A Place to call Home.

This week I became a homeowner, well, sort of became a homeowner. I signed the contract and started the process.

It is a condo in the Galleria area of Houston. I love it. It is in a high rise type building, and I have a nice little balcony with a pretty awesome view.

The best part of the whole deal is we are gutting the place and having it completely redone. From the floors and baseboards to the cabinets, sinks, tub, toilet, vanity, wall color, crown molding, everything is being replaced! I went on Friday to the contractor's design showroom and picked everything out...

This is the backsplash color and tile.

This is the backsplash design.

Kitchen and Bathroom tile. It will be done in the longer more rectangle shape, instead of regular squares.

This will be a banner accent 3/4's of the way up the shower. Fancy, I know.

Getting a little trendy with my bathroom faucet.

Kitchen cabinets, obviously with the other backsplash.

This is the granite countertop for kitchen and bathroom vanity. It is a little bit busy, but with the dark cabinets and plain tile, I think it will be perfect.

Hand scraped hardwood flooring.

And finally a 60/40 deep kitchen sink.

I didn't take a picture of the bathroom vanity sink, but it is a rectangle one that is big and I love it!

The only other things are the baseboards (going with the taller version) molding (standard) and finally fixtures which I'll pick later.

Oh and paint I chose a light purple/gray for the majority of the condo, with an accent wall of darker gray in the living area and a dark purple accent wall in the bedroom.

My goal is to take pictures along the way as the crew progresses, so here's to that!

March 1st is the completion date right now. I think that allows for a few obstacles too, so hopefully this won't end up being a marathon project. Only time will tell!

xoxo Sara Marie

Belated.

Right before the big move to Houston, we had a surprise party for my Mama and Dado. Mama said she was not going to celebrate 61, and instead she would just be 60+1. No big deal, we had a cake made for that...

Sweet Treats, who did Sisterpant's wedding cakes, did these and they were spectacular. Everyone took cake home with tthem too and got to enjoy it well after the party ended.

It was a fantastic evening with our family's close friends and extended family members. We had a delicious meal, tons of cake and ended with some fireworks back at the Kinney House.

All in all it was perfect...just like my parents. They are the glue that keeps our family together and without them I'd probably be a complete failure in life.

Happy Birthday Mama and Dado, can't wait to celebrate again next year for Dado's 61st and Mama's 60th+2.

xoxo Sara Marie

Going Forward...

Before the big move to Houston I generally got a post up a day. Now, with the craziness of a new job, new city, and hopefully a new condo soon, I am not going to be able to get anywhere close to that. SO this is going to transition into a weekend blog. Instead of one a day on the week days, I am going to aim for 4 or so per weekend. I will still cover all my favorite things like cooking, and shopping and pinterest and politics, but just more so on the weekends.

Eventually I may even get advanced enough to schedule out posts, but until then, look for a hemorrhage of post each weekend to help get ya through the work week!

xoxo Sara Marie

Vino

I'm no wine-o. I do not have a sophisticated pallet by any measure. But I do like wine.

My boyfriend and I started a little ritual of trying new wines based on the name. We like things a little bit crazy. The funkier the name, the more willing we are to try it.

So far my favorites are Gnarley Head, Ménage a Trois, and First Timer.

Like I said we are no connoisseurs, but we do know what we like and have visited a few vineyards in California.

I like things dry. He does too. He likes his vino a bit bolder than me but we both agree fruity is no bueno. The fruitier the more likely we are to toss it but the ones listed above have passed our test.

So I will continue to list ones we try and feel free to offer suggestions. Just remember we like for it to be fun, so don't offer Becker Vineyards or Messina Hoff. We like Basher and Toad Hollow, so keep is crazy.

xoxo Sara Marie

The State of the Republican Nominee Race

Well it is the same... all over the place.

I will be voting for Newt...if given the opportunity. Ok actually I will be voting for anyone but Romney or Paul. Ron Paul is too extreme. Seriously nuclear war is an absolute if this man is president. And it happens soon. Forget that craziness.

