New digs and more!

As you saw on my last post our home is on a countdown to being  "ours no more". With that in mind I've also officially transitioned full time into a new career, eek!  Some people have asked where we are moving? Well we  have decided to rent for the next year in downtown Austin. We are planing on taking a little brake from working on a house, and just want to relax and travel a little more next year. But don't worry we plan on getting back into home ownership next year ; )With so many scary, but great changes going on I've kinda but the blog on the back burner. But have no fear because I have returned! A little update is below : )

 

Unfortunately we have no Easter pictures to share, so sorry. We did have a fabulous time with our family in Houston, but sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment vs. document it ; )

 

Also I want to give a little Chloe update for all the friends and family out there that knew of the little scare we went through on Easter weekend. For those of you who aren't familiar with Chloe she is our family dog.  Our first and only fur-baby, and we love her sooooo much. She is a 7 year old black lab mix that I have raised since she was a tiny little puppy my senior year in college.

     The Friday of Easter weekend I took her into the vet for her annual shots, and to have her hip examined.  During this time the vet found a rather large mass under her neck fat close to her thyroid. Needless to say I freaked out. The mass is huge and I felt like it came out nowhere. We immediately drew blood for a few tests, but her results were not going to be ready until the end of the following week. My mind went to the worse place all weekend- trying to prepare myself for the possibility of it being cancer. I am my Father's daughter and I tend to worry about EVERYTHING, lol. Since we were in Houston I decided to go ahead and research A&M Veterinary School small animal clinic (particularly their oncology department and ongoing studies). By the end of the weekend  I was so stressed out that Ricky and I decided to just go to the clinic and have them do whatever needs to be done. I just wanted her to be taken care of ASAP. Well after a full day of tons of different diagnostic tests we were able to conclude the mass is benign. We are beyond grateful that our prayers had been answered!! The mass does need to be removed, but the Chloe-ster is happy and healthy : )

I do want to point out that we currently have pet insurance with her, and I highly recommend it if you do not have it. In the past year alone we have had several "out of the blue" moments with her, and to not be financially burdened during a very stressful time is priceless.

 Just do it- and do it now rather than later.

 

A few weeks ago we had the most delicious crawfish at Evangeline's down in South Austin with our friends Becca and Sam.  You know it's good stuff when you get the approval of Louisiana folks ; )

 


This is snap shot of our new favorite bar "Moontower". It's got fire pits, live music, and tons of outdoor seating. Unfortunately it's everyones favorite so the place gets pretty packed.

 


This a picture my sister sent me of her recent travels in Australia. Her boyfriend Grant is from Sydney, and he got to show her around the country with family and friends for a few weeks.

 

 Ricky and I can occasionally get our fix for Cuban and Colombian food from a great restaurant near our new place called Casa Columbia. This place always cures us when we feel a little home sick for South Florida.

 

Last weekend Austin had it's annual Hot Rod Rally downtown. This was only a snap shot of the thousands of cars that were lined up on South Congress. We had most of the Houston family in town to celebrate my sister- in law and mother in-law's birthdays! ( both were born on April 7th)

 

 

I'm obsessed with these cute tear drop trailers, and this one was display on south congress during the hot rod parade.

 

Another view of the Rally all along South Congress to the Capital.

 

This picture  is blurry I know, but I found it too funny to not share. That is not a sweater on that dog, but her coat was partially colored that way, lol.

On Sunday, as part of birthday celebration, we decided to visit the Wildflower center. My Mother-in-law is a wonderful gardener, and she LOVES flowers. It was a big hit with everyone :)

 

the observation tower

 

one of the many gardens and wind sculptures

 

another garden

 

I just thought this little turtle family sunbathing was so cute!

 
 

We ended our afternoon at the famous Salt Lick BBQ and vineyard. It was a perfect afternoon to sit outside with a few drinks and listen to the live music with some delicious BBQ meats : )

 

Loved these limited addition wines for the another large musical festival out here - and it's happening really soon! Unfortunately we can't go this year since we will be moving that weekend, boo :(

 


My cute sister in-law with her first official legal beer, she turned 21!! Wahoo! Now we get to take her to the really fun bars downtown ; )

 

another picture of the beer garden

 

a far away view of the delicious smoked meat pit

 

This man had a pretty little impromptu serenade during our meal. Anywhere else you might think it's weird, but in Austin- it's the norm, ha ha.

 

my handsome hubster- Love this man!

