Our Honeymoon, Part I

Yep, there is a part one. For our honeymoon we decided to go to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Everyone always asks how we decided on Turks and Caicos. Easy. I've been to a lot of Caribbean islands and we wanted this to be something new for both of us. We also liked that only 300,000 people visit it each year...that means it's pretty uncharted as far as tourism goes. I'll be posting pictures once we get the professional ones. Photos are always slow!


Day One
We had a super early flight to Miami and woke up around 4 a.m. Luckily we only had an hour layover in MIA before we headed to TCI. We flew through a lot of rain and experienced a lot of turbulence...not the best for me because it is a control freaks nightmare. The rain was from the cold front that had come through Texas a day or two earlier and that had given us the 13 degree weather. The nice thing about the flight was that is was nearly empty...it was an off week for tourism down there and we were glad for that!


The airport in TCI is the tiniest I've ever been to. It took forever to get through customs and the luggage claim was a large open room where they threw the luggage haphazardly all over the floor. Adventure? Yes, please.


There are no stoplights on the island. It's that small! We arrived at our hotel at Grace Bay and it was beautiful. Everything was manicured and every plant and flower I've ever dreamed of growing in my garden was growing there.


When we walked into the open air lobby, they immediately handed us a cold towel that smelled like lavender and a fruit punch. Then, one of the front desk girls took us on a tour of the property and of our suite. It's a large property with a small number of guest rooms. Very intimate.

Or suite was 100 sq. ft. smaller than our house. It doesn't look it in the pictures but it really was! There was an amazing full size kitchen with viking appliances - and we definitely weren't cooking. One of my favorite things was the daybed on the porch. I could spend hours on that thing reading.


We were exhausted by the time we finished our tour and decided to take a quick walk on the beach, order room service and go to bed early. Plus, it was chilly (70 degrees) and overcast...not really beach weather.


Day Two
Since the weather still wasn't ideal we decided to have a relaxing day. We had breakfast al fresco and went to the spa for an amazing massage. This spa was the best I've ever been to. Just the way it was designed, with treatment rooms outside, was so peaceful.


After totally relaxing, we went to Lemon for lunch. TCI might be small and not very touristy but they do have great food. No fast food...gourmet food that would make mouths from NYC water. Robert had a lamb burger and I had chickpea fritters with raita. We both had hummus and you could tell it was homemade.


After that we took a taxi over to the conch farm. It's the only one in the world and Robert is obsessed with finding conch shells on vacation so it was a must. It had been damaged by hurricane Ike in 2008 and a lot of it was not repaired but it was worth it. It was a pretty quick tour but we learned how they grow and how to tell a male from a female. We also got to meet Sally and Jerry, their resident celebrity conch.


Our taxi driver waited for us and took us on a tour of Nikki Beach, which used to be a celebrity hot spot before they stopped paying taxes. TCI is so secluded, we were pretty sure Jay Z could walk on any beach and not be noticed.


After that we went back to the hotel and grabbed a pod on the beach and just relaxed until dinner.


For dinner we had to try another recommended restaurant - Grace's Cottage. It's interesting to note that none of the restaurants we ate at were on the beach. Those restaurants are for tourists who like all-inclusive fare. This is where we learned that people eat around 8 or 9 p.m. We arrived at 7 and were the first there...but we got the best table. We played table topics, tried a bunch of wines and had a great time.


When we got back to our hotel we found a letter under our door telling us about the earthquake in Haiti and informing us that we were under a tsunami warning. The TCI is completely flat so if there ever were a tsunami, there wouldn't be much chance for anyone. It was also weird because TCI is only 200 miles from Haiti and we didn't feel a thing. Luckily we had satellite so we were able to tune into CNN to see what was going on. That's when we turned on our phones and listened to voicemails of panicked family. This is a part of our honeymoon we will always remember - we saved the letter. A day later big military aircraft were being diverted to TCI and rescue workers were flooding the empty rooms in our hotel. We had no problem sharing our hotel with there heroes and we felt bad that we couldn't do more. Our hotel was very generous to accommodate them.



Stay tuned for more...

Wedded bliss...

