Brown Girl Blogs

One year ago today

2011-10-08T12:00:00.001-05:00

"People say that you can find love anywhere and that in its truest form it can awaken even the most closed souls. Almost 3 years ago to this very day we met and you opened my heart and changed my life in the most amazing way. You are the calm in my craziness. You are strong when I am weak. You are silent when I am loud. You've always done nothing but encourage me in anything that I do. With you by my side, I see no end to our success, happiness, and love. I am honored by the invitation into the heart of your life. That you are choosing me and I want you to know I will cherish that forever..." ~part of the vows I wrote and read to M on our wedding day

One year ago today I read those vows to M in front of all of our family and friends, it's amazing how fast a year can go by. I remember when M told me that he wanted us to write our own wedding vows. I've always loved writing but I had never been given such a serious and daunting task. I wrote my vows to M over a several month period. I would write parts, edit them, delete pieces, and I would read them over and over again. Until they were perfect. Or as perfect as I could make them.

I was cleaning up our computer room the other day and I glanced down to see an envelope. It was the envelope our minister had sent our wedding vows back to us in. I opened it up and read mine to M and then his to me. They were such a great keepsake to look back on and I think I'll read them every year on our anniversary. I should probably make M read them too, ya know so he doesn't forget about all the promises he made to me. It was his idea to write them after all.

Thank you M for being a wonderful husband and the greatest best friend a girl could ask for. Happy Anniversary to us!

Weekend Rewind

2011-09-27T12:13:00.002-05:00

Saturday night M and I headed out to a country bar to help celebrate my mom's boyfriends 50th birthday. The bar we went to used to be another bar and has since been remodeled and turned into a country bar. It was probably the lamest bar I have been to in a long time...or I'm just getting old and places like that really aren't my cup of tea. Either way the amount of 40+ women running around that place in scantily clad outfits was obscene.

M and I took two chairs and sat them outside of the entrance to the room that the party was in and just people watched. Highlight of the night: A large lady in a tiny white dress eating the birthday cake with her fingers. Literally off the cake platter. Then taking her finger and licking the icing off the cake. Not once, not twice, but multiple times! Seriously, who does that?? I like to think she was drunk because that would be the only acceptable excuse to do that.

{my two favorite people}

{M with the birthday boy}

{about 5 minutes before M and I decided to bounce}

The one fun aspect of the party was that the caricature artist from our wedding was at the birthday party drawing caricatures of the guests. He happens to be mom's boyfriends friend. I was so excited to have ours drawn again especially since our one year anniversary is next week. I sat down in the chair before he was even done setting up. It was hilarious because he didn't remember M or I even though he pretended like he did! He's a nice guy and I'm sure he does lots of events, I ain't mad at him.

{very accurate assessment of our 1st year of marriage}

Sunday I did a trial hair run for a bride, I didn't take any pictures but you can take my word for it, it turned out really nice. Then M and I headed over to my mom's for dinner and football. All in all, it was a great weekend but why do they go by so fast?!?

A Wedding Weekend

2011-09-12T15:32:00.002-05:00

Friday I took the day off of school to attend my sweet friend Kim's wedding. This is the first wedding that we have been to this year and I was really looking forward to it. Kim and I go to school together so I have been hearing all about her wedding trials and tribulations. I love weddings and so does M. Don't be confused though, we did not love planning/saving for our own wedding, we much prefer attending other peoples weddings.

{string quartet at the ceremony}

I also did hair for the wedding. The inital plan was for me to do the 5 bridesmaids hair but I ended up doing 9 peoples hair! It was a really busy day for me and I was pretty tired when I got back to my hotel room about 45 minutes before needing to be downstairs to catch the shuttle to Arlington Hall where the ceremony and reception were being held. I took a quick shower and started to get ready only to realize I had left all of my makeup at home. Literally every piece of makeup I own was at home. I started to have a mini freak out thinking how in the hell am I going to be able to go to the wedding with no makeup on? It's not like I wear a ton of makeup but I had to at least have some concealer on...I have the worst dark circles (thanks allergies)! I made a quick call to the bridesmaids room and borrowed some white girl makeup and did my best to make myself look decent. Thank you Miss Molly for saving my day!

{Kim and her dad making their way to the aisle}

{bridesmaid hair, only picture I got, boo}

{the new Mr. and Mrs. W}

Kim and Chris did such a beautiful job planning their wedding, it was beyond gorgeous. Kim looked stunning and the details were so her. She did an assortment of pink and purple for her colors and the guys all wore grey suits. Since Kim knew that M and I had just gotten married last year I referred a lot of my venders to her and I was so happy that she chose to use a few of them. Our wonderful photographers, Perez Photography were there as well as our super fun DJ Robbie.

{i love cake}

{naughty little bride pinching the grooms booty}

{the best wedding photographers with M}

{our first wedding as a married couple}

{amazeball centerpieces}

{where M got his dance on all night}

{posing with the flowers we were planning on stealing}

{Mrs. W and I}

{who is this guy? oh ya, the man i married.}

We had such a fun time dancing, dining, and drinking at the wedding. Some of us may have not done enough dining and done too much drinking. And that same someone might have missed school because of that on Saturday. Whatever, let's not focus on the wrong part of the story. It was a great time and we can't wait for the next wedding we get to go to!

Stuck in the Middle

2011-08-30T15:45:00.001-05:00

No this is not a post about me being stuck in the middle of some dramatic situation. Yet again. Or a post about me being a middle child. That still haunts me and I know I should have been a first born. I just know you are going to be shocked beyond belief that this is a post about hair. One of my very favorite things to discuss!

So recently I let my sister cut my hair. Yes I was scared. Yes I almost cried. Yes I almost simultaneously peed and pooped myself because of nerves. Although in spite of all that I survived and so did my hair. Actually my sister gave me one of the best hair cuts I've ever had (ssh, let's keep that between us) ! Yet when she dried my hair she gave me a middle part. I don't wear my hair parted in the middle, I'm a side part girl. I've been a side part girl for awhile and was really confused about why she was doing this. I started to protest when she said, "shut up, I cut your hair and I can dry it any way I want".

No for real. That's word for word what she said. Then she hit me with her brush and said she would cut me with her scissors if I said another word. Ok ok, I made that part up but home girl don't mess around.

{via}

When she got done I looked in the mirror and thought, great now I have to go around all day with a middle part. As the day wore on I kept catching glimpses of myself in the mirrors at school and each time I would think this doesn't look that bad. By the end of the day, I was in love with my middle part! I will admit that it took some adjusting at first but over the past few weeks I have been training my hair to part more in the middle and it's really growing on me. It gave my hair and face a whole new look without really having to change my hair style at all. Even M noticed and said he liked it. That's big people.

{via}

I'd like to know, what are your thoughts on the middle part? Do you like it? Have you tried it? Do share!

My Sister's Birthday

2011-08-29T08:44:00.001-05:00

This Saturday my baby sister turned 19. Being 9 years older than her (ugh, that makes me feel old!!) and quite the bossy sister I have always acted as more of a parental figure to her. I'm happy to say that now that she is getting older we are becoming more of friends and I'm feeling less of a need to baby her.

Personality wise we are polar opposite. She has always been more of a free spirit, breaking the rules and keeping our family on the very tips of our toes most days. If you tell her "no", she'll do it anyway. If you tell her "yes", she'll take it beyond that. She is strong, sassy, and smart. I'm fairly certain she got those last three traits from me. For all the good times we've had, we have shared a lot of bad as well. There have been days when I just want to slap her and explain how hard life is and others where I want to hug her and hide her from the world.

{"we had to use what we had so I'm turning 81 today"}

I don't think I have mentioned this yet but my sister and I started cosmetology school together back in January.If you follow me on Twitter you may have already figured this out. She ended up taking a leave from school for a month shortly after we started so we are no longer in the same class together but we ride to and from school together every day. It's been nice to have her to talk things through with or just have someone to vent to. Who knows, maybe one day we will open a salon together? Of course, only if I can be the boss.

{the birthday girl wearing her birthday crown}

Although no matter what happens between my sister and I the fact remains that we will always be sisters. So no matter how mad I get at her, no matter how many times she wants to push my buttons or lash out at me, no matter how competitive we are (I'd rather die than let her think she is the better hairstylist), no matter where our careers or lives take us, I will always be there for her. And above that I will always, always love and support her.

"I'm smiling because I'm your sister.
I'm laughing because there's nothing you can do about it."
~unknown

School is Bull

2011-08-22T13:56:00.001-05:00

When I say "bull" I'm meaning bullshit. School has really not been bullshit but some things involving school are, so in my over dramatic ways I like to just say, "school is bull". Plus it rhymes and I like that.

So as most of you know, I quit my job in January and started cosmetology school full time to become a hair stylist. I spent the first four months in the class room having my patience tested and tried to keep reminding myself that I was paying to be there. In fact, paying quite a bit of money to be there.

Then after those 4 months I got moved out onto the clinic floor and stopped torturing my mannequin and started torturing real people's hair. This couldn't have come at a better time because after being in a classroom with the same 20 people 5 days a week you start going a little nutty. And if you are me, you start thinking of how you are going to kill people (I'm kidding...sort of). We were all really anxious and happy about moving onto the floor and it's been such a great experience. Well, for the most part. There have been a few mishaps on people's heads, like the time I totally jacked up this ladies fringe, but nothing I couldn't talk my way out of or my educator couldn't come over and correct for me. Hey, shit happens.

{at one of our many lunches/bitch fests together}

{supporting a classmate at a singing event}

Not to mention our class has really grown together and I have made some wonderful friends. We have learned how to lean on each other when things get tough and we are always there for each other to grab a happy hour drink and have a bitch fest. Surprisingly I have learned a lot from my classmates, we are all so different and bring something new and fun to the table. I have also learned that working with women can be difficult and no matter how hard you try to be friends, some people are just assholes. Plain and simple.

{at a school fashion show with one of our educators}

{some recent work on my friend Kim for her wedding}

{a side view}

So if you can believe it I am now over half way done with school! This year has gone by so fast! I have learned so much and am continuing to learn more every day. If you are thinking about going to cosmetology school, you should do it. It's a hard field but it has been so rewarding.

About 2 months ago they changed our schedule at school and we are doing 10 hour days for 3 days a week. M keeps throwing the word "job" out there in hopes of me possibly getting one since I have so many days off now. But I pretty much think that's bull. As in bullshit.

The Weekend

2011-08-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

Saturday M and I headed out to the Katy Trail Ice House to celebrate Mrs. G's birthday. For those of you that may be new to the blog, G and I met through blogging. Yes we met online. We have been friends for about a year, maybe a little over, and I am so glad that we met. We have very similar personalities and our husbands work in the same field (they have also made pretty good friends with each other).

Anyhow, Katy Trail Ice House is a pretty cool little spot, if you live in the DFW area you should check it out. Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures but we had a great time celebrating and meeting all of G's friends. I was really hoping to get a picture of M and I since I got him to style his hair into a little faux-hawk but no such luck this time. I've been growing his hair out (yes, it's my hair since I cut it) and am enjoying trying to entice him into styling it in fun ways.

{G & I, that's a 'beer-rita' in my hand in case you are wondering}

{the birthday girl and her sweet hubby}

{no clue why we look like we have jersey tans in this pic}

Sunday M and I headed over to my mom's for dinner. We grilled out salmon and chicken and just relaxed. Going to my mom's on Sundays has become sort of an every week thing for us. I love it because it means delicious free food and booze. Priorities first people.

Happy Monday Friends!

Why'd you quit blogging?

2011-08-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

I honestly can not believe that it's been almost 4 months since I've blogged. I love writing and I love my blog but it has never been my number one priority, it's always just been a hobby. So when life got busy it naturally got put on the back burner. Now that I have a little more free time I'm going to try and update more and people can stop asking me why I quit blogging. I don't quit things. I'm not a quitter.

So a lot has gone down in the past few months, let's see if I can catch you up real quick.

In May we celebrated Mother's Day by taking my mom out to a fancy hotel brunch. Breakfast/brunch is one of my families favorite things on the weekend. We go to my mom's literally every Sunday and pig out like fatties, we are a very classy bunch.

{classy people above, except for my brother, why is he wearing those socks?}

I also traveled to Phoenix to visit my grandmother. It was the first time in a really long time that I have traveled alone. Normally I aimlessly follow M around so navigating the airport alone was interesting. I had a great time with my grandmother, she is so funny and it was fun spending time with her one on one. I also got to see a couple of my uncles and spend time relaxing by the pool.

{this is my uncle Shawn, he is single. that is all.}

At the end of May we celebrated my mom's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We are Cheesecake Factory whores. They should start paying me to promote them. I won't even use the word whores either. I'll say sophisticated words like huge portions, delicious cheesecake, and a lovely atmosphere. Even though that's really not my style.

{remember this guy? ya, we're still married.}

{birthday girl and baby sis}

{red the power color. looks like someone didn't get the memo.}

In June I had a birthday. Whatever.

{the sweet ass card M got me}

{i think I baked these in June, who cares though. aren't they pretty?}

In July we celebrated the fact that my former co worker and wonderful friend Stephanie is a rock star at work. She won a free dinner for 4 and because she is a cool friend she invited M and I to go with her and her fiance. We gorged on steaks, desserts, and wine. It was a good time with two of the best people I know.

{beautiful on the inside and out}

We also went to Colorado in July. We try to at least once a year to see M's friends in Denver. We hit up a Rockies game, went shopping, and went out to Boulder for some sushi. Our trip also fell right around M's birthday so we celebrated that as well.

{we like vacation}

{we like to eat and talk and maybe watch some baseball}

{the birthday boy before sushi}

So that's the long and short of it really. My older brother just left town after being here for 2 weeks so that's been keeping me busy lately. I'm also half way through school, I'm going to update you on that in another post.

It's good to be back, can't wait to catch up with all my favorite bloggers!

6 months ago

2011-04-08T10:00:00.002-05:00

About this time 6 months ago I was waking up on my wedding day. The main emotion I remember from that day was complete happiness. I never in a million years dreamed I'd get married...let alone marry someone as wonderful as M. Since getting married I've quit my job, started cosmetology school, and began the journey of chasing my dream. Poor guy got hit hard right off the bat. He did ask for an annulment but I talked him out of it.

I'm going to stick to posting only about our yearly anniversary's but today I'm celebrating the past 6 months I've been M's wife. Being where I am today would not have been possible without the endless love and support given to me by my sweet husband. He's my rock, my best friend, and my biggest fan. Happy 6 months of marriage M!

Do yourself a favor

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

get to know Adele.

Learning to balance

2011-04-03T19:00:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I took the girls on a much needed walk. It's one of Bailey's favorite times since I let her off the leash to run free along the trail. She looks like Dumbo as her ears fly outward when she runs and you can actually see a smile on her face. Lola has selective hearing so she has to stay on her leash but she doesn't seem to mind as she tries to keep up with Bailey and take in all the smells.

On these walks I like to spend some time reflecting about life. My life now and what my life used to be like. I've wanted to blog several times over the last few weeks but I just can't seem to find the words...or the time. I've been struggling lately. Mainly an internal struggle with my new life, going to school, and not having the freedom and time that I used to have.

All of my time and thoughts during the week are consumed with school. On the weekends I try to spend my time with the people I love, running errands, doing some cooking, and of course there's always endless cleaning and laundry. When Sunday evening rolls around I find myself feeling disappointed that I didn't get a chance to respond to emails. That I didn't get a chance to text a friend back. That I didn't get a long enough work out in. That yet again I didn't get to do something I was hoping to get to.

{via}

I knew that once I started school things were going to be different and my relationships were not going to be the same. It's an inevitable part of change and growing. I'm happy with the decision I made and I know that the sacrifices I'm making are short term but highly beneficial for our future. Yet each day I feel like I'm fighting the constant balancing act of life.

When Bailey rounded the corner on our walk and saw the pond her tail started to wag. She looked up at me with anticipation. If only her eyes could talk. I initially didn't want to let her swim because she always smells like dead fish afterward but her happiness is invigorating so I glanced around for a stick so we could play. She ran towards the pond as Lola trailed her barking with excitement.

