It's Here!

Ta-Da!We bought a new camera!

Ok so I know buying a new camera is not all that exciting to most people but we are really excited about this one...why?

• It's waterproof!! We can drop it in the river, lake, beach, pool, hot tub, bath tub, sink, toilet, pitcher of beer-you name it...and it won't get ruined!!

• It's shockproof for up to 7 feet! This is FABULOUS because Beau and I can be pretty clumsy...


• It's still small enough to fit in my cute Coach "camera case" (well, it's supposed to be a credit card holder but if the shoe fits...)!

...and finally...

• This was our first time to purchase something for us to share (besides dinner and drinks, of course!) and there were no arguments...zero, zilch, nada!! (We are so grown up these days!) ;)

I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of pics in my next few posts...I like new things! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wedding Wednesday!

Well, it's that time again-Wednesday, which gives me every excuse to blog about wedding stuff!!

Over the past few days of planning, I have realized a few things:

• Flowers for a wedding are far too overpriced, especially considering that I designed the centerpieces and all the florist has to do it stick flowers in the pre-put-together vases and drop them off at the reception site. And yes, delivery is an extra charge too. But really...$32 per centerpiece which only has SIX gerber daisies in it???? I don't think so lady...
• I really want a string quartet to play our ceremony music. Sure, all wedding music is beautiful, but it's TEN TIMES MORE BEAUTIFUL when there are real people playing real music on real instruments. I'm going to have to find a way to fit these people in our budget. (I just now realized this while at the Bridal Extravaganza. I thought my mother was going to have to escort me away from their booth...)
• For the next 9 months, I have every excuse to get my nails done...AND pay for it with the "wedding funds"! It's amazing how fake nails can make that little ring look even better!
• ...that aisle I'm supposed to walk down...is really, really freaking long. Just sayin'...
• We have too many friends. Our guest list is creeping up to 400. (Jesus, that's rediculous.) I told Beau he cannot make any more friends between now and April 16, 2011.
• It's really hard for me to delegate things out to people. I've always been the type to just do it myself to make sure it gets done right so this is definitely a challenge for me.

I'm sure these are the first of many realizations I will have before the big day but one thing I do know for sure is that I cannot wait to wake up to Beau's beautiful smile and bright blue eyes every morning for the rest of our lives! ((so exciting!!!)

Where did she park her camel?

So there's this girl I worked with when I first started waitressing at Mo's Place in college. Her name is Lydia. She is by far, without any exaggeration, the funniest, most animated person I have ever met in my life. Period. (Kristen, it's ok-you're still funny too...) Anyways, Lydia graduated college and quit working at Mo's but would stop in every once in a while to say hi and would enjoy a few libations...ok...a lot of them...it's just what you do when you go to Mo's. To say the least, I never got to see her as much as I would have liked to after she got a job "in the real world". Well, Lydia got married recently and her husband was transferred to Kuwait for his job, where they are now living. The best news I've heard all day...LYDIA HAS A BLOG! This girl could write a book. She reminds me a less-vulgar, much prettier, and classier version of Chelsea Handler.

So check her out here and let her know you're thinking about her while she's melting in the 120 degree weather!

P.S.-Lyd, if you are reading this...I miss you and Broom Jr. SO much!

Weekend Recap

So it's now a tradition to give you a play by play of my weekend...so here goes:

Friday afternoon, I went and wondered around the mall, patiently waiting for my hair appointment. I strolled into Target, found some cute things, and thought it would be completely appropriate to register for a few things...by myself...no Beau. He kinda keeps me in line these days so any chance I can get to edit that registry I most definitely do:

Shrek (aka Myrna) fixed my highlights and did a FANTASTIC job-she totally redeemed herself, I must say. (However, I am still trying to decide if I am going to go back to her for the next highlights...) In her head, she had to be thinking,"OK, you want blonde? I'll give you blonde!" because after I blow dried it, it's almost freaking platinum! Well, not really, but there are NO low lights anymore. Oh well...it looks REALLY good so I am definitely not complaining. On a side note, I wasn't sure as to whether or not I should have tipped her again since I tipped her $25 the first time so I didn't. BUT, I did buy products from her which helps her out...as she referred to multiple times during my first appointment. That night, the little brother and his girlfriend came in town from Austin and we took him to get an iPhone. He's in heaven! We also went to show his girlfriend our wedding venue, since it was right around the corner. I made Beau practice "the kiss" since we were in front of the gazebo (not really, I just thought it would make a good picture...as you can tell...his mind was elsewhere...)

