Stand With Wendy

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Good Morning Ladies!

Today I had a completely different post to put up but thought this was way more important to voice my opinion on. The Texas Senate is voting on the anti-abortion bill today. After it having been VERY loudly contested by the public it keeps getting passed. Rick Perry of course is going to sign it into law as soon as it gets to his desk. I have been sitting on the edge of my seat for the last couple of weeks and following it religiously. Oh, how I wish I could be at the State Capitol today standing in support of women's rights. OUR rights! 

If you don't know about what the bill, HB2/ SB1, entails here are some points: 

• No Abortions after 20 weeks gestations
• All abortions must be performed in an ambulatory surgical center, imposing burdensome and unnecessary costs on outpatient clinics.
• All doctors performing abortions must have hospital privileges within 30 miles of the clinic, a severe restriction in rural areas.
• Women seeking a medical abortion must have two in-person meetings with the doctor

This would leave Texas with only 5 abortion clinics! FIVE! Really Texas Legislature? This is what you think of Texas women? The only word I can think for this mess is disgraceful. None of the amendments that the Democrats tried to pass with HB2 on Wednesday passed. These included exceptions for rape, abuse, diseases.. I am at a complete loss for words today. There will be a HUGE mess of demonstrating today at the Capitol if it gets passed in the Senate. 

Even though not all of you are in Texas this still affects you. It is only a slippery slope from here.. what next? This is an intrusion into our rights and we need to take a stand. I know I might offend some when saying all of this but these are MY opinions and MY thoughts. I am only in support of WOMEN. 

With All MY Love,

Pati

Turtle Day 2013

Via
Hello Gals!
Guess what today is? Turtle Day!!!
I love turtles, especially sea turtles, they're the cutest.
Since I live in such close proximity to the beach, around 20 minutes, I'm very aware of the needs of these beautiful creatures.
We actually have a Sea Turtle rescue on South Padre Island. They rehabilitate and release sea turtles that have been injured. It's really neat to see the all the turtles that they have helped to rescue along their wall.
It really brings to light how much we as humans impact the environment. A lot of these turtles are injured because of man. Some are stuck in nets, have plastic around them, have lost limbs because of boats, etc. I'm so glad that we have something around like Sea Turtle Inc. that teaches us about turtles and their environment. In the link above there's places to donate and, if you live close enough, volunteer. I haven't yet been able to volunteer but for sure want to.
Another part of the website that I find really neat is the camera that they have on the turtles that are rehabilitating. There's a camera that runs 24/7 in which you can see the turtles swimming around in the tanks. Really cool!
The organization also does a nest sponsor, in which you help to conserve some of the endangered Kemp Ridley nests that we have on our beach. They have a list up of all the nests that they have found and when they think that they will be hatching. I've been meaning to go for years to see the turtles hatch and make their way into the water but it's sooooo early in the morning. I'll make it a for sure thing for this year so that I can capture some pictures of it.

Make sure to check out the website and see some of the cool things that they do and to learn a little about the turtles they rescue.

With All My Love,

Pati

"Brave"

Hellloooooooo!

Tired of me yet? I've posted pretty much everyday this week. Wow.. that's just crazy.

I guess when you've been gone for a couple of weeks there's lots of things to say.

I'm so incredibly stoked for tonight and I can't contain it! Eeehhh.

Bob and I are going to see Sara Bareilles in Austin. He got tickets for us this past weekend through craigslist. We had to pay a little more than original price because it's completely sold out. I'm just glad it wasn't a completely retarded amount that people were trying to/still are selling tickets for!

You're totally not going to believe me but Bob is the bigger fan than me.

Whhhaaaa?! Yeah, totally not even kidding about that. One of the many reasons I love him.. he's unexpected. Just like me. 

This is her newest video below and something I've been watching over and over again. It's so uplifting and I hope it makes your day a little brighter!!

Have a happy Friday and an amazing weekend!

With All My Love,

Pati

Badass Weekend (Part 2)

Hellloooo!!!

I'm back! I'm sorry this took so long to put up buutttt I've been here, there, and everywhere this week.

So, I've brought yet another cemetery to you. They're just too beautiful not to visit. 

I'm always on the hunt to photograph an amazing, historic cemetery.

When we went to Houston we went to Glenwood Cemetery. It did not let us down.

