Burkart's Blog

Around Here Lately....

2012-01-29T16:22:00.000-06:00

Things here have been going well! Logan is growing like a weed! He weighed in at 10.3lbs and measured 23 inches long at his 1 month well check last week! Here are a few pics from life here lately.... lots of cuddle time with dad after he gets home from work at night and on the weekends...

Logan usually spends some time in his swing every afternoon... love those little toes!

We had a fun double date with our friends Mike and Kelly last weekend! They brought the boys and dinner! We were all having a good time laughing about how life has changed! These boys are going to be best buds!

Just one more....bcs they are so cute!

Logan found his hands this week!

The other night we had Logan laying on the couch while we were eating dinner... we was wiggling around, a little fussy and then he got still and quieted down... so i jumped up from the kitchen table to see what was up... well, looks like someone lost his passy and found this thumb! uh oh.....

And here's a picture from today... love this little outfit! He is definitely getting more smiley, but he is trying to figure out how that ceiling fan works in this picture... he is seriously obsessed with the fan...

Look at that "mini-chuck" with the faux-hawk! Hehe!

One Month Old!

2012-01-15T17:21:00.000-06:00

Can't believe Logan is 1 month old! WOW~! This month has gone by in a blur of feedings, diaper changes and cuddles! We can't imagine life without our little man! He has his 1 month doc appt next week, so I will update with his latest stats after we see her...

Here are some pics of his 1 month b -day!

Of course we had to get a picture with Linus.... he is bigger for now, but not for long!

Like my 'do? ... couldn't resist the baby mohawk!

Just one more to show how "big" he is on the quilt that his Mumsie (grandma) made for him! We also have a cute elephant he got from his GG to show his relative size.... thanks again yall!

We spent the afternoon with our cousins from San Antonio! Tybrin is 6 weeks older than Logan and it was fun to see just how much more aware he is! So much to look forward to! I just know these little guys are gonna be buddies!

Logan's Birth Story

2012-01-01T12:50:00.000-06:00

When I was pregnant I LOVED reading every birth story I could get my hands on.... i like to think it was the athlete in me trying to get psyched up for race day, but maybe it was the control freak/planner in me trying to wrap my head around all of the potential ways that our "labor day" might play out.... so here's our birth story... if you aren't into reading long birth stories, here's the cliff's notes - nothing goes as planned- and we have a beautiful baby boy to show for it!

The day that I went into labor started just like any other 41 1/2 weeks pregnant day did.... slowly! I had finally given up on the idea that our baby (yet un-named) would make his big debut w/o being induced, and the induction date was safely tucked away 5 days in the horizon. We had been to the doc the day before, i was 3cm dilated, 75% effaced, and she had stripped my membranes again, in hopes of naturally inducing labor.... but I had honestly given up.... our Lamaze teacher had told us back in October that most first time moms deliver late and have LONG labor days.... for some reason I had not accepted that as truth until December 14th....

So i decided to do what everyone had been telling me to do all along... whatever i wanted! i got up, took a long shower, took my time getting ready and headed out for yet another gingerbread latte (with whipped cream!) and some shopping.... i stopped by my mom's school to say hello, we went to lunch, i came home and watched tv... same old stuff.... chuck and i went to my parents house for dinner and then came home.... around 9pm i started having some mild contractions, spaced about 7-8 minutes apart. We had been through this the week before... i had contractions for about 2 hours and then they stopped. So i tried not to read too much into it, i just kept an eye on the clock as Chuck and I watched Elf for the 5th time this year.... Chuck went to bed around 10 and I stayed up for a bit... my contractions had gotten a little closer together and i wanted to see if they would continue to increase... by midnight my contractions were every 5 mins apart and stronger than before. My OB advised me to go in to the hospital at any time, as i needed to get some IV antibiotics... she didn't want me to labor at home for too long.... so there we were! Heading down to the hospital at 1am! I had accomplished two of my goals... 1)to start labor at home 2) to be able to say to chuck "honey, it's time!" as we were getting into the car....

Since we got to the hospital in the middle of the night (the first of many things that were not in our plan) we had to enter through the ER entrance... they took one look at me and got a a wheel chair to take me to L&D. I told them I could walk, but they would not have that.... We got checked in, got my iv started and then the contractions came on super strong! I was dilated to 4 and was definitely in active labor. I had a birth plan, which included laboring naturally for as long as possible.... walking the halls, using the birth ball, the shower, the tub.... that plan has not seen the light of day since i put it in my hospital bag... it is still sitting in there.... being stuck in bed with the iv changed everything.... by the time my doc came in to see me at 3AM (side note she is AMAZING, she was not on call an still came in to see us at 3AM!) my entire body was shaking uncontrollably and my brain felt like it was scrambling with each contraction..... she kindly reminded me that the shaking was my body's reaction to the pain, and that it was most likely going to be a long day... since i had not slept at all that night i decided to get the epidural and try to rest.... i had to get that darn IV finished before i could get the epidural, but by 4:30 i had some sort of pain relief. By 5AM i was one happy girl, blissfully numb from the waist down! Chuck and I tried to rest... i think he slept a bit.... i could not.... i was still blown away by the fact that we were having a baby TODAY!~ no more waiting!

The epidural dropped by BP to 80's/40's... i was feeling pretty crummy... so they pushed more IV fluids! At around 8am my parents came to the hospital. The 4 of us spent the next 7 hours watching movies and just trying to pass the time, calling family and texting friends to let them know that it was "go time" ... the epidural started to wear off on my left side, so i started feeling every contraction again... my progress had slowed so by this point they were giving me pitocin.... i didnt have to watch the monitor to know i was having majorly big contractions... i was using some of the breathing techniques we learned in Lamaze, and trying to keep my body relaxed....
but that monitor was a source of entertainment for everyone else in the room!
goal #3 achieved - to really experience some of the labor pains.... glad i had most of my body numbed! the hot spot on my left side was enough for me!

i was finally ready to start pushing by just after 3pm. Since i had the epidural i could not lift up my legs for the pushing... so my mom got recruited to help hold a leg (another unexpected change to our plan!)... chuck had the other one.... they were an amazing support system! Chuck kept his cool and really encouraged me to keep pushing strong (in his words, "wow! baby! you are pushing like a tank!") and my mom counted (very slowly!!!) to 10 repeatedly during each contraction.... i pushed for almost 2 hours and then Logan joined the party at 5:02 pm! He was 8lbs 0oz and 21 inches long!

My dad and sister, Jamie, stepped out into the hall when it was time for the pushing to start.... and since it had been nearly 2 hours they were getting anxious... so they were listening by the door and actually heard everyone telling me "open your eyes! open your eyes! look!!!he's here!" and then they heard his little cry through the door~! ! What a special treat it was! I have tears in my eyes as I type this... i am so glad we had such an amazing support system surrounding us on our big day!

Dr. Lockey was amazing! We are so glad we have her as our doc and friend!

So there you have it! Maybe more than you wanted to know about how Logan made it into this world! We are so glad he is here!

Dad is the MAN!

2011-12-29T16:23:00.000-06:00

Logan is 2 weeks old now! We are slowly starting to get some sort of routine around here... i say that knowing that as i type this, things will probably change tomorrow! Chuck has been THE best support any girl could ask for! Here are some pics of Logan and his Dad in action.... love these boys!
We experimented with pumping and a bottle one day.... just to see how Logan would do... he sucked that bottle down in 5 minutes! Logan is a healthy eater! He will nurse for 30-40 minutes... the bottle was a treat for him!

Cuddle time on the couch is also a mandatory part of our day! Logan's shirt says "handsome like daddy" and i couldn't agree more!

Nap time monopolizes most of Logan's days right now... we are lucky if we get to catch a few zzz's at the same time.... can you see the resemblance here? LOVE it!

I am so grateful that Chuck has been able to take off so much time from work! He helps out with so many diaper changes, and he is also the chief baby soother after Logan's 2am feeding.... He is a calming force in our household and both baby and mommy are better off bcs of him! Love you babe! You are a great dad!

One Week Old!

2011-12-24T18:44:00.000-06:00

We can't believe we have had Logan for a whole week already! Time is flying by in a blur of feedings, diaper changes and lots of cuddles!

We can't believe how much more alert he is already! He LOVES to eat... so I know he won't stay small for long! Please excuse the tired mommy... just wanted to share a pic of our morning routine... after that 6am feeding we always start the day with extra cuddles....

Linus N' Logan

2011-12-24T18:35:00.000-06:00

Lot's of people have been asking me how Linus is adjusting to the new addition.... my parents kept him while we were in the hospital and for a couple of days after we got home. When we went to get him we made sure to praise him and pet him, but he was definitely aware that something was up! Once we got home the dog was very unsure about what was going on... he spent most of day 1 hiding out in his bed, and even barked at the little sounds coming from the bassinet in our room. We are pretty sure that Linus knows his place in the family now, and after a few days of him moping around and acting pretty depressed, he has started to show a little interest in the baby. Here is a pic from yesterday... Linus likes to camp out in his bed whenever the baby is in the pack n play...
Here's a pic of Logan in the vibrating seat... we lovingly refer to this as our "baby crack"... he is hooked... it also attaches to the swing, which makes Logan a very happy boy as well!

Here's Linus on the lookout... i think that eventually he will be a good guard dog...for now he is just a cautious observer

He's here!!!!

2011-12-22T14:39:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday at 5:02pm Logan Michael Burkart joined us! After 41 1/2 weeks of pregnancy and 20 hours of labor, we were SO glad to finally meet him! He weighed in at 8lbs, 21 inches long.
Here are a few pics for you to enjoy! You know there will be many more to follow!

Here we are as a family of 3! Chuck did an AMAZING job as a coach! I am so proud of him!

Here we are with our Doctor and good friend, Renee Lockey.... she is a great doctor and an amazing person! We love her and are SO glad that she was a part of our whole pregnancy!

Getting cleaned up and checked out... look at those long legs!

Getting ready to go home....

Look at that cute little bundle! (lots of photos taken on the cell phone, since everything else was packed up)

We survived the first night....enjoying some celebratory cuddles.....

This is Logan in his "milk drunk" state... makes you wonder what's in that milk? ;)

So there you have it! The first installment of Logan pics... lots of people have been asking how Linus is doing with all of this.... well, let's just say he's not exactly thrilled about having been de-throned... but so far so good... when the baby is sleeping in the pack and play, Linus usually lays in his bed and keeps a look out for us...

more to come!

40 Weeks!!!!

2011-12-08T20:22:00.000-06:00

Here we are at 40 weeks!~ We saw the doc today and since I am technically 3 days past my due date, we got another sonogram! Everything looks good, baby is big and has lots of amniotic fluid around him. We loved that the tech took the time to get a cool profile pic! We just love that little nose and those full lips already! The baby is estimated to be 8lbs, 9oz! He has gained a full pound in the last 3 weeks! I have gained a grand total of 30lbs and have been feeling pretty good. Some fun things that have started up over the last 2 weeks are face/feet/hands swelling, increased fatigue, more nesting craziness and I also started the not-sleeping-at-night-routine... just getting me ready for baby, I guess!

Here are our last bump pics! We've been playing around with our new camera and don't have the settings quite right... sorry for the grainy photos, but you get the general idea.... there's a very large bump on the front of my body!

Next time I post we will be a party of 3!

bump from the front

Bump from the side

bump with the pup

He's been extra cute and snuggly this week... must know that something's up~

Our bags are packed! As of today I am 2cm dilated and 75% effaced! Let's hope baby Burkey gets here this weekend! If not, he will be served an eviction notice on Monday night~

Nesting!

2011-12-04T16:09:00.000-06:00

We've been nesting around here! Aside from spending time on my Pinterest obsession, I have been getting our house as ready for baby as I can! This has included lots of cleaning, re-organizing everything, washing adorable tiny baby clothes, prepping the nursery, cooking meals for the freezer and then repeating this list again! HaHa! Here are some pics of our nesting fun! Chuck has even gotten into the spirit, spending time organizing the garage, and helping with all of the assembly of our baby gear! We have gotten the pack and play, swing, infant seat and strollers set up and ready for baby.... all under Linus' supervising of course~

Here's a little glimpse of the nursery! We had a lot of help from our generous family members to make this room come together! We are so grateful to have so many people that have helped us make our nursery such a cozy spot! Thank you Mom and Dad, Bill and Mary Ellen, Meems and Peeps, Holly and Jamie!

Can't believe it will have a little inhabitant soon!

We also took some time to set up a few Christmas decorations! Not as many as usual, but we found a fake tree at a great price on black Friday, so we do have a tree... and we even have a little stocking for Baby B!

I will take a 40 week belly pic and post it soon! Our nest is ready! Now we just need the baby to decide it's time to join in the party!