Romney would not send us down the drain... in his first administration. We will control both houses hopefully, and thus, he will be the champion of everything the party sends through. Fine. Great.

But the minute we have to negotiate, we are screwed by that man. He goes to the highest bidder. He always has, and always will. In a situation like we have now, with houses controlled by different parties, we will have the same gridlock we have today. Mitt Romney, in a split Washington DC, is not any different than Barrack Obama.

So I will vote for anyone but Romney or Paul. And if they are the only options, I'll probably have a couple glasses of wine then have someone drive me to the polls and vote for Romney. If Paul is the only option, I'll pull an Alec Baldwin, and say that I'll move out of the country. And I will really do it.

So I will support the nominee (or move to Spain)... whoever that is... hopefully, for my liver's sake its Romney.

xoxo Sara Marie

The Dreaded Governor Rick Perry Post.

I'm about to do it. I don't want to. I think America is better off if I didn't have to, but alas, I will do it.
I'm taking off my Rick President for President bumper sticker.

Like I said, I'm not happy about this decision. But damn, what class that man has.

He is not Rick Stantorum. He is not going to hang around and get beaten up, while beating up others too. He saw the path to victory close and he gracefully backed out.

He also didn't hang the possible endorsement over anyone's head. He didn't ask Romney to pay of his debt in exchange for support. The man is all class.

And while maybe America will lose a little by not electing the most successful Governor of all time in creating jobs, Texas will benefit from this. We get our Governor back. We were in a win/win situation the whole time. And we are lucky because of that.

So while I am sad, no, heartbroken it is over; I'm also grateful. Grateful to have such a solid leader and successful Governor back in his, no, our state.

Thanks for trying Governor. It showed your courageousness. It showed your boldness. And when it was over, it showed your ability to still be humble.

I'm proud to have worked for you so long and even luckier to call you, Governor.

xoxo Sara Marie

Fish Tacos

After eating calorie heavy meals without any color for a few nights, I decided I wanted something lighter last week. So fish tacos were the winning ticket.

I got tilapia fillets at HEB and wheat tortillas. I also grabbed some avocados to go on the side. I googled some recipes and this is what I got:

1lb of white fish

1 jalapeno

1 cup of vegetable oil

Juice of one lime

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

Marinate the fish in the above ingredients for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. In the meantime, start the breaded avocados.

Preheat the oven to 450. Slice 3 avocados then drop each slice in flour, then beaten eggs (2) and then cover in Panko bread crumbs. When coated, place flat on a cookie sheet.

When finished bake the slices for 25 minutes or until extra crispy.

While those are baking grab the fish. In a sauce pan cook up the fillets then pull them apart. Serve the fish on the Wheat tortillas with some premade pineapple pico de gallo from HEB.

Enjoy the breaded avocados on the side with some ranch dressing.

This recipe was great and my boyfriend even had the leftovers for lunch the next day!

xoxo Sara Marie

Sx

Supercross to those of you not familiar is a pretty exhilarating sport. I was never interested in the sport until I started dating my boyfriend. He rides and builds bikes (or fixes them up) and is a pretty big fan. He has taught me to ride my very own dirt bike. I love it. I am not great, but I have fun and I feel like I get better each time.

So the new season of Supercross has begun. We attended the Monster Energy Cup out in Vegas back in October as loyal reader of this blog knows. It was a pretty surreal night and I look forward to attending a couple of races this year too. I think right now we have plans to go to Dallas, Houston and New Orleans races.

My favorite is Kevin Windham like most fans. He is the veteran and always a good rider to watch. He is known for his pre-race introduction transfers on the tracks. Google Kevin Windham Intro or something similar and you will see what I mean. The man flies.

Anyway, my least favorites are Ryan Villopoto and James Stewart. Ryan just lacks personality I think and Stewart is just about as cocky as they come (and in at least the last year, unable to back up that arrogance with top performances).