Today my dogs taught me a good lesson. Live in the moment. Tomorrow is another day. Right now I'm going to do keep doing the best I can. That's all I can do.

Brown drowning in a sea of black

2011-03-15T08:30:00.001-05:00

Black is one of my favorite colors to wear. It's slimming, it goes with just about everything, and it's a required color to like/wear if you're born into my family. Between my mom, sister, and I we could literally dress everyone in Wyoming in black. I'm thinking we deserve some sort of award for this but anyhow that's not the point of this story. And yes there is a point.

This was all before I started school, we will refer to this time as b.s. (before school or bullshit). At school I have to wear a uniform everyday. Ya, a uniform like a child. Guess what color my uniform is? We are required to wear a black shirt (with the school logo on it) and black pants or a black skirt (that has to be to your freaking knees, didn't realize I was going to grandma school).

Everyday. Every.single.day. Every.damn.day.

{via}

It's literally killing my creative soul. Like I said, b.s. I would wear at least one piece of black clothing almost every day but I never wore black head to toe. For some crazy reason if I did I would never do it more than one day in a row. Each morning when I get up my new game is to figure out how to dress up my black standard issue fatigues. I've used earring, scarves, bracelets, and headbands. But each day it's getting harder and harder to figure out how to put my personal spin on it. I miss all my clothes in my closet. I miss color. I miss my heels!

If you have any ideas for me that would be great because black is my uniform for the next year. I do have some solitude though because we can wear any color shoes we want as long as they are suede or leather. There are rules on the shoes we can wear as well and you shouldn't try to jack with this rule like I did or your teacher will yell at you in front of the entire class. School is not my favorite place right now in case you were wondering.

It's going to be a long black year for this brown girl.

St. Patrick's Day 2011

2011-03-13T20:26:00.001-05:00

I'm not Irish. Neither is M. I know absolutely nothing about why St. Patrick's day is celebrated. I've lived my entire life in Texas and have never once traveled down to lower Greenville to watch the huge parade that gets put on. Never even thought about it. But this year was going to be different because M and I got invited to my friend from school Kim's annual St. Patty's day party.

Looking back on it I feel a little silly because I built up this whole party idea to my mom and M by telling them that Kim lived right off Greenville and we were going to be able to "practically see the parade from her house." M was particularly interested in this because he's not from Texas and has always wanted to see the parade. Um, so that wasn't so much the case. We took the Dart rail down and ended up having to walk 12 blocks to Kims house only to realize that not only were we not going to be able to see the parade but we weren't even going to be close enough to hear the damn parade.

None the less we had a fabulous time and I'm thinking that the Irish really know what's up. It was such a fun day getting to hang out with all my friends from school outside of school. Plus the weather was beautiful and everyone was in a great mood.

{sporting our green}

{my mom the chameleon, you can take her anywhere and she fits in}

{my mom and her BF kicked ass at beer pong}

{fun friends!}

{Taylor with Kim's sweet puppy Bailey}

Just a side note, my friend Kim from school just got two puppies and named them Lola and Bailey before she knew my dogs names. We also grew up in the same area and went to the same high school (she's two years younger) And we got sat next to each other the first day of class. I think that's a sign from above that we were destine to be great friends. I'm going to catch you up on the past few weeks in another post. It's been crazy busy to say the least.

Nobody said it was going to be easy

2011-02-21T10:47:00.000-06:00

I'm blow drying my clients hair. In 4 inch leopard print Louboutins. While she drinks champagne we chat about her fabulous life. I finish her blow dry, spin her chair around to the mirror where she says, "This is the best my hair has ever looked! You are amazing!"

That was the dream I had the other night. It figures I'd be blow drying in 4 inch heels. Only me.

The truth of it is this. I've burned my hand 3 times while working with my curling iron. One burn could need attention from a doctor. I've almost cried when I couldn't figure out a certain braid we were learning. I've felt frustrated and annoyed at myself every.single.day. I haven't worn a single pair of my heels since I started school and at the end of the day even the flats I wear are killing me. I've chocked, hit, slapped, and threatened my mannequin on multiple occasions. I've also carried her by her hair and literally hurled her into my locker at the end of every day.

{no really she likes this. i swear. she told me.}

I'm completely, utterly exhausted when I get home. Mentally and psychically.

I'll admit that when I signed up for school I thought it was going to come easy and natural to me. After all, this was something I dreamed about doing for so long and knew I was pretty good at. I was going to just walk in there and be the best at everything and they were going to push me up to a new level every week and I was going to graduate in 6 months instead of a year like everyone else. Apparently I wasn't lacking in self confidence.

Friends, I'm here to tell you, that isn't going to be happening. Not even close to happening. It's not going to happen because I'm going to have to allow myself to be a student, to have fun, and to learn to be perfectly ok with making mistakes. If I was as good as my dreams thought I was then I would have already been a stylist cutting hair in my 4 inch leopard print Louboutins.

But because I'm not, I'm going to have to be comfortable with just being a student. It's more difficult than I thought it would be. So I'm not the best just yet, I have faith that I'm going to get there.

I just have to take it one day at a time. In flats.

Blogging from a brown girls perspective

2011-02-09T15:00:00.002-06:00

Last week we had 4 days off from school due to snow and ice and today we have another day off due to ice. It's been crazy and the entire state of Texas basically shuts down during this kind of weather so I haven't blogged because honestly there has been nothing to write about. Unless of course you like to read about me sleeping, eating, and watching movies, that's basically what my life has consisted of.

Recently I have had a few people email me asking about my blog and blogging in general. How and why I started my blog? Where I find the time to blog? Why do I not have any ads/sponsors or do giveaways? How do I choose what to write about? And the main question, how did you get followers? So I thought today I'd put a little post together to answer those questions.
First off, I started my blog as a way to keep in touch with my brother and his family when they were stationed overseas in Japan. I wanted him to be able to feel connected through the stories I told or the pictures I shared. I kept my blog public so that M's family (who live in Colorado) could also read if they wanted to. My brother has since moved back to the states.

Finding the time to blog has been the hardest thing for me. When I first started blogging I would blog often and read other people's blogs, it was all new and fun. When life got busy I would blog less often but continue reading and commenting as I could. There did become a time when I started to let blogging take over my life. Not literally of course but I'd feel this sense of guilt if I wasn't commenting or posting enough. During those times I would remind myself that blogging would be there no matter what and if I put pressure on myself then it would take the fun out of it. I will admit that's a battle I still struggle with at times.

As you have obviously noticed I do not have any ads or sponsors listed on my blog. I do get quite a lot of emails requesting me to do product reviews and giveaways but I choose to politely decline them. It's not that I think my blog is above this or that I don't want to get paid for ads (because let me remind you yet again, I am jobless!) it's really because I don't have the time to adequately promote a product or giveaway. The other reason is because I just don't want to do them and frankly I don't have to. That's the cool thing about this blog, it's mine and I can do whatever I want on it. That may change in the future as I have thought about offering ad space to Etsy sellers but for the time being that's my stance on it.

How do I choose what to blog about? This is a funny question to me, I don't. I blog about anything and everything. If you read my blog then you know this. As my subtitle reads, this blog really is 'ramblings from a brown girl in Dallas'.

On to the main question I get, how did you get people to follow your blog? I have no clue how I gained such a great group of followers. And that's the honest truth. I've even made a few fabulous real life friends from blogging. I blog about things that I think are funny to things that touch my heart. I try to be as honest as I can without giving away every detail of my life (this is the internet after all) as well as trying to keep it entertaining for you to read. Basically, I just try to be myself and write in my own voice. I think if you asked someone is BG just like she portrays herself on her blog they would say yes. I appreciate everyone that comes to my blog, whether it be to share a sweet comment or just to read about my sick love for mini burgers and chap stick.

If I could give someone a piece of advice about blogging I'd tell them blog and comment as often as you can but not to stress out about it. It's just a damn blog people. To post pictures, blog posts are better with pictures. But most importantly to just be yourself and have fun with it...and don't be afraid to use a few cuss words if you want.

My first 3 days of school

2011-01-30T18:35:00.002-06:00

Have you ever been somewhere and thought to yourself, I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe this is happening to me. Am I dreaming?

That's how I felt for the entire first day of class. Every time a new educator would come into the room they would look around and ask, is everyone excited to be here? And every single time I would have to control myself from jumping up, waving my arms in the air and screaming, YES! YES I AM!!! Instead I would meekly answer back, yes with the rest of the room. I figured if I planned on even making one friend then I should keep my ass in my seat.

The first 3 days were orientation where they went over the rules. And there were a lot of damn rules. Although it was nothing I can't adhere to and I kind of prefer rules, at least you know where they stand. There is a great mix of people in my class. I was assuming there would be a lot of people fresh out of high school but we had people of all age ranges with everyone having a common reason for being there.

Everyone said they were going to school/back to school to pursue their dreams. That going to cosmetology school was something they have always wanted to do. So I felt like I was in the right place. And I was just beyond excited to finally be there.
image: {via}

I went against my husband's wishes and got a Twitter

2011-01-25T17:29:00.001-06:00

{via}

I seriously felt like that bird with the wtf?? bubble last night.

In an attempt to keep up with everyone once I start school I broke down and got a Twitter. M thinks the world is ending, he's not a huge fan of multiple social media outlets but let's be clear, I may be on his payroll now but that does not make him the boss of me. Although he may have some reason to worry since I'm pretty sure I'm already addicted. Teehee!

Follow me @BrnGirlTweets and then tweet me so I can follow you!

Chapstick Lover

2011-01-20T09:30:00.001-06:00

I've always loved makeup but never been a big user of it. I wear the normal stuff like powder and mascara but going any further than that puts me in a bit of a panic. I just find that picking colors out that go well with my skin is really difficult and I'd just rather not be bothered. But, there's always a but, I do have one huge cosmetic obsession and that comes in the form of chapstick. I love chapstick! Apparently it runs in the family because baby brother is quite the chapstick collector as well.

Anyhow, on to what I came to tell you. While at the grocery store the other day with M we are standing in the checkout line and I see all the pretty chapsticks lined up. I walk over to them and I notice a bright egg shaped yellow one. I pick it up and out loud say, oooooh I want this! M happens to be standing behind me and immediately says, no, you already have 3 in the cart BG! Keep in mind, we were testing out our new grocery budget on this trip to the store so he was a little more testy than usual. Fine I tell him, I'll put two back if I can get this one. After some tough negotiations he agrees (mainly because he heard some co workers talking about how great these were) and we finish checking out.

{EOS Lip Balm Smooth Sphere in Lemon Drop}

As soon as we get in the car I pull out my new prize. I start to take the cap off but it's not coming off. Baaabe I practically screech to M, help me oppppen thhhhiis! Hi, I'm 5 and have no patience. While rolling his eyes, he opens it and hands it back to me. It has this really velvety texture and a light lemon scent that is so intoxicating. I then proceed to practically make out with it like a long lost lover.

On the ten minute drive home I used it 13 times.

I must tell you that I've been using it for the past week or so and I am sold! It lasts a long time, it makes my lips super soft, and I don't feel like it dries them out where I need to use it constantly like some other chap sticks. It's also really easy to spot in my bag. Not to mention the design itself is just totally cool and if lemons not your thing it comes in 5 different flavors. So to all my fellow chapstick lovers, check it out!

Disclaimer: I feel the need to say no one paid me to write this shit. These are my own thoughts. I paid for the chapstick with my own money. Ok, M's money but what's his is mine and what's mine is mine. They only had this flavor at the store so if EOS wants to send me the other flavors to try out I'd be totally cool with that. Blah, blah, blah.

Life through the eyes of my phone

2011-01-18T20:42:00.000-06:00

While looking through the pictures on my cell phone the other day I noticed a running theme, I take a lot of pictures of my dogs and of food. But I also noticed that I have a lot of other random pictures in there so I thought I'd show you my life through the camera on my phone.

Made this delicious chocolate cake for M to take to work, can't remember why at this moment but I thought it turned out so pretty. I love pretty food.

Got a good laugh out of B one night as she stretched out on her bed. Guess she didn't plan on sharing.

Went shopping with my mom one day at world market, as I reached up to grab some pillows on a high shelf the sign holding the price came down and whacked me right in the head. After I stopped laughing my ass off I told my mom it really hurt. She then looks at my head and says, oh shit you're bleeding. Then she does something completely horrifying. She licks her fingers and wipes them across my head. Only.my.mother. I know it doesn't look like much but it left a whelp!

Bought Lola a squeaky pig. Big mistake. Then tried to hide said squeaky pig from her after she consistently squeaked it for an hour. No luck there either, after I told her three times she couldn't have it she jumped up on the end table and helped herself.

My co worker went to an estate sale and bought me this picture. I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious but he said the picture made him think of me. Either way I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be hanging it in the garage. I'm going to miss that guy when I'm gone.

Delicious salmon lunch with my boss and co workers. No more free lunches for me after Friday. And no more 50% off at the restaurants that our company owns. Sad sad day.

The dogs are always doing cute things like sleeping, sleeping, and um sleeping. Those lazy bums need to start pulling their weight, get a job.

If I ever lost my phone and someone went through it I wonder what they would think as they looked through the pictures...I'm assuming it would be..she must be a lonely girl that likes food, ugly paintings, and her dogs.

That time I sold my wedding dress

2011-01-13T20:17:00.000-06:00

Last week I sold my wedding dress and today I put it in a box and shipped it off to New York. Come May the person that bought my dress will be walking down the aisle in it.

I realize that it's kind of sacrilegious to go off and sell your wedding dress but the mere thought of boxing up my dress and then never looking at it again made me cringe. The whole idea of passing it down to my future daughter one day didn't appeal to me either, why should she be forced to wear a dress I picked out...even if it was, in my extremely bias opinion, a kick ass dress. Instead of feeling sad today, I felt good boxing it up. It made me happy to know that someone else will get to have it for a fraction of the cost.

Plus, I need money. I quit my job remember? Anyone want to buy my shoes? No seriously, I wouldn't do that to you, those suckers were painful.

Dream big. Then dream bigger.

2011-01-12T08:30:00.001-06:00

On August 20, 2009 I wrote this post. I'll admit that over the past year there were times when I thought that post would never come to omission. But over a year later on January 26, 2011 that post is going to become my reality. I'm excited, nervous, scared, happy, and every other emotion you can think of about starting cosmetology school to become a hair stylist.
To do this is going to take some adjusting for me. I had to quit my full time job and leave a place where I have been comfortable the past 4 years. I'm going to have to walk away from my coworkers who have taught me so much and have become like family. Although the biggest adjustment is I'm going to have to eat my pride and depend on my husband for the next year while I'm in school. Don't get me wrong M is very happy to ~~be my sugar daddy~~ do this while I'm in school and while it does sound a tiny bit enticing, I'm no stay at home wife.

I have worked a real job ever since I was 16 years old. I've never depended on anyone or anything. When I wanted a new job I'd work hard and prove my skills to get it and when I wanted more money I'd go after that as well. I'm an independent woman and I've always been very proud of that. My independence isn't being taken away by any means, my financial independence is just being redirected and I'm going to have to tame my inner control freak. I trust M, we're a team. I'm doing what I need to do to help make our team stronger for the future.

I've dreamed about doing a job that I love. A job that not only makes me money but more importantly makes my soul feel full. I'm nervous about doing a good job and making M proud of me. I'm scared to let go of the career I've built for myself thus far. But overall, I'm terrified to look back on my life in 20 years and say I had the chance to take a leap of faith but I didn't do it because I was scared to fail.

That's why I'm going to school. That's why I'm going to live my dream.

The weekend with the birthday boy

2011-01-10T15:00:00.000-06:00

My brother turned 17 last week so this weekend we spent some time celebrating with him. For the very first time he didn't want to spend his actual birthday with us. Instead he spent it at Twin Peaks ogling the waitresses with his friends. I'll admit that I was a little hurt that he didn't want to go out to eat with his super cool family but what can I say, the boy is growing up.