How do you even begin to write a blog about a wedding? I don’t think it’s fair because my perspective is probably very different from other perspectives. I’ve decided to try to write down a few memories and post pictures later. The memories come back sporadically because it truly was a whirlwind. Please post comments of anything fun you remember that I might have missed.

It was a wonderful event. I started out the day before the wedding running errands and welcoming a few family members into town. Then I met the bridesmaids for a little manicure/pedicure therapy. I scurried over the hotel after that to check in and resisted the urge to take a nap. I ordered room service and had a burger – yes, a burger! – for a late lunch. Then I got dressed for the rehearsal and it was a blur after that!

One of the most memorable parts of the rehearsal was when Courtney was pulled out of the audience and turned into the impromptu wedding coordinator. Bless her for doing the timing because we had gone back and forth for a while with our minister trying to decide if we needed a coordinator. Being an event savvy person, I think we would’ve been OK without but I was fine with making everyone comfortable.

The rehearsal dinner went well and there were fabulous speeches. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.

After that, us girls went back to the hotel and enjoyed champagne (Caitlin had a Pepsi) and my sweet bridesmaids had a whole stress relief package for me. They were totally amazing. I have to admit, through the whole thing, I wasn’t ever really stressed. I think if you’re organized you totally avoid that side of a wedding.

The day of we got to sleep in a little, order a fabulous room service breakfast and got ready for hair and makeup. We spent the day chilling out in our suite. I was definitely nervous – a wedding is totally different from getting up in front of people and giving a speech. Little Jason paid us a visit – he was the only boy allowed.

Then, around 3 p.m. it went from leisurely to a blur. I threw on my dress and ran out the door. Ashleigh was a wonderful maid of honor and secured a real mink coat for me to wear. I had not anticipated 13 degree weather on the day of my wedding. It just doesn’t ever happen in Texas…in fact, it hadn’t happened since I was born.

We got to the church and did pictures outside. All of the girls froze but I bet the pictures are amazing. The frostbite was so worth it.

The ceremony went by in a blur and don’t remember a lot of it. I do remember our minister saying Robert’s last name wrong. In fact, I was cracking up and trying so hard not to show it. He was able to get the last name right every time we met but on the big day, totally wrong. Robert corrected him in such a smooth way that no one noticed. Just think Pacman…Pac-lib….Pacleb.

The other very memorable part was walking back down the aisle and getting to the end and stopping. We looked at each other and said, “where do we go now?! What do we do?! We didn’t rehearse this part!” So we jumped in the elevator and went downstairs. We were totally frantic down there because no one joined us. Finally Robert ran up the stairs to make sure no one was waiting on us. We laughed so hard about that.

Then the reception. So much fun. We arrived and I almost forgot to bustle my dress. Then Robert accidentally stepped on one of the 12 bustles and broke it. So for most of the night, I had people stepping on my dress, pulling it down further and further. We barely ate a bite of food and tried to talk to everyone. My friend Jen, also a newlywed, gave me great advice at one point in the night. She said, “stop trying to talk to everyone and go dance with your new husband!”

It was so great to see my Baylor girls, my TCU girls and my childhood friends. My family was all there…having a ball. Homecoming will be a must this year as will several trips around the state. We’re so excited for Monica and Clint’s wedding…Nicki and Steve’s wedding. So many happy times are ahead.

One of my favorite moments from the reception was the garter toss. I thought I would hate that part. All of the guys were jumping up and down and my poor 6’5” brother was messing around with the intent of stealing it from someone. Well, the poor guy caught it and was momentarily excited…until he realized that he had caught his SISTER’S garter. That’s when his face turned to sheer panic. I loved that moment. The next day he asked me what he should do with it.

The very end of the night was also a great moment. We walked through sparklers and hopped into a horse and carriage. I’m not a horse and carriage type of person. I’m not a fairy tale type of person. Since our hotel was only a few blocks away, we decided this was the best option. Everyone was worried that it was so cold but it felt GOOD. After dancing and talking all night, we released our stress and enjoyed the 10 minutes it took to get to the hotel just taking everything in.

And that was it…we’re married!

wedded bliss...

Happily married and off to Turks and Caicos for a week!

A full blog about the wedding coming soon...

One week.

Ahhhh!

