Pure Craziness....

To be quite honest, I haven't been blogging at all because this summer has gotten completely and utterly OUT OF CONTROL! We have had so many unexpected things happening that I have hardly had any time to even sleep!

Here is the low down on our summer of craziness :

• Sold our house and moved back to our hometown
• Spent a while getting the new house together
• Casey started his new job
• I decided NOT to go back to teaching for this year and took a new job in advertising sales for a magazine here...love it!
  
• Casey's sister and her family moved back to Tyler
• We found out that Casey's dad was diagnosed with cancer and has since has surgery and started chemo
• Casey's sister had her second baby...Knox Christian...he is soooo cute!
  
• We have bought a puppy and a miniature potbelly pig over the course of the summer

As you can tell....we have been literally going non-stop all summer long and have not had a chance to breathe whatsoever! I thought it would be a lot more laid back since we moved back to our hometown....but it has not been in the least! It's been great so far and we love being back to something that is familiar. We feel very at home here and cannot wait to see what happens next! Keep us in your prayers with this new job transition and all....we def. need them!

XOXO,

Hilary

Real Life....

Real Life.... I.AM.THE.WORST.BLOGGER.EVERRRRRRRRR!!!!!

I have a new goal to get all started back up this week! I have got to get on the ball again!!! Be on the lookout! Leave me a message with some new fun blogs you have found and have come to love!

XOXO,

Hilary

Tea Drinkers UNITE....and a giveaway!

Who doesn't love a big glass of tea on a hot summer day?! I can tell you right now, us southerners LOVE it!

A few weeks ago, Casey and I stumbled across a gas station in Burleson, Texas. It's called Tiger Farms Market. At first glance, it just looked like a nice gas station that kind of resembled a barn. But when you walk in.....get ready! It was basically like a small Whole Foods inside a gas station! They had beautiful produce and tons of organic products!

I was super thirsty and went to the drink cooler to grab something to replenish myself during our short drive back to Fort Worth. I came across some bottled teas made by the company Texas Tea. I usually just grab something, drink it, and I'm done. Not this stuff.....I was intrigued! I read the bottle and loved their story! Their goal is to formulate a line of ready to drink iced teas with each flavor being made with and highlighting a uniquely Texas product or town. All of their teas are made from natural Texas spring water and organic teas. I have never seen anything like it! I have been told that you can find these teas in a lot of the Central Market stores....so be on the lookout!

I am a huge fan of my home state and LOVE to support Texas businesses if I can. I contacted Texas Tea to talk to them more about their products. They actually offered to send me a variety pack of Texas Tea to review and share the results with all of you!

Here are the flavors that I was sent :

• Fredericksburg Peach Tea - This is my favorite! It has a great peachy crispness about it. It does not taste like fake flavoring at all and it is not overdone! I could drink this all day every day!
• Poteet Strawberry White Tea - A close second for me! I wasn't sure I would like it since I don't know much about WHITE tea. But it was very light and refreshing. You can actually taste a hint of strawberry, but it's not overpowering at all. The white tea has a very clean taste to it.
• Sugar Land Sweet Tea - A good crisp sweet tea! I like my teas a little darker, so this one was perfect for me! It wasn't too sweet either. A lot of times, with bottled sweet teas, it's very hit or miss. This one.....was a hit for sure!
• Austin's Own Goodflow Honey Green Tea - I LOVE green tea! I especially like it hot during the winter, so I knew this one would be a good one for me. Green tea is naturally a lighter tea and the honey added a wonderful hint of sweetness to it.
• Dove Creek Unsweet Tea - I am not a huge unsweet tea person. But, Casey likes unsweet tea from time to time. He was definitely a fan. He said it had a good clean taste....plus it has an added bonus - MINT! He said that it hit the spot!

As you can tell, I am slightly obsessed with my new found love - Texas Tea! They are all great products and worth a try if you see them at your local stores! I love that on their website (www.teasoftexas.com) you can suggest new flavors. I am trying to come up with some good ones to send on to them!

Now it's on to GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

My wonderful new friends at Texas Teas are going to send one LUCKY winner a case of their own variety pack of Texas Teas to try out!

