Summertime and the livin's easy...

The heat has been wicked this year and has not helped our garden. In the sun's defense, we planted late this spring. We are getting a bumper crop of hot peppers, bell peppers and herbs. Our tomatoes are slow...we've had two from four plants. Our cucumbers and squash are suffering from cucumber beetles. I'm ready to give up on those. That's what I get for not buying the pest resistent variety. The eggplant has been flowering but no fruit and the canteloupe and watermelon are growing like crazy (no fruit yet).

I'm about to start some seeds for the fall and I'm really excited about everything you can grow in the fall and winter. I'm hoping to have a bunch of different varieties of lettuce and greens!

We've been keeping busy with work, family and friends. We went to Concerts in the Garden and we'll be going again Friday for the Fourth of July concert.

I've moved offices at work...or actually set up a second office in a new location. I've also flown through the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Now that True Blood is on again, I've been craving more plot line. I've definitely found it in the books. I hope Charlaine Harris continues to write the books and doesn't pull a Stephanie Meyer and quit.

I'm loving the long summer days. It's light outside when I wake up extra early and I can go outside and water plants and prep for the night's dinner. At night I can play in the yard or enjoy a late night dinner on the patio and still have light. It might be hot to the extreme but I can't get enough of the beautiful sun. This weekend we set up what we like to call our "redneck" pool in the backyard. It's an 8 ft. snapset pool with room for two floats. We filled it up, did a little tanning and then watered our yard with it. A nice treat for $11!

Happy fourth of July!

The next stage...

We completed our garden beds with the help of the Burys over Memorial Day weekend. Gardening has commenced. We planted eggplant, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, four types of tomato, basil, sage, bell peppers and hot peppers. I'm about to start a few things from seed for the fall. It sounds kind of silly to be prepping for fall when we just got into our ridiculously hot season, but apparently, now is the time for some things. I'm most excited about the malabar spinach. I hope the seeds work!



This weekend we went to Austin for two celebrations. On Friday we drove in and were able to spend some time with my aunt, uncle and cousins before we headed out to Megan and Joel's wedding. I've known Megan since we were little kids back when we used to have a radio station called MJKL and we taped our own radio show :) It was awesome to see her entire family again and our good friend Lindsay.



That night we didn't get much sleep because we had to be out the door at 7 a.m. for Kyle and Kimbell's high school graduation. I am so proud of them for both graduating in the top 10 of their class. They're off to big things at St. Edward's and UT this fall.

Robert and I took some time Sunday morning to eat at the Magnolia Cafe (gingerbread pancakes!) and stop by a huge organic nursery. This place has its own gardens and it was fun to walk through all of them and get some inspiration. We bought a few plants to bring home and try out since everything they stock is great for the Texas climate.

It's always fun to see friends and family moving on to the next stage in their lives :)

Do you remember when...?

Welcome summer...we missed you. This was our first full week of 90+ temps and I'm definitely starting to acclimate. What I can't acclimate to is wearing a full suit outside...time to break out the short sleeve suit jackets and skirts!

May has been the month of meeting goals. I've had a lot of goals for myself at work and I've managed to hit the majority of them. Time to set the bar higher. I love my job, I love my company and I love my boss. Who would've thought that at age 27 I'd have my dream job?

Courtney came in to visit from NYC last weekend. I have missed her so much. She makes such a big impact on our group of friends. She is doing amazing things with Puma right now. I'm really excited that Mark is moving from San Fran to NYC to be with her...and we can't wait to visit so they can show us their city. We're hoping to go later this year.

I haven't been playing in the yard as much this year because I was sick so much but now that summer has hit, it's time to get back to it. This weekend we're having some friends over and we're building raised garden beds. We've already bought our starter plants (it's too late for summer seeds). They're hard at work producing and attracting bugs. Organic gardening is a lot harder than people think..not many alternatives for getting rid of pests. We also got two new hydrangea plants and they are beautiful. They are currently trying out different spots in our yard before they find their permanant homes.