Christmas "wrap" up

This Christmas turned out to be a little unexpected. The forecasters predicted a little rain Christmas Eve...a cold front...a chance of snow to the North...but they did not predict our little Christmas Eve "blizzard." I only say blizzard because that's what they're calling it due to our 50 mph winds. Measured in my back yard after all was said and done was about 3 inches of snow.

We thought it would be a quick snowfall, turning to sleet, so Caitlin and I ran outside to play a little. Robert was pretty unexcited since he grew up around snow. By Christmas Eve evening, everything was iced and the roads were pretty dangerous. Robert's brother ended up at our house, unable to get to his mom's. Justin couldn't make it down 377 to his parent's house in Granbury and ended up at our house too. There was no room in our Inn on Christmas Eve. We made the best of it and watched a movie.



Christmas morning was a little different this year. A white Christmas! But as per usual, everything was paralyzed so we got off to a late start. It was handy having Calvin and Justin there to set up my new TV. I'm very excited to have two great flat screens so I can watch movies in my room when the guys are over. Robert is now officially up with technology with his new iPhone.

My step-brother is visiting from culinary school in New York and cooked us a gourmet Christmas meal. So delicious. Then I had Christmas at the Paclebs that evening. It's always a lot of fun visiting with all of Robert's aunts. We were definitely blessed with gifts this year. I'm very disappointed that I didn't take my camera out at all after our little blizzard or during our Christmas. I feel like everything was pretty rushed this year.

On Saturday my mom and I went to Target and Babies'R'Us and loaded up on clothing and other items for the new addition to our family. Candice and Ken not only had a baby girl in September, but they also adopted their nephew who was born two weeks before their baby was. They officially got him Christmas Eve...what an awesome Christmas present. Mom and I went over to see baby Evan and give him an impromptu baby shower. He is adorable and has a little 'fro going. He is definitely a happy boy because he smiled all afternoon. Except when we were snapping pictures! It was really precious to see his new sister Victoria reaching out for him so soon.

And today was Christmas at my Grandma's. She is the most amazing cook and I always enjoy her creations. I also love seeing my cousins...they're hilarious and so much fun to be around.

Robert has come down with whatever crud I had and Ashleigh and Justin have. Poor guy is asleep on the floor right now. Tonight we started putting together the wedding favors. I can't wait to finish them this week. I need a little craft to keep my sanity in check.

In less than two weeks we'll be Mr. & Mrs.!

That's the way the cookie crumbles...

Last week was super busy with holiday parties and wedding work. We had our final meeting with our minister and ironed out all of the details. I felt so much better after that and I’m really excited to get to the big day!

Friday night we celebrated Shawn’s 26th birthday with a family dinner at Mac’s. His sister Candice brought baby Victoria and Robert had fun feeding her. We’re all really excited because in addition to newborn Victoria, they are adopting their newborn nephew and it should be finalized this week. What an amazing Christmas gift! I cannot wait to shower the new baby boy with goodies.

Robert feeding baby Victoria.

Saturday was a crazy day as we prepared for our First Annual Christmas Cookie Party. I baked four different cookies, three of which came from Martha Stewart’s Cookies book: lacy nut, dulce de leche and orange cardamom Madeleines. The third came from Southern Living: chai tea sugar cookie with egg nog icing. They all turned out to be delicious. I think my favorite was the chai tea and the most difficult to make were the lacy nut. Martha is a little over ambitious with her cookies I think.

Courtney with Santa Molly.

Cookies galore!

Chai tea, peanut butter kisses, no bake
chocolate oatmeal, chow chow and lacy nut!

Orange cardamom madeleines, Russian tea cakes,
NY Times chocolate chip, dulce de leche and gingerbread.

This was also Courtney's going away party. Her job is taking her to New York City after our wedding (how sweet of her was it to negotiate that?!). Elisha and I put together a bag of essentials for living in the city.

Courtney and her "Mary Poppins" messenger bag.

The guys showing us how to rock out.

Everyone came dressed to the nines in their tackiest Christmas outfits. We had prizes – the best cookie was the New York Times chocolate chip and Kevin got the nutcracker trophy. Our nutcracker likes wine just like us.

The best dressed was given to Calvin for his red, belly baring turtle neck and green cardigan combination. He received a tacky apron with pinup Christmas girls on it.