{my two favorite men}

Friday night we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then came home for cake and presents. Speaking of cake, have you heard of Nothing Bundt Cakes? They make the most delicious bundt cakes I have ever had, if you have one in your area I highly recommend trying it. They even make mini bundt cakes!

{marble cake w/cream cheese frosting-yes, please!}

{rocking the North Face given by his bad ass sister and brother in law,
that's M and I in case you were confused}

Baby sister got her very first waitressing job at a new mexican food restaurant near our house, so on Saturday M and I met my family there to sit in her section and eat/harasses her. She actually did a really good job and I'm proud of her. Waiting tables was never a job for me, I don't have that kind patience.

{oh you want to know what M is looking at? that'd be the football game playing behind my head.}

{green enchiladas with rice and drunk beans}

{yes I took her picture, yes she posed, yes we have issues}

Sunday it snowed. M and I sat around in our pj's drinking bloody mary's and watching football. No pictures because I was obviously very busy.

Thank you for all of your supportive comments on quitting my job. I'm still in shock a little by the whole thing but am looking forward to new beginnings. I have a post coming soon to tell you all about my new adventure.

I QUIT my job!

2011-01-07T11:20:00.003-06:00

On Monday. I quit my job. On Monday I quit my freaking job. As you can see, it's still sinking in.

I wish it was as fun and dramatic as the above picture but to be honest it wasn't. (maybe a little though) While I am excited about embarking on a new chapter in my life, I am a blubbering ball of emotions. The people and relationships I have made at my job are unlike any other and I'm going to miss them terribly. Most of them anyways, you know, there's always the office asshole. I have known this day was coming but now that it is an actual reality, I am reacting differently than I thought I would. Since Monday I have been going full speed figuring out who is going to take over my responsibilities, training them, and just spreading the word that I am in fact, leaving.

With new beginnings comes a lot of uncertainty, change, and vulnerability. Right now, I am an emotional mess but after the next few weeks are over I have a feeling that's going to subside and I'm going to be happy. Really, really, really happy.

{images via}

What's mine is not yours

2010-12-29T10:41:00.000-06:00

I plan on recapping our Christmas sometime this week, if I can stop being lazy and get the pictures downloaded. It was a nice Christmas, nothing amazing happened and we did all the normal stuff like open up presents, eat too much, and drink until we got silly. You know, the same shit everyone else did.

Today though I come to you with the story of a dog bed. Ya, I know that sounds really exciting and I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat anticipating how great this story is going to be. No? Not so much? Who cares, you are off work and not doing anything anyhow.

This year my sweet mother in law asked me what Bailey and Lola (our sweet little furry devils..er..angels in case you are new to these parts) wanted for Christmas. Normally I would have said some dog bones or nothing because they are spoiled rotten brats but this year they really did need something so I asked her for a new dog bed that they could both lay on together. They both really enjoy the crappy little dog bed they have now so I thought a nice new one would serve them well. So my MIL purchased a really nice (meaning NOT cheap at all) suede dog bed that came just before Christmas. I was really excited. Almost too excited considering it was a dog bed and it was clearly not for me. But it made me really happy to know that they would have a plush new bed to sleep/sit/play/wrestle on.

Let's just say the bed was very well received by the girls. They both jumped on it immediately and began to wrestle. A sure sign of "we love it"! Although, Lola definitely thought the bed was hers. When Bailey would go to sit or lay on it Lola would almost immediately come over and wrestle her off of it and then proceed to lay right in the middle of it herself. Bailey is 85 pounds, Lola is 15 pounds. I just thought it'd be a good time to tell you that. Anyhow, at night Bailey started sleeping on the dog bed instead of in our bedroom (under the bed) where she normally sleeps. Can't say I blame her considering I was fairly certain that squishing her fat ass under the bed was getting more and more difficult for her, not to mention is that really comfortable? I didn't think this bothered Lola seeing as how she gets to sleep on the bed with us, normally like on.my.freaking.pillow.

Oh but I was wrong. So very, very wrong. Because you see it did bother Lola and she made that very clear the other morning. I got up early and let the girls out and then sat in the living room to read a book while M slept. I opened the porch door so Lola could hang outside if she choose or come in. Not 2 minutes after I sit down, Lola walks in the house and over to the dog bed. She jumps on the dog bed directly in the middle of it...and proceeds to PEE ON IT!!! Not just a little tinkle either. A HUGE puddle of pee that she had clearly been saving up (because remember I had just taken her outside) for the right time to show us all who's bed that actually was.

M is always saying how much Lola is like me, feisty and mean and Bailey is like him, laid back and sweet. Now I have clear evidence that is not the case. I have never peed on anything to claim it. Not yet anyways.

{what are you assholes looking at??}

The End.

2010 in Review

2010-12-21T15:30:00.005-06:00

{Thanksgiving 2010}

2010 was a great year, of course the biggest and most exciting thing being that M and I got married! And we are still married just in case you were placing bets on us. But a lot of other exciting things happened this year...

This year I made some wonderful new friends through blogging. I never would have thought that I'd be able to make such great friendships through this little online journal but I'm so thankful that I did and I'm excited to see how much more our friendship will grow. Unfortunately, in the process of making new friends I also had to let go of some old friendships that were holding me back. While there was nothing major that happened it was clear that I no longer had anything in common with those friends and it was time to move forward. I think it's all part of getting older and realizing the people that truly matter in your life.

I worked on my fitness this year. Since working out steady for the past 2+ years this was the first year that I took it seriously (I think having a wedding in October was a great motivator). I started jogging regularly and hit the gym on a daily basis. I also starting being more aware of portion control and really started listening to my body to help lead me. I'm looking forward to signing up for more 5K's in 2011 and maybe even a 10K!

M and I grew closer and really learned how to save this year. Since we had a wedding looming over us all year we got really good at communicating and budgeting. Once our wedding rolled around in October I'm proud to say that we paid for every single thing and didn't use a single credit card. It was a refreshing feeling to head out for our honeymoon with zero wedding debt! We've also done really well since the wedding about keeping our saving going, hopefully this will continue in 2011 and we will be that much closer to a house!

Needless to say, I was a pretty terrible blogger in 2010, damn wedding, but I fully intend to do better in 2011. I really liked going back through my blog and seeing what we did each month. 2011 is already looking to be a very fun and eventful year for us and I look forward to sharing every little detail.

I am officially blog breaking until after Christmas. Enjoy your holiday!

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-14T09:15:00.003-06:00

Each year I like to get our little family together to take pictures for our Christmas cards. M to put it mildly is not a fan of this. The reason he is not a fan is because it's always a pain in the ass getting all of us in the shot together, especially the dogs. Last year was quite the fiasco but we ended up getting a good picture so it was worth it. To me. M could care less.

This year, he made it clear right off the bat that we would not be doing a family Christmas picture this year. Um, come again? My initial reaction was to throw a fit and start scamming ideas to get my way. Let's be real here, it's my way or no way. Then I started thinking about all of our wedding pictures and what a good sport he had been during all of those. The problem was that they didn't include the girls and I just can't have a family card without my sweet girls in it.

Then one day as I was cleaning up I saw a fun picture we had from the wedding. Our caricature artist sketched a drawing of us a few days before the wedding to put on display and wouldn't you know it, he included the girls in it! When I proposed the idea of using the sketch to M he was beyond happy. It worked out great and I let M get his way this year. I already told him don't get used to that.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

The Details

2010-12-09T15:50:00.005-06:00

I believe the small details are what set your wedding apart and make it your own. It's in those details that your own personality gets to shine through. Since 50% of our wedding guests traveled in from out of town I really wanted them to have a fun laid back experience. And I think we achieved just that.

Our ceremony was very short. Maybe 30 minutes from start to finish. I wanted the focus to be at the reception. Plus, who wants to sit through a long boring ceremony? We did a blending of the sands and I poured the black sand...because I couldn't find any brown sand. :)

I wasn't super particular about the flowers although I will have to say that while my bouquet was pretty it really wasn't what I wanted. In fact, I didn't like it. At all. The flowers weren't all purple which is what I requested and I really thought my bouquet was on the small side especially when compared to the moh and mom's bouquets. Oh well, not a damn thing I could do about it at that point.

We did do place cards on the suggestion of our coordinator at the hotel. This.Was.A.Major.Beatdown. I put M in charge of the seating and I thought he did a great job. Our reception room was broken into 3 sections that were open yet separated with a large column so people not siting in our room couldn't see M and I very well during dinner. I personally didn't think it was that big of a deal, do they really need to watch us eat? But apparently a few people were not happy with where they sat. Go ahead...ask me if I gave/give a shit.

After the ceremony the coordinator accented our wedding sand with the moh and mom's bouquets. They turned out really pretty!

M named all of our tables after golf courses. He is a golfer and we got married over looking the golf course so it all tied in together. Each table was also accented with some type of short white flower arrangement, I wasn't picky about those either and thought they all looked really nice. I initially started out with half tall and half short table arrangements but switched to all small at the last minute. I thought it helped keep the room more open.

On the back of the table name cards was a blurb about the golf course and a question for the table to discuss among themselves. We affectionately named this "Table Talk."

We set up a small wish tree for people to jot down notes or advise to us as newlyweds. It was really funny to go back and read these after the wedding. My favorite one read, "share love, but not money."

The cake. Oh the cake. I love me some cake. We had a three layer cake consisting of strawberry, red velvet, and white chocolate cake with a combination of butter cream and cream cheese frosting's. It was divine! The design of the grooms cake was a famous golf hole. The flavor was marble cake with butter cream frosting. It was also divine! Our cake toppers were a golfer looking impatiently at his watch and a sign saying "still shopping". They were a gift from my boss, he knows us well.

M choose just a solid white gold wedding band. If you know M then you know this suits his personality very well. His ring does have some small etching around both sides of it that mimics the detail in my rings. And I finally got to wear my wedding band in all it's glory.

For the reception we hired a caricature artist to draw pictures of our guests. He was a HUGE hit and did a fantastic job. It was one of my favorite things about the wedding, big thanks to my boss for giving me the idea. Everyone got to take their sketches home as a thank you gift.

Of course we also had a DJ who played a great mix of our favorite songs. M danced. I danced. Everyone danced. It was awesome!

And as quickly as it began, the night was over. We had a sparkler send off which was so fun. Thankfully there were no major catastrophes with the sparklers!

It was a long (painful) year of planning but the memories of that day were wonderful. But I would never want to plan another wedding again. Ever, ever again. Having a more traditional wedding was more M's idea than it was mine, I wanted the beach or something easy, but in the end I'm glad we did it this way. We did it our way. And in my opinion that's the best way to do it.

An outdoor venue and the wedding party

2010-12-06T09:28:00.001-06:00

Sometimes the stars align and you get to get married in a dreamy location. That's what happened to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd get married (that's another story). Then when it happened, never in my wilder dreams did I think I'd get to get married in a beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony. But sometimes the stars align.

We got married over looking a beautiful golf course on a gorgeous day in October. It honestly could not have been more perfect. The weather was amazing, the venue was beautiful, and I was so happy that I literally never stopped smiling.

With 100 of our closest family and friends, we said our own vows...

my baby brother walked me down the aisle, not to give me away but to gain a brother...

where my baby sister stood my side...

she also helped our tiny little flower angel make it down the aisle...

where M's best man and brother held the rings...

To help make the day, the best day of my life.

Our wedding party consisted of three people. M's brother, my sister, and our flower girl. While we could have had a big wedding party, we didn't. There's nothing more or less to it than that.

Having an outdoor wedding ceremony was a risk. But, in my opinion, it was a risk worth taking. After researching online the best photographs come from natural light so I knew if our wedding was held outdoors we were guaranteed to have some beautiful pictures. Not to mention neither M or I are overly religious so a church ceremony was not needed or missed.

It also helped us take in all of our wonderful photographic elements...like climbing some rocks to stand where the waterfall fell at the pool...to snag some fun pictures. Trying to climb rocks in a skin tight dress ain't easy but with the help of our photographers and M I made it up there... AND managed to stay clean. Thank heavens!

Next up, the details. I love details.

{THANK YOU for your sweet comments on my dress and hair, my head is slowly starting to deflate ;) }

The dress, shoes, veil, and hair...oh the hair!

2010-12-01T20:25:00.003-06:00

I know this has taken awhile but I'm pretty sure by this time that you've figured out, I do shit on my own time. Not to mention going through over 800 pictures is hard! Anyhow, on to what you really came to see, our wedding. Thank you so much for all your suggestions on what you wanted to see, it was very helpful. So here's the first of three posts...

The Hair, oh the mother forking HAIR: I love hair. You know this. So it should come as no surprise that my wedding hair was very important to me. I decided to wear my hair down for the ceremony and up for the reception to change up my look. My hair naturally hits right in the middle of my back when straight but I wanted big hair for the wedding. I'm talking really big Texas hair with lots of volume and curls. So I wore about 5 tracks of hair extensions for extra length. It was big and badass. It made me happy. Really happy.

Right after formal pictures were taken my hair stylist pulled it all up into a messy updo. I topped that off with a fresh Gardenia.

The dress: I purchased my dress with the help of my mom and sister, meaning I pretty much let them pick it out. It's an Edimburgo by designer San Patrick and originally came with a one shoulder strap and a straight neckline. I had a seamstress alter it to a sweetheart neckline and had the strap taken off totally. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It fit like a glove. A very, very snug glove.

The veil: There was never supposed to be a veil. I decided early on that a veil was way to traditional for me and that I would look for a fun flower or feather hair piece. After searching at several places and not finding anything or finding things that were way out of my price range a lady at this quaint boutique showed me a bubble veil. As soon as I put it on my head I knew. For one of the first times in my whole wedding planning process I felt like a real bride. It was big and obnoxious and I bought it on the spot. That was one of the best decisions I made. I wish it was acceptable to be worn daily, I'd totally do it.

The shoes: My darling friend Mrs. H pointed out these lovely Nina heels to me when I very first started planning and had decided on the color purple. She wore these shoes in red for her own wedding. I ordered them immediately. They were the perfect shade of purple and the heel height was spot on. Although even with 2 gel inserts in each shoe I didn't find them very comfortable, not that I cared.

Next up some wedding party and venue pictures. Ya know, when I feel like it.

After all, it's just a dress

2010-11-23T09:45:00.002-06:00

{via}

My mom and I chatted on the phone the other night as I headed home from work when she proceeds to ask me an unorthodox question. I always call her on my 30 minute drive home from work. And she normally always answers to tell me a funny story about my brother and sister or make me laugh about something funny that happened to her. Funny things are always happening to her.

So on to her question...We are having our company Christmas party at work and my friend needs a dress to wear. She is about your size. Can she borrow something of yours? I immediately reacted without a mere possibility of a yes, NO! Mother, I do not loan my clothes out to strangers. I don't even know her!! My mom went on to say, she really can't afford something new for the party and you have so many dresses I didn't think you'd mind. Well I DO mind and the answer is, NO!! I'm surprised she couldn't see the horns that had sprouted from my head through the phone. That was the end of that conversation.

This morning as I stood in the shower I started thinking back on our conversation. I thought about all the clothes hanging in my closet, tons of dresses, some I never even wear anymore and quite possibly don't even fit. Married life is not doing good things for my waste line. I started to think about how blessed I was to have all of these clothes and have the ability to afford a new dress if I needed one. I was being selfish and I'm happy to have realized that. After I was all dressed for work I went through all of my dresses and pulled out 3 I thought would be fun for the party. Also that I wouldn't be too sad about in case she decided to have a little too much fun and ruin one by accident.

On my way into work I called my mom and said, I pulled 3 dresses for your friend. Maybe she'll like one? In typical mom fashion she responds with, Oh good because I already told her she could borrow something. That's my mom for you.

I'm blogging this story because I want to be able to look back and remember this. To remind myself to be thankful for what I have and to give when I am able. Even if it is just a dress. And I am just letting her borrow it. You gotta start somewhere.

