whirlwind.

It sure has been one whirlwind of a last month and a half.

- I lost my job
- Christmas & New Years
- I planned a wedding that turned out better than I could have imagined
- I interviewed for a job and got it

But I guess amidst all of that craziness I forgot to take care of myself bucause today I was told I have the flu!

What me? The one who NEVER gets sick, the one who hasn't been sick in 3 years. How? NO!!

I caught it really early so I'm hoping to be up and back running by the end of the week....however, the symptoms are starting to get more intense! Since I've never had it before, I'm a little scared.

But besides that, I had a great weekend. Mostly for 1 reason.

One of my longest Best Friends got engaged over the weekend! I was so excited when she called that I cried {can we say dork}!

 It had been much anticipated for awhile, especially the last few weeks and I think it was the perfect proposal for the two of them.

Jump over to Emily's Blog to wish her congrats!

Let the wedding festivities begin!!!!

Wedding

It's kind of been a crazy beginning to 2011 so bare with me as my posts are SUPER sporadic!


So on to what has consumed most of my free time since June.

I planned my first wedding from {virtually} start to finish for this lovely couple to the right.

I met Allyson in June, 3 months after she had gotten engaged and all she had done was pick a date and a venue.

What started out as "I'll help you out a bit" turned into full-fledge designing and planning...and I loved EVERY SECOND of it!

Through the process we became great friends and I am so truly blessed to have been such a huge part of their day.

It was my goal in this whole process to keep them from stress not only while planning, but especially on the day of the wedding.





Unfortunately, because I was running around like a mad woman most of the day, I didn't get a chance to take many any pictures!

I had some AMAZING helpers the day of, and let me tell you that without them, NONE of the day would have been possible!

I knew this wedding would be special when only 30 guests off the "official list" replied no!

We were expecting 25 people over the venue's limit and weary of the weather since January is one of the many crazy weather months in Oklahoma. But the weather turned out PERFECT and every guest somehow fit into that chapel {I'm still not sure how}!

Like I said, I didn't take many pictures, so here's a few of my favorites that people so kindly posted on Facebook! {what did we do before fb?}

REHEARSAL/REHEARSAL DINNER

{the venue - Thunderbird Chapel}

{They're just precious}

 {This is at the Rehearsal Dinner...most groomsman got "iced" by the groom in their gift, but this gentleman, an usher, was "iced" by the 8 year old Ring Bearer/Jr. Groomsman....it was one of the most hilarious moments I've seen in a very long time!}

WEDDING DAY

THE DRESS

 CEREMONY

{I'm sad that I didn't take pictures of the Chapel, I really hope the Photographer got some good ones, because the the sides of the Chapel were lined with hundreds of candles, it was gorgeous with the lights turned down low!}

{This was the reception room. In all honesty, this picture doesn't really do it justice, the colors are WAY off and there were no lights on during. Also, attached to the building ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS PICTURE was a tent. It was lined with Christmas lights and filled with bistro tables and the bar!}

{This moment might have stolen the night! The Ring Bearer/Jr. Groomsman AKA THE ONE WHO ICED THE USHER requested MONTHS PRIOR TO THE WEDDING that he be able to karaoke "Chicken Fry" at the end of the night. His wish was granted and it was one of the greatest moments of the night. He even ran around the circle guests had gathered in and high-fived everyone. JUST AWESOME!}

I can't even begin to explain how much fun I had during those 48 hours {really the whole 6 months of planning}. I will say it was odd to be the only sober one at the wedding, but I definitely had my own kind of fun! 

The best moment of the whole weekend was the bride and groom, and even their families, telling me what an awesome time they had and how stress free they felt. 

My goal was accomplished!

I hope to do this for many more brides to come....more information on this coming in the future!

PS. of course I plan on posting professional pictures {so you can REALLY get the picture} once they're done!

...is this thing on.

wow. crazy past couple of weeks, that's all I can really say.

Where to start....

NEW YEARS 2011

A couple of friends hosted a NYE party at their house, 90s style! We deemed it the "NYE Social" as that's how we all partied in Middle School.

