I'm Back.....for now!

I have been itching to finally start posting again in the past couple of weeks, but Marcus has been away on mission trips with the youth group, so I just now have the computer back!

Because of your sweet comments on my last post, I was reminded of why I started this blog in the first place. The whole point of Wish You Were Here is for our friends and family to stay in the loop on what's going on at the Womack house. So, this post is just a big ole recap of what's been happening for the past couple of months. I don't really remember as far back as April (except for Easter and finally getting to watch TV again!) so I'll just start with May and catch up to today. Get ready for lots of iPhone pictures ahead!

In May:

• I started working on a Christmas quilt! This is the one I kept promising to show you my progress. Here is the only picture I have. And I haven't worked on it again since then! :) But I'm excited to see it start coming together.

• I visited the Main Downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library! This was on my bucket list, so I was really excited to finally go and mark something off my list!
• I joined a book club! For May, we read Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. It was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it! This month and next, we're reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It is one ginormous book!

• We spent Memorial Day weekend floating on the river in Knoxville! One of my best friends Laura, and her hubby Rob recently moved there, so we spent the weekend on the houseboat they were renting until they could move in to their house. Lots of fun!

• We came home to an escaped dog who had found some Tylenol (no bueno) and made our first visit to the emergency vet clinic. I don't wish this on anyone. Ever.

• We celebrated TWO wonderful years of wedding bliss. Marcus took me to a fancy restaurant and I made him watch our wedding video. :) For the second anniversary gift of cotton, I gave Marcus a monogrammed handkerchief and a Longhorn cap, and he gave me a beautiful canvas photograph that I want to hang above our piano (when we live in a house big enough to have the piano!).

Who forgot to ask someone to take our picture at the restaurant? Yep, us.

I can't believe how quickly the past two years have flown by. Marriage has been such a wonderful adventure and we love our life here in Nashville.

Stay tuned for some of our June adventures (I promise I won't wait a month to post about it).

Merry Christmas!

created via Shutterfly

From our family to yours, have a blessed holiday season!

Sweet Things

Greetings from Texas! It is so nice to be back for a whole week! We are enjoying time in Longview now and on Thursday, we'll head to Rockwall. 

Road trip!

Max was a great traveling buddy and is having so much fun for his first time in Texas! He hasn't quite figured out how to play with Mitzi (Mom and Dad's new pup), but he's definitely making himself at home!

Now, onto the point of this post.  We've been spending most of our short time here in Texas concerning ourselves with food.  So far, we've checked three places off our list- Whataburger, Taco Bueno, and Dudley's! Yum yum! We've also gotten started with some cooking.  Of course, dessert is the most important part of the meal.

I found the recipe for these babies on Picky Palate and just had to try them.  They were super easy and so delicious! If you're looking for a last minute dessert (that easily doubles as a great breakfast treat!), you should give these a try!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

We also baked up my Granny's famous Paper Bag Apple Pie.  If I could only eat one dessert for the rest of my life, this would be it.  I love this pie so much, it's what I always request as my birthday "cake" of choice.  So what makes it so special? First, the crumble topping. Instead of your standard crust, we sprinkle a mixture of butter, cinnamon, and sugar over it.  Second, the paper bag.  The pie is baked in a brown grocery bag and comes out perfectly cooked- juicy and lightly browned.  I know my grandma is not the first to bake an apple pie like this, but in my book, it will always be her special recipe, and I'll never bake an apple pie any other way.  

Can you tell I love this pie?!

And finally, we ended the night with another piece of pie. This one, a strawberry pie from Dudley's Cajun Cafe.  Dudley's is my favorite restaurant back home- it's where we had our rehearsal dinner and we try to make a trip there every time we visit.  Let me tell you- the strawberry pie is the best and it goes fast! There was one piece left when we got to restaurant, so I made sure to reserve that little plate of goodness before anything else (priorities, people!). Mmmmm...it was the perfect ending to a perfectly delicious dinner of boudin balls, gumbo, and fried crawfish.

Does it get any better than this?

What are your holiday standards?  Do you like to try new recipes or stick to your family's favorites? However you celebrate, I hope it's perfectly sweet!

