Hi friends!! Happy Monday! Another week is here already.  Does anyone else feel like this year is just flying by?  I can’t believe it is already August!  I have written this post about 5 times, but keep having to update it because I haven’t gotten around to posting! So today is the day!

You may have noticed my lack of posting this past month.. not to say I am on regular blogging schedule these days, but my posts have definitely been more sporadic lately.  I’ve shared with some of you that I have been feeling extremely stressed with my job and that I felt a big lack of a work-life balance, which is really important to me.  My job was starting to affect my relationships with my friends and family, and my husband, and I was overall was not happy in my job anymore.  I am a firm believer in standing up for yourself and making a change when something isn’t right or doesn’t make you happy anymore.  I told my husband I needed a change, I put myself out there and put in my two weeks with my job.  I had a really great opportunity pop up with a new company and I said “this is It! I am done!”  Sometimes when you know, you know.  I just knew in my heart it was time for me to move on from this job as I knew nothing would change unless I took action to make a change.

So anyway, here we are.  I started my new job 2 weeks ago (it is in the same health field I was previously in, just with a new company) and traveled to DC for training the first week.  I am so excited for this opportunity.  I instantly connected with a few people at my new company and just knew it was the right choice.  I won’t have to travel much for my new job, just once in a while, but the best thing about my new job is that it is remote so I will be working from home.  This is a much better fit for my family as you all know we tend to move around a lot.  For now, we are staying put in San Antonio, but with my new flexibility, who knows how long we will be here. 🙂

Last weekend Jon and I tried out a new-to-us restaurant in San Antonio.  We had reservations at Bliss.

We were celebrating my new opportunity!  This is a really fun place for a date night.

We split the mussels for an appetizers and my husband got some fish dish.

I got a really yummy veggie dish that I forgot to document, but it was delicious!

We grabbed a quick drink at a nearby outside bar then met up with my brother in law for some pool. 

Love this guy!

These two are doing just fine. 🙂

We got to watch my girlfriend’s little boy for the day a couple weeks ago and ohmygosh.  He is the cutest kid.  We took him swimming and out to eat and he spent the night with us.  After about an hour with him, Jon was like, “I am SO exhausted!” LOL.  He was nonstop.  He ran into our closet and put on Jon’s boots and goes, “I want to be Jon!”

We took the pups on a walk in the morning and he really loved Riley.  He said, “Taylor, it is important to share and you have two doggies and I don’t have any so I think you should give me one….just one.  I’ll take Riley and you can keep the big one (Callie).”  LOL I could not stop laughing.  

So much more to share with you guys this week!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead!!!

Questions:

1. What is new in your world?
2. Highlight of your weekend?
3. Tried any new good restaurants lately?  

Happy Monday friends!!! I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was so relaxing with no real plans on the books, which was so nice.  Work has been absolutely crazy busy lately so I have been living for the weekends.  By Friday night, I was ready to collapse.  🙂  Jon and I had plans for a sushi date on Friday night, but thankfully he agreed with me that we should just order in and eat on the couch while watching a movie.  I think I was in my PJs by 6pm.  It was heavenly.  

I’ve been loving cucumber wrapped rolls lately.  It’s just a nice switch from rice… and this one was really delicious.  I think it was avocado, tuna, and some kind of white fish in the middle. 

I can’t get over Callie in these pictures.  She is always near the food.  This roll was a spicy salmon roll and it was really good as well.  

Jon and I have been watching Queen of the South on Netflix.  Have any of yall seen it?  It is pretty good so far!  I am always watching another series on the side myself and right now I am watching Grey’s Anatomy… from the beginning.  I never hopped on the band wagon when it first started, but my girlfriends convinced me to watch it and I am glad they did.  I am on season 8 of 15… there are like 20ish episodes in a season, which is crazy!! It’s a great show to watch while I’m prepping food, exercising, or getting ready in the mornings.  

Jonny and I have been trying to get in at least one date night out per week and we have been doing pretty well! 

Another sushi date in the books!! We have found a few good sushi spots in San Antonio recently so we have been taking advantage of that!  We like a lot of the same rolls so we usually just get a bunch and both try them all. Yes, we finished every single bite of this.  🙂

A couple weekends ago Jon and I made the trip to San Marcos (right outside of Austin about an hour from us in San Antonio) to float the river on a beautiful Saturday.  Tubing is a big thing down here because it is about the only thing you can do outside here in the summer with the extreme heat.  We rented some tubes and a tube for our cooler and floated down the river for about 2 hours.  It was a really nice and relaxing day. We left our phones in the car because we know it would have been bad news to take them with us.  We saw a guy diving to try to find his phone about 2 minutes into the floating experience. 😉

One night recently Jon asked me to make a homemade chocolate pie for him.  Any excuse to use my kitchen aid mixer, I’ll take it!  I made Hersheys chocolate pie. 

