m and m

To say I'm thankful for these two amazing friends isn't enough. Blessed, thankful, forever grateful and appreciative just begin to scratch the surface. I got to spend a full day with each of these lovelies as they stepped in to help me finish wedding tasks so that I can go be by sweet mama's side for two days (those two days just happen to be the week of our wedding-hello, stress and expletives and tears and no sleep and endless praying). Anyway, sweet Meredeth and Margaret took the reins as wedding planners and ran around with me in the 256 degree heat trying to finish things on the never-ending wedding to-do list. Meredeth went to 400 stores with me to find a rehearsal dinner dress, she tried on dresses that they didn't have in my size just so I could see what they looked like on, she befriended the saleslady in order to make sure my overnighted dress would get here in time, and she made me laugh the whole time, which was very much needed. Margaret and I went to a few less stores looking for jewelry and other day-of necessities. ;) We managed to find multiple pieces that would work and then came back and worked on the ceremony program for hours. Man, she is ah-mazing on the computer! It was so nice to get those things accomplished with friends alongside for the fun/stress.

More important than all of the items bought and tasks scratched off the lists, these two souls are the truest definition of what a friend is. They stepped in and required that I accept their help, they've made me laugh and they've listened. They've shown love in the most outstanding way and I will forever remember that while in the midst of heartache and uncertainty combined with the craziness and excitement that comes with finalizing wedding plans, my friends displayed loved that I've never seen before.

fireworks x2

It goes without saying: I. Love. Fireworks. So much so, in fact, that I've been known to sneak into the Cats' stadium at the end of the games to watch the fireworks show. Luckily this July 4th weekend, I did not have to do so. I got my fill on both the 3rd and 4th. Score.

July 3rd

We went with Bobby's parents and friends to the Concert in the Gardens. It was so nice out and we got to listen to the FW symphony play some sweet patriotic music...followed by even sweeter fireworks that lasted for forever. They had the best fireworks finale I've ever seen!!

You can't tell from this picture, but the conductor had on a serious American flag shirt.

I promise I really was having fun, it just wasn't captured in this picture.

July 4th

Grant, Bobby's bff (they might even have some sort of weird friendship bracelet to prove it), invited us to play out at his parents' house with lots of other folks. Um, it was GORGEOUS!!! I wish I had thought to take a picture of their actual house, but you'll just have to enjoy the amazing view they have.

We swam in the pool, ate lots of good food and sampled a ridiculous amount of desserts, played with lots of cute dogs, and watched multiple fireworks shows. We could see at least 6 or 7 from around the city and then of course, because it's Texas and we were in the semi-country, fireworks were set off about 10 feet from the house. Before most of this, Grant took us a death ride via Mule to show up the property and the stocked pond. He and CB caught a few cute bass, Ashley and I managed to spill our margaritas within about 3 minutes of the start of the death ride, Bobby acted like there was nothing abnormal about going 40 mph on a Mule, and I saw more grasshoppers than I ever have in my life. Fun times!

Much better picture-taking experience than the day before (just wait for that post, it will be worth it...promise).

This picture is only showing about half of the cute doggies that got to play and take part in the holiday festivities. I am in love with that big, white, sweet polar bear named Gabe. I want to steal him. Reaaaaal bad.

Grant probably made the firework salesman's year. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many different kinds of fireworks close up. Which is why I learned just how much I like being far away from the actual explosion. Below: I could not get my sparkler to burn out fast enough or get far enough away from those two clowns with their Roman candles.

What a great, great, great weekend with fun people!!

love in the bond

I got to catch up with so many of my favorites this weekend, courtesy of AXO! It was the 20th anniversary/celebration of when the chapter started at TCU. Friday night was a bid day recreation at an alum's house in Park Hill....I must say, it was much better the 5th time around: margarita machine. We definitely didn't get to enjoy one of those babies at bid day in college. After mucho margaritas and some good Mexican food, we headed downtown to see The Klocks, who played at Suzanna's and Jay's wedding just a mere year ago. I was quickly reminded of why I avoid downtown: Affliction shirts, hired girls dancing in nearly nothing, and lots of strobe lights. The Klocks were awesome at the wedding, but this night they were apparently catering to the downtown crowd who likes to hear "Baby Got Back" and the like. We didn't stay long.

Saturday night was the recreation of our formal, Red Carnation. In actuality though, we really did sort of crash the active's formal. Because it was cash bar, and because this cash bar was at Colonial Country Club, we opted to have a preparty at my place...we were trying our best to recreate college! The party was fun...that might have been in part to the flasks that were or were not snuck in...

I was most excited to see some of my favorite people whom I either hadn't seen in nearly a year and also the ones I had seen a few weeks ago. Either way, we always catch right back up and it's as though no time has passed at all. We had such a good time laughing, dancing, and retelling stories.

