Welcome welcome! I know it’s a coffee thing but make mine iced! It’s about 73 out there right now with the wind blowing hard. If you haven’t taken your antihistamine I feel bad for you cause CEDAR FEVER has hit and it’s making it hitting hard right now. I have a headache just listening to the wind out there. I hope I’ve taken enough to keep it at bay.

This week actually went really fast for me.  DD’s school musical, Willy Wonka Jr, is tonight and tomorrow night. She had rehearsals Tues, Wed, and Thurs. It’s been a different kind of week. I started off with a meal plan on Sunday which worked very well. Monday night we talked with Laura from OrgJunkie.com and I was inspired to get more organized. I have ideas and even though I didn’t do as much as I’d like to I’m still on a roll.

Can I say that the 30 day shred from Jillian Michaels is HARD? Not so much the moves and exercises but the soreness of my quad after for oh about 4 days! Whew, gonna try again, but dang, I’d like to be able to walk , sit and stand without wincing!

I’m really getting excited about out show (podcast) I’ve lined up some really fun interviews and a few joint podcasts with some great podcasters. And our listener ship is going up. That is so very exciting to me.  Our listeners are sharing us!!! YAY. Thank you to all that have shared our little show with your friends.  So that’s what’s going on around here. I’m off to check and see what you all are up too.

Until next time
~Kim

Hi everyone!

Like Kim said, the weather here is crazy gorgeous this week! Oh man, I am dreaming of spring! Sadly, this is probably the closest we will get to spring as around here; we go from freezing winter to 100+ temps most years.  I did a bad thing and stopped in at Lowe’s this morning to look in the garden center.

They have all their spring garden stuff out.

So, would one of you lend me about $200?? Please?

I am so excited about my spring garden, and I desperately need to sit down and figure out what I am going to do this year.  The planting time is just around the corner!

Hope all you west-coasters are keeping above water, and our eastern friends are staying warm.  If any of you need a break, the Musing Mommies would love to visit with you here in sunny Texas!

I look forward to visiting with you all this weekend! Have a good one.

~Dawn

Welcome girls! It’s a raining chilly day here in the greater Austin Area. I’m in a really good mood for some reason! LOL. Last night we had a family celebration for my baby boy’s birthday. He was so happy with everything, gifts, guests, dinner, dessert, and life in general!  I think it must have rubbed off on me.  He woke and fist thing jumped on his new bike (which was parked next to his bed) and rode into the kitchen. He’s one happy boy. I’m a bit sad that he’s turning 5.  I no longer have a baby. Not that I want a baby, but that he’s growing up so quickly. My parents came in and had dinner and celebrations with us and does my boy love his grandpa! Grandpa this, Grandpa that! Grandpa plays boy things with him and he loves it.  So I’m thinking all of this is part of my happy mood.

Next week is going to be a busy one. DD has her Musical on Friday and Saturday! So she has practice Tues, Wed, and Thursday!  Wish us luck!

~Kim

Hi everyone!

Well, contrary to my bubbly friend Kim, I am hating this weather! Lol! I am not a fan of dreary days.  Mainly I dislike them because my boys get so stir crazy being cooped up in the house all day.  But, I am getting some work done so I guess it is ok.

I am doing a little happy dance today because I think I picked up another second shooter gig for a wedding.  Oh how I love shooting weddings!!! And, I think I love them even more as a second shooter – all the fun without all the pressure.

My plate is so full right now I don’t even know which way is up – but I am totally stoked about this year.  Things are finally HAPPENING! I feel like I may actually finally be doing something with my life, and it makes me feel so alive! I have so many great projects in the works, and I can’t wait to share them all with you here and on my personal blog.

But, one step at a time, and now is the time for work.

Much love to you all – I hope you have a terrific weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn

WOW Coffee with the CGs on the first day of a new year and a new decade?  What a way to start out! Welcome all. Come on in, grab a mug, and sit down to chat for a bit.  These past few weeks have gone by fast. Are the holidays really over? It kinda makes me sad that they are.  I don’t want to take my tree down and put the decorations away.  It’s going to look so bare  I guess that means I have to clean too.

The Musing Mommies are going to start something new. We are going to do our own type of small thing. On our Facebook fan page, we will list an organization tip or task for the day. You can do it or not it’s up to you, but we thought it would help us get a bit more organized and thought we’d share it with all of you.  Let’s make 2010 the year of organization.

What will we start with??? I guess you’ll have to come on by the fan page and see what the task will be.

