Ice Flame McClain

After Lindsey & Justin's wedding on Saturday I had a baby shower back in H-town (Humble, not Houston) for our beautiful soon-to-be-mama friend, Melanie.  Jen and I woke up bright and early and drove home - well she drove and I wiggled around complaining about how badly my bum hurt.  Maybe from all the money maker shaking the night before?  J to the K.

Thanks to an accident, 35 turned into a parking lot and the first 45 minutes of our journey were spent within a 5 mile radius of our hotel.  This turned us both into giggly, delirious messes.  4 hours later we arrived at Melanie's mother in law's house for an awesome shower.  It was thrown by 5 of Melanie's friends/family members, one of whom is our friend, Erin.  They did a fantastic job with the food and decor. 

We also learned that Jonathan, Melanie's hubs, always said he would name his first child Ice Flame McClain.  Hence the title of this post.  I do not think that was a shared dream because Melanie put the kibosh on that one.  Jake Thomas is pretty close to Ice Flame, right?

Congrats to the McClains - I can't wait to meet that little bambino!  Tell him to put a little pep in his step because November is too far.  :c)

Erin made this - isn't it adorable?

My figure and I were both hoping this cake would not be very good.  No such luck- it was amazing.

Hot mama

Melanie and her present opening assistant

Heels weren't the best decision I made this day.

The hostest with the mostest

Jake's best friend is in there

Happily Ever After: The Coe Edition

This past weekend we went to Lindsey and Justin's wedding in Austin.  Justin interned with us way back when. Lindsey moved to Houston when she started full time and both Lindsey and Justin were in my start class.  From the very beginning it's been plain to see that these 2 are perfect for eachother- neither can help but smile when the other is around.  It's pretty adorable.

Jen, Brendan, Ryan and I roadtripped to Austin.  Each of us was privvy to a car ride full of boy band sing alongs, football discussion (puke) and unhealthy food.  All non-longhorns have now been introduced to Hruskas and I feel confident I will never again have to argue the merits of taking 10 rather than 290 to Austin. 

The ceremony was at Vintage Villas and Lindsey and Justin said their I Do's at sunset overlooking Lake Travis.  The reception was held at the same gorgeous location but indoors.  The remainder of the night was filled with fabulous food, touching speeches (Lindsey's dad gave the best speech ever), horrendous dancing (that was pretty much just me) and lots of laughs. 

Congratulations to the Coes!  Thanks for letting us share in your day.

Underwear on Ryan's head.  In a public location.

We were early for once in our lives.

Be-a-utiful view

Groom's cake

Bride's cake

So cute.

Stunning

Such a sweet moment

Ryan & I

Badger hotties

The Future Schambles

Shannon, Me & Jen

Mr. & Mrs. Coe

Bow chicka bow wow

Manliness... now with pink ties

The pointing game knows no bounds

Don't just stand there, bust a move

A window into the bachelor party. 

Plenty more where this came from.  7/9/11.  Be there.

Congrats Justin & Lindsey. 

Daily Dose of Adorable

What?  What did you say?  You want to see how precious my future niece is right now?  Fiiiine.  Who am I to deny the public what they want?

Wedding and Bebe Shower posts to come before I leave for Oh, Canada this weekend.  :c)

Ladies Who Brunch

For the second round of Brunch Season, we took our inappropriate conversations and above 6 inches voices to Table Seven on Durham.  This week's participants were: Sara, Dena, Shawna, Jen, Rashell, Lori, Chelsea, Jamie, April and your's truly.  This week's location earned a few brownie points on last week's location for having bottomless mimosas.  The cranberry ones were particularly delicious.  I think we also decided that since creanberry juice is so good for you, it was basically like a health drink.  Foolproof logic.

Despite a few spills, one chicken fried chicken sacrified to the floor and some discussion at various volumes of feminine issues that made our waiter incredibly uncomfortable, I would classify this week as a great success.  Nothing gets a day started off right like discussing baby stealing, pregnancy, Six Sigma belts, and safety training.  I am sure Rashell would have me point out here that even though it says "crab cakeS," there is indeed only one singular crab cake. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time- I recommend Table Seven and I recommend engaging in conversation with any of the aforementioned ladies if you want a good laugh.  If you want to get in on this action, shoot me an email.

April & Jamie

Shawna, Dena, Sara & Savanna**

Chelsea, Lori, Rashell, Jen y Yo

** names subject to change... but hopefully not.  :c)

Bowling for HOLLAs!

Those of you who know him know that my Dad has some infamously overused phrases.  Included amongst these are: "A little travelling music maestro," "I was born at night, just not last night," "You go girl," and most recently "Hate to do this to ya- Mickey Mantle."  Growing up he would regularly spout off these phrases and I never really understood what any of them meant.  One of those phrases was "Bowling for dollars."  I still don't get it.  So yes, my title creativity is depleted so much that I had to stretch so far as to cheesily change up a phrase I don't understand. 

On to the real point of this post- Matt, Dena's fabulous boyfriend, had a birthday recently.  Matt doesn't like anyone to make a big deal out of his birthday so we decided that the best way to celebrate without raising a fuss from him was to just show up at the bowling alley he and Dena were supposed to be at.  Birthday Party Crashing is the new Wedding Crashing.