Can we go back to college but take out the class part??? I want all my favorites to live within walking distance of each other!!

(Too bad half of my favorites weren't around during picture time.)

for your viewing pleasure

To clear up any confusion as to why Suzanna, Emily, and I look as though we're 2 years younger and why my hair is short, here's an actual picture from this past Saturday night in Dallas (the other was literally from 2 years ago at creepy transvestite-who-is-also-a-Cher-impersonator karaoke). I didn't post it yesterday out of concern that you might not be able to figure out who the middle character was. Wait. Of course you would have figured that out, we all know Emily. In the midst of our random and fun evening out (it was actually our month-late Christmas exchange), we stopped by a cougar-themed 30th birthday party. Please do not ever throw me a cougar-themed anything. Needless to say, after a few beverages and looking at lots of people in leopard print, things appeared funny to us that might not be funny to the average viewer. Cases in point:

-Emily demonstrating an array of dance moves while wearing a lion mask (remember: cougar theme. Cougar theme is bad.)
-Jay wearing said lion mask pretending to eat brisket and a container of ice cream.

feels like home

i heart ny

Ok, so I haven't blogged about my trip for a couple of reasons:
a-I'm not a good story teller...in my next life, I want to be able to sing and to tell stories
b-Uploading pictures on here is one of the most annoying things known to man, so I put a few and then a link to mine and Emily's pics from the trip
c-I have been super busy trying to be lazy for my last few days of summer

Emily and I headed out to NYC about 2 weeks ago. After sitting on the plane at DFW, on the runway, on a plane which could not withstand the Texas heat and therefore kept shutting down (no a/c!!) on the runway while waiting for an hour and a half, we finally took flight and landed at LaGuardia and met up with our Texan-turned-New Yorker friend, Alyson, from TCU. We spent a full day shopping in the city, went on an all day wine tour, and then headed to the Jersey shore to see yet another friend from college, SarahMac.

Can I tell you the highlights, in bullet-form, por favor?

-I LOVED Chelsea Market. If I lived close by in NYC, I would be there all the time. Specialty food stores, bakeries with the cutest cookies and cupcakes, a really neat kitchen store, and wine store...seriously, what else do you need in life?!
-I enjoyed my first visit to a true NYC apartment...Alyson and her roommate, Sara, really know how to utilize their space. Their apartment was precious! And right in the middle of Manhattan, which I learned was pretty great. They were great hostesses and Alyson even left a giant Empire State Building chocolate on our pillows....she skipped right over the tiny one-bite-and-you're-done chocolates. :) She's my kind of gal.
-The guys, at least at the little bar down the block from Alyson's, were beautiful. Almost too pretty.
-We wine-toured it up all day Saturday. I rode on a limo bus for what was hopefully the first and last time. It sounds really cool, I know...but let me tell you...the combination of 8 a.m., mimosas, sitting sideways, 2 hour drive each way, listening to a 35+ old woman whose tongue was pierced ramble, 3 vineyards, and bottles of vino split at each vineyard do not make for a fun ride. The weather was gorgeous, however, and there was live music at the last 2 vineyards. It was a great day!!
-We headed to New Jersey on Sunday morning to go see our long last friend SarahMac. Her name is really just Sarah but her last name starts with Mc, so she has been SarahMac to us since our days of sorority chants and singing...thank the Lord that's over! Her family has an unbelievably amazing house right across from the beach and we stayed there for 2 nights (I even got my kitty fill thanks to the stray cat they started feeding last summer who has since had a family of his own; complete with 3 tiny kitties that I tried endlessly to befriend). We spent the next few days sunning, laughing a lot, and splashing in the ocean. I got taken down by one doozie of a wave and now my sunglasses are swimming amongst the fishes...it was a small price to pay for such enjoyment.

The trip was so relaxing (minus the transportation: both air and bus) and SO much fun. I am already anxious to go back to NYC and see the many things I didn't get to this time. There's also something to be said for friends you've not seen in 4 years whom you can just pick right back up with again like you saw them a week ago.

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

A cool, random collage of painted tiles for 9/11.

Alyson's sweet WELOME home sign...guess what grammar nazi noticed the cute mistake...

SarahMac's family's BEAUTIFUL house in NJ!

Happy hour at the beach.

Night lights of NYC.More beach fun.

Inside one of the wine cellars...I don't usually have a drink in hand at 10 a.m.

Pool time in NJ.

And here are the links to pictures if you want to see more:

(Warning: Emily likes the camera...she's like a performing monkey)

http://picasaweb.google.com/marylorangersnaps/NYCNJ2009#

http://picasaweb.google.com/ClarkyClark/NYCNJ#

celebrate good times

I love fireworks. I wish they were a part of every holiday celebration. Or maybe used to celebrate the end of each month. I would like that. I like them. Alas, I must try to get my fix on one day in July. Oh, but wait, not this year...I managed to see fireworks THREE nights in a row-booya!!

