Back Attack!

Hiya. Longgggg time no see.

So i've been MIA for much too long. Every week I set a goal of posting something new on here so i can get back into the habit. Clearly, i have not been doing that.

I've missed all of you so.

I miss my blog community! I've been having so much fun in Austin though. Too much fun.

The picture above is from one of my hiking adventures around town.

That place is only 15 minutes away from my house! I cannot be any luckier at this moment, on this day.

The past 6 months.. oh my! I cannot believe i've been gone for that long.. i really did not mean to be.

These past months have been the happiest, busiest, and at times most stressful months I've been through ever. We have seriously not stopped enjoying the city from the moment we moved here.

I have so much to tell you all about. In the past couple of months we moved to Austin, started new jobs, gone to countless shows, hiked, started working out, visited PARAGUAY, moved the kids up, had a couple of bbq parties, board game nights, lazy days... so much guys!

For now.. HI! I'm back. 

I hope you've missed me as much as I've missed  you.

With all my love,

Pati

Crafting, a Kitty, and Pialoopsy

Hi Guys!

So I've been a busy little busy bee for the past week or so crafting for Pia's birthday party on Saturday. Every night I try to make something new so that I'm not going crazy on Saturday. The pictures below are from the treat baggies that i'm currently stuck on. 

This is the first real thing that I've sewed and I'm pretty proud of them. I'll show you the finished results hopefully on Monday! 

Allllsssoooo they are part of goals for the month that I wrote up for myself at the beginning of the month. I've pretty much accomplished all of those. Woo hoo! 

Halfway through me sewing Ali decided to show up and start pulling at the felt circles. She was driving me nutso for a second there. I couldn't very well stay mad at her though. Her face is too cute and tiny.

I leave you with this menacing paw :)

Wish me luck on all the things that are still unfinished. Whew!

With All My Love,

Pati

Sewing Adventures with Oma!

Hi Gals!

This weekend was an insanely chill weekend mostly spent with Bob because my parents went to the beach and the minions were with their dad. I don't like going when it's a holiday weekend, it's wayyyy too packed so I stayed home!

Yesterday, I decided to go hang out with my Oma, grandma, all day because she's leaving today back to Paraguay. Her stay is always way too short. I asked if she could help me with my sewing machine because it's been sitting on my desk collecting dust. Oma is always happy to help, so on an adventure we went. She used to make her own dresses and shirts YEARS ago but I don't think she's used a machine in a long time. Would you believe me if I told you she's 79!! No, right?!

She's amazing guys! I cannot stress this enough. Oma is the person I look up to and want to be. She has an insane amount of patience. We seriously threaded the machine like six times before we could even try doing one line. It kept getting stuck but we finally figured out the problem.

This is how she was through that whole frustrating ordeal. I'm not even going to lie, if she wasn't there I probably would've given up and tried some other time. She just made me laugh at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Doesn't she have the best smile? It's contagious for sure.

I finally got to try out a little stitching after around thirty minutes of fixing and re-fixing. I just kept trying to make a straight line. Over and over again. I figure I need a straight line before I try to make anything else.

Clearly, straight lines aren't as easy as it looks. I think I also changed stitches here, so I wasn't this horrible.

I kept doing this over and over again on this piece of fabric. You wouldn't think this was fun but you'd be wrong. Now I know how to work the machine without wanting to throw it out the window.I'm going to make something small sometime this week to get my feet wet with projects. Super stoked that I have a new outlet for stress and a new hobby in general.

All you sewing gals don't hesitate to leave me advice below :)

With All My Love,

Pati

Weekend in Review: Sara Bareilles/Last drink party

Hi, you lovely people, you!

I would like to first say that this weekend was nothing short of A-mazing. I had way too much fun and it should definitely be illegal. Seriously.

Also, I've been trying to post this since this morning.. all the photos were grainy and were driving me nuts! I finally figured out how to fix it. ::sigh of relief::

Really.. who wants to know about that?!  No one! 

Friday afternoon Bob and I drove up to Austin, which is five hours away, to watch the lovely Sara Bareilles. She was nothing short of amazing. Seriously.. if you only like her a little don't forgo getting tickets in a town near you. I sound like some kind of paid spokesperson. She was that amazing! 

I learned that Sara likes to cuss, crowd surf, and to sing songs from The Little Mermaid. I mean, hello? How could she be anymore rad. She couldn't. I regret not staying to give her a hug afterward but we had to drive home. We're totally insane. I'm fully aware. 

The video below is a tiny vine that I made of her singing.. Super short. Don't get too excited.

We got home in the wee hours of the morning. I slept for around two and a half hours and went to work. I was seriously running on fumes for the rest of the day.

Saturday was my litte brother's first communion and the whole family was in town to celebrate. I went to the mass, not by choice, and then went to the party. Hung out with my sister who was down from Dallas for the rest of the afternoon/early evening while the kids splashed in the pool.
The photo below is my brother, my sister, me, my mom, and my dad at our first communions. I know it's blurry. My mom didn't get a very good photo. Good memories, even though I no longer follow any religion.

I came home to some friends already drinking without me :(! I had to remedy this immediately.