Honeymoon Recap: Round V

2010-11-09T20:20:00.004-06:00

Let's be honest here. You are over reading about our honeymoon recaps and I'm over recaping them. In fact the word 'recap' is really getting on my nerves right now. Damn you recap in all your recap glory! And damn you blogger for taking 2 days to upload my pictures. You and recap should get married and make blogcap kids.

Sorry, I'm moving on now.

Thursday (10-14) M and I headed out to make the first tour to visit Alcatraz. Neither one of us were to thrilled about going to do this but it's one of those things you kind of have to do if it's your first time visiting. We actually both enjoyed it more than we thought we would.

{our ride to prison}

{old prisons are cool}

{taking the audio tour, highly recommend it if you go}

{M has to be sent to a prison with bigger cells}

After Alcatraz we headed over to Pier 39 to walk around and have some lunch. It was very touristy with lots of people walking around speaking foreign languages. My favorite part was seeing all the seals. I was literally obsessed with them and could have watched them for hours. All they did was sleep and yell at each other, now that's the life.

{thank you kind German man for taking our picture}

{make room, I'm coming over!}

{love M for his willingness to pose when I ask...most of the time}

We took the trolley car back to the hotel for dinner. It was so hot at this point and we had to stand in line to get on. The only two seats were an inside seat and an outside spot hanging on to a metal bar. This made me very uncomfortable. I obviously sat inside the car but every time we went down a hill I clung on to M's pant loops and prayed that his hand wouldn't slip only to fall to his demise. I'm dramatic. We know this.

{all smiles from the big guy}

That night we had dinner at Joe Dimaggio's restaurant. It's an Italian chop house but has way more italian than chop. Dinner was great but we had to eat really fast because we both started to overheat again. I blame the leather booth they sat us in. Leather makes you sweat in case you didn't know.

{the food ain't right without the wine}

Friday (10-15) was our last full day in SF. M had seen these little yellow cars on the streets and was dying to take one for a spin. I on the other hand was not. I didn't want anything to do with the little yellow car of death. Since we didn't have any plans this day M begged and pleaded with me to get one. I finally gave in figuring that we would get there and he wouldn't fit in the car. Well low and behold what do you know, his ass fit, barely...so off we went in the yellow car of death. It basically takes you on a voice navigated tour of downtown. That part was cool. Almost getting killed by a bus was not. I'm positive all the locals hated us and were trying to hit us. Can't say I blamed them but M was in heaven.

{never seen M this happy}

{Trans America building taken during the yellow car ride of death}

{shop til you drop}

{stopped for lunch at Pizza Orgasmica, it was amazeballs}

Saturday it was time to come home. It was a wonderful, relaxing honeymoon and I loved Napa and San Francisco. We will definitely go back!

{assed out as soon as he sat down}

Thanks for all the suggestions on what wedding pictures you'd like to see. I'll work on getting them up. Also, thank you to the people that confirmed that I am in fact an asshole. I always assumed I was but your confirmation makes it more gratifying.

Honeymoon Recap: Round IV

2010-11-08T16:08:00.001-06:00

Wednesday (10-13) we headed off to San Francisco. Of course we stopped for breakfast because I was hungry. Apparently, I'm hungry all the time. I chalk it up to the fact that since I wasn't in wedding planning mode anymore, I wasn't stressed so I could eat again. M found us this great little breakfast spot on the way to SF, I can't remember what it was called but my avocado omelet was delish.

{we like to eat, me mostly}

{stopped to take a picture on the ride in}

{I was in awe of the bridges, they don't have these in TX}

Once we got to the hotel and got all checked in we immediately headed out. I love big cities. The energy and vibe is so awesome. As far as big cities go I really think I could live in San Francisco. The streets were really wide and it felt more spacious compared to some other big cities I've been to.

{honeymoon amenities from the fabulous Palace Hotel}

{yes I posed in front of Gucci for a pic, don't be embarrassed of me}

After walking around Union Square for a few hours we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. While in Napa, one of our tour guides suggested a great little sushi place for us to try. So we got dressed and hopped a cable car to dinner. I was scared of the cable car and didn't want anything to do with hanging on to the outside. I didn't want M out there either. He says I'm scared of everything. I don't care.

{happy and safe inside the car}

{much warmer inside than outside}

{sushi at Sushi Hunter, excellent!}

After dinner we decided to head to a bar for some after dinner drinks. One huge thing that both M and I struggled with in San Francisco was the temperature. It was relatively cool outside but inside it was hot as hell. I'm not sure if we are used to air conditioning being a standard inside because we live in Texas or what but we sweated at every place we went to. M was particularly hot this night so he left me at the bar and walked to the hotel to change his shirt.

This is the point where I'm going to tell you a short story.

I'm sitting at the piano at Lefty O'Doul's when in walks this couple. The lady and man sit down next to me and start chatting, they are in their mid 40's and ex police officers from NY on vacation. Seemed nice enough but I can tell they are highly intoxicated. The man especially. I'm doing my best to be friendly but really just wanting to run away. Finally, M shows back up and the lady is immediately in love with M. She grabs his arm and starts chatting away with him. The whole time her husband looks like he's about to pass out. I am singing along with the piano and chatting with some ladies across the piano from us. I then hear the lady asking M to take her husband to the bathroom, so M being the nice guy he is does. As he's walking back towards me from the bathroom, I notice he has this really odd look on his face. I ask him, "Is everything ok?" With a half smile he looks at me and says, "I think the guy peed himself."

{taken right before M leaned over to me and said let's get out of here now}

As soon as the woman got up to check on her husband we high tailed it out of there. I was kind of sad face about it since I was having a blast singing along with the piano. The guy playing named me Dallas and M Colorado, it was pretty original but lots of fun. Too bad pee pee pants ruined it for us.

Next up...the final recap. Amen.

All the money is gone but we have pictures

2010-11-07T14:08:00.003-06:00

{only second to the pictures is the dress, the above is mine}

Our wedding pictures are back *insert stupidly happy smile here*. Although much to your disappointment I'm sure, I'm not going to be posting all 750 pictures. I'm also not going to do Wedding Wednesdays. Or recap every single detail.

This post should have been titled, I'm an asshole.

Part of the reason I'm not going to be doing all of these things is because some of the pictures I want to keep between my family and I. While I do enjoy sharing, I also like some level of privacy. The second reason is because I don't feel like recaping everything. Yes our wedding was fabulous and fun but I was there so I don't need to spend 30 posts reliving it. Thirdly, I'd like to open this up to ask you, what would you like to see or know about our wedding? Dress? Hair? Details? You tell me.

So if you want, leave me a comment and let me know what you'd really like to see/know. If you don't want to know shit about our wedding, go ahead and leave that in the comments as well, I won't be mad. Then I'll do a few posts showing and telling. You're welcome.

Honeymoon Recap: Round III

2010-11-05T09:45:00.001-05:00

{we're married now, we don't need to talk at breakfast anymore}

The next day (the 12th) we headed into Napa to have breakfast at a place recommend by the hotel. Another wonderful meal. We don't have to go into it. Trust me, it was good because all the food in Napa is GOOD.

We then headed out to do some wine tasting sans a driver. Actually, I had a driver the whole time so it worked out great for me. Cakebread Cellars was the first stop and this was my favorite tour/tasting. The winery was really beautiful and we had a great tour guide that was really knowledgeable.

{barrels for days yo}

{we got the memo, no one dresses up around here}

{delicious grapes right off the vine}

After that we hit up about 3-4 more wineries that M really wanted to go to. I feel like I should tell you that at this point I am kind of over wine tasting. I know what you're thinking, you have only been doing it for one and a half days BG!!! I realize this but honestly after a few tastings you just want to sit down, relax, and drink a full glass of wine. None of the wineries have places to sit (they obviously don't want you getting to comfortable) and things really start tasting the same.

{gorgeous roses at Silver Oak}

{fake smiles at PlumpJack}

Our time in Napa was fabulous. The weather was warm and all of the wineries were really beautiful. I could really go on and on about the food but I'll spare you. I don't know if Napa is a place that I would need to visit over and over again but it really was a great experience and if you've never been you should definitely add it to your bucket list.

{no more pictures, if you want your cupcakes come get them}

We stopped for a late lunch and cupcakes (which M refused to pose with) at Kara's Cupcakes and then we were off to San Francisco.

This recap is taking longer than I expected but I'd like to have all of this for my own memories as well so if I'm boring you feel free to skip these posts. Yes, I'm giving you permission.

Next up...San Francisco where things got way more entertaining!

Honeymoon Recap: Round II

2010-11-02T08:30:00.001-05:00

On Saturday (the 11th) we got up and and had a delicious breakfast at the hotel, wish I would have taken pictures of it. M arranged for a car to drive us around to all of our tastings and I was pretty stoked about having my own personal DD. He did all of the planning for our honeymoon and don't tell him I said this but he did a great job!

First stop was the Providence winery. My work set us up with a private tour which also included a sensory test. Basically the lady had us smell certain viles with scents that were in the wine and we had to guess what they were. We did pretty bad on the white wines but kicked ass on the red ones. Obviously we drink a lot of red wine. It was really fun to see what M thought the smell was versus what I though it was. It was also very interesting to see the different smells/tastes that came out during the aging process.

{we look happy but this tasting of sauvignon blanc was no bueno}

{anyone for vino?}

Turnbull was next on the list, they had a beautiful winery that was very friendly and quaint. Turnbull is a favorite of M's so we ended up joining the wine club here. If you are wanting to join a particular wine club you should do so early into your tastings because the more you taste, the more money you think you have to join wine clubs that are far from cheap. It's really strange.

{I pose because she forces me too}

{who do I have to lick to get a full glass around here?}

{what's better than wine with the one you love}

We went to another winery or two in between this but let's move on to lunch. I'm just going to say this flat out in the best way I know how...The food in Napa was amazing. Every place we ate at was incredible and we could not stop talking about how delicious everything was. We stopped for lunch at Rutherford Grill, mainly because they let you bring in your own wine but that became the least of our concerns once the food showed up.

{rotisserie chicken sandwich and fries, mmmm mmmm good}

After lunch I was tired and wanted to go home. Home girl needed a nap after a fully belly and all that wine but our driver insisted on taking us to the Robert Mondavi winery. I'm actually glad he did because it was a huge gorgeous vineyard.

{apparently this statue gets molested quite a bit by visitors}

{we were no exception}

{just a brown girl with her Gucci, drunk off happiness and wine in Napa}

{I took this picture because I thought the grapes looked like shriveled balls}

After a 3 hour nap we headed to the most amazing BBQ wine bar in downtown Napa called Bounty Hunter. Now I know that a BBQ wine bar sounds really strange but there is nothing strange about this gem. The food was delicious, the wine menu was glorious, and they had the most rock star potato salad I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Have I told you yet that the food in Napa made me so very happy??

{lay off I'm hungry}

Next up...more wine tasting. Duh we went to Napa.

World Serious

2010-10-31T21:05:00.001-05:00

{World Series 2010}

When M found out the Rangers were in the playoffs he casually asked me, do you want to go. I said, sure that would be awesome. After doing a little research we realized that we were going to be on our honeymoon and would miss them but then they beat the Tampa Bay Rays. So M asked again, do you want to go? I said, sure why not? So M got tickets and that was cool with me. Let's be clear, spending that kind of money was only cool with me once. But what M also did that I didn't find out about until a few days later was buy World Series tickets. As it was later explained to me M bought tickets and if they didn't make it his money would be refunded. Well you know what happened next, they made it. So we had tickets to Game 3 of the World Series here in Texas.

Don't even ask me what M spent on the tickets. I don't want to know. You shouldn't either.

Saturday we headed out to the ball park early since it's about 40 minutes from our house. Parking that is normally $10 was going for $60!! Those people should be ashamed of themselves, good thing we had a parking hook up and parked super close for free.

{Pre game drinks before we went in}

{Where were you people 3 months ago?}

{The view from our seats, not great but not bad actually}

{I don't think M ever turned his face to actually talk or look at me, nothing new there}

{Happy "we won" faces}

I've been to a lot of exciting sports events. One year I sat front row of the UT vs OU game at the Cotton Bowl, front freaking row! This is a big deal for all you non Texas fans. It was a really fun game even though Texas lost that year but I don't think anything can top the energy and excitement of being at the Rangers game Saturday. Yes, it helped that we won but more than anything I felt like the team deserved to be there. That in itself was worth it.

{4-2 TEXAS}

GO RANGERS!

No Hoe-lloween Here

2010-10-29T12:00:00.003-05:00

{can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street}

It's Friday (woohoo!) and our office is having it's annual costume contest. I was annoyed by all the slutty witches and nurses this year, normally I just accept it because that's really all they make for girls. When I saw this at Target, I knew it was perfect. With a few feathers and hot glue I was good to go. Hope you have fun whatever your Halloween plans may be!

Honeymoon Recap: Round I

2010-10-28T11:30:00.001-05:00

I've decided to break our honeymoon recap up into a couple of posts because I took a ton of pictures and there's a lot I want to share. Plus, I'm OCD and like organization.

We got married on a Friday and spent Saturday relaxing with some of our out of town friends, cleaning, and packing. Yes, I waited until the day before we left to pack. Duh, I was busy getting married. Anyhow, we flew out early Sunday morning to San Jose, California. M immediately used our newlywed status by asking the flight agents if we could have our seats moved to an exit row because "I'm really tall and this is a long flight...and we are on our honeymoon." And low and behold, it worked!

Immediately upon arriving in San Jose I had one thing on the brain. Food. When I get hungry, watch out. I told M there was no way in hell I was going to make it to Napa without something to eat. Find food, any food. I'm starving!! So, we got our rental car (upgraded for free again!) and we were off to feed my belly before M punched me in the face from all my complaining. As we headed down the highway we see this:

I have never eaten at IN-N-OUT burger and when I mentioned that to M, we had to stop. I would have eaten a fried piece of poop at this point so I was in. The line was ridiculous. The place was packed. The verdict? Good but I've had better. I do live in Texas though where we have burger joints on every corner.

{maybe if my giant husband glares at them they will hurry!}

{I'm posing with this burger to shut my wife up}

{I look like crap but I'm hungry and could care less}

Once I ate my burger and fries and stood in line to get a milkshake...I had milkshake envy when I saw a little kid with one... we were off to Napa. We stopped along the way to take some pictures and check out the scenery. It was beautiful and the weather was unseasonably warm.

{Welcome to Napa}

We got checked into our fabulous hotel, had some dinner, and then relaxed with wine by the outdoor fire pit.

{stocking the mandatory sink cooler}

{first glass of wine in Napa}

This recap is going to take awhile if I can only fit burgers and checking into the hotel in one post. Have mercy on me. Next up...Wine Tasting!

"It was a glass case of emotion." The Texas Rangers are in the World Series!

2010-10-26T17:30:00.002-05:00

We came. We played hard. We beat the Yankees. No offense to the New York Yankees (because I don't care enough about you to give a shit) or anything but you should have played harder if you wanted it. Since you didn't and we did, the Texas Rangers are going for the first time in the history of the franchise to the World Series!

For the record, M and I are not bandwagon fans. We have supported the Rangers when they were losing and when they were winning. In hot Texas summers and in the crisp fall nights we have driven 45 minutes to the ballpark to cheer them on and I'm so glad we stayed loyal. It made the victory so much sweeter.

M got playoff tickets and went with G's hubby and my bro to watch them clinch Game 6 last Friday. They said it was amazing...

{you think they're happy to be there?}

{well deserved boys!}

G and I on the other hand chose to watch front and center at a sushi bar. We also happened to sit at the bar next to a man from New Jersey who was rooting hard core for the Yankees. When he walked out of the bar during one of the many mistakes his team made the whole bar sang, " Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!" For the record, he deserved it.

{FREE celebratory sake bombs!}

We are heading to Game 3 of the series on Saturday and whether they win the World Series or get swept by the Giants, I'm proud of them for making it this far. Although I must say, a World Series championship would be really, really nice.