So here is to another season. May Kdub (Windham) stay in the top 10, may Poto (Ryan Villopoto) get seriously challenged and Bubba (Stewart) be silenced.

xoxo Sara Marie

The Most Annoying Two Hours of My Day...

They are spent in traffic. So I moved to Houston as I have said in previous posts. And I like most of my new, still transitional, life. I do not like traffic.

Allow me to preface this with I drove in high school from sophomore year to senior year like most students...November 2000 until August 2003. Then I moved to New York City and didn't drive or even own a car until I returned to Texas in June of 2008. At that point I moved into a condo downtown and lived 2.7 miles from my office. And other than a year stint in West Texas (when I drove a gross amount) I have remained at that condo in that close proximity to my home.

While in Houston this last week I have been staying with my boyfriend. He is wonderful. However, his house is 20 miles from my new office. 20 miles in Houston traffic is an eternity length. I was literally excited when I made the trip in 40-something minutes the other day. That is unreal. And that is also why I am currently looking at a condo in the Galleria area… a mere 5 miles from my office. It may still take me 20 minutes or so in the ridiculous traffic of this metropolis, but that I can handle.

And I will say this. Houston handles its traffic situation well. There are very good radio morning shows and all of them update listeners on traffic information constantly. Additionally they have these digital billboards that display travel times that keep drivers (or at least me) from going insane. If they can't fix the problem, at least make it easier to deal with day to day. Well, done Htown.

So while this move has been largely positive, the negative I can give ya is the traffic. Luckily it should end soon.

xoxo Sara Marie

Hello.

Wow. I am really sorry; not because I haven't blogged in so long, but more so because the last thing I left you with was Chilaquiles. My sister literally emailed me, and said "If I have to look at Homemade Chilaquiles for another week, I'll never read your blog again!" Ok so I added the last part, but you get the point. I'm here though, and while I watch four football teams, that I pretty much hate, duke it out for a game that my beloved Cowboys don't have a chance at, I'll catch up.

I moved to Houston. I have started my new job, and I really enjoy all of it. All of what I said in that sentence anyway. What I don't enjoy is the traffic. Damn this town has a lot of cars. It has a lot of cars all headed in the same direction as me. It is annoying, but that is a whole post in itself.

So here are posts you can look forward to...

Houston Traffic
Supercross
A couple of recipes
Governor Rick Perry and the State of the Presidential Nominee Race
Vino
Mama and Dado's Bday Party
New Year's Resolution Update
Going Forward

Enjoy folks, and thanks for your patience and continued viewing...

xoxo Sara Marie

Homemade Chilaquiles

The other night my man and I ran to HEB for some dinner. Our goal was to do one of their promoted "buy this and get all this free" type dinners. He has done this before and it was delicious brisket and such a steal for all you get. Well the deal was for something we were not wanting for dinner so on to the back-up plan! The only problem was we did not have a Plan B.

After wandering around HEB for a few minutes while I tried to come up with three options for my guy to choose from, he had a genius idea. Let's  make homemade chilaquiles!

They are my favorite, and I have posted about eating them at places like Cajun Kitchen in Santa Barbara or Maudies here in Austin.

So we grabbed a few things and headed home to whip up our dinner.

And what a dinner it was! I, like always, wrapped mine up in a wheat tortilla and made a chilaquile taco! Here's a picture and a step by step...

This picture does not do justice to the dish. It looks cheesy and mushy but it was not. Definitely try this!

Ingredients:
10 scrambled eggs
A handful of spinach
1 regular sized jar of tomatillo green salsa
1 chopped green bell pepper
Half a chopped onion
1 chopped avocado
1 cup of grated cheese
1 bag of tortilla chips (we used the ones with a hint of pepper jack cheese, yum)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a pan scramble the eggs and add spinach. Chop the bell pepper, onion, avocado then combine with eggs and spinach. In a big bowl dump almost the whole bag of chips and jar of salsa. With clean hands, work the eggs mixture into chips. Cover with cheese and heat in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and enjoy in wheat tortillas or by itself.

xoxo Sara Marie

TPPF/Empower Texans Senate Candidate Debate

What a great debate! After watching all of these presidential debates, it was refreshing to witness one firsthand that was not a complete joke. Ok, ok so not all of the presidential debates have been outrageous, but plenty have bordered on stupid.

