Mandy and Josh!

Something REALLY exciting happened this week! Thursday night Josh popped the big question to Mandy! And of course, she said yes. :)
Mandy has been one of my bestest friends for the past several years. We first met at a MSC OPAS retreat at Texas A&M, and clicked from day one! Many college memories were soon made with Mandy during OPAS activities, various Aggie traditions, football games, study time, hangout sessions and going out. We were even roomies for our last semesters in college, with Mary Alice. I am so thankful to have her in my life!
Josh and Mandy have been dating for the past few years (longer than Zac and I have been together! :) ) and last year had a baby -- Meranda! She is one of the cutest babies in the ENTIRE world, even if I am biased because I am her Auntie.
Josh sneakily planned a perfect evening and proposal. This is the Reader's Digest version: After taking their beautiful daughter to Mimi's for a sleepover, Mandy and Josh had dinner at Eddie V's in Fort Worth. They sat in the lounge area - Mandy's suggestion - and Josh gave Mandy three letters. (I'm sure he super pumped that I am sharing all of this with everyone.) One letter about the past, one about the present and finally one about the future.  I was so impressed with his creativity and romanticism. WAY TO GO, JOSH! He then got down on one knee and proposed - and she said yes! WHOOP!
Since Zac and I have been living so far away until recently, we haven't had a ton of time to spend with Josh. We did have a blast with him and Mandy on NYE this year, and we are so looking forward to many more nights, memories and fun ahead! Welcome to our little family of friends, Josh!
Again, millions of congratulations to Josh, Mandy, Meranda and their families. I am looking forward to dreaming about, celebrating, partying for, planning and attending your wedding.
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

Sewing Sisters

This weekend my sister came back to College Station to visit! She has been gathering her college sorority t-shirts to make a t-shirt quilt and brought a second batch down from Austin with her so that we could start working on it. Friday we bought a little bit more fabric (have I mentioned I love fabric and may be a little obsessed??) and started figuring out which t-shirts to use in this quilt. She has so many t-shirts that we could easily make two more quilts. So, Friday afternoon and evening we began cutting the t-shirts into squares. That night we had dinner with some friends and played laser tag (soooo much fun). Saturday we woke up, got some breakfast kolaches and came back home to work on the quilt. After a lunch with Zac's friend, Karl, that was also in town visiting, we worked on the quilt a little bit more, had dinner with some other friends, and went to the Aggie v. texas tech basketball game. The game was great, and we beat tech! WHOOP! Today had brunch at the "famous" diner, Hullabaloo's (on the Food Network's show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives", and came home to piece together the rest of the quilt. And we finished! It is so cute - here is a preview!

We used fabrics from "Wonderland" by Momo for Moda. All we need to do now is sew on a border and put the backing together - and send it away to be professionally quilted! It turned out really well, and now she will have a cute cozy Theta t-shirt quilt to show her friends and keep her warm.
Here are a couple of close-ups.

We had such a great time working on this project!

I also uploaded a funny video of Kona to my You Tube channel - CLICK HERE to see it!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Not just another January weekend

Now that we live in Texas again, I am so blessed to be near so many of my family members and best friends. So close, in fact, that we can now have visitors drive in just a day or for the weekend! 

Last Monday Mary Alice came to visit us and stayed the night and most of Tuesday. We had fun just hanging out and playing with Kona. We visited some of her (our) favorite restaurants and had dinner with our cousin, Jerome! I love living close to my sister again. :)

That weekend Zac, the dogs and I drove down to Houston for a brunch with some of Zac's corps buddies and their wives and babies. We had a blast meeting two new K-2 little ones, meeting Erin Wagstaff, seeing Emily, Nathan, Cameron and Michelle and did I mention playing with all 3 little ones! They are so funny. We spent most of the day just catching up and entertaining ourselves with the babies. Later that evening we drove over to Pearland to visit Fi and Ryan! We had a great Mexican food dinner at Gringo's. I so enjoyed catching up with and spending time with Fi - and finally meeting Ryan.

