This weekend...

...it's been fabulously gloomy here in Austin. I never appreciated gloomy/rainy days until I moved to south Texas. After this long, hot summer I find myself praying for a cloudy day. This weekend really delivered. We took the opportunity to be shut-ins and relax a bit....

What about you? Did you take time to relax and reflect this weekend? Or did you go go go? Either way, I hope you had a good one!

Be Bold.

Well, we made it...it's Friday my loves. I wanted to leave you all with this quote from the new Mumford & Sons album, I hope you all are enjoying this new music month as much as Dave and I are.

It's been an inspirational month to say the least and I can't keep up with all the new ideas I have flowing through me right now...I guess that's a good problem to have. I can't wait to share some of the things I have been working on for the shop and ideas I have for this little website of mine.

One thing I can tell you for sure, I will be incorporating more music and music influenced things on this site. It is one of the biggest sources of inspiration for me and I hope to pass some of that along to all of you as well. For starters, this fabulous quote from the new song "I Will Wait" up above...and the boys performing it on Saturday Night Live last weekend...


There is nothing better than musician's who are so passionate and moved by the music. Enjoy! Happy weekend, love you all. ~Mal

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza.

I know some of you remember this pizza that I teased you all with a picture of a week or two ago, so today I thought I'd share our recipe. Sometimes we make our own whole wheat pizza crust and you can find the recipe we use here, but this time we had a gift card to Whole Foods so we grabbed a package of pre-made whole wheat crusts (with good ingredients).

Here's what we put on it:

-Pasta sauce: you can use any kind, but we like the Organic sauce from Sam's club. You can also make your own sauce like we did here and here.

-Mozzarella cheese: we sprinkle some on top of the sauce and then a bit on top of all the ingredients at the end.

-Chopped up zucchini: sprinkled all over.

- Fresh jalapenos: we only put these on half of the pizza because these suckers were HOT...and I'm the only one who likes to torture myself with spiciness.

-Roma tomatoes: sliced and arranged around the pizza.

-Fresh spinach: just a few leaves scattered on top of the tomatoes.

-Lemon and orange pepper: the amount is up to you, we like to use a good amount.

...and there you have it! This pizza turned out fresh and light. We had it twice in one week (since the package came with two crusts) and I didn't feel like I had majorly splurged or gone crazy that week. I hope you all enjoy it!

Did you get it?

So it seems like everyone went out and bought (or purchased on iTunes) the new Mumford & Sons album, but OF COURSE they did...they're amazing. I think my favorite song so far is  Below my Feet, such great lyrics. If you bought it, what's your favorite?

I have to say that there have been a bunch of new great albums coming out the past few weeks, some we've waited a very long time for, but none that I am loving as much as this one.

Introducing Lauren from Tippee Canoe...

Today I'm excited to introduce to you Lauren (or Lo, as her friends call her) from the blog Tippee Canoe! She has wonderful pictures and a passion for travel, I know you all will love her...

1.What made you decide to start a blog?

I first started my blog when I packed up and moved myself to Hawaii. I wanted to be able to document my feelings and experiences so I would be able to have the memories in pictures and writing! I also wanted to be able to keep my family and friends as updated as possible since I was so far away from them! Little did I know that this little blog would turn into SO much more!



2. I know you travel a lot, where is your favorite place to go (besides Hawaii, hehe)?

Haha well you got me there! ...Hawaii is always numero uno! BUT I have also loved traveling to other places! One of my favorite traveling experiences was in Chicago! That city is full of life and character and goooood food! Somewhere in Canada I absolutely LOVE is British Columbia...talk about G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S! That place is amazing and so diverse! Oh my I could go on and on about travelling....can you tell? & as of right now I am looking forward to my first ever trip to TEXAS! Which I am pretty excited about! Hopefully that will be coming soon!



3. Your blog has great pictures, I love all of your cute selfies! What's your advice for someone trying to get better pictures?    First of all umm thanks!! Photography is one of my passions and there is nothing like taking some shots, sitting back, and thinking DAAAANG that is a fantastic picture! Some advice I can give is to always try different angles. Everything looks SO different from another angle or perspective. Also, take the time to edit. Editing can be SO magical, and turn just an ordinary picture into something SO.MUCH.MORE. Lastly, just have fun with it! Some of the best pictures I have taken were just me goofing around and taking random shots.. those have been my favorite ones!