So,..... what do you DO all day? (aka the Pinterest Blog)

2011-12-02T20:05:00.000-06:00

Just thought I would answer a question that have gotten asked a LOT these last few months.... I am so blessed to have an amazing husband that works so hard for our family!!! His hard work has allowed me to stop working before the baby comes and has made the end of this pregnancy SO much more enjoyable than the first part! Here are some pictures of some of the projects I've been working on..... (besides cleaning and reorganizing my entire house like a crazy lady) I figured nobody would want to see my re-organized bathroom cupboards, fully stocked pantry, or sparkling baseboards.... here are some of the cuter projects for this bloggy show and tell....

First of all, I have to give props to Pinterest! SO many great ideas have inspired me to tap into my crafty side during this calm season of life! I have loved it and I hope to continue to do some crafty stuff after the baby gets here!

First up is my amazing jewelry holder! I have to admit that I merely mentioned the concept of this to Chuck and the next thing I knew he was making it happen! Teamwork! This jewelry display is made out of an old mirror frame that we had in our shed.... a little paint, some hooks, some wire mesh... voila!

The first thing I attacked when we bought the house was the laundry room... i know, seems strange even to me, but I wanted to start with a small project to feel like i had accomplished something. Now i love my cheerful yellow laundry room! I have never been a fan of the wash tub in the laundry room..... and while my grandma was here over Thanksgiving, she helped me find a cute disguise for the ugly sink! She is amazing with a sewing machine! It was so much fun to go shop for fabric, assist in her sewing (ok, ok, she didn't need my help at all, but i did the ironing...) and then see it all come together! I LOVE my laundry room even more now! And I have been told that I will spend even more time in there when baby gets here!

Another little piece of heaven in the laundry room is the "chandelier".... Chuck re-purposed an old light and I added the bling.... hmmmm i'm kind of noticing a trend here with these projects!

I was so inspired by my mee-maw's sewing skills that I tried my hand at sewing too! I was very inspired by my friend Kelli's gift to us (which you can see here), and I found a tutorial on Pinterest! So while my grandma was still here over the holidays I dusted off my mom's sewing machine and made some cute burp cloths! Yes, I made these.... Meems just helped me set up the machine.... and trouble shoot as necessary! I was so psyched to find a fun way to use some of the leftover fabric from the sink skirt project!

Next is my JOY sign...i also made BOO sign for Halloween earlier this year... another Pinterest find.... it's amazing what you can do with a little Mod Podge and scrap book paper!

Speaking of Mod Podge... i love that stuff! I also used it to make a 3D photo collage using pictures that I took while in Giverny a couple of summers ago... again, thanks to my nesting craze a lot of "some day" projects have become a reality!

So there you have it! A small glimpse of what I've been doing with all of my spare time... Hope this inspires the Pinterest fanatic in you!

Baby Shower !

2011-11-14T19:13:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my sisters hosted an AMAZING baby shower in honor of Baby Burkey.... Everything was SO cute! We had a great time. It was a really special day! Here are some pics of the fun!

Gotta love these hands on the belly!

Baby Bump and the grandmas-to-be!

My cousin Danielle (and her wonderful husband Darryl) made the drive up from San Antonio for the shower. She ended up having her baby, Ty, the following week! Can't wait for our future play dates!

Like I said, they thought of everything! The shower had a very cute sports theme.... loved it! The food was SO good! The decorations were adorable. And instead of baby shower games, they had the guests each make a scrap book page for a cute little baby book!

And my sister Holly got her cake making skills on and made some cupcakes and cake balls! They were so cute and even yummier than they looked!

Thanks for an amazing day, yall! I really appreciate all of the time and effort that you put into it!

Tummy time...

2011-11-12T13:32:00.000-06:00

This morning we all got up early, thanks to Linus and his crazy barking that started at about 5:30... It was actually a nice quiet morning, Chuck worked on his BSF homework, I read my latest obsession ( Voyager, Book #3 in the Outlander series... can't stop reading these 600+ page books!) and Linus cozied right back into his bed..... After awhile we all congregated on the couch and the craziest thing happened!!! Linus put his head on my belly and kept it there, with is ear to my tummy and even though the baby was super active, even kicking Linus' head up off of the belly a few times, the dog just stayed there... pressing his head into my stomach.... Maybe there is hope for us yet.... Check out these pics... sorry for the poor quality, they are cell phone pics... it was the only thing close by...

Linus was super growly any time I held him a few months ago.... And he definitely didn't want to sit on my lap at all until last week... The ladies at the groomers suggested I try to let him sit up on the couch with me, or sit on my lap, bcs according to them "dogs just know" when there's a bun in the oven..... I don't think our trainer from the doggy boot camp would approve of this behavior.... but it was a rare moment of snuggly-ness, so we just went with it...

After a couple of minutes Linus took some time to get a little more comfy... I think this pic shows how good Chuck will be as a dad... he is so patient~

Just wanted to share a glimpse of our fun filled Saturday morning... maybe our dog will like (or at least tolerate) the baby after all....

My sister is a Genius!!!

2011-11-10T07:59:00.001-06:00

A few weekends ago my sister, Holly, came over after church and we took a few "belly shots".... I was not crazy about the idea, but I had been told by a lot of my friends that I would look back and miss my whale-like figure in the future.... Here is her handiwork... I was so glad with how they came out! Thanks Hol~ We love you!

Linus and the new TV

2011-11-09T21:22:00.000-06:00

Last week we had a visit from the E-town branch of the Burkart clan They treated us to a new toy.... a new tv! Chuck did some reconfiguring of our old entertainment center... i was impressed! He transformed the old one into a very useful spot for the new tv in just about an hour! Here is a pic of Linus enjoying our new technology.... He dragged his little bed to the center of the room and settled in with a bone to watch the evening news.... it made me laugh, so i grabbed me phone and snapped a picture....

It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown....

2011-11-09T21:11:00.000-06:00

Can't believe it's November already! Here are some pictures of our Halloween.... we had to keep the tradition alive and dress up the dog.... i told Linus that this would be the last time he would be the center of the costume photos... next year he will have to share the spotlight with baby B!

I was lucky enough to get to help out with the Halloween Ball at Provident Crossings (senior center where i worked briefly this year) a week before, so I decided to dress up the baby bump... .it was a hit! The residents loved seeing the bump in costume, especially since I had not seen them in a few months!

On Halloween Chuck carved a pumpkin in 20 minutes flat, using power tools! I was majorly impressed.... He also put on his Penn State stuff and Joe Paterno mask... glad he did that costume a week before the whole scandal broke out!

Watch out Linus! I think we found the great pumpkin! Haha!

Only about a month to go until we hit our due date! Can't believe it's almost here!

The Belly - Large and in Charge!

2011-10-22T20:14:00.000-05:00

Well here we are at the start of or 34th week! Only 6 weeks away from the due date! AAHHH! Panic in the streets! Haha! Just kidding!
~ Had another good doctors appt last week~ my weight is up (total of 22 lbs gained), baby is head down and VERY active, and the belly is finally measuring right where it should.... meaning it has definitely popped out over the last 2 weeks.... at last i legitimately look pregnant! I am also feeling more pregnant than I have yet... meaning i get short of breath while walking to the bathroom 20 times each day, drop things and have a tough time picking them up, cry easily and get thanksgiving-style full after eating half a sandwich.... only to be starving again an hour later.... Lucky for me I am married to the best husband in the world, as he is extremely patient, ties me shoes for me, takes me for McDonald's hot fudge sundaes as needed, and also helps me put things in perspective (after the tears have stopped, of course). We are both getting pretty psyched to meet our little man! I could not do this without him... He is the best!!!

Here are a couple of pics of the belly~

Here's the traditional bathroom-mirror-self portrait

And then I talked Chuck into taking a full pic, specifically per your request, Ashley Q! (ps, i really miss you!) We had just taken a walk and it hit me that our usual walk is morphing into a slower stroll...i am sure the full fledged waddle is waiting right around the corner! .... I am amazed at this whole process...i feel like right now is definitely the calm before the storm, and i am trying to soak it up before life gets to a whole new level of crazy and i laugh at the endless hours of free time and me time that i once had~

Of course we are enjoying our last months of spoiling our dog (and praying that we will get to keep him after the baby comes) .... here are a few fun pics of our "proud lil puppy". We are still workin on his obedience and his place in the pack... sometimes i think he might be getting it....

Where's Linus? He matches our carpet!

Also, I recently discovered that Linus has hording tendencies.... I had read that his access to his toys should be limited, as we are still trying to teach him that he is NOT top dog in our house... i keep all of his toys on a tall stool next to the couch, where he cannot reach them. The other day he kept staring at the stool, sitting in front of me and then giving me "paw" (yes, we taught our dog to fist bump on command)... so i kept giving him one toy at a time, just to see what he would do.... this was the end result...

He piled all of his toys around his little bed, and was just sitting there staring at them all.... he makes me laugh~

Going.... Going.... Gone!

2011-10-08T13:19:00.000-05:00

Well here we are at 32 weeks! I can't believe that we will reach our due date, and potentially have the baby 2 months from today! We saw the doc this week and here are the stats....
* belly measuring 29cm - slightly under the expected size, but i have been measuring this way the entire time... it seems as though he baby has taken up residence in the space formerly inhabited by my stomach and lungs... :)
* total weight gain of 21 lbs.... i know it's good news... but working in the fitness industry for the last 9 years, i have never celebrated weight gain, so it still seems strange.... and my once de-activated sweet tooth is back in full force, so i have no doubt that we will continue to grow and grow in these last 8 weeks!
*baby's heart rate was 150bpm! still going strong! the baby seems to LOVE to practice his zumba and martial arts moves between the hours of 3-6am.... must be in his genes to love that early morning workout!
*on the exercise front, things have definitely slowed down for me....i still walk the dog every day, and have been taking water aerobics twice a week. I still try to do some sort of yoga every day, mostly on my own, as i am down to teaching just once a week now....

Here are some pics of the growing belly....

Going...

Going....

Gone!

and yes.... linus still managed to get his little face in the picture... and i have officially lost my toes! the belly has taken up lots of real estate... and this girl that could once bend in half and kiss her knees now needs assistance with tying my shoes! haha!

Oh! Here's one last picture... i got carried away with the fall decorating this week....

he wasn't too thrilled...

Third Trimester, here we come!

2011-09-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here we are, at the start of the third trimester! Tomorrow we will be 28 weeks along! We went for the glucose test last friday and should have the results sometime next week. We also got a flu shot (those of you that plan on hanging out with us in December, should also look into getting a pertussis, aka "whooping cough" vaccine sometime this fall). The belly measured at 25 cm, which is right on track.... i am up a few more lbs, bringing the grand total to 18lbs gained!
The nesting instinct is definitely kicking in! I have spent lots of time rearranging, cleaning out and de-cluttering our humble abode... the nursery is also coming together! I will post pictures of that when it's all done. We have the furniture, now we just need to decorate a bit. Also, thanks to some very generous friends we have already scored lots of hand me downs in a variety of sizes! It's so exciting to think that we will have a little person living with us by Christmas!

Ok, here are the latest belly pics...

Notice I have a little observer.... I will post a Linus blog soon....

The belly is large and in charge!

25 weeks!!! Belly Pics!

2011-08-22T19:37:00.000-05:00

Here are the latest belly pics and baby stats!

*We are at 25 weeks ~ closing out the 2nd trimester, and definitely growing by the day, or so it seems!
*At our last doctor appt, the baby's heartbeat was 146bmp, and my belly measured 21cm. I have gained 14lbs ....so far....
*Physically I am feeling ok.... slowing down a bit, but I guess that is to be expected!~ Chuck and I have been hitting the pool 3 days a week, which definitely helps ease some achiness...I am also taking a pre-natal yoga class once a week, which is a real treat! And I try to take a nap every day, which is a luxury that I am taking advantage of now, while i still can!

I will let the pictures do the talking....

More pics to come!

~Dog Days of Summer~

2011-08-08T08:47:00.001-05:00

Well, it's August... and it's STILL burning hot here every day! Here are some recent pics of Linus... he has had to wear the "cone of shame" for the last few days, as he has a staff infection on his belly that he just CANT/WONT stop licking! Needless to say he is on a lot of medication... and he gets to take a dip in the bathtub, with special shampoo, 2-3 times a week... he has not been a happy camper lately...
After I get home from work, he is usually in a cuddly mood for a little while.... so i take what i can get! bcs soon enough the cuddles turn into growling... he also likes to put his little rear end RIGHT on the belly... he will wiggle around until he has found the perfect spot.... by the time Chuck gets home it's time to play... so i
snapped a pic with my cellphone...

This is how he looks right after that nap.... giving me what we call "the care bear stare"....bcs it's almost time for him to have his dinner... i swear, that dog can tell time! he starts the staring at about 5 'till 5 EVERY day!

In baby news, we got the crib last week (thanks mumsie and papi!) Chuck put it together, then we headed out to get the mattress... once we got it home we wanted to make sure it wasn't too soft... so we looked around and found something that weighs just about 10 lbs ... he wasn't too thrilled to be our guinea pig.. and that is the ONLY time he will be in that crib!

