Wedding Weekend

Oh how I wish every weekend included self-tanner, air-brush makeup applied by a professional, a hair stylist and two new fancy dresses to twirl around in.

But alas, if that was my everyday then it wouldn’t be so special. And this weekend was definitely special, as I helped marry off one of my closest friends, had a blast playing dress up, got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and I ate… and ate… and ate.
Congrats Katie & Sean!
PS–Upon looking at these pictures, let me assure you that I looked much tanner in person. For me. Which is really still quite pale. But more of an off-white-pale.

I’m fine… and I mean it this time!

The minute Mr. Right’s airplane took off, my tears dried up. Thank goodness, because I think my eyeballs were starting to swell. I haven’t been emotional since.

I hosted a meeting for church at my house last night, and afterward two of my close friends stuck around to eat brownies out of the pan and catch up on girl talk. It was just what my weary soul needed. After that I climbed into bed and caught up on most of last night’s Bachelorette (snooze fest), before finally drifting off to sleep.

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. to TWO emails from Mr. Right, who was enjoying free wi-fi in the Frankfurt airport while I was in my benedryl-induced coma. Then this afternoon he texted to say they landed safely in India, made it through customs, and are going to try to catch a few hours of sleep before starting their first full day over there. Feel free to pray along with me that God does some big things over these coming days. I was just thinking today how cool it is that the same God I serve over here in Fort Worth, Texas is the same God that people on the other side of our planet are worshipping. It makes me feel so small, and gives me so much comfort that my God is so big.

In the meantime, I have another dinner party with girlfriends tonight. And lunch with my in-laws tomorrow, after a PHOTOSHOOT with my local newspaper. Crazy thing is, this time I’ll be the one in THEIR ad (so random, I promise). Then we kick off our new ESL semester on Thursday night, I’m squeezing in lunch with one of my favorite people, and this weekend I’m throwing a wedding shower for a dear friend. This may go down as one of my most social weeks in a very long time.

Soon

My friends, I promise to do better on my posts this week. I should have some spare time since I’ll be spending most of my week in a hotel in MIAMI! I’ve been to Florida several times, but never to Miami, and you know how much I love to travel. I’ll be presenting my research paper at the International Public Relations Research Conference, and in my spare time I’ll probably sit in the back of the conference and stalk people on Facebook with my new iPhone while doing my best to look like I’m listening. Oh how I love traveling! And oh how I especially love FREE trips!

In the meantime, here’s a few photos from a fantastic bachelorette party this weekend. We sat on the rooftop of my favorite restaurant in the whole world and enjoyed one of the most beautiful evenings of the year.

Nachos & Benedryl

Oh, my faithful friends, have I had a doozie of a week! It’s a shame I have a self-imposed gag-order on the subject of boys (most of the time) because that area would provide for some quite interesting and unexpected posts! But alas, we’ll have to discuss it in person. Or maybe I’ll change the names to protect the innocent or something. We’ll see.

So in the meantime, as I finish my late-night dinner of nachos and Benedryl, I’ll post a picture of my good friend Tiffany’s new baby. I’ve been waiting to meet this sweet baby girl for awhile now. I figure we have lot’s of adventures ahead of us.

Bet you never expected THIS from me…

Well my friends, I finally did it. I crossed over to the dark side.

I auditioned for a reality television show.

Well, sort of.

There wasn’t much of an audition. I just filled out an application and turned it in at an open casting call. That was it. No on-camera interview, no being looked up and down to see if I was good enough. No eyes peering at me expectantly, analyzing my very being. Nope, I just handed some chick my application.

But oh, what an interesting night it was! After handing over my application, they had us “mingle” around and they said they would “watch” us. I want that job. Because the people-watching was FANTASTIC. Best ever. I definitely got my money’s worth.

I should mention that the show was The Bachelorette. So everybody there was single, looking to mingle. The guys were prowling around the room, almost animalistic in the way they carried themselves, with their designer clothes and $200 haircuts. The girls were stuffy and stuck-up, trying to portray their awesomeness in a way that would catch the producer’s attention. Everybody had a sparkle of desperation in their eye. It was like a strange mating ritual, with birds puffing up their feathers, trying to out-puff each other to gain the coveted trophy… a spot on a dating show. Folks are funny when they compete while trying to look like they don’t care. I just tried to stay out of their way.