Practice makes perfect! <3The rest of the night was spent at good ol' Mo's Place where we suprised my BFF and maid of honor, Julie, for her birthday and had a mini high school reunion! It's always SO good to see old friends plus I got to introduce the fiance to a lot of my high school friends!

Saturday morning Beau was SLOW moving and I went to the Bridal Extravaganza with mom. We had a great time but we weren't there for too terribly long since I already have almost all my vendors. (I'm totally ahead of the game!) They had a wedding dress fashion show which was so fun to watch AND they had a $1.4 million dollar wedding cake! It wasn't all that extravagant but it had REAL diamonds dripping off of it! It's too far away to see the diamonds so you'll just have to take my word for it but here it is...

Me with ALL the bags of wedding crap!

I signed up to win a bunch a cool stuff so I'm waiting for my phone to ring...ha...NOT! (But that honeymoon to Tahiti would be fab...just sayin'...)

Sunday a big group of friends went to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. It still amazes me that ALL our friends that went are the most laid back, calm people ever and here they are skydiving! This is them...the tiny little specs in the sky!!

Beau and I didn't jump. Skydiving is totally a spectator sport for us!

Hope everyone has a great week! I've got a busy one ahead of me...

Quick Update

Myrna (aka "Shrek") was extremely nice when I called her yesterday about my highlights...or lack thereof. She referred to me as "Stephanie, the white girl", which I took as a compliment...I guess? Anywho, I will be seeing her again today at 3pm to give me back my "white girl hair." My only question...do I tip her again?

In other news, team Scissor Biscuits will be playing tonight, which is always a fun time and usually consists of a lot of beer rowdiness. (As if you can't tell that from the pictures in the link...)

Saturday, like I said in an earlier post, is the Bridal Extravaganza!!

And Sunday we are going to watch our crazy group of friends jump out of plane!

One of my BFF's, Ashley, on her last skydiving adventure! I still can't believe she's doing it again!

Anyways, hope y'all have a great weekend!!

Highlights, my ass.

Sorry-that's a little bit of a vulger title but I'm just a LOT little frustrated with the girl that did my highlights recently. You see, my fabulous Megan that has done my highlights for a good 3 years now is on maternity leave. How dare her think she can just leave for three months? Hello, my hair doesn't just stop growing! Megan was my saving grace from the last girl who made my head look like a cheetah. She was referred to me from a girl in college (wow, that makes me feel old) and she will do my highlights until the day I die. I LOVE MY MEGAN.

Anywho, so Megan just had a little boy {Dexter...how cute is that?!} and is on maternity until SEPTEMBER-yes, THAT LONG! She prepared me and referred me to some chick named "Myrna". Ok great-if Megan trusts "Myrna" to take care of me, then I will trust her. So highlighting time rolls around and I make an appointment with "Myrna". Back up a little bit...typically, I plan on being in the chair for at least an hour and a half because Megan and I like to BS a lot.