Yoga Dog

2011-07-20T19:19:00.000-05:00

The other day I broke out the yoga mat.... i have been spending a couple of hours a week teaching others, but have neglected being a yoga student myself.... so, I decided to try to ease some prego aches and pains with a prenatal yoga video that I picked up a while ago while doing my certification.... i got out the mat, went to get a quick sip of water... and look what i came back to.... namaste!

He loved that mat! stayed on it almost as long as i did! he was already heading for "final relaxation pose" when i snapped this pic! haha!

It's a Boy!

2011-07-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

We had our 20 week check this week! Had the anatomy scan and saw the doc! Everything looked great! We got to see Baby Burkey from top to bottom, and side to side. We even got to count the fingers and toes! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Seattle Babymoon!

2011-07-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

WOW! June flew by! Can't believe our trip has already come and gone! Here are some exciting things that have been happening around here lately! First I will catch you up on what happened before our trip...

Chuck found a raccoon in our trap~ so he took it down to the lake.... maybe he is hangin out on the shores of Lake Austin with the armadillo we caught a month ago!

He took him down there in the mustang.... about a week later the mustang got traded in for the family car. No, it's NOT a mini van!!!! We got a cute little Volvo SUV... we love it already! Here is Linus getting acquainted with it.... lot's of new things to sniff in there!

Boys and their toys...

Everyone knows that beef has become very near and dear to my heart during this pregnancy... we've been getting grass fed beef in small quantities from the farmers market once or twice a month. i was so in love with this burger, that i thought it was blog worthy.... must be feeling back to my old self! i haven't taken a picture of our dinner in a long time!

I could basically eat this every day, but I am trying to limit it to once a week.... Cheeseburger in paradise, with extra tomatoes and pickles on the side of course!

Last week we took a great trip to Seattle! Some would call it a "babymoon"... as we took time to just enjoy being together as a party of 2 for one last trip before the bambino shows up... HAHA! well i've got to say that baby burkey is already changing things around here! Traveling while prego is definitely different... it got to see LOTS of public restrooms (usually opting to duck into a starbucks or other coffee shop) , i didn't drag chuck all over the city, exploring everything on foot or do any sort of bike tour, we took a nap every afternoon, and we ate... A LOT! I think Chuck liked this trip because of all of the reasons i just listed!

We LOVED Seattle! Here are some pics from the trip.

We started our trip in Mukilteo, north of Seattle. We took the ferry over to Whidbey Island one day and explored... look what we found! haha! Baby Island... We thought it would be a great place for a "bump pic"

We also got to visit my grandparents, Auntie Ann, Uncle Al, Trisha and even got to see Carly for a brief minute! We had not seen my grandparents in 3 years, and the last time we saw the Swansons was at the wedding! What a treat! We had a great time visiting and laughing at dinner! Thanks so much yall!

When we got to our hotel in Seattle, we were psyched to find out that we were so close to a lot of the main attractions! We could walk to the space needle, hop on the monorail and be downtown in no time!

We went to Pike's Place and saw the sights... this is in front of the original starbucks!

Seriously, for a starbucks fanatic, Seattle is like Mecca.... We went to a coffee shop (not always the 'bux, there were a few great small ones by our hotel too!)at least once a day! Decaf of course!

We saw a great fireworks show on the 4th of July, and kept the tradition alive by packing a picnic and finding a good spot to reminisce about our engagement story....

On our last night in town we went to the top of Queen Anne Hill for another photo op... So, here it is, the 18 week belly pic, from Seattle!

Pics of Baby Burkey

2011-06-14T18:10:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a pretty bad scare.... but the silver lining of it all was that we got to see the baby! It all happened on our 4th anniversary... and while last year we were celebrating by sipping wine in Napa Valley, this year's was definitely memorable in it's own way...

I can't believe how much it has changed since that first sonogram at 7 1/2 weeks~ It was just a white spot with a hummingbird speed flutter of a heartbeat. These pics were done at 11 weeks. I have always thought sonograms were creepy... but now I think these are pretty "cute"... enjoy!

I think it's awesome that you can see his/her little Frankenstein-like smile...

And on this one it looks like he/she is throwing up a peace sign, as if to say "hey! i don't know why everyone is freaking out! it's all good in here!"

Our 16 week check is next week... I don't think we will get another photo session this time around.... I am sure if we did the bambino would be even bigger than it is in these pics!

After months of a blogging snooze.... we have some pretty Big News!

2011-06-05T19:50:00.000-05:00

I haven't written on the blog in awhile, but here's why.... I've been trapped on the couch, feeling sick and/or sleeping.... that's right, I am prego! Most people know by now, but for those of you that don't, this is the reason that I have been MIA for most of the last 3 months.... It's been rough, but the fog is finally starting to clear... I am about 13 1/2 weeks along....

Now that i am not constantly a nauseous zombee, i can honestly say that i am craving red meat (i seriously never knew brisket or burgers could make a girl so blissfully happy until now) and marinara sauce (on anything, pizza, pasta, right out of the jar!!!) .... ice cream and sweets make me sick....dont even think about bringing greens, ie kale, brussels or broccoli into our house... chicken also makes me gag...our menu has definitely changed around here ... chuck thinks he has died and gone to heaven, with this red meat craving wife.... he is a very happy boy!

here are some pics of the belly... doesn't look like a true baby bump yet... just looks like I've knocked back a few too many beers or something.... I will try to post about the belly once a month....

Here's a pic from last week.... right after i taught yoga.... nice and relaxed....

And then this week the bump popped out even more! It's almost time to go shopping... thanks for the cute new tops, mumsie~ luckily i wear yoga pants and athletic clothes to work every day.... cant be more comfy than that!

Wow, that is one tired lookin girl!

Everything else is going well! I started a new job about 2 weeks ago... working at a corporate fitness center for Freescale. It's lots of fun! I am teaching spin classes and still teachin yoga at 24 hour fitness.... Chuck just had a birthday! I can't believe it's June! Baby Burkart will be here in December.... I promise to blog more between now and then!

Images of Spring

2011-04-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

Spring is here! Hard to believe that a year ago we were nervously awaiting the closing day on our new house, and frantically running around trying to stage and sell our old one! Here are some pics of our garden and some updates from around the house... i've said it before, but this time i mean it...i WILL be keeping up with the blog better from now on!
We started a "square foot garden" using one of the garden beds that was already set up when we bought the house.... brought in all new "mel's mix", followed the book exactly.... here it is on the day we planted it~

And here it is this last weekend.... about a month later~

I've gotta say, so far i am not too impressed with the square foot garden... the plants are pretty small... chuck and i think that the soil dries out too quickly. We'll see.... we have a couple of other plants in the other beds.... they are growing better.... and my mom just gave us a copy of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. We're trying to figure out what is going wrong....

Here are some strawberries from our pot on the deck... they are tiny and tart, but i was just excited to see those plants produce something!

Last weekend Chuck pruned some of the hedges in the back yard, and the weekend he was in NC i planted a bunch of flowers, in an attempt to surprise him when he came home.

These are some of the curly willows that were in the flower arrangements at Jamie's wedding... i can't believe they are growing so well! You can also see some herbs and the remnant of our meyer lemon tree.... the freeze over the winter really hit it hard!

Ever since we went to New Orleans a couple of years ago for our friend's (Jay & Dineen's) wedding, I have been wanting some hanging baskets of flowers.... i know it's a long shot but I am going to try to keep these alive during the Texas summer! So far they are thriving on our shady front porch. haha! Wish me luck!

We got some new lights! Slowly phasing out the gold fixtures....I still can't believe I am lucky enough to live in this beautiful home! (with my amazing husband). Chuck actually painted the old fixture in the entry way and voila! "new" light!

Here are the other lights.... on sale at home depot! woohoo!

~Dining room~

~Kitchen~

And of course, we cant have a blog update w/o a couple of pictures of linus! He is still the "king o' piddle". When we restocked his food... he thought he was in heaven!

And keeping track of what we are doing all day wears him out... especially when we go for long walks in this nice spring weather!

So cute! Will write more soon!

Catchin up

2011-02-20T18:02:00.000-06:00

We're back! Life is crazy, and the blog had fallen to the bottom of the list for the last couple of months! Things here are good! Chuck and I are busy working like crazy! I have been spending lots of time rehabbing the knee.... and Linus has been busy entertaining us, as usual... here are some pics from the last month or so!
Linus was in desperate need of a hair cut.... He was starting to be our little Bob Marley dog.... his hair was so long it actually started to part down the center of his lil head! haha!

He finally got his hair cut, and a few weeks later we had SNOW! yay! it was so great to have a snow day!

Of course, the pup was cold ,and his play time outside was short lived!


not sure why blogger keeps flipping this pic sideways, but you get the point... we had like 0.5 inches of snow!

Face full of snow!

And he was SO cold! I wrapped my scarf around his neck and he kept it on! Chuck made a roaring fire in the fire place and the 3 of us enjoyed the snow day.... or i guess i should say snow morning.... it was 50 degrees by noon! that's Texas for ya!

I will try to be better about the blog from here on out!!! Hope everyone is doing great!

The Burkarts' Wild Kingdom

2010-11-23T16:33:00.000-06:00

Chuck will be building a fence this Thanksgiving weekend~ Here are 2 reasons why!

This buck was RIGHT outside of our bedroom window at around noon one day about 2 weeks ago! I couldn't believe what i was seeing... so naturally i grabbed the camera so that I had proof for when Chuck came home! Linus was going NUTS in the back room, so I went to get him and saw this!

The buck on the side yard was on the lookout for the doe in our backyard! They were big deer! The pics do not do justice to their size! I am so grateful that we have not taken any time to start up our garden yet! So far we have had a skunk, various cats and possibly a possum cruise through our backyard! It's the wild kingdom over here! I love it! .... but i also love growing my own lettuce in the fall and winter!~ Hopefully the new fence will keep the critters out and next year we will have something growing in those beautiful raised beds!

Just a few more pics of the wildlife... this buck eventually started stomping his front feet and i thought he was going to attack our AC unit... luckily no damage done... and while Linus really wanted to get out there and defend his turf, i think those antlers would have easily punted the pup~

Hope yall have a great Thanksgiving! ... from us and the deer!

Halloween (yes we ARE that couple)

2010-11-10T11:39:00.000-06:00

Hey yall! Things here are still going slow~ but here are a few pics from our life lately~ ... Chuck got back from Acuna right before Halloween~ I missed him SO much when he was gone! And being sidelined at home has been rough mentally! However, there is always something that cheers me up, and makes me laugh hysterically!

Linus in his pumpkin costume!

He always looks seriously peeved when i put that thing on him... and his perturbed look always makes me laugh even more!Not to mention that his costume is too big for him~

One thing our traveling has taught us is how to take a self portrait~ Can you tell how much we have been laughing by the time we took this pic?

Hope everyone had a GREAT Halloween!

-Slow goin-

2010-10-28T10:29:00.000-05:00

This week has been crazy~ I had knee surgery last thursday, and Chuck went to Mexico on Saturday! Here are some pics from the week....

Linus hanging out with me and my Polar Care Unit on the day of surgery~

Chuck returned to Acuna this year for another mission trip! Here are some pics from the send off.. he was psyched to be driving one of the vans this year! And from the look on my face, i am clearly on a lot of pain meds~ but i wasnt missing that send off!

Prayer time before they loaded up~ you could feel the excitement!

After they left i camped out at my moms house for the weekend! thanks mom! Had a bit of a scare with a way-too-swollen-foot~ be warned, the next picture is GROSS!

My foot kept swelling, to even more than this pic(i could not even wiggle my toes!)~ so i called the doc on monday, got some tests done to check for dvt and everything was FINE! in fact my feet are back to their normal size now!

I needed a few groceries before i came back to our house ~ and had quite the wild ride in HEB~

Getting around in a cart is tough work! much respect to people that do this all of the time! needless to say my mom was having WAY too much fun laughing at me as i cruised through the store with my crutches and french baguette in the basket~

the rest of this week it has included lots of rest, ice and elevation... mixed with my prescribed exercises.... nothing too crazy~ Here's another pic of Linus on his post.... he takes this job very seriously

and you can see from the pic, my fat foot has gotten much better! I hope everyone is having a great October! Cant believe it is almost Halloween!

Taking the plunge!

2010-09-30T15:08:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday was a BIG day in the Burkart house! Chuck rededicated his life to Christ last year while in Acuna~ He marked that decision with a baptism at Gateway last week... he is heading back to Mexico in October! ! Here are some pics of the day~

Praying with our friends before he gets in the pool!

Chuck in line ~ notice all of the kiddos around? It was the annual kid's baptism Sunday~ ! Chuck had fun with that, as he is a kid at heart!

Before ~ .... it was SO great to have him dunked by Children's Pastor, Kenny, and our friend Kirby ....

