Hallelujah...

...it's the weekend. I don't know about you but this week lasted foorrrreeeevvveerrrr. Maybe since it's leap year or something. Anyway! We're headed out to Dallas this afternoon with Riss and Ryan to go to the Mavericks game, yea!!! Jared is excited beyond belief, he wanted to make Mavericks shirts for all of us to wear tonight. Bet you didn't know about his crazy bootleg shirt-making skills, did you. That's a whole other post all together.



Lately I've been really obsessing over several creative outlets that I like/want to learn - namely embroidery, re-upholstery, more embroidery, photography (as always) and photoshop/aperture. Here are a few things I'm thinking about doing someday soon.

1. Making a new headboard for our bed. There's so many things you can do with an old one, a little bit of fabric and a staple gun. I just have to find the right old one, for like five dollars.

I love this one.

2. I love any kind of message board. They also are super easy to make and personalize. This one is from Martha.

3. I'm trying to teach myself embroidery. This pillow from Pottery Barn is my inspiration I've decided, and all the ones at Anthropologie that cost a million dollars.

Ode to Wellies

Wellies, galoshes, rainboots ... call them whatever you like, I love them all. I got a pair last year before going to New York because it was supposed to rain the whole time (it didn't), so I lugged them all the way there and all the way back and then stuck them in the back of my closet. They are really really cute (black outside, pink inside) but I could only wear them when it rained so it made me kind of sad.

Then one clear sunny day I decided that if I wanted to wear rainboots, I was going to wear rainboots. So I did, and have worn them whenever I feel like it ever since!! I'm very happy with this decision. The bonus is that if it is rainy or wet outside you can channel your inner five year-old self and splash in every puddle from the parking lot to Target if you want to (I happened to do this from time to time and I highly recommend it). So feast your eyes on these little lovlies (all from Target), and feel free to wear them whenever you so please.

It's official...

Jared's going to CHICAGO!!! He's been interviewing for a corporate internship position at the OfficeMax headquarters, which are in Chicago, and it's finally official! It's a nine week program in marketing and merchandising and he starts June 16. It stinks that I won't be able to go with him (since having an income is kind of essential for surviving the year and a half of school he has left) but we both agree that nine weeks is a small sacrifice to make compared to the impact it will have on the future. I'm SO proud of him!!

Tag, you're it

I've been tagged by Meg so here goes!

Six non-important/unusual things about myself:

1. My family does not call me Tyan, they call me Ty. (my parents and grandparents call me Typoo ... still) But if anyone else called me Ty it would be weird, I don't know why.

2. I'm lactose intolerant. Not fun. Hate it. Soy ice cream is gross.

3. I believe in shopping karma. If something falls off the hanger after I walk by the rack I always put it back. Shopping cart at H-E-B - always back with the other carts in the designated parking lot row. So maybe when I fall in love with a dress and there's only two left on the rack...one of them will be my size. Shopping karma.

4. I have voicemail phobia. I hate checking it, for some reason I always feel like I'm in trouble or something.

5. I love big dogs, BIG. Someday I want to have a great dane, alaskan malamute (siberian husky/great pyrenees mix), and a blonde golden retriever.

6. Tyan - not such a common name. The story is that my mom had a good friend named Ty Anne and liked the way it sounded. If it were spelled Tyanne or Tyann maybe people would pronounce it right - I get Diane, Ryan, Pam, "Tea-an" - but it doesn't really bother me. Now with the last name Jacox people are thoroughly confused. Maybe I should be Tyann Jaycox ... nah.


The rules:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

I tag Megan, Marissa and Holly.

Plasma Car Racing

Never heard of it? It's because it's pretty much an underground thing. It all started when my mom bought some little plastic "plasma cars" for our younger cousins to ride around the house at Thanksgiving, and ended with the sight of my dad's white suit shirt dissappearing into the night after we talked him into riding one down the driveway.

My parents house is on top of a hill and has a long winding driveway so you can actually get going really fast, scary fast I'd say. Which presents the obvious question - how do you stop before flying across the road and into the ditch on the other side? My mom figured this out the hard way by putting her feet down and burning holes clear through her socks and one heel (ouch). So now we're sure to wear thick soled shoes, or run into the grass if all else fails. Needless to say, now everyone who comes to the Murray house has to experience plasma car racing in all its glory. It gets pretty intense.