Thursday: minding our business, discussing all kinds of important things, sitting on the roof at 7th Haven, low and behold...up pops the show from the Botanic Gardens. What a great surprise! I then took pictures with each of my fireworks friends.
Mere and I...not sure I was quite ready for that photo, but it captured the fireworks, so I'm happy.

Claire and I....no fireworks that direction behind us...whoops.

Bobby and I...he was also my partner in crime on Friday as we snuck into the end of the Cats baseball game, found empty seats on the 3rd row, watched the last 1/2 of the 9th inning and then...FIREWORKS SHOW! Woohoo!!

For the actual 4th, I ventured to Lake Worth with Mere, Leigh, and crew...but not before a stop at Rosa's, Majestic, and the Dollar General first. What else is there to do in Lake Worth, really? We spent the rest of the afternoon at a lake house where we played a super fun game of baseball...I think all baseball should be played the way we played. I hit the first RBI of the game. Whatever that is. Then a couple of the boys proceeded to call me "Proud Mary" the rest of the night. Guess the Wii baseball playing paid off. I also caught a ball but it didn't count as an out because I wasn't holding my drink in hand when I caught it. See, now you wanna know how to play the game, huh? :) We played with the most precious tiny fluff of a dog and watched fireworks over the water once the sun went down. What a fabulous 4th!!!

Oh, wait, how could I forget the biggest man-made slip-n-slide ever! It was fun and luckily I'd had enough fun that afternoon that I wasn't grossed out by the fact that I was covered in baby oil, shaving cream, and grass. Here are my visible battle wounds, although a lot more of body hurt than just my hip and knees...internal bruising, perhaps...?? (And yes, one of my knees is more swollen than the other.)

Team America!!

elvis has left the...garden???

Dallas is quickly making its way to my heart. I trekked over there last night to attend an Elvis tribute band concert at the Arboretum with Emily and Suzanna. I got to tour a new part of Dallas as I made my way to Emily's new apt...I got an even longer tour (in the dark) of the ghetto when her directions did NOT get me to I30 to go home.

We headed to Whole Foods where we made salads, sampled and got some delicious, refreshing wine, and I got us some "wholesome junkfood" brownie bite things. Suz said that wholesome junkfood doesn't exist. They were interesting...sort of like chocolate fig newtons. Not bad, but not what you want if you are seriously craving something chocolate. Suz, being a good little mama, packed a picnic basket and blanket, along with waters, napkins, and forks for everyone. Emily, being Emily, got a bag of ice at Whole Foods. And when I say bag, I mean that she filled up a produce section bag (like you would put apples into) with "Sonic ice." "That's how I get ice, I don't have an ice maker at home." Oh, Emily. She's pretty.

I digress. Elvis was the reason for the gathering. He put on a good show and wore both a Hawaiian shirt for the first half and then a white, fringed, leather...or pleather... jumpsuit for the second half once the sun went down. The little girl in the picture below was deemed "little Emily." With the exception of wearing pink AND flowers, we decided had Emily attended this concert as a 5 year old, this is who she would have been. She was jammin'! Emily says in line (to me, the instigator), "Dare me to get him to sign my arm?" Dare.

Oh my goodness, I think the man left a good 1/2 inch of sweat on my shoulder/arm. SICK.

And she wanted Elvis's signature....too bad she had to settle for Kraig. With a K.

summer: so far, so fun!

I know I'm only about a week into summer, but it's been great so far. I haven't had much "free time" yet, which is nice because I haven't been bored, but I know that will be coming soon...I have been recording movies on my DVR to keep occupied in the coming weeks.

So far, so fun list:
~unpacked my office (which I have a really hard time saying) and am going back next week to start planning for the new school year. :)
~bought a pass for summer exercise classes at TCU...attended Pilates and loved it, am going again tomorrow (and attempting to soak up some sun if it's out). Next week, I'm trying TNT (tone-n-tighten)...hopefully I'll live to be able to blog about it.
~went to a Rangers game last minute. If you know me, you know I am very scheduled and not spontaneous, however, I have been working on it. I got ready in about 45 minutes for the game and had a great time.
~went back to Dr. Boothe and tomorrow is my LAST day of eye drops-WOOHOO!!! (see side note below)
~headed to Dallas for some QT with a BFF. It was a fabulously fun day that included tasting an interesting concoction of watermelon cucumber juice, a sushi lunch, manicures (I'm channeling LC from The Hills with my new red polish), shopping at Anthropologie, a delicious dinner and champagne in cute pink sugar-rimmed glasses for a bday party. Could I get used to Dallas easily? YES. Could my wallet? N-O.
~a patio date today once the torrential downpour was over.

The first week of summer has been so great...here's to hoping it stays that way!