I actually used half regular chocolate chips and half espresso chips to give it a little more flavor.  Jon loved it!  Forgot to take a final picture.  All I got was one when it was setting up in the fridge. 🙂

I think the real winner was the homemade whipped cream.  It is soo much better than store bought.  Just combine heavy cream, powdered (or granulated) sugar, and a little vanilla extract in the mixer and that’s it!  Super easy and so yummy!

Little Riley is at least 11 years old (we got him back when we first moved to Salt Lake City in 2010) and he is still a spry little thing.  He wants to play constantly and it is just so cute.  His favorite thing is taking all the toys out of his box to find just the right one he wants to play fetch with.  It’s the cutest.  

Saturday night we hosted a poker night with a handful of our friends at our house.  You know how last time we had a poker night I told yall I hadn’t lost a game since I learned how to play?  Well, that is still the case!! Jon and I were the last two standing so we took home the pot.  I just learned to play in December and I am thinking my luck has to run out sometime… I just hope it’s not soon. 😉 

Yesterday I went to my first Orange Theory class with my friends here and it was such a great workout.  I’m having a little trouble walking today.  Have any of yall tried Orange Theory?  It’s a lot like a few of the classes I’ve tried with my sister.  There is a rowing machine station, treadmill station and a weights/strength training station.  It was high intensity and definitely kept your muscles guessing as the transitions were super fast.  They give you heart rate monitors to track your progress on the big screen in the room throughout the class, which is pretty cool.  I really love group fitness classes and I definitely push myself harder than I do on my own at home (I print out workouts and rotate throughout the week), but I will say, I love being able to workout on my own schedule (as opposed to a class schedule) and not having to commute to the gym.  🙂

The rest of Sunday consisted of yardwork (okay… Jon did this), meal prepping, chopping a HUGE watermelon (watermelons seriously last about 2-3 days in our household.. if we are lucky).  We are obsessed and gobble them up so quickly.  We took the pups on a quick walk yesterday afternoon then plopped on the couch for a lazy Sunday afternoon, which was just what we needed.  

I’ll be back soon to share some more fun activities!!! Hope yall all have a wonderful week ahead!!!!! 

Questions:

1. What was the highlight of your weekend? 
2. What’s your favorite homemade dessert? 
3. What is your favorite summer outside activity? 

Happy Friday!!!! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing 4th of July!! A special Happy Birthday to my momma (birthday on the 4th) and my mother-in-law (birthday on the 1st)!!! 

Last Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Fredericksburg with our good friends!  It is a little over an hour drive from San Antonio and we have been wanting to go for a while!  Despite the extreme heat, we had the best day in wine country! 

Our first stop was at Pedernales Cellars.  We started off with a tasting before enjoying a glass of wine on their porch outside.  

The best part about this day was that we were able to take the pups along for the ride.  They even let us bring the pups inside while we did our tasting! How nice is that!

I told the pups they needed to smile for the camera… Callie obliged. 😉

Our next stop was at Becker Vineyards.   

Riley was very eager to check it out. 🙂

 

This winery was really neat! It would be such a great place to have a wedding.  

The dogs were not in the mood for pictures so they all just turned around and refused to look at the camera. 😉

We did another tasting and hung outside for a bit while we listened to the live music.  

The dogs loved the shade. 🙂  They were all so hyper on the car ride up and all passed out hard on the car ride home.  They were exhausted. 🙂

Enjoying a beautiful Saturday!

With our besties! 🙂

After the two wineries, we headed into the town of Fredricksburg for lunch.  We had lunch at a cute little spot called The Auslander.  We split a frozen bellini, which was heavenly with the HOT weather.  

After lunch we met up with my good girlfriend from work and her husband and kiddo to say hi for a bit.  Then we headed to Altstad Brewery for the boys to taste some beer before heading back to San Antonio.  It was a long, but really fun day!! I highly recommend making the trip up to Wine Country and the cute little town of Fredericksburg if you ever get the chance!!

Questions:

1. Do you like wine or beer better?
2. Red or white wine?
3. Have you ever been to Wine Country in Texas?

Good morning friends!!  I hope you all are having a great week so far!  I have been busy busy busy, but what else is new?  I am looking forward to a day off this week.  We have some fun plans with friends for the 4th so I am looking forward to that.  

On Saturday, June 22nd, we headed up to Cleveland, OH for our friends’ wedding.