I wish I had more pictures but we honestly forgot and the ones we did get were crazy blurry because of the wine involved.

And what blog post would be complete without a funny picture of Jack and Molly. My Molly, you have grown.

It's the holiday season...

The busy holiday season has begun. This year it’s even busier because of our upcoming wedding in just about three weeks. Can you believe it? I can’t. It feels like just yesterday we were engaged. I can’t believe that was nearly a year ago.

This year we decided to put lights on the house. Not really the smartest thing to do with all of our upcoming tasks but since there have been more homes built near us, we don’t want to be the scrooge of the street. I made two wreaths to go on our front windows. I think it turned out pretty good. We decided to add more lights to our yard each year. I have fond memories when I was little of driving around looking at Christmas lights. I wish people still decorated like they used to. I’ve noticed that the more we put up, the more our neighbors put up. So perhaps our holiday cheer will spread next year.

Two weeks ago, Elisha had a 30th birthday party for Kevin. The theme was “Kevin conquers old age.” She made a gold medal cake (which is also appropriate because of his athleticism…Mr. Iron Man) and since we were in charge of games, we brought a trophy piñata. Our piñata was not filled with candy though…little bottles of liquor made everyone happy.

Being the creative person she is, Elisha made “geezer” food (applesauce shots, prunes, etc) and “whippersnapper” food (all of Kevin’s favorites in appetizer form). The liquor was even old man themed – grandpa’s coffee was pretty darn good!





My favorite part of the night was when Kevin was hitting the piñata with a cane and it exploded everywhere. He then went over the neighbor’s yard and was bent over with the cane in the dark looking for the little bottles. He looked like such an old man.






Unfortunately, Mark hasn’t sent me any of the “people” pictures so those will have to wait!

This past weekend was a very special one. Robert graduated with his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Urban and Public Affairs. He has worked on his degree full time for the past two years while working full time. I’m really proud of him and I know it was a very happy night for him as well.





Saturday night I took him for a night at the Fort Worth Omni, dinner at Bob’s Steak and Chop House and gelato. Definitely a great night (aside from the lack of sleep due to holiday revelers). We probably won’t be staying at the Omni again…back to the Worthington for us! You just can’t beat the Worthington’s location downtown.





Sunday was a really busy day filled with brunch, visiting my dad and grandma, helping Robert’s mom pick her wedding attire, seeing New Moon with Courtney and dinner with the Burys (and Courtney) at Taverna. It was definitely a late night…we shut everything down.

This week is already incredibly busy. A lot of final things must be done this week for the wedding (including payments – that will give you a heart attack!), everyone at work is sprinting before vacation sets in and I’m not nearly done with Christmas presents. Oh, and we’re having our little cookie party this weekend and Shawn’s birthday!

I’m so thankful that even though this has been a very busy time, we’re still able to stop every once and a while and enjoy our time with friends and family.

Youth is like a diamond in the sun...

My week in paradise was nice but now it is back to the daily grind and the final countdown to the wedding.

My third trip to the British Virgin Islands was a blast, as always. We took out a catamaran again and did some good old sailing around the islands, visiting familiar and unfamiliar beaches. We saw a ton of wildlife this time of year…everything from starfish to Hawksbill turtles, mongoose (mongeese?), dolphins, stingrays and more.



Mom is getting to know more and more local people and it’s always fun hanging out with new friends. De Loose Mongoose prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for us complete with turkey shipped in. Not too bad for a “cold” holiday. I love going back and I hope I’ll have more chances to return in the future.

It was difficult coming back to a fresh cold front and rain. Even more difficult is the huge list of things to get done before the end of December for work, the wedding and the holidays.

I have to say, I am looking forward to our honeymoon where we’ll be able to relax, have a few adventures and decompress after all of this madness. I'm also looking forward to what next year will bring...we have a few things in store already!

Let the countdown begin...

It’s hard to believe that in less than two months, Robert and I will be married! The engagement has flown by and as we get closer, we’re both feeling ready to get to the big day!

Work has geared up for the season and become extremely busy. Working 10-12 hour days will be the norm for me for a while. I’m earning my paycheck for sure.