I am...

2010-10-21T17:00:00.005-05:00

...tired! Coming back to work after 8 days off is bunk. Why did no one respond to my emails or do my work? I thought we were a team? I'm wondering if an assistant is out of the question.

...happy to have a new last name. I know that in this day and age a lot more women choose to keep their maiden names but not this brown girl. I'm so thrilled to be Mrs. C and have already begun the process of changing everything over!

...rooting hard core for the TEXAS RANGERS! Just one more win to clinch the series! For the record, I'd lick Josh Hamilton. Don't worry, M is well aware of this.

{let's be besties}

...loving getting back in the kitchen. I really enjoy cooking anything and everything. During wedding planning I hardly had the time or energy to run through the drive thru at Taco Bell let alone whip up something from scratch so I'm delighted to be using all of our new cooking gear. (I'm only semi embarrassed to admit that we ate at TB twice a week some weeks. You do what you have to do.)

...head over heels in love with my new bag. It's the perfect size. My wedding present from M. He rocks. That's why I married him.

{I rock Gucci cause it suits my swag}

...adoring and enjoying my girls. M and I missed our dogs SO much while we are gone. It's safe to say that we might even be on the verge of crazy over our dogs. One night on our honeymoon we pulled out the laptop and saw the girls on our screensaver and both teared up a little (M don't be mad I told people that...it's ok to have feelings...or maybe it was the wine?). It was their first time to be boarded and we were so worried about them. They came home brattier than ever and I've been spoiling them rotten.

{every angle is my best angle}

{feeling the wind blow through my hair...er, ears?}

...enjoying having so much free time. It has been wonderful coming home each night and relaxing. No running errands, getting my dress fitted, picking up last minute stuff, or having appointments. Love it!

Pics: My BB and JH via

A peek from our photographers

2010-10-19T19:55:00.004-05:00

A solid 4 to 5 months. That's the amount of time it took to convey to M the importance of hiring only the best photographers for our wedding. I can remember the conversations clearly today, "these pictures will be ALL we have left once the wedding is over." "This is the most important thing to me." "Please! I'll let you buy that new set of irons?" "Ok, let's talk more about this motorcycle you want." Yes, I went there.

Hiring Perez Photography to shoot our wedding was by far the very best decision I made involving my wedding process. I can't say enough good things about Cesar and Tanya. They are professional, excellent communicators, and most importantly they fit our laid back vibe. From our very first meeting in their studio I knew they were perfect for us and they did not disappoint.

I don't give wedding advice because honestly I made up my own rules when it came to planning our wedding but if I leave you with anything, hire only the best photographers. Trust me. It's well worth it.

Back to life...back to reality

2010-10-17T19:22:00.001-05:00

Well we made it back home from a fabulous honeymoon trip to Napa Valley and San Francisco. As soon as I sort through the 200+ pictures I took, I'll recap our trip. Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments on our wedding. The wedding was wonderful and we really didn't have a single thing go wrong, of course there are always a few mishaps but nothing major. It was nice to have all of our family and friends in town to celebrate with us and I'd be lying if I said I said I wasn't a little sad that it's all over now. The family and friends part...not the planning part!

I won't have any of our professional pictures back for several weeks but since posts are always better with pictures, here is another one from our wedding. We hired an amazing caricature artist to sketch our guests. Then he took a picture of our guests with their sketches. It was a huge hit!! It was hilarious to watch him sketch an exaggeration version of people, he always got one person a lot better than the other. Maybe he did that on purpose?

The new Mr. and Mrs. C

Tomorrow it's back to the grind, I can hardly wait.

A peek while we are on our honeymoon...

2010-10-11T20:03:00.003-05:00

My sis, bro, me, M, and my mom...we clean up nice don't we?

Mr. & Mrs.

2010-10-09T12:59:00.005-05:00

7 days

2010-10-01T09:08:00.003-05:00

{via}

Today marks 7 days out from our wedding. This will be my last post until after we get back from our honeymoon although I hope to maybe sneak you a picture before we head out.You know I'm a giver. I am such a huge mix of emotions, I feel like a day that has taken forever to get here has finally come to fast. I will be tying up lots of loose ends this weekend and will be working a short week next week with a few days off before the big day.

Thank you for all of your sweet comments and encouraging words during my planning process. I'm pleased to say that I only had one major meltdown and I only threatened to kill a few hundred times, that's impressive people. It has been a big year for M and I with many, many changes that have helped us grow even closer. I'm excited for the big day and can't wait to share with you in a couple of weeks!

5 things I love about this picture

2010-09-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

1. It appears we got dressed up for this picture. Although really we both just came from work.
2. To get this one semi crappy picture the sweet 70 year old woman had to take it 3 times. Pretty sure she has never used a digital camera in her life. Not to mention she was 5'1" and M is 6'5".
3. M and the above mentioned sweet old lady made jokes about me and I just stood there nervously not saying anything.
4. The piece of paper we are holding is our Rights of Matrimony.
5. We look ridiculously happy.

Happy Friday!

This is my confession

2010-09-16T12:14:00.006-05:00

When M and I got engaged last year he presented me with a beautiful ring. It was the exact ring I wanted and I was immediately in love with it. I don't wear any jewelry daily so it was new for me to wear a ring every single day. At first, I would leave the house without it and be half way through my day before I'd realize it. Now when I don't wear my ring, I literally feel naked and a little off most of the day. Of course that rarely happens anymore.

A few weeks back M and I got our wedding bands. Since my engagement ring was custom made so was my wedding band. I knew in my head what it was going to look like but when I finally got to see it and hold it, I was in awe. I still am in awe of it. Those who know me know I am not a patient person. I spoil all gifts and will relentless pester you until you tell me your secrets. So knowing that my wedding band just sits in it's little box all day drives me absolutely crazy. It's like a forbidden secret that I know about but can't have. Basically I'm dying to wear it!

Which is exactly why I have been. Yes you read that right. I have been wearing my wedding band. Every.single.day.

Every morning when M leaves for work I put it on and wear it until it's time to leave for work. Sometimes I wear it alone and sometimes I wear it with my engagement ring. When it's time to go, I gently put it back in it's box and off I go. I've only been late to work 3 times because of staring at it too long. Then everyday when I get home from work, before M gets there, I put it on and wear it until I hear the garage door open. At that point, I run like hell to put it back in it's box. I've only almost been caught 3 times. I run fast.

I know I'm not alone in doing this. But I still feel like a lunatic. And I'm perfectly ok with that.

Bachelorette Party Recap

2010-09-15T10:30:00.000-05:00

I think I'm finally fully recovered from the weekend o' fun to blog about it. I have a whole slew of pictures from the day's events so I narrowed it down to the least offensive ones, in my opinion anyways. Just a pre warning, there is a blurry shot of boobs so if boobs aren't your thing don't read any further. Also, if the boobs of a drag queen aren't your cup of tea then you should probably pass as well.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way let's get this story going. Saturday we checked into the hotel at around noon for fun by the sun. I had decided earlier in the week that I was going to start out with beer and not liquor so I wouldn't get to crazy to quickly. So um ya, that didn't happen. We immediately pulled out the vodka. At noon. We are hell raisers, what can I say.

{lovely monogrammed water bottles for everyone}

{my favorite lady from Colorado}

{my Dallas girls/party planners}

{TP, me, and my bestie Steph}

Around 4 we stumbled back to our respective rooms to get ready for the evening. I'm not even going to lie. I was really having to have a heart to heart with myself to pull it together. Water and I became BFF for the next couple of hours. Once everyone was ready to go we opened presents including but not limited to furry handcuffs, lingerie, edible body paint, and a sex dice game. My friends are down right classy. Meaning, they rock.

{notice all the gifts and alcohol here? no? sweet.}

{love this pic because I'm totally thinking what the F is this????}

{love my girlfriends}

Then we were off to dinner and live music at Sambuca. The food was super yummy and I loved the vibe and decor there. I could have stayed there for hours listening to the music and eating but we had to make sure we got good seats at the drag show so we basically ate and ran.

{right side of the table}

{left side of the table}

{doesn't my hair stylist look like Sheryl Crow? she's gorgeous}

The best part of the night was the drag queen show. Now when the idea was first brought up to me about going to a drag queen show I was a bit hesitant. I honestly didn't really know what to expect or if people would have fun but it was an absolute blast!! The crowd of people was so diverse, the show was seriously amazing, and it was literally a non stop fun fest! I loved it and really want to go back again!

{for the 100th time, yes this is my mother not my sister, go ahead call me a liar now}

{this queen had the best legs ever}

{I had major boob envy at this moment}

{no explanation here but I bet that outfit took work to get into}

Overall the whole day was fabulous. I loved being with such a fun group of friends all night, it was the perfect way to celebrate the end of single life and the beginning of married life.

Now the countdown is on to the wedding, 23 days!

Lately...

2010-09-09T09:20:00.006-05:00

You'll be happy to know (or maybe you won't) I finally got off my lazy ass and decided to blog. I have been really busy lately but it would be a lie to say I've been to busy to blog. Mainly because I've still been reading all of your blogs and all my favorite photographers blogs, I just haven't made the time to write on my own blog. I'm not really sure why either. We have had tons of things going on with us so I've had plenty of material to blog but I just haven't wanted to sit down and do it. I like to admit my laziness. It helps hold me accountable.

I'm going to go ahead and sum up the past few weeks in pictures. Get comfy.

My wonderful friends and coworkers threw me a bridal shower the first week in August. They really went way over the top with all the fun details and we had a blast. The shower had a 'love owl theme' since I like owls.

The third week in August M and I traveled to Colorado for another shower thrown by his mom, this was a couples shower. The weather in Colorado was beyond amazing and we had 4 days to relax and hang out, it was glorious!

Lola decided we had been traveling way too much for her liking and she wasn't going to get left behind again. I think I heard her mutter something about the lack of attention she has been getting being bullshit.
M has had lots of stuff going on with his job so to cheer everyone up I made 4 different kinds of trail mix for his associates. I found all of the recipes off of the pioneer woman's blog. I love her blog!

Last but not least, my baby sister turned 18. I can't believe that 18 years has passed, I remember holding her when she was just a baby. Now she hardly gives me the time of day, my how things change. ;)

To wrap it up, my bachelorette party is this weekend! I can't wait! M also left today for his bachelor weekend in Colorado where he will be playing golf and getting crazy with the boys. I have lots of fun things in store starting today when I go pick up one of my favorite ladies at the airport that came in town for the festivities. I'll be back next week with lots of pictures and crazy stories.

Ciao!

Weekend with the Girls

2010-08-16T12:40:00.001-05:00

I had one huge beat down of a week last week. I told M if one more unexpected thing happened to us I was going to end up on the news. For going completely crazy. I can just hear M's response now..."Yes, she had signs of being a little off but I never expected this." ;)

So big fun was in order for the weekend. I was ready to relax and have fun with my favorite girls for G's birthday! We started the night out at a restaurant named Sangria's that serves a huge variety of tapas (appetizers) and of course sangria. We order 8 different things to try and everything was really good, my favorite were the cheese croquettes with tomato marmalade. Doesn't that just sound amazing?!

{Court and I, she's got the best bangs!}

{H and G-the birthday girl}

We then headed to a bar suggested by Court called J Blacks. According to Court this is one of the new "hot" spots in Dallas. Can I just tell you that it was hot...Literally HOT as hell in that place. I don't think I've ever sweat so much being indoors. I was pretty miserable but that didn't stop me from dancing. My version of dancing anyhow which consists of arm waving and hip shaking not to the tune of the music at all, it's quite a sight to see.

{Court's Miller ruined this pic}

{Typical pic of H, she is always laughing, normally at herself!}

{She's not as innocent as she looks, believe me}

{Court told me that she scheduled a trip to Vegas and wasn't going to be able to come to my bachelorette party, apparently I then threatened her with violence.}

{She's scared shitless of me, you just can't tell.}

After a few hours of drinking, dancing, and sweating it was time for us to head out. We had a great time even though there were no fights like at my party. I am so thankful for such a fun group of girls to hang out with! We always laugh hysterically and have the most inappropriate conversations, it's really awesome!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

I used to write a blog, now I plan my wedding

2010-08-06T16:40:00.001-05:00

I really don't intend to take week long breaks from blogging, it just sort of happens. Once my brother left town, I was kind of in a funk, I miss him. Then M and I moved, yes we moved again. We then took some time settling in and getting the girls adjusted. Then M interviewed for a job that would take us about 5 hours south to a new city, I'll admit I'm not totally in love with this idea (but that's for another post). And then of course there is always, always, ALWAYS wedding shit to be done.

So I can't say I'm back in the saddle but I am finding some time to still read and keep up with everyone else's blog. I knew that once our wedding got closer my blog would take a back seat and it's obviously it has. Slowly but surely though I am getting things knocked off our list and pretty soon the big day will be here. I mailed out all of our wedding invitations earlier this week. Didn't realize how expensive postage has gotten, who do they think they are? I picked up my dress from being altered which completely had my stomach in knots since at my first fitting the seamstress didn't do anything that I told her to. Literally, nothing.i.told.her.to.do. And to top off the fun, my first bridal shower is this weekend. It's going to be a brunch and I am so excited about all the yummy breakfast food I'm going to consume. I love breakfast food!

The Invite {click to enlarge}

The RSVP {click to enlarge}
Huge shout out to Mrs. H for turning my ideas into reality, I heart you! I went more traditional with the actual invite that we put a dark purple backing on. Then I decided to go more fun with the RSVP to set the tone for a good time!

Thanks for sticking with me. I promise after October I'll be back to my regular old smack talk and stories because I know that's what you really come here for.

Arts and crafts really aren't my thing but don't under estimate me

2010-07-22T10:40:00.001-05:00

Last weekend my good friend Steph and I put together our wedding programs. My initial thought was not to do programs because I figured most people would look at them and then toss it the trash as they made their way over to the cocktails. I may or may not know this from personal experience.Then I stumbled upon this blog where Della gives a step by step tutorial for putting together fan programs.

I loved this idea because we are getting married outside and with unpredictable Texas weather it could be quite warm. Even for October. I also loved the idea of the games on the back side to give people something to do while waiting for the ceremony to start. Other great ideas for the fan program that I thought up were, hitting your neighbor in the face should they fall asleep during our vows. Poking someone in the eye, ear, nose, arm, or any other body part over and over again with your pencil for your own amusement. Using your fan to soak up excess arm pit or forehead sweat should it be a hot day. Taking your fan and waving it in the air pretending it's a bird while squawking loudly when the minister says, you may kiss the bride. Really, the options are endless people.

It was a semi time consuming process but overall I was really happy with the way they turned out. I recommend recruiting a friend (kisses to Steph) by bribing them with alcohol and knocking it out in an afternoon. We ended up only doing half of them because I did not buy enough ribbon but I plan on making my sister finish the rest. I am not a crafty person my any means so if I can do it, so can you!

Shout out to M for drilling the holes in all the pencils and popsicle sticks, yes friends he is good for something every now and then. He claims he likes to do 'man' work. Whatever, tell it to the judge.

The final product!

Happy Birthday M!

2010-07-20T12:00:00.006-05:00

By nothing more than mere fate you were brought into my life. Your calm presence and strong demeanor are just a few of your many great qualities. I am blessed, honored, and over joyed to marry you in just a few short months and can't wait to start our life as husband and wife. Thank you for consistently bringing so much joy and happiness to every day. Today on your birthday may all your wishes come true.
I love you!

It's not a good bye but more like a see you later

2010-07-19T18:05:00.001-05:00

I watched my brother walk to his car from my mom's dining room window this morning. Five minutes before that he hugged me good bye. I could feel the tears stinging in my eyes as he squeezed me but I focused hard on not letting them spill out. As I walked away from the window I could hear my mom sniffling, she was obviously feeling the same way as I, just not as good at hiding it.