The cemetery itself was established in 1871 and continues to be an active cemetery. It is comprised of 84 acres!!! We were astounded at the size. We only walked around a tiny portion of it. There are still 18 acres that are completely undeveloped and are for sale if you are wishing to plan ahead ;). It was also the first cemetery in Houston to be professionally designed. 

There were so many beautifully crafted mausoleum and they were so well taken care of! There were signs all over as you were driving through it to direct you towards your destination. The grounds were so neat and clean. Bums me out to think of my local cemetery and the way it's not kept up :(.
The cemetery holds tons of big wigs, if you will, a hollywood starlet, founder of what would become Chevron, last president of the Republic of Texas, and first president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, just to name a couple. 

Statues/sculptures have always fascinated me. How do they make it look like her tunic is flowing? The detail on the hair and wings make it seem that much more alive.

I've been really interested in Freemasons for a few years now, so when I saw this I knew I needed a picture. He was born in 1811! History is so darn fascinating. Also, if you have no idea what i'm talking about please read up on it!

This instantly caught my eye! A mermaid on dolphins?! How amazing. 

We're silly people. He asked for this picture. haha.

A little bike!!

I loved this family plot. They were all labeled with who they were in the family, like the one above. I think I was really drawn to this plot because of the plants that were on the top.                                    

I have to admit that when my times come I don't want anything fancy like this at all. I would rather be cremated and turned into a tree. It can be done! I've seen it. Cemeteries are more for the living anyway.. don't you think? The dead are well dead and don't really know what you put or didn't put on their grave. Just my two cents. 

Either way I think cemeteries are fascinating and will continue to visit them.

Hope you enjoyed!

With all my love,

Pati

Badass Weekend (Food Edition)

Hiya!!

So, yesterday I showed you a little glimpse into what was my weekend and today I wanted to share some yummy things we ate in Houston.

My younger sister lived in Houston, she graduated from Rice, for four years. I figured she was the best person to ask where we should get our grub on. She definitely did not fail me. 

She suggested tons of restaurants but the one she REALLY wanted us to go to was a sushi place called Miyako. The sushi was serioulsy TO DIE FOR.

 I couldn't have asked for a better ambience as well. We went around 1 on a Saturday and were seated right away. My kind of restaurant. 

 I've never had this many pictures of us together.  There was another that I liked but his smile was SO fake. What a jerk. 

This is the other couple that went with us. One of Bob's best friends and his girlfriend. 

Bob had an Asahi Black with his meal because that's what you do when you're out of town. Beer with everything. These were our appetizers, some crab puffs, so delicious!

 Then.. came the sushi. Heaven in my mouth!

 I cannot remember the names of the rolls but they were the best I've ever had! I know the ones in the background on this picture were some type of buffalo chicken; which was odd so we tried it. Pretty good. The first roll above was the best though. 

 Our friends ordered some pot stickers, not sure of the technical name, and shared. NOMS!

They also ordered some roll that had would I would describe as a crab coleslaw. I'm salivating just thinking about it!

As if the food wasn't delicious enough, they went up a notch in my book with this turtle pond! I'm such a sucker for any type of animal.

So after this delicious meal we were suppose to go to the St. Arnold's pub crawl. We got close to it and already saw TONS of people. As we passed the bars that were participating, we saw just how packed it was. We would've seriously had no fun standing in line for a beer. It was decided to abandon this idea, the boys were bummed, but we did a lot more with our time.

Both of the boys love craft beer and actually Michelle also, the girlfriend, I use to not like it but I'm coming around.

They went and bought some beer, which we don't get in south Texas, and then we headed to a place with a good tap list. 

The place is called Hay Merchant. I would REALLY recommend this place to any craft beer lover for sure.

We didn't come for the food but it was so delicious. Good food and good beer.. I mean what more can you want?

We got sat ourselves by the little bar area that they had and chose a good brew.

I thought it was really cool that they change the menu every week , but then Bob reminded me that they can't continuously have the same beer year round. Duh! Some beers are seasonal and some are a one type thing. 

Look! I even ordered a beer. In a fancy tulip glass. I'm just awesome like that. The boy ordered me the beer, La Folie by New Belgium, and I actually liked it. He's pretty good at knowing what I can handle and what I cannot. I'm glad I gave it a shot. Not going to lie, I'm scared of loving craft beer as much as he does because it's so darn expensive! One person in our relationship is more than enough..