I hope you all had a safe and happy new years eve and got plenty of sleep

~Kim

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year’s Eve.  We didn’t do anything here – I made a bunch of junk food and the kids went to bed at the usual time; they didn’t even know anything was special about the day.  Both kids are sporting a cold, thanks to my mom and her annual Christmas cold, so my oldest was up all night long (and therefor so was I. ugh).  He sounds awful, coughing and gagging and blowing snot everywhere.  The baby slept till way past his usual wake up time, or so I thought, until I went in his room and discovered he had no voice.  Poor thing, if he had been calling for me I didn’t hear it.

This year my goal is organization too, so I hope to be participating in the Small Things over at Rachel’s site more and also doing the Musing Mommies challenges.  The “new year” is such an interesting concept to me, and hopefully I can get a blog post out about it over on my personal blog.  If only I can get rid of this headache first…

Enjoy the coffee and the visit. I look forward to checking in over at your blog as well.

Best wishes for a FANTASTIC 2010!!

~Dawn

Welcome girls! I’m tired. I could and would sleep for a long time. This week has done me in.  Let’s go back to last week shall we? Friday night was our Musing Mommies Cookie Exchange and holiday party.  We had a wonderful group of gals join us for some snacking and chatting.  It was a great start to the weekend. We had more cookies than we could handle. We also had more snacks than we could eat because MuMo Dawn tends to go crazy when making food for parties! But I’m not going to complain cause it was all yum!

Sunday was Party with my girlfriends, we ate, drank, played Pokeno (which I ended up winning the last pot), and KARAOKE!!! It was a blast.  But DH went outta town for 3 days so I was single mom and let me tell you it wears me out. I’m not used to it and I hope it never becomes a permanent thing.

This week was the last week of school until Jan 4th.  We had parties, Christmas programs and piano recitals! I was busy this week. Tonight we’re going to go see the trail of lights which is a tradition. It should be fun.

I hope you all are having a great week/end. Be Safe and Merry!

~Kim

Hey there Company Girls!
Well, my week wasn’t near as busy as Kim’s, but I am still exhausted – does that count?   The cookie exchange party was a blast, as was the other party Kim mentioned. I spent this week finishing up client orders, delivering prints and creating my own personal holiday card.  I got it in from the printer yesterday and I think it turned out great.  Is no one sending holiday cards this year? So far we’ve only received 1.  Maybe everyone is getting them out late like me.

So what kind of holiday card do you like?  Pictures, no pictures, year-in-review letter written by the dog or just a typical holiday greeting? Signed or not signed or does it matter?  I am curious to your preference!

Hope you have a great week and a wonderful Christmas! May Santa bring you everything you desire!

~Dawn

Welcome girls, it’s a chilly day so let your mug of delish warm you up. It’s been a busy week, hasn’t it?  Thanksgiving travels, back to school, back to lessons and practice, and The Pioneer Woman!

Dawn and I talked all about our Thanksgiving travels in our last podcast but let me tell you just a bit.  We traveled many miles, ate lots of food, conversed with many a family member and got home in time to go see NEW MOON together.  I was so happy to be able to see the movie, again, with my co-host.  I was dying to talk with her about it and now I can, finally!

So last night Dawn and I went to The Pioneer Woman’s book signing at the BookPeople store in Austin.  It was cold, there were may people but it was really a treat to get to meet her and her family.  She really seems to be as sweet as she can be.

All ages from tiny babies to "elderly"

I've never seen her so excited!

Dawn has the full account of our “night out with PW” on her blog: Fry Moments. Go read about it, it’s a great read and there are some fun pics there too.

I wish you all a safe, happy, healthy and WARM week!

~Kim

Welcome Company Girls and Other Beloved Readers!
It’s 10AM on Black Friday – Have you finished your holiday shopping yet?

Girl, I’m not even thinking about that stuff today!! I am still swimming in tryptophan! lol

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours was a whirlwind; after a completely sleepless night at my parents house (compliments of our 1 yr old’s all night scream-a-thon), we left early and drove almost 4 hours to my husband’s family in southern Louisiana.  Thankfully both boys slept most of the way; the baby catching up on the night’s lost sleep and the older boy in a benadryl induced snooze courtesy of some troublesome allergies.

It was a lovely drive.

Lunch was a big, beautiful, tasty blur, and afterward we headed over to my hubby’s grandmother’s house to visit with her for a bit.  At which time, I sat down in her chair and promptly passed out, sound asleep.

ahem.