Now go say hi/follow and tell her I sent you!
Blog ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

PS~ What do you all think of my new design?! I hope you guys love it as much as I do. :)

Just a little tip...

That's all this is, not a recipe post, just a little tip...for the best breakfast/snack, maybe ever. Those of you who follow me on Instagram saw me post about the pumpkin spice bagel thins I bought the other day.

I could barely wait until I got home to open them up and try them, but they were worth the wait. If you went out and bought some (or are going to after this post), I have just one thing to say to you...

...dark chocolate peanut butter. That's right, I went there. Pumpkin spice + dark chocolate peanut butter = heaven. Try it. And none of this nutella nonsense, make sure to get dark chocolate peanut butter, just trust me.

Sponsor in October?

We have a few new tricks up our sleeves and we can't wait to share everything that has been going on over here...we would love to help advertise for you while we do! Here's all the info you need/might want to know, if you'd like to have a button made for only $5, just email me!

Here are some of our stats...

450+ views daily

442 likes on Facebook

1,062 followers on Twitter 
553 followers on Pinterest

1,035+ followers on GFC, Bloglovin, and Hellocotton combined

*Plus my husband's social network that he shares the blog with of about 20,000+ people! 

Week in Instagram: Fall is here!

This week I mostly fought off the rest of this crazy sickness, still am a bit, but feeling oh so much better. Thank you again for all the sweet comments, you guys are the best. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

-Gorgeous blue sky and weather under 90 degrees? Heaven.
-Found my first fallen leave that had changed colors...happy first day of Fall!
-Pretty Fall colored flowers from my love.
-Cozy Saturday morning.
-Thanks Klout and Starbucks for the extra caffeine delivered straight to my door!
-The first time out of the house and putting on "real" clothes once I started feeling better.

Linking up with A Good Life and Life Rearranged...

Celebrate life...

So true.

Isn't it? I find this true in my own life for sure, the more I focus on the bad, the more bad things that come...but when I search for the good in my life, it seems to overflow. Just something to think about as we head into the weekend. The fact that it's already Friday is definitely something to celebrate.

This weekend Dave and I will be celebrating 3.5 years of marriage (as of today)! We like to celebrate the little milestones along with the big...because why not? It makes life a lot more fun to celebrate the little things, trust me. 

What do you have to celebrate this weekend? I hope you all have had a wonderful week!

These are a few of my favorite things: Fall edition.

The official first day of Fall is in a few days and it is finally starting to feel a bit fallish here in south Texas...at least to us. At this point anything under 100 feels amazing. But I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things to enjoy once the cooler temps hit...

Most of you know I've been burning my Fall scented candles for awhile now, totally in denial that it was still blazing outside. I didn't care, it made me happy.

I almost got the book before the movie, but I'm the weirdo who likes to see the movie and then read the book...so I waited. But there is nothing better than curling up to a good book on a cool evening with the windows open.

You guys know that I enjoy my tea whether it's hot or cold outside, but it becomes a necessity in the cooler months.

Dave and I have been having fun trying all the Oktoberfest, harvest, and pumpkin beers out right now. This was one of our favorites so far.

What are your favorite Fall things? I'd love to hear!

Dallas: Poor David's and Roots.

As most of you know, Dave and I made a trip up to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area two weekends ago. It was really nice for us to get out of town and get a hotel, we hadn't had a trip just the two of us all summer. Friday was crazy, as soon as Dave got home from classes we hit the road and got to our hotel just in time to change clothes and head back out to Poor David's Pub.

Dave had been asked to play there by a friend whose band was also playing that night. It was a good time with fun friends...

Our friend David of The Krooks

Saturday we got to sleep in and enjoy the day. We headed to Cafe Brazil for coffee and brunch, which was amazing. And then we headed to the mall to do some shopping. We did some damage at H&M, but since Austin doesn't have one yet, it was necessary.

Dave's show that night was at Roots Coffeehouse and we loved this place. It has a very homey, organic feel to it, which is my favorite kind of coffee shop. And their food/drinks were delicious. I had The Medi wrap and some kind of frappuccino goodness.

