In my next life...

...I think I'd like to come back as a cat.  Or possibly a dog.  I mean, these two are both pretty much living the dream.  Lazy bums.  I can't handle this.

I miss *real* books, but I like instant gratification

Reeeeeeeading summary for 2012!  I have to say, I've really become a fan of the handy Nook app on my tablet, mostly because it enables my laziness - I want a book, I tap the screen, it's instantly mine.  Technology is wonderful.  And more expensive than hitting up the bargain shelves at Half-Price Books, yeeps.  But it does save me time and keep me a little more current in my reading selections...I'll take it.

Thirty-five books made it onto the list in 2012, which is quite a victory considering my last three books of the year were the first three books in the Song of Ice and Fire craziness.  It's just epic in every sense of the word.  These books are BEASTS that don't even fit into a category (well, an Erin category, anyway) - so just know that Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords are well worth your time, but only if you want to embark on this whooooole journey.  Word of warning, the series is still in the works, blerg - I hate not knowing how everything is going to go.  I'm also concerned with the gaps between book release dates for Mr. Martin, and The Winds of Winter can't get here soon enough.  Of course, now I'm obsessed with the show on HBO.  March 31 also can't get here soon enough.* 

* "Game of Thrones" premiere AND that much closer to 4/15.  Not as crazy busy as PwC, but still a little busier than I'd like.  Oh, taxes.

On to the rest!

LOVED, GO FORTH AND READ, NOW

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - I think this was my favorite standalone (not in a series/trilogy type thingy) book of the year - disturbing, gripping, couldn't put it down

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I actually really don't want to see the movie because I just know the book will be infinitely better

Already Gone by John Rector

WEIRD THINGS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT LIKE

The Twelve by Justin Cronin - if I talked you into The Passage last year, then you probably already know about this

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - if you can handle a touch of the fantastic, then go for this one

I DON'T REALLY REMEMBER WHAT EVEN HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK, BUT I THINK I LIKED IT, SO GO AHEAD AND READ THEM

Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau - I remember both laughing and going into sad mode, so there's something here

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

I DIDN'T LIKE THIS AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT I WOULD

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - I really freakin' loved Gone Girl, so I thought another Gillian Flynn book would be a  slam dunk...and it was decent, but definitely didn't live up to to Gone Girl.  Which I couldn't put down.  So as I've already mentioned, go read that one instead.

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik - Paris, it's amazing!!  So why couldn't I get into this book?  Yeah, just no.

GIRLISH, RECOMMENDED...MOSTLY

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

More Jill Mansell books - but they all kinda blended together (Staying at Daisy's, Perfect Timing, An Offer You Can't Refuse), so I don't remember which one I liked the best. Just give them all a British accent in your mind and you're good to go.

BETTER THAN EXPECTED

Nelson DeMille books - The Gate House, The Lion's Game, The Lion.  Momma Dale got me started on these, and I was expecting a lesser version of James Patterson - but I really enjoyed them!  Action-adventure-spy-movie + sarcastic/dry/witty humor in book form.

ANOTHER PLUS FOR THE E-READER BECAUSE NO ONE KNEW WHAT I WAS READING

Yes, I read the Fifty Shades thing.  Meh.  Not really for me.

REPEAT OF AWESOMENESSS

I re-read the Hunger Games trilogy in prep for the awesome movie.  I'll probably read them again before #2 comes out.  LOVE.  Will always be a recommended yes.

I love to read.

Let's stay at the beach. Forever.

** Public service announcement...please pretend this post happened EXACTLY EIGHT MONTHS AGO as originally intended.  Thinking about where the gals and I should journey this summer, so I went back to read about last year's trip, and I thought my posts felt very unfinished...and I'd forgotten I had this one almost ready to go before life happened and I just forgot about it.  So let's just pretend, ok?  Thanks so much, and let's go back to Edisto... **

You know what's wonderful?  Easy beach lunches, all courtesy of King's Market, an adorable roadside establishment filled with loads of fresh flowers...

...and beautiful heirloom maters...

...and all kinds of crazy birdhouses...

...and Cheerwine, which has absolutely nothing to do with wine but is very much like Cherry Coke and is just darn tasty on a toasty afternoon...

...and a plethora of salads and dips and delightful homemade casseroles (granted, mayo was a key ingredient in many of these, but we weren't really complaining - that's what vacation is for!), and we made lunches out of fresh melons and crab dip and pimento cheese and chicken salad and it was just so good.  Best eaten on a porch overlooking the ocean.  Really, you can't beat it.