So, I guess I didn’t get to visit much, but it was nice that my family just let me snore and drool for a brief, refreshing cat nap.  It was probably the one thing that allowed me to remain awake for the drive back to Houston that night.(with the help of a gigantic coffee…)

Oh yeah, almost 4 more hours in the car. Awesome!

The trip to Houston was a little more interesting.  The baby made sure to keep us all awake by screaming loud enough to shatter the windows every few miles.

Thankfully though, we didn’t hit any traffic, so it was an uneventful drive.  Though, we did have to stop at three different places to get gas before we left.  But that is a long story for another post.  I will most likely talk about it over on my personal blog, which will be up later today (after I catch up on a week’s worth of posting. ugh).

Kim will not be contributing today as she is on the road herself visiting family up in Dallas and Oklahoma.  But she sends her love.  …and some left over gravy.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I can’t wait to read about your holiday week.

Until,
Dawn

Welcome Company Girls! Come on in, kick off your shoes, and grab a toasty mug.  I’m so glad you stopped by.  Today I am home!  No gym, no piano practice, no swim practice, no grocery shopping just home.  Me and my untidy dirty but soon to be clean house.  Today I work on my house. I must clean this place or we’ll just have to move.  I feel like I’ve been going going going all week.  But for good reasons. I’ve been going to the gym, DD had a pilgrim play, book fair and Thanksgiving lunch at school.  I was involved in all three.  I’m being a good mom this week  DS had a family cooking night with his school that we attended on Tuesday evening.  The kids have so much fun making things and “cooking”.  So this week has been full for me so my house has been overlooked and today is the day it gets some of my attention.

This Sunday will be mine and my hubby’s 12 anniversary.  We’ve lined up a sitter and we’re going out tomorrow night.  Not sure exactly but it will involve food, and  possibly a movie, live music, bookstore, coffee shop or some combination of the four.  I’m excited to have a date night with hubby, it’s been awhile.

I’ve also been WAY excited counting down the days to the “New Moon” midnight showing happening in just 6 days!!!  My Twihard gal pals and I have been planning our tailgating party.  :)  Yes we are total Twinerds and we’re proud!

Musing Mommies have been participating in NaBloPoMo and I’m proud to say we’re doing a great job blogging everyday.  It is challenging and I like it!  I’ve also been participating over at my personal “photography” blog, with a few actual text post thrown in here and there.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and healthy week.

~Kim

Hey there Company Girls!

Hope you all had a great week. Mine has been pretty uneventful.  The kids are driving me nuts as usual.  The baby learned how to climb up on our playscape to the slide platform, and in doing that he has given me mini heart attacks almost every day.

On Wednesday he had an unexplained fever most of the day.  I have no idea why, but hopefully it is not the start of anything.  I can’t handle an illness in the family right now.

Happy Anniversary to my cohost Kim! I wish you many more happy years!

Have a good weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn

Welcome girls!  I’ve just purchased some vanilla spiced rum creamer so grab a mug and test it out.

This week at DD’s school has been the “say no to drugs” week.  Every day it’s was a new theme.  Today was Literacy Day. Dress up as your favorite book character (they don’t allow the Halloween costume thing so this is the “best” option). Here is DD dressed as Junie B. Jones the boss of Lunch:

Happy and Safe Halloween to all!

Happy Friday Company Girls!
It’s been a pretty decent week here. The weather hasn’t been cooperative, but I can’t exactly complain.  At least it hasn’t been 100 degrees and my garden has been getting plenty of water.  I am now beginning to harvest green beans, the peas are blooming and the zucchini are making their debut.  I am looking forward to harvesting lima beans in a few weeks and the start of some peppers.

I made an amazing dinner the other night using lots of fresh basil from my garden for some homemade pesto – it was absolutely divine!

This weekend should be a blast; Hubby, the kids and I will be attending a big Halloween party. I hope the kids hold out through the night. It will be our first Halloween in a different location, but for some reason I still bought a bunch of candy!! Old habits die hard I guess.

Hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween!  Feel free to scroll down and check out our 2 giveaways! If you are in Texas, you could enter to win a $20 HEB gift card! We are also giving away some pink Breast Cancer Awareness goodies for our October MuMo giveaway.

Looking forward to checking out all of your posts as well. Thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn

It’s Friday, it’s Friday, come on in and at this late time of the day enjoy some beverage of your choice!

