T - Par - T

So it's April 15th! You know what that means....Tax Day Tea Parties!!!

Of course, this is the 2nd annual Greater Houston Tax Day Tea Party downtown. Last year was at Jone's Plaza.... here's a few pics from last year...

Colleen, Me, Mel, Karen...and patriotic Walton!

So this year, they held it at the beautiful Discovery Green downtown and there was a big crowd again.

Karen had mentioned that the best part about the rallies are the signs. Last year they were really creative and made you laugh!! This year I feel they are more on the serious side as the jobs situation has not improved since last Tea Party and the spending has gone even more haywire.

This guy's sign was funny, however!!

He was referring to the ridiculous comment by a Congressman Hank Johnson that the island of Guam may tip over if we send more military personnel. Let's hope he was talking figuratively.

The really fun part was more of the reason Ashlee and I were there. If you want to make a difference you have to start locally. So we're joining the campaign for John Faulk. He's running against Sheila Jackson Lee, who unfortunately represents us both, and many of our friends in MidTown, East Downtown, CBD, and the Heights.

We actually met John Faulk and he enlisted us with a huge roll of stickers and I offered my services as his Twitter-er. Let's hope I get that position, his communications director seemed all for it! Who has time to Twitter?! ....besides me....=) Ashlee has the picture of him and us on her fancy new camera (so jealous)!

Basically, Sheila Jackson Lee was the brilliant Congresswoman who flew out on our dollars to L.A. for Michael Jackson's funeral to say she's going to introduce a Bill to honor him as a humanitarian... as if our Congress wasn't busy enough, they surely will want to honor an alledged pedofile. At least Pelosi denied her request. She also claims the National Weather Service is racist because there are no black-named hurricanes (what IS a black name, Sheila??). She's an all around awful Rep. who answers her cell phone at Town Halls when being questioned by a voter. The landscape of her district has changed drastically. We aim to kick her out!!

SHELBY AGREES!!!

November seems like forever away... but there's no time like the present to try to make a difference!!

Crawfish and Easter Pizza

We packed up our bags and pup and headed to Katy this weekend. Life in the 'burbs is different, but fun too! We had a huge crawfish boil out at Remko's house. These are a bunch of Katy guys who have known each other WAY too long. We all pitched in to throw the party for Charlie and Andrea. They are moving to Cleveland! We're going to be so sad, so will Shelby. She actually cried when she saw their golden retriever, Beanz. She loves him. Here's Andrea and I before it all got crazy...

Jill and Rob showed up with SUCH awesome cupcakes! I asked Jill if she'd make some, and she went to TOWN! They are even Easter themed.

Shelby and Titus lovin' the outdoors and big trucks... and speaking of big trucks, it was getting a little hot, so the guys decided to make a TRUCK POOL. Great idea. 'Burbs.

Look, you can cool off AND drive to a friend's house....so convinient. They are probably reliving times at Katy High and this very moment.

Here's Josh doing what he does best. For those of us who are not all about peeling little crawdads, he made chicken and hot dogs.

Here's Blake, Ryan, Charlie, Remko, Josh, Brian and Daniel.

Daniel, you hot? Don't worry, we'll pull up the pool. Sorry, the pups are hot too!

These are the happy go lucky day time photos. After over 12 hours of sun and beer...things got a little out of hand. So, as you can imagine...the keg was floated...more beer was bought, beer pong tournaments, fist fights, tears...but the friendships are still entact. It was a glorious night in Katy. Hope to do it again...if we're invited back.

EASTER SUNDAY!!

We woke up the next day, had to pull it together from the fun night before, and headed to our 3 Easter visits. We headed to Sealy and had a great meal with Josh's dad's side. They are sweet country folk who think I'm "fancy" because I have a Coach purse and once wore a scarf.

Next we headed to Josh's Godparents, another Nowak clan. We were very excited to see everyone, Donnie, Carolyn, Barb, Speedy, etc...and Kathleen! She and her hubby George live in London, where we stayed last year. They said they are going to get a 'mini pig' as a pet. It's the cool thing over there. Puppies are so last year.

Finally we ended at Josh's mom's house where the Easter pizza comes into play. Josh's mom, Cheryl married Angelo who used to own a NY style pizzaria! He's actually from New York so his hand-made pizza are legit and awesome. I'm so happy they let us bypass the usual Easter meals, I've been wanting his pizza for a LONG TIME! He even taught me a thing or two...

The pizza was amazing and the weekend was great. Hope you had a great Easter, too!!

So Proud?

So Shelby is my pretend human baby. She had a big week that we have to share with the world. She passed her PetsMart beginners class. She can sit, lay down, stay, leave-it, take-it, and drop it. For good measure, since Nowaks are always show-offs, Shelby rolled over, shook hands and twirled in a circle. 'Cause she can.

You can't look at this pictures without smiling. My sister even printed it out for when she's having a bad day. No lie!

And since human kids get report cards, they give us weirdo dog people certificates to make it legit incase our friends didn't believe us.

So, this proud parent was astonished, and I mean shocked to the core when I come home and find my perfect little graduate being less-than perfect!

I captured the crime.

Looks like Petsmart owes the Nowaks a refund! I mean, she had the hat on. I saw them hand write her name in the certificate. Refund now!!