The past week was no exception but I was able to throw in a little fun. We had our hair and makeup trial run with Haute Façade in Dallas. We were the first clients to experience their new studio in the Glass House. Very chic.

Since I’d already been through their hair and makeup routine, nothing really fazed me. It was interesting to watch how each bridesmaid reacted to their makeup. It’s hard to see yourself up close wearing so much makeup but it always looks fabulous in pictures!


Saturday was the bridal shower and my bridesmaids did a wonderful job. I’m the type of person who likes to be behind the scenes so being the center of attention was a little out of the ordinary for me. Everyone raved about the food, which was centered on my favorite things down to the asparagus soup and the green tea lemonade.

The games were hilarious and even involved Robert – loved it! Thanks to the video they created, we now have something we can hold on to forever. It will be fun to watch it 10 years from now.

That night I went out to Times Ten Cellar with Elisha and Courtney. We did a wine flight and it was so good (and the bartenders were fun!). I will definitely be going back there again soon.

Robert also had his bachelor party that night. Poker and pub crawl…he definitely had a blast.

On Sunday I threw up the Christmas tree in record time and started doing a little organizing. We are in desperate need of a garage sale. We may attempt one in December when we have a free weekend since our neighborhood association dropped the ball on a fall garage sale (technically, we’re not supposed to have them without the association). We just have so much STUFF. We’re also attempting Christmas lights on the house this year. A little ambitious for a couple getting married right after the holidays. We’ll let you know how that goes.

And, fair readers, that is it for now.

Meet the Flintstones...

This weekend was full of things to do (and I think every weekend until the wedding will be!). On Friday, I took the day off to take my dad and grandma to the chapel where Robert and I will be getting married. We practiced with my dad’s wheelchair and found a great place for him to sit and a way to incorporate him into the ceremony. I think he really enjoyed it and I could tell his apprehension went away once we were through. I think he also enjoyed getting out of the nursing home for a while. Hopefully the weather will stay nice so we can do something again soon.

That night, we went to Ashleigh’s Halloween party. Robert and I went as Fred and Wilma. I think I will forgo a costume with a wig next year. It was pretty hot and itchy. It was fun to see everyone’s costumes and hang out. Ashleigh did an amazing job with her black and white table. I wish I had taken a picture of it!



On Saturday I flew down to Houston for my friend Jen’s bridal shower. Jen is my bestie from grad school. We spent a lot of our downtime together and perhaps the only nutritious meals I ate during grad school were at her house. Her mom would make her fabulous homemade roasted chicken and freeze it for us. So good. Anyway, back to the shower…

I love Jen’s bridesmaids. I have met them before and they did a great job – I could tell Jen had a wonderful time and didn’t have to worry about a thing. Good thing, too, since she broke her foot last week! She’ll be on crutches until the wedding. I loved the games they came up with (finally, creative and unembarassing games!). They put together a suitcase and we all had to guess which items Jen was bringing on her honeymoon to Tahiti. This game was hilarious because of the random things in there…so Jen! It wasn’t easy to guess either.

Her wedding will mostly be white but she has a small amount of Tiffany blue so they did a “Jennifer & Co.” theme for the shower. Her maid of honor even made a Tiffany’s cake complete with fondant. I wish I had her cake decorating skills! She could seriously open her own bakery. It has been so much fun to plan my wedding at the same time Jen has been planning hers. We love to talk about what we’re both doing and it’s always funny when we end up picking some of the same things. We vowed to start visiting more after our weddings when we’ll have a little more down time :)

Yesterday Robert and I helped my dad fix his router and then went tux/suit shopping. We also did some tie shopping and ended up on the phone with the Macy’s in Harold Square to order something special for the groomsmen and ushers. We had a lot of fun checking a few things off our list. We also finished up some wedding ring comparisons and took Jack to the dog park.

Definitely a whirlwind weekend and definitely a lot of fun. My work weeks are about to get much more hectic until late spring (and you people already thought I was crazy busy…just wait).

Where, oh, where have you been?

Where has Kelly been?

Planning an awesome baby shower, that's where. The baby shower was for my dear friend Stacey and baby Jason, who will arrive some time around Christmas Eve. The shower was hosted by seven amazing women and was so much fun to work on. A nice break from wedding planning!