There's a lot to be said for relaxing beach afternoons.  We had quality time on our floats out in the ocean AND explored the reach of the beach in both directions AND enjoyed a delicious cooler full of sangria (and water - we hydrate!) AND just sat. And listened to the waves and were just there.  So wonderful. For two afternoons in a row. For hours. More, please.

We come prepared.

Sweet, blessed provider of shade for pale, pale me.

One night for dinner we headed to Dockside, where the service was a little questionable, the food was darn good, and we had a great view of the sunset over the water.

And where did I spend just a whole lot of time?  Oh, hello, fantastic rocking chair on wonderful screened-in deck. Come home with me. I love you.

Our other post-beach dinner was at The Old Post Office, which was just awesome - I mean, this is about as fancy as you can get down in Edisto.

Dessert Triumvirate #2 - so much deliciousness...and it's even by candlelight, awwww.

Oh, hi, Edisto sunset, you're pretty

We did some exploring and found crazy old churches...

...and dolphins!!!  Ok, so the sleeper in me kinda missed the early morning dolphin activity while Kami and Carolyn actually woke up and did things that are good for you, but on our last morning we made an Erin trip to see the dolphins...and it started to rain.  And we only kinda saw the dolphins.  But I know they're there.

Back to Charleston we go, with one more walk along the water, and then time to fly away home.  Why can't vacations just last forever?

Fredericksburging finale

Taking in the wildflowers at LBJ Ranch

Last full day Fredericksburging, boo.  Can't we have just a few more?  Oh well.  After eating peach pie with ice cream (hellooooo, we're on VACATION!!) for breakfast (that was just me, actually - far more reasonable people had breakfast that actually resembled normal breakfast) and lounging around Avery Haus for a bit, we divided up into three groups.  (1) A group of travelers to Luckenbach for a little beer and a little music and the purchasing of t-shirts, (2) families to a wildflower farm for really adorable pictures, and (3) the boys + Diana + me to LBJ Ranch for some learning and wildflowers of our own and other historical/nature adventures.  

Can't get enough of the pretty flowers and beautiful day!

Our time at the ranch was pretty awesome!  You pick up a CD that you play in your car as it guides you through the whooooole ranch (completely free, too, which is a nice perk), and you can get out at different stops along the way and do things like listen to historical reenactors explain how to make cheese (eeekk!) and admire fancy old hats...

 ...and entertain yourself 1860s style...

...and watch out for feisty barnyard animals...

...and explore cool old barns...

...and meet some really large animals and learn about things you didn't know existed like the ability to brand HORNS...

...and make new friends with the guy attached to those horns...

...and see cool old airplanes affectionately known as Air Force One-Half...

...and pretend to be the President...

...and just generally enjoy the beautiful, wide-open spaces. 

beautiful day at the ranch 

We also took a guided tour of the Texas White House (no pictures allowed inside, boo) with a pretty enthusiastic park ranger, and it was really interesting to learn about the history of the house and check out LBJ's office. After making our way through the house, we took a little swing break down by the Pedernales River...

...and then went to meet up with Groups #1 & 2 for some winery time!  First stop was Grape Creek, where they most fortunately had some awesome ladies serving BBQ (we were STARVING - historical adventures are hard work).  We set up shop outside in the shade, listened to some live music, and worked our way through brisket sandwiches and several bottles of wine.  So right.

beverages of choice for the afternoon

the gang under a dang big tree

Number Three

cheers, parenting style

ummmm, excuse me!  mom needs some more juice!

Then we headed up the road to Becker for some more wine, some more quality lounging time in the shade, some more wine, a couple of bug adventures, and some more wine.

Diana, Dan, & Jeremy outside Becker

It really was just a beautiful afternoon!

Back into town for dinner on the giant patio at Silver Creek, then we all headed back to the great backyard at Amoroso Cottage for a rousing game of horseshoes and a grand finale in the form of s'mores.

Isn't this such an awesome backyard??  I want to steal that stone fireplace.  And the Adirondack chairs.  And some of those people and just keep them here with us at home because they're so awesome.

S'mores.  Dan's doing it right.

Our house ended the night shouting curses, and then it was time to crash and hit the road the next morning in the hopes of avoiding epic traffic nightmares (although cars sure did seem to have a hard time not running into each other as we came up I-35 - fortunately we were spared).  Full photo spread from the long weekend here, and it was just a GREAT weekend.  Yay for awesome friends and awesome times!

Spare time?

What's that?  Oh, I'm sorry - I'm deep in the middle of this thing called "busy season," which I didn't miss AT ALL last year when I was already lost in thoughts of Spain (which I NEVER blogged about, which is completely inexcusable, because now I'm sure my feeble mind has lost all kinds of details - how terrible).  And I'm getting married in seventy days (you know, for anyone who's counting), and did you know there are all kinds of little details that come up in the two months before that amazing wonderful awesome day?  Also, we're beginning a house/home search (eeekk!!), and the formerly exploding basil has now digressed to a point of crunchy deadness given The Oven conditions we're facing, which makes me sad, and I'm just tired.  So the blogging is a little behind. 

