My Birthday! A Real Treat :-)

Friends and family,

It has been such a good weekend! Despite being away from family, my birthday was very memorable and several remembered me :-) Thank you for your cards, phone calls, texts, Facebook posts, and gifts. You are all so wonderful to think of me!

Scott had a full weekend planned out, which started with his friend from work, Derrick, dropping us off at the Magnolia hotel in downtown Houston on Saturday afternoon.

It was a beautiful hotel, decorated from Lobby to the 23rd floor in ruby red Poinsettias, large Christmas trees, gold and silver ornaments, and big bows!

We dropped off our one suitcase in our room on the 21st floor

and I opened my gift from Scott--as if he hadn't already done enough!

It was a very cute blouse from Tracy Porter (a designer whose blog I follow faithfully).

We then took advantage of the hotel's complimentary town car service by having them drop us off at a shopping center about 4 blocks away.

One of my favorite places to shop is a store called Forever 21 and you would not believe the size of this one!! It took up almost an entire block and had two stories!! Poor Scott... God bless him though, he pushed through telling me what looked cute, holding my coat (putting it on at one point!),

and taking pictures along the way.

After purchasing a very cute, white sweater with a grey print, a large pair of gold earrings, and a bottle of nail polish, we left and went across the street to Books-A-Million. I couldn't be completely selfish with the shopping trip, plus I enjoy a good book, too!

We walked back to the hotel, changed into our fancy clothes,

and enjoyed a DELICIOUS dinner at a place called The Grove. "When they can", the chefs use local, organic ingredients from area farmer's markets and farms. We shared a roasted quail with mustard sauce along with a slice of brie cheese served with handmade pear jam and crusty bread for our appetizer. YUM!

Then Scott had a Glazed Berkshire Pork Belly that was part of the "Small Plate" menu..... it was indeed..... small. But good! It was about the size of a plum served with a smear of smashed parsnip (by that, they took a knife with a bit of parsnip puree and drug it across the plate). I had a wonderful pulled rotisserie chicken sandwich with sauteed mushrooms, white cheese, and french fries! It was a hefty portion, so I gave Scott half of my sandwich and some fries. We ended the night with a Texas Pecan+Brown Butter Cake and a scoop of ice cream! Perfection! Scott told our waiter, Salvador, that it was my birthday and written across the top of our dessert plate in chocolate sauce was "Happy Birthday!" So nice!

We came back to the hotel just in time for the cookies and milk buffet! Wow! I had half of a peanut butter cookie and half of a double chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk.

Scott had the other halves. We stayed in for the rest of the night, went to bed early around 10:30 and woke up at 8:30. Breakfast was served on the 2nd floor and included hot eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns with fruit, muffins, bagels, coffee, and orange juice. We hopped a taxi back to our apartment and now I am sitting on the couch in UTTER denial that I have two finals this week. I REALLY don't want to study..... in fact I just might be blogging right now just to avoid it.....

Anyway. The moral of the story: my husband is amazing. I in no way expected this but it was very memorable and special.

You all are amazing too! I can't tell you how nice it was to be remembered on my birthday. Your words and gifts were so thoughtful and heartfelt.

Blessings to all to all a good Sabbath Sunday.

We love you.

This will be a long blog post! But a good one.

Friends and Family~

It has been a little while! We had the week off for Thanksgiving and this past week was my last week of classes, so it was a little crazy! Like last time, I will tell you of the week in pictures.

This story begins on the week of Thanksgiving. We packed our bright blue suitcases into the back of our little blue sudan and headed up Hwy 290, through College Station, Hearne, Cameron, Rogers, and, at last, we arrived in Belton, TX to stuff our faces with all things good!

There was lots of cooking...

Eating...

Gathering...

Brothers...

Sisters...

and dogs....

We ended the week by purchasing our first Christmas tree as a married couple! And my first ever LIVE Christmas tree! (No allergies yet....)

And, to continue a multiple generation tradition, we strung popcorn for our tree garland! The house smelled of butter and pine! Quite a lovely combination. Stringing popcorn with needle and thread is a new tradition for Scott (his fingers are proof--poor things were victim to many a needle stab) but he completed it with only a few injuries and minor grumblings....

TADA!

Our parents gave us all of our ornaments that have been collected for us over the last 23 years and we finished the tree off with those.