Well have a good week everyone!- Luv Di

 

Our house was up and off the market in 4 days!

So we recently decided to jump on the crazy housing market train here in Austin. We officially put it on the market last Thursday and  by Sunday we had our pick of several different offers. We are beyond excited and feel so blessed to be able to have these options.  But since most of you have never been given the official tour (and this is the cleanest my house has ever been for one, lol)  I figured now would be a good time to check it out  ( just click on the link below)

Take care - Luv Di

http://tours.twisttours.com/public/vtour/display/99657

SXSW 2013 beginings...

So sorry it's been a while, but it's nice to see you back :)

We have been laying low this past month just going to grab drinks here and there and other shannigans, but this week started:

 A) my spring break from school, wahoo!

B ) SXSW 2013

With both of those things colliding I promptly started my spring break off at 12pm noon on staturday with a nice little shot of tequila, lol. From there we met up with our friends Becca and Sam downtown and wandered through all of the tech parties going on around the city. In the 5 years we have lived here we have never had badges , and to be honest you really don't need them to have a great time. We ate and drank free for the entire day! It was a lot of fun, below are my pics from the day, enjoy!

This was our first stop around  and it was blend of a few different tv networks. We took a few moonshine shots and I grabbed a free turvis and cap ( it may have had duckies all over it, but hey they are awesome pool cups who cares what is on it, lol)

We were invited in to an upstairs hosted party on Sixth street where we had a few drinks and appetizers to start off the afternoon. It rained for most of the morning so the day was pretty wet and humid.

Random band getting the music portion started early. During SXSW this is the set up you see everywhere downtown.

Awesome sammies from a trailer out of Lockhart, TX

The beginnings of our Fader Fort adventures. Hands down the best SXSW party I've ever attended!!! Well worth the wait in line to get banded and into the tent

Ricky's view from one of the parties he attended with some friends once the music portion started up.

 This is only 25% of the pics I took last week but my phone's memory is really full so I could only take so many pics. The rest are on Ricky's phone. Instead of waiting for them I figured I would post what I've got so far. Sorry for being so MIA but lots of good stuff is going on and I've been slammed. Have a great week and I promise to post more soon!- Luv Di

Sometimes life gets a little boring

Well boring may be a little harsh, but as of right now we are kinda stuck in a work, school, tutoring, more school schedule ... It's for sure not easy, but there is a very bright light already at the end of the tunnel so I'm ok with just riding this out for a few more months ; )

I've been slammed with full 40 hour work weeks with 12 hours of class on top of it. Ricky has always had a full plate at work so the combo of me not being accessible for cooking, cleaning, etc.... has put a tiny toll on the De Camps house which has made it more or less a disaster zone, lol. We have kinda turned into little home bodies with our few nights off, and I'm totally ok with the change for now. 

I was hoping for small little Valentine's weekend get away to the coast, but a cold front came in and the ocean seemed a little too cold. So we spent the weekend setting up storage and packing up the house- oh so romantic ; ) We are in the midst of putting the house on the market and with this past weekend " things just got real y'all!"

Below is a little photo montage of  things we snuck in the past few weeks- have a good week Luv Di

I have class on most Saturdays from 9-12pm so it has become a tradition of Ricky and I to stop here for a quick breakfast before my class.

Since his office is only a few blocks from my school he will usually go into the office for a few hours while I'm in class. Chloe usually tags along and goes straight to work lol.

Just an example of the many things I'm picking up on in class every week.

A new local ice cream shop we stopped by on our way home a weekend or two ago. I had the chocolate caramel sea salt scoop and it was sooo good!

Oh just the usual on a Saturday afternoon in downtown Austin, ha ha

A cute little place on the east side that had a delicious pop up local pork restaurant for the night.

We stop here quite frequently for a few drinks on our Saturday afternoons on the east side

I saw this on the wall at Amy's ice cream and found it hilarious, lol

I couldn't find any fresh craw-fish near my office on Fat Tuesday, but a fresh lobster roll and chocolate key lime pie bar did the trick. It was from a new food truck that I discovered over at the Google building. I got to talking to them and they are from South Florida too! I will definitely be going back they were delicious :)

Ricky was so sweet to have this set up for my on Valentine's day. It was my favorite wine, chocolate, and garnet & gold rose. Famous words from my cousin Chelsey's mouth " It's all in the details ladies"

Family visits in Austin

Happy Tuesday y'all! Ha ha you would think I wouldn't be this happy on a Tuesday, but I just came off of a wonderful weekend with some of my family and the smile just ain't going away.