After! ~ wooho! that water was brisk! Everyone was cheering as he came up!

A pic with the very proud wife! I am so proud of him for continuing to grow every day! Congrats again, babe! I love you!!!!

Randomness ---> pix from the new place!

2010-09-12T16:43:00.001-05:00

Here are some pics from our summer~ first things first, we spent LOTS of time painting....

May - July we painted every weekend and most weeknights after work! When it was all said and done, we painted everything in the house except for 2 bedrooms and a bathroom~ And see all of that gorgeous molding everywhere? Yep! That got painted as well! sheesh! we are crazy~

July - Linus had a brief love affair with the blue tape~

Every afternoon we played lots of fetch, as it was TOO hot to go walk outside~

In August we made some new friends~ Hector and his guys impressed Chuck with their skills~

Late August - We finally moved our stuff in!

We will have to re-do everything once the carpet gets re-done this week.... and there are some finishing touches that we will continue to work on (baseboards, backsplash, getting blinds!) ... but we already LOVE it here!

We broke in the new kitchen over Labor Day Weekend by baking mountains of cookies for our new neighbors~ the AFD guys & gals at station 44!

September - Spent some time in our new backyard! Can't wait to get some more plants and get our garden going... once we get a fence we hope to plant the garden!~ no use planting a salad buffet for the deer!

Linus cracked me up one day when we turned around a couple of times and decided to curl up on the plastic from one of the boxes~ especially when our new carpet is so nice and soft! (and it kinda matches him, don't ya think?)

For now our garden will be the container kind.... on the deck! We have a lemon tree and some strawberry plants that came over from the Round Rock house~ I hope to plant at least some lettuce and herbs in the big pots this fall....

Chuck was up to his usual genius-ness ~ and installed a COOL pot rack that helped organize some of the kitchen! Oh how i love my wonderfully handsome husband!

This week - It really started feeling like home when we made pizza again! This was SO good! Made with organic, locally grown tomatoes, farm fresh mozzarella, and basil from our own backyard!

We LOVE our new place! After the rain storm last week we had some unexpected things pop up in the "garden" ie the pot of daisy's.. can you tell it has been really humid here lately?

We LOVE our new place!!! Even the weeds are prettier here! (these popped up in the front yard after the heavy rains! ... i am trying to convince chuck to mow around them~ hehe!)

I will try to get better about blogging now that life is settling down a bit! Hope everyone is doing great!

On the Lookout

2010-08-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

We made the move! We actually started sleeping at the new place last weekend! I promise to upload pics as soon as i can figure out a way to do it at the house. We are still in the process of unpacking, ... and we may be getting the entire place re-carpeted... so i am not attacking the boxes with as much fury as i would have otherwise~ no use in unpacking just to have to pack them up again!

Here is a pic from the new house! Linus has been a little freaked out lately! I think he is going through withdrawls... he used to spend ALL day on the stairs, either sleeping or staying "on the lookout",barking at kids on bikes, cats and the UPS guy. Well, this house doesnt have a huge window in the front like the last one did... So he as spent his first week at the new place sleeping on the couch... without any cats or birds to bark at! Yesterday I was in one of the front bedrooms and i showed Linus that he could still look outside... let me tell you he LOVED it! He would not leave that spot~ i had to physically pic him up and move him off of the bed when i left for bookclub! Let's just say he takes his job as the guard dog very seriously and I wouldnt be surprised if i saw a little puppy in the window when I get home this afternoon!

Summer is here!

2010-06-19T09:52:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite things!!! we have tomatoes this year!!!!! the weather is starting to really warm up, so i think our days are numbered, but what we have harvested so far has been GREAT! we have yellow ones, romas, heirlooms and grape~

We spent the morning doing yard work and i had to snap a few photos... the garden is doing pretty darn well, in light of the lack of attention it has gotten this year!

Here is our cantelope patch

My personal fave is the vine growing up the fence!

Here is what we have been up to at the other house~ trying to pick paint colors... looks like modern art at this point! And of course we are still painting, demoing and drywalling....

Linus has been the "supervisor" and takes his role very seriously.... he always put himself in a place where he could see both chuck and i while we were painting... i will have to take some "after" shots to show ya the colors we went with~

It's a tough life for ole Liney-poo! haha!

This lovely gem was a MAJOR selling point of the house.... NOT!

In an attempt to make use of my frustration (regarding this whole real estate thing) , i did what i do best... i got out a hammer and started swinging!!!!

So then i felt better, half of the backsplash got removed, and i slayed the kitchen dragon..... the drywall didnt fare too well, but i have since learned how to float mud (thanks to my loving, wonderful, PATIENT husband) and i will make a mends with the kitchen walls soon....

Hope everyone is doing great and gettin a wonderful start to summertime!

San Francisco!

2010-05-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

Hellooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! So sorry to have dropped the ball big time on the blog front~ lot's of house stuff goin on and we also had our 3rd anniversary trip! We headed to San Francisco and the wine country of California for a week! It was a dream trip~ we had THE BEST time!!! Here are some highlights of the trip~ i tried to narrow it down......
on day 1 we hit the road and tried to see all that we could! We didnt have a car at this point, so after we braved the BART from the airport and found our hotel in Union Square, we hoofed it all over town.... we walked up Lombard street.... went to the top of Coitt Tower visited the Cable Car Mueseum~ we ended the night with a scrumptious dinner at a tiny italian place in little italy, where we even witnessed a real italian biker gang fight outside! woohoo!

Sunday we got up and headed to Starbucks (there is seriously one on EVERY corner there.... i heart this town!) and we kept seeing all of these people dressed up in CRAZY costumes... heading in the same direction... so naturally we followed them~ and we stumbled upon the 99th Bay to Breakers Race.... yikes! that was San Francisco's finest... let's just say that nothing could have surprised me by the end of this day....

We thought we would ditch the crazy crowd and go walk through Golden Gate Park... well you can imagine how surprised we were when we got to the park and saw that the race ended at the park! hehe! i have never felt so out of place for being 1) fully clothed and 2) sober on a sunday morning!

here's chuck nearing mile 7 of the course.... i guess you could say we were bandit runners... haha!

Monday we visited the cutest little french crepery for breakfast....i was one happy girl with a bowl of European style yogurt and berries!

Chuck had his first ever crepe! and he loved it.... what's not to love about nutella and bananas in a yummy blanket of crepe-y goodness? we seriously loved this place so much we came back the next day for breakfast!

We went and found the "Full House" houses.... anyone that grew up in the early 90's knows the significance of this shot... and yeah, i had the theme song from that show in my head for the REST of the day!

We got a car on Tuesday and headed out for Wine country... but before we left town, we drove down Lombard street... gotta say, it was a lot easier than the walk up~ here's a pic of my speed demon husband doin the tourist thing~

We made it to Sonoma in no time! We picnicked and sipped wine... it was a great afternoon!

Then we headed over to Napa ...

This is what happens when you have lots of sips of wine before, during and after lunch~ me and the statue at the Robert Mondavi Winery

On our actual anniversary, we took a bike tour in Napa.... we went to some tiny wineries... tasted some GREAT wine! Here's chuck soakin in the experience~

We actually got to try some of the port that was right from the barrels... SO good, and we dont even really like port!

The end of our ride... it rained off and on for the entire ride.... and i did make a deal with God that if we had good weather on our wedding day, then i wouldnt complain about rain on May 19th for the rest of my life... so i put on the FETCHING poncho and headed down the road!

YUM!

We walked around the square in Sonoma and met a new friend... this is Peanut Butter.... the mini horse! He was out for his afternoon walk and stopped to pose for a pic

Lots and lots of wineries here... we definitely didnt even begin to put a dent in seeing all of them~

We did go to some of the most beautiful estates! This was the garden at Ferarri- Carano~ We didnt even go in for a taste~ the gardens were so pretty!

And i had to take a pic of these sweet flowers... they always remind me of my meems~ she had them in her flower bed when we were little~

We spent one night in Sausalito... we LOVED it there... cant wait to go back! this was our view of San Francisco as we munched on fresh seafood!

And last but certainly NOT least.... we stopped in Ben Lomond to visit my Great Aunt's Mary Anne and Pauline... we had A BLAST with them! Catching up with them was the icing on the cake of our fun filled week!

THIS is what we have been up to......

2010-04-30T16:24:00.000-05:00

hey yall! here is what we have been working on for the last 2 months....
de-cluttering
good-willing things
cleaning
cleaning
cleaning
house hunting.....
and of course, listing our place!
sorry we have been so MIA! this process can be all consuming~
Check it out!

~The Latest~

2010-03-11T20:27:00.000-06:00

Hey yall! Hope everyone is havin a good week! Here are some pic of what is going on here lately~

This is Linus with his new fave toy.. it was a stuffed duck, but it took him about 4 hours to rip the seam open and start eating the stuffing... so we "gutted" it and he LOVES playin fetch with the floppy duck~ This is nothing like my dad's pictures from his hunting with Gus, but it's the best we can do~

~Linus and his latest kill~

After all that cold weather i wandered out to our garden and just poked around to see if there was ANYTHING living... surprise surprise! We had broccoli, carrots and brussels sprouts (left these on the plant bcs i was not sure how to pick them) ! I also picked some flat leaf parsley and whipped up dinner!

of course i had to celebrate my find with some fruit of the vine~

the finished product.... steamed broccoli, carrots, chicken sausage (the feta and spinach flavor), all mixed with papardelle with a lemon/butter sauce... DELISH!

and one last pic of my man and my dog... and my valentine's flowers... anyone know what these are? i really want to try to keep them alive!

Late February Update!

2010-02-28T16:02:00.000-06:00

WOW! it's almost March! The lack of blogging is directly correlated to the amount of "busy" in our lives these days! Here are some snippets from the month... above, you can see my boys with my valentines day flowers.... it is a live plant! here's hopin i can keep it alive!

valentines day was nice... we cooked up a FEAST of surf n turf and had some of our favorite wine ~ it was perfect!

Linus being cute as always... here are some pics of him when he got "stuck" in the chair... he wont jump out of it if the cushion isnt just right~

so he sat there for awhile, lookin super cute, and let me take a bunch of pics!

The E town Burkarts came for a visit mid month... we spent one day cruising around the texas wine country with some friends~

We had a fun day tasting lots of wine and ended up at Mandola's Tratoria Lisina for a yummy dinner!

It was the E town Burkarts FIRST wine tasting! we loved hearing what they thought about some of our favorites~

Cheers!

Of course we had SNOW DAY 2010 last week so here are some pics of Linus in the snow....

he wasnt too crazy about it...

and i found this little gem in the garden right before the snow "storm"

all of this months fun and activities left me and linus ready for a nap.... and someone (aka Chuck) thought it was a good idea to snap a pic... haha! we were out!

me and my cuddle poo~

Here's hopin March holds a little less craziness~

~ 3M Sunday Funday ~

2010-02-04T15:58:00.001-06:00

Can't believe it's almost been 2 weeks since 3M! It was a fun race day!

The race was delayed for an hour, due to wind blowing the barricades down, and cars being on the course.... luckily the Embassy Suites was nearby and they let us hang out inside, out of the cold wind! Here we are waiting.... and waiting.... and waiting to start!

Linus got to wait inside too....i was greatful for that....bcs i didnt want to stand outside with the dog when there was a warm couch to sit on!

The race went well! Jamie met her time goal, and i only slowed down 5 seconds from last years time... although the run hurt more this year than last, i was kind of psyched to see that my swimming has been keeping me in good cardiovascular shape.... can't say the legs were used to all of that pounding, but oh welll~ i LOVE the pool and wont be switching back to "running only" any time soon~

We did it! .... in less than 2 hours~ woohoo!

After we got home, Linus got a bath (so did i)... he picks up a LOT of dirt when he is out on the streets... and the race ended at waterloo park, which is basically all dirt.... so our lil swiffer of a dog got a nice scrubbin down when we got home.... then he found a sunny spot to dry off..... he was pooped~ can you see him ?

his face says it all .... "i'm tired, let me get back to my nap"...

That night we had my parents and sis over for dinner to celebrate my dad's b-day.... we feasted on this amazing "meat n' potatoes" casserole from my FAVE Lidia~ and bcs i can't seem to write a blog entry withoug mentioning food.... here are some pics of the deliciousness~

SO GOOD! Layers of beef, potatoes, cabbage... all baked in the oven (for 3 hours) with a white wine/butter sauce! it was FAB~

Weekend Cute-ness Update

2010-01-18T17:47:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a great MLK weekend! Here are a couple of pics from ours..... this is Linus in what we have dubbed "the bat cave"... when it got SUPER cold here 2 weeks ago, we had to give him a little cave to stay warm in.... thanks to our digital temp readers, i was able to see that the INSIDE of our house, downstairs was 56 degrees one day.... and yeah, the dog was shivering when i came home.... hence, the "bat cave" was born out of necessity~ Linus loves it!

the weather was actually pretty nice this weekend, so we headed out for a walk... i snapped this photo as Chuck was getting ready to go.... Chuck 'n Linus, friends forever~

here's one of me and Liney poo.... (can you tell i just came home from yoga? lookin pretty relaxed~)

And finally, here is an action shot of Chuck trying to work on Linus' "floor issues"... about 3 months ago, Linus decided he would not walk on our hardwood floors.... which is wierd! so, he gets lots of treats and praise when he actually heals on the wood floor.... as demonstrated in the pic below~ crazy psycho pooch, but we love him to death!

