Thanksgiving Recap

I freaking love The Biggest Loser. Can I just say that??? Jillian is such a rockstar.

Now onto the recap.

Doug and I headed to Ft. Worth for a quick two and a half day trip home for Thanksgiving. It was sooo great to spend time with family, see some friends, and eat some great Tex Mex food that we'd been missing out here. It was great.

Looking ahead: Doug has 2 more weeks of class, then finals, then we are heading to FLORIDA for Christmas! Yea!

As promised, my friend Rach posted the pics from the girlfriends trip we had a few weekends ago. Indulge me as I post a few of my favorites:
















The END!

Early weekend + a Texas-sized blog shout out

Good morning everyone! I couldn't be happier because it's like today is my Friday - I am taking off tomorrow and next Monday to be with my girlies who are coming in town today!! We have a few activities lined up and plenty of time to just do nothing.

Today, hop (or click) on over to one of my favorite bloggers, Allison from Smart and Sassy with Sprinkles. She featured me on her "Happy Lately List" so show her some blog love! Allison is on her own adventure with her husband, earlier this year they moved from Texas 2 Chicago. I just adore her attitude and of course her style! I feel honored to be on her blog!

I am feeling like today is a two cup of coffee kind of morning. Anyone else? Happy Friday err, Thursday!

Eat, Drink, and Be Married

Location: Bongo Java Coffeehouse, Nashville
Listening to: "Dave Barnes, What We Want, What We Get"
Feeling: Sore, because I started P90X workouts this week. It's the good kind of sore, but my calves sure do hurt!

Our internet was supposed to be connected this weekend. Alas! We keep running into issues...I blame AT&T! Anyway, sooner or later it will get ironed out. In the meantime, here I am at Bongo Java!

This is just a quick photo recap of the wedding last weekend in Dallas!

The rehearsal dinner was at Viking Culinary School on McKinney Avenue in Dallas. It was SO FUN because before dinner they held a cooking competition. We were broken into 4 teams and each team had to use the following ingredients: poblano pepper, shrimp, feta and rice. Other than that, it was up to us. They had a whole kitchen and pantry at our disposal. It was SO FUN! Luckily, we weren't eating our creations for dinner.


Me, Weslee and Lauren before the competition was underway.


The head chef was explaining ground rules.




We had 40 minutes to make something awesome! We were judged on teamwork, cleanliness, taste and presentation.

Jessi and Justin (bride and groom) and the head chef were the judges.

Ours looked pretty on the plate, but I'm pretty sure it tasted awful. Too many cooks spoil the pot!

Wedding day prep!

Weslee sang during the ceremony, and it was beautiful!


Midland friends!

My friends and their sweet babies, Evie and Shiloh.


The reception was at The Joule Hotel and it was beautiful!


Great night!

Last Few Dallas Days ... Part 2

Since Rachel, Lauren and Sarah came in for the weekend they stuck around till Monday! I took the day off from work and we had a play day. We had breakfast at Buzzbrews. Little Kate (Rachel's 9 month old) joined us too. It's amazing how much personality Kate already has and it's so cute how she can do little funny tricks! When we hosted a baby shower for Rachel last year, Sarah so eloquently vocalized what we were all thinking, "Oh lord, we're reproducing now! Heaven help us!" I know Rachel's a great mom and I'm so proud of her. Here we are at the hospital when Kate was born. Yes, we're in matching pink shirts!

Nine months ago...


To now-

Buzzbrews-

After breakfast we said our goodbyes to Rachel and Kate who were heading back to Houston that morning. Then Lauren, Sarah and I picked up another friend Ashley and headed to Forever 21 to look for the perfect romper. You know rompers ... shorts and shirt in one ... we had grand ideas of heading to Six Flags in matching rompers (given the matching pink shirts, are you that surprised?) Turns out their stock was pretty low, so only Sarah came out successful in the romper department. Then we headed to Six Flags ... rode a few roller coasters ... got a little sweaty...laughed a lot ... saw a kid throw up on Judge Roy Scream ... called it a day!

We grabbed dinner at Eatzi's then headed back to the condo. Then Lauren and Sarah headed back to Austin. It was such a great weekend - I love them for coming up to Dallas to hang out one last time!

ALL DAY we were quoting this video from youtube:

Good Times with the Girls

Last weekend I met up with my college friends in Austin, and we all went down to Fredricksburg together. This is how we started the day, a group pic outside Lauren's parents' house in Fredricksburg. We stopped there to drop off her puppy, Dolly, so she could stay the day with the doggy grandparents. Will we ever get tired of taking group pics of ourselves? Doubtful.

First stop: Rather Sweet Bakery for lunch. Where the cookies were about the size of my face. Literally.

Filing in for home-cooked goodness.

I might mention here that in the past year-ish (collectively) we've been through grad school, family divorces and struggles, moving cross-state and (now we're moving cross-country) babies and weddings. So yeah, we've been through everything with one another, we're allowed to just get a little goofy every now and then.

These wine glasses say "Go Texan." Love it! Pinot Noir is my fave. :)

After lunch we went to Wildseed Farms - above is a pic of their sunflower fields. Below, some of the many, many wildflower seeds.

Taste-testing at Becker Vineyards.

Outside at the vineyards. At this point, it's quite possible I am sitting in a puddle of my own sweat.

Just ya know, hanging around. This was during one of our many shopping excursions on Main St.

We take ourselves very seriously.

Singing Glee!!