Here is what you can do to enter :

1. Leave a comment with your name and email address! (1 entry)
2. Become a Facebook Fan of Texas Teas ! (2 entries)
3. Tell me a flavor that YOU would like to see them come up with! (2 entries)
4. Become a fan of Hilabeans Frames on Facebook (3 entries)
5. Blog about this giveaway and send me the link! (5 entries)
6. Twitter or Facebook about this giveaway! (2 entries)
7. Become a follower of my blog!! Leave a comment to let me know! (2 entries)

That's right....you have the opportunity to be entered in this giveaway 17 times! WOOO HOOO! I promise....you WANT to win this giveaway!

This giveaway will end on Monday, July 5 at noon - Texas time (of course!).
I cannot wait to hear all of your flavor ideas! Get going and spread the word!

XOXO,

Hilary

Missing....

Is it odd that I still think about my sweet Skeeter every day?? I still miss him a lot. I guess that has to do with him being MY first official dog. We always had dogs growing up, but he was MINE....you know what I mean? Me and Skeets, we were very close! He was the best pup ever!

Well...I am very happy to say that we will be adding another puppy addition to our family on Saturday! Skeeter's mom had her last ever litter of puppies 8 weeks ago and they are ready this weekend! I didn't think I wanted another small dog, but knowing that this one is related to Skeeter and it's the last litter....I had to get one! I couldn't resist! We will be getting a little boy! The one I am pretty sure I am getting (depending on their personalities once we get there) is all white. He has a brownish black face, a big brown spot on his back, and a brown and black dipstick tail. I cannot wait to see him again! I saw him when he was 2 weeks old...but they were just so stinking little then!

Here is where I need your help!!! I need some help thinking of a fun name for our new little guy! I keep coming back to the name "Otis" for some reason! But I love funny names or even Texas related names! What are YOUR ideas?!

I cannot wait to hear all of your fun name ideas!

XOXO,

Hilary

Newest Obsession....

Yes....I'll admit....I have a new obsession.....

I bought my FIRST ever pair of expensive sunglasses! No....I am NOT obsessed with buying expensive sunglasses now....but I am obsessed with my actual sunglasses!

Let me explain myself a little better. My husband has a specific style/brand/color of sunglasses that he wears (I have it memorized - Costa Del Mar, Harpoon, Green Lens - it's so stupid....). These, my friends, are not cheap sunglasses! He is probably on his fourth or fifth pair, only because he loses or breaks them! For example, he came home from the coast last year and let me know that they fell in the ocean while fishing and he needed to go get a new pair! No big deal, right? HA! Anyways, it's really hard for me to find glasses to fit my small head. Plus...I was scared to get expensive ones because I didn't want to have to deal with the thought of possibly breaking or losing them! Well...I finally bucked up and bought some a couple of weeks ago!

I thought I would really want some Ray-Ban Wayfarers, but once I put them on, I realized how totally stupid I looked! The girls at Nordstrom were completely helpful in every way (Until they tried to talk me into buying the $350 Tom Fords that look incredible on my face.....not quite ready for that leap yet!!!). I finally settled on the Ray-Ban Cockpits in silver. I L-O-V-E them!!! I wear them EVERYWHERE I go now and I am always making sure that they are tucked safely away in their little tan leather Ray-Ban pouch when I am not wearing them! I am obsessed with making sure that my splurge does NOT get broken or lost! :)

What are you obsessed with right now?
What is the BEST pair of splurge sunglasses you have every bought???

XOXO,

Hilary
(you new sunglass wearing friend)

WHEW!!!!

It has been crazy around here! We are officially in our new house! We have been working hard on decorating, painting bedrooms, rearranging furniture, organizing everything, digging up cactus out of the flower beds (yes....cactus....), etc! There are a few little touch-ups here and there that are left to be done....but I finally feel ALL moved in! We love it out in the country and we feel kind of disconnected from everything...but not TOO disconnected, since we are only about 5 miles from town! It's so quiet and peaceful out here, plus our only neighbor is about 100 yards away!

We finally got the internet hooked up last weekend, so I can finally get back to blogging again! I love my iphone...but that is one downfall....I cannot figure out how to blog on it! So irritating! I cannot wait to catch up on some of your blogs! I have been having a little separation anxiety! :)

I will blog more later on...but I just wanted to give you a little update on life! I will leave you with some fun pictures that I took of my niece last week..... ENJOY!