This United States Senate Candidate's debate was not outrageous or stupid. It was well put together, well attended, and outside of a moment when Craig James went after the press guys asking the questions, it was well run too.

And that brings me to James. What a spark plug! I'm not saying he is qualified. I'm not saying I know anything about him outside of that brat son of his tattle-telling on Mike Leach, thus getting him fired from Texas Tech, but I will say he handled his own last night. He brought a certain level of energy to the night that was seriously lacking before his entrance to the race.

The other candidates were the usual suspects.

Ted Cruz is obviously qualified for the job and has plenty of experience fighting the good fight. Sometimes though Cruz is a little too heavy in history, and I forget to pay attention. I know he would make a great US Senator though.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst would too. And other than his Snookie-like tan, he looks the part, acts the part, and will probably win the seat. No big deal, he will do a great job. But honestly, he's old. One term and I think he'd come home. And I know that is how it is supposed to be, but when seniority plays, or can play, such a big role in the way things work in Washington, I want someone to go up there and stay up there to fight for Texas long-term.

Anyway, Mayor Leppert was next to Dewhurst on stage and looked practically dead in the face next to that tropical tan of Dewhurst. He preached about not giving speeches which I thought was obviously the height of hypocrisy. And the man is just boring and so disappointed all the time.

Then there is the opposite in Addison. This guy is confused. He is not sure if he is running for office or doing stand-up comedy. And he is not sure if he is in America or China. He mentioned China at least 6 times last night, I stopped counting after that. And he makes light of everything. He slips in these one liners that kind of make him a creep. I don't trust the guy. And he is obsessed with Ron Paul. I don't think I can ever try to list more reasons to just forget this guy is even in the race. Annoying.

So that is my take on the debate. Like I said it was very well run. I'm glad I went and here's to the fight between Cruz and Dewhurst with a side of Craig James.

xoxo Sara Marie

Beat Obama.

O K here is my much uninspired post about the race to beat Obama.

I'll go in order like I've done when addressing the debates.

Perry- Obviously, like I posted in my Iowa blogs, it's not over. There is a path to victory and it lies mostly in the Anti-Romney vote. That path is narrow and long and not very bright, but it is there. Can he go the distance? I don't even know. This is where I am blatantly uninspired, but not completely defeated. A "surge" like the media likes to jump on could take the Perry campaign very far, but without said "surge" very soon and very powerful, the Governor could be back in Texas for good in less than 10 days. (And that would be a win for us Texans; we have done a great job of succeeding while the rest of the nation fails, so why not continue on that path?)

Romney- This man is the favorite. But I think it is absolutely ridiculous for our party favorite to be a man that-- in practically 7 years of campaigning-- cannot convince enough people to make it a cake-walk to the nomination. SIX YEARS and we can still see straight through this guy. I will probably be forced to vote for him at some point (if Texas ever finalizes our primary date) and it will be painful to do so, but it will also be less painful than 4 more years of Obama.

Newt- Still a smart man, but geez, such an angry man too. I think he knows it's over. Well I think he sees his path almost as narrow as Perry's and that is sad for the reasons I outlined above.

Santorum- This candidate I feel bad for because he is just simply getting his shot at the spotlight like everyone else got, but his came at a time in which it seems to kind of matter. What I mean is Cain got his 5 minutes, Perry had his, even Bachmann had a few minutes as the frontrunner, or close, and Santorum's is right now. It won't last even as long as some of the others, but damn I feel bad. He actually thinks he has a shot because this peak in attention is coming during these early states. Poor guy will be back in the state he couldn't even win before the other guys head to Florida.

Huntsman- I think by his mouth directly his campaign is over. He needed New Hampshire and said it was win or go home and he did not win. He is also not going home just yet, but it won't be long.