Early one morning about a week ago we took a jog together. I knew he was going to out run me, he's a Marine for shit's sake, that pretty much stands for badass but I took on the challenge anyway. It was hot out and he stayed several feet in front of me the entire jog. All I could see were the soles of his shoes kicking up as I blinked sweat out of my eyes. Rounding the corner half way through I wanted to stop so bad, my feet were hurting and it was so hot. About that time his sibling sensor must have kicked in because I saw him turn around and start jogging back towards me, when he reaches me he looks at me and asks, "How you doing?" And because I don't see my big brother nearly enough...and because I wanted to make him proud...and because at that moment all I cared about was being with him...I answered back, "Great!"

We see my older brother about every three years and it will likely be another three years before we see him again. It's been fun, hectic, loud, and wonderful having him home for the past three weeks. Life gets so busy and I don't always remember to write him enough or do a good job about getting on Skype to see him, my sil, and the kids but while they were in town I made my very best effort to spend every moment I could with them. My family means everything to me. I wish my brother and his family all the love in the world as they travel to yet another country to start their next adventure!

The past week and weekend

2010-07-11T19:40:00.006-05:00

It's been about 2 years since we've seen my brother and his family who are in town from Japan. My brother is in the Marines and spending time with him and his family has been at the top of our list for the past week hence the absence from the blog. We have been going non stop!

We saw a lot of baseball over the 4th of July weekend. M and I got awesome tickets to see the minor league baseball team, The Rough Riders. Our tickets included all you could eat and drink which I knew was going to be trouble for a certain big guy. I was not amused and kind of wanted to leave when it started to rain but I sucked it up for M and ended up getting to see a great firework show.

M takes "all you can drink" very seriously!
(this pic is blurry but it was too great not to post)

The next night all of us went to the Rangers game together. Thankfully the sun went behind some clouds because it was pretty hot that day. The kids had a great time enjoying there very first baseball game.

My bro and nephew

M was on a strict water only beverage consumption because of the night before

M and my niece who looks like a mini version of my mom, it's kind of scary!

For the most part we have just been hanging out together, laughing and enjoying our time. It will likely be another 3 years before we get to see my brother and his family again. Unfortunately, my brother let me know that he will not be able to attend our wedding. I'll have to admit that I was pretty disappointed and sad when he told me. He was going to give me away at the wedding but more than that, I just wanted him there to experience the day with us. He will be extremely missed but I am so proud of him and know that he would be there if he could. Thankfully my little brother is a glory hog and has happily accepted the duty and is ecstatic about not having to "share me".

Bro and mom making twice baked potatoes that were phenomenal

My niece is quite the ham

We went and saw Despicable Me in 3D. It was greatness!

This weekend G and I headed out for a wedding day. We decided that on Saturday we would spend the day shopping for some wedding stuff and planning my bachelorette party. I'm not even going to lie...I was not looking forward to wedding day. In fact, I thought it was stupid and complained to G that we should dump the idea and go shopping instead but she doesn't jack around. We ended up crossing lots of stuff off our list. Since I didn't whine (too much) or throw any fits G let us end the day with margaritas, that's my kind of day!

G had this great koozie and a bottle of water ready for me.
It reads S.L.U.T.S-Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress. She knows me too well.

Pomegranate Margarita, much needed after wedding day forced me to spend all my money

G and I winding down, love her to pieces!

One of our wedding finds. M and I will be doing a blending of the sands at our wedding ceremony so I found two pretty vases to pour the sand from and a vase to hold our sand.
I plan on displaying it on our mantel after the wedding.
(ignore my messy desk please, I'm a busy woman)

That pretty much sums up our past week. Tomorrow our company is holding it's annual golf tournament so I'll be helping with that instead of sitting behind my desk. I'll take that any day of the week!

Finally Friday

2010-07-02T09:15:00.004-05:00

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Happy 4th of July weekend! In no particular order we are planning on eating, drinking, relaxing, going to a baseball game, and enjoying time with family and friends. And of course, we will see fireworks. I love fireworks.

Hope you enjoy the long weekend and have something fun planned!

100 days from today

2010-06-30T08:53:00.000-05:00

We will be getting married. Hallelujah!

Funny story on the pic. This is from our engagement pictures and Cesar wanted us to lay side by side to kiss or gaze lovingly at each other, who knows now. So we lay down on the blanket and when I turn my head to look at M I'm looking directly into his arm pit. We had a slight problem. That problem comes in the form of very large shoulders on M. Cesar was on a ladder shooting down at us and I'm laughing because when he noticed the picture wasn't going to work you could tell that had never happened to him before. Poor M, he was not amused.

Maybe that was a story you had to be there for? Anyhow, let the countdown begin!

Another Weekend

2010-06-28T15:48:00.009-05:00

Friday: G, Court, and I headed over to a bar called BlackFinn for some happy hour drinks and conversation. We ended up sitting on the patio since it was slightly overcast and had been sprinkling a little bit that day. Even on the patio it was crazy hot but we made the best of it and must not have looked too sweaty because some creepy old men bought us a round of beers. Score!

I plan on refusing to take anymore pictures with Court, she makes me look bad.

Court and G, love these girls! They could totally pass for sisters.

G wore a shirt with a picture of me on it, she's kind of obsessed with me.
I'm lying but doesn't that girl look like me? Crazy hair and all!

Saturday: M and I put together our wedding invitations. Apparently I didn't make myself clear to the printer because when he gave me my box full of invitations they were only partly done. I asked him why they weren't put together and he said, "oh we don't do that". Lame. I guess that's what happens when you get a hook up on the cost of printing since I had them done through an office contact. It started out kind of fun and then after putting the 10th invitation together M looks at me and says "this sucks". Ha. At least we only had to put together 100. You'll have to wait on seeing them until we mail them out, lots of family reads le blog.

Sunday: I did laundry and cleaned a bit. Then I made this delish recip e from the Pioneer Woman, it turned out fantastic! I traded the zucchini for broccoli since M's not a fan. I'm developing a major crush on the Pioneer Woman, she posts the best looking food, I gain weight just reading about it. We also finished up with some Strawberry Shortcake, the perfect summer dessert.

In non weekend related news, my brother and his family are visiting from Japan for the next two weeks! They come into town tomorrow and we are hoping to spend lots of quality bonding time together, that will most likely include eating, drinking, and arguing. We are super close like that.

It's a love/hate kind of thing

2010-06-25T09:07:00.002-05:00

As you may or may not know, we are getting married in October. The reason you may or may not know this is because I rarely blog about anything wedding related. I know some of you bloggers find immense pleasure in telling all of blog land about each and every beautiful wedding detail, hell I even read some of it and enjoy it but I'm not one of those people. I feel like I've committed a horrible crime and my punishment is to plan my wedding. So I avoid sharing in hopes that it's all some sick dream. Dramatic but oh so true.

Anyone that tells you that wedding planning is really stressful but overall a really fun, enjoyable time is a flat out LIAR. Unless they have a lot of money and/or hired a planner to do everything. The latter of which is not the case for me. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm wanting stuff I can't have or that I'm not finding the stuff I want. It's more of the fact that I can't make a decision to save my life. One day I think I like something and am set on it and the very next day I see something else I like even better. And it's a non stop cycle with everything. I finally just picked two dresses that I really liked and let my mom pick the one I was going to wear. No joke.

I worry all the time. About making the right decisions, what will look the best, will we have enough food, is there enough room, will people have a good time, will we have enough money. I drive myself bananas focusing on details, even the tiny ones because I'm an all or nothing kind of person. The other day as I drove home I just wanted to cry. I can't even believe I'm typing that. I never cry. And I didn't. But I sure as hell wanted to. I'm losing my mind but more importantly I'm losing the reason why I'm even doing this.

So the reason for the sudden outpouring of feelings? To write down and document the way I feel during this process. To remind myself that this isn't about the right flowers or the perfect cake topper. It's not about whether or not it might rain or if my hair will turn out perfect. To stop spreading myself so thin and start enjoying this time. It's about sharing a beautiful day with all the people I love, marrying the man I love. As cheesy as that sounds, that's what I'm focusing on each day. Everything else will fall into place.

Weekend Stuff

2010-06-22T20:00:00.004-05:00

Honestly, my weekend was pretty uneventful. There are tons of wedding things still left to do yet every single weekend I find an excuse to tell myself, you can do it next weekend. I also got a ticket a month ago and still need to sign up for defensive driving. I also find an excuse not to do that either. Procrastination is my middle name. Brown Procrastination Girl. Rolls right off the tongue.

Saturday I took Lola in for a hair cut. I'm thinking in my next life I should be a dog groomer because charging people $45 to shave your dog for summer sounds really lucrative right now. I felt better about paying the guy when he told me I had a "Kardashian look about me". Maybe he was using that to get a bigger tip. Little did he know I wasn't giving him one at all.

I think someone was pretty pleased with her new look

That night Court and I hit up some Mexican food where I didn't take one picture because I don't have a camera and apparently Court forgets to take pictures after margaritas and beer. I'm still in the process of convincing M that a camera is an essential attribute to my life, kind of like air. I have to have it to live. The lack of camera is proof he's still not buying my bullshit. Dude's smarter than he looks.

Sunday I tagged along with my mom to Bed Bath and Beyond where I purchased the most FABULOUS cup ever. I read about the Tervis Tumbler on someone else's blog a while back but when I saw they were almost $20 for a cup I passed. Then I left my favorite cup in my rental car last week while my new car that I wrecked....

Oh ya PS: I got a new car about 6 weeks ago and 2 weeks ago got into an accident with an 18 wheeler. I didn't even have real tags on my car yet. I don't want to talk about it because it makes me really sad face. Just so you know the merging lane does not have the right away. I did name the new ride, "white girl". Guess what color she is? ;)

...was in the shop. So when I saw the Tervis Tumbler's I broke down and bought one. It's honestly the best cup ever. It keeps your drinks super cold, it comes in lots of fun colors, it's dishwasher safe, and best of all, it doesn't sweat! Awesome, you should totally buy one.

That's a "D". For Dumb-ass Driver.

Later that afternoon while I passed time waiting to pick up M from the airport I filled up the dogs pool. It has been crazy hot here and they really enjoyed jumping in and out of the pool. Apparently Lola is under the impression that the pool belongs to her because anytime Bailey gets in she barks non stop at her. I have no clue why she has to be the fun police, she doesn't get it from me.

A quick shot while distracting them with the word cookie

Sorry for the crummy picture quality, all photos were taken with my Blackberry. Thank you for all the camera suggestions, I'm going to try and check some out soon. But first I need to sign up for defensive driving. But before that I need to pick out flowers, songs for the wedding, table linens, gifts for people in the wedding, and a whole lot of other shit. I guess instead of camera suggestions I should have asked for time management suggestions. Better yet, I'm putting in a request for more hours in the day.

Why do you have to cuss so much?

2010-06-18T09:29:00.004-05:00

That's the question my mom asked me over dinner last night. Do you always have to cuss? Can't you just use the word chocolate in replace of a cuss word?

Sad part was that she was dead serious. I almost shot back, why do you not cuss more?! It's not that I necessarily cuss out of anger, which I do. Or that I cuss to prove a point, which I do. Or that I cuss when I think somethings damn funny, which I do. It's just that cuss words come naturally to me and have always been a part of my vocabulary. If you are a long (woah it was a whole year earlier this month) time blog reader then you already know this and accept it.

I say cuss words. I say cuss words because they are a part of who I am. I've noticed over the past several weeks that I've gained some new ~~followers~~ friends and I thought this would be as good a time as any to just come out and tell you that occasionally you may see some foul language on this blog. If that offends you please feel free to click that little red button in the upper right hand corner. If you do decide to stick around, leave me a comment and say hello, I'd love to get to know you more.

M's in Chicago for the weekend so I'm flying solo. My camera is still broken, imagine that. I thought for sure it was going to magically fix itself from my drunken escaped the other weekend. Guess not. Maybe I'll go camera shopping so that you can once again witness my weekends in photographic evidence. Any advice on a point and shoot camera that rocks your world, let me know.

Happy Fucking Friday!

Becoming the voice of reason

2010-06-10T15:40:00.008-05:00

We jogged in the rain together this morning. I could smell it in the air when we walked out but it was early and I don't talk in the mornings. It wasn't a morning for protests. I heard the clinking of Bailey's leash before Usher started playing in my ears. M and Bailey are always in front of me. Longer legs. I watch them as I jog behind thinking about the day ahead and how lucky I am to have him.

{via-click to enlarge}

Everyone that knows M and I in person knows I'm the dramatic one. I'm the first to squeal with excitement and the first to cry out with disgust, normally in a really loud annoying voice. M is my calming effect. He works me back down from the ledge on an almost daily bases. I am pretty high strung, I blame it on being a Gemini. Nothing ever works him up and he can bite his tongue and hold it together better than almost anyone I know.

Lately I've been put to the test in his department. I guess after 3 years it was about my time to step up to the plate. M has had a lot going on with his job and without going into too much detail there are a lot of changes in store for him. Handling change beyond your control can be quite the test of patience especially when you know almost nothing. Each day he comes home and talks. And talks. And talks quite literally my ear off about job stuff. My role is just to listen and give comforting advise but more than anything to just flat out listen. Listening has never been my strong suit.

Not that my love for M needs to be put through tests to validate it's strength but these past few weeks have made me realize how very much I love M. Setting aside my personal needs for the betterment of our team has been a humbling experience for me. I even like the responsibility of being the normal one. I may even try to listen more. Eh, who am I kidding. Things will work out with M's job and in a few months we will look back and laugh at all the stress we put ourselves through.

We have each other and as long as we are together everything will be ok.

When fun turns into crazy fun, who knows what will go down

2010-06-08T16:24:00.012-05:00

What do you get when you start your night with vodka tonics, throw in some sangria, add a dash of margaritas, head over to the wine bar for some red wine, and then throw back some shots to end your Friday night? Well, I don't know what you'd get but if you're a certain brown girl and it's your birthday then you get to end your night sleeping on your bathroom floor. Part of it with your head on the actual lid of the toilet. Don't judge me, it happens to the best of us.

I realize that I did not turn 21 this year but for some crazy, unknown reason I guess I converted back 6 years because I partied like I was. I chalk it up to the lack of food we had for dinner but honestly mixing your pleasures is never, ever, ever a good idea. Just in case you were thinking about trying it out.

Court, Hailey, B-day Girl, G

We started the night out at my favorite pizza place in Frisco called Fireside Pies. Pizza fondue, three cheese salad, pizza with pepperchinis, and brownie were all on the menu, although it may have helped my sleeping arrangements if I had eaten more, like maybe a whole pizza.

Um...margaritas?

Or was this the sangria? Who knows. Who cares.

Then we walked over to a wine bar to sit outside and enjoy some live music. Which actually turned into 4 half drunk girls fighting with each other. Yes we had a little disagreement, no clue about what at this point, where I may have gotten a little loud and dropped the F bomb a few times. It was quickly forgotten though and we probably all should have taken that as a sign to go home but instead we stumbled over to another bar to dance. No awards will be given out for smarts that night.

Definitely pre argument.

G pointing out that we are having wine and should be happy.

H and I having our own photo op.

All smiles and love at this point.

Once M got there to pick me up, I decided I should try to hurl my camera into the car at him. While it was turned on. With the lens out. Again, not smart. My camera is broke now. Duh. And damn. All the other details are hazy and will remain between M and I unless you see him out in public and then just ask him because now that the night is over he really enjoys telling everyone what an ass I made out of myself. Since for once it wasn't him making an ass out of himself. Which it normally is.

Ending the night with funny faces!

Needless to say, we had a good ass time but we won't be making a habit of nights like that. Ya know, until August when we get to celebrate G's birthday!

They say that the hair is everything, you know?

2010-06-03T08:30:00.004-05:00

This day has been long overdue. So long and overdue in fact that it has grown into a life all it's own, a really straggly one. But as we all know, letting go is hard to do. I'm proud that my baby sister is in fact growing up and with growing up comes a certain amount of change. She is graduating high school on Saturday and to celebrate the occasion she

...........wait for it.........

got a HAIRCUT! Not just a little dinky trim either, she got a whopping 6 inches hacked off! It was such a long time coming that I almost cried for her. Almost.

