Ladies Night at Casa Ritas!

This past Friday the ladies and I enjoyed a ladies night out at Casa Ritas in Frisco, TX. We enjoyed delicious Mexican food and tasty ritas! I would highly recommend this restaurant as they have such delicious food and huge portions:)

It is amazing to believe that we have been great friends for about 8-9 years now. I absolutely love these girls and am so thankful for each and every memory we've made and for all those we will share in the years to come. Here is to many more fun ladies nights out in our future!

On a side note to our sweet friend Kaylan, I cannot believe it has been over a year since the move. We so wish you were here and are missing you daily. I am so thankful for the opportunity that God has blessed both you and James with in Arizona. We absolutely cannot wait to see you both in October for the A&M v. Baylor game in College Station.

Zellner Tidbits

Enjoy some random Zellner tidbits and updates.

1. Ray and I enjoy ice cream sandwich Thursdays. This tradition started as a treat after Ray's Thursday night Frisbee games.
2. Saturday mornings you will find the husband and I with both the furbabes at Canine Commons at the Shops in Fairview.
3. I am officially done with both ESY Summer School sessions for 2011.
4. Ray and I will be driving to Austin next Saturday to meet my great aunt Alice, mom, and dad for lunch.
5. Tonight I will enjoy a fabulous ladies night with two of my favorite ladies.
6. I have a two week vacation before school begins August 15th.
7. We will be signing a six month lease, staying in North Dallas, and then we will officially begin our house search.
8. I will sadly be giving up ice cream for now until I can get this milk allergy under control.
9. I would love to travel to Chicago.
10. My favorite months are October, November, and December.
11. I love dollar strawberry icees from Burger King.
12. It has been over a year since our amazing friends, the Brushwoods, moved to Arizona. We truly miss them but are thankful for all the blessings that God has provided them in their new journey.

Here are just a few Zellner Tidbits and Happenings for now. Looking forward to many more posts to come:)

A Celebration of Sprinkles Cupcakes & Free Lasagna from Buca

This afternoon after completing ESY Summer School, Ray and I left for downtown Dallas to enjoy a celebratory Dimples cupcake... but Dimples had closed and I was devastated. So the husband quickly went to plan B and located Sprinkles in Dallas.




He absolutely saved the day because our Sprinkles cupcakes were amazing! We couldn't just decide on one so we each got two! One to enjoy while dinning in and one to go. We enjoyed and taste tested the carrot, red velvet, chocolate marshmellow, and the salty caramel. They were all so very tasty but the carrot and red velvet were my favorites.



Here are two cupcakes to go.

I had received a message earlier in the day from my friend Kristin reminding me that today was National Lasagna Day at Buca di Beppo! You receive a free portion of lasagna with the purchase of a small entree. What could be better than free and delicious food.?!? Plus we used the $10 off coupon we found in last Sunday's Newspaper! So after stop for our afternoon dessert of cupcakes, we decided to enjoy a Buca di Beppo lunch and save the lasagna leftovers for dinner. (Thanks K for the reminder;)





Our afternoon celebration was definitely full of smiles! Tonight I am enjoying wine, movies, and time spent with my sweet family of four! That is all the celebration I need:)

Wordless Wednesday with Ray and Toby

End of ESY Yogurt, Pizza, and Pool Day Celebration!

This past Wednesday, Julie and I celebrated our last few days in ESY Summer School by enjoying an afternoon of pizza, yogurt, and pool time. This trip Michael, her husband, was also able to come with us and enjoy his very first experience at Yogilicious Yogurt Shop in Allen! It was delicious!

What a fun afternoon with my carpool partner and a great way to celebrate the end of our summer school experience.

Generations of Blessings!

God has blessed me with some very amazing women in my life. Today I am reminded of all those amazing moments that we've shared together and am thankful for each memory we continue to make together.

Buca di Beppo Coupons!

As many of you know... the husband and I love Buca di Beppo.


This week I was so excited to see several coupons in the newspaper for this tasty Italian option. So if you are looking for a super delicious meal and want to save a few dollars... be sure to pick up this week's newspaper:)

Our Weekend Presented by Facebook!

Friday: OTB Dinner Date with my husband. Burrito?!? Yes Please!


Saturday: Good morning at the doggy park at the Shops in Allen.


It was so good to get the dogs out of the apartment this morning before it was too hot to play. Toby always seems to really enjoy to explore the park as long as we are within eye shot. Mattie on the other hand typically looks for the first bench to hide under. She tends to enjoy people as compared to dogs and is usually looking for an escape route. After an hour of play, she was the one who told us it was time to go home as she kept trying to paw her way out of the gate exit to the park. After our puppy park date we enjoyed some dollar icees from Burger King and a/c.