It was quite the adventure because there were some severe storms in our path.  We had a layover in Nashville on Saturday and Sunday.  We had to do a quick in and out trip so we didn’t have any time to spare.  Our first flight was on time, but about halfway into the flight, the pilot announced that we were going to have to make a detour to Memphis.  This would mean we were going to miss our connecting flight and there were no other flights to Cleveland that day.  So ultimately we thought we were going to miss the whole wedding so we were looking for flights back home from Memphis.

The pilot let us know that we were making circles in the air trying to wait out the storm because they were not allowing any planes to land in Nashville.  

Lovely. 😉  The pilot announced that we would only be able to wait it out about 10 more minutes before we would be low on fuel.  Somehow we got lucky and a few minutes later, the pilot announced we were going to land in Nashville!!! We were so happy!!  It was a bumpy landing, but we made it!  We hopped on our next flight and made it to Cleveland just in time to get ready for the wedding.  

It was a beautiful ceremony and such a fun reception that I didn’t take many pictures at all.  The wedding was for my husband’s best friend from college so a bunch of our friends were there, which made it ever more fun!

We had a great time celebrating the newly weds and catching up with our friends!!

Weddings are just so much fun!  We have one more later this year for my husband’s cousin and I can’t wait!

On Sunday morning we headed back to San Antonio!  A very quick 24 hour trip, but so worth it and so much fun!

Questions:

1. Have you been to any weddings this year?
2. What is your favorite part of weddings?
3. If you are married and went on a honeymoon, where did you go?

Hey friends!!  I’m back for part 2 of our girls trip to Mexico!! 

The sunrises and sunsets in Mexico were absolutely breathtaking.  

On Sunday we booked a boat trip for the day.  It was an all day event from 8 to 3 so we were exhausted after it was over.

We cruised a bunch and they had tons of activities to do like snorkeling, scuba diving, paddle boarding, and kayaking.  A couple of us snorkeled and kayaked. 

It was a beautiful day.  We had breakfast and lunch on the boat and endless drinks. 

The cruise took us to a secluded island for an hour of lounging and riding on the banana boat.  

The girls road the banana boat and I soaked up the sun on the beach because I was sooo into my book.  We had to swim to shore so I threw my book in a plastic bag so I could take it with me. 😉

I read The Party by Robyn Harding and Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris.  Both books were really good, but Behind Closed Doors was my favorite.  

Girlies at the beach!!

Girls trips are good for the soul!  My husband had a boys lake trip while I was away. 

After the boat, we spent the rest of the day at the pool.  We stayed at the Sheraton in PV, which was really nice.  My friend’s mom got us a great discount, which made it even better!

 

On Tuesday we headed back to San Antonio.  We were all sad to leave, but I was ready for my own bed!  We had the best time and I can’t wait for our next girls trip!

Questions:

1. Read any good books lately?
2. Any upcoming trips planned?
3. Do you have any plans for the 4th?

Hey guys! I’m back!! It has been a busy few weeks around here.  I went to Mexico with my girlfriends, Cleveland for a wedding, and work has been busier than ever so I have not had a moment to sit down and blog.  Hopefully this week will be a little slower with the holiday coming up.

But I’ve got to show you pics from our trip to Mexico.  It was a blast!  We left on a Friday to head to Puerto Vallarta.  After a long afternoon of traveling, we were pretty excited to finally be there!  View from our room.

The first night we went out to a late dinner on the 4th floor of this building.  It was the most gorgeous view.

We could even see the fireworks from down at the ocean.

The restaurant was a tapas restaurant so we all split a LOT of dishes.  I like trying everything so it was fun.  The food was phenomenal!  Something else quite hilarious happened while we were at dinner at 10:30pm… I got stun by a bee!!! I had to pull the stinger out and ask for a bag of ice at the restaurant. LOL…

The next day I hit the gym bright and early.  I know most people take vacation as a time to relax and not workout, but I love working out in new places.  And the gym at our hotel was super nice.

After breakfast, a couple of us headed to the beach while the others went shopping.

I finished two books while we were in Mexico and it was amazing.  I don’t get to read that often anymore because of our busy schedules, so this was such a treat. 

We had lots of pool time.  The weather was amazing the whole time we were there. 

Ready for another girls dinner!

Our friend took us to this beautiful restaurant on the beach!  We got front row so we had a great view of the sun setting while we ate. 

We shared a few salads and appetizers to start.

So pretty. 

I had this delicious seafood dish with quinoa and it was sooo good. 

Doesn’t get much better than this.

The girlies!

After dinner we walked around for a bit… then I saw this and just about died.  This dog at the bar… it looked like he was just there by himself living life.  So cute!

Puerto Vallarta!

