Little Miss One-Derful

So... maybe I did steal the title of this post from a bib- what of it?  :c)  As previously mentioned, my absolutely precious (nearly) niece, Kylie, turned a whopping 1 year old on June 9th.  This past Saturday, June 18th, her amazing parents (Tiff & Ryan) and grandparents (The Martins) threw her a hopping luau.  Mrs. Martin & Tiffy pants had the Martin's house decorated beautifully and there was an awesome turn out.  I hear P. Diddy called afterwards for pointers on this year's annual white party.

Kylie was so well-behaved and basked in all the attention.  I just love that little sassafrass.  Granted I am no baby expert, but I feel confident she is the most laid-back, happy little nugget in all of America.  Perhaps the world.  She did all the requisite birthday girl tricks- tried to crawl into bags and completely missed the present itself, laughed/clapped at completely hilarious moments and got cake onto every surface possible.  Also not captured on film is her newest trick which is crawling around and saying "tchicka, tchicka, tchicka" really fast.  She either sounds like a train or a club DJ- take your pick.

A very, very, very Happy Birthday to little Kylie pie- I love you oodles munchkin!

Those pretty crystal platters had food later- I got snap happy before finishing set up.  Whoooopsies!

Pretty, pretty

The throne

Awesome cake

It was really nice of everyone to bring such pretty bags for Kylie to play in.

Aunt Pam & Jenny

Tiffany & I

Mrs. Martin & Michelle

Grandpa & Jenny

Having a drink and surveying the damage.  Life at 1 isnt much different than 28.

Reading us a story.

Tell me that tutu isnt the cutest.

My first purse- WHAT?!

Someone to Kylie's right must have had quite the singing voice.

Are we sure about this?

Yeah?  We're in the trust tree?

Ohhhh... okay.  I'll put my face in it.

Taking the new ride for a spin.

Setting up shop castle.

Shut up!  Jennifer Aniston is dating who?

Okay, I'm getting tired.  Take me home, chauffeur.

The Genetic Code

I know I usually reserve the blog for my synopses of life events and the pictures that go with them.  However, every once in a while something so funny will come through one of my various social inboxes that I absolutely must share. 

Today I bring you a daily laugh courtesy of my very own sister.  The genetic current is strong in this family.

"I've had yogurt n coffee this A.M. but my mouth tastes like hotdogs!  Riddle me that?!"

- Julie Marie B.

StandingInLineFest

Who doesn't love themself a good Groupon?  I sure do.  A couple of months back a Groupon went around for half off a Houston Beerfest ticket and a free t-shirt.  Beer and free t-shirts?  My inner college student would never forgive me if I didn't take advantage.  That coupled with the fact that said festival was the weekend Ryan & Co were taking Bourbon street by storm for his Bachelor party meant I really couldn't say no.  Dena, Shawna, Julie, Jen & Rashell also decided to participate in this college throwback.  Bonus points: the festival was on Rashell's birthday. 

The festival was truly not ready for us.  On all accounts.  Sure they grossly underestimated the number of people that would be there and everyone waited in line a minimum of an hour and a half to get in.  Sure they ran out of beer.  Sure people were bartering cups later on in the evening because they ran out of those.  Sure a middle-aged couple threatened to have the police arrest us for "cutting in line."  (P.S. We did NOT).  But what the festival was REALLY not ready for was the craaaaazy game of Truth or Dare that we were about to unleash on them.  This iPhone app really pushed us to our limits with wacky truth questions like, "who is your best friend?" and "what is your favorite color?"  Early on we realized we were going to need to think outside of the box here and improvise some of the dares a bit.  The most entertaining evening I've had in a long time ensued.

After laughing for about 4 straight hours we capped the night off with a trip to Whataburger.  How else would any good college evening end?  Thank you to my hilarious ToD partners, to the Beerfest and to our good-natured lawn friends.  My sincerest apologies to a very special parking garage in downtown Houston.

iPhone Ap Dare #1: Hold your breath.  Rashell is wild.

iPhone Ap Dare #8: Make yourself look like an idiot and let Shawna photograph it.

I believe this is where improvisation begins.  I doubt the app said to put on lipstick and kiss your neighbor's cheek.

Grass.  The little known 5th food group.

Recruiting new ToD-ers

What's a birthday without being dared to do a high pour?  The gentleman in the hat behind her agrees.

Well received.

We do not know him.

New recruit earning his keep.

The fruits (haaaaa...pun intended) of Dena's 1 minute scavenger hunt.

Beerfest 2k11.

Showering (the future) Mrs. Schamble

On June 5th, I threw a bridal shower for Jen at Brendan's parents' neighborhood's clubhouse.  The location was beautiful and I can't thank Mrs. Schamble enough for organizing and booking it.  It's always a fabulous experience to have people from all facets of your life gathered in one place to celebrate you and no one is more deserving of that than the beautiful bride-to-be.