We had 90s trivia and dressed like fools!

My Outfit

{That's a scary picture of me...but you get the point}

I fixed my hair just as I did in Middle School {no straightener}, I owned a skort almost just like this one, and I actually did own that exact belt {best find ever}! 

TEAM SURGE

TU-PAC SHAKERS

Everyone

It was a great night, but a rough morning....{actually make that day}

That night OU played in the Fiesta Bowl against the UConn Huskies....As much as I had hoped it would be a joke of a game, the Huskies kept it interesting {or maybe it was OU making mistakes that kept it close for awhile}.
Because of the night before, Danae came over and we watched the game sitting on the couch in peace and soberness.

{this picture sums up how the night ended!}

We finally broke our BCS Bowl curse!


The wedding I had been planning for the past 6 months was this past weekend and I start a new job tomorrow....Maybe that'll put me on a better schedule for posting!

girls dinner 2010.

Every year my high school girlfriends and our families get together for a night of food, drinks, and catching up!

We've had many different versions over it through the last five years and all of them have been so much fun!

2005 was our first year to do this. It was a progressive dinner at some of our parents' homes. We had all of our parents meet us at the last house for champagne and desserts!

2006:  We had another Progressive Dinner

2007: Since most of us had graduated college by this year, we had a progressive dinner at our own houses! {we quickly decided it was way easier to have our parents do all of the cooking!}

In 2008, the girl's went out to dinner at Charleston's and the parent's went out to dinner at Lottinvilles; we all met up at Louie's afterwards. I for some reason don't have a picture of all of us from this year. I blame it on the fact that I had just had foot surgery and was on all sorts of pain killers =)

2009: Hannah's Parents hosted our dinner this year in their new house! We had it catered by Victoria's in  Norman and it was fabulous!

This year:
We hosted the dinner at my parents house and had everyone bring an appetizer or dessert and whatever they wanted to drink. It was perfect!

My contributions were: Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Mozzarella, & Pesto, Spicy Chicken Skewers, & PW's Olive Bread

The dinners first started out with girls and our parents, but as more and more of us have gotten engaged, married, or had serious boyfriends, we decided to start including everyone!

It's pretty crazy to go back and look at all of the pictures and see how much we've grown up over the last 5 years. 

I look forward to this night every year! I love these girls dearly and hope we continue this tradition for the many, many, many years we have ahead of us!!

ww thanksgiving style.

That might have been the shortest 4-day weekend in history! I could use a few more days....

We drove down to Dallas this thanksgiving to spend it with my cousins. It was completely low key and boring at most times, but it was nice to get away!

My cousin Jordan and I on our way to see "Morning Glory". {If you like cheesy feel good movies this is a good one!}

Friday I met my best friend from elementary school for lunch! We hadn't seen each other in about 14 years. It was so good to catch up with  her, see her parents, and even meet her husband and daughter {baby Colt was sleeping}. She has a blessed life and I am so happy for her! Hopefully we can get together again soon. {and of course neither of us thought to take a pic!}

I spent the rest of my holiday weekend hanging out with friends from out of town.

It included dinner and Mad-Lib's at a friend's house and a full gathering to watch Bedlam {BOOMER SOONER!}

I think this is a moment we weren't playing well......

Unfortunately the Cowboy fans were completely out numbered {I believe 20-something to 3}, but they were great sports!

For the rundown on what was seriously THE BEST bedlam game I have ever watched, check out ESPN!

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was just as great!

day 17.

I'm looking forward to...

December 18th - all of my law school friends will come out from hybernation!

December 23rd - 4th {I think} Annual Girls' Christmas Dinner. All of my high school friends and our parents get together every year for food, drinks, and some great catching up!

January 1st - I FINALLY have New Years Eve plans that I am SOOO excited about!

2011 in general - 2010 was one hell of a year, I'm ready for a new one.

January 8th - The day of my first wedding! {that I planned}

Figuring out where my life is going to take me!

hm.