I didn’t go thinking that I would be chosen. I know that’s crazy talk, and I’m not sure I would want to be put in a position where my father and my pastor had to watch me kiss boys on TV anyway. Plus, I would be the world’s most BORING bachelorette… who wants to watch a nice, wholesome, Christian girl act like a lady on a date? That doesn’t make for good TV. But the curiosity was so great, and my sisters were so persuasive, that we just had to go. With the advent of a new year, we decided to be adventurous. I’m glad I did, because it was an experience unlike any other I’ve ever had. We even made a few friends of the male persuasion while we were there. I got to talk with Jeremy, one of the top three bachelors from Deanna’s season (we have a mutual friend, and I actually made a guest appearance on his softball team last summer), and I said hello to one of my favorite radio DJs from Kidd Kraddick (JC). All this, and I was still home by bedtime.

I’m glad I lived my adventure. But I’m glad to be back in Normal Land, where folks are real and more relaxed and don’t puff up their feathers and prowl around.

PS–just for kicks, here’s an old post with  my advice to Bachelor contestants.

Big Plans

I have a blog post swimming around in my mind, but this is one of those that has to be just perfect, so you’ll have to wait another day or two until I can give it the attention (and editing) it deserves.

Tonight I’m going to see Michael Buble in concert with my sisters and my mom! They have been raving about how wonderful and dreamy he is ever since they saw him a few months ago (sans me, who didn’t want to fork over $75 to see him), and so this time mom insisted on buying tickets for all the girls in my family so we could enjoy his dreaminess together. I’ve been listening to his CD for weeks, and I must say he is rather good.

So now it’s time to go get properly gussied up so I can go enjoy my fun girls’ night out! I’m trying to perfect the “Texas Big Hair” look… which I must say looks rather fantastic at home in my bathroom, but once I set foot outside in the Texas humidity, evolves into a bit of a limp mess. I’m determined to conquer this hair challenge and have evoked a scientific approach, experimenting with different hair sprays, hair gels, root lifters, root stimulators, Elmer’s glue… whatever it takes. One day I will have big hair.

Better run, maybe tonight’s the night! It’s good to have goals in life, isn’t it?

First quilt is finished!

My first quilt is complete! If this quilt were a dog, it would be a sad, scraggly mutt that walks with a limp and is so ugly, he’s cute. It would be a mutt with bristles and burs stuck in his fur, and feet that track in mud all over your white carpet. But the more you know that mutt, the more you love him and realize that he’s way better than any purebred. Because he’s yours.

My quilt is kind of like that. Sad, scraggly, a little lop-sided, but something made out of love. It was birthed through sacrifice (namely an unfortunate facial injury), but I’m proud of it, and I enjoyed making it. Here are some photos (if you squint, it almost looks good).

I have already bought the supplies for quilt #2. No old lady patterns for me, this one is going to be pink and brown and sparkley.

The Recap

Thanks to all of my dear friends who have been leaving me comments. It seems so silly, but it makes me really happy to open up my email and see that someone has commented on a post! So, if you want to make me happy, and I’m sure you do, please continue to leave comments! I’ll do my best to return the favor.

Now for the fun part… here’s some photos from last night’s Bingo Gala!


We had a fantastic time! Nobody at our table won anything, although I was one away from a Bingo on two different occasions. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be this year. It was fun to get dressed up and enjoy a night out on the town. I have a lot more of these events on the calendar for the fall… it’s event season once again! I guess this means I need to do some more shopping…

Helper

My friend Tiffany, who inspired me to buy this silly sewing machine in the first place, has graciously offered to come help me figure out how to fix it. I mean, it’s the least she can do, seeing as she single-handedly caused this whole mess. It’s all her fault. Right Tiffany? (chuckle chuckle)

Actually, assuming she can get the darn thing working, I’m looking forward to a fun girls’ night tonight. I’m also going to enjoy eating and drinking everything that’s bad for me… tonight I’m eating fried chicken, french fries, a diet coke, and a milk shake for dinner. Because tomorrow night I’m running seven miles… so it will be nothing but light, bland foods and water all day tomorrow. I need to fit in as much fun as possible tonight, just in case I collapse on the trail or something tomorrow. I think I deserve to go out happy.