All the attendees were treated to a wonderful food spread courtesy of my dear Mama, the HEB and Mrs. Schamble, the delicious sangria stylings of Jen's BM Chelsea and perfect iced tea and lemonade from Jen's BM Rashell.  They also got to participate in some exciting shower-type games where we learned that Brendan's favorite ninja turtle was Michaelangelo, Jen loves to Catch a Predator, they will have a lab waaaaay before a bambino and Brendan's favorite Houston athlete is Arian Foster thanks to a clutch fantasy win. 

Another exciting treat that I don't think anyone will soon forget was Anthony V's graduation party.  There is no point in re-living this story but just know that if you find yourself in a double-booking situation, you should under no circumstances set your 20 cases of beer down in the entry to a bridal shower.  Nor should you remove their food from the fridge.  That type of behavior gets you locked out.  So I hear. 

While at the time, this story was mortifying, I think in the end it makes Jen's shower all the more memorable.  Congratulations to my dear BFF- you will make one absolutely stunning bride.

Guestbook table

My poor attempt to get a shot of the room.  Doh.

Table set up

Pictures of Jen & Brendan's younger days.  If you click on this pic to make it bigger you will see that Brendan's hair was in fact all pepper and no salt when he was a youth.

Food spread

Mas food

Presents, presents, presents

Jen's sister-in-law, Janelle, Mrs. Schamble (MOG) & Mrs. Coleman (MOB)

Shawna & Jenn

My Mom & some pretty bridesmaids - Rashell, Chelsea & Lori

Erin, the beautiful bride & Amanda

Jen promised she'd make me some delicious meals with this pan.  Also, this is where our picture-taking journey ends because I was diligently playing scribe.

License to...

This morning Ryan & I stopped by the courthouse on the way to work.  After 5 glorious minutes with a delightful lady named Doris, confirming that we were not related and raising our right hands we are now the proud owners of this bad boy:

Look out, world.  For most, this document represents a license to get married to the man fate has chosen for you.  For me in particular this represents a license to sit on the couch and watch 6 (okay maybe 8 or 9) episodes of the Wire on a lazy Sunday with said man.  It represents a license to glare at him until he says "excuse me" after he burps.  It represents a license to come home from work and find him messing with the sprinklers at LEAST one night (often times 2) a week.  It represents a license to live with a man who will, in his lifetime, most likely eat enough canned chili to build a mansion of Khloe & Lamar proportions out of the cans.  It represents a license to walk through the living room and hear 4 letter expletives rattled off at the tv on any given Saturday or Sunday.  It represents a license to laugh REALLY HARD at least once a day because of all of these things.  I feel incredibly lucky.  So, thank you, Doris for licensing us to get married.  Thank heavens you didn't know all of the things I just said or you might not have signed your name. 

Can't wait for July 9th.  :c)

P.S. I owe you all many a blog update.  I have one written about Jen's shower... I'm just waiting on pictures.  (Love you Mom!)  I also need to write one about Kylie's 1 year birthday party.  Spoiler alert:  there's a cute kid involved.

Nuptial News: Installment Twelve

Wow.  So this is my last one of these.  I really dont have a clue how that happened... but what I do know is that one month from today I'm getting hitched.  It's started to get pretty real in the last month and I can't really put into words how excited I am.  So, you'll just have to trust me. 


Things Accomplished:

• Survived my Bachelorette Party
• Final dress fitting
• Hair/make up trial
• Table numbers finished
• Figured out my something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
• Ordered BM gifts
• Scanned pictures for rehearsal dinner slideshow
• Met with our pastor to finalize ceremony details
• Finished our pre marital counseling
• Set up final appointments with all of our vendors & our wedding day coodinator

Things in the Pipeline:

• Finalizing programs
• Figuring out seating arrangements
• Final decor appointment
• Get our marriage license
• Finalizing favors/escort cards
• Surviving Ryan's bachelor party

Ryan's Contributions:

• Ordered rehearsal dinner invites
• Finalized rehearsal dinner menu
• Sent out rehearsal dinner invites
• Tracked down a projector for rehearsal dinner slideshow
• Ordered groomsmen gifts
• Finalized music
• May or may not have "personalized" some rehearsal dinner invites (you didn't think it would all be serious, did you?)

Since this is my final one of these, I just have to say thank you to everyone who has helped along the way- from actually physically helping (cutting fabric is harder than you might imagine at first), to emotionally supporting me, to advice, to sweet comments- this all very literally could not be coming together without you.  I most especially want to thank: (1) my gorgeous MOHs for planning the best shower/bachelorette party ever and for making sure that I maintain some semblance of sanity thoughout this process, (2) my fabulous bachelorette party attendees & beautiful bridesmaids for making sure that I have the time of my life and for spoiling me to bits, (3) my sweet, sweet mother and father who have helped me get everything on the list checked off and (4) my loving fiance- mainly for just not dumping me (I am sure you considered).  I love you all muchly. 