• I've been a terrible blogger. I've been way to busy socializing, planning a wedding, and celebrating awesome moments in people's lives.

• But in all honesty I got stuck on Day 16 of the blogging challenge, "Your dream house". My dream house is something I day dream about a lot. The "starred" section on my G-reader is loaded with ideas for decorating my dream house. It was a hard decision to be indepth or vague during my post. But because it's been almost 2 weeks I've been thinking about it, you're getting just a list.

I want a house with....
Brick and stone on the outside.
An over the driveway pass thru that leads to the garages
An open floor plan downstairs {I'm thinking a greatroom}
Dark wood floors with white baseboards and crown molding
An office to blog in that makes me never want to leave
A giant stair case with iron railing
4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths {everyone should have their own bathroom}
A kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel commercial grade appliances,
and an island for family and friends to sit and chat at.
A laundry room with enough room to fold and iron.
A dinning room table that's large enough to fit an army
A huge backyard with a to die for landscaped pool and an outdoor living room with kitchen
A media room for watching all of the away football games and to put my Netflix subscription {when I get one} to use!
A place that everyone feels at home.

• Let me give you a run down of the last 3 weeks.

I sadly watched OU ridiculously lose to aTm; however, I did get to spend time with these 2 lovely newlyweds

I celebrated the upcoming marriage of two people who have become SUCH great friends and I am so lucky to be planning their special day!

How cute are they?

I picked out my last GDO of the season. It was a tough one because the weather was going to change so drastically during the day. Here's the evolution of my layering

I went to the last home football game of the year with my dad

Funny Story:

Trying to find a place to park on game day is ridiculous. You either pay or get lucky and find a free spot.  I told my dad he was taking a risk by parking in an apartment lot, but I guess he was feeling lucky that day. After leaving the game {because we were killing Tech {YAY} and the temperature drastically dropped in 15 minutes} we walked to the spot where our car used to be. Yes, USED to be. That's right, we were towed.

So after walking 2 miles in the cold back to my apartment, and driving to the most southern part of Norman, we arrived at the towing impound only to be told we couldn't get the car because my workaholic father {whom I love more than anything} didn't get the title, registration, or tags changed over since he bought the car {in June}!

So, the only thing left for me to do was fight the traffic and drive him home all the way to Edmond. {30 miles North for you non-Oklahomans}. I went in said hello to my mother and drove straight back.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes and laugh at my Dad. 

I picked him up in the City on Monday morning after he had taken care of his business at the tag agency and many dollars later {instead of the $10 fee it was to park 50 feet from where he originally left his car} we drove to Fuzzy's to eat some lunch and he headed back to the City.

BTW. Have you ever eaten at Fuzzy's Taco Shop? 

I'm now obsessed.

I had a reunion with my pledge sisters to celebrate a very special occasion. One of them and her husband adopted the most precious little baby boy.

Remember those newlyweds above? We celebrated their marriage with a party

and lastly watched OU finally win an away game with some great friends, some great food, and a great time!

• I've learned over the last few weeks that life has some funny ways of surprising you. Some are good, some are bad, and some scare the shit out of you. Whatever way it works out, I know it's for a reason =)

• I've been LOVING this amazing fall weather we've had so far; however, I think that's about to change. {Winter's making an appearance this week}

• In all honesty I'm not much of a "Holiday Person". 

I blame it on my age. 

I'm too old to enjoy Santa Clause, nor do I have anyone around me young enough to enjoy it; yet, I'm not old enough to have children and enjoy it thru them.  

I haven't actually opened a Christmas present on Christmas morning in almost 10 years {I'm the QUEEN of getting my Christmas present before Christmas....like my new mattress this year}. 

Decorating is somewhat of a pain to me, I HATE having to take it all down. 

It is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves that people start to celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving has even arrived!

HOWEVER!

I do love that the Holidays are a time for everyone to get together, an excuse to get dressed up and go to parties every weekend, and a reason to see people that I rarely get to see! 

• I'm so excited for all of the planning I have coming up! A wedding, a dinner, and a New Year's party! I'm also kind of freaking out with how busy the Holidays are going to be! 

