Refresher - which was on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network), Davenport (a gorgeous little town), Monterey (the Aquarium was awesome), and San Francisco (yes...we did walk up the crooked-est road ever!) Whew - what a fun-filled trip!

The addition to our Lynch Family!

2008-09-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

I know that what you all really want to hear about is our sweet, chocolate lab - Atticus...he has brought Sean and me so much joy in just the short month that we have had him! We have also gotten much closer to our vet - we've visited him 5 times in the last month! On our most recent visit we found out that poor Atticus had hookworms :( Poor thing...but he has medicine, and is all better now.

Here are some of Atticus' fave things:

His grand-dog, Nutmeg
Going for walks around the neighborhood
Looking out the front window....
And - last, but not least....jumping like a pogo stick to greet us when we get home!!

He is so sweet - I can't wait for everyone to meet him!

In the Beginning....

2008-09-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

In the beginning there was a house with tall grass and a bad roof and, despite the picture, a front door. It also isn't nearly as crooked as it seems in this pic. It is crooked, just not that much. Anyway, Sara and I decided we are doing as many of improvements to the house as we can and we will post every accident, happy or otherwise, we have along the way. Here is just a preview of what we'll post - try to find a theme....

The answer? Since we bought our home, I seem to only own one pair of shorts!

And it begins.....

2008-09-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

I have told too many people that I wanted to start a blog about our house not to. So here it is. We hope to document every brush stroke, shovel full, and exasperated look that goes along with owning our home.
I guess that is the point, to watch 1601 College Avenue become our home. It'll be messy but fun to watch