My baby sis has what I like to call, "my shit don't stink-I'm a freaking rock star-look at me everyone all the time and tell me I'm super cute-I don't understand the concept of money or responsibility nor do I give a shit too-itis". She's 17, what do you expect. And one thing she loves more than anything else is, her hair. I'll have to admit though that it may in fact run in her genes, what can I say, we're a hair family. I'll also admit that she does have kick ass hair that does just about anything and everything, it's sickening really. It's also not fair because I should have gotten her hair, I would appreciate it more. Sorry I'm totally turning this story into a story about me. I'm good at that.

So Sunday was the big day and I went with her for moral support. And for photographic evidence. She was so nervous but it turned out fabulous!

I'm happy she got it cut because I hadn't told her this yet but there was no way in hell I was having her in the wedding with those horrible split ends. Or longer hair than me. What? Don't act surprised that I just said that. We are sisters. Everything's friendly competition between sisters.

And then I was like, Yes I can because it's my birthday!

2010-06-01T10:29:00.004-05:00

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I'm heading into work this morning slightly disgruntled because I didn't have a chance to make coffee. I prefer to drink at least 2 very large cups of coffee before anyone talks to me. It's only fair to them. Then I decided what the hell, I'll just stop at Starbucks because it's my birthday. And I can do that. Then I ordered a venti instead of a grande because I was all, it's my birthday. And I can do that too.

I fully intend on doing anything and everything else I want to do today because if you haven't heard yet, it's my birthday. And I can do that.

All birthday party celebrations will be happening this weekend, so hopefully I'll have actual pictures of me looking like the girl in the image above. Um, minus the pin the tail on the donkey cause last I checked I'm not 5 although I'd totally be down with a piñata. Filling it with money instead of candy would also be cool with me. No ciggie either because I don't get down like that anymore.

Think I'll go have a cupcake now because it's my birthday. And I can do that.

Why don't you put it on the blog, yo?

2010-05-23T21:10:00.008-05:00

Yes, I did run off and leave without even a good bye but I have a really good reason for it...M and I eloped! We ran off to Vegas and were married by this fabulous Elvis impersonator. Can you believe that? It was an absolute blast. Then something even more incredible happened...we put $1 in the slot machine and won the grand prize of fifty million dollars! Can you believe that shit?! We were on an incredible hot streak at this time when the casino owner comes out to congratulate us and tell us that in addition to the prize money we've also won a...

Wait a damn minute, that was actually this wonderful dream I had the other night. Not actual facts at all. Not only do I run off and abandon my friends. I don't even come back to them with an apology. I make up an elaborate story so as to distract you from the fact that I up and quit blogging for 2 weeks. Did it work? Great. Moving on.

Lots of stuff has been going on, so let me break it down for you, try and stay with me.

M and I got registered! This was good times, picking out stuff that you don't have to pay for rocks. It rocks hard core. Didn't take M long at all to start going crazy with the scanner.

I really want this pink mixer, can you tell? M said no but did let me register for the silver one.

We celebrated mother's day with my mom. We all went out for a delicious steak dinner and celebrated the fact that my mother is the craziest, funniest, most unconventional, kick ass mom ever! And of course that called for cake!

I spent many, many nights vegging with my favorite girl and my favorite Mexican beer.

Steph and I got to pet real live baby tigers! I understand that this is totally random but apparently this company travels around with exotic animals to educate people on NOT having them as domestic pets. Steph could not pass up the opportunity to pet them even though they were obviously tired.

I gave precious dollars to Starbucks day in and day out to stay sane.
Amen for iced skinny french vanilla lattes.

Baby Sis went to prom! She (that's her on the far right) looked so precious and I loved how everyone's dress was fun and colorful!

Steph brightened my day with funny notes at work. And there were days when that note alone helped me from clawing my eyes out.

I ran...

a 5K...

ALL the way through! This was a huge personal goal for me. I also came in under 30 minutes which was the next goal. Now on to training for a 10K and then a half marathon!

Steph's daughter who happens to be my sweet flower girl S celebrated a yo gabba gabba birthday! M and I went over after the 5K and ate burgers and cupcakes, yummy! Sorry no pics with S because she slept most of the party!

That rounds out the past few weeks. I'm going to work on getting caught back up with everyone. Thank you for all the sweet notes and sticking with me. I'm also going to slowly start blogging again. So to all my family that has felt it necessary to tell me that I haven't updated my blog in awhile, get off my ass. You know I hate being bossed around.

On me right now

2010-05-04T17:00:00.005-05:00

So much has transpired over the past week. We have been preparing for some big decisions in our lives and I haven't really had the time or mind set to blog. I've sat down a couple of times ready to put my thoughts into words and then nothing comes to me. I think I've put a lot of pressure on myself to always write something funny or something positive because after all that is a huge part of who I am. Although lately I've felt more stressed and tired which makes it hard to be funny and positive which I guess is the reason for the blogging hiatus. Instead of sitting down to read blogs at night I've been taking Bailey on long runs along this gorgeous trail that loops a large pond, I should mention that ducks are not the best at making friends with large dogs. I've been building my relationships with new friends who make me smile and listening to my baby brother talk, just talk, about his day or anything else he wants to tell me. I've actually slept in a few mornings and woken up to watch M sleep relishing in the movement of his chest going up and down with each breath. I've been spending days with my mom laughing and shopping and realizing that while she may be a tad crazy, I love my mother and she is my best friend. I've been rocking out and even dancing in my car on my way to work, more than likely scaring the shit out of anyone unfortunate enough to witness it.

Change is an inevitable part of growing up. The days of being a kid seem so far away and there are times when I want to grab my sister when she's being an ass and squish her cheeks and say, enjoy this time in your life because being a grown up sucks. I'm slowly trying to find balance. Hopefully you'll stick with me through this crazy journey called life.

Being in awesome-land makes home suck

2010-04-25T19:54:00.002-05:00

M and I took a 5 hour road trip to hill country this weekend. San Antonio is right outside of Austin and while I probably wouldn't want to live there, I love visiting. In fact so much so that the thought of coming home today made me contemplate hiding in the closet from M when it was time to leave.

The front of our beautiful resort

Oh ya, you know that second sink in the bathroom is meant to be a cooler don't you?

Friday when we got in we decided to hit up a little happy hour. We didn't even bother to unpack our luggage. We sat at the outside bar at Kona Grill, which has a fabulous happy hour if you have one in your area. Somehow we also managed to make it over to the Yard House, or at least that's what M tells me.

The beginning...

The middle...

The end and demise of BG.

Saturday, we headed out to the mall which was a huge fail for me. How is it possible that I couldn't find one thing I wanted? Actually it may have been more like one thing that I could afford. That afternoon I went with M to golf. Now I don't usually tag along when M golfs, I like to let him enjoy his hobby on his own. Although this trip was about spending lots of quality time together so I obliged. Driving a golf cart is actually fun and gave me the opportunity to scare the shit out of M and more than likely not get invited again.

My handsome golfer having lunch

The view from where I sat.

M's view, not shabby

I'm player 56a, I managed to par everything and never had to leave the cart. I got it like that.

That night we enjoyed dinner on the patio. My food was gross. I honestly don't even know why I ordered a meal, I only wanted dessert. Yes, I was that jerk person that sent her food back. Then I ordered cheesecake, chocolate cake, and apple pie...too bad they came as "minis". What a tease.

Our exact thoughts "let's match and look happy"

They had a fire pit so I made a smore. Duh. Smores are good.

Sunday we got up, had some breakfast, and headed home. Boo. Why do trips have to go by so fast. It's just not fair.

Back in the big D

Getting away for the weekend was a great way to rejuvenate. M and I both have such busy schedules, even more so with the wedding planning, and it's nice to step away from the real world. Even though it's never long enough.

When everyday feels like Groundhog's Day

2010-04-22T18:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a particularly stressful week for me at work, hence the lack of blog posting. We've also been working out at night a couple of times this week and that always makes for long days. I'm guessing you people that work out at night don't go to bed at 9 like I do because all I have time for is a quick shower, dinner, and then off to bed.

Since I'm still not up to blogging potential I thought I'd answer a few quick questions that you all had for me.

The purple shirt I'm wearing in the post below I got at Target on sale for about $8. I'm not sure if they have anymore though because I couldn't find it online. The necklace I got at Aldo which mainly sells shoes but they also sell great jewelry.
A lot of you asked where I got my 'casual' outfit for our engagement pictures. The hot pink shirt (which is just like the purple one I got at Target, love these shirts) came from Nordstroms, the yellow and white cardigan is from Express (it's on sale now, of course), my skinny jeans are Hudson (gift from M), and the shoes are borrowed from my momma. And of course I wrote about the dress here.
This is funny to me but I get a lot of comments about my eyebrows. I get my eyebrows threaded every 2-3 weeks. I try to have the same lady do them every time because sometimes they get a little excited and I'll end up with chola eyebrows and I prefer mine to be a little thicker. If you've never tried threading you should, they look so much cleaner than waxing.

M and I are taking a little road trip this weekend. This couldn't have come at a better time for both of us. We are so looking forward to relaxing, eating, shopping and golfing. I'll let you guess which of us is doing what. Hopefully, I'll be back in the swing of things next week, enjoy your weekend!

It wasn't our birthday but we partied like it was

2010-04-18T21:10:00.002-05:00

It all started out innocently enough but then again doesn't it always? We started the afternoon chatting over homemade sangria and guacamole and ended the night with...birthday shots? For some reason birthday cake shots just seemed like the right thing to do. At the time.

Hailey, G, and I planned a girls night for Saturday and apparently we don't get out enough because we danced and took shots like it was our job.

The wolf pack

If you are a friend of mine then you have to get used to being called out on your bullshit. It's just the way it goes in my family and I hold my friends to the same standard. Thankfully Hailey understands this. Mrs. Hailey is quite enamored with the fact that her initials are HRH and kindly bestowed upon herself the name Her Royal Highness. I do make a horrid gagging face each time she says this. While rooting through her closet before we went out Saturday I found some HRH stickers from her bachelorette party and I just had to bring them out with us so we could all wear one and give her shit about it.

When we walked into the bar the band was taking a break so we really didn't know what to expect music wise but they did not disappoint. They started out playing some hits from the 70's and then went right on into the 80's music. Can I just tell you right now, I love me some 80's music!

Best picture I took all night. "Don't stop believing, hold on to that feeling"

Hailey and the lead singer of the band who had a killer Jersey accent and a really bad wig

Waking up on Sunday I said my blessing that I was still alive, sent out my apologizes for my profound ability to overuse the F word when drinking, and then proceed to get my day started. My mom and I took my sissy to look for a dress for prom. I love my sisters style. She is not afraid to take risks and has a great eye for fashion.

The winner!

After dress shopping my mom made one of my favorite dinners, chicken spaghetti. With a full tummy I plan on calling it a night pretty soon. One night of drinking wears me out. I'm old and I'm ok with that. Huge shout out to G's husband who was our designated driver Saturday. You my friend are a good man.

You're the cake but I'm the icing

2010-04-16T10:40:00.004-05:00

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Last night I went to tour the hair school I'll be attending since they just got finished with some remodeling. I've always known that I was given a few special talents but up until a year or so ago, never knew just what to do with them. I left the school last night feeling rejuvenate, recharged, and revived. It very well could be my destiny. I could hardly contain my excitement when I got home. As soon as I saw M I began pouring out every beautiful detail I had discussed with the admissions office. He had just gotten home from work and as I became more and more animated he just sat there. And listened. That's what he does.

Over pizza later M and I discussed how different our personalities are. We handle situations whether good or bad in totally opposite manners. I think it had a lot to do with how we grew up. After telling a few stories about how we'd handle a given situation I looked at M and said, "you're the cake but I'm definitely the icing". I'm the part everyone likes because I make things sweet, fun, animated and you are just the boring foundation the holds everything together. In his usual manner he just rolled his eyes at me and shot back with, "without the cake you'd have nothing to put the icing on." Dude please. Everyone knows icing is good right out of the jar.

A big thank you to everyone who left a comment on our engagements pictures and on our photographers blog. You all sure know how to make a girls day!

Happy Weekend!

Engagement Pictures

2010-04-13T20:47:00.011-05:00

Our awesome photographers have put up our engagement pictures! Please go check out the rest of them here and leave a comment on their blog to let them know what you think!

Photography was the most important part of the wedding to me. At the end of all the wedding madness you're left with the pictures and each other. I really wanted someone to capture not just pictures but our memories and I took that very seriously. We are beyond thrilled to have Cesar and Tanya do just that for us. They rock and we can't wait to have them share in our big day!

Happy 28th Birthday Bro!

2010-04-11T21:04:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday to one of the most honorable men I know. A wonderful husband, loving father, proud Marine, and someone that I am humbled to call my brother. Even though we don't get to talk everyday and our lives are transpiring on two different ends of the world you are always in my thoughts. I love you and respect the man you have become. Happy Birthday D!

Ah yes, it is in fact Friday

2010-04-09T13:48:00.005-05:00

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Sometimes I get really mad.

And then happy.

Then feel really glad.

About not being mad.

Instead choosing to be happy.

This makes me glad.
After all, it is what you make of it.

Happy Weekend!

I'll forgo the flowers for a romper but not the cake

2010-04-07T18:25:00.004-05:00

Saving for a wedding can suck on my nuts right now. That is if I had nuts. Which I don't. Unless we are referring to almonds. Which I'm not. You know what the worse thing in the world is to tell someone that is saving thousands upon thousands of dollars for a wedding? "It's going to go by so fast that you aren't even going to be able to eat a piece of your cake." I personally like cake. And when I spend my hard earned money on an expensive cake, you can bet your ass I'll be having a piece if I have to carry it in between my boobs as we exit the reception. Don't think for a minute that can't become a reality come October.

This could get ugly and long, it's been one of those day, so I'm just going to go ahead and karate kick down off my soap box and get back to the matter at hand.

I have been forbidden to do any spring shopping this year in lieu of the wedding. Just because I can't buy doesn't mean I can't look though. Looking normally consists of browsing through the latest In Style and upon seeing page after page of cute rompers, wedges, and dresses bursting into tears about how I'm just not cut out to be a saver and that I was put on this earth to be a spender. You feel sorry for M right now don't you? I'm a tad bit dramatic, good thing he knows this and is still willing to marry me.

Here are some really cute things that I think you should buy. Then let me borrow.

Tory Burch Sawyer Dress found here

Tory Burch Pelham Pump found here

Who wants to be a Frillionaire Dress found here

Gianni Bini Knit Romper found here

Hushed Season Shift Dress found here

Calvin Klein Dylan Platform Sandal found here Free People Criss Cross Girl Next Door found here

It's official after doing this post that my love affair with all things Tory Burch is in full force.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-05T16:35:00.002-05:00

Another weekend gone far too fast for my liking. Friday M ended up having an emergency arise at work so we didn't get to go to game night at G's house. I was seriously sad face about that but we are definitely going to reschedule.

Saturday, my sweet little flower girl S, her mom, and my sis all went to go look at dresses for the wedding. We went to the same place I ordered my dress at and got there right when they opened. I'm sure glad we did because they got super packed. I was slightly annoyed by the fact that they had a ton of people working but no one was really helping us, I guess once they get your big sale (wedding dress) they kind of push you to the side for the new brides shopping. It all worked out though because we found perfect dresses and the girl that had originally helped me ended up helping us again.

Totally unamused baby S

Back of baby S's dress

My sisters dress which we ordered in purple

That night M and I met his uncle and aunt out for dinner. They were in town from Lubbock celebrating their son's birthday. We had a lot of fun catching up over sushi. They are such wonderful people, I wish they lived closer!

