Green Beer and Football

St Patty's day is always a fun celebration for us because Matt's birthday falls on the 18th. And while we don't go quite as crazy as some of those hardcore Irish wannabees, it seems to enough fun for us. :)

This year the opening game for the Iowa Barnstormers landed on March 17th. We invited some friends along and decided to make an event of it by tailgating beforehand. It was pretty warm day in March so we definitely lucked out on that!

Here's some pics of the St Patty's Day / Matt's Birthday festivities...

Tailgate!

Liz showing off the green bday cupcakes

Jello shots - cake vodka and lime!



Book club ladies



Can't be a legit tailgate unless someone plays catch in the parking lot

oops - blurry

oops - Em's eyes are closed

High five we scored!

3rd row seats!

Abu Dhabi

Let’s first start with – Where is Abu Dhabi?


Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country in the Middle East. It takes about 20-24 hours to travel from Iowa to Abu Dhabi. There are around 1.5 Million people living in the city – but they say only a 20% or so are Emirati citizens and the other 80% are expatriates from other countries. Prior to World War 1, Abu Dhabi’s economy revolved around the pearl industry. In the 1930’s oil exploration began and through the discovery of many oil and gas fields, the UAE is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

And why am I posting about Abu Dhabi?

I found out some exciting news at work last week… there is a 75% chance that I will travel to our Abu Dhabi office in June! It seems like all lights are green for approvals – but I don’t have an exact date yet or a flight so there’s still a possibility that this could fall through. So I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, it’s just hard not to be soooo excited!

While these photos were "stolen" from here, I hope to have the opportunity to take some of my own while I'm there. It is a work trip, so work will obviously take up a lot of my time but how can I not check out these amazing sights!

Keep  you fingers crossed that everything will work out for me to go!

Gable Turned 1!

On February 22^nd Gable celebrated his 1^st birthday. If Matt would have let me, I would have gone all out on a celebration for him. (I even found some great ideas on pinterest for a puppy birthday party.) Instead we just maintained our current level of spoiling. J Here he is on his birthday enjoying a bone.  

It’s weird to think that a year ago, we had no idea what having a dog would be all about. Since we don't have kids, we completely treat Gable like he's our baby. And we both know that we're completely over the top about it. But he's just so stinking cute :)

Right now his favorite activity is going on walks - expecially when Matt takes him because its always a new adventure for him. On this walk they found some rusted out old pickups.

Gable tends to be a bit more naughty when he walks with me. I think it's because our walks are more boring so he has to entertain himself a bit. Luckily this is a farmer's field and not our backyard.

He also loves going to the dog park in replacement of his walk. This weird Iowa weather has turned many of the dog parks (as well as our backyard) into a muddy mess. It may be hard to tell how muddy he truely is in this pic because he literally is coated in mud due to a somersualt he performed while chasing his buddies.

When he's not out running around, you'll find him eating or sleeping.

The best part of having a dog is undoubtably the unconditional love. Every night I come home to Gable waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Sometimes he'll even start waiting for me early and while I feel guilty that I'm not home yet, it totally warms my heart knowing that he misses me.

Moscato Spritzer

If you're reading this you already know I'm not dead, since I probably saw you last week. And because of that, I don't really need to go into the details of how crazy work has been for me the last couple of months. I'm hoping that a lot of that craziness is behind me and I can start blogging more often - but in all reality, life may be less hectic and I still might fall off the blog wagon again. It seems as if I've found a new addiction to fill in the cracks of my free time -- Pinterest.



I was slow adopter of Pinterest and my activity seems to come and go in spurts, but I am a whole-hearted fan of the site. Planning a wedding would have been so much easier if Pinterest had been around. And thankfully I have it now for room decorating, baby planning, entertaining and recipes. Now I just need to get on top of creating/doing more of my pins!

My most recent pinterest accomplishment was for recipes and ideas for a Mardis Gras themed book club.

I found a lot of cool ideas and recipes but I think I actually only used one - a Moscato spritzer. It's the simpliest recipe ever but I wouldn't have come up with it on my own. And is was delicious - mix together Moscato wine, Sprite and frozen raspberries! You can see it in on the far left side of the pic. It was a nice light and refreshing drink to complement the jambalaya Matt made for us. I'll definitely make the spritzer again!

(Yes, that is actually my parents basement in the background of the pic. Since book club is on Tuesday night and Huxley is a bit of a drive for everyone else, my parents so graciously allowed me to host book club in their basement! And of course half the items on the table are thanks to my mom!

I'll leave you with an image I found on Pinterest that does any excellent job of describing my life with Pinterest. :)

October Recap

Seriously, is it almost November? Whoa - apparently I've missed a whole month! Not sue if I've just been blog lazy, consumed with puppy love, without internet at home, travelling, busy on house projects...or probably a mix of all those. But here's what we've been up to...

Alpha Chi Centennial Event in Iowa City - Sept 30 / Oct 1

Gable came home from hunting camp on Oct 2

Maya Jo McElliott was born on October 14!!!

Matt & I went to the Iowa vs Northwestern game on Oct 15

Plus we've done some work around the house and hosted a Halloween Party. But both deserve separate posts so more coming on those soon!  :)

Blackberry Wine

Sounds delicious, right? Well, actually it looks delicious! It's the color that we picked out to paint the front door. As you can see here I was definitely leaning towards the purple family. Turquoise, blue, or green all would have been fun too and they really would have popped, but we (Matt) didn't want the door to completely stand out and be obnoxious. I think Blackberry Wine was a great choice for us - enough interest to make the door feel more like home but not enough crazy to scare off the neighbors (or Matt).

So here's our before....

And now the after...

It's not perfect but it's way better and looks much more like us! Now time to create an autumn wreath!

Sleep-away camp

On Sunday Sept 4th at 8am Matt, Gable and I drove 2 hours east to Countryside Gundogs near Center Point, IA. A half hour after arrival, Matt and I headed back to Huxley... without Gable. He's been gone for 3 weeks now. But hopefully he'll be coming home next week if he continues to learn at his current pace. The trainer says he's doing really well and that he'll be a great hunting dog for Matt. The trainer will work on basic obedience (sit, stay, kennel, come) but the main focus is on introducing Gable to birds, shotguns, and handling in the field. Here are a couple pics the trainer sent of Gable showing off his natural instinct.

Even though I know he's having fun and learning a lot, it's hard not to miss him. And it was hard not to be sad when we left him. I think my experience leaving him at the trainer was probably a preview to what it will be like someday taking our child to their first day of kindergarten - a mix of anticipation, excitement and fear. Gable knew something wasn't right and whined (cried) as we walked about from the outdoor kennel that would become his bunk for the month. As I listened to Gable cry as I walked away, it took a lot of control not to burst into tears, insist this was all a mistake and bring him back home with us. He's so young, he'll be scared (and cold), he'll think we're not coming back for him, he won't remember us when we finally do get to pick him up, he might not get along with the trainer or the other dogs... I was kinda a mess. You know when you're trying really hard not to cry, but you can't help the tears and your face gets all blotchy? That was totally me. I threw on my sunglasses and then stayed quiet while Matt finished talking with the trainer because I knew I wouldn't be able to trust my voice not to crack.

It's been weird at home without Gable but we've been trying to take advantage of the opportunity - vacation, projects around the house, not worrying about schedules or time away from the house, allowing ourselves time to relax together. But I am sooo excited to see our puppy soon!

Miss you, goofy Gable!