The tap list.

The decor was really cool and really chill. Hay Merchant is actually named after Westheimer, who built Houston's first public school, because he was a hay merchant as well as many other things. The restaurant itself sits on Westheimer Road, so it's very fitting to say the least. 

Look at these fans!

This was a couple of hours after the sushi and I really wanted dessert. I ordered this delicious treat and was not let down. It's chocolate chip bread pudding. If y'all could only taste it..

After I ordered this everyone else got something as well. I however did not photograph any of the other dishes but they were so yummy. Bob got a lengua pastrami sandwich, Chuck got a fancy hot dog (cannot remember what was on it), and Michelle got a pretzel with a delicious cheese dip. I could not choose a favorite. That's how amazing they all were.

I leave you with this silly picture of me eating Bob's  hand, not really though. I hope that wasn't too much of an overload of pictures. I just could not leave anymore out. 

Tomorrow I'm going to walk you through, my favorite, a cemetery we went to!

Ps: I know none of this is low-carb but sometimes I need to live a little. :)

With all my love,

Pati

Badass Weekend (Part 1)

Helllloooooo girls (and guys?)!!!!

I think I have FINALLY recovered from my punk rock weekend and oh man, did I have fun! 

I was in dire need of getting out and taking a breather from life here and this was right up my alley. 

It ended up being four of us that went up to Houston to listen to good music.

The mini fest, Badass Weekend, happened Friday and Saturday nights.

We literally got to Houston at 7:15, checked in to the hotel, and headed straight to the venue.

The music lasted until well into the wee hours of the morning.

So, I am a total punk rocker at heart but I honestly LOVE all types of music. My second favorite has got to be swing/big band. I know, totally opposite spectrums. That's just me. 

I don't have a lot of pictures from Friday because we were just at the show the whole night. Here is what it looked like inside a house show around 3 AM. I had SO much fun!

                                                                                       

 

These aren't very good quality but you can totally get the energy and the excitement that was surging through this room. I just love being around music it soothes my soul.

So after staying up until around 4 in the AM, Bob and I got up and went sight seeing around town. I refuse to waste ANY time in a city that I visit. 

We did tons of stuff on Saturday but for this post I will show you Hermann Park!

The park itself is located in the downtown area and is actually really close to Rice University. Part of it are across the street from the campus. It has so much stuff inside of it to see and do but honestly just sitting outside on a bench enjoying nature is an awesome way to pass the time.

All of the pictures above are from the Garden Center. They have rows and rows of rose bushes that are , i'm assuming, beautiful to see in bloom in the spring! We found a couple of roses to enjoy though.

I was planning on looking for more caches but this was the only one we searched for. See?  I told you! They're everywhere.

They had several of these busts around the Garden Center but this one was my favorite, the explorer, Cabeza De Vaca.

Then.. we found Confucious. He's  pretty rad dude who takes care of the park. 

Bob and him are now BFF's!

Then we took a walk to the Reflection Pool and the Japanese Garden.

I promise you this was the best take. GRR.

We found a punk rock ducky! He kept diving for food. It was pretty hilarious.

This boulder is at the entrance to the Japanese Garden, and says that the 77th prime minister of Japan secured funds in 1990 to open up this garden inside of Hermann Park. It was not opened until 2010 but I think it was worth the wait!

They had Cherry Blossoms! I'm sure there were tons of other spring blooming flowers as well. We're going to have to take another trip up in a couple of months for sure!

In case anyone cares about what I'm wearing, the jacket and the scarf are thrifted. I'm wearing a black skirt, this t-shirt from the movie plan 9 from outer space (watch it if you haven't), some tights, and my vans. It was a walk around and be comfy outfit.

Aren't these views amazing?! I wish we had more time there to just take it all in! Bob freaked out when he saw there were fish in this little pond. That's his shadow and a fishy.

We even found a little butterfly. There were more but this was the only one that sat still for me, thanks little friend!

Cannot wait to make it back to Houston soon. It was a blast!

We also toured a cemetery and ate at some delicious places. Stay tuned for those posts this week.

Jacket: Thrifted

Scarf: Thrifted

T-shirt:Relapse (The rest of the stuff is pretty much band merch)

Skirt: Target (super old)

Tights: Target

Shoes: Vans

With all my love,

Pati