Cheers!

We looked super intrigued, right? Boys be more entertaining!

It wouldn't be a party without burgers! We're always burning some kind of meat on the grill outside.

There's always someone over, with some kind of drink, and tons of laughs during the weekend. Laughing is for sure the best medicine. We had this little get together for one of Bob's best friends pictured below with him and their slayings for the weekend.

This took them two nights worth of drinking. Chuck, Bob's friend, won't be drinking for next 5 years because of some craziness with the law. Who would've thunk it? Just kidding! 

Sunday we dedicated to laying around and watching movies. The boys finished the beer later on that night and I went to sleep. Every girl needs beauty sleep. Right?

Hope you enjoyed that because I know we sure did!

With All My Love, 

Pati

Geocaching- Wilderness edition

Hellllooo gals!

Decided to just start fresh this week. I needed some rest.

Wanted to introduce you all to something the kids, Bob, and I all love doing, GEOCACHING.

It's seriously the most amazing thing ever invented. I just wish I would've found out about it sooner.

That's the logo above and the website explains it as a treasure hunt for logs and containers using GPS coordinates, in case y'all weren't familiar.

We've been doing it for around 3 years. It's free, gets you outside, makes you use team work, and just overall sooooo fun!

This weekend I took the kids for a four hour caching session. We hadn't been in months and it was time we got back into the groove of things.

They are hidden anywhere. They could be in places that you pass by every single day. That's the best part about it. 

It is kind of time consuming at first. Even the easy ones take a while to get but with practice you'll develop a caching eye. 

She found it! It was behind the huge sign the whole time!

This is one of the containers we found yesterday. They range in size from tiny to a large tupperware. I once found a hollowed out bolt. So rad. 

The ones that are this small usually just contain logs like the one above.

Those are just as fun as the ones that contain swag, in my opinion.

This particular one took a good while to find. Mostly because I let them find it before I even look for it.

I usually spot them pretty quickly.

So, how do you find where they are hidden? I guess I haven't cleared that up. Have I?

I use an app for it but the hardcore cachers have handheld GPS units that are way more accurate.

I will at some point invest in one but for now all you need is your phone.

Hurray! Found! I got Pia to take this one. Not the best but what do you expect? She's six. 

I love Texas country roads. The windmills everywhere are so beautiful. Had to take a minute to snap the awesomeness of nature around me. We're cooped up for way too many hours of the day.

This was one of the last ones we found. It was underneath this amazing tree. 

It was underneath that pile of bark I put in front of it. So, really they're everywhere.

This one was large enough that it had a log and some stuff inside. Usually randoms little things that people put in there. The rule is you take something, you leave something. 

We always travel with a baggie of stuff to leave.

You never know when the caching bug might hit you!

These are all out in the middle of nowhere but only because we had already found all the nearby city ones. I'll do a city edition soon. Promise.

For now go check out Geocaching.com for any questions you might have or you could ask me below.

Have you ever been Geocaching? Let me know!

Happy HUNTING gals.

With all my love, 

Pati

Abigail

Hello ladies!

This weekend was so relaxing and stress free. I didn't do much though.. but sometimes you just need rest. I know I'll have tons to do  in a couple of days so it was definitely a welcomed

rest.

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my first loves, my kitties. 

Today I wanted to introduce you guys to my dawg. She has been such a big part of my ife in the last year it wouldn't be fair to leave her out.

She's so cute isn't she?? My little Abigail. I love you so!

I've never had a dog before her and I also couldn't imagine the love that I have for her now.

She's so amazing.

The boy and I were actively looking for a puppy from several rescues around town last year.

She popped up on our Facebooks and we couldn't stop going back to her picture.

We called and left messages about her and someone finally got back to us a couple of days later.

She officially came home with us January 2, 2012. 

It feels like she's been around for so much longer though.

Abby was the hardest puppy EVER to train, or maybe it was just my inexperience, but I'm so glad I didn't give up on her. 

She would make messes and chew things up.. It was so frustrating at first. Cats are so much easier to train and they're ready in a matter of days not months!

The love of a dog though, is something else. She is my best friend, my companion, and I know she'll always be there for me while she's around.

She greets me when I get home as if she hasn't seen me in weeks, rather than hours.

This pup is the most active and laziest pup ever. She runs circles outside and loves to chase birds.

I hope she never catches one because she's that quick.

Cuddles though... oh man! She is the biggest cuddle monster ever. As I type this, she is laying right next to me with her head on a pillow.

Perfect example of what is happening right now.

If you were wondering what kind of dog she is, Pitbull mix is your answer.

We thought she was a purebred Pitbull when we got her from the shelter but she never filled out.

I don't think she'll get much bigger than the size she's at now but that's A-OK with me.

I would not trade her for the world!

This is clearly not Abby... but I had to also include this cutie on this post.

Crusher is his name. He's Bob's dog and a big lovable ham.

Abby and Crush are the best of friends. Apparently Crush's first real friend, according to the boy.

They look out for each other and play like crazy whenever they're together.

I love him as my own.

Bonus yawn picture. Such a cutie, no?

Until next time.

With all my love,

Pati