Side note: Originally, I thought I would blog about my lasik surgery. However, there are reasons no one tells you ANYTHING about the process. Before. During. Or after. That being said, I highly recommend it and would do it again without a second thought.

superwoman?

Just maybe. Emily is the strongest, bravest, and most faith-holding person I know. I love you, Em!

beauty in boerne

Last weekend was my wonderful, fun, and dear friend Suzanna's wedding in Boerne. What a memorable, amazing, beautiful, and PERFECT weekend it was!! Perfect minus the rain during the (outdoor) rehearsal and the storm that woke me up at 5 a.m. the morning of the wedding...but here's all the good stuff:Emily, Margaret, and I decided to give a group toast to Jay and Suz because the story we wanted to tell involved all three of us (and Jay), and more importantly...to me, anyway, I knew if I stood up on my own and started speaking, I would get a mere 3-4 words out before I started ugly crying/no one can understand what you are saying business. Safety in numbers! Although, of course I did still cry. We recounted taking Jay out for margaritas at Chuy's and laying it out for him...we wanted him to be The One, which meant bumping the current clown Suz was dating and getting all their ducks in a row. Look how that turned out... :)

Margaret and I took more family/parent pictures than I think have been taken since I was about 3 years old. Of course I got none of all of us looking directly at my camera, but you get the drift.

My mama didn't know she would be color coordinating so well with the wedding decor.

It was a bit crowded in the "Sewing Room" of the Ye Kendall Inn...but we let Aunt Jemima stay anyway, closed eyes in pictures and all. At some point in the night, I decided to start using a British/Irish accent when saying the name of the hotel...not at all sure why. I think we'd had enough wine, dancing, and fun that none of us really cared about the reality that 3 of us were sharing a queen bed.

Thank goodness I'm not following this wedding anytime soon!!!! How do you top this entrance???

Ain't she a pretty thing?! :)

I'm trying to give you a peak at how beautiful and perfect the weather turned out...a mere 12ish hours after a complete downpour. Do you see a single cloud in that sky?

Mr. and Mrs. Rubottom!!

I stole this picture off someone's Facebook page whom I don't even know...but I couldn't resist. This was inside the tent where the reception and band were. Amazing.

I had such a great time and was so sad everything was over on Sunday. I also think I want to hire Suzanna to be me or coach me the weekend of my own wedding one day. That girl was more calm than I would have ever been. She did not roll eyes at Maureen, the wedding planner whom I was plotting to throw into the lake due to her patronizing way of speaking to everyone, she vacuumed hours before her wedding, she went with her now husband to be baptised in the lake 30 minutes before her own wedding rehearsal, and she said her face didn't hurt from smiling after a 5 hour long rehearsal dinner. I am so excited for them!!

the ranch

I had the best time celebrating Suzanna last weekend at "the ranch!!" Margaret picked me up Friday afternoon, we loaded up her car, and headed that way to meet the rest of the girls. It's only a month a few days until Suzanna lives with a boy! Yay!! We had a smaller group Friday which was really fun. We ate pasta of a certain shape and then just hung out and talked the rest of the night...that is, until Emily decided at 1:30 a.m. to show us some killer yoga moves....all while wearing a brimmed gardening hat. That girl is NUTS! You know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to arise from my bed, run, and knock her off of her weird tripod pose....twice. She enjoyed it. She also led group exercise on Saturday morning. It was much needed after consuming all kinds of candy and baked goods the night before. I opted out of the kickboxing part since I can't punch to save my life (it's probably because of my sweet nature that I can't do anything resembling violence...), but I hung in there pretty well with the rest of her routine. And I was sore that night and for the next 2 days, so it must have been effective. Here are some pictures to highlight the weekend:
Suzanna got her sash!

Emily's handiwork...aka "Made with love by Nana." Also, Jay's last name (and Suz's soon-to-be) is Rubottom, so we made use of that as best we could.

I baked cakes for decorating Friday night...Margaret's is the best disguised, so I put it on my family-friendly blog. :)

The Friday night crew/Saturday morning exercise class. Margaret watched from afar as she worked on her awesome grad school portfolio.

BBQ for dinner...cheap, yummy turkey, and BYOB...or in our case BYOJS: Bring Your Own Jello Shots. I think we took one before every meal, after every meal, and whenever else anyone deemed it to be time for jello shots.

Some of the gals

Our big plans to show the Boot Scootin' a good time went down the drain as we got rejected because it's a "private club"...due to being a dry county....Texas is SO weird!! And because one of the girls did not have her ID. I'm pretty sure all 6 people in the bar were bummed as we walked out...they knew they were missing something good! Luckily, however, Emily and Robyn put on nasty camo hunting suits and did a semi-strip tease for Suz with the peni-yata when we got back. And they brought out trays of jello shots, of course.

The weekend was super fun, way too quick, and made me really excited for the wedding!