Thankful Thursday

Remember the time I said I was going to join up with Megan for Thankful Thursdays and then I totally flaked? Well here I am this week, with a whole hour (eight minutes by the time I finished this) to spare!

Today I am thankful for this little piggy:

My co-worker, Kellie, stumbled upon this little guy at a cute boutique in Chattanooga. You can't tell by the picture but he only has three legs! He is a good-luck pig, an old tradition from Chile. Kellie and I shared an office for a while, and bonded over our love of cheesy 80's love jams and bacon. It didn't take long for my (not-so)-secret affinity of pigs to come out.  I've been collecting pigs since about 7th grade- it's seriously embarrassing to walk into my room and see all the pigs everywhere.  I took a few really special ones with me to college and now I only have some favorites in our house. It's fun to add some new ones to the collection every once in a while that I can incorporate into our home decor. Like this little vintage pot holder that I snagged at a garage sale last week.

You're probably wondering what any of this has to do with Thankful Thursday. I'll get to the point now. Yes, I'm thankful for these little piggies, but more importantly, I'm thankful for the stories behind them. I'm incredibly blessed to work with such fun, smart, and thoughtful people.  Aside from the little surprises, I'm thankful that I can truly consider my co-workers friends. We teach each other to quilt, and baby-sit each others' kids, and watch Conan together, and go to happy hour.  We are more than just employees of Blood:Water Mission, we are a family. And wherever I go from here, three-legged good luck pig will always remind me of my first job and the amazing people I was blessed to work with.

Other things I'm thankful for: my patient hubby who lets me drag him to garage sales and the like to find little treasures like the aforementioned pot holder. And this guy:

Don't let him fool you- he's only like this 30% of the time.

What are you thankful for today?

March Madness

No, this post doesn't concern my bracket, which to quote a friend, "looks like a page from the New Testament where Jesus talked a lot."

It is, indeed, a mad, mad world. March has been no exception.

We started the month by welcoming our newest niece, Clare Isabella, into the world! She was actually born on the last day of February, but Marcus and I spent the last part of his spring break in Seattle, visiting his brother and sister-in-law and our three (THREE!) nieces.  Marcus's parents joined us, and we all had a great time.

Meet Clare!

Abby, our oldest niece, with a rousing rendition of B-I-N-G-O! Little Lucy is dying to join in the fun.

We spent our first day roaming around the Pike Place Market, then had lunch at Salty's on Alki Beach, where we had dinner before Marcus proposed! It was fun to return to the scene of the event and remember such a momentous occasion in our lives!

After our trip to Seattle, we returned to Nashville and welcomed a new addition to our own family!

Meet Max Womack!!

We (I) have been wanting a dog for a long time, and after much prayer and preparation, we finally felt like we were ready.  Max was adopted from a wonderful organization called All-American Dachshund Rescue.  His mom was found pregnant on the side of the road in Arkansas and was immediately brought to a foster parent in Brentwood.  Melissa (the foster) kept Penny (Max's mom) in her care and saw Max and his three brothers and sisters come into the world.  Max was the first-born pup and he and his brother were the only two to survive.  We feel so blessed to have been able to give a forever home to a pup who otherwise might be wandering homeless and hungry, or not even alive.

It has been a crazy two weeks! Potty training is probably my least favorite thing in the world right now, and it's not fun waking up at the crack of dawn to let the little booger out! It's totally worth it, though, when he comes and curls up in your lap and falls asleep. :) We are looking forward to all that lies ahead with our new family member!

In the midst of all the craziness, we took some time last week to celebrate Marcus turning 24! We really enjoyed having friends over to the house to enjoy the beautiful weather (and the super moon!) and feast on Marcus's favorite meal that his mom cooks, sour cream chicken enchiladas! I must admit, I was pretty impressed for my first attempt.  And of course, no birthday party would be complete without a delicious chocolate cake!

Happy Birthday, Marcus!

March, you have been good to the Womacks! We are looking forward to a fun April and the arrival of warm weather, a visit from my parents for Easter, and a fun-filled summer!

Stay tuned!!