The rest of the house has been decked with gold and silver Christmas ornaments piled in clear glass bowls, and stockings are currently being sewn with my ammeter sewing skills and pattern purchased for $1.99!

One more thing before we go--it SNOWED in Houston on Friday!! It was REAL snow! It started snowing at about 9am and didn't stop until 6pm. Only about an inch of it stuck and it was all melted by morning, but we were excited none the less! (Can't you tell by my face how happy I was?!)

Well, that is all I have to tell! My birthday is on Saturday and Scott has some festivities planned for the weekend! Hopefully our next post will be sometime next week.

We love you all.

P.S. Here is a sneak-peak of the coming Huddleston Family Christmas Card 2009! You will have to check your mailboxes in the next 2-3, maybe 4 weeks to see what the final result was! (It's a good one.)

A Good Week

Hello! Sorry it's been a little while since the last post.... I had a horrendous test in my Aphasia class last Thursday, so I spent the week studying for that. Whew! Glad it's over!

Well, here is the week in pictures! We had lots of fun and made good memories.

Scott and I made our first Thanksgiving turkey for our Small Group Thanksgiving dinner! I used my mom's recipe, so you know it was GOOD....! These are our friends, Eric and Sarah, who host Small Group. Scott is attempting to consume the neck of the turkey. It took a little bit to figure out what body part that was.... gross.

So much bloody juices! I used about half a bottle of Comet and mopped the ENTIRE kitchen, high to low, when we were finished with this bird!

After the bird tackle, we enjoyed some ice cream. I just realized how much I look like a 1960s housewife in this picture.... Ode to My Grandmothers! And all other 1960s housewives who raised our parents! You done good!

The wish bone from the turkey! Make a wish! Scott won this particular wish battle.

We had some really tasty food this week! I made this Chicken Noodle Satay--it was SOOO YUMMY! Lots of noodles and chicken, soy sauce, peanut butter, nuts, spinach.... Delicious!

This past Friday, Scott and I had a date night and went out to "Little Bigs", a small joint a few blocks from our apartment that serves teeny tiny burgers called "sliders", fries, and the most creamy and rich chocolate milk shakes! Yummmm!

Scott with his sliders. We each got the sampler, which had a beef, chicken, and black bean burger.

Look how cute they are! We downed that milk shake!

Scott made a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning! He loves to cook breakfast and he always does so in his underwear, so I couldn't post the picture I got of him using that skillet to whip up this burrito of eggs, steak, bell peppers, and green onions on a fried tortilla! Wow!

Last night Scott and I decided to have a homemade pizza and game night with just the two of us. It was so much fun! I made the crust from scratch! The dough had to rise and everything! I wasn't brave enough to do the tossing, so I let Scott do that part. Way to go, babe!

Topping included: spinach, tomatoes, turkey, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, and marinara sauce. Soooo good!

We played Scrabble. Such a good game! I am very focused on my next killer move....

Now, some of you know this and some of you don't, but I NEVER beat Scott at games! Ever! But.... I stomped him at this game of Scrabble!! I didn't have it in me to rub it in his face, but BOY was I excited!!!

Well, that was our week! It was a week filled of fun, GREAT food, and lots of love!

We can't wait to see all of you tomorrow and later on the week! Yay for Thanksgiving!!!

Blessings to all and to all a good Tuesday.

It's Saturday and Scott has to work...

Friends and Family,

It's the weekend! Hurray! Scott and I had a pretty normal week, for the most part.

My bike that he and my parents bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago got STOLEN out of our LOCKED garage. Oh, city living. We honestly have NO idea how they could have gotten into the garage. Thankfully, we have very good renters insurance and they gave us more money than we bought the bike for. I am currently hunting for a new bike, and I have already found a few that I like. We are going to spend, at the very most, what I bought the first bike for and use the left over money to get me a pair of new, much needed, running shoes.

Friday night was date night for us!

It's so nice to spend time with just the two of us, though we certainly enjoy our friends as well. After eating some juicy burgers at a small burger joint close to home, we went to a nice theater in downtown called the "Angelika" and saw the movie "Precious".

Scott enjoyed a "medium" Dr. Pepper--It looked pretty LARGE to us!

I had a vegan Pumpkin Spice cookie! Yummy! We sell these cookies at work, too, and I LOVE them!

