You Amaze Me, Snorkeling!

We had sooo much fun on our vacation! One of our favorite activities was snorkeling :D I loved getting a glimpse of a completely different world. It's no wonder, with all the strange plants and animals, that centuries ago sailors brought back all kinds of crazy and magical stories!

On our snorkeling adventures...

There were stripey fish

And iridescent fish

Grazing blue tangs

And dancing parrot fish

We saw yellow coral

And purple coral!

But most of all

I loved swimming with

the sting rays!

Yay for snorkeling!

 

(See more of my photos in my Flickr stream)

I'm back!

Howdy!

I'm finally back home, and I've got so much to do already! I'll be editing and uploading photos this week so you can see what I've been up to :D And I've got some drawing to catch up on!

My Etsy shop is back from vacation mode, and as promised there will be another update soon! Keep an eye out :)

So, what did I miss?! If you have any links I should check out, leave it in the comments! I'm excited to get back to the blog world and see what you've all been up to!

You Amaze Me, Fireworks

Every year I start getting really excited...for fireworks. I dance around and squeal like a small child. And I'm ok with that. Because fireworks are awesome. And this year I'll get to see TWO shows!! On Friday Alex went to the Concerts in the Gardens 4th of July celebration with my parents. It's an annual event that includes a couple hours of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra playing patriotic music with a fantastic fireworks finale! I hadn't been in a few years, but it was just as good as I remember! There's nothing better than eating watermelon in the Botanic Gardens while listening to live music and watching FIREWORKS. Am I right? (A: YES.)

Now I'm off to my in-laws' cookout. They live close to downtown, so we can watch the Austin fireworks show from their front lawn! While eating. I love eating ^_^

Happy Independence Day!!

PS: Also check out my colors of fireworks post on Birds of a Feather :)
PPS: And I'll be uploading more photos to my Flickr :D

Texas Summer

I don't like the heat. Anything over 78 is really just too hot unless you're in water. However, there are some beautiful things about Texas summer that I just love. This weekend I walked around my neighborhood to photograph some of those things. Do you have any favorites?

Cool grass between my toes

Swimming day or night

Warm stones beneath my feet

The sound of cicadas singing

And of course, the biggest clouds I've ever seen

Ah, Texas summer ♥

Camping

I love camping. I'm an outdoorsy type (although I hate the heat >_<). I've actually gone camping in both extremes though. Well, as extreme as Texas gets anyway. We went camping in August once (a mild August, I think it was just in the upper 90s), and we camped several times over New Year's (temps in the 20s). I love being able to disconnect and just spend time with nature ♥ At first I was going to throw in some beautiful photos from weheartit, but now I've decided to share with you some personal photos instead. I hope that's ok?

(This was our first camping trip! Yeah, he's whittling :D)

(This was the August trip. Couldn't sleep the first night, so we got a fan! haha)

(This was one of our New Year's camping trips. I believe the sentiment was "Never again.")

Ah, nostalgia....I mean, er, Ah, camping :-) Soon it will happen again! Looks like we may be in for another August trip...And maybe I'll give you the pretty found camping photos later ;) Happy Wednesday :D

Any other campers out there?

Look what I got!

Look what I got in the mail last week! A beautiful print:

AND these amazing cards:

...from Our City Lights :D You should go check out her shop and blog! She does amazing work, and I'm so grateful for these lovely gifts!

While you're at it, you should go check out the enchanted hunters - a cute blog about fashion, style, movies, and more - who hosted this beautiful giveaway. Thank you again, ladies!

New Orleans

Friday night in New Orleans, my sister's bachelorette party (she's asked me not to post any photos, so here's a street sign, and my lovely husband):

Sight-seeing, including the French Quarter (where we stayed), Jackson Square, and beignets from Cafe du Monde (yum):

But of course the main event was the wedding :)

The above pictures are: My beautiful sister; Alex's cuff-links (a gift from our best friends); the jazz band playing for the bride and groom (amazing); my brother (he does exist!); the happy couple about to cut the cake; and a photo I managed to snag of the hubby and me!

It was a whirlwind mini-vacation! I was very glad to spend time with my family this weekend and to see such a rich city :)