Some March Travels...

Near the beginning of the month we drove to Houston to meet the newest little smith... Miss Avonlea Jane!

This also happened to be Mister G.'s first trip down...Daisy on the other hand is a veteran at it!

Mister G. with his little friend...

When we arrived at the Smith household it was the normal craziness that it has grown accustom to lately... Stu and I were able to visit with Stephen, Star, and Stu's Dad, Gene. We also met sweet little Avonlea who slept pretty much the whole time that we were there... Stu and I played a little bit with Maddie, Jackson and Hope... Daisy ran around the yard... and Mister G. terrorized their dog and tiger, the kitty.

We of course did what Smiths do...drink lots of coffee in the middle of the day...

Precious little sweetheart...

That was our quick trip....there are more pictures here.




Next....

This is my last semester of college...and that means that this was my last spring break... I didn't really do much other than school work... I had decided that it was more important to me to get a head start on some of my projects that will close out the semester...better then a complete breakdown from the stress of completing them with little time to spare later... but we did take a little time out of the school work to enjoy some down time...

We headed to Fredericksburg for the afternoon...

My sweet husband...

Our first stop was at Becker Vineyards. There we tasted a couple new wines from their last harvest...sadly I was a little disappointed with the whole experience...too many people and not relaxing at all... so the next stop was the Fredericksbrug Brewery... We have always looked for the brewery but always failed... that is until now. We both had a cold beer and chatted, and because we are both people watchers, observed our neigbors...


Next stop....amazing!

The Rather Sweet Bakery is locaed next door to the brewery...so how could we not stop by and enjoy ourselves?

We split a Lemon Blueberry Muffin....oh so good!

...and we'll just say that it didn't last very long!

Then we headed home after a little window shopping and when we got home enjoyed a Smith tradition...a nap.


more later!
~n

What are you looking at?

It's Spring Break!

Stretch out and enjoy yourself... Spring Break has officially started!

Daisy and Mister G. are doing well... adjusting to one another little by little. Daisy is now getting more sleep during the day than she was when Mister G. first arrived, he has learned the balance of sleeping and playing.... Daisy is thankful for that!

It was sweet, last night when Stu and I were watching a movie, Daisy and G. were asleep on my legs... spooning (but Mister G. was the big spoon...AWK). 

Mister G. still barks like a girl... and he is possibly creating a deep hate among the neighbors...he will bark at ALL of the dogs that he comes across when we are outside. We are going to break him of this because the most unpleasant noise leaves his sweet little body.

Mister G. is not as sweet as he looks:

He pulls my hair because he thinks that it is a toy to play tug-a-war with

He jumped up on me today and his little claw drew blood from the side of my nose... :(

He killed Daisy's friend, "Little Red" and almost ate the squeaker out of his head.

Still doesn't listen very well

and still needs to learn his name....but on a happy note: doing better with the house training! 

oh, but Stu dropped him on his head yesterday!

...no wonder Mister G. is afraid of him... I would be too if Stu dropped me on my face 

As for spring break.... I have plans. They may not be the wild and crazy plans that come to mind when you hear "spring break", but the coming days will be productive for the up coming months. (Two months till graduation!!) I will be correcting past work in order for it to be photographed and developed into my design portfolio.. and of course working on my last studio project.... (i sure do like those run-on sentences.... :) ha!) I hope to get stu away from work this week so that we can go to Fredericksbrug for a day...to get away from life and enjoy some yummy wine under the Texas sunshine (when it get warm of course).

We went to Houston last weekend to see little Avonlea, the newest Smith. She was so sweet... we did take a few pictures but we have yet to upload them...soon. While we were there we were able to visit with the Weavers!! John and Allison always seem to be busy when we are in town but this time everything worked out and it was GREAT to see them. We shared a little wine and watched a few you-tube videos... they are going to be in town at the end of the month, we are looking forward to that! We stayed the night at Stu's Dad's where Daisy and Mister G. played with Roscoe and the dog that lives next door. Mister G. ran all over the yard! We played a little basketball with Gene ( I was much better than Stu... and I am a girl!).  Then after a little lunch we headed home... it was a nice little break from the world.

Tonight we have been sitting at our favorite little coffee shop up the street from the apartments.... yummy (chocolate covered grahams....)! I did a little bit of homework and Stu worked on some design stuff....a productive little Saturday night for the Smiths.... 

more later!

~n 

Meet Mister G.

Please take a moment to meet the newest member of our little family. 

This is Mister G.

He is a five month old Dapple Daschund from the Williamson County Animal Shelter

He barks like a girl

Loves to chew on stuff

Took over Daisy's bed and all of her toys

Loves to pull Daisy's ears and all of her neck fat

Is very interested in what you are doing

Follows Daisy around like a little shadow

Mellow for a puppy

Wants to play with every dog he sees

...and loves to play with Daisy.

Mister G. is a good dog, we love him and think that Daisy likes him for the most part....he just doesn't let her sleep that much right now.

Now we have a Daisy D. and a Mister G.

I should be studying....

This is my little study buddy... she may not inspire me to actually study but she cuddles with me when I have to read some pretty boring stuff...

here is my schedule for the next couple of days:

Today: Study for Family Policy and Work on Perspective sketches for my studio project

Monday: Class from 11:00 to 12:20

Study some Biology and Family Policy a little more

Work on Elevations for Studio Project

Tuesday: Test in Biology 

Test in Family Policy

Quiz in Ballet over terms (correct spelling and accents :-/ I am lucky if I can spell in English, much less French... Thankfully she is counting this as more of a practice round and next week is the real thing....)

Quiz in Biology Lab about last week's lab.

Then finish perspectives/elevations

Print out furnishing and odds and ends for a concept board

Put Together Final Concept Boards for my Presentation 

Wednesday: Presentation first thing in the morning.

Class

Home for nap!

and then the next phase begins...

I am in need of a vacation... or just to be finished with the semester and have my degree....I just have to continue to tell myself that it is two months more of stressful projects and text books...

bye ... now back to the books!

Look what I can do...

the end of 2008 in pictures.

...sorry goes out to the handful of readers... things were a little crazy there at the end of school and then it was time for family and Christmas before you knew it. I will try and keep you a little more up to date on all the drama of school, the blessings we do not deserve, and the fat little dog we call Daisy. Here are the last photos of our 2008...

Daisy loves to sun tan outside...

This is what I spent the last days of the semester on... and it sure turned out great!

It was a senior activity center in Goliad, Tx... a real life project... about 20 projects in total were completed between the research studio this semester...the people of Goliad with collect grants and build something...maybe one of our projects!

...and from the other side of the world! 

Stu's Mama! 

This was her visit to Austin...and it also happens to be the day of our espresso bar event. (Side note: if you don't know already Stu and I live in an apartment complex where we plan events for residents and try to create a sense of community for people to live in.) We love coffee and think that everyone needs to experience some of the best Austin has to offer so we brought the coffee to them!

Yummy! (and pretty too!) 

This is Bianca... she works in the office at the apartment... she has a dog named Daisy too...but our Daisy is fatter!

Stu with his ladies...

CHRISTMAS with THE SMITHS...(ALL the Smiths...it was craziness)!

Daisy spreading a little holiday cheer! (she is wearing a wreath maddie made of construction paper...it was on the kids Christmas tree)