Where I've Been...

So, I haven't posted in awhile, and that's because it's Back to School (and Cheer) time! It's super busy around SBS right now and I'm loving being back in the swing of things!

Last week, I took the girls to cheer camp at A&M (along with the JV and MS coaches who are fabulous) where they racked up loads of awards, as always! Between the three squads, we had 8 all-americans, 2 staff nominees, the TOP BANANA (which in the UCA Camp world is considered the top prize), multiple first, second and third place trophies and 12 spirit sticks! Whew! It was a great week for SBS Cheerleading!

Here's a pic of the JV and Varsity girls for this year - aren't they beautiful?!? I so didn't look that good in high school. I'm just saying...

Our Mexican Siesta

We took a break from settling into the house - read: unpacking boxes, moving heavy things up and down the stairs, doing major yard work in the heat of July, etc., etc., etc., and went on vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We went to an all-inclusive resort for 6 days and had a great time! By the end, we were ready to get back and pick up where we left off on the house! I never knew settling in could be so busy (or expensive - seems like I'm at Target, Lowes, Pier One, BB&B, or Container Store at least once a day)! Shopping is such a drag....er, wait, who am I kidding?!? It's a blast "having" to spend money to "get settled in the house!"

Back to the point of my post. We had a great time on the trip. The resort was really nice (except for the food - we are pretty spoiled with yummy Houston food). We had lots of pool time to get super brown (or red), did a bike tour, took dance lessons, went to the beach, sailed a Hobi sailboat, drank fruity frozen drinks, slept an insane amount of hours, explored Playa del Carmen, played bingo (and yours truly won in a three-way tie; to determine the winner of the tie, we had to do a dance off, and drum-roll....I won that, too; I think the move that sent the audience over the edge was when I danced and rapped the words to Ice, Ice Baby....oh, yes I did!). Anyway, here are a few pics from the vacay!

I love the Caribbean!!! One of the (many) things Kenny Chesney and I have in common :)

After dinner one night - curse you man behind me for ruining my cute picture (and he's copying my pose - how rude)!

Jeremy out in the water!

After playing in the pool all day!! The resort had a fabulous pool the size of umm...I don't really know measurements, but the size of a really large pool!! It had two swim up bars, a bridge to get from one side to the other, a massive waterfall, fountains, two hot tubs and plenty of lounge chairs and cabanas. Amazing!

We went into the city of Playa del Carmen one day to explore the town - wasn't too much to see, but I posed by this "authentic" Mayan ruin just to feel like we were seeing something historic! What-ev-er!!

I made some time for water aerobics while we were there!! I'm the big girl in front doing a terrible high touchdown (and I call myself a cheer coach?!?) But, hey, isn't the pool pretty??

Here's my mention to you (again) that the food at our resort was TERRIBLE! We even ordered room service once to see if it was better, and it was...TERRIBLE! Here's evidence that they even messed up a pizza! Yuck! So, my worries of gaining lots of weight on vacation were over when we realized the food wasn't worth gorging on (except for the cinnamon sugar french toast at breakfast...mmm...now we're talking....)

The view outside our room! Ahhh....the peacefulness of vacation!

That's about it! We had a great time, but now its back to reality for the Ford's.
Hasta la vista!
Brittney

PS: I forgot to mention to you that I left one important item at home - my strapless bra! 85% of the clothes I took to Mexico were strapless, or required a strapless bra! UGH!!! I had to be creative with safety pins - a la Dallas Cowboy cheerleader style - until I found my strap perfect (yes, they work) at the bottom of my makeup bag. But, seriously, I forgot the most important undergarment a girl needs in the summer, and I was unable to wear a few outfits. I even tried to wear my bathing suit top as a substitute, but that didn't work. Major fail, Brittney. Major.

Settling In...

We have officially moved into our new home, and we love it! We are busy, busy trying to get settled. It's exhausting, but really fun. We absolutely love our new house! It's right where we need to be!

Can't wait for all the memories that will come while we are living here - we've already celebrated an anniversary here (our second one was on Monday, the 12th). We feel so blessed!

My Life in (iPhone) Photos

I got this post idea from my friend Rachel! So, here is my life through the camera lens of my iPhone. Out of my 220 photos on my Camera Roll, seriously over 100 are of Charley (our sweet dog). But, I'll spare you all of those adorable moments and try to show you that I've got a diverse collection of photos! Here we go!

My niece Alex before her cheerleading practice (my 'lil legacy) - isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen? Thought so!

I do this alot - take pics of myself in an outfit. I try it on and send it to Mom - she approved of the romper, but fashion consultant Shari did not. For $19.99 from Target, I bought it anyway. It's a comfy, around the house outfit!

Here are some of my rah-rah's at an SBS volleyball game! We were trying to twit-pic this photo - not sure it worked though!

I made this festive dessert for Memorial Day!