We ended up at this bar with a huge swing out front.  That’s my friend up there.

Too funny. 

A perfect first two nights in Mexico!

I am off to get ready for work, but I’ll be back with part 2 soon!! 

Questions:

1. How was your weekend?
2. Have you taken any great trips lately?
3. Any plans for the 4th? 

Heyyyy friends!! Long time no talk.  It.has.been.quite.the.week.already.  Geez, I am ready for Friday.  Are you?  I’ve got a few updates for you and this will hopefully explain why I have been a little more absent than normal.  

Before I start, let me preface this by saying… I am A-okay and feeling much better.  Last week on Monday I started not feeling well (tummy issues…again).  I was certain I was going to end up in the hospital, but thankfully avoided it.  It was a very stressful week at work with a few changes that occurred and this was just bad timing.  I felt horrible all week and didn’t end up eating more than a small smoothie each day (if I was able to get it down).  I was super nauseated, in a lot of pain, and my stomach was very distended.  You could hear gurgling sounds from my tummy across the room.  Obviously this made me very nervous so I made an appointment to follow up with the surgeon I saw here when I was in the hospital.  In a nutshell, he said we needed to start all the tests again that I did last year because things could have changed (colonoscopy, small bowel follow through, CT, etc.).  While I know they have to do this and I want to avoid surgery, it is frustrating just having to deal with these symptoms or be admitted to the hospital (all while trying to work a very demanding job).  I went home from my appointment feeling super defeated (and a lot more stressed).  Over the weekend I still felt horrible and ended up going to a nearby spa to get an IV (saline + vitamins) since I hadn’t been able to eat or drink much and was very dehydrated. 

While my tummy was still feeling awful, thankfully the IV made my body feel better.  By Sunday I was feeling quite a bit better and finally had my first REAL food Sunday night.  I took it easy getting back into eating solid foods, eating a little more each day this week.  

By Monday I was feeling back to normal, but you know that saying “when it rains, it pours”?  Yeah well, this has been the story of my life lately. 😉

Monday evening I was leaving work with my lunchbox, phone, purse, and laptop in hand.  I am still not even sure exactly how it happened, but I tripped (over my own foot, I think) and fell hard on the pavement in the parking lot.  All my stuff went flying and my body went crashing to the ground.  Twisted my ankle, banged up my knee, wrist, hip, shoulder, elbow and my face. I don’t even know how that many surfaces could have possibly hit the pavement, but they did.  The worst part was my face… my teeth cut up the inside of my mouth, my lip and above my lip.  My teeth didn’t go all the way through, but blood was gushing everywhere.  I quickly drove home with every napkin in my car on my face catching the blood… yuck!  I didn’t think it was too bad, but when I got home my husband said I needed stitches.  We drove to urgent care…

The doctor agreed I needed stitches… on the inside and outside of my mouth.  She said I might want to go to the ER so I could see a plastic surgeon since the stitches were on my face… but I said just do it (and please do a good job ;)).  After 5 rounds of numbing my mouth (it would NOT numb up), and my husband exiting the room to avoid puking (ha!), she stitched up my mouth and face and we headed home.  I iced my face all night and tried (and failed miserably) to get some sleep.  

Tuesday was rough.  My whole body was SO sore and my head was pounding, but I got through it.  The doctor told me to come back in 5-7 days to remove the stitches on my face (the ones in my mouth will dissolve).  This sounds great, but I leave for a girls trip to Mexico on Friday.  The doctor said to come back to see if maybe the stitches would be ready to come out and if not, I could do it myself (it will be too long to wait until I come home).  🙂 So we will see!  For now, I just look like I got lip injections on one side of my lip. 😉 LOL.

I hope you have had a better week than me! But I am hoping this is the end of my bad luck and it is all smooth sailing from here.  I was going to cancel my trip (because of my tummy, not my face), but since I am feeling better, I made the decision to go (sorry, MOM!).  I am obviously going to be very careful with what I eat (and the water I drink) while I am there, but I have to live my life and I have been looking forward to this trip for a long time.  I am really excited to lay in the sun and have some fun with my girlfriends…and after this last week, I feel like I really NEED this trip.  🙂

Thank you all for the sweet messages, cards, and thoughts.  I am so so so lucky to have you all in my life.  

Just wanted to give you all a little update of what has been going on over here lately.  I am hoping the next update is ALLLLLL good things!!!  Have a great rest of your week and enjoy your weekend!! Talk to you soon! 

Questions:

1. How are things going for YOU?
2. Any fun plans for the weekend?
3. Have you ever taken a bad fall (hopefully when you were a kid and not almost 30 years old like me ;)) ?