Yes, they're very tiny, but it just makes them more aerodynamic.


Marissa and Melissa sporting the pink cars. Mocha is sad that she exceeds the weight limit for racing, and lacks opposable thumbs.



Headlamps have revolutionized night racing.



I love Marissa's pose here - "Think you're tough guys? I can hold this car with my pinky."



Race time. It's getting serious.

New Look

Marissa and I decided to go for it last weekend and chop all our hair off! Marissa had been growing hers out for a while and I have had long hair for the past eight years or so - time for a change! Suprisingly it wasn't that hard to say goodbye to it. Both of us pretty much love it and I think our husbands do too. What do you think?

Another fun-filled Tyler weekend

I was born and raised in Tyler, TX which is about three hours from where we live now. People have a really common misconception that it is a po-dunk (real word?) cow town, which is pretty funny considering College Station isn't exactly a thriving metroplex (although it is a perfectly sized college town). Tyler is about 150,00-200,000 and is growing like crazy at the moment. It has pretty good shopping and restaurants, a nice mix of chain and local places, famous roses and azaleas, and is home to the Greenberg turkey. ( If you haven't tried a Greenberg do yourself a favor and order one next Thanksgiving, hey Oprah does! )

Ryan and Marissa, some friends of ours, are coming with us so it should be a really fun weekend. I hope you have a good one too!

Office Makeover (sneak preview)

So my mom came in town last Monday night for operation Office Makeover. Like I mentioned before she is the absolute guru when it comes to decoration and design, I was so excited to get her advice on how to give my office a little face lift. As my friend Patrick so graciously put it, "This is just a steel toilet away from being a prison cell." Thanks Patrick.

Needless to say things are looking up, way up. We unloaded a few large Anthropologie and Pottery Barn bags from the back of my mom's car and it was like Christmas morning. It's not quite finished yet so I can't put up before and after pictures, but I will give you a sneak peak of one of my favoritist additions...

Or a couple of them. The lamp is from Anthropologie and I want to marry it.

I have to get a few more frames and hang some things with Jared's help and then it will be finished. I know it seems silly but I spend more time in this room than almost any other place so I'm allowed to be excited, right!? Thanks again mom for all the fabulous splendigs and for making a special trip to help me, love you more than words can say.

Valentine's Goodies

Valentine's Day is the very definition of a double-edged sword, I understand this. If you're single you read about all of the romantic stories and want to barf, if you're in a relationship you want to gush over your significant other - making all the disgruntled single people barf. So I'm going to leave out all of the mushy stuff and just say that I'm very, very grateful to be married to my best friend.

We decided not to do big gifts this year since we can't find that dang money tree! But I did kinda sneak one - I made a photo book (online) of all of our pictures from our first year being married. It's called "The Adventures of Tyan and Jared: Chapter 1" and it just so happens that the delivery date was Feb. 14th, how convenient! It was so much fun going through all the pictures from our honeymoon, decorating our first townhome, our first holidays, etc. I think it's a good tradition and am ecstatic that all of those "2006 Pictures" are no longer haunting me from the computer making me feel guilty for being behind on my scrapbooking.

So tonight we are getting some Olive Garden to-go, giving each other our Valentine's cards and eating at home, I love it. Happy Valentine's Day Love!

(and thanks mom for the Valentine's day care package!!!)

I have the cutest cousins

I love my cousins, they are so cute! My aunt is 12 years older than me and 12 years younger than my mom so she feels more like an older sister to me than an aunt. Her and her husband, Dave, live in the Houston area and have two kids - Ashton and Savannah. They are so much fun and feel more like my neice and nephew rather than cousins.




A few weeks ago I made a trip down there to visit and have my Uncle Dave, a foot surgeon, look at my heel that had been bothering me. (slightly afraid that I would get a lecture on my love for high heels and the grim future of my stiletto wearing feet) He said I had a calcium something or other on my heel bone and needed a shot right into it - yikes. I don't do needles.