Let me give you a little insight as to why this trip was close to my heart. My Mother's sister ( I like to call to her Aunt Jackie, ha ha ) had a horrible fire accident about a year and a half ago that severely burned 80% of her body. It was a devastating time for everyone in the family especially for her husband and kids. It has been a long and bumpy road to recovery, but I am so happy to say that she has recovered beyond what everyone could have imagined for her. A ginormous testament to her and her family's strength, endurance, and faith in the Lord. This accident occurred a few months prior to Ricky & I's wedding here in Austin, and she was not able to attend it. So to physically see her here fully functioning and stunningly beautiful after not knowing if God wanted to call her home sooner than we wanted is absolutely amazing! Words cannot express what a wonderful miracle from God it is to have her in our lives today. Getting to show my Aunt the city I live in and spending time with her this weekend was a priceless luxury that was almost something taken away from me, and I promise that is not something I will take for granted again.  

Now that I have gracefully stepped off my soapbox- back to our weekend. I just want to give my husband a HUGE hug and kiss for putting up with three very opinionated Hispanic women all weekend- to say he is a trooper would be an understatement. We not only my mom and aunt in town, but my mother in-law was able to join us  from Houston as well. It was a wonderful weekend, but I'm exhausted. 

PS my sister and cousin Chelsey conveniently scheduled trips out the country around this time- sneaky, sneaky ladies ; ) 
Ha ha, but I can't blame them,  I would have gone to St. Martin and Israel too!

On Friday we started the day with a hike on the green belt. In the picture from left to right is my mom, me and my aunt.

Then we went shopping & had lunch at the food trailers on South Congress. These ladies did some serious damage at these stores. I was very grateful to        be on the receiving end of their shopping adventure.

My mom being silly at one of the stores

My aunt discovered on this trip that Whole foods was started here in Austin, and so we took her to their flagship store at their headquarters downtown. For anyone who steps into this store for the first time - you go into sensory overload, lol. There are bars and restaurants set up in every section of the store. Beside from their in house cook and serve sections there is a seafood, BBQ, raw food, Italian food, sushi, and pizza restaurant in the store. As well as full functioning grocery store,lol. My house reaped the benefits of their awesome floral section  : )

a bird's eye view of the Oasis by the lake

We made it out to one of the many wineries near the house on Saturday. This is Ricky and I in front of the Duchman Winery.

A great picture Lourdes took of me, my mom and Aunt Jackie

The sunset on Saturday night while we were enjoying a bottle of wine we bought at winery.

a cute saying we found on the wall : )

On Sunday we headed to brunch at Ables on the Lake. This is my pretty mama enjoying a mimosa

 
The best part of having women with you  who love taking pictures is that we have tons of pictures to record our great weekend. The worst part is that I don't have most of them to share with you : (   
Ricky was the photographer for most of the weekend, and I hated having to throw my camera into the pot after already having to take 3 of the same picture, lol. We are hanging low this week and getting back into the swing of things. Have a great week! Luv- Di

The start of new beginnings for 2013!

 There are big changes occuring this year in the De Camps house 

one of them being......

 I am now going to school at night for my teaching certification - like how I tricked you ; )

With that being said this past week was the beginning of my journey, and I am just plain exhausted. Monday - Weds. my days start at 5:30 am and have me arriving home at 10pm. Needless to say I am more boring than usual right now, sorry. In preparation for me getting ready for school and family coming into town next weekend we have been working like crazy on the house. Last week I got a new oven!!!! Super excited about this by the way!!! ( our last oven required me using a lighter to get the burner going - it was from the 80's and was ready to retire 3 years ago) We also upgraded to a king size bed and finally finished installing new floors into the house. It may not seem like a lot, but this stuff has been on the wish list for the past few years. To finally see it happen was in one word "wonderful". I don't have pictures yet because it still looks like a bomb went off in the house, but before the family arrives I'll take a few for you. 

Have a great week- Luv Di

Here are random photos I've taken this week to hold you over enjoy!

a sunset view of downtown out side of my first class on Monday

a pretty shot of the hallway of our church- empty because as usual we were late lol

I laughed for a good ten minutes when I pulled this out of Ricky's dry cleaning pile on Saturday. It was just too random not to document : )

A beautiful sunrise on the way into work this week. I am pretty lucky to see this often and it never ever gets old!