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY PRECIOUS (almost) NIECE!

NOLA: A Survival Story

So, this post is MUCH delayed.  I blame this partially on the fact that I've been uber busy in the past month with last minute wedding details, a quarter, a client filing a S-1, a bridal shower for the BFF, and a host of other exciting things but a larger contributor to the delay in my writing this is that it's taken this long to recover from the excitement that was the Gang takes NOLA. 

The weekend of May 12th - May 15th, I had my Bachelorette Party in New Orleans.  My pretty MOHs planned the most incredibly fun weekend ever.  The amount of time, effort and love that went into planning it was incredibly evident and I felt so spoiled.  A total of 10 amazing women sacrificed part of their weekend (and perhaps part of their dignity as well) to make sure I enjoyed my last hurrah appropriately.  I really am so incredibly appreciative, so thank you to EVERYONE who came out and to those of you who couldn't make it- you were there in spirit... although after looking at pictures you may wish that you weren't.  :c)

The 15,000 version of the weekend is that we went to New Orleans, we stayed in Hotel Monteleone, we tanned, we ate a fabulous dinner at Galvez, we lounged by the pool, we were great appreciators of the sights, sounds and smells of Bourbon Street, we enjoyed eachother's company and went home. To avoid quelching anyone's hidden dreams of one day running for office, I will not give a play by play but rather will summarize the finer points of the weekend through the lessons learned & some of my fav quotes. 

Lessons for the Gang, courtesy of NOLA:

• Not all tall men in salmon-colored frat shorts are cut out to be your brother in law.  Sad, but true.
• Men are surprisingly willing to rip off their undergarments in public locations
• If you tell someone you think they're pretty enough times, they will let you take a picture with them- regardless of what their pimp says.
• This rule does NOT apply with the cops on horses.  They are camera shy.
• Nothing lets people around you know it's a party like a life-sized Bieber poster on your hotel room door.  Nothing.
• Don't get kicked by horses.
• Just plugging your charger into the phone before you go to bed is not enough.  You need to plug that bad boy into the wall.
• Don't take a nap against a bar.  You could wake up surrounded by horse cops.
• If a lady tries to feed you shots like she is a mama bird.... It will cost you $72. 
• If your waiter loses some skin in delivering your order, you will be rewarded with the largest piece of salmon in the joint. 
• Brad Pitt is not at the end of every professional camera.  Sometimes it's just an Express model.
• If you're standing on a fountain yelling "I'm getting married b***hes," they will probably still ask you to step down.
• What happens in NOLA- stays in NOLA.  Except upper respiratory infections.  Those will definitely follow you home.
• You must have at least one gentleman per lady to enter a gentleman's club.  The size of your inflatable friend is not a factor.

Favorite Quotes:

• "Who would want to live in Detroit?  That place is the murder capital of the US." 
• Male: "I know him from college."  Female: "Oh, cool.  Where did you go to school?"  Male: "Dartmouth.  What about you?"  Female:  "University of Phoenix."  *awkward pause* "It's in the desert."
• "I've got to BLAST some green beans before we get out of here."
• "Tell me you're not impressed."
• "Guatemala.  That's in Asia."
• "I'll take the chicken. Without the attitude."
• "Sir, do you take credit cards?"
• "I am not going into your rat-infested rape den."

Warning:  You're about to see a LOT of pictures- the amazing thing is that this is only a fraction of the pictures taken from the weekend.  Love you, ladies.

Jen, Me, Julie & Tiff

Jenn, Dena, Tiffany & Caitlin

Meeeeee-ow.

Jamie, Shawna, Caitlin, Melissa, Dena, Tiff, Me & Jules

Hotties from the delinquent room.

Dinner at Galvez.  Don't order the chicken.

Vanna White has nothing on Julie.

Dessert anyone?

Annnnnnnd... we're off.

Little Sis love

Getting proposed to on Bourbon Street by a 19 year old- check that off the bucket list.

Hottest mommas you'll ever meet.

Night One Feats: 1.  We made it on to a balcony...

...2.  We convinced 2 men to remove their undergarments.  On Bourbon....

...3.  We convinced a dude to do the worm...

...and I think we will stop the # game right here.

The Mels

So. Much. Love.

Beautiful MOHs

Night One: Curtain.

Pat O's

Mopes, Shawna, Julie & Caitlin

Oz fanatics.

Melissa, Jen, Me, Caitlin & Julie

Dena, Shawna & Caitlin

Sis 1, Sis 2 & Sis 3