This past weekend Mandy and Beth ventured down to College Station for a much-needed girls' weekend! (Zac participated in some of the activities, however.) :) We decided that we would do things that we never got around to doing while we were all in college here. Friday evening we met at Kyoto Sushi on Northgate to finally see how their sushi compares to other we have had. We were pleasantly surprised to find some decent sushi in a landlocked city! Afterwards we headed home to talk and rest up for the day ahead. The next morning we stopped at Kolache Rolf's and drove to Washington on the Brazos, the birthplace of Texas. We explored the museum there (yes, Zac read every single thing possible) and took a short tour of the grounds. It was extremely interesting to see where the Great State of Texas signed their declaration of independence from Mexico. And, I was proud to see "J.W. Bunton" as a signer - one of my relatives. We also toured the Star of Texas museum, Barrington farm and the home of the last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones. I really am glad that we drove the short 40 minutes to see all of these things! This is a picture of the ladies at the meeting of the Navasota and Brazos rivers.

For lunch we ventured over to downtown Bryan, which looks great! The City of Bryan and its businesses have done a fantastic job making the area look cleaner, nicer and more approachable. We ate at Casa Rodriguez, a restaurant that was recommended to us by our realtor and one that we hear numerous advertisements for, and all had great Tex-Mex dishes. (I still do not think that I have met my Mexican food quota since being back from Hawaii. I love it so much!)
Zac went home to do homework after lunch while Mandy, Beth and I visited Messina Hof winery for a tour and tasting. I learned several things about wine that I had never heard before, and the wines that we tasted were (mostly) pretty good! Our tour guide demonstrated to us the correct ways to taste red and white wines. I think that I will now have a great appreciation for the different tastes of wines. Dad would be proud! :) After the tour we went back to downtown Bryan to try a new wine bar, Downtown Uncorked. We each tried one glass and had a couple of good appetizers. I look forward to visiting there more often! We then went home, relaxed for a little while, and headed up to Northgate for some more college reminiscing. We had trash can lid nachos at Zapatos, visited the Corner Bar for a few minutes, and we all decided to head home. We may or may not have admitted to feeling so much older. :)
Sunday Zac ditched us to play golf in Houston with Cameron, and we had breakfast at Coco Loco! One of our favorite breakfast restaurants in College Station! Beth, Mandy and I watched a little bit of television before the made the drive back to Dallas.
We had a couple of wonderful weekends, and I am so thankful that MA, Beth and Mandy were able to visit, and that we were able to visit the Houstonites. I truly am blessed to have so many wonderful friends. For more pictures from the past twos weekends, click here.
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

We are homeowners!

In my last post I failed to mention that we closed on our first house! (I have no idea how in the world that could have slipped my mind.) Never the less, we closed last week on our beautiful home. Our realtor, Ashley Cates, helped us find and complete all of the closing tasks and was so incredibly helpful. We are soooo thankful for her help, and would highly recommend her if anyone ever needs/wants to purchase a home in the Bryan/College Station area! http://bestbcsrealtor.com/
We are completely moved in, thanks to being able to rent the house while the closing process was taking place, and finally really feel at home here! I know that I have said this in the past, but if you are ever in the CS area and would like to stop by, please let me know!!
Another thing to be thankful for - mostly having tile in the house with a new puppy. :)
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

The Next Decade

I can NOT believe that it is 2010!
In May I will have graduated from high school ten years ago. That just feels completely crazy to me. I don't feel old enough. I don't feel like I've accomplished enough. Never the less, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Zac and I had a wonderful New Year's Eve with friends in Fort Worth. CLICK HERE for pictures. New Year's Day we drove from Fort Worth to Ennis, Texas, where we picked up the newest member of our family! Introducing, Kona!