Well, hello there....this is Les Miles (LSU football coach, yes, I'm obsessed) posing with my boy Kenny Chesney (also obsessed) before his concert in Tiger Stadium! I got this off Twitter, I actually wasn't that close to my idols, because you know you would've already heard about that!


Pre-game before we got spanked by Florida. Good picture on my iPhone, right?


Naptime for my boys!

My new lamps for my guest room! Aren't they pretty?!?

I took a cake decorating class last summer. I'm your girl if you need a clown cake. Hey - you never know...

I made Pioneer Woman's Homemade Cinnamon Rolls one Saturday afternoon (...they took a long time to make) - but they were incredible!

Charley laid on my blanket, so I wrapped him up like a kolache! Hehe...sucker!

Our new Apple computers at work. Is the screen big enough for ya? Oh yea, that's how we do it at SBS! I'm officially a Mac snob!

This was a fun post to do! Have a great weekend everyone - we'll be busy packing! We move in SEVEN DAYS!

Now Introducing....

...our new house! Isn't is lovely? I'll post more pictures later!

Art Cars, House Update, and Birthday

Here's a (hopefully) brief recap of what we've been up to!

1. A few weeks ago, while we had a showing at the house, we walked down to Allen Parkway to watch the annual art car parade. We'd never been before, but it was a lot of fun. We will definitely go back again. It was fun seeing how creative all of the entries were. Here's a pic!

2. Our house is currently "Option Pending" which means that we've signed a contract to sell it and we are in the time period of inspection, appraisal, and basically a 10-day period where the buyer can back out for a minimal fee. Our option period ends in 4 days, so everything will become "official" then! We've found a great house that we love.....so we're triple crossing our fingers and praying that everything works out with it!

3. For my birthday this year, I really wanted it to be low-key. And it was! I just didn't want to make a big deal out of turning 26, so it was a really nice weekend. My birthday was a Friday, so that evening, J and I went out to a nice dinner at Taste of Texas, and then Saturday I went shopping with my BF and got a pedi, and then that night had dinner with two girlfriends. Sunday night we had my family birthday dinner, which was really fun. It was a relaxing weekend celebrating my descent into my 30's....

One of the major highlights of my weekend was my trip to Tory Burch. One pair of flats and a pair of sandals later, I am a very happy girl!

A Weekend In the Keys!

Last weekend, Mom took me to Key West, Florida, as an early birthday present/mom-daughter getaway! We had a great time, like we always do! Key West is beautiful. It was a mix of Cape Cod meets the Caribbean (two of my fave places). We stayed on Duval Street (which was like Bourbon St. meets the Bahamas), in a beautiful hotel that is the tallest building on the island! We had Key Lime Pie (I had mine in the form of a chocolate-covered ice cream bar), did some sight-seeing and had a great time! Here's a run down of our unforgettable weekend!

Friday Night - well, it didn't start off as a weekend in paradise; due to the outrageous storms in Houston, we were delayed for 5.5 hours! Luckily, Mom's a member of the President's Club, so we weren't absolutely miserable! Needless to say, we departed IAH a little after 1 a.m. We were crawling into bed at our Miami hotel at 5:30 AM. Take a moment and let that nugget sink in!

Saturday Morning - Left Miami at 10:00 AM (do the math, I woke up at 9, that's 3.5 hours of sleep) and made the beautiful, albiet L-O-N-G drive to Key West. Seeing the beautiful ocean was breathtaking! Great conversation kept us going the whole way!

A shot of the Atlantic Ocean from my passenger seat!

Saturday Afternoon - Arrived in Key West and immediately went to tour Ernest Hemmingway's home, which was so interesting. And, we saw one of the six-toed cats! Left there, and did some exploring of Duval Steet (i.e. shopping and happy hour)!

Hemingway House

Saturday Night - The big thing to do in Key West is go to the dock and watch the sunset...so, when in the Keys...Anyway, it was really fun, the whole environment at the "Sunset Celebration" was upbeat and family friendly - vendors, food, music, jugglers, dancers, etc. After the sun went down, we headed to dinner at a fun place and heard a band playing (side note - they were totally crude, but a tad funny, too)

Just before sunset at Mallory Square!

Sunday Morning - Went to breakfast at Blue Heaven (Kenny Chesney's fave restaurant in Key West) and it was sooo yummy and such a cool place! After breakfast, we took the trolley tour around the island, which was really interesting! After that, we headed to our rent car so we could go to Miami and do a little exploring before my flight home. However, OUR CAR WOULDN'T START! So, the traveling woes continued and we were delayed 2 hours.

Blue Heaven! I've now eaten somewhere that Kenny has eaten! Woo Hoo!

Sunday Afternoon - Lunch in Miami at a restaurant (er, bar) that was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Though the food was delish, it was surely a dive; sorry Mom!

It was a great trip, and such a memorable weekend with my precious Mom! I only wish it could have lasted longer!!