We created the invites in blue and orange with inspiration from a bottle of aqua panna. You really can find inspiration in every day life. They were flat cards with rounded edges, with a ribbon tied around them. We wrapped them in white tissue and put them in a craft paper brown box that was filled with yummy blue sour balls. On the outside, we adhered a cute sticker. They were so much fun to make!

Being the planner I am, I created a ridiculous assignment sheet for our hostess group. I have to admit, I did let go of my control freak personality a little and resisted planning a minute-by-minute timeline for the event. I'm learning. The assignment sheet was great because it gave everyone a job and a purpose during the special day.

I was so happy that Stacey's mom was able to make it in from Portland and that her sister was able to fly in from Canada. What a special memory for Stace.

And here is a photo preview of the event (photo credits go to Kristin!). There will be more photos from fabulous Ashleigh soon.

The guest book and gift table.

Our guestbook had prompts for each guest like,
"I hope you inherit your mother's..." or "I found out your mother was pregnant..."

We set up tables and chairs for the brunch.

Can't forget the food shot. Everyone brought such yummy things.

And finally, what dessert table would be complete without a diaper cake
filled with champagne, cheesecake lollipops and Sprinkles cupcakes?

I am still wedding planning. I'm just in invitation limbo right now. Working on the final address list for the calligrapher and running through some detail things. It's getting close and Robert and I are so excited :)

Moving right along...

Hello blogosphere.

It's been a busy few weeks filled with enough rain to catch us up from the dry summer. It almost, dare I say, felt like fall for a few days.

Everything has been moving right along and we've had a lot of blessings. Today we got up around 5 to get ready for our engagement picture session. We had so much fun with our amazing photographer. You can check out a sneak peek on her blog: http://melissazihlman.com/Blog/

(I also had some amazing help from Haute Facade with my hair and makeup!)

After that we went cake tasting and finally decided on cake "flavors" and designs.

And now we're exhausted so we're going to put off all of that other wedding stuff we wanted to do today and take a nap. I think we did enough :)

Robert is getting close to graduation - time is flying by. Soon he'll be a "master" just like me! And I don't think I even need to mention work. I have so much fun every day...enough said.

Off to dreamland...

hellogoodbye

Hello blog. It's been a while. I've been a really bad blog friend.

When life "happens" sometimes the blog gets pushed to the back burner. I'm back. Just today.

Here's a quick update: Lemonblueberrysprinklesaregood. Annualreviewwasspectacular. Holidayweekendwastiring.

Wedding planning is coming along slowly. Last week I booked our photographer and hair and makeup. We're still bridesmaid dress searching. I have a lot of other vendors lined up and ready to go once the bridesmaid dress color is finalized.

In other awesome news...Ashleigh, Stacey and I are going to the British Virgin Islands in 19 days. I am SO excited.

I think that's it for today. I'll try to visit again soon.

Very lazy weekend...

How about a picture-less update?

I had a fabulous week even though we're still crazy busy at work. I found out that I will be going to the U.S. and British Virgin Islands again in July. I have been dreaming about going back since I went in 2007. I've been all over the Caribbean but the BVIs are the most beautiful, unspoiled islands I've ever seen. Paradise. I'm also stoked that I'll get my super tan back.

I also finally mailed *most* of the save the dates. I have been agonizing over the guest list because our space is so limited. It was a pain to find a post office that would hand-cancel them and luckily Ashleigh has a few connections in her fair city :)

Friday night Robert and I went to look at wedding rings. I found the perfect one almost instantly (I'm pretty simple). Robert wasn't so lucky. He tried on everything from what I call the "superbowl ring" to the plainest of rings. I think he wants a really simple ring too but he's not sure what size yet. Then I convinced him to watch Twilight. I'm going through withdrawal and he's a good sport. I was filling in all of the holes for him with scenes from the book as we watched it. I think I was just really annoying.

Saturday I slept in. The first time in forever! I was so happy to have nothing on my calendar this weekend. I spent most of the day doing spring cleaning. Believe it or not, cleaning is relaxing for me. I feel stressed if the house is messy. Robert taught a sailing class at Cabela's with his dad. Then we had dinner on the patio at Rio Mambo, went shopping and picked up some ice cream from Marble Slab. A really sweet treat...