Ok, so I get to my appointment and "Myrna" comes to the front to let me know she is ready for me. This very tall, large, intimidating woman calls my name so I stand up and walk up to her (it's Myrna). She looks at me and goes "Hi, who are you?" I think to myself "Um, hello? You just called my name." but the bitch stayed inside me and I politely said, "Hi, I'm Stephanie-one of Megan's clients." She replies "Oh, ok" and directed me to her chair. I tried to make small talk with her until I realized she wasn't down with that. She let me know right away that my appointment would not take any longer than 40 minutes and that "she doesn't waste anytime with chit chat." (Apparently this woman needs hormones, or sex, or chocolate...something...she's unhappy.) The only thing she mentioned was how me buying products boosts her sales and commission because she's "commission only". She mentioned it several times which I found seriously annoying. The little devil in my head was thinking: "Poor pitiful Myrna-you should have picked a different profession if you have a problem with your pay" but I shut up and turned to my iPhone for entertainment. "Myrna" quickly threw the foils in my hair, set me under a dryer and quickly sent me off to someone to be rinsed. She ONCE again stated that she was recommending specific products for me and that if I decided to purchase them to let the cashier know because ONCE AGAIN, "it helps boost her sales." DUH-I'm in sales lady. Just to spite her, I didn't get the products. (Actually, I've used them before and they SUCK so take that, Myrna). So my appointment is over, I go to the cashier to pay and realize it's like $20 cheaper than when Megan does my hair. For a split second I liked Myrna for that "hook up"...until the next morning when I did my hair, which has a half-ass job of highlights in it. It doesn't even look like I got my hair done. Usually when Megan does my hair, I'm a fabulous, radiant blonde. This time, not so much. I don't know what she was doing but she sure as hell wasn't doing what Megan does.

So now I'm stuck in a rut. I don't know what to do. I'd like to go back up there and have someone correct it but...

1.) Myrna will be pissed and the fact that she could eat me for dinner scares me...just a little bit.

2.) I don't want Megan to think I'm a bad client. (I'll feel like the kid who acts up when their mom leaves them with a babysitter...)

and

3. ) All the managers at Visible Changes always stand behind their employees rather than their paying customers so they NEVER understand the problem-nor do they correct it.

We have engagement pictures next weekend and my hair is nowhere near the color it should be...Super sad face. I want my Megan back.



I've had to go back to a hair place before and I never went back-I don't want that to happen because I love Megan. And I especially don't want to have bad hair the year of my wedding. Any suggestions?!

Wedding Wednesday!

Well, this is my new coffee mug...I'm just the tiniest bit in love with it because it has my future last initial on it!

In other wedding news, I am going to the bRiDaL eXtRaVaGanZa on Saturday with mi madre! I'm really excited simply because I went to the Bridal Symposium earlier this year and had a great time and supposively, the Bridal Extravaganza is like "Mardi Gra for brides" as my future sister-in-law, Julie, calls it!

I also finally found something to wear for engagement pictures, which are next weekend! I found these two tops at Arden B. and plan on wearing both with dark jeans and wedges.This top (which is actually an extremely, extremely short dress) I got in yellow, not blue, and I will be wearing it as a top, not a dress, to ensure my arse doesn't show in our pics.What do you think?! Any suggestions?

And LAST but definitely not LEAST...this is a fairytale wedding story about a girl I went to college with.

• Beware: expect chills to cover your body and have a tissue near by. This is probaly one of the sweetest stories I have ever read!

There's a first for everything...

Over the long, holiday weekend at Aunt Mary & Uncle John's, I discovered that I did many things I've never done before. And I accomplished them all on a simple road trip to Dallas:

1. Drove for 7 hrs, in torrential downpours, at less than 40 mph ALL.THE.WAY.THERE.
2. Ate roasted boar.
...by the way...yum!

3. Drank a few of these first
thing Saturday morning before we hit the mall:

(Not such a good idea for the credit card's sake!)

4. Drove my aunt's convertible CLK350 Mercedes all around town:
(You already know my girl Taylor was on full blast.)

5. Ate multiple homemade canolis from a REAL Italian bakery!!
6. Had dinner & drinks with an Indy race car driver
P.J. Abbott & his fiance.
7. Watched fireworks on the roof of the
Gaylord Texan with P.J. & his fiance.