The movie was a very emotional and touching film about a 16-year-old, overweight, African American girl from Harlem who grew up in a VERY abusive home, is pregnant with her second child, and is illiterate. It was a powerful story about overcoming absolute hatred and learning to love yourself. The critics are speculating that it will be an Oscar nominee for sure, and I would certainly agree. I recommend this movie if you are into hopeful stories, can handle some violent scenes, language, and don't mind crying in the theater.

There is underground parking in downtown Houston that you have to pay $7 for, but if you see a movie at the Angelika, they will reimburse you! Yay for that! I had never experienced underground parking before; it was pretty neat! It looks like a normal parking garage, but getting down there is kinda creepy.... You find a stairwell in the middle of downtown (there are several) that leads downwards, open a door, and there you are! Parking! The underground garage is HUGE. It covers several blocks of downtown and Scott ended up parking pretty far away from the theater without realizing it, oops. We just hopped on a golf cart and had these men find our car for us!

We found it pretty quickly. My feet were very thankful that we didn't try to find the car ourselves. I was wearing boots with 3-4 inch heels and no socks... bad idea... blisters followed...

Scott had to work today. Bummer. He will get off of work around 3:30 and then we are going to hang out with some friends from small group tonight, Eric and Sarah.

I have spent most of the day cleaning the apartment and doing laundry.

I am currently enjoying a turkey sandwich with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and avocado, with an orange on the side. Yummmmy!

Well, that is all there is to tell for now. We love you all so much and are looking forward to Thanksgiving when we will get to see some of you!

Blessings,

Back from the retreat

We're back.....!!!

A weekend in the country of Hearne, TX was very refreshing, but we're glad to be back in the city, at home. The retreat wasn't quite what Scott and I were expecting, but I think we both came away from it having benefitted from the fellowship and meeting new people.

Scott and I went into the retreat thinking that it was going to be a big camp out with an occasional devotional and maybe some singing, with mostly times of enjoying each other, exploring, and playing games. Well, our expectations were corrected. The weekend was spent mostly inside of a very large and beautiful farm house (no tents). We walked in knowing almost instantly that we had the wrong impression of what was going to happen, and we quickly realized that we wanted to go back home.

From the first meeting the night we arrived, we discovered that this weekend was going to be a very intense, emotional, and challenging weekend of DEEP inner searching and resurfacing very painful memories to "deal with them" and find out "what we wanted" from life and what we wanted to "fix". It was all done with a great intention--to build community and learn to rely on your community for strength, support, and prayer (all things I absolutely believe in)--but it was done in a way that Scott and I don't really relate/respond to well. The whole weekend felt like a big counseling session. Lots of "how do you feel", "what do you want out of life", "what was your relationship like with your parents", etc. It was very uncomfortable at times because Scott and I really didn't know anyone there; we were the only ones from our small group represented at the retreat. So.... spilling your inner soul with people you hardly know is not easy, nor enjoyable.

However, I prayed several times about what God wanted me to learn from this experience and that he would reveal to me what I was supposed to do. Well, I learned that some people have been through some REALLY hard things in life. Molestation, divorce, neglect from parents, self-hatred, to name a few. I realized how incredibly blessed I am to have had a beautiful and wonderful upbringing. How lucky I am that I was not molested by a family friend, that my parents are still very much in love, that my parents SHOW their love for me openly, and that I don't hate myself. I found myself this weekend being the listener and the comforter. Among so many broken people, I had the strength to provide love. I am not trying to say that I don't have issues too, but I felt that God was asking me to be the listener this weekend.

Scott had a similar experience. He, too, did not have any painful childhood experiences and I think, after talking to him, that he also recognized how blessed he is to have not had such a painful upbringing.

I don't understand or know why some people have to go through such awful and traumatic experiences, but I am absolutely humbled that despite so much baggage, these individuals have a clear and present relationship with our Savior, which was such a testimony to me.

Scott and I went for a walk on Saturday morning down the country road and talked, collected pine cones, and took lots of pictures of the gorgeous country side. The grasses were just yellowing, the trees just turning, and the crisp air was drifting silently around our shoulders. There was a thick, dense fog creating an eerie ambiance. It made for some incredible photographs that I will share with you below.

Scott took this photo. My favorite detail is the white flowers in front of the fence.

I loved this oak tree. The contrast with the road was intriguing.

Again, contrasting nature with civilized life.

This tree looked so lonely in the fog.

We love you all. I hope that you choose to recognize the beauty and blessings in your life.

A photo from the last day of the retreat