We don't have big Memorial Day weekend plans aside from gardening. Tonight we're headed to the Special Olympics summer games opening ceremonies to accept an award for my company. Then we're going to head out to a date night. I'm hoping to catch lunch with Stace after a memorial service tomorrow morning and then grab some pool time. I'm working on my summer tan so I don't scare people at work with my ghostly white legs. Sunday will be BBQ time and Monday will be filled with relaxation. Life doesn't get much better than this!

Next weekend we're heading down to Austin for a wedding. My twin cousins are also graduating from high school. I'm so incredibly proud of them for graduating numbers 5 and 10 in their class. Amazing! One is going to UT and the other to St. Edwards and both received scholarships. We're going to have a blast on our Austin celebration weekend.

Don't forget to stop and remember those who have lost their lives or livelihood for our country!

all in a days work...

I think we've been in the pattern of updating this every month or so. I'll try to keep up!


I'm happy to say that I feel nearly recovered from the pneumonia. I battled some allergy stuff last week but I won! Now I'm taking Claritin twice a day until it gets really hot. I'm thinking about starting allergy shots this fall - I can't live through another spring like this.



I have been working on a few big projects at work recently. I love my job because I'm afforded new challenges and opportunities every day. I am never bored! I was really excited to be named to a cool FW steering committee this week...can't wait to get involved with it.


We've been keeping busy with my work schedule, too. We supported the Cowboys for Kids PBR Rodeo in Cleburne a few weeks ago. It was so much fun and we got to wear our cowboy boots. We also volunteered for Special Olympics spring games. Robert had a great time measuring for the shot put event. Caitlin and I escorted the winners to the podium after each heat. It is such an inspiring event. This past weekend I survived my second Relay For Life in Hill County. The community is so supportive of the event and I'm looking forward to hearing the total raised.


I'm also looking forward to some "me" time this weekend. I have a few projects around the house I want to tackle, a few shows to catch up on and the requisite pampering I try to fit in every month - love the spa!

My rundown for the rest of the week: watch the company broadcast, go to tonight's Rangers game, visit the Hillsboro area. How can you call it work when you're having so much fun?

ready, set, go....now stop.

We've been keeping busy as usual. We started a little renovation project on our bedroom. To compliment the gorgeous linens we received for our bed at our wedding, we decided to repaint the bedroom. We've learned that paint color changes without primer and have had to prime before painting quite a bit of wall space. We have one wall to go and should finish that tonight. Well, sweet Robert will. Pictures will come soon! We debabted on changing the bathroom color but decided to keep it neutral.

Last weekend was Robert's birthday and we celebrated by doing a 5K, checking out Main Street Arts Festival and getting Robert a pair of cowboy boots. (Shhh...I got a pair too!) Then we went to have Korean BBQ with his brother and David. On Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday and then took my sister golfing to get ready for her tournament on Monday. It was so much fun even though I don't play. Golf courses are super relaxing and I loved driving my own golf cart :)

In other news...I'm being sent a signal that I need to slow down again. I've been pushing pretty hard at work and we're getting ready to go in to a very busy rate season. I have been suffering from allergies for the first time in a long time this year. I lost my voice yesterday and then couldn't sleep (or breathe) last night. I went to the doctor this morning and found out I have bronchitis and pneumonia. My body won't let me lie down (can't breathe) so I haven't been able to get any sleep today. I'm anxious to start feeling better and get my voice back. I haven't ever taken a sick day at my current job and now I'm taking two! Following the sign to slow down.

And on a last note...my awesome mom is in the British Virgin Islands again taking part two of her captain's license classes. She is living aboard a sail boat this time with three other women. Nothing new to her but she's having a great time. She's so inspirational and I'm really proud of her for going after her dreams.

Spring Breakin'

Last week was spring break and unfortunately for the Pacleb household, we don’t get a vacation. Or rather, we choose to spend our vacation days during other times of the year. Either way, we celebrated. My biggest celebration was during my usual 20 minute commute to the south of downtown. With all of those parents staying home with their kids, we childless people were left to enjoy the space on the highway and shorter commutes. Woohoo for extra sleep in the morning!

