Austin Recap

Here's a collage from our girls trip to Austin. We had a blast celebrating Alison's upcoming wedding and have many great memories from this past weekend! Nicole has a few more details if you're interested....

(Click the collage to enlarge)

Exhausted

Well we survived. The girls went to Austin for Alison's Bachelorette party and the guys went to Vegas for Mark's Bachelor party over the weekend. I've barely had a chance to talk to Ryan since he got home at 2:30 am last night and we left for work this morning at 6:30 but I'm pretty sure they had a good time as well. I do know that we had a BLAST in Austin celebrating and I think I must be getting old because I'm exhausted and still trying to recover from staying up until the wee hours of the night.

I promise to post pictures when I get home tonight - well at least some of them :)

Bad Day at the Dentist

Ryan and I have somehow managed to avoid the dentist the last couple of years and now we will be paying the price. A BIG price. A 3K price.

I know. I know. We have brought this on ourselves and I should of seen it coming. I knew I was going to have a few cavities but 3 - plus a crown! And Ryan's even worse. I'm not even going to mention the number of cavities that he has. His treatment will require at least 3 visits to fix all of his problems.

I guess I should stop eating the skittles that are sitting right next to me...

Engagement Party Recap

Another party recap! The last couple of weekends have been filled with wedding related events and last night was no different. My older brother Ryan (the other Ryan) proposed to his girlfriend last month and my parents offered to host them an engagement party. My mom and I started planning this a few weeks ago and I must say - everything turned out fabulous! She gets all the credit though because she came up with all the fun details and the great decor. I just helped pick out the invitations. Ok, I'm going to start with a few pictures of the details because I want to brag on my mother's creativity and then I'll move on to a few of the party pictures. Enjoy!

The invitation :)

Part of the living room decor

Close up of the decor

Party Favors! We found stickers to match the invitation and of course had to find a way to use them. We decided to put cookies in the bags and Courtney's mom actually brought cookies from a bakery in their home town. They were super cute and good!

Candy station

The weather was beautiful and it was a great night to be outside

Outdoor decor

Kitchen

Gerber daisies were everywhere and the pots were all wrapped with burlap

Even Champ dressed for the occasion :)

Taylor, the bride-to-be Courtney and her sister Jayme

Courtney and I

A few of the guests on the patio. My parents invited many of their friends and Ryan and Courtney invited several of their good friends as well.

Courtney and a few of her friends

Ryan and I with the newly engaged couple

After everyone left Ryan and Courtney opened up a few of their gifts

Once again, we had a great time and we are so excited for Ryan and Courtney!

Don't worry - I'll have another wedding related recap after next weekend. Ryan is headed off for Mark's bachelor party and the girls are celebrating Alison's bachelorette party. I'm sure I'll have many more pictures to share!

Alison's Bridal Shower

On Saturday, my mother and my mother in law hosted a bridal shower for Alison. Everything turned out great as the flowers were beautiful, the berry mimosas were delicious and the cupcakes they made were adorable!

My mother and Ryan's mother thought it would be a great idea to host a shower for her since Mark and Alison have been such good friends of ours. Ryan and Mark have been friends since High School and Ryan is the best man in Mark's wedding as Mark was the best man in our wedding. Alison and I have known each since college and she is also one of my best friends. She was in our wedding and now I'm excited to be a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding.

You're probably wondering how Alison and Mark met since Ryan went to A&M and I went to OU. Well one weekend our Junior of college Alison came down to College Station with me for the A&M/OU football game. Mark was over at Ryan's house and we all hung out together all weekend. Alison and I headed back to Norman and she actually continued to talk to Mark over the phone for the next couple of months. Mark made a trip to see Alison over New Years and they've been together ever since!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday...

Alison (left) with her two sisters and her Mom

The Cupcakes :)

The favor boxes had matching mini cupcakes in them

The precious flower girl and her cupcake

Nicky T and her Mom

All the gifts

Alison opening gifts

My sister-in-law Becca and I

Rochelle, Lauren, Alison, Nicole and I

Thursday Night Tradition

I look forward to Thursday night all week and this week isn't any different. Every Thursday we bring out the Black Box and pour a glass (or two) of wine and cook a delicious frozen pizza. It's super easy and cheap. And you can't beat the easy clean up. I'm not sure how long we've been doing this but it's a great tradition that we plan to continue. Classy, I know :)

The weather is nasty and I've been thinking about curling up on the couch with a glass of Cabernet all day. It makes it even better that Grey's is new tonight.

Too bad we have work tomorrow....

Tanning Disaster

In the next couple of weeks I have several wedding related events and I am hoping to mask my white pasty skin with a beautiful tan. Well, I should of known - I have a terrible history when I attempt to bronze my skin and I don't know why I thought this time would be any different...

In my attempt to avoid the tanning bed to save my skin and to avoid the professional spray tan to save my wallet I pulled out the tanning lotion. I've tried this numerous times over the last couples of years and thought I'd give it another go.

First of all, you should never try applying tanning lotion at 5:30 am. I was half awake at that time and obviously did not apply very evenly. The bottle said that I would receive a golden tan after applying daily for a week so I didn't think I would even notice anything after one day. Well this afternoon, while at work, I noticed streaks on my arms and realized my elbow was orange! I couldn't even imagine what my legs looked like but luckily I was wearing pants.

Should I dare try to apply again and even it out?? I haven't decided yet. I still hope to reach my golden tan but maybe I should just accept the fact that I'm pale....

Charleston!

Well we made it back from Charleston (after flight cancellations and delays) but overall we had a great time and enjoyed all being together! I've put together a collage of some of my pictures but I'll also give a quick run down of our trip....

• We ate the BEST food ever! Who doesn't love shrimp and grits and she crab soup?!?
• We went on a boondoggle to a winery in the middle of now where - see picture to get an idea of the bathroom facilities :)
• Had a history lesson and learned a little more about the Civil War and where the first shots were fired
• Toured a really pretty plantation
• Ran into super cute southern boys - A fraternity from the Univ. of Georgia happened to be staying at our hotel for the weekend :)
• I found a super cute new dress for the horse races in Kentucky - I wish we had a Copper Penny in Houston!
• Drove by the house where Noah lived from the movie The Notebook
• Realized I would love to live on Rainbow Row - the houses are amazing and super cute!
• Celebrated my grandmother and my cousin's birthday
• Did I mention we ate really really good food??

We had such a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to getting together again!