Good News!

2010-01-13T17:41:00.001-06:00

Just a couple of good news tidbits here this week

yesterday i found THIS in the garden! The frost killed almost everything, but our lil baby carrots are still there~ and super cute, i might add~

Also, Chuck got his annual rating yesterday.... We were both so psyched to hear that he did well~ I made him a giant "frrrrrrrrrrozen hot chocolate"....complete with candy mix in's and cookies to celebrate! I think the look on his face says it all~

Way to go babe!!!

Winter time....

2010-01-10T16:06:00.000-06:00

Well, it officially feels like we are in the throes of winter... Chuck and i have been laying low for the past week battling colds/cedar allergies... so here are a couple of pics from the last week at our house......

first of all, there has been a lot of football watching going on..........Linus fell asleep on Chuck's lap and we had some fun taking pics... he didnt seem to mind wearing that Penn State hat at all!

Here's a shot from the other night... we were watching a movie and he just curled up and fell asleep, then he flipped on his back! He used to do that when he was 2 months old, and i havent seen him do it much since ~

Just one more of my couch buddy... he loves to curl up and take naps with me.... which is nice, bcs he is like a little space heater... and that comes in handy when it is so darn cold!

We are trying to be healthier this year (just like everyone else)... so part of that plan includes having more home made baked goods... less transfats and sugar, you get the point

Here is a pic of the french bread i made this morning.. along with some low fat banana muffins.... i made this in the bread machine, and our house smelled great... and since i used bread flour this time (not just plain old whole wheat flour) , the loaf is actually edible!

Linus has a new bed that he likes to carry around... the tile downstairs stays pretty cold, which feels GREAT on my achy fee that are sore from running... but he is not a big fan... so he either stays on the carpet, or in that little bed.... here is a pic of him changing locations~

It was so cold the other day that Chuck decided to put Linus' coat on when they came to meet me on the trail.... it was SO cute, i had to get a pic and share it with yall~

here's the side view.... Linus is such a good model~ haha! Thanks for the coat, Mac!

The cold weather has pretty much killed everything in our garden... it will be interesting to see if anything comes back when the nightly freezes go away~ here are a couple of pics of our pathetic looking garden~ i had such high hopes for our fall/winter garden.... oh well! this piece of broccoli was the only thing that didnt wilt in the back bed...

I was looking forward to using the lettuce, but old jack frost helped himself to it first~

luckily we got a GREAT local box from Greenling this week, including lots of root veggies and dark leafy greens... and since i cannot write a blog entry without talking about food, here is a pic of the big pot of minestrone i made this afternoon... beautiful swiss chard going into the pot

and the finished product... i am looking forward to this week's lunches! yum!

keep warm yall!

~Christmas, All Wrapped Up~

2010-01-06T19:07:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas! We sure did! Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post up.... i came home from PA with a TERRIBLE cold and was out of commission for the entire week when we got home~ Anyways, here are some pics of our week... we had a great time filled with family, friends and fellowship.... and of course lots and lots of food~

On Christmas Eve we all went over to Aunt Grace and (uncle?) Ed's house.... what a treat! I have heard about this party since i started dating Chuck 5 years ago..... it is legendary... and it lived up to all of the lore surrounding it~

These people flat out know how to cook and entertain.... thanks, yall!

Their beautiful tree.... i love how you can see the snow and lights across the street too.....

The spread.... or at least part of it~

My FAVE thing of the night.... baked pears with goat cheese, honey and balsamic reduction~

Sarah helped me feel at home by including me in a "sisters" pic with cousins Maggie and Allie.... it was so good to see these girls! they are so much fun~ thanks, sarah!

Grandma with her great grand-daughters, Clare and Lydia..... so cute!

Christmas morning! Everyone was pretty tired from the festivities and midnight mass the night before..... but Sarah's Christmas enthusiasm was contagious~

Bill got a Penn State Snuggie (or snuggle ... that was what everyone kept calling it) and he proudly wore it on Christmas morning~ what a good sport!

Chuck spent a lot of time wrestling with Mac (aka Meathead) while we were in E-town... here is a pic of their Christmas morning slobber fest!

Traditional Burkart family pic on Christmas morning.... we set the timer and everything!

We also headed to Greensburg.... i didnt get many pics of this part of the trip... but i did get one with Chuck and his cousins.... Ryan and Cage.... rumor has it that "Charlie" is Cage's favorite cousin, even though they only see each other maybe once a year~ what cutie pies!

New York City- Chow Hounds!~

2010-01-02T13:26:00.001-06:00

All i have to say about the food we had on our trip is " YUM!" .... we ate so much that i thought the food deserved it's own blog entry... here goes!

When we got to NYC we imediately hopped onto the subway and met our friends Mike and Kelly at La Mela... this is the hot and cold appetizer.... YUM!

Next came the pasta platter.... we were doing family style and i took this pic AFTER we had eaten all that we could~

We walked around and found a hot chocolate spot near Bryant Park.... i thought the sign was appropriate, so i snapped a pic

That night I headed out to Bobby Flay's Bar Americain with the Lancasters (Chuck had a

migraine, so he missed out)... it was so good! I forgot my camera, but that dinner deserves a shout out! We ended the night with cheesecake at Broadway Joe's. Super yummy and we met some nice people there too!

The next morning, Chuck was feeling a lot better (thank goodness!) and we headed out to find some New York style breakfast... we were walking towards Central Park and came up on the Stage Deli.... so we popped in....

I tried the Bagel with Lox (interesting... you gotta LOVE salmon to like that!)

Chuck had skipped dinner and was starving so he gladly helped me finish mine and he had a really good egg sandwich

After walking around Central Park we meandered down 60th street, just to see if we could find Serendipity 3... we did! We had to wait in line for about an hour.... we got there before it opened and there was a line down the street, but we were glad to have found it... Serendipity was one of our fave movies when we were dating... so we had to come get the Frozen Hot Chocolate~

Here it is! So yummy and rich!

I was frozen to the bone after standing in the wind tunnel called 60th street for an hour, so i opted for the "Serendip".... a hot coffee with nutmeg and of course whipped cream and chocolate shavings... SO good!

He did it! I had no doubt he would polish it off! We also ate "real" food there... chuck got the BLT, i got chicken & veggie soup (again, needing something warm)

I loved the decorations in Serendipity! I mean, this pink tree makes mine look pretty wimpy~

The rest of Tuesday was spent sight seeing... and by Tuesday night we were hungry again! This time we headed to Becco... owned by my fave chef Lydia Bastianich..... it was AMAZING! so good, that i forgot to get any pics of our food... Italian at it's best! WE LOVE LYDIA!

Wednesday, we walked down to Little Italy and ended up back at La Mela..... This time we opted out of the family style "all you can eat" option... chuck got the Special , Veal Parm, and i got soup (big shocker!) It was Roasted garlic, escarole and white bean soup.... yummy!

This time we actually had room for dessert..... so we tried their home made cannoli~ wow... there are not words that could describe how good they were!

After the Rockette's show that night we headed to Juniors... it was right across the street from our hotel, and we had walked by it every morning on our way to get bagels at Times Square Hot Bagels (i LOVED their everything flat bagel) and Juniors was always packed, so we decided to check it out~

Chuck was in awe of all of the desserts they had for sale....

Chuck got a reuben and i got matzo ball soup... then we capped it off with cheesecake and coffee... THE best cup of decaf that i came across all week!

After dinner we went back to our hotel, which had a rotating restaurant/bar, The View, up top and it had a great view of the city! You had to buy a drink to get a seat, so we did... i ordered a decaf coffee... with a baileys on the rocks... and this is what i got~

It made us laugh bcs by this time we had gotten SO much whipped cream on everything.... oh well! it was one good dessert coffee!

And that just about wraps up our food adventure... of course Thursday morning we had to get bagels in the train station... hehe... then it was on to PA and more festivities and feasting there! more to come~

Pre Christmas in New York City!

2009-12-30T18:26:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We spent 3 GREAT days in NYC leading up to Christmas.... here are some of the highlights.... i will have to do another entry about all of the amazing food we ate~

It was really cold and snowy for our stay.... we really liked the skating rink at Bryant Park

We spent most of our first day there hanging out with our good friends, Mike and Kelly.... by a crazy coincidence we were there at the same time... staying in teh SAME hotel!

We ate lunch with them at THE BEST place (more to come on that) right when we got to town

We were so glad to be able to hang out with them as we got our bearings in the city that first day!

Here we are at Macy's... that place was a mad house!

We also saw the Bloomingdale's windows.... pretty cool!

chuck and i felt like a "dymanic duo" as we roamed the streets so we did a self portrait with santa as well~

Chuck and a mini lady liberty on our LONG walk down Broadway, ... i wanted to see the city, so we walked from our place on Time's Square down to China town/Little Italy... it took us all morning, but it was a nice way to see the sights!

Times Square

Little Italy...it looked really pretty with all of the Christmas decorations

i bought a killer bag in China town... out of a mini van on the street! what a thrill!

Here i am on the subway heading back to the hotel (we didnt feel like walking back)

We went for a carriage ride around central park.... that was pretty cool!

We did another one later that night with Mike and Kelly and that was a lot of fun too.. but it was better people watching mid day~

We saw the tree at Rockefeller Center... big tree, small ice skating rink!

A last minute decision led us to see the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall! We were both frozen to the bone and had seen all of the sites, so we took a chance and went to see if we could get tickets... SO glad we did! It was a great show with an AMAZING live nativity at the end!

Here's the view from our room~ The hotel was AWESOME and had a rotating bar on top that gave us a panoramic view of the city at night (that will be in the food blog as well)

~ more to come~

Christmas Party, Griswold Style

2009-12-19T19:47:00.002-06:00

We hosted our first Christmas party this year~ since lots of our friends are traveling, sick, new parents, etc, it turned out to be a smaller party than anticipated.... not the usual 50 person, standing room only afair.... but we had a great time! Here are some pics from the bash~ the theme was "Griswold's Christmas"... so the gingerbread men were decked out in their finest Christmas sweaters!

Linus got into the decorating... we thought he looked great with the gold tinsel ...

Of course he got an ugly sweater as well! He just got groomed, and they accidentally gave him his summer cut...... so he was glad for the sweater, i am sure of it!

We got our all of our Christmas decorations and tried to get the house all decked out ... of course the Pièce de résistance was our Charlie Brown tree...

Linus helped put up the lights... well, not really, he just supervised~

then it was go time! our guests arrived and it was lots of fun seeing how people got creative with the ugly sweater theme!

Here's Chuck and the guys~

Jamie and Sean (he had an AWESOME vest but he didnt wear it long) Jamie won best dressed, hands down!

Chuck and I

We collected clothing for a local clothes closet and non perishables for our church's food pantry... as a token of our appreciation, we had gifts for our guests... here's Cindy with her bottle of Boones Farm~ she was SO excited to get it!

Chuck and some of our small group friends... we are so glad they came!

Merry Christmas yall!

Christmas Wine Trail 2009

2009-12-13T19:46:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, yall! For the last 2 Saturdays we have been driving through the Texas Hill Country in search of good wine and Christmas ornaments~ We signed up to do the "Holiday Wine Trail", which included a grapevine wreath and an ornament at each winery you visit....

We visited 17 wineries... tasting at about half of them.... A lot of the places had special holiday happenings going on. One of our favorites. Becker Vineyards, had free port wine shots... they paired caramel and chocolate with the port... HEAVEN on earth~ Here's Chuck and his new friend James... this guy really knew his wine, and guided us through a perfect tasting experience!

We ended our crazy Saturday with a YUMMY dinner at Trattoria Lisina, the restaurant at Mandola's winery... we ate, drank and spread holiday cheer until we were about to drop~

The spoils of our labor~ 10 of our new favorites ... I can't believe we bought that much wine!

And last but not least, our wreath! Good think we didn't go to all 25 wineries... we would not have room for all of the ornaments~

Merry Christmas, yall!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-01T15:59:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, yall! Hope everyone had a great weekend, filled with family and friends! Here are some pics of our holiday~

I was researching recipes for the big day and Linus was supervising.... as usual!~

We got him "suited up" in his bomber jacket for the Turkey Trott... he wanted to stay in the nice warm bed (note : this was just a photo op... the dog does NOT sleep in our bed... usually...)