The birthday boy and his friend

M, M, and myself

M and his uncle H

M and I

Sunday, all the boys played golf and the girls went to see The Bounty Hunter. It was actually a pretty cute movie but I doubt it's going to win any Oscar's. That night we cooked up a big yummy Easter dinner. My mom made her famous chicken enchiladas and homemade Spanish rice. And my sister made guacamole which is way better than any restaurants. We finished everything up with key lime pie!

Baby S on Easter Sunday-I hope M and I's child looks just like her, in boy form ;)

It was a great Easter weekend. Everyone really enjoyed themselves, except for maybe my brother who inquired several times, "Why can't we have any white people food for Easter?" In which my mom quickly replied, "What the hell are you talking about, we had ham and eggs for breakfast!" Damn, I love my family.

That's the life

2010-04-02T06:53:00.000-05:00

Nap 4,908 of the day

Sometimes I look at my dogs and think to myself, you've got the life. No rushing off to work. No having to do your hair and make up every morning. No standing in front of your closet staring at endless amount of clothes yet having nothing to wear. No place to be. And no one to answer to. Their biggest concern in life is finding a comfortable spot to fall asleep. Lucky brats.

We are off work early today and are heading over to G's house for dinner and game night! I'm ready to kick some butt at Apples to Apples!

Happy Easter Weekend!

The grass isn't always greener...sometimes it's browner

2010-03-30T20:24:00.012-05:00

Seems like every year around this time people start reminding me how lucky I am to be brown. Growing up in Dallas where big boobs and blonde hair are in abundance I adore every minute of being a sassy, small boobed (tmi?) brunette. When winter comes I don't have to run to the tanning salon to renew my membership, I rock bare brown legs with all my winter skirts and dresses. And when summer arrives there's no need for a 'base' tan. Practically every color is 'my' color, hell everything looks better with a tan. So I'm just going to throw this out there. Being brown does NOT suck.

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Yet being brown is not all brown sugar either and I thought I should point out why that is.

Let's start with the fact that I can't wear white. Well wait, yes I can wear white but it takes a few extra steps. Those steps come in the form of nude under garments and making sure to check, double check, and triple check that when I wear a white dress no one can see my brown ass through the dress. Same goes for white tops. And I can just forget all about wearing white bras or even worse white swim suits!
Just because I'm brown doesn't mean I speak Spanish or am Hispanic. The latter of which I am but don't go making assumptions about me. Unless you want to know my name or age in Spanish it's best to look elsewhere for help.
Moving on to makeup. I have tried every shade remotely close to brown at every single makeup counter south of the mason-dixon line. And when I say close to brown I'm talking yellow, brown, pink, dark brown, and orange. Finding makeup for a brown girl is difficult and to this day I still have not found a foundation that actually matches my skin. Don't even think about hugging anyone after you've applied your orange-brown-pink foundation either, that shit leaves stains all over other peoples clothing.
Up until about a year ago I was enjoying my lovely head of dark brown (no, it's really not black) hair. That is until a few unwanted guests showed up and over the past year have basically brought all of their relatives to make home in my hair. Not lice friends. See you can get rid of lice. What you can't easily get rid of is long grey hairs that continue to sprout from your skull. Want to know what's super noticeable in dark brown almost black hair? Grey. Grey hair. Grey hair that my boss points out to me. Every.single.day.
All brownies I know come with a big crazy ass brown family. One that needs to know every bit of your business. Borrow all your shit. Never talks, but always yells. And basically makes your life hell. It's like mandatory and I'm no exception to that.

Basically next time you look in the mirror and think, I want to be that. Take notes cause it might not be all you think it is.

Thank you weather gods

2010-03-26T18:35:00.004-05:00

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It's going to be sunny and in the low 70s this weekend.

That in itself makes me happy.
Bring on the sandals and sunglasses.
Happy Weekend to you!

To sum it up perfectly

2010-03-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

I rarely get my feelings hurt. I hardly ever cry. I've got a soft heart but the people that see that are few and far between. I am brutally honest. Loud. Brown (every inch). Sarcastic and silly. At times flaky, I am a Gemini after all but I'm getting better. And I never back down when it comes to standing up for what I believe in.

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Lately, my relationships with people I have surrounded myself with have been tested. I'm a fairly private person because with age I've learned there are a lot of poisonous people out there. Feeling exposed in relationships is new for me and while some of them have been nothing short of amazing, others have left me questioning things. I'm not the type of person to act unless I feel like the situation calls for it because for the most part when I do or say something it's with a purpose. And whether that purpose is right or wrong in someone else's eyes, I stand behind it because I believe in what I do.

People that are close to me know that I have a passionate spirit. If I call you a friend then you can rest assured I'd never throw your business in the street. I'd fight, kick, and scream for you. I'd try never to let you down and when I did, because I'm not perfect, I will admit my wrong doing. And I will mean it.

The vulnerability to open myself up to friendships and relationships is hard and scary for me. I get angry with myself when I get let down because I know if I would have just kept my shell closed then I wouldn't have gotten hurt. But that's life and that's learning. I try to remember that all the let downs help me become a better friend to the people that truly have my back.

Be you. Cause I'm going to keep on being me.

It started with sun and ended with snow

2010-03-21T19:38:00.002-05:00

Friday after work I met up with Hailey and G for a little happy hour. We were all so excited about the gorgeous 70 degree weather that come about 3pm we were all trying to scam up ways to leave work early so we could scoop up fabulous seats on the patio. Unfortunately for me my scamming abilities were lacking so I met up with them as soon as I got off. But the patio conversation was well worth the wait.

G and her cousin Jacquelyn

Hailey and I

Saturday Hailey, G, Court and I all met up with some Arkansas friends that were in town. We went to a mexican restaurant called Mi Cocina, they also have Mambo Taxis but this time I refrained since I had to go into the office and do some work. Poor G though, she decided to have 1 and 1/2 this time instead of 2, sweet thing had to take a nap again after lunch. I think she's learned her lesson, no mamboing during the day! We had a good time and it was fun listening to how excited the girls were about all the shopping here in Dallas. I guess I totally take it for granted.

Hailey and I

G and Court (unplanned matching outfits)

Hello empty glasses and bottles! AR Girls- Kristy, Tara, Jamie, and Jessica

Last night it started snowing and snowed all morning today. I can't even believe I'm typing that. On the first day of Spring, it SNOWED. WTF is up with that Texas? I had shoved my Uggs so far back in my closet that when I went to pull them out a cloud of dust hit me the face. And then I sat on the floor in front of my closet and pouted. For a good 10 minutes.

Do you see Bailey? She was not sad face about the snow at all.

My snow covered bat mobile

Then I got up and ate some breakfast. And headed out to the gym. As for right now the snow is melting and according to the weather folks it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70's for the rest of the week. All I'm saying is, it better be! Cause this snow shit ain't working for me anymore! I feel like I'm in this shitty relationship that keeps taking me on an emotional weather roller coaster. One day getting me high on sandals and sundress and literally the next day slapping me with snow like our love means nothing. I honestly can't take much more of this.

After this weekends weather, my relationship with my beloved Texas is seriously on the rocks.

a Friday Dream

2010-03-19T08:00:00.006-05:00

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I knew when I put my shoes on I was going to make it.
I tried to push the negative thoughts out of my mind.
But they kept coming and I kept running.
My calves were tight and I was sweating.
I was hot. I wanted to stop. I didn't.
I felt a cold, wet nose on my face.
No, keep going. Don't stop.
Another nudge and I open my eyes.
Two beady black eyes stare back at me.
It was a dream. I was dreaming.
It's Friday.
And I don't have to run anywhere today.
I'm off on Friday's.

Food is Good

2010-03-18T11:08:00.008-05:00

There's nothing more enjoyable to me then sitting around with family or friends enjoying a great meal, good conversation, and an alcoholic beverage. In my family the kitchen has always been the gathering place. We talk about anything and everything and there is always, without a doubt some form of food lying around listening to our conversations.

I really appreciated all of your positive feedback on my workout post. Inevitably though I know what some of you were thinking (I'm talking to you AB!), who the hell does this crazy brown hooker think she is? Running and working out 6 days a week and even some times twice a day!?! What is she trying to do, make me feel bad? Or even worse look bad?! Not so much friends. It's what works for me, what I do may or may not work for you. It's about finding the right balance for your life. But let's get back to the subject on hand here. Because what's better than eating food, talking about food.

Breakfast is my favorite and largest meal of the day. I will be late for work before I leave the house without eating or grabbing some form of breakfast on my way out the door. Personally I prefer to eat protein and the majority of my carbs in the morning, normally in the form of eggs and some toast or english muffin. I try to plan my portions heavy in the mornings, medium at lunch, and light at dinner time. Although this doesn't always work out because I work for a restaurant company and that throws a few hiccups in at lunch time. During the week I stick to this example pretty tight and steer away from alcohol except for the occasional happy hour.

After workout 6am- Some form of eggs (I cook them every way known to man), whole wheat toast or english muffin, a piece of fruit, coffee and juice. Whole wheat waffles, peanut butter, and sugar free syrup are a big hit.

Around 10:30am-Snack yogurt with granola. Carrots. String cheese. Granola bar. etc. (just one or two items)

Lunch 12-12:30pm- I try to bring my lunch most days. Salad with grilled chicken. Sandwich. Whole wheat pasta with spinach. Leftovers from dinner.

Around 3:30pm- Snack again. Orange, apple or banana. Granola bar. Special K bar. etc. (just one)

Dinner between 7-8pm- Turkey tacos, turkey spaghetti, grilled chicken with veggies, etc.

Water with everything, I drink a lot of water!! If you don't like water try some crystal light to go packets in your water-it's good stuff!

On the weekends I eat whatever I want. I stick to the motto "anything in moderation". If I want some cheesecake, I'll eat it, I just try not to eat the whole damn cheesecake. Occasionally I'll even have two pieces of cheesecake because life's too short not to. Speaking of cheese, have you ever noticed that everything is better with some form of cheese on it? Take a moment and think about that. I'll wait for you. Ok yes?! Glad we could agree on that. Lately I've been focusing on portion control. I noticed that at some meals I was eating as much as M was and I had to cut that way down.

I'm never on a diet and I don't ever tell people I am. In my early twenties (wow that sounded old) I used to "diet". My form of dieting was mainly restricting food from myself in an attempt to not gain weight. I never took it to the extreme but that's because I always got hungry and would binge and then become all sad face about it and thus the cycle would start over. Once I started exercising this no longer worked for me because I was hungry a lot. Makes sense, I was burning calories and my body needed fuel. So I started educating myself on how to devise a plan that would work for me.

And if all that wasn't enough for you, check out Amy who wrote a fabulous post about food. She also happens to be a certified trainer if you're into a professionals opinion.

I'm hungry now.

PS: Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments on our engagement picture! Hopefully we'll have more soon!

Sneak Peek

2010-03-16T12:07:00.012-05:00

Yesterday we took our engagement pictures with our fabulous wedding photographers. Actually, it was just one of them because the other one was not feeling well. Hope you are feeling better T!

They were kind enough to send me a "sneak peek" and let me post it for you all to see!

It's amazing what professional hair and make up can do for you.

Photo courtesy of: Perez Photography

The Weekend

2010-03-14T21:28:00.011-05:00

This weekend was one of the reasons I live in Texas, besides the fact that I really had no choice since I grew up here, the gorgeous weather officially indicating that spring is on it's way. We had beautiful clear skies with highs in the upper 60's and it was lovely.

Friday I met up for lunch with G at Corner Bakery where I had the California Grille which is a grilled whole grain panini with zucchini, artichoke hearts, roasted tomatoes, pesto, fresh spinach, and provolone. It was divine and we enjoyed chatting on the patio.

Saturday was a busy, busy day. My mom, bro, and I all went for a cake tasting. Probably the second best wedding related thing I've gotten to do besides finding the dress. We must have been hungry because we gobbled the cake down so fast that when it came time to choose which flavors we actually wanted we couldn't remember what tasted the best. And they are greedy with their cake, no seconds. My top three flavors were marble, red velvet, and strawberry. Pretty sure we are going to do each tier a different flavor. After all, variety is the spice of life.

That evening M and I met up with G and her hubby for the Mavericks game. When we visited Chicago one of my favorite things was riding The L. I was literally in love with the ease of it and I really wish that the Dart Rail here in Dallas was more popular. We rode it out to the game and it was so nice not having to fight for a parking spot.

Our seats for the game were awesome thanks to G. Too bad the Mavs lost after being on a 13 game winning streak. Even still, going to a basketball game is always a lot of fun just because of the atmosphere!

Today we had our 6th meeting with a DJ for the wedding. We have had a bout of bad luck up until this point and I'm really happy that today we finally booked our DJ! We were really starting to consider downloading all our songs to an Ipod and just finding someone to play it. It really couldn't have been much worse than some of the guys we had met with. Sad but true.

Engagement pictures are tomorrow. Just finalized what shoes I'm going to wear. An outfit is never complete without the right shoes. Everyone knows that. Hope you had a great weekend.

Super long post where I talk about myself and working out

2010-03-11T14:36:00.014-06:00

The other day while chatting with G we got on the subject of working out. G just hired a personal trainer and she asked my opinion on the work outs she is doing. Not sure if she's taken a look at my thighs lately but I felt flattered that she thought enough of my opinion to ask. Whether she took any of it into consideration or not. With G's encouragement I thought I would go into a little bit of it here, in case it can help any of you. Lord knows some of your posts have really helped open my eyes to new ways!

For starters I am not a fitness expert. I do not want to be a fitness expert. What I'm about to write is merely based on my own personal experience and you may or may not find it helpful. I do enjoy learning about fitness, how it affects the body, and how it is basically plain and simple science.

Now that we have that out of the way, we (M and I) work out 6 days a week. Monday through Thursday we get up at 4:45am and are at the gym at 5am. We work out for 45 minutes, come home and take our dogs on a short 10-15 minute walk, and then start our morning work routines. Saturday and Sunday we work out whenever we want to, normally closer to 9am or 10am so we can sleep in and we work out for an hour on those days. I'm just going to put this out there, Monday through Thursday's suck for me. Getting up that early to work out is a bitch to put it nicely but it's what works for us. And it's all about finding out what works for you.

Do we miss days? Do we hit weeks where we don't make it any of the 6 days? Do we make it to the gym but half ass our work out because we are so forking tired? YES! But we try and help motivate each other and not beat ourselves up if it happens. Having M is a huge encouragement for me so encourage your family and friends to do it with you, it's much more rewarding if someone is suffering...I mean benefiting...with you!

This is a mock example of what I do at the gym, once M and I get to the gym we normally go our separate ways. M's routine is a lot different than mine because being a man his body needs different things, obviously.

Monday- Incline Treadmill doing the "interval option" (it will automatically change the incline for me) -45 minutes walking at a 4.5 pace (this will burn the same amount of calories as jogging)

Tuesday-Elliptical Glider doing the "interval option"- 45 minutes

Wednesday- Weights- Focusing mainly on arm exercises doing lighter weight/more reps to tone and not build bulk

Thursday- Incline Treadmill doing the "interval option" at 4.5 or jogging at 5.5- 45 minutes

Friday- OFF! Get drunk while eating cheese...kidding...kind of.

Saturday- Elliptical/Bike-30 minutes and Weights mixing legs and arms-30 minutes

Sunday- Incline Treadmill doing the "interval option" at 4.5 or jogging at 5.5-30 minutes and Weights-30 minutes

Depending on what I'm trying to achieve this routine can vary. As you can see, I strongly believe in interval training. I've noticed that it helps shed fat the quickest and without seeing results I get discouraged so this helps. I normally add in a couple of night workouts every week as well such as yoga and pilates (classes at our gym) which really help keep my core strong or jogging outside with the dogs in the warmer months, they need it more than me. I also change it up so I don't hit a wall or plateau.

My main focus at the gym is not to lose weight. It's to maintain my current weight. And to look lean and tone. I used to freak out when I'd gain a couple of pounds but with age I've learned to let that go and focus more on being healthy, happy, and strong. Next week, I'll do a post about food and how I try to incorporate it with how I work out.

If you've read this far you deserve a cookie because that my friends was a workout.