Puerto Rico, Day Two (Pt 1)

Bible Museum... with Dinosaurs

First close up view of  PR beach (Isla Verde)

Bill's Hometown, represent. ;)

Oh.my.gosh. I had to take a picture of the best breakfast ever... which I happily consumed several times during our trip, from España (bakery/deli/liquor store). Ham, egg and cheese might not sound super-out-of-the-ordinary-yummy (in fact, I usually avoid ham... not really my cup of tea)... but the bread they use is fan-effing-tastic. So good. We actually brought some of it back and made these sandwiches to try to cure our Puerto Rico homesickness (I like to call it my second home, now... since, you know, I've been there ONCE). Also the best orange juice I've ever had- freshly squeezed, delicious. I am a big fan of breakfast- and this is probably the best one I've had. Yeah, I just wrote a paragraph about breakfast foods.

Cemetary next to España

After (the paragraph-worthy) breakfast, we went to get a cold coconut

(COCO FRIIIIO!) in Piñones.

Beautiful

We sat at the little bar/hut and drank our coconut and a Mojito (again, BEST Mojito I've ever had) and watched the people and the water.

Great start to a great trip.

Puerto Rico, Day One

... well, really NIGHT One, all we did the first day was eat dinner and hang out at Bill's parents for a bit before crashing from our day of flying and airports.

We got there on the 21st, which is Bill's Dad's birthday... and we all went to eat sushi at Nikko's (in Isla Verde, neighborbood of Carolina). That about sums up our night- oh, wait- I was a little anxious because my luggage didn't arrive when we did. My sweet boyfriend took care of everything- spoke with people at the airport and tracked it online for me to make sure I got it. Thankfully it arrived around noon the next day (we switched flights in ATL, and I guess my checked bag got left there- considering it had all of my underthings, bathing suits, meds, shoes... I was pretty frustrated, but a nice relaxing night with the Alvarez family calmed me down). Here are some pics...

The first of many Medallas

Bill's Mom set up our dresser like a little hotel room-

water, chocolates, soaps... she's such a sweet, sweet lady.

Super comfy beds in the guest room where we spent many afternoons napping while it rained. It was awesome- we would go out in the morning to see the sights, go home to take a little rain nap and then gussy ourselves up to go out again at night- although PR is rather warm... I was digging the weather and the routine by the time we left.

Love those kitchen tiles

Bill's parents have put a lot of work into their house and it shows... inside and out. I have some outdoor pictures of the house and the beautiful flowers to share with Day Two's post. For now, here's the last pic from Night One- my love when he was a wee one... how precious is he? Our kids will be beautiful. ;)

Here are a few pretty things that have caught my eye while surfing the internets today... and I also found a new blog to drool over: http://www.bigboxdetox.com/.

(All images from apartmenttherapy.com.)

That last picture is making me regret not buying this vintage, lime green office chair that I saw at Goodwill today. I'm going to go tomorrow, and if it's there- I'm getting it. (If it's meant to be, you know?)

Tonight we're going to dinner with our BFFs and then going to a party to celebrate the birthday of my friend Ryan, who passed away... should be fun and bittersweet. I may have to take a shot of whiskey in his honor- yikes!

Apartment Hunting, Take 2

We decided to go look at some more apartments this morning... and I'm pretty sure we found "the one". (Of course, I said that in my previous entry about apartment hunting, as well.)

Bill was a big fan of the first ones we looked at, me... not so much.
Pros: Garage, ceiling fans (which may not look so nice, but are a life saver in Texas), big patio, GARDEN TUBS, pretty property
Cons: The effing linoleum. It was horrible. Seriously, if they changed the linoleum it would have looked so much better. I guess boys don't notice things like that. I just couldn't look at it for another second.

The 2nd one- "The One":
Pros: Cute layout, WOOD FLOORS in the kitchen and bathrooms, a BRICK wood burning FIREPLACE (aahhhh, and the angels sing), crown molding... and $100 less monthly than all of the other apartments we've looked at thus far
Cons: No garage (but I did see some, so maybe we could ask them about that), the exterior looks a TAD run down... it's definitely an older property (which I don't mind- as long as they're well kept), no garden tubs (boo), I wasn't too crazy about the counter tops... but they're definitely something I could live with (unlike the scary linoleum)

Sooooo... we have to make a decision about the last apartment by July 5th. I really think it's what we'll pick, which is surprising to me... because I thought I'd go for the shiny new apartment that we looked at first.

Both are farther into Euless (a town that I loathe... but it just makes sense for us to live here because our jobs are in Dallas and Las Colinas and our friends and family are mostly in Fort Worth)... but VERY close to Grapevine. So... maybe I'll just tell people I live in Grapevine. :)

Both are very close to the dog park and Bear Creek parks/jogging trails... which is why we wanted to look in this area in the first place. The neighborhood is also A LOT safer than the one we live in now.

This is my favorite thing about the first apartments we looked at today- they have TONS of fish in this pretty little Koi pond. But, I wouldn't be sleeping, cooking, lounging in the Koi pond, so... maybe we can just go visit it from time to time... (also, it wasn't all algae green like this when we saw it today)...

Hi. I'm back.

Well, we're back from Puerto Rico. And I am so so sad. Back to reality. Bleh.

I got to do so many awesome things. I'll probably do a post for each day eventually... but for now, I'm overwhelmed with post vacation blues. And if you read this blog, we are probably friends in real life, anyway- and you've seen the pictures already...

I used to see lots of movies in the theater. Now I'm REALLY picky. I may go see something I feel luke warm about if a group of friends are going... but usually I'd rather wait and spend $1 at Redbox or catch movies when they come out on HBO or Showtime (can't live without those channels).

These are two movies I really really really really want to see in the theater...

We're going to Puerto Rico on Saturday and I couldn't be happier. Pictures and stories to come...

Trying to make a decision...

As of a couple of days ago, I decided to sand and stain my dining room table.

But there are so many other options. Ones that seem easier.

Here are some ideas that are swimming around in my head...

Instead of staining it, I could PAINT it.
(Not black, but a dark color- probably dark brown).

Not 100% sure that would look awesome, though.

(This black looks really good- I just don't think I want a black table.)

I could paint it a darkish color, like the one above.

(That's pretty much the same shape as my table... I believe that's chalkboard paint,

which I wouldn't be doing... but maybe a greyish blue or green.)

I could paint the table a dark color and paint the chairs a bright color.

The idea I'm leaning most towards is this one- painting the table a light color

and then stenciling something down the middle.

(And then possibly painting the chairs the same color as the middle color? Maybe?)

I think I've sold myself on the last idea... now to figure out a way to do it (we've got limited space, I'd have to put a drop cloth down in my tiny dining room area and paint inside- not sure how to go about doing the chairs) and make it look fantastic. What to do, what to do...