How was your week? Got any plans for the weekend? I hope all is well. My week was busy, but not overly stressful. Got some things done that I intended to.  This weekend I get to play assistant for Dawn again.  This time a senior shoot!  I’m excited about that.  I don’t have too much to gab about, other thank how excited I am that New Moon (movie) comes out in less than a month!!! *calming breath* BTW, scroll down to the previous post and read about our current giveaway/contest. Enter if you dare!

Talk with you all soon.

~Kim

Hello All!

Another busy week for me! I had 3 photo sessions over last weekend so I am neck deep in editing land.  MuMo Kim made a most excellent assistant, and I get the pleasure of working with her again this weekend on a senior session. I am so excited!

We are now all set with Halloween costumes for the boys.  I broke down and purchased the Batman Dark Night costume for the Kiddo and a sweet friend of mine loaned us a Classic Batman costume for the baby.  They should be super cute!  I can feel my brain starting to gear up for the holidays…I am craving Christmas music and many a baked good. lol! And now that the temps have dropped again I think my holiday spirit has been stirred.  I can’t wait to get full swing into the season.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by.  The comments should be fixed now, so please let us know you were here.

~Dawn

Welcome our CG sisters!

My mission is to get my life in order.

I’ve let things go WAY too long. My house, my weight, my everything! I’m tired of being tired and worn out and not having accomplished much. So yesterday, after a slap in the face by my scale, I decided to do something about it. I opened up my google calendar and started scheduling things. Everything from showers to housework; from working out to swim lessons. I also included workouts with friends, walking with someone one day and doing a yoga/dance video with someone on another. I feel good about it. I’ve got a goal and a way to reach it. Today was my first day with my new schedule. And when I get an iPhone in February I’ll have it with me always. Today went great. I feel good, I accomplished much. I also started calorie counting! I stuck to it yesterday, and I feel I had more energy. Day two is starting and I have plans to go walking with a gal pal and a couple of hair appointments (me being the hairdresser . This weekend I get to go on a shoot with our very own MuMo Dawn! I’m way excited to be her assistant.

The family is doing great. No sickies, with the exception of some runny noses due to MOLD. DD is doing great in school. We had teacher parent conference this week and teacher said DD is smart, but she needs to slow down and not always be the first to turn in her work. Being so rushed she skips things and has very sloppy writing like her mother. But she does have all A’s at this point! She’s also doing well with all of her activities, piano, swim and school musical. She’s been getting awesome grades and lots of extra credits in piano. She’s been keeping up with her new swim team since she’s moved up a level. and the school musical has been fairly easy so far. She’s an “extra” so she doesn’t have much to memorize, good thing for me!

DS is doing well. He’s in school 3 days a week right now but at starting in November he’ll only be going two days. We’ve opted to drop that day and possibly get him into some martial arts class. His teacher decided to say home so a new teacher has taken her place. Miss Mary! DS loves Miss Mary. I picked him up from school yesterday and I found him in teachers lap as she read to the class! So cute! He’s already requested that she come over for a play date LOL!
DH has had a great week. He’s launched a new iPhone app for the Houston Zoo and it’s getting rave reviews. They also launched the app for the Woodland Park Zoo last week and it’s doing fab also. He’s still stressed but at least it’s with happy good things!  Well thank you gals for checking in on me.  I hope all of you have a great week.

Here’s to beginning something good. Anyone want to renew their lives with me?

~Kim

Good Morning Company Girls!

MuMo Dawn here – I’m hovering over my coffee hoping the steam helps the wake up process.  We had a big cold front come in yesterday afternoon; our temps went from 85 degrees at 2PM down to about 75 by 4PM.  This morning it is in the 50′s and while I love it, it makes me move a bit slower.  This old gal’s bones do not like the cold!  (truth be told, my body has never reacted well to cold, but I like to now blame it on being old. )

Of course, the cold weather is making the kids and the animals frisky, and before my coffee kicks in I am not so thrilled about it. lol!  This weekend should be fun though – I have 3 photo sessions on Saturday and I am absolutely ecstatic! Kim is going to be my super-duper assistant for the first one, a newborn session about an hour outside of town.  It will be nice to have someone in the car with me driving all that way.  And hopefully things will go a lot smoother with her helping me out.  Then Saturday evening I have 2 family holiday sessions. I am excited about those as well.

Last weekend my session and the wedding went great! There were some hiccups along the way, but it was a terrific day overall.  I just love shooting weddings! Hopefully I can pick up some more pretty soon.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn

PS. Did you see our new banner up there?!? Isn’t it awesome!?