Sunday is pancake day so I made nutella pancakes....mmmm. I also made blueberry mango smoothies. Then we did the usual and went to visit my dad and grandma, got my car detailed, ate a late lunch/early dinner at Mi Cocina, made a PetsMart and grocery store stop and did yard work. Our grass is growing like crazy this year. I think the most we had to mow it last year was once every two weeks. Right now we're mowing and edging every week. I guess that's a good thing.

We also cleaned all of the grass out of the flower beds. I call them creepers...the grass that grows underground to colonize new areas. It's very time-intensive to clean out but it looks so much better. I also noticed a big sold sign on the house a lot over - so happy to get neighbors on that side. Now someone just needs to build right next to us and behind us.

Jack has a new bone and is heaven. He also ate Molly's bone so now she's mad. Survival of the "biggest" [dog] in our house.

This week should be awesome - Robert is on break in between spring and summer semesters. He's taking a few biz school classes this summer as electives so it'll be a nice change of pace from PA. We both have some fun things in the works for next weekend. Can't wait!

Hopping down the bunny trail...

It was really nice to have Good Friday off this year. Not only did I have some time to reflect before Easter, I also had time to get some wedding things done. Robert had to work a half-day (it was his birthday!) and then spent the afternoon playing a round of golf with his friend Lon. I went with my mom, Robert's mom and Caitlin to order my wedding dress. I'm so happy that that part is done for now. It will come in in August! Mom and I also picked up the final proof of the save-the-dates. They turned out super cute. I'm hoping to get them out next Monday if they get them done in time. I also officially booked our band.

After that, we went to Brownstone village to shop and have lunch and then Caitlin and I went to Green's to do some birthday shopping for Robert. We put together an herb and pepper garden for the patio. This summer he'll be able to cook with fresh cilantro, rosemary and about 10 different kinds of hot peppers.

Caitlin spent the night and we went to Purple Cow to get purple vanilla milkshakes. mmmmm.

On Saturday, Robert and I spent most of the day getting ready for his birthday party. He did find some time to take Jack to the dog park though :) His party was a lot of fun. We grilled burgers, ate wasabi coleslaw, tomato, basil and mozzerella pasta salad, fruit salad and to top it off we had a lemon cake with raspberry filling. mmmmmm again. (we even had vegetarian meals for Elisa and Courtney!)

We had an awesome crowd of our nearest and dearest and we definitely used the patio furniture out back. Awesome investment. We played Scene It on the Xbox for a while and then watched everyone's favorite YouTube videos on our AppleTV. Definitely hilarious - how do people find this stuff? I even made everyone a little Easter basket. I knew our friends were illiterate. We said "no presents please" but everyone brought Robert a gift.

At midnight, Elisha was allowed to have sweets again (she gave them up for Lent) so we celebrated with a slice of cake!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday and Robert's mom's birthday so we went to visit my dad and grandma and celebrate with them. Then we went to Robert's parent's house and had Easter dinner. mmmmmm again. Too much good food this weekend. I will be glad to see the gym tonight.

Holy jello molds! It's a wedding!

I'm kind of delayed on my posting here. It's been a crazy couple of days. Well, when is it not crazy?

I'm going back in time to last Wednesday, April Fool's Day. I had two friends getting married - one in sunny Mexico and one in beautiful Granbury. Robert and I made our way down to Granbury for the surprise of the century for this family. Candice and Grant decided to surprise their parents with a wedding. That takes guts and a steel trap. They told their parents they were getting married in Puerto Rico that weekend and that they were having a "non-rehearsal" rehearsal dinner in Granbury Wednesday night.

Robert and I got to Stringfellow's on the Square and peeked at the courtyard where they were going to have the ceremony - simple and beautiful. Grant got there and seemed a little nervous (I would be too if I had lied to my mom!). Robert and Grant have known each other since childhood - tres cute.

We played our part with the siblings in the front of the restaurant, acting like Grant and Candice were late and sitting down to "dinner." Then the owner of the restaurant played her part and told us that she set up some food outside while we wait for the happy couple.

As we walked outside, the moms realized what was going on and screamed and cried. Grant's dad was clueless until someone spelled it out. We sat down, Candice's dad walked her through the gate and "down the aisle" and it was a wedding!