That afternoon Ray and I enjoyed a subway picnic in the park.


Tonight we met up with sweet couples from our ABF honeymooners group at Splitsville at the Shops in Fairview.


The ladies enjoyed one round of bowling while catching up and chatting over sweet Pearson. He was such an adorable little cutie who did so well on our bowling outing. And of course all the ladies enjoyed loving on him as well.

The boys played two rounds!

Ray even won a free game for next time! For dinner we continued our night out and dinned at BJs. Ray and I enjoyed delicious burger, pizza, and sweet tea. What a fun and exciting night with friends. We absolutely love these couples:)

Sunday: This morning Ray and I served in the 4 year old classroom at church. We definitely had a rather small number of children but still had a great time learning about God's love.

Ray is so good with these kids. They love playing with "Mr. Ray" which included a story time, instrument parade while tooting our horns, and of course dressing him in a pink boa and put him in jail?!?!:) I have absolutely loved spending this past year watching each one of these adorable kiddos learn and grow and look forward to next year's lessons and play time.

Happy Weekend to all....

Recipe for a Job Well Done!

Having extra time this summer has taught me a lot. It has given me a good amount of time to catch up on some necessary to do's that I've been putting on the back burner. I have worked in summer school . Our curriculum has included beach fun, communication, all about me and self care, and the earth/recycling. This week we have made some tasty treats including dirt pudding and a rice krispie earth recipe as seen below:)



Having some time off has also allowed me to spend more time cleaning up, doing laundry, and unpacking. Yes you heard me correctly. This September, the husband and I will have spent one full year in here in McKinney and yes we have many of our things still in boxes. I figured since we have decided to sign a six month lease it was time to officially unpack. Our apartment is no longer a storage unit (ha) and has officially become a home regardless of its small stature. While I cannot wait to live in a house, a home is definitely what you make of it:)

I have also had some time to work on some fun recipes this summer including some homemade banana bread ...



and peach crisp...




I might be bias but I do believe that they both turned out pretty tasty for my first try; however, I think over time I will be able to make some good adjustments. Today I completed my first week of Summer Session II. Next week will be my last week working with these six kiddos. Then I'll have two more weeks of summer before school begins in August. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing me by but I continue to look for fun and productive ways of spending my time.

Happy Summer friends!

Aggie Maroon, Family Visit, Messina Hof Tour, and Mr. Wine Maker Himself!

This past Saturday, Ray and I traveled south to meet up with our Zellner family for a fun day trip in sweet home College Station.

We met his family at The Chicken Oil Company for lunch in Bryan, TX.

This beautiful girl is Becky, Ray's youngest sister.

I so love this girl and am so thankful she drove all the way out to see us:)

It actually opened right upon our arrival.
The sweet tea was delicious!

Lunch with my fabulous in-laws!

After lunch, we left for a campus tour. We found ourselves back on Northside again. We passed our old dorms, eateries, ponds, some lucky feet, and one pretty amazing tree. Here are a few pictures of our visit.

Welcome to Northside

Fishpond has been relocated across from Sbisa dining hall

The Century Tree

Mary Jean and Owen under the Century Tree

Sull Ross and a few lucky pennies

After visiting Northside, the family continued our journey to check on the status of the MSC or Memorial Student Center. It is said to be finished in 2012. A lot of work has been completed. It was amazing to see all the changes being made.

We then made our way to G. Rollie White to where the book store had been moved. There we found great A&M gear and of course had to have a family photo session.

Gig 'Em Aggies... Love the Zellners

I loved all the sweet aggie tot clothing... too cute:)

and yes my MIL found me some Aggie inspired Chapstick

At 2:30 we took a tasting and tour of Messina Hof Winery. Both Ray and I have been a few times, but each time has been different and more fabulous. We thought this would be a wonderful experience for the family. Here are some pictures of our tour.

Welcome to Messina Hof

Inside the Bed and Breakfast

Exploring the Vinyard

Let the Wine Tasting Begin!

Becky's new wine glass that will hold an entire bottle of wine!

We thought a family picture by the wine maker's
cut out was pretty amazing until....

After our tasting and tour we actually met Mr. Paul Bonarrigo... the wine maker himself. (It was an absolute chance and surprise meeting!) He wears this red signature beret.... a family tradition. He was such a sweet man who gave us several personalized signatures and photos.

Upon leaving College Station as it was time to return home, the husband and I traveled to one of our favorite College Station eateries... Fazoli's. This has become our tradition each time we go now. We ordered some of the most amazing breadsticks to go. They were absolutely delicious!!!!

It was definitely the best ending to an absolutely great daycation in College Station with family! Here is to making great memories with amazing people. Cheers to our next visit....:)