Spring into American Idol

I'm not gonna lie, I loved American Idol. Not just me, my sister and mom, too! I even guessed the last 2 winning idols far in advance. David Cook and Kris Allen (dreamboats by the way). I STILL think about how awesome last season's finale was where Kris Allen sang "I wanna Kiss a Girl" with Keith Urban, and Allison I. sang "Time After Time" with Cyndi Lauper. I have always loved singing! I was even in charge of our sorority singing group called the Kappa Pickers.

ALLEN and URBAN

So, much to my dismay this year, the talent and production of the show has changed for the worse. Ellen as a judge is suck-tastic and on top of everything Simon is leaving after this season. He probably could care less about the outcome and he's even gone soft.

Now the kids, who are all way better than me, aren't as good OR as entertaining. It seems the producers are more focused on their "STORY" than their singing ability. MANY people have a good/sad/interesting/odd story that happened in their life. Yes, i do think it affects the way they relate and convey the lyrics. However, I can't STAND every other critique stems from ..."Andrew, I mean, it wasn't amazing, but you have a great story..." WHAT?!

Last night I almost threw the remote at the TV. The majority of singers were SO bad. The judges were just as shocked (finally). Honestly, I will still watch the dang show because there is still hope in my precited winner, Shiobhan Magnus, with close runner up likely to be Aaron Kelly (a David Archulette wanna be).

MAGNUS

AARON KELLY - Only 16!

NO, I didn't say Crystal Bowersox. Yes, she's awesome. She is a modern Alanis Morrisette and is above and beyond most of the contestants. However, I have a feeling she's not going to make it, not going to get the votes. Let's face it, the last few winners are good looking boys. Who votes? Not me. Probably 9-17 year olds and their moms. While Crystal is an artist already, the dreadlocks and lip piercing won't get her the win, but she won't need it. Like Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and Adam Lambert have shown us...runners up, even 3rd or 4th place, will catapolt you to stardom if you're really that good.

BOWERSOX

Rodeo Time!

It's Rodeo season. The time where normal Houstonians gather up their most western attire and head down to Reliant. We personally can't wait for Rodeo season!

Here's a pic where we borrowed these cowboy hats so we'd look LEGIT.

Though I must say, Cook Off this year was FREEZING!! I wore my warmest jacket and a DRESS and boots. Idiot. Why do I do that to myself?? This lasted until the 2nd or 3rd rum and diet, then I was nice and toasty. =)

Here's a group pic, kinda. And YES that is Panda Tatoo man right up front =)

Basically, Cook Off is a bunch of tents put up by committees, buisnesses, groups of all sizes. You have to score a wrist band to a tent or Cook Off is just pointless. It's free drinks and bar b que all night. Most years I have won tickets to the 100.3 FM tent, but this year we went with UNCLE GLEN. He's a whole blog post in himself, but he DOES have the hook ups! We had a great time!

Next up for Rodeo are the concerts. We're going to see Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban for sure and whoever wants to throw free tickets at us. Though I'd probably pass on "Tejano Night" and Selina Gomez/Justin Beiber night. That kid causes RIOTS in malls I heard!

I really hope you know what Muttin' Bustin' is, because that's probably my fave part of watching the rodeo. It's basically 4 year old kids holding onto sheep for dear life. The one that makes it the longest wins a prize! I think the prize is the sheep actually! LOL

Rodeo 2K10 here we come!!

His Valentine's Surprise

So I got to plan Valentine's Day this year. I decided to have Josh do something he never did before! Before we left on the adventure we made some yummy chocolate-covered strawberries!

We stopped at Bubba's to get our bison burgers to go (yes, romantic...but OH so good). So we headed down 59, he had no idea where we were going and I was so pumped! We came to our stop, "Painting with a Twist" and he laughed. Yep! We're couple's painting!

We were the first people there, so we got to eat and get mentally prepared/drink our booze before class started. It's basically a BYOB with a painting instructor.

I think Josh liked it and was happy to do something other than going out to dinner. I was glad that it was a couple's night, so there were alot of other guys there in the same boat. Our paintings were called "Key to My Heart."

Josh getting really into it...yes he drew that heart free hand!!

And here's our final product!! We had the tag say "N" for Nowak. I can't wait to go back, it was a great night!!

I got some cheap frames at Hobby Lobby and our creations are up in our study! Have a great weekend!! I get to go home to San Antonio and eat some nummy num Mexy food.

I CAN be crafty

So, for some reason I really wanted to make a gift for my friend Jill's baby shower. I could have gone to Target and got some cute little baby things, but my college friends are probably the most thoughtful bunch on the planet and I wanted it to be more special. I sneakily asked her the colors of the nursery and got to craftin'.

I got on You Tube and looked up "How to make a French Board" and got started! The cutest little old lady at Hobby Lobby helped pick out the material (she was really happy when I stopped by to show her my final product).

Here's a little step by step to make your own French/ Memory board! Super easy!!

Here's the supplies you need: a canvas, batting, material, ribbon and buttons. The tools SHOULD be a staple gun, but I used nails and hot glue!

Wrap the batting and staple it tight....

Wrap and nail/staple the material. Make it nice and tight and cut away the access.

After you tack the ribbon at even parallels you weave it through the other way. Make it tight!

I hot glue these little buttons and also a "C" for Caraline. There's so many ways to do it!

There's alot of girls I know having babies...I think this will be my "thing" to make pregs girls! I got Karen in on the gig as well...we made some more for Nikki and Kate...

Jill and Kate loved their gifts and I'm so happy to have found a fun craft to do! I'll post the baby shower pics soon!