Similar to most outings with this crew, it turned into an 8th grade dance party upon arrival.  Per usual, the girls hung with the girls and the boys posted up around the nearest TV and/or mobile device that gets ESPN.  Tired of listening to football talk (who are YOU going to pick in your suicide league this week?!)- we found other ways of entertaining ourselves.  Namely bowling as Jersey Shore characters. 

Happy Birthday to you, Mr. Matt!  Thanks for being born... and thanks for giving us an excuse to act a fool yet again in a public place. 

Snooki, JWoww, Angelina & Sammi Sweethrt.  Yes, that definitely happened.

Snooki and JWoww

Austin, Matt & Brendan.  Boys love pictures!

Apparently my lane etiquette sucks.  Whooooooops.

You'd have thought she just messed up a turkey.  She actually probably just rolled her second consecutive gutterball.

Typical.

These thumbs up were not for Laura.

Did Austin move all night?

and lastly, I leave you all with a clip of pure genius... and precisely the reason you can't help but love Dena.

Dress-a-palooza

This past weekend, the stars aligned and it just so happened that all of my fabulous bridesmaids were in town at the SAME TIME.  This is a serious feat considering of 7, 1 lives in Austin, 1 lives in Dallas and 1 lives in New York.  I picked out bridesmaid dresses a while ago - actually I finally picked our colors based on some bridesmaid dresses I found that I liked.  I selected a color/fabric and decided to let each of them pick the style they liked the best to ensure that everyone feels like the hottie that they are.  As I've told my Mom multiple times, I want people enjoying adult beverages to celebrate that Ryan will never again utilize a Coach Fran poster as home decor- not to forget how uncomfortable they are.

In order to make sure that the fabric/color didn't disappear with the season (because I would say there's a 98% change Ryan would call the whole thing off if I tried to change colors one more time) - I wanted to make sure we got these babies booked.  My Mom, Mrs. Martin, Tiffy, Julie, Jen, Shawna, Chelsea, Melissa and Courtney were all kind enough to oblige my craziness.

Since some of the ladies are from college life and live out of town, they haven't all gotten to meet the in-town post-college portion of the bridal party.  After 30 mins in a dressing room with strangers, I feel confident that everyone is now appropriately acquainted.  Actually, I believe after Melissa exited the dressing room in a size 26 v-neck dress that her chest was completely exposed in, I think everyone in Venturas is well-acquainted with her.

At the end of the day, I think that everyone found a dress that they liked, purchased it and I can promise you that each of them will be gorgeous.  :c)  After a hard day of shopping, we decided to extend our get-to-know-eachother session at brunch at Hungrys in Rice Village.  If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.  It's deeeeeelish.  I had such a wonderful time and was further reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have paid off found such amazing friends.  Thank you to everyone who made this such a memorable day.  I can't wait for the Bachelorette Party.

Shawna, Melissa, Chelsea, Courtney, Jen, Tiffany & Jules

Melissa & Courtney

Shawna & Jules

Jen, Me & Chels

Mrs. Martin & Tiff

Chelsea & Mamacita

109 Reunion: The Lost Year

My fifth year of school, I lived with two hilariously wonderful fellow PPA ladies, Melissa and Courtney.  The three of us were all abandoned by the bulk of our college friends who graduated and moved away (rude, guys).  We shared about 10 of the most memorable, exciting and inside joke-packed months of my life.  Special shout outs to the CPA exam, an ITAC professor who shall remain nameless, the Dallas Deloitte girls, Cinnamon, 6th street, Y&R, split-anything and a lost cat for your participation in those 10 months as well.  At the end of it we realized that we were all moving to different places - I was headed back to Houston, Melissa to Dallas and Courtney to New York.  This was extremely bad planning.

Impromptu 109 Dance Party

We made a pact to meet up in a different city each year after we graduated.  We usually do this sometime during the summer or at Labor Day.  The first year we went to Vegas, the second year we went to New York, the third year we went to Boston and this year... we kind of went to Houston.  Which of these is not like the others?  I know, I know- we cheated.  We were supposed to go to Chicago but between weddings, new jobs and all kinds of other expenses in life none of us quite had the funds to swing it this year.  Hopefully next year we'll reinstate.

Vegas 2k7

NYC 2k8

Boston 2k9

Houston was kind of a serendipitous mini-reunion.  Court was in town for her Dad's Birthday and Rosh Hashanah.  Melissa decided to come in to "see Courtney and me" (which I suspect was really just a ploy to get some Maui Wowi) and ta-da: mini-reunion!  We also worked this into Bridesmaid Dress-a-palooza which will be a different post. 

Houston 2k10

This year 109 reunion may have been a little more low-key and a lot more abbreviated, but I had a blast regardless.  Cupcakes, Cafe Adobe margs and lots of giggling.  Nothing beats slumber parties!  Thanks for making time Boat and Mopes.  :c)

Pre-reunion HH with Jen, Dena & Shawna

It's okay to wear sunglasses at night when you're on a patio.  Hey look, Melissa got into town!

Sharing is caring

Cupcakes to celebrate how successful my friends are - Melissa & Jen got promotions and Courtney got asked to give a big presentation to her whole department.  Dena is VERY excited about success.