Suited up and ready for a brisk little race before turkey day feasting!

finishing up... SO glad i could see the finish line...... i kicked it in about a mile too soon... oops~

Me, Dad, and Jamie after the race... Jamie did AWESOME on the run... and Dad rode his motorcycle down to keep Chuck and Linus company~ Thanks, Dad!

Friday was filled with shopping (yeah, i woke up at 3:30 and couldnt fall back asleep.... so i headed to the outlet mall!) and cooking.... getting ready for Saturday! We had everyone over for a home made italian feast on Saturday night... it was so fun! and YUMMY! Linus was supervising again, of course~

Jamie and Mee Maw rolling out the dough. We used my new pasta roller.... Chuck got it for me for my b-day! Thanks, babe!

Team work in action~

We had to keep it authentico... so we made sure to consume plenty of wine throughout the cooking/eating process~

Fresh Paparedelle with traditional Bolognese sauce... so good! Thanks Lydia!

The pasta babes...

Feasting, drinking wine and telling stories.... it was a great night!~

We love Greenling!

2009-11-23T15:41:00.001-06:00

We have recently started ordering a couple of times a month from Greenling Organic Delivery service.... i had been wanting to try this for about a year now and my friend Karen answered all of my questions and helped me to come to the conclusion that it was worth it... (thanks Karen!)

Here's the box right after delivery! We get the "Local & Farmstead Box" so in addition to our yummy local mostly organic veggies, we also get random baked goods, cheeses, kombucha tea, breads, nuts from local artisans.... YUM! I feel like it is Christmas when I open up our box of deliciousness on delivery day!

We got turnips, which i had never tried, let alone tried to prepare! Greenling also includes a couple of prep ideas in the box.... and i made their turnip casserole....

it turned out so good, i got asked to bring it to Thanksgiving dinner! YEAH!

Tis the season for lots of greens! I chopped up the butter lettuce, gala apple and a pinch of watercress from the box to make my favorite-salad-in-the-whole-wide-world~ YUM! (ps, this was the week that Chuck was in Mexico.... so there was a lot of this salad going on for dinner that week...)

This pizza has roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes and artisan cheese from our box, green bell peppers from our garden.... it was GOOD.... a nice change from our usual and those peppers were HOT!

The following night i made another "fave salad" this time using salad greens from our garden! (i will do a garden post soon) I also made butternut squash soup ... fantastic! There is one more meal i got out of the local box, but i was so excited about it, and we were so hungry, that we gobbled it down before i could take a pic... it was a mild Thai curry stirfry~ amazing.....

Thanks Greenling!!!!! We love you!!!!

If yall want any of these recipes, email me and i will share!

~Linus goes green~

2009-11-11T09:12:00.000-06:00

I took Linus to get groomed yesterday... he is always so fluffy and CLEAN when i bring him home.... well, he promptly went outside and started eating the clumps of grass clippings in the lawn, and this is what we ended up with... a GREEN 'stache and goatee....

maybe this is his way of supporting chuck and the guys in green shirts this week~

Lift 'em up!

2009-11-09T18:50:00.000-06:00

Let's keep these guys in our prayers this week!

I met Lidia!!!

2009-11-04T15:16:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a great halloween!~ Here is a recap of our fun filled day~

Last Saturday was a busy day!!! We started out the day wtih a swim at Nitro... complete with halloween costume contest.. haha! i wore my tiara and went as "the princess of the pool"... any excuse to wear that tiara!

After swimming we went to get coffee with everyone and catch up.. it was a lot of fun, since we have not made it to saturday morning coffee in awhile...

Then we headed to the annual Classic Car Show at Rudy's... Chuck was in heaven!

THEN~ we went downtown to the Texas Book Festival... i got to see a cooking demo by Rebeca Rather and then my FAVE cook on tv.... Lidia Bastianich did a talk about Italy and Italian cooking! Here is a pic of Linus paying close attention to the discussion~ haha!

She gave some great tips... my take home message was "take time for a 10 minute nap every day"... that is her secret to success~

I also left the book fest with her latest cook book! yay! then we waited in line to meet her and get her to sign the new book ...and the one i had brought from home~ it was a beautiful day, so standing in line for an hour was pretty enjoyable...we met some interesting people as we waited~ that always helps the time go by!

Here i am with Lidia! She was super nice... and told me to keep cooking italian~

After the book fest we cruised through P Terry's for a quick bite... Linus and I waited in the car while chuck went in to order.. as usual the drive through line went all the way around the building~ So i got bored and let linus sit in the drivers seat~ he looks a little too comfy there~

We finished off the day celebrating with our friends Chris and Greg at their wedding... it was a wonderful, busy halloween saturday~

It's The Great Pumpkin, Linus~

2009-10-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! Enjoy some seasonal pics of our lil cutie~ haha!

And here's the inspiration for our costume choice... Happy Halloween, yall~

Out with the old, in with the new~

2009-10-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Linus got yet another haircut.... he came home with a little handle bar mustache~ they put some sort of pomade on his 'stache and styled it... i tried to get a pic, and this was the best i could do..... we love taking him to see his girlfriends at West End~

We went to a gardening class at the Natural Gardener at the beginning of October. Chuck and I learned a TON and were really fired up to pull out the old summer plants and put in the fall/winter plants. We have such a mild fall/winter here, that it is like a "second spring" as far as gardening goes....
before we planted the new seedlings, i had to attack the jungle of basil that had grown everywhere... it made me sad to uproot it all, but i was able to chop and freeze a lot of it for later use this winter~

This was the tallest basil plant in the garden.... it was about 3 1/2 feet tall! all of that basil made the garden smell so great~

...more basil....

the new plants! we put in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and a couple swiss chard. ~YUM~
we also planted some seeds (sweet peas, baby carrots, cilantro, mesclun mix and gourmet greens salad mix) I also got some organic garlic and shallot bulbs to plant... they will be going in this weekend, but we wont harvest them until NEXT June!

Look what i found!!! well, he was about double this size, but he shrank when i picked him up....i also found about 20 big fat cut worms, which i promptly donated to my neighbors yard (thanks for teaching me how to throw, dad!)

Here is the last crop of basil getting ready to be washed, chopped and frozen....

...more to come!~...

ACL weekend!

2009-10-08T15:54:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Chuck and I went to ACL Fest! it was a fun weekend... filled with lots of music, fun and adventures...not to mention lots of rain and mud~

Here's Chuck on Friday night..... the grass was awesome! it was like hanging out on a putting green.... with gorgeous views of the downtown skyline! We heard some great music, including Raphael Saadiq and John Legend... they both did great concerts... Kings of Leon closed out the night... we had a hard time hearing them, so we left a bit early... and got to listen to them as we walked back up the hill to our car. THANKS to Jill for letting us park in her driveway!

Starting out Saturday... we were in for a long day, and we knew rain was likely....

we got to see the Zack Brown Band... what a fun show!

Chuck put one of our old wedding koozies to use!~ what a stud!

Here is how we spent most of Saturday... my wonderful gentleman of a husband let me have the umbrella all day... my disposable poncho kind of worked... we stayed mostly dry, until we went to see Dave Matthews Band.... the mud had gotten pretty deep/slick by that point~

Sunday we were so tired, we only made it down to ACL for the last show.... Pearl Jam.. they were AWESOME and worth trecking through the mud for!~

shoes before ACL on Sunday night

Loving life at this amazing and fun concert! WE HEART PJ!!!!

shoes after ACL... caked in mud and 'dillo dirt (kinda smelly)

And since we both took monday off, we decided to cap off the night at good ol' TC, along with lots of other muddy people... nothin says "see we can still hang" like a beer filled concert followed by late night grub!

Can't say that we'll be back next year, but we survived ACL this year! go team Burkart!

DudeGirl Report

2009-09-28T15:51:00.000-05:00

Here's a wrap up of the latest tri.... the logo above it what got me suckered into signing up.... i LOVE my new bike jersey, featuring this tough lookin Rosie the Riveter..... but it was a LONG, TOUGH day~

this is how i felt on race morning... NOT wanting to do the race.... but we were out there, and set up, and there was no turning back~

trying to get myself psyched up.... it wasn't really working yet.... but i had a pink cap, so that is always a good sign!

waiting for the air horn to blow.... for the rest of my life, i will always feel the compulsion to go jump in the lake and swim when i hear that sound! this swim was interesting.... the lake was so low, that you could walk on the way back around, so that is what i did! 2 loops of "swimming" for a total of 1500meters~ once i figured out the trick my swim stroke actually got a lot better, and not because i was walking with my feet in the water~ i actually passed a LOT of girls on the second lap of the swim... they were probably the GENIUSES that thought doing the baywatch run along the shore was a good way to get ahead! "slow, steady, survive" was my swimming mantra~ and it worked!

i survived the swim.... and then it was on to the bike.... 4 laps around Pace Bend Park... that means, you are either going uphill, or downhill..... tough course~

breaking a cardinal rule of triathlons and STOPPING in transition to take in some water...... by this point i was just proud of myself for doing the 4 laps (24 miles) on the bike.... they were using the honor system, meaning there was no way to track your laps.... and believe me i wanted to quit more than once~

then it's off for the 6 mile run... by this point it was H-O-T outside... but i am always semi -relieved to get to the run during a tri....

we were literally running around in circles in the woods.... cool course, but at the half way point you were about 100meters from the finish line, then you had to TURN AROUND and run all the way back, from the way you came.... aahh! torture! this race was a mental and physical beating...

cruising in to the finish.... well, not exactly cruising, but i was determined not to walk anywhere near that finish line~

So that's it!~ the end of triathlon season 2009 for me..... i see lots of swimming and yoga in my future... or just doing whatever the hell i want.... i have been training for some sort of event for the last 2 years..... it's time for a break~

~Weekend Fun~

2009-09-20T19:06:00.001-05:00

Greetings from the Burkart house! Check out our new doormat.... i can't resist buying anything with a B on it.... and Linus does a fab job of modeling it~

we ventured out Saturday AM to the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market... i had to pick up my race packet for the DudeGirl Tri (more about that later... i am still in too much pain to write about that right now!) downtown, so we made a morning of it... here's Linus at the Pop-so-Cool stand...i think he should be their spokes dog... . our friend Manny runs this business and his popsicles are AWESOME! all natural, home made, yummy and refreshing... they have a lot of cool flavors~ check them out sometime at their new store!
I scored about 10lbs of tomatoes at the farmers market.... and they were looking perfectly ripe... so I decided to get out one of my new cookbooks (thanks again, E town Burkarts!) and make home made tomato sauce... what a project it turned out to be~

Here are the stars of the show

~ our farm fresh tomatoes~

Chuck, my assistant, chief onion chopper... sporting his anti-onion-tear glasses~

and here's me... good thing i was wearing that apron, bcs i got tomato seeds, juice and pulp all over it!

the pic is sideways, but here are our hand crushed (well, par boiled, peeled, de-seeded, and THEN crushed) tomatoes and our 5 cups of chopped onion and 5 minced cloves of garlic just cookin away~ i just love Lidia and her recipes..... they really stress simple recipes made with quality ingredients... this recipe came from Lidia's Family Table.

our "bouquet of basil".... fresh out of our back yard! The basil has gone NUTS this year.. and we love it! we just tossed our bouquet in, covered, and let it "perk" away for about 2 1/2 hours~ the only reason i turned off the heat was bcs i was going to bed.... otherwise i may have let it simmer for another hour or so~

Here's some of the finished product... YUM! i added some red pepper flake to the sauce so it is pretty kickin... i am hoping that will tone down when we pair it up with pasta and cheese! This recipe made a LOT... this small jar will be used this week... the rest went into ziplocs in the freezer... it will be GREAT to pull out this fresh taste of summer later on this winter!
~Buon Appetito~

Garden Update!

2009-09-16T18:57:00.000-05:00

We got rain last weekend... lots and lots of rain! These pots were filled with rainwater.. real rain drops...not just run off from the roof! YAY! The weather has cooled off considerably, and that has allowed our grape tomatoes to give us a few more~ i was so surprised to see these... i thought that plant was almost fried from our hot summer!

The banana peppers are still going strong!

Our mint was drying out, but after the rain it has bounced back... and the rosemary is doing great... this is the only surviving plant from last year... i love having fresh rosemary for grilling steaks and making hearty stews when the weather gets cooler~

The rest of the herbs are doing AWESOME after the rains! The basil (all 3 kinds) was drying out and losing some of it's flavor... but now it is back and better than ever... the sage has really gone crazy and the oregano is lemony and good~

The bell peppers are doing great... i left these on the plant a little long (i wasn't out in the garden during our 4 days of rain) and they all turned this gorgeous ruby red~

Aphids got the best of our eggplants, so we cut them down to get rid of all of those bugs, but didn't remove the roots.... well, it got some rain and then started growing again! And there's our bucket of mint... it smells so good! You can also see our avacado seed.... does this remind anyone of elementary school science class? Anyways, Chuck wants to try to grow an avacado tree.... since i eat one every day.... i thought it was a great idea! .... we also have plans for a fig tree....i really fell in love with fresh figs this summer!