Mmmm on this chilly morning (64 degrees) a nice warm mug of Green Tea with Hazelnut creamer hits the spot!  Can’t you just feel that yummy goodness slide down that dry rough sleepy throat and coat the stomach perfectly?  I sure can.

Ah, Friday I love you!  It’s the start of the weekend.  Fun Friday, as we refer to it, is upon us.  The kids are at school. I’ve gotten some much needed house work checked off of my list.  I’ve eaten a good helping of leftovers for lunch and managed to paint my toenails a bright October-esque ORANGE!  hee hee hee. I love matching my toes to the season/holiday!  In a few hours I will pick up the kids, take DD to swim practice and we will get a fun Friday treat from somewhere. Then we’ll play for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is a big day for DD. It’s her first ever swim meet!  This past week she moved up in Swim.  She is now a Bronze Team member. Woo Hoo. We are not sure what exactly to expect tomorrow since we’ve never been to a meet before.  But I expect it will be a great learning experience for both DD and her parents. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to act. Am I to cheer like crazy or do I sit quietly and critique? I guess I’ll just observe what everyone else is doing and then go with that!  Not sure I’ll be able to contain myself from a bit of cheering, just think Roseanne style! I will for sure have my camera though. DD and DS have their own Paparazzi.

Wish us luck this weekend!

~Kim

Hey there Company Girls!

The coffee will be hot all day today I am afraid – I have been up since 3:53 this morning. The baby is trying to make this early rising thing a Friday tradition! I am not liking it one bit!  He went down for a nap too early for me to nap too – so I puttered around in the garden for a while.  That was so nice – the temp outside is absolutely perfect! I love days like this!

So this week I’ve planted lettuce, spinach, onion and carrots and hopefully will finally finish planting for the fall with some garlic this week. I need to find some organic first. Everything is doing pretty great – I already have broccoli sprouts and the brussel sprout seeds I replanted a couple of weeks ago are slowly coming in too. Hopefully I can get it all going strong soon. Last night we had a bit of a hail storm and I was worried about my outside babies, but it appears they all weathered it just fine.

Well, I think I used up all my brain power for the moment, so I will go take a break. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
Dawn

Howdy Girls! I’ve been trying to think up a good post/story for you all day. Not sure I’ve got anything but here it goes.

I’m hormonal! LOL.  I’m all over the place this week and it’s not quite PMS time.  What gives?   I think this MuMo is going to get a hormone panel done ASAP.  One day I’m great, happy, excited, rarin to go and the next nuthin!  UGH.  I don’t like this part of getting older. I’m not used to the sweating and craziness that these hormones are doing to me.  Anyone have any natural remedies that might help out? I’m all ears at this point.  I guess I’ll know more once I have my hormones checked.  Geez!  I feel like “I AM WOMAN hear me… eh forget it!”.  That’s me in a nutshell this week. I hope you all have had a better time of it than I have!  Here’s to the weekend.

Hello Company Girls!
MuMo Dawn here – *yawn*. Oh excuse me! I am so sleepy! If you went over to Frymoments you’ll know why.   Anyway – it’s the end of the day and I am just about to start cooking. I think tonight we will be having some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and fried okra – YUM! It’s one of my favorite meals! Feel free to join us.

Today went pretty well considering how tired we all are.  I attempted to take a nap while the baby was napping, but every 15 minutes or so something (or someone) would disturb me.  After an hour I gave up.  I decided to use the time outside in the garden instead. I put out a little bit of bug b gone stuff and then fed the garden with a fish emulsion spray.  Little did I know my dog would find the scent appealing (it smelled a lot like dead fish and poo to me!) and when I was out of site she jumped the fence and walked all through my garden bed. I am so mad at her!!! She trampled a couple of my baby plants – a tomato and a couple of jalapeno pepper babies. ugh.  So, I guess I need to put up some better fencing or bring her inside whenever I feed the plants.  I went back out about an hour later though and the plants were going nuts! My zucchini were suddenly reaching for the heavens and the rest of the plants looked a couple of inches taller! I guess they were hungry. lol

I also had some time to pot a couple of baby pineapple plants I’ve been cultivating in my kitchen.  I think out of the 4, 2 have a good shot of taking off.  I already have another on my back porch and am hoping it will produce a pineapple this year. Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing?!? I can’t wait! I also have an avocado I need to pot, but I ran out of pots.  Back to the garden center I go!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn