Twenty Three.

On my birthday I decided, now that I am actually at a “mature” (ish) age, I need to also act/appear more grown-up. So, I walked down to CVS and made a very adult purchase. Red Lipstick (and a sleep mask, this was just a need. My obsession started while traveling to South Africa and I have had the same one from the British Airways goodybag since last summer. Gross, I know.) But, yes I bought lip stick.

I decided it was best to wait until I got home from dinner with friends to try out my newest purchase. I was highly anticipating the moment when I could show Jordan the little tube and put it on my lips. Jordan, that sweet husband, was enthusiastic about my purchase and waited as I applied this “instant-grown-up polished-professional mad-men-woman” shade.

The result was nothing but laughter. I looked like I was about to sing and dance my heart out in Master Follies (circa 2007.) Not the look I was going for. Jordan laughed too, which actually made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. (And word to the wise, from the unwise, remove the lipstick before you brush your teeth.)

I realized in this moment, that I will never be polished/chic enough to wear the stuff and every piece of me is alright with that conclusion. I have decided to keep it in my makeup bag though (1. because it was dang expensive. Don’t buy lipstick from CVS, talk about price inflation. 2. It makes my bag look fancy). I am 23 and can say that I am happy with who I am and what the past year has made me to be.

A wife, a new car owner, a lady who get her 2nd tattoo, an Austinite, an Assistant Account Executive at a PR firm, a multiple concert goer, a multi-state traveler, a new friend maker, an old friend misser, a mom to a Lemon, a bridesmaid, a honeymooner, and a Dexter fanatic. And above all these I have gotten to watch God bless and care for my little family. We have seen him open doors that we didn’t even know were there.

I am looking forward to this year and the plans that God has for me, Jordan and for our marriage.

I hope you had a great day and now for some pics from my bday!

(Dinner at Mandolas. Favorite favorite favorite! Photo courtesy of Jordan.)

(Erin and I)

(The men being manly)

(Best.Husband.Ever. This guy made me chocolate chip pancakes before work, surprised me with flowers, a beautiful necklace and tickets to see Hairspray on Friday. Swoon.)

(I’m a sucker for birthday cards. Even Lems got me a winner!)

To the newest Lemons.

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lemons.

My sweet friend Tanis, as I mentioned in my last post, got married on Saturday. Every detail, from the  signed guitar in place of a guest book, leather bound books in the centerpieces (imagine me saying this in a Ron Burgundy type way), origami flowers, a piano key necktie, and Toms suited them and their personalities.

(I stole this picture from Facebook, yes I am lame.)

(The BEAUTIFUL bride.)

The days leading up to Saturday were exhausting but so much fun. The panty shower was perfect:

(Sheridan’s ice cream and lots of toppings. Best idea ever.)

(I finally got to use this drink dispenser. I got it as a wedding gift and have been waiting to try it out. On another note Tiece, Lauren, and I were human label makers for this shower. It seemed like the party may never go on if we did not put a little tag on each item describing what it was, like people wouldn’t know just by looking. But we liked the look of how it all turned out.)

(Each guest got to take home a glass.)

(Some of my favorite people! Please also note Tanis in a pair of her new panties.)

Here are my thankfuls for last week:

• Love. Seeing it, having it, and sharing it.
• Friends. New ones and old ones.
• Glee. More specifically watching it with Tiece and Lauren and having no shame in pretending we were alone in the theater while singing our hearts out…even though we were not alone.
• My mom. Her birthday was on the 16th and I was able to be in Midland to spend it with her and my dad. She is the greatest woman I know and I admire her so much.

I hope you had a great week and weekend. Tomorrow is my birthday so yay 23!!

Let me go home & Thankfuls

I am happy to say that I am in Midland. Don’t get me wrong, I love Austin but being home feels so good. I am lucky enough to have the week off and will spend the first half in Midland and then go to Lubbock to prepare for my  best friend Tanis’ wedding. I am so excited for the festivities of this wedding and am overly “smiley” thinking about getting to be with my good friends again.

(Letice, far right, graduated a year before the rest of us and did some amazing photoshop to prove that she also went on retreat.)

(Another one of my favorites.)

I did not get to do my thankful Thursday this week…I let work take over. I planned on doing them on Friday…then I sneezed a great few sneezes and threw out my back. (A cocktail of Valium,  pain pills, advil, and iceyhot have just about healed me.) So to finally get back on track, here are my thankfuls:

1. As I mention before, being home.

(Love this song. It makes me happy.)

2. My husband. He was better than best on Friday while taking care of me and my old lady back. Chocolate Sprinkle Doughnuts, 3 trips to 3 different HEBs, chocolate chip pancakes, and Friday Night Lights marathon…I’m a lucky gal.

3. See pictures of the 4 people above and below.

4. Driving in the rain. Smelling rain. Listening to the rain on a window.

5. My parents have cable. Hello HGTV marathon!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend and may you think of your 5 thankfuls as well

May you day be merry and bright.

I finally figured out how to put video in my post! Actually, I had been doing it correctly this whole time but did not know until now. Oh well. So, now that I do know how to add them get ready for videos galore.

Here is my Wednesday soundtrack:

 
(I can’t get enough of this video, it is just amazing. One day Jordan and I will have a wiener dog named Jack Black.)

(This is one of my favorite Incubus songs. It never gets old.)

(Despite the obvious political motivation for this song, the video cracks me up.)

