Eat dessert first.

I have been totally remiss on my posting lately. With good reason. Robert has had a short break from classes in between semesters and tonight he starts his summer session in the B-School. Getting those electives out of the way for graduation in December - yay!

To recap - we took a very quick trip to OKC over Memorial Day weekend on behalf of my 14-year-old sister. When we went to AZ for spring training, she missed the beginning of a concert tour in Dallas so it was only appropriate that we caught the end in OK. We stayed at the Renaissance on the edge of Bricktown which made walking to the concert venue easy. We were upgraded into a two bedroom, two bath suite which was very sweet. Not to mention the room service we indulged in.

I have this thing about trying the french toast at every hotel I stay in (I'm talking nice hotels). The version here was french toast bread pudding. I was intrigued but disappointed. Def not what I wanted for breakfast. Maybe someday I'll be able to give the sooner state another try at french toast but it won't be any time soon.

Back to the real story - Caitlin had a blast at the concert and so did Robert and I. It wasn't too crowded and the venue had air conditioning...sweet, sweet air conditioning. Caitlin caught a guitar pick too!

Sunday night of that weekend was Sprinkles night. We had the "Ashleigh" version of the key lime cupcakes - they rank up there on my top flavor list. She also made some really delish food that I need to recreate!

Monday was spent by the pool getting some sun and mentally preparing myself for Tuesday - the dreaded root canal. I was in pain the entire weekend and I was convinced that I would suffer so bad on Tuesday that I'd have to stay home from work. My preconceived notions were so far from true. I felt zero pain throughout the procedure and afterwards. I didn't need any pain killers - nothing. The next few days I just took Motrin but nothing...I repeat nothing...compares to the pain BEFORE the procedure. So there you have it, myth busted. Root canals are awesome.

Last weekend I had to work the go green home fair. I picked up some green home swag and spent the rest of the weekend napping. I haven't done that in a while so it was much needed.

This week has been great so far. I was selected to go to a women's leadership conference for my industry in a week or two in Scottsdale. My second trip there within a few months. AZ must be calling my name. Or maybe it's the Sprinkles next to my hotel...

Oh, and now that it's official, I can announce that Stacey and Russ are expecting a little one roughly two weeks before my big day! Congratulations! I cannot wait to meet baby Mensik - I have my fingers crossed for a Christmas delivery.

groovin' (on a Sunday afternoon...)

It seems like I've started a Sunday posting trend. I'll try to keep it up. It's nice to review the past week and think about the week ahead.

This week was full of rain. I'm not loving our soil because it's full of sand, clay, rocks and all kinds of stuff that isn't great for absorbing the wet stuff. I'll get over it though because my plants are starting to thrive. Jack, on the other hand, has turned into a diva when it is raining. He doesn't like to get his little paws wet. That's pretty unusual considering he loves to jump into a nice pool of water. 

I spent most of the week on the road visiting my cities and next week is not going to slow down. Tomorrow is my only "office" day. Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be in Austin and Thursday through Sunday will be spent in Surprise, AZ soaking up the sun. (and taking my little sister to a little thing called Spring Training)

My little sister is a huge baseball fan. She can tell you any stat on MLB players and her favorite team is the Rangers (second favorite is the Devil Rays - because Tampa is our second home - and the Astros also make the top of her list). For Christmas I decided to get her a trip to spring training. In January, my mom lost a close friend and decided to join us. Life is too short to miss out on time with your daughters!

So I've bought the best tickets to four different games, reserved a hotel room and rental car and we'll be on our way to a lot of fun early Thursday morning. So excited.

Robert is on spring break this week, which means he'll be working ahead on school stuff and then working on a few non-work/school related projects - buying his new Camry and hanging out with his brother Greg who is in town from Tennessee.

Wow - I really jumped ahead there! I need to reverse back to Friday. 

My baby brother turned 25 yesterday! We celebrated with dinner at Mac's on Friday. You have to love dinner at Mac's.