Farewell Fort Worth!

If you knew that you had to move TODAY, what would you miss the most about your current town/city??

I started thinking about this tonight when I was in the drive-thru line of one of my fave fast food restaurants. Clearly, this hit home since we are moving away from Fort Worth on Friday.

Here is my list of what I will miss about Fort Worth :

1. Joe T. Garcia's
2. Our First House
3. Our Neighbor's - Elaine and The Shorts
4. Gloria's Restaurant
5. SUPER Target (ughhh....I don't even want to TALK about it...)
6. Francesca's Collections
7. The Stockyards and Billy Bob's
8. Downtown Fort Worth
9. The McCord Family
10. The Buckmasters
11. My Fourth Graders
12. The Village Church and Matt Chandler
13. The Cows Behind Our House (we just became friends....)
14. My Skeeter Puppy....
15. Southlake Town Square

16. "Our" Donut Place

17. My Women's Bible Study Group

18. Mooyah Burgers

19. NOT seeing people I know EVERYWHERE I go

20. The new amazing farmer's market we JUST found...

(I am sure there are many many more...but it's hard to think of things off of the top of my head!)

There is ONE big thing that I will NOT miss : T.R.A.F.F.I.C!!!! It took me an HOUR to get to work today! My school is ONLY 13 miles from my house!

Please be in prayer for me about finding a new job in Tyler. I have some things in the works right now, but I really want to know something soon so that I don't have to worry/think about it all summer long! I want to be able to relax and nest in my new home! I know God has brought us 90% of the way so far, he isn't going to let me down for the next 10% of this journey!

XOXO,

Hilary

Reading...

What I am reading at the moment :

The Unveiled Series by Francine Rivers : TAMAR

Have you read this?! If not....it's AMAZING so far! Go get it today! It is one book in a series of 5 books about women in the Bible who made a huge difference!

Well...I am so sorry that I have not been around too much lately. We don't have internet set up at the house yet and cannot figure out HOW to get it out there! We are outside of the city limits...so it has been a daunting task! Plus...I cannot figure out how to blog from my iphone!!! Can anyone help me out?! I would love to know how!

I hope that everyone is having a great summer so far! I promise.....I will be around more in the days ahead!!!!! :)

Best Mom...

Yes...I have the best mom ever.

She is crazy, fun, ditzy, smart, etc.

But another thing that makes her so great.....so knows me ALL too well. I say that, because I was suprised with a REALLY good birthday present on my front door step. She sent me these bad boys :

I was SHOCKED when I got my black Tory Burch Revas in the mail!! I have a fake pair...that did not compare ( to the point of having a completely different gold disc!)...but I had almost worn them out because I loved them so much! Now...I have my coveted REAL pair of Torys! Love all of her stuff...I might be addicted to the Revas even more now....I may or may not have gotten online and seen ALL of the other colors TB has (I am thinking that I also need the hot pink pair and the red snake pair). I also may or may not have gotten on Ebay and bid on some of them!! HAHA! Oh well..... :) I did get a text from my mom after I got the shoes : "Now who's the best mom ever?" She is nuts....

Thanks Mom!

XOXO,

Hilary

Agave Anyone?

Dear Agave Nectar,

You intrigue me, intimidate me, and make me curious! I am so anxious to use you on something, but I have no idea where to start.

Yours questioningly,

Hilary

Okay...so Casey and I have watched Guy Fieri use Agave Nectar many times on his show. We were very intrigued by it and had never heard of anyone using it before. I would sometimes glance down the aisles at the grocery store and see if I could find any....but nope. Then, on Sunday morning, our friend John concocted some sort of drink using it! He said it was great stuff! Later on, we were at a farmer's market/organic grocery store for lunch and found some! We bought TWO bottles....light and amber. But now...we don't know what to do with them! I have been told that you can use it on pancakes or biscuits as a syrup or honey substitue. But, I want to COOK with it! It just seems so exotic and foreign to me! Can anyone help me out?! I would love to hear any recipes or ideas that you mgiht have for this stuff! :)

On another note....moving OUT day is on Thursday and moving IN day is on Friday!!! I am soooo ready for all of this to be OVER with, I cannot hardly control myself! Keep praying for our move!

Cannot wait to hear your recipes and ideas!

XOXO,

Hilary