• Ok. I'm done. I've procrastinated enough on cleaning, laundry, and working out......oh the joys of Sunday!

day 14.

a picture i love….

why?

None of us have a care in the world at this moment. The only thing going through our minds is the lyrics to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”.

If only every moment in life was like that.

No cares, just believing.

once in a lifetime.

I kind of had 2 once in a lifetime moments in the last 2 weeks.

2 weekends ago I went to Arlette's Wedding. It was seriously one of the most amazing weddings I've been to and I will probably never go to another one like it again. just crazy.

Beautiful Bride....even after hours of dancing and drinking

The Guest Book Table

One of the food tables {I believe the Mediterranean food}

One of the like 17 different centerpieces

This ice sculpture served us glasses of champagne as we walked in the door

This was over the dance floor

This woman looked EXACTLY like Kim G from RHONJ

The band was from Nashville and they were AMAZING

Her now husband is from Greece {so is her Mother too}, so there were tons of people who came to the States for the wedding. They did a great job of blending his background and hers too. There was Greek music, Greek dancing, and even Greek food! It was awesome!


I had so much fun and met so many wonderful people that night! What a great experience!


------------------


This weekend was also fabulous.


FRIDAY
I found out that I was going to the World Series Game 4 on Sunday Night!


I also went to a Halloween party. I was "Devil with a Blue Dress On" by Mitch Ryder.

{excuse the retarded face I'm making}

I like the idea, but I'm not sure everyone at the party got it. 
I finished the night at a local dive bar for "Scary-oke" and then to Fuzy's to cap off the night with a Fuzzy-navel. {mmmm}


------------------------


SATURDAY was game day. It didn't start till 8pm, which was crazy! Since I was leaving at 6 to head to Dallas, I was able to get in a few hours of tailgating! 


GDO #4

{It was a simple outfit this weekend as I was totally unprepared for the 80 degree weather}

I'm glad added another W to the record....


oh...and did you see the Texas Baylor game?  {ouch!}


SUNDAY could have been one of the best days I've had in a VERY VERY LONG time!


My morning started at

IKEA!

I was so proud of myself and used great restraint in what I purchased. 
• Euro Pillows for my bed
• Closet organizers for my scarves and tank tops
• Some new serving bowls and plates!


After Ikea, we headed to the Allen Premier Outlet Shops.... {by far the best outlet shops I have ever been to}
This maybe wasn't a great idea. I could have spent a whole month's worth of paychecks in just 2 short hours. But once again I used great restraint {if you call buying a Coach purse restraint} and only came away with this.

isn't she beautiful?

Our final stop before the big game was HomeGoods. I read about this store ALL over other blogs so I was super excited to go! 
The doors opened and I was in awe. Serious awe. 
It was as great as I imagine! 


I only walked away with a cooling rack {for all that baking I do...ha}, but lets just say if money and the size of our car weren't obstacles, most of the store would have come home with me =)


on to the most important part of the day....




WORLD SERIES GAME 4


My dad lucked into tickets from work. I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but I knew this was a once in a lifetime experience and I couldn't pass it up {even if it meant missing some tailgating and the first quarter of the OU game}. 

We sat on the 2nd to last row in the ballpark. It might have been breezy, but we had one awesome view of the whole place.

We waited in like for 40 minutes for some memorabilia {none of which was even for me}, ate tons of baseball food {peanuts, hot dogs, and pretzels}, and I might have indulged in a few Sunday night beers! {I was on vacation!}

We watched the former President Bushs' throw out the first pitch to my 2nd favorite Texas Ranger, Nolan Ryan {Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is my first...I LOVED baseball in my younger years}

Sadly we weren't the best of luck for the Rangers...3 hits during a game isn't going to get you the W 9 out of 10 times. But the fans were there till the last second!


I'm so glad I got to experience this with my family. It was an unexpected check off the bucket list! 

I'm spending the rest of my 4 day weekend {thank you Election Day and the World Series} catching up on household duties...blah!