Paul- This man makes me cringe. He followers do so too. They are all so extreme and they don't even know it. Or at least refuse to admit it. If Paul is President we get nuclear war, no questions asked. But we would fight that war with no allies, no bases across the world, and no chance. Not to mention prostitutes and drug lords would be running the streets of American here at home. Not at all the leader we need to put us back on track to being the Greatest Nation. And hopefully his peak has crested and taking the elections to the South will deplete his momentum.

So that is my take. Like I said I'm not excited. It wouldn't take much for me to put my cheerleading outfit back on, but it is not looking like that is in the cards this go-around.

Good luck to our party. Beating Obama is going to be tough with the damage we are doing to ourselves...

xoxo Sara Marie

Hack Job.

I know I already addressed this on a post the other day, but my email was hacked. If you are in my email contacts you got some crazy email about me being in Wales without money or my passport. Let me say this, if I was anywhere international I would be some place tropical or at least more adventurous than Wales. Additionally if I need anything in life I have one plan of action, call my parents. Everyone knows this about me. If I am sick it is Mama and Dado to the rescue. If I am needing advice or help, Mama and Dado. So while the out pouring of love and concern and support and hilarious responses (like "if it said stranded in Iowa, I would have believed it!") just know that I am safe, in America, with access to my bank account and passport.

Now as a part of this hack job the asshole hackers also deleted all of my contacts. This is not as big of a problem as it could have been because I have a large percentage of my contacts backed up on my blackberry, but not all. And I will have to go back and manually enter them into my email. Lame.

The worst part of the whole situation is the asshole hacker deleted ALL of my saved emails. Now again all my important information I have backed up in most cases, but the personal emails I lost is tragic to me. I have emails saved from years ago from my parents, sister, friends, boyfriend, etc. Emails that were hilarious or helpful on a rough day. Now they are all gone. I have contacted stupid Yahoo to see about recovering them but they might be one of the worst companies in the Customer Service department ever.

I will rebuild my arsenal of saved emails, I will manually enter my contacts and I will get past this unfortunate situation, but in doing so I will also be switching to Gmail. Take that Yahoo.

xoxo Sara Marie

H20, fail.

Alright so like most people in this day and age I have already failed on my New Year's Resolution...kind of. See I did the 12 different resolutions, one for each month. This month's was to drink 225 glasses of water. That is a little bit over 7 glasses a day.

While in Iowa, I probably got close if not, succeeded. But in the 9 days or so I have been back, I have not been so diligent. But given that it is only the 12th, I have time to step it back up.

And even with the fallback in focus on my H2O intake, I think overall I have made it more of a habit, which is the intended goal of the whole resolution. Now, I can tell when I have not had enough. I can see in my skin when I don't drink enough. Never before could I notice this, mostly because I never drank enough. So while I have not hit my just over 7 glasses a day goal, every single day of this new year, I have made it more of a habit and plan on getting back on track; starting now!

If you have already fallen of course, get back on today!

xoxo Sara Marie

I'm Backkkkkkk

Ok I'm back. Well, I'm sort of back. Officially I'm in limbo for a long weekend. I have resigned from my job at the Capitol and I will be starting my new job on Monday... in Houston. Yep, I'm leaving Austin for the wonderful metropolis of Htown.

Most people would think I'm crazy for such a move, but the job opportunity is an exciting one, and I actually like Houston!

So my time at the Texas Capitol is over, but who knows, maybe I'll be back at some point. In the wide world of politics job-turnover is quick and continuous, so never say never.

With that update, I will now get to the posts I have hanging around unfinished...

xoxo Sara Marie

I'm alive.

Ok sorry, folks. I am alive and well. My life is taking a few new twists and turns, all positive, so I have fallen behind on posting. I will get back on routine soon, so standby...

Oh and if you are in my email contacts you should know that I am not in Wales without my passport or money. Thank you hackers, but my friends know better. They know if I was anywhere international, it would be somewhere tropical. And if I needed anything, I'd just call Dado, duh.