Kona is a red merle Australian Shepherd (same breed as Aidan). He is 7 weeks old today! There were 14 puppies in his litter, and all 14 puppies were completely healthy and lived. :) Zac had been wanting a puppy for a while now, and found Kona's litter in a listing online. We visited the puppy the day after Christmas, and then were able to pick him up New Year's Day, when he was exactly six weeks old. We are all adjusting to having a puppy underneath our feet and constantly chewing on everything! He is such a blessing to us, and we love him very much! His name is Hawaiian and means "leeward", or "protected", like the protected side of an island. We really wanted the puppy to have a Hawaiian name, since we enjoyed our time in Hawaii sooo much. CLICK HERE for more pictures of Kona!

Yesterday I also drove to Houston to pick up a friend's dog. We will be keeping Kodi, the yellow lab, for a few months while his family moves from Hawaii to Italy. We will send him off to Italy when our friends are settled and ready for their furry friend. Kodi is a retired service dog, and is a joy to keep. He is so smart!

I hope that you are all keeping warm and enjoying (or tolerating) this frigid Texas weather!

Me ke aloha,

RAWE

Happy Holidays!

I deserve a big fat "F" when it comes to blogging this month!

Since December 1st we have been working on situating things in the house, decorating for Christmas, going to Christmas parties and just taking it easy in College Station. (Above is a picture of part of our Christmas tree and the quilt hanging in our new house in CS.)
Last week we drove to Dallas, spent the night in Allen, then flew up to the Panhandle the next morning for Christmas!  Wednesday Mary Alice flew up and we headed straight to the Coney Island for lunch. We had a WHITE Christmas Eve and Christmas in Pampa! I was so thankful it didn't keep on snowing like it used to in NH. :) We attended Christmas Eve services at church, then had several family friends over for our traditional tamale Christmas Eve dinner. The next morning we exchanged gifts, had a big Christmas meal (including cheesy spaghetti) and enjoyed some much needed family time. Eeeaaarrrlllyyy the next morning Zac, Mary Alice and I all flew back to Dallas - and then MA on to Austin. It was soooo nice to be home. CLICK HERE for pictures from Christmas.
Once in Dallas, Zac and I had Christmas with the Elliott side of the family in Carrollton. We had fun with everyone. Beth and Neal even stayed the night at Zac's parents' house with us and we all had a waffle breakfast the next morning. Afterwards we headed back down to College Station. Zac's friend Court and his girlfriend, Nikki, came over to catch up and see the house. Shortly after that, Zac's parents, Steve and Kay, arrived to also see the house and stay the night with us.
We have had a very fun week, and are looking forward to New Years! I think that one of my New Year's resolutions should be to blog more often. :) What do you think?
Hope everyone had a very mele kalikimaka!
Me ke aloha,
RAWE

Moving In!

Aloha and howdy! Last night was our first night in our new house. While we are still sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, it still felt nice to be in our very own home! But we do have heat and water. :)
We have been going through the house finding every little thing possible for the builder to fix and the painter to touch-up. Later this week our "stuff" from Hawaii will arrive, which will mean we will be unpacking and organizing all weekend long! And yesterday we started running to Wal-Mart, Target and Bed Bath and Beyond (twice) getting things for the house. I'm sure we will be making more trips to those stores in the future, as well.
Zac has been enjoying his new job at TAMU, and has his very own office in the Trigon. He hasn't had a crazy busy schedule like we are used to, but it is nice for him to be able to relax! His Jeep also arrived last week, so I am enjoying not taking him to and from work every day. :)
I am ready for Aidan to join us at the house. Mom and Dad will bring him down in January, when they bring some things to us from Pampa and meet us and MA here in College Station for a basketball game. I will get to see him again over Christmas break, when we go to Pampa. This is a picture of him with Baby Meranda that we took in Austin.

I am going to go get my hair cut now! And we should have internet again on Friday (hooray)!!
Until then, me ke aloha,
RAWE