On Saturday, my mom, sister, Ashleigh and I went wedding dress shopping at Patsy's in Dallas. My mom found her dress there 10 years ago when she married my step-dad and we knew it would be a great place to look. I tried on six different dresses and I found the one! It's not what I expected but it's definitely beautiful. We're going to order it in a few weeks and it will take about four months to arrive. It's by La Sposa - a designer I really like. My second favorite dress was by them as well. After that, we headed over to CPK for lunch and picked up Sprinkles for dessert. Can't miss Sprinkles when we're in Dallas.

Yesterday evening my sister and I went to see Race to Witch Mountain. Really cute movie. I'm so happy that I have a good excuse to see movies aimed at kids/young adults/families and a good excuse to spend more time with Caitlin.

Today was family picture day with Robert's family. It was fun to see three grown brothers posing for a picture together. I'll post when we get them in.

Speaking of family pictures....here are a few from our last Sprinkles night.

Ashleigh and I enjoying mango/strawberry margaritas and our "family" picture. Jack immediately jumped onto the couch when we sat down for this one. Molly followed when Stacey sat down. My dogs are too photo-trained.

Working for the weekend...

It's been a while. As always, things have been a little crazy. Last Friday Stacey, Russ, Ashleigh, Bill, Robert and I went to La Familia for dinner for my birthday. Flaming margaritas AND fajitas? I'm in. They even made me wear a sombrero and I got a birthday song. Good times.

Saturday night was Sprinkles night. It's a tradition that Stacey, Ashleigh and I have. This time it was at my house so I made jerk pork tenderloin, coconut rice and stir fried veggies. You have to go with something healthy if you're going to indulge in Sprinkles cupcakes!

They put together the most awesome birthday present - 26 different things. Now I have a ton of stuff to have fun with. I have something new to play with every day. Genius.

I also took the opportunity to ask them BOTH to be my maid of honor (or matron of honor in Stacey's case). I wanted to ask them in a semi-creative way so I handmade cards and got them both bouquets. It was hilarious when they opened the cards at the same time - I think there was a brief moment of panic in both of their faces wondering "oh no...did she get the same thing or did she get guestbook attendant???" Needless to say, they both said "yes!" Stacey has a cute "family picture" of us that I'll post another time.

On Sunday Elisha, Courtney and I went to see He's Just Not That into You downtown and met the guys for sushi at Pirhana's. Yum again. We had more late night Sprinkles and black and white cookies.

Now on to this weekend....

(I love weekends!!)

On Friday my mom, sister and I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic at the Movie Tavern. My mom gave me my birthday present - tickets to Jimmy Buffett! Fins to the left, fins to the right...

My little sister came home with me and spent the night. She loves our Lego Indiana Jones game and playing with Jack. I got a new Chanel nail color and painted her nails blue satin. She's so trendy and fun to hang with.

Last night was dinner (party!) at the Burys. Elisha mad e grown-up grilled cheese and La Madeline's tomato soup. She also made these amazing peanut butter cup cookies...to die for. Again, I took the opportunity to ask her to be a bridesmaid with a handmade card and bouquet and of course she said yes! The Burys are so special to us and Kevin is going to be one of Robert's best men.

Becky brought baby Andrew and everyone had a turn holding him. He slept through nearly the entire night, including a rousing game of Last Word. And when I say rousing, I mean loud.

Robert and I don't believe the groundhog. It's spring in Texas. Sure, it might be 55 degrees today but we enjoyed an entire week of 85+ temps. The trees are budding, the flowers are blooming...now all we need are a few days of severe weather and we're there. Our experiment with tulips in our yard was a success. Because of our very rocky soil, it's hard to grow much of anything but the bulbs bloomed perfectly. I can't wait until next year, I'm planning to put in nearly a hundred bulbs in the bed. Red tulips have a special place in my heart because they are a fond memory. My mom used to plant them when we lived in Tulsa. I can remember them poking out of the snow and just being beautiful. Spring gardening is just a few weeks away!