I'll be back soon... in a new city, with a new job!

Until then...

xoxo Sara Marie

Iowa in Pictures!

Ok so instead of doing some elaborate post about my entire story of Iowa, I am just going to post a few pictures from my blackberry from along the way... And as I inserted these I realized they are in reverse order...get over it. ha.

This is Team Perry Sioux City celebrating...uh...the effort.

Two of my girlfriends on the patio outside Perry Volunteer Center. That is ice in the river. yah.

This is Tuesday morning during the Volunteer trainning. PACKKED HOUSE.

My coworker and the Boss with a picutre of my coworker's newborn wearing the present I got her!

My dado and Marcus Lutrell. Marcus is the Navy Seal who's story is told in the book Lone Survivor. He is like a second son to the Governor.

This is Whiting, IA. In the middle of the town--IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET--is a flag pole.

The Italian Egg Sandwich at Amatos, NE. This local spot was on not only Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but also Man vs. Food. It was delicious.

One of several puddle-jumping, "regional jets" we took to make it to the Heartland.

So that is it, folks. My time in Iowa is over and so are the posts about it!

Happy Thursday!

xoxo Sara Marie 

Lost the Battle, but not the War...

5th place. I won't lie, it's disappointing. A top 3 finish here in Iowa would have been a blue ribbon. But alas, Texans never pick the easy route. We like that whole, "take the road least traveled" theory, I guess.

So we continue on to South Carolina. We weren't sure there for a minute if that would be the decision. The Governor left us hanging a little bit last night with his statement about "returning to Texas and reassessing..." But via twitter (or "tweeter" as Gov. Perry likes to call it) he told the world that his marathon to the White House will in fact stay on course to South Carolina.

And that's fantastic. Get us to the South. Get us to the folks who know Governor Perry best. I don't think there is ever a rise to the top of any organization of any kind that doesn't include a defeat or two. This is ours.

Governor Perry said on the stump Monday that yesterday would be our campaign's Omaha Beach, our D-Day, but I'm thinking maybe this was our Alamo.

I say we pick ourselves up of the floor of this middle-America state and press on...with a vengeance.

And God willing, that's exactly what we will do.

xoxo Sara Marie

D-Day in Iowa.

Today is the day. And this is what I know after being on the ground a few days...

1. Team Perry has a ridiculous ground game.
2. It is still insanely cold, but supposed to be a tiny bit warmer today.
3. Rick Santorum had an event yesterday that NO ONE showed up to attend. #surgefail
4. Romney had an event at the same location Governor Perry did, 24 hours before the Governor and Team Perry had over double the number of people there.
5. Team Perry has more folks going out to the caucus sights than any other candidate.

These five things, well, minus the weather fact, tell me at least one thing...not only does Team Perry have a shot here, but 3rd place is absolutely in our sights to lock up tonight.

Iowa, do your thing....

xoxo Sara Marie

God Bless the American Heartland

I'm here…in the heartland of our great country. I don't mean to sound overly patriotic here, but I literally saw a bald eagle when leaving the airport. We are saving America here. We are fighting the good fight. And we are going to win. We may not take the first place ribbon, but we are going to make some major waves here in Iowa.

So far we have had some pretty delicious food, and met some really nice folks. It is all pretty much what I expected.

What I did not expect was the wind, and to already have people sitting in the Perry Volunteer Center here in Sioux City.

The wind is really crazy. We drove from Omaha, NE to Sioux City, IA and we danced all over that fast lane throughout the hour and a half trip.

When we arrived we already had a room of volunteers calling on behalf of Governor Perry. We have several folks from Texas, much like ourselves and even State Representatives from Arkansas.

It looks like the weather, despite the wind, will cooperate and we will have a great turnout on Caucus Day. And based on these calls, we have a ton of support, so get ready Iowa...and South Carolina...and Florida...and beyond because Team Perry is gaining serious ground.

xoxo FROM IOWA Sara Marie