I don't think I'd ever have the guts to do something like that. Grant's dad told us that his mom had been going into the closet for days and just weeping because she wasn't going to get to see her son get married. Candice's mom had secretly booked tickets to go to Puerto Rico. Crazy stuff I tell you.

Earlier that day, Robert and I finally purchased patio furniture. We've had two wicker chairs and a glass table for years but that glass table bit the dust in some severe weather last year. Watch out for glass if you ever dig in the dirt on the East side of my house! (it's safety glass)

It was really comical to see them bring out these three HUGE boxes containing six chairs and a big table. Robert made a face that said "ohmygoshi'mgoingtohavetomakethatfitinthecar." I love my 4runner, I really do, but it couldn't accomodate everything at once. We had to make two trips to get it all home. Justin came over on Sunday and helped us set everything up. It'll be nice to have some seating outside for entertaining.

On Friday we arranged for our Fort Worth employees to work on a Habitat restore house. You've never done Habitat until you've done it with our company. Our guys were awesome - who builds French drains for a house in Como? We do! It was a lot of fun and we're going to adopt the homeowner's yard for the summer.

On Saturday, Robert bought a new car. We've become a Toyota family because he got a Camry. I'll post pictures soon - it's really nice!

Paw-ty time!

Last week was pretty busy with wedding planning. I think we've decided on a band. I also designed and ordered the Save the Dates. Here's a sneak preview (no details are on it though...have to save something for a surprise!):

On Saturday, I made cute little informational cards for my bridesmaids. I started with this:

And ended up with these:

I am starting to incorporate Kraft paper into things - I used Kraft paper envelopes to tie it all together.

After that, Robert and I took Jack to PetsMart to pick out a birthday present for his friend Lincoln. Jack also ended up picking out a toy for himself as well. He was really fond of this brown duck and it rarely leaves his side now. It's like it is his new "baby."

Lincoln, a boxer, turned eight on Saturday and we celebrated with margaritas, carnitas, homemade tortillas and skewered veggies at Kevin and Elisha's. Yum. There was also a little birthday cake at the "paw-ty" and homemade dog biscuits. To make things even more cute, each dog got a doggie bag to take home - and it was filled with toys!

On Sunday, I met Stacey and Ashleigh for brunch at Yogis and had fabulous French Toast with strawberries and bananas. I want to start a brunch tradition.

I also did more gardening and spring planting and reseeded the lawn. I put in sweet potato vine, bouganvillea, stone crop, green leaved Euryops and begonias. I'm still holding off on planting the seeds for the flowers in the front because we had another cold snap this weekend. The seeds I planted inside for the back yard are getting stronger every day. Last night, it hailed but luckily, my begonias were spared this year!

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.

Perfection...

It's definitely spring and we're ready to tackle our new hobby - or really my hobby and Robert's by proxy - gardening. We discovered a new tool at Home Depot that makes pulling weeds really easy. One of our neighbors was amazed. We also planted purple fountain grass and started our seeds for our flowers. We're trying seeds this year to see how they work. Hit & miss...

On Monday we went with Robert's parents to a wedding open house at the Fort Worth Club where we've booked our wedding. We were wined and dined and checked out all of the different vendors in town and stole a few ideas. Things are definitely starting to come together for the wedding. Yesterday, Robert and I went and picked out our save the date and invitation design. We're making them by hand - I have to include something crafty!

The biggest challenge is culling our guestlist to a reasonable number. The chapel we've chosen only holds 180 - and that's not comfortably. We'll get there though.

One of the highlights of the week was the discovery of puppy playcare. Our dogs go to The Grand Pet Resort to get groomed and they have two big rooms with puppy playcare - daycare for dogs. The best part is that I can check up on Jack from work via the webcam and he's exhausted when I pick him up. They also send a "report card" home each day that tells us his temperment and includes pictures from the day. Jack was "playful" and the "star of the webcam."

It's worked really well since Robert has class three nights a week and I am attending council meetings all over the place or doing my personal training in the evenings. He'll be going three days this week. And Molly gets some much needed alone time :)

With the nice weather, we also took the pups to the dog park today. And grilled steaks with Justin. Perfection.

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!