So I'm freaking out a little and eight year old Ashton asks if I want him to hold my hand, so cute. So he holds my hand while Dave sprays my heel with cold spray to semi-numb it for the first of three injections. Next thing I know I'm squeezing Ashton's little hand to death and he calmly says "Dad, I think she needs more cold spray".

I hope I didn't give him permanent hand damage. He sure made me feel better and laugh a little! And I'm happy to report that I'm back to wearing heels pain free! I just love living so close to them and going down to visit, they just grow up too fast! Now I sound old...

Bridesmaid Dresses 101

We all know the hideousness that can befall the innocent bridesmaid. The dress - there are endless stories and pictures to prove just how awful it can be. But amid all the stank emerges a few brides who decide not to sprinkle their bridesmaids with ugly dust - one of which is my sister, Kellye. She's getting married this summer and has been diligently searching for a dress that all seven (or so) of her bridesmaids will like, bless you my little KJ. To find such a dress we relied on none other than J.Crew (cue angels singing, light shining from heaven, laughter and happiness).



Okay, so I'm a little bit in love with everything that is J.Crew. They actually have a bridal party section that I LOVE but it is pretty expensive, especially multiplied times seven. This is from their regular dress section and comes in four colors. Since Kellye's colors are shades of yellow and orange we are going with the really saturated yellow - loves. I think it's going to look really summery and chic for the wedding (with a tan and cute heels), and since it doesn't scream bridesmaid I plan on rocking it all summer long. Love you Kel!

Old Mexico 2008 part 3

The finale. Where were we, oh yes - Tulum. What's crazy is that the last picture I posted from Tulum of the beach was straight out of my camera, no digital trickery or editing whatsoever. It's really that beautiful, loved it!

We knew we wanted to go to Tulum from all the amazing things we've heard about it and our driver, Jesus, (Hey-sus people, it's Spanish) was totally pumped to take us, and make a few other stops on the way. First a bit on Jesus - he's pretty much the coolest guy ever! He served in the Mexican army for a while but left because of the corruption (Jared was pumped to hear the Mafia bribing and snake eating stories) and then lived in California for two years working in various places. Then he moved back to Mexico and has several jobs, one of which is a private driver. He told us about his family and his life in Mexico, took our picture at every place we went and bought crackers for us to feed the fish when we went snorkeling. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to meet such amazing people like Jesus.

So when Kellye, Paige and Melissa decided they wanted to fulfill one of their lifelong dreams and swim with the dolphins we called Jesus. It was the coolest place! Not only were there dolphins, but sea lions and manatees too! While they got suited up and watched a safety video about not scratching the dolphins and such we checked out the sea lions. They reminded me of Chauncey for some reason.

Then the dolphin adventure began, in all its glory. Now we went on a "swim with the dolphins" excursion once before on a cruise that turned out to be more of a "stand in the same water with the dolphins and watch them swim by you very closely" kind of thing, but this was the real deal. They pet the dolphins, got dolphin kisses (Kellye's favorite), rode on their fins, and got propelled through the water/air with a "foot push". It was pretty awesome.

The next day Jesus asked where we'd like to eat lunch "inside or on the beach?" That was easy, "On the beach!" I don't even know if the place had a name but it was awesome. Almost everyone there was in a swimsuit and we couldn't understand a thing on the menu, my kind of place. After we ordered, Jared and I took a walk on the beach and officially decided that we love Mexico. The food was delicious and so was the lemonade (which was actually just margarita mix, I'm pretty sure.)

Jared found a baby coconut.

The last big adventure was one of my favorites. Jesus told us about this lagoon and it sounded like paradise. It is a giant pool of fresh water that connects to the ocean, so the fresh water and ocean water mix to make a crystal clear blue lagoon full of fish and some sea turtles and smooth as glass. It was like snorkeling in a freshly cleaned zoo aquarium, like the ones the otters swim in you know? So awesome.

And on the last day we relaxed, shopped the local market, and ate Guacamole until we turned green.

Dad's beach read - "The Coming Economic Collapse" - how relaxing.

Kellye showing a little love to the swan towel.

What a trip, the adventures were great and the beaches were beautiful but during that week I realized that good company is more valuable than anything. Thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome vacation and for getting everyone together, love you more than words can say.