(Aaron Collier, our amazing wedding singer and friend, sang this song at our reception. Sweet mercy, the second I heard him start strumming the first cords I think I was bright red the entire time. Jordan and the guys broke out into a sing along, my little cousin sang about business socks all the next day, and Jordan’s gma wanted a copy of the song. Awesome.)

Hope your Wednesday is amazing.

Weekend Update

After having such an intense week at work I felt like I should have an incredibly relaxing weekend. So I took to the most basic form of R&R and slept…a lot.

• Friday: When I finally left work I got to spend time in Cedar Park. Yay for popcorn, babies, and cookies and cream milk straws.

(Boston Burrito.)

(Heidi was very excited to be the first to serve me air-popped popcorn)

(I was also very excited about my first go at air popped corn AND a cookies and cream milk straw. Oh and my outfit of choice on Friday got many interesting comments. My favorite was being called Debby Gibson/Tiffany and having our secretaries sing 80′s hit to me all day. I love my office.)

• Saturday I slept until 11:30, Jordan and I made a trip to HEB to buy pancake materials, ate, then Lems and I took a nap from 2-5:30. I mean really? Around 7:30 I finally got cleaned up and went out with Heidi, which was amazing.

(Oh and Lems got a new dress. Yes, judge all you want but I put clothes on my dog.)

• Sunday is the usual church, cleaning, Jordan doing lots of homework, and me watching lots of episodes of the Hills (Oh I hate that Spencer.)

Now, I understand that this is the most lame post ever. But I have to say that I am so looking forward to the upcoming couple weeks! My best friend Tanis is getting married on Aug 20th and I will be going home and taking part in all things bridesmaid. So many shower/wedding updates will be coming soon!

Hope your weekend was amazing.

Thursday Thankfuls.

I can not even begin to express to you the insanity of the week that I have had so far. Work has been abnormally crazy, my alarm has begun a full out attack on me, and Lemon has developed a super sniffing nose that requires her to linger on every single thing that has any bit of scent. Needless to say, I have been craving some calm/me time. However, I am determined to not be overwhelmed at every moment of each day. So I have decided to stop at least once a week and physically write/type what I am thankful for. In doing so, here is a list of my current thankfuls:

1. My wonderful brother in law coming to town. Jacob and Jordan got to spend a couple days together of brotherly bonding this week by going to a concert, talking about the future (ex: discussing in length the future pizza place they want to open, called “Slice of Life”  and the detailed “Man V. Food” type challenges that they will offer), watching shows about epic battles/ Hell’s Kitchen, and exploring Austin through the lens of Instagram.

(The wall at Rounders, a new pizza place we have come to love)

(Action shot at its best)

(The Sniffing Diva.)

2. A new office. I have to say that I work with some of the greatest people on the planet. I could devote an entire post to the folks in my office, they are just that cool. Before the big move on Monday, there was a constant 4 people sharing 1 office. Our VP (Alexis) and I shared a desk, Cassie (of classiecassie on my side bar) had her own desk, and Kim (intern extraordinaire) had a baby sized desk. Recently, we brought on a new girl to take care of finances…desk space was obviously limited. Thankfully, there was an opening in an office just down the hall so Alexis and I got moved. I miss the  random moments of office yoga, celeb gossip, and other girl type chatter but I have loved being in this new space.

3. A moment of calm which is being spent blogging and listening to my Decemberists pandora station.

4. A Skype date with Lauren Sportsman, as well as finishing her care package which will be sent to Colorado asap.

5. Short hair, new shoes, and scoring the best blue pen in the office.

Okay, peace time over. Back to the insanity that is my job right now. I hope your Thursday has been happy and that you have found a moment of peace in your own crazy.

When life gives you apples, make dinner.

I have to start this post with huge props to my husband. He is such a skilled  and crafty cook. I am a really crappy cook, who is SLOOOOWLY improving. In our kitchen each person has a job and this makes cooking in the cardboard box sized space work. I am in charge of everything that does not involve meat. I get the heebies just thinking about touching raw meat, and that sweet husband is a good man and does all that for me. We often run into the problem of what to make for dinner, not wanting to make the same thing over and over. Inspired by a recent trip to a restaurant called La Condesa where we had green apple jalapeno salsa (yes, it was delicious), we let apples direct our most recent experimental meal.

Here is what we came up with: Hot Apple Chicken.

Step 1: Honestly, I am not even sure how many chicken breasts we use. I am usually diverting my eyes from this process. The amount of chicken can be adjusted for the number of people that are eating the meal. While Jordan is doing this I am skinning and chopping up 1 Granny Smith Apple and fresh garlic.

Step 2: Saute the chicken in olive oil for a few minutes then add: garlic salt, garlic chunks, red peppers, butter, and apples.

Step 3: Let cook til the chicken is good and cooked. We are firm believers in “Just go with what your heart tells you” when it come to cooking, so you can do the same. (The picture below is in the middle stage of being finished)

Step 4: Eat! It sounds weird, but sweet dandy it is so good!

For dessert we have: Cinnamon Apples

Step 1: Chop and skin 1 apple (the size of the pieces can be up to you)

Step 2: In a skillet on Med heat add butter, cinnamon, sugar and brown sugar. Let it bubble

Step 3: Add the apples, stir to coat them for about 5 minutes or so

Step 4: I let them sit in the pan on lowish heat while we ate dinner so they could have time to get really soft. Re-stir and eat We didn’t have ice-cream to eat them with, but if we did…even better.

Have a happy Monday!