8. Took a picture with a miniature chewbacca.
(Nah, just kidding. That's my aunt's brussels griffon, Chloe)

9. And I somehow convinced everyone to wear the statue of liberty sunglasses long enough to take some pictures:

Me & Mr. Beau <3

Me & Uncle John

Me & Aunt Mary (aka "Harry Smellen")

Anyways, hope everyone had a fun & safe 4th!

And we're off...

...to DaLLaS!

Beau & I are going to spend the long weekend with my favorites: Aunt Mary & Uncle John. I'm SO excited!! I know I'm not supposed to have a "favorite" aunt, considering my mom has 4 sisters and my dad has 1 but my aunt Mary and I are two of a kind...which may or may not be a good thing-HA! Mom reminds me constantly that I "should have been Mary's kid." We don't get to go see them as much as I would like so it's always good to do a little road trippin'! Grandma just moved there too so hopefully we get a chance to catch up with her and my other two uncles that are already there as well.

These are mine & Mr. Beau's shades for the 4th!
(If the sun ever comes back out!)
I know, they're the next big thing down the runway...don't be jealo! ;)

I swear...he can make anything look good. ;)

Anyways, if you're staying near the gulf this weekend....I HOPE the rain clears up for the you but THANKS TO ALEX I don't see it happening anytime soon. Anyone else traveling...I hope you have a safe trip!

Oh ya...and...

That was for you K-Grub...love you!

Funky Talker. Sleep Walker.

Meet my friend Margie. (AKA "Boo")

Retired Texans Cheerleader. Dedicated wife. Not a mean bone in her body.

Doesn't she look sweet & innocent?

Typically, she is innocent. That's until she's either been really sick, had way too much to drink, or is extremely tired. Then, she turns into the "Funky Talker. SLEEP WALKER"!

That's right...she's a sleep walker and I experienced it for myself this past weekend during our river trip. This is the conversation we had right before everyone passed out for the night:

Jared (her husband): Boo, you better not sleep walk tonight.
Margie (Boo): I won't, I won't. I only do it when I'm really tired, really drunk, or really sick.
J: Ya. Whatever you say.
M: OK. Good night.

To paint you a picture, there were 12 of us sleeping in the upstairs game room. There were bodies everywhere...floor, couches, beds, mattresses on the floor, you name it. Well, Margie and her husband were sleeping caddy corner to Beau & I in a fabulous, fluffy rock hard, not-comfortable pallet on the floor. Beau and I were on a twin mattress. (Remember that for later...a TWIN mattress...2 of us on there...)

Less than 5 minutes later, everyone was down for the count...and so was I.

UNTIL...

All of a sudden I feel someone's hands digging under my blanket and touching my feet. I was terrified. It was pitch black and here I feel someone else's hands on my toes.

Me: What are you doing?!
Margie: Shh. Shh. It's ok.
Me: What do you mean it's ok?
Margie: It's ok. It's just me, Margie. Scoot over.
Me: Scoot over!? We are in a twin mattress.
*And then the light bulb in my head went off and I thought to myself with excitement..."She's SLEEP WALKING on me!"

I fumbled around for my cell phone so I could see but by the time I got it she was already passed out again. And not in her own bed/pallet. She was passed out between our bed and her's. In the fetal position. No pillows. No blankets. (DANG IT I should have taken a picture!...and been nice enough to give her a blanket.)

After realizing what had just happen I was laughing out loud by myself. I tried to wake Beau up to tell him what had just happened by shining the light of my cell phone about 2 inches away from his face. Poor kid couldn't even open his eyes it was so bright. When he finally "came to", I said "Beau. Wake up. Margie was sleep walking!" And then...I felt like I was absolutely in the psych ward...

Rather than Beau waking up and being like "Huh? What?!" He moaned in his sleep and goes "Where's the food?"

REALLY PEOPLE?! I've got Margie sleep walking and my fiance sleep talking. I then decided it was time for me to just go to bed. I thought in my head "What on earth did these kids drink?!" and soon passed out, too.

Moral of the story: Boo gets to sleep in a kennel from now on and Beau gets a muzzle. The. End.