Dave got to meet Caroline (of Sew Caroline) and we both got to meet her husband, also Dave. SO glad they came out! Our twitter friend (now real life friend since we've hung out so many times) Maria and her sweet husband came too, we always love hanging out with them.

We had a great time on our mini vacation, if you can call doing a show per night a vacation, hehe. I definitely came back needing some down time, but we had fun!

 Linking up with  The Paper Mama, Project Alicia, Live and Love Outloud, Naptimemomtog, Jenni from the Blog, and A Little King and I...

iPhone recap...

While I'm over here taking it easy because I'm still sick, I thought I'd share with you all some of my iPhone pictures that haven't made it to the blog yet. Thank you all so much for the sweet "get well" tweets, they mean the world to me!

-My new fall clothes that I can't wait to wear...all from Target by the way.
-A fall headband I made...that one was for myself, but I made another and it's going up in the shop today!
-Hand popped kettle corn and cherry wheat beer mean it's fall, right?!
-My first time making pancakes, pretty dang proud of myself, even though I know pancakes are easy. I get nervous cooking on the stove, I'm much more of an oven kind of girl...working on it!
-Getting down to business.
-Dave and I finally watched "Big Easy Express" with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford and Sons, and Old Crow Medicine Show...I highly recommend it! Made me want to hop in the car and go on tour with Dave...someday.

-Our hotel in Dallas.
-He be jammin'.
-Elevator photo op.
-Red pants happy dance. (This outfit is also all from Target...can you tell I love it there?)
-Enjoying coffee and brunch with my love.
-Homemade whole wheat pizza...oh so good.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Anyone do anything exciting? Fill me in, I was stuck on the couch most of the weekend trying to take it easy and recover, let me live vicariously through you.

Linking up with A Good Life, Harper's Happenings, Pleated Poppy, and Life Rearranged...

Live to be free...

Here's a favorite song of mine to get your Friday started off right. If the crisp fall air has arrived in your town, make sure to play this one in the car with the windows down and your hand out. And if you haven't heard of Griffin House before I beg you to go check him out now. His soulful voice and haunting lyrics will draw you in and make you want more...

I heart technology...

The other day, Dave did a Skype/Google chat session with his good friend out in Kentucky and it just reminded me how awesome technology is. How lucky are we that we live in a time that no matter how near or far our family and friends are it is so easy to keep in touch with them...

I love getting to face time with our oldest nephew (even when he runs off to show us something in his room and doesn't realize we can't still see him or follow him) and sending picture texts to my Mom. It makes being away from them a little bit easier.

I get a little too excited when new technology comes out (I may or may not have teared up when watching Steve Jobs give the keynote on the iPhone 4 before it came out) and I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Whole Foods Headquarters ↠ David Owens Live.

If you're ever in Austin you have to check out the Whole Foods Headquarters, at least in my opinion. It is a healthy eaters dream...

Dave had the opportunity to play there and it was really cool, really hot, but really cool. So many people stop their on their lunch breaks, and who can blame them, the food is amazing.

Side note: I don't know how you Austinites do it, it was over 100 that day (which we know in Austin feels like at least 120) and I had on a tank and shorts and could not stop wiping the sweat off myself. Meanwhile you all are wearing jeans and cardigans and acting like it isn't as hot as the surface of the sun...what gives?

For those of you in Austin, he'll be performing at the new Arbor Trails Whole Foods on November 14th, put it on your calendars!

Truth be told...

...a lot of days include me furiously typing away or taking notes at my desk, in my comfy pants, and no (or little) make up.

The other day I was particularly glamorous. I had pinned my bangs back and not looked in the mirror (never a good idea)...Dave said I had crazy hair and walked out the door. I thought, "What is he talking about?" and made my way towards the bathroom to find this...

...special, I know. They can't all be good hair days, right?

The best part of waking up...

If you follow me on Instagram you know that Dave has been making us eggs for breakfast a lot lately. I can't get enough, it's become my favorite way to start the day. Scrambled with a side of toast, omelette, sandwich, wrap, tacos...it doesn't matter.

Every time he makes them it is so different and I swear they get better with each batch. I'm a fat kid at heart and I just love having a man that can cook.

What's your favorite way to start the day? Are you a cereal every morning type of person (I used to be), do you run out the door with a piece of toast, or do you skip breakfast all together (shame shame)?