Lastly, here's the Lantana that i bought about a month ago, majorly discounted.... i thought it was worth a try... chuck planted it in the back yard and it has done great.... it loves the heat.. and after all of the rain we had a couple more blooms too!

Our fall tomatoes are coming along... we are also getting ready to plant some green beans and later on we will put in Swiss chard and spinach.... this will be our first year to try year-round gardening...

~more updates to come~

~ Singin in the rain~

2009-09-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

We FINALLY got rain last weekend! We have had a very dry, hot summer... last weekend it rained for the better part of 4 days! woohoo! Linus loved it.....he rang the bell to go out, and next thing i knew he was running around like a CRAZY PUPPY! it was hilarious... and he came in very muddy....

Here are some pics with Linus and his towel, he doesn't mind being dried off... and as you can see, he fluffs up quite nicely too!

Labor Day Get-Away!

2009-09-08T15:54:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Chuck took me to Fredericksburg to celebrate my b-day and get a nice change of scenery... we had a GREAT time! Here are some pics from our weekend... lots of wine, food, and fun! Thanks babe!

We just happened to be doing wine tasting during the "Annual Grape Stomp" weekend... so we decided to help out... haha!

Those grapes were slimy! I thought I was going to fall down and end up wearing the grapes!

We tasted wine at Becker, Torre di Pietra, Grape Creek and Rancho Ponte Vineyards... lots of great wine!

They had live music outside at Grape Creek... we actually had cool-ish weather, so it was nice to sit under the big oak trees and sip~

Sunday we tooled around town, shopped in the cute little shops on Main Street and ended up at Rather Sweet Bakery for lunch... it was SO good! I am a horrible baker (unfortunately most of my friends/family have been the victims of my attempts at "healthy" baked goods)... this place inspired me so much, Chuck bought me the cookbook from the bakery .... no more healthy baking for this girl... we are doing the real deal from now on!~

Here are the remnants of our desserts, before we gobbled them up... triple threat chocolate cookie for Chuck and a massive lemon bar for me.... seriously GOOD stuff!

End of the weekend and we are tired/relaxed... and yeah, i was slightly "parched" from the day before's numerous tastings... it was a GREAT weekend! Everyone should be so lucky as to spend a weekend in Fredericksburg with their honey!

Oh! One last thing... on our way out of town we stopped at this awesome pottery/ironworks place... we got these really cool, huge pots for our yard... i had to take a pic of Chuck and his engineering skills... we got all 3 in the back of the mustang! hehe!

Fancy Footwear

2009-08-30T18:08:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to spread the word about some cool footwear i've been sportin around the house lately~ These are my yoga toes... i got them for Christmas (thanks mumsie and dadsie!) and they are AWESOME! They stretch out your toes and make your feet feel lots better... kinda funny lookin, but definitely worth trying!
And i also had to tell yall about my latest fave shoes... Chuck got me these from Bed, Bath & Beyond when we were in the trenches, fighting against the dust in our house.... i was recently diagnosed with Dust Mite allergies, so a couple of weeks ago we were deep cleaning... and while we were shopping for hypo-allergenic bedding encasements we found these! anyways, these are the coolest little house shoes... they actually clean the floor while you wear them, and they are machine washable, so you can use them again and again! and of course, they are the perfect color!

chillin~

2009-08-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

Just thought i'd share this pic of my "little lion"... i was relaxin on the couch after work this week, chit chattin away with Chuck, while he was attempting to work from home~ and Linus just decided to snuggle up, and use my knee as his pillow~ he was sleeping, but the click of my camera phone woke him up... he is so cute... at least i think he is~ good to know that he likes hangin out with me~

Wicked Weekend!

2009-08-24T19:27:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go see Wicked! It was probably the BEST show i have ever seen! i absolutely loved the sets, costumes and of course, Ga'Linda was my fave! So much pink! SO many SPARKLES!!! It was a great story and I had a really fun time sharing the afternoon with my friends Kelli and Katie, thanks girls! ...

I was so inspired by "Elphie" that I made this Pesto Papardelle tonight for dinner... i know, i am cheesy.... but this dinner was good, and LOCAL... yep, i am still on my "eat local" kick... i got most of the ingredients from the Austin Farmer's Market, at Republic Square...

Here's our "Elphaba Pesto Papardelle"... Sunflower Sprout & Chive Papardelle (from Austin Pasta, amazing!), spinach, sunflower sprouts, farm fresh tomatoes, homemade pesto, evoo, and a smidge of ricotta cheese~

We liked it....

My taste tester approved!

Family time in Wilmington, NC!

2009-08-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to NC for a family wedding... we had a GREAT time! Here are some pics from the weekend's festivities!~

Family outing for ice cream from the fudge shop, on the boardwalk, in Carolina Beach... YUM!

Happy Burkarts on the beach! We had a great time! Chuck even mastered the "little Nemo" boogie board... i was so proud!

Wedding time! Chuck's 2nd cousin, John got married to Casie...it was a beautiful wedding... they really thought of everything! Our fave thing was the photo booth/guest book idea.... and they had an awesome band! We had so much fun! thanks, yall! Here are some photos of the party... we were on the banks of the Cape Fear River... it was beautiful and steamy.... thank goodness for the cute coozies to keep our beveradges cool!

Cheers to the happy couple! Sarah and Jeremy (Raleigh Burkart branch)

Round Rock Burkarts!

Their cake was beautiful and yummy! I love lemon cake....

John and Casie's first dance... that girl's got some killer style!

Chucky.... the ladies man....
E-town Burkarts!
Chuck's cousin Jenny and her hubby, Jay... we had such a great time hanging out with them and their ADORABLE little girls!
The boys! Fun was had by all!

Can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas!

Bobble Head Dog

2009-08-12T09:49:00.001-05:00

So Linus got his hair cut yesterday (he still has the scarf they gave him on in the pic) ... We had them cut as short at possible, bcs of the horrible heat we are having.... and now he looks like a bobble head~ small body, big head~ but he's still cute!

High Tech Puppy

2009-08-07T08:46:00.001-05:00

Here are recent some pics of Liney-poo.... he has been super cute lately.... it is so hot, and i feel bad that he is getting fluffy.... so we will take him to our FAVE girls at West End to get him groomed next week.. but here are some pics of his current cute-ness~

He had been running around in the back yard while chuck and i were overhauling the garden last weekend... his paws got SO muddy.... so that meant bathtime! he was just out of the bath for this pic.. and i just LOVE how his hair fluffs up on his head when he is "so fresh n so clean"~

Posing for a pic before he devours the bone i got him from the Farmers Market, in Omaha! We broke it up into 3 big pieces and he LOVED that organic peanut butter bone! Thanks again for taking us to the cool market, Holly!

This cracked me up.... last night i was online, and Linus decided to stretch out right in front of the screen (yeah, our laptop died... a slow and painful death.... so my genius of a hubby just put some old computer parts together and we are back online from the house! extremely impressive! .... the only downside is that it is set up on the floor of the tv room upstairs... ) i guess he wanted me to play with him, and this was his way of getting my attention~

But i think Linus likes it that we are spending a little more time on his level... he's a smart dog.... i wouldnt be surprised to find him typing away sometime! haha!

Garden update!

2009-08-06T13:43:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not, the garden is still producing! Don't get me wrong, Chuck and I have not just walked away from it all... we have been doing EVERYTHING we can to help out our plants in this record breaking heatwave we call summer.... We've actually cut back a lot of plants and have started planting for fall... which feels SO unnatural... i mean, i feel like i am gonna croak any minute when i am out there in the garden, and here i am putting this seedling in the ground and hoping it will somehow survive in the heat! Oh well! It's worth a try.... especially since the plants were 50% off at Red Barn!
Our heirloom tomato plant gave us 2 beautiful gems of fruit in July... So i used them, along with some eggplant and basil, both from our garden, and red onion, plus fresh mozzarella, to make these "Grilled Eggplant Stacks"... well, they kind of turned into huge eggplant piles.... the flavor of the tomatoes was GREAT.... but the eggplant turned out to be super bitter... i will know to salt them before we do this again ! Also featured in the pick is my first ever loaf of bread machine bread! (Thanks Mary Ellen!!!) i was so inspired by all of the bakeries we saw on our trip to Paris that i tried making bread at home... it turned out fairly good! Since i used ALL whole wheat flour, it was a little dense... but a quick toast and a slather of butter, and it's all good~

These are the flowers off of our purple basil plant.... most of our basil was going to seed when I got back from Paris... so i cut down almost all of it.... and then spread it around the perimiter of the yard... hoping those seeds will give us a fragrant border next year!

The purple flowers were just so pretty, i decided they were too nice to be thrown into the compost... so i cut them and put them in a vase... The purple basil has been super yummy this summer... glad we tried something new!

Here is the last big "harvest" we did... lots of juicy canatloupe... some peppers and a few very small, but yummy roma tomatoes... the bell peppers and banana peppers are still doing great! The cantaloupe was pretty much done, so we (meaning, chuck) dug it all up and we prepped the bed for our new tomato project... more on that later~

This pic just screams out "it's summer time"... this melon was SO good... and it's kind of a trip to be slicing open WARM fruit... warm bcs it was 105 outside when i picked it!
More to come~

BONJOUR!

2009-08-05T08:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it has almost been a full month since i've blogged.... not that anyone really cares, but i like to keep our friends/family posted on what's going on... and the month of july was EXTREMELY full of adventures! The number one reason i have been MIA was my trip to Paris! it was an amazing, whirlwind of a week! After we got back i got slammed with some sort of cold/flu virus... had to miss almost a week of work, and then took another full week to get back to feeling like "myself" again.... anyways, here are some pics of our trip! I have 300+ on snapfish... so if you want more, let me know and i will send you that album~ here are the highlights!

Mom and I at the Eiffel Tower on Day 1~

Picnic lunch at Jardin du Luxermbourg~ one of my fave things about our trip~

Flowers were SO pretty...and they were everywhere! Wish we could grow things like this in Texas!

Mom and I during our bike tour through the streets of Paris! That was a crazy experience!

Our new friend, Mona~

We are in heaven! The farmer's market in the town of Versailles was AMAZING! it was so great, we just stayed there all morning and skipped the tour of the palace...

Mom at Monet's house in Giverney~ it was gorgeous.... it was like a living wildflower bouquet everywhere you looked!

Mom and I at the waterlily pond bridge... our friend took this when we were looking the other way... and i think it turned out AWESOME!

Fruits of our labor~

2009-07-06T19:31:00.000-05:00

Our garden is continuing to produce some little gems of home-grown goodness! I have been trying to cook our dinners using our backyard produce... basically the race is on between us and nature (meaning bugs, birds and squirrels) to see who gets more to eat from the garden buffet line in our yard.... here are some of the yummy dinners we've gotten from our garden!

#1. Veggie subs... using our very own eggplant (grilled), tomatoes and pesto (also made from our garden stash of basil) ... we also added grilled portobellos, zucchini, asparagus and muenster cheese to give it some more spunk~

A garden hero sammie for my garden hero, Chuck (he weeded the beds last weekend!) ... his had leftover steak sprinkled in it~
#2. Garden veggie fritatta... spinach, banana peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, sage, oregano all sauteed and then baked with eggs and cheese... yummy!

#3. Whole wheat fusilli tossed with all of our grilled garden veggies, then drizzled with basil infused EVOO and lemon juice, then sprinkled with red pepper flake and goat cheese crumbles... this was amazing... (and this was Chuck's bowl ~ as you can see by another addition of steak~)

more to come...... hopefully!

The Dam Loop

2009-06-30T13:53:00.001-05:00

Here is a map of our ride last weekend.... Cyclists in Austin refer to it as "The Dam Loop".... we logged just over 43 miles! yeah! That is the farthest Chuck and I have ever gone on the bike at one time.... we had a blast! We got to see all sorts of Austin landmarks that mean a lot to us... here are a few~

~ Jollyville road... where we trained together for our first half marathon, many moons ago~

~ the Pennybacker bridge... where we watched a sunset while dating (yeah, back when i would still do something as stupid as wear "cute heels" for a hike up the side of the hill~ )

~ the lookout where we got engaged, off of 360~

~ the beautiful rolling hills on Bee Caves Rd.

~ Lake Travis/Austin... lots of fun memories on party barges, or wake boarding in the frigid water with Kraig and Shelley~

~ right past Comanche Trail, and the Oasis... sight of our rehearsal dinner~

~ and finally Starbucks, off Anderson Mill Rd! yeah! The guys we rode with really know how to motivate a girl to get the job done! And our sensei, (we'll just call him Ming) recommends a steady intake of caffeine for optimal performance! haha!

Thanks to our friend "Ming"... the guru that allowed us to tag along! Our sore muscles are all better and we are ready to hit the road again!

