Texas Wine Coaster

This is Eric's latest invention: the Texas Wine Coaster. His design came to life when he was trying to enjoy a glass of vino outside, but could not put his glass down for fear that the wind would knock it over.  He has been working through the Patent process for a few months & it has been approved! Yea!

The coaster is approx. 1 lb steel that is welded so that the base of your glass slides into place. The bottom is lined with cork to avoid damage to furniture. The coasters are painted in various colors, mostly solid at the moment.  Eric is still working out the process of painting in mass versus individually.  The ultimate goal is to make a Batch of each, not 1 at a time. He has also worked out a natural 'rust' and polished steel. I think these are actually my favorites.

We are going to incorporate other themes; ie: Breast Cancer awareness, Wine themed,
company logo's, etc.  But until we get the process mastered, I think we're sticking with the solid colors.

Here's a link to the website.  The current page that is available to the public is a simple page that Eric put together a few months ago; it is not functional. We're actually in the process of designing a new page & it is being 'reviewed' right now by the web host.  I hope that the new site will be up by Oct 1 - it has many more pictures to view.

The webpage will be a work in progress. When we opened our new bank account and established our Merchant Processing account for credit cards, this 90 day free trial website was included.  The downside is that it is not very user-friendly. I need to know HTML programming code to get it to look good.  I used to know HTML code....10 years ago when I was in college. It was my major, for goodness sakes.  If you don't use it, you lose it.  So I can either brush up on my Programming Code knowledge or we can purchase the use of a more user friendly web software.  By not knowing HTML code, I cannot change the color, change the font, center an image, put a button on a screen, etc.  Things that we are all accustomed to doing with the help of useful little buttons provided for us in most software. When this endeavor takes off, we'll invest in something better.  If you have any recommendations for webpage software, let me know. The key is that we need the 'cart' function for online purchase processing.

Keep your eye out when visiting local boutiques, galleries, and wineries  - you just might see some Texas Wine Coasters available for the Holiday Season!

I LOVE the fall!

I used to really love the summer, but after this one: no more.  I Love the Fall! Here's why:
1. I love the opportunity to be outdoors in the sunshine & not be gross sweaty. (It's an issue here in Tx).
2. Soccer is back in action.  While some days can get very long, I love watching the games while I can.
3. Festivals. I love festivals. And right now, there are about 5 every weekend.

Tonight we are heading to the Lewisville Western Days festival to see the Josh Abbot Band.  I think we're going back tomorrow to see one of our all-time-favorites, Pat Green.

Happy Weekend!

Labor Day is always a hectic 3-day weekend around our house & we were prepared for the fun! Our 100+ degree record temps finally got down to mid-90's over labor day weekend, which means we can now soak up some sunshine! Finally! Unfortunately the drought is not over. 

We kicked off our weekend with a sleepover with cousin Ezra.  He had to head home Saturday morning to go to his first UT football game. Lucky boy!

Sunday we packed up our bags and headed to Mansfield for Creek Fever at Walnut Creek Country Club.  This is usually an all-day marathon for us, starting early in the morning with the fishing contest, spending the day with Kid Events & Pool Games, and then there is a live band playing on the driving range until 10pm.

But this year was a little different for us.  First, we picked up a friend in Midlothian to join us, so we didn't get to the Club until 1pm.  The kids played all day with their friends while I sat stationed on the patio by the pool.  It was a no brainer - no wondering where everyone was, who they were with, did they fly off of a bounce house? We then decided to forego the concert and watch the A&M football game at our friend's house.

So the day wasn't such a whipping after all.



Katie, Addison, Reagan - sporting their Tattoos



Monday we met some friends at a new restaurant in downtown Arlington, the Grease Monkey. This is a burger joint with great garage-door walls which allows for a great place to sit and enjoy the beautiful day. We're so excited that downtown Arlington is starting to get some really great restaurants, a new gallery, and some boutiques to accompany the outdoor concert pavilion. The city is working to develop a nice area for residents & students to visit....and not have to travel East or West.

A friend of Eric's gave us tickets to a charity concert on Monday night, Pickin' for Preemies, which raises money to support Cook Children's NICU in Fort Worth.  There were 15+ Texas Music artists featured, performing an acoustic concert.  All of these artists are people that Eric & I love. Addison & Preston....not so much.  But they were patient (at least as long as we expected them to be) and we got to enjoy some music for about an hour & a half before heading out.  Maybe next year we'll be able to stay for the whole event.


Francie & Addison at Pickin' for Preemies Concert

Pickin' for Preemies Concert, Billy Bob's Texas



Labor Day Weekend

It's Labor Day weekend again; at our house Labor Day = Creek Fever.  We're gearing up for the all-day play-a-thon on Sunday.  I think this will be the first year that the kids are both old enough to manage themselves with no direct adult supervision.  I knew this day would come.

Ezra James, the newly 4 year old, spent the night with us this weekend. It's always fun to have some extra energy around to keep us all moving.  I think as our kids get older, we all slow down a little bit.

A late night swim for Preston & Ezra.

Late to Bed, Early to Rise. A friendly game of PacMan at 7am.



And here's Addison.  Her nose is always in a book. Always.