When I do have some time to blog, I find myself drawn to other diversions on the interwebs, namely Pinterest - it's where I'm spending entirely too much time lately, but I just can't help myself.  I love it.  Which means I'm spending time finding all of these amazing craftastic and foodcentric projects I want to embark on...but again, I have no time to do them.  Someday...when sewing is a priority instead of silly things like doing laundry and...yeah, ok, sitting on my couch like a blob because I've lost all incentive to do anything.  I blame The Oven.

Hill Country hi-jinks

Over Memorial Day weekend, I introduced Craig to the joys of Texas Hill Country by journeying to Fredericksburg with many good friends (all of whom have already managed to blog about this trip, whereas I'm the slacker who can't get around to it until two weeks after the fact) - and we had such a fantastic time.  Some of the details...

Vaughns picked us up for the trip down on Friday morning, and it's just impossible to head south on I-35 without making a stop at the Czech Stop.  Where else are you going to get your second breakfast of kolaches and awesome things like jalapeño peanut brittle?  Which is delicious, by the way - basically normal peanut brittle with a little kick at the end, and it just happens to be an unnaturally bright green. 

Our relatively painless trip continued with a stop for lunch at Hyde Park Bar & Grill in Austin (one of my favorites!)...

...and another very important stop in Blanco for a tour at Real Ale.  It was remarkably information and really fun, even if it was a little bit hot and windy, which made the trip into the massive beer cooler and our frosty samples all that much better.  Go forth and drink Fireman's #4, y'all!

We successfully made our way to Fredericksburg, picked up the keys to our extremely adorable rental house for the weekend, and quickly met up with the Reynolds to go grab dinner at Ausländer, which was extremely German and extremely delicious and fondly reminded the Vaughns and I of our extremely awesome time in Germany...and provided extremely large beers, which made Craig extremely happy.

We spent the rest of the night chilling at home, welcomed the Keffers, and turned in early to accomplish a very important vacation goal - rest rest rest.  The next morning Uncle T manned the kitchen to turn out a very tasty breakfast, then we hit the streets to take on another very important vacation goal - shopping!!  So many cute, cute things in this town.  I'm 100% in love with red and basically want to buy everything in that entire store, but I resisted.

More German awesomeness at Rathskeller for lunch, then more shopping...

I'm obsessed with all things kitchen-related, and especially whisks...

A stop at the toy store resulted in a very entertaining puppet show for Gracie

We then spend a very large chunk of the afternoon and evening on the spacious patio at Silver Creek, enjoying some beverages and tasty food and delightful live music, even if it was a touch on the warm side...I mean, Gracie needed a dose of water on the head, which very obviously lead to a stylish mohawk.

A relaxing evening at home consisted of a rousing round of horseshoes (Craig and I were the undefeated weekend champs!!  Ok, yes, only two games were played, and if Mrs. Keffer had played us again with any partner at all, I'm guessing we might have gone down...the girl has a knack for horseshoes), an excessive amount of pie...

Can you say margarita key lime, buttermilk, cherry, and peach praline?  Maybe a little bit overboard, but I'm a firm believer that there's no such thing as too much pie

...and quality front porch time.  Thank goodness for the sun going down and some cooling breezes.

The next morning we had a museum contingent (Admiral Nimitz Museum and National Museum of the Pacific War) and a home contingent, and let me just say that the museum contingent had their heads filled with more than they ever knew about what went on in the Pacific during World War II.  I could have spent days in that musuem.  I actually had no idea that Admiral Nimitz was raised in Fredericksburg.  And did you know that Craig's dad served on the USS Nimitz?  I was actually really impressed with everything the museum covered.

After a heavy morning of war and submarines and Operation Toenails, we certainly needed some relief in the form of Mexican food for lunch.  Nothing like margaritas to get your mind right.

Get your mind right for visiting wineries, that is.  We made our way to Rancho Ponte, Grape Creek, and Becker for a wonderful (though very windy) afternoon of tastings...

...and glasses enjoyed and live music and this close to crawling moments for Baby Grace (don't judge us for enticing her with wine)...

...and generally wonderful times with friends and even a few moments of flying through the air.

We picked up pizza for dinner and relaxed at home.  It was wonderful.  The porch swing and I became very good friends.

Check out the full photo spread from the weekend.  Perfect.  Other than The Lampasas Blow-Out.  Which involved a diaper rather than a tire.