We had the pleasure of attending the Cliburn Concert Series featuring Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott last Tuesday. Amazing. Simply amazing. We were given box seats and they were fabulous. As Robert said, “I feel a little bit like Abe Lincoln right now!” We also met with our accountant to have our taxes prepared. Not quite as exciting.

On Saturday we awoke to wicked winter weather. I’m talking rain like you wouldn’t believe. Well, I guess everyone around here could believe it because it has been the story of our lives for the past few months. I heard Dallas got a few inches of snow but we just had a dusting. And I’m totally fine with that. I’m looking forward to the spring temps this week. If Saturday starts looking good, we may have our first garage sale. It is much needed – we have an entire bedroom filled with garage sale items! I'd like to reclaim that space as my own.

And yesterday, we finally broke down and saw Avatar in 3D. And yes, I enjoyed it even though I thought it was going to be lame. James Cameron created a beautiful world that made me wonder, "what happened to my imagination?" And I loved the subtle “save the Earth” undertones in the movie. Caitlin absolutely loved it, too. But we all know she is a tree hugger and a sci-fi nerd ;)

Last night I attempted a Tomato Tart from this month’s food and wine magazine. Like most things with tomato, it’s always best on day two. And I wish I would’ve left it in the oven for about 15 additional minutes because my yellow cherry tomatoes were a little big and they all didn’t roast. I give the recipe two thumbs up for being delicious and fresh. And the pie crust was fun to play with too! I may attempt something else from the magazine next week.

And speaking of food, we’re about to start week two of our chef delivered meals. We LOVED it last week. Everything is portioned correctly and it saved us a good hour in the kitchen every night. Perfect for busy people like us :)

Life in fast forward...

We've been keeping busy lately...here are a few highlights:

I threw a bridal shower for a friend two weeks ago. It was a lot of fun because we got engaged around the same time. She's getting married this weekend!

I went to the Dallas Flea, which was cool but smaller than I expected. The only things I bought were food items but Ashleigh found a few great "vintage" items for her house.

I had my first meal at Nordstroms Bistro and my mouth is still watering for another goat cheese tart. I love great food. Why does America like junk so much?!

Robert bought a new driver and played golf on Saturday with Justin. They got sunburned...welcome spring!

We all went out to dinner Saturday night at Taverna and had a soup incident. I always have to order their soup because it's delish. Saturday night it was butternut squash and our waiter ran into another waiter and splat! Soup was all over the floor. The next day I realized that there was soup splatter all over my black heels and my black purse. Don't judge...the lighting was really dim everywhere we went. :)

We also went to Scat Jazz Lounge to see an organ trio. An organ + jazz = amazing. Who would've thought?

On Sunday we celebrated my brother's birthday. I was excited to try Hoffbrau for the first time. Too bad it turned out to be that junk that America likes to eat. Nothing special.

Last night Robert and I went to see Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott at the Bass as part of the Cliburn series. The Cliburn series is arguably one of the best in the country, if not the world, and it was a special treat. We were given box seats by one of the board chairs. I hate to say it, but Stott almost outshined Ma if that were possible. She was a total rockstar.

This week Robert and I are trying something new. We've been looking for ways to save time and maximize it to our benefit. We hired a chef we met who owns a catering company to make all of our meals for the week and deliver them on Mondays. So far, so good. We're eating really great, fresh food and we get at the very least an extra hour to spend doing something meaningful every night...whether going to bed early or taking a walk, it's made a big difference! Now if only I could outsource all of my cleaning, laundry and yard work...

And tonight is tax night. We're meeting with our accountant after work. We're hoping for a very small refund and to owe nothing. That is the point, right? We're also going to get advice for filing as a married couple for this tax year.

And that's our little update of what has been happening. Happy St. Patrick's Day!