Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween with two of our most favorite people, Meghan and Jake Burns. We have gone to a local Halloween party together for the past three years. Last year we were the Kardashians and the year before that Daniel and I were Harry Potter, Jake was Chris Farley, and Meghan was an omlette.

This year, we definitely raised the stakes. We went as... Toddlers and Tiaras! I personally thought that our costumes were fabulous and very original. Meghan and I were the toddlers and Daniel and Jake were the stage dads.



We had so much fun and are already thinking about what we'll be next year!

Things we're loving: October

I love finding new things to try, and buy, and then telling everyone I know all about them. I thought that my blog would be the perfect place to share some of the things that the Browns are loving for the month of October. Maybe I'll even do it every month. I'll do anything if it gives me a reason to shop.

Texas Tech Red Raider spirit!



We love our Red Raiders and I always enjoy finding new things to buy to show our school spirit. Through a friend, I found this woman in Arkansas that makes wire screen door hangers in millions of different designs. She obviously does school related screen, but she also does holiday screens and just about anything else you can think of. I am absolutely in love with the one she did for me and I think we love being greeted by it when we get home.

Ultra Thin Hangers



How do you know you are old? You get excited about organizing your closet and even more excited about your new hangers. I love clothes and spend a lot of money on them. They make me happy and when you live almost 500 miles from the nearest large city, you need to find things that make you happy. This hangers are super thin, which means I can fit even more clothes in my closet! Yay for getting organized and stimulating the economy!

Our new nephew



Last but not least, on October 22nd a new little Brown entered the world. Harrison Miles is our newest nephew and he is perfect. He looks just like his big brother and Daniel and I are already his favorite aunt and uncle, obviously. We are so glad that Daniel's brother and his family moved even closer to where we live and can't wait to see Harrison grow!

So this is what we are loving this month. We can't wait to see what November brings!

Almost done!

We are 95% done with our living room remodel. All the actual work has been done for a while, but we are waiting on a couple pieces of furniture and some pillows and we will be done for real. This is good news because we are going to do a tiny face lift on our guest bathroom and I would love for it to be done in time for Thanksgiving.

To remind you, this is where we started

And this is what it looks like now!

I love anything monogrammed

The new couch that dogs cannot stay off of

The bookshelf that has very few books

The entry table

The living room from our family room

So this is where we stand. I continue to be amazed by how much raising the ceilings and adding some accessories can change a room.

Happy fall, ya'll!

It is finally starting to feel like fall in the Panhandle! As much as I love summer, it has been nice to get a break from the heat. In order to celebrate the beginning of fall, a friend and I went to a local pumpkin patch and bought a truckload of pumpkins to decorate with. I have to admit, I felt a little crazy having pumpkins out when it was 90 degrees.

My biggest take-away from the pumpkin patch is that pumpkin picking is hard work. My past experiences with patches involved a hay ride to a field where pumpkins were pre-cut and just waiting to be loaded into your wagon. There was also apple cider and petting zoos. This pumpkin patch had none of those things.

It was really a working farm with tons of pumpkins planted in between corn fields. When we got there we were given a Gator, shears and gloves. I didn't realize how much manual labor I would be doing. We had to cut the pumpkins off the vine and load them into the Gator and my friend had her baby in a carrier strapped to her chest. I now get how field workers feel and perhaps why farmers drink so much. And let me tell you, those pumpkins aren't light.

The pumpkin patch

There was every type of pumpkin imaginable

Some of our haul

Back-breaking labor aside, it was a fun day and I am planning on going back next year. Plus, I think that our front porch looks super cute and I am very proud of my pumpkin-arranging skills.

The finished product!

Hubbell & Hudson

We went to Houston for Labor Day to celebrate Daniel's birthday and my sister's birthday. While we were there I wanted to find something to do that was different and sounded like fun for the whole family. I discovered a magical place called Hubbell & Hudson during my google searches.

I first came across Hubbell & Hudson as a place to eat, but it is really so much more. It is like the best fresh ingredient market ever combined with tons of prepared food combined with a bistro combined with a cooking school. This place is my Disneyworld. I love to go grocery shopping and by that I mean at a real grocery store not our town's local United. This place had everything you could ever want to cook with PLUS you can drink while you shop! Say what? I'm not joking.

Some of the organic selections

Pre-made baking mixes

The bakery

As I mentioned, they offer a cooking school and it's sponsored by Viking so you get to use all of Viking's fancy top-of-the-line equipment. They have tons of different classes you can choose from like Southern Cooking, Italian Pasta Party and Japanese Steakhouse. They also do seasonal classes like Oktoberfest and Around the World Cookie Exchange. They are constantly adding new classes and there is really something for everyone.

The class that was being done the weekend we were there was Date Night: In the City. All the recipes we learned were adapted from different New York City restaurants. At first just Daniel and I were going to attend, but then I decided that it could be fun for all of us. We all like to cook and eat so it was kismet. The three best things about the class were that all the ingredients were already measured out, you didn't have to clean up anything and at the end you got to eat everything you cooked. It was all the positives about cooking with none of the negatives.

There is a head chef that walks you through all of the recipes and helps if you get stuck. They also feed you booze, which is nice. Everything was pretty easy to prepare and tasted amazing. I'm not lying when I say that the crab cakes we made were the best I've ever had. Plus, you get all the recipes for the things you've made so you can make them at home. Everyone had so much fun and we are all ready to go back and take another class!

The Menu
Salad greens with homemade vinaigrette
Crab cakes with ancho chili sauce
Grilled veal chops with a mushroom garlic pan sauce
Double chocolate cherry cookies with gelato

Daniel ready to start the class

The cooking school

Ready to get started

Some of the ingredients

Learning how to use a double broiler to melt chocolate

Daniel took the lead on the cookies

Grilling the veal chops

Time to eat

The salad with a homemade vinaigrette

Best crab cakes ever

We didn't take any pictures of the main course because we were too busy eating. If you are ever in The Woodlands area, you should definitely sign up for a class. I can't wait to go back!

Wreck 'em Tech!

I had plans for our September date night to be in Amarillo, but I had to make some changes when Daniel signed up for a continuing education class in Lubbock. While it wasn't most creative idea, I decided we would go to dinner on Friday night and to the Tech game on Saturday.



I let Daniel choose the restaurant and he decided on Triple J Chophouse, but it was Parents Weekend and there was a two hour wait so we ended up at Melt. I had wanted to go to La Diosa, a wine and tapas bar, after our dinner but we had spent so much time waiting, we decided to call it a night. Date night was definitely not off to the smoothest of starts.

The next day Daniel went to class and I ate Josie's and shopped, naturally. After Daniel's class we headed to the Jones and got ready to cheer for the Red Raiders! I have been a member for the alumni association since I graduated, but I have never gone to the Frazier Alumni Pavilion. Uh, we have been missing out. It's the closest place to the stadium where you can buy booze and they have all the other games on TVs. It's also super handy during half time if you don't want to walk back to a tailgate.

The game didn't get off to the best start, but Tech came back in the end. We were so glad that we stayed and didn't leave early. There were a couple times where it was just too hard to watch, but we stayed and got to hear the Matador Song. Being back at Tech makes me remember how much fun I had and makes me a little sad. I definitely experience college and love going back.

Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Josie's - home of the best burritos ever

The Indiana entrance to campus

Getting ready for kick-off

The Masker Rider and Midnight Matador

Fight Raiders Fight!

Guns up!

Tech wins 35-34