Weekend update~

2009-06-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

What a fun filled weekend we had! Here are a few highlights....

Of course we saw Transformers! It has been on our calendar for at least 6 months... We had fun... Chuck loved it....

We are pet sitting Gus right now... so he has taken over the position of "backyard supervisor"...

We are still working on mealtimes with Linus... he is getting better, and didn't growl at all at me or Gus when it came time for dinner... I had to sit between them to keep Linus out of Gus' food bowl..... but this is the most peaceful joint dinner time we've had!

Here are the buddies.... patrollin the back yard together... Linus will be lonely when Gus goes home...

We also rode the "Dam Loop" Sunday morning... 40 miles of rolling hills around Lake Austin/Travis.... needless to say Chuck and I are both pretty tired tonight... i have lots more to post... but this is all i can manage for now~

~Painting update~

2009-06-25T16:58:00.000-05:00

We are almost done with the painting of the house.... with the soaring temps, the project has been put on hold until it cools off.... we were pushing it with the weather over Memorial Day weekend... and now it's even worse!~ 105 yesterday, 106 today! ~yuk!

Here are a few pics of our last day of painting.... we painted the garage doors.... and what a huge difference it makes on that side of the house ! I love it!
Here's painter chuck! I love how he is so handy, knowledgeable and patient with his not-so-good-at-painting-wife~

Here's a pic of "the help".....not sure if i made things easier or more work for chuck....

This latest installment of "painting with the Burkarts" was made possible in part from a grant by Chocolate MooTopia.... we went through a lot of that stuff doing this project!~

Here's Linus modeling our finished product... all we have left to do is around the front door.... but it will still be there, waiting to be painted, in the fall~

Basil Pesto, round 2~

2009-06-22T17:57:00.000-05:00

Here's the last basil bouquet from our garden! The plants started to flower earlier this time than before, so i made sure to cut the plants back again.... hoping to get one more good crop out of my lil plants!

Last time I posted about my pesto, I got a lot of feedback from folks wanting the recipe.... so here it is! You can change it to suit your tastes, and i have to admit, i don't really measure anything on this anymore....

Pesto Alla Genovese

4-5 cups packed basil leaves

2/3 cup toasted nuts ( i usually use walnuts or pecans... but last time i used hazelnuts, and it turned out great....authentic pesto uses pine nuts.... and be sure to take the time to toast them! it makes a big difference in the flavor~)
3-4 large garlic cloves

2 tsp. sea salt

1/2- 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

3/4 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the basil, garlic, nuts, salt and a splash of water in the food processor and blend, scraping the sides down as needed. Add cheese and blend. Stream in the olive oil while blending until a paste forms, then add just a little more.

After last Saturday's crazy exercise filled morning, this dinner was just what we needed... of course the best way to start is with a great wine.... Buckin' Horse Red is one of our faves from Flat Creek Winery.... and we picked some up when we were there for our anniversary weekend!

Just wanted to share our summery feast! I tweaked my zucchini pie and subbed dijon mustard, soft cheese and basil pesto ..... i also added some red pepper flake on top.....so this is like our usual pie's italian cousin.... we also had a fresh 3 bean salad.... THANKS to my friend Kelli for re-introducing this recipe!!! I forgot how much i love this! Buon Appetito!

Linus the Explorer.....

2009-06-21T18:37:00.000-05:00

Summertime is here...and that means it's time for Linus to start sportin his shorter 'do.... it keeps him cool and the burs don't stick quite as well to the shorter hair....and we have TONS of burs in our backyard right now.... One time Chuck pulled off 30 burs after letting Linus out for a short potty break....

Here are some burs on his face before he got his haircut... we know it's time when we have a tough time seeing his eyes~

We took him to our FAVorite lovely ladies at West End Grooming.... they always do such a GREAT job! They pay attention to the details (like ears and paws, etc) and they love on him while he is spending the day there... he is always cheerful and happy when I pick him up (this has not been the case when we've taken him elsewhere..... )

anyways, they did a great haircut, as usual...but they left him with ears that were too long.... so i decided to trim them up a bit, you know, to make him look like less of a wuss....

haha.... it went about as well as when a 3 year old discovers scissors and her bangs and then puts the two together!~
Here's the long and short of it~

Well, once i had one side cut, i had to even them out.... and that always goes well, right? haha!
I think the look we ended up with is similar to "the Dora the Explorer " style.... so fetching, daaah-ling~
Thank goodness hair grows back! In the meantime, we will have one funny looking dog~ well, i still think he's cute~

Road Warriors!

2009-06-20T19:28:00.001-05:00

We had a great ride today, after our swim at Nitro, that is.... here's the pic of our crew! What an awesome way to start the weekend!

What the hail?

2009-06-18T20:55:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a horrible round of thunderstorms... it was pretty scary! There were 2 tornadoes that touched down within 10 miles of our house! Linus and I were in the coat closet under the stairs for awhile... after we lost power i kinda thought we should duck and cover, just to be safe! We also put on helmets..... kinda a family tradition to do this when you think your house might blow down on ya!

Here's the garden before the storm ... This pic was taken around 6 pm, and it was really dark outside!

The cantaloupe patch before the storm.... don't ask me why i was taking pictures of the plants instead of covering them up with the nets we have on the hoops.... that would have helped....

Here's the patch after the storm... the hail really beat up these guys...

The wind did the most damage... this tomato plant got knocked right over!

The wind also shook lots of our grape tomatoes and some of our bell peppers... i thought this one was cute~
The post storm harvest.... not too bad.... and the plants are actually coming back somewhat a week later...
ps, that eggplant made a GREAT roasted eggplant panini! Thanks for the YUMMY bbq sauce (the pickled sweet oniony stuff) Aunt Grace and Ed!

A day in the life of Linus~

2009-06-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

So much has been happening here at the Burkart house, that I lost focus of our main subject for this blog! Linus!!! He has been especially cute lately...so here are some pictures for you to enjoy! He has a rough life, but he makes it look easy~

Of course we always have to start out the day with a belly rub..... he loves his tummy rubbed so much that pretty much any time chuck or i walk near him, he rolls over and wags his tail in anticipation~

Playing with Chuck takes up a lot of Linus' time...his favorite game is "let me lick your hands and then bite them when you least expect it" ... fun~

Of course, standing around being cute takes up a lot of the day too....

Another big job he has is patrolling the garden.... he is always on the lookout for frogs and birds... and the occasional snack of a mushroom or two~

When I get home from work, he likes to perch up on the couch and watch for Chuck to come home... I think he looks quite regal on his perch ....

If he's not standing guard on the couch, the he is most likely on the stairs... he will spend hours there... just waiting for ANYONE to walk by, so he can bark, to let us know....he is quite the watchdog!

Stopping for a belly rub...

And then more cuteness....

Savory Saltimbocca....

2009-06-06T18:38:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I got the bug to really "cook"...we've been running around like CRAZY lately (it's the Burkart way after all~) and i haven't made any time to actually try a new recipe in weeks! Our herb garden is going nuts and I am trying to use what we are growing as best as i can.... what can you do with sage, aside from stuffing a turkey? i googled it and this recipe for "saltimbcoca" kept turning up.... you can use veal, chicken or pork in the dish, and we have a freezer full of meat (long story behind that one~) that i am trying to use up as quick as possible... So here's what i made....it turned out so good, that i had to spread the word!

Chuck liked this dinner a lot more than he expected to..... and i caught it on camera!

The recipe I used is from Rachael Ray (who else?) ... you can find it here if you want to try and make this amazing dinner!

It all started with our fresh sage....picked right our of our backyard! yay!

Next you pound out the meat of choice (pork tenderloin here) put a sage leaf on top, and then wrap it in prosciutto.....

Linus LOVES prosciutto.... and once he caught a whiff of what was on the counter he stayed in that exact spot.... i think he was hoping i would drop some.... and i may have~ on accident, of course ;)

Here's the finished product! I made a yummy (read buttery) lemon herb sauce to pour over the meat... and this fantastic "baby primavera" with orzo and veggies... SO GOOD! i cant wait to make it again!!!

This is a great dinner for summertime, and it literally "jumps in the mouth".... just as it's Italian name indicates!

Garden Friends

2009-06-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics of the latest in the garden..... We let Linus out last week, early in the morning(thanks to his lovely 6am barking sessions), and he had a friend waiting for him in the yard! ribbit, ribbit!

We also have an abundance of mushrooms in our garden..... they only sprout up in the morning... and then they fade with the heat of the day..... i love being in the garden in the morning... when there's still dew on everything and it's nice and cool~

Our eggplant is flowering, hopefully something happens with that!

Our bell peppers are blossoming as well!

The grape tomatoes are growing! Can't wait to see how they taste!

Our yellow squash plant gave us one measly squash before being overtaken by aphids....the little critters eat the flowers off of the plant, and you can't get fruit without those! Oh, yeah and then the cutworms finished off the job~ On a more positive note, we got our first banana pepper.... that sucker was HOT!!! i thought they were supposed to be mild, but it was REALLY spicy.... they can't be eaten alone....but they will go great in salsa! Our impatiens are much happier under the shade of the tree out back.... they are especially perky in the morning!

These flowers, in the front yard, actually survived all winter and surprised us by blooming late this spring! yay!

Happy Birthday!

2009-06-03T10:38:00.000-05:00

Happy B-day, Chuck!!!! I love you!

Basil, Basil, everywhere!

2009-06-01T15:56:00.000-05:00

The garden is growing like crazy! It has already changed so much since i took this pic! We had an abundance of basil, and the plants were already starting to go to flower, or go to seed..... so i did some research and found out that you can get 2 -3 harvests from a basil plant by cutting it down.....WAY down, before it starts to flower....

Here are my basil plants about a week before i cut them back... we have 2 classic Italian basil plants, a lime basil and a purple basil..... they are all good....

I love this plant! I think it is so unique! The leaves are purple, but underneath they are green!

Here's my harvest after i cut down the plants.....i cut them just above the bottom 2 leaves....they looked pretty pathetic.... after i harvested my basil, it was time to make pesto! YUM! Chuck and I are big fans of pesto.... we fell in love with it last year when we were in Vernazza...

The recipe is simple, you just put your basil leaves, garlic, toasted walnuts (or any kind of nut you like, really) in the food processor and blend.....they you stream in olive oil. The last step is to stir in fresh grated Parmesan cheese.....that's it! I make this summer pasta dish with pesto, cherry tomatoes and whole wheat corkscrew pasta.... just mix them all together and it's the perfect pasta dinner! We also like to slather it on mozzarella and tomato sandwiches, or put it on pizza.... we like it on almost anything! The only downside is that fresh pesto only keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge.....

Here's my solution to keep our pesto "usable" for the rest of the summer... and maybe even into the fall!

After i made the pesto, i spooned it into ice cube trays, and covered them with plastic wrap... then i put them in the freezer for a day.....

After they had frozen, i took them out of the freezer(the purple basil pesto is on the bottom right of this photo...it's still green, just a bit darker green) and popped them out of the trays....

Now you have perfect little pesto cubes that can be thawed and used as needed...

Here's our supply so far.... lots of yumminess to come this summer....now lets just hope our tomatoes have a decent yield and we'll be set!

I'm bored, Guess I'll Just Go PAINT THE HOUSE!!!

2009-05-31T15:17:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, Chuck took the week off of work to paint the house.... sounded like a lot of work to me! Well, he got started and found lots of our siding had rotted....so he spent most of the week rebuilding our chimney, and then we spent most of Memorial Day weekend painting the house... in between thunderstorms, that is~ Here are some pics of the progress...

I came home Wednesday and this is what I saw! AAAHHH!!!! What a surprise!~

Rotten siding and 2 x 4's..... and lots of lil critters chewing up that wood...
Chuck is superman! He is so handy! He rebuilt the rotten chimney and then started cutting in with the new paint.. the color is called "totally tan"...and it totally is!

Here's the weather we were battling all weekend! We managed to get some painting done before the big storm hit Saturday night... but then we had to take a break and wait it out for awhile... darn~ :)

This is Chuck painting the trim on Monday afternoon (on a super high ladder, might i add!) .... blue skies were what we had to work with that day... we were covered in sunscreen, bcs we were working from sun up till sun down... well, Chuck was....i got too tired and had to call it a day at around 5ish.....The trim is the color of Hershey's syrup... go figure! Our house colors look like a latte and a chocolate bar... i guess it is very representative of "team Burkart"!

More pics to come... the house painting job is still a work in progress... but everyday we are getting closer to making that horrible baby blue a thing of the past!

2 Years!

2009-05-20T20:23:00.001-05:00

Can't believe it's already been 2 years! We celebrated last weekend and it was wonderful! We rented a condo in Lago Vista and had a fantastic time! We even made it to Flat Creek, one of our favorite wineries. The weather was raining.... we thought that was appropriate.... bcs it always rains on us..... with the exception of May 19th, 2007, of course! Love ya, babe!