The Royal Wedding

Yes, I've been sucked in, I can't help it, the Royal Family has always fascinated me, for the same reason I think the Kennedy's have fascinated me....America doesn't have royalty, but at one point I suppose you could say that the Kennedy Family was close to that! The pageantry, the poise, the properness....just so different from everyday life....

So, my school friends & I are having a "Royal Wedding Viewing Party" on Friday night. I'm going to find my "fascinator" today after school. If you don't know what a fascinator is, it's a smaller hat that may be worn instead of a hat to occasions where hats are traditionally worn—such as weddings—or as an evening accessory. As far as my attire goes I'll be wearing a black & white polka dot wrap dress with either red or black heels. Ah, I can't wait, what girl doesn't want an excuse to dress up?!?!?! :)

This weekend is also setting up to be a fun one! Lake & I will be attending a Crawfish Boil on Saturday. I haven't been to one of those since college, so I'm pumped! And Sunday I'm hosting my first ever Fashion Swap Party....hooooooray! Hopefully everything goes smoothly, it's Asian themed (don't ask me why b/c I have no clue!, just wanted to go with that theme) & I made cute little signs for each category of items brought in as well as tickets that each gal will get for each item that she brings in. I cannot wait!

Pics to come of all the fun stuff that's happening this weekend! AND....the month of May starts on Sunday....wow-wee, how'd that happen?!?!?!

me & my Katie enjoying dinner before viewing the Royal Wedding :)

yay spring!

I love Spring, the weather is amazing, everything is green again, Spring Break, Fiesta, Easter, just awesomeness! I haven't had a post in a couple of weeks now & it's basically for one reason..... I'm so dang busy!! Not that I'm complaining....simply stating a fact.

Cristina & Dyver's Wedding Weekend With the start of March last weekend Lake & I were in McAllen for Dyver & Cristina's wedding. We both took off work on Friday & drove down to the Valley with just enough time to have lunch at Renee's in Sharyland, then I got myself a pedi, got ready & we met up with Ames at House Wine, I'd never been there before or even heard of it, but let's face it....I'm no longer in "know" for what's happening in the Valley. While we were there we enjoyed the BEST, no seriously, THE BEST pommes frites! (potato & sweet potato fries sprinkled with some cheese & what I can only guess was garlic seasoning, not 100% sure, but what I am sure of is that they were amazing!). After that we went over to the church for the rehearsal. The Seals were married at the First Presbyterian Church. The rehearsal went great, I felt so tall, I was rocking these 4 inch heels that I ordered from ShoeDazzle in September. I've worn them a few times, while they are not characteristically "me"....I think the word "rocker" would be a good way to describe them, I feel they are fun to sport with certain ensembles. The dress of choice for this night was one that I'd purchased at my very favorite store, Anthropologie. It was a gray top, with a green, purple & gray high waisted skirt attached. I fell in love when I saw it, I'll also be re-wearing it to my cousin's wedding next weekend in Dallas, all in all....a good purchase! :) The wedding day (March 5th) was filled with hair appointments, make up, laughs, tears, joy, fun & dancing, lots of dancing! The night was the most perfect night for the reception! It rained early on in the day & with that rain came a nice mild cool front that dried everything out! The reception was partly covered & partly open air so the cool breeze felt awesome that night! Cristina's colors were a baby blue color coupled with a mango-y orange color, perfect combo!

Lake & I at Cristina & Dyver's Reception at La Placita in Pharr, TX

me, Ames, Cris, Mon, Connie, & Monica....AKA the Memorial Crew, AKA, the bestiest friends that a gal could ever ask for!

Spring Break This week pretty much consisted of being lazy, cleaning, shopping, running, & most importantly RELAXING! I was quite proud of myself for the amount of running that I did during this week. I was able to run a total of 22 miles that week. I had 3 long runs, one of which I ran at the Salado Creek Greenway & the other two long runs I did at the Leon Creek Greenway, which, thanks to my friend Christy, I newly discovered. It's located at the corner of 1604 & I-10 & runs all the way to Babcock & farther, but that's as far as I took the trail. One day during the week I pushed my running start time to 2:00 p.m., BIG mistake! Mid-March is already pretty warm in SA, so I quickly regretted that decision! It was way too hot to run outside at that time of the day, I ended up walking half of the run & wanting to die! (over dramatic much?!?!), I also ended up with a pretty ridiculous short, tank, & sock tan....oh well, summer is around the corner for me to even that out! ;) That was pretty much Spring Break, again, nothing much, just relaxing. The last weekend of the break we drove up to Dallas & attended my cousin Tabitha's wedding in Grapevine. Lake & I stayed at the Gaylord Texan, that place is AWESOME! It's huge, wowza! Loved it though, we had a great time & it was a pretty wedding :)

St. Patrick's Day at Kennedy's with some of my best buddies (Shaunda, Michelle, & Janine)

Miss Maryn ready to go to Tabitha's Wedding

The "Gandaria" Cousins & their spouses at Tabitha & Josh's Wedding

Lake, me, Demitri, Leah, Josh, Tabitha, Christopher & Samantha

Dallas Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon Back to work for me.....the very next weekend we were back in Dallas. I ran the Dallas Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon on Sunday of the weekend. I was extremely ill-prepared for this race & had actually contemplated NOT running it, but I sucked it up & did it! The day before that race both Lake & I ran the Green Door 5K in Rockwall, TX to benefit CRI (Children's Relief International) which a non-profit that our friends, Jason & Lindy work for. The city of Rockwall is a beautiful quaint little town about 30 minutes east of downtown Dallas. So normally I don't care how I "place" when I run a race, finishing is the most important thing & I can almost always guarantee that someone will always be behind me......well let me say....the people of Rockwall are FIT people!! My 5K time was by no means "stellar" but it was under 10:00 minutes a mile, which is decent...I'd say that I finished in the bottom 1/4 of the entire 100+ people running the race, geez! It was definitely NOT a confidence booster for the 1/2 marathon the next day!! The night before the race we met up with our SA transfer to Dallas friend Misty & she drove us around for an awesome dinner!! Tanya was also running the race & she was in from Dominica, so it was so great to see her! At dinner we were also joined by Tanya's mom, Janine & Anthony who were all there for moral support to their runners! ;) Sunday morning, bright & early we got down to the start line. Michelle, Tanya & I were nervous but ready to get the race started, so was everyone else. The weather was crisp, but definitely not cold, it was really good race day weather. Lake & Misty met up to find places to cheer me on during the race, it was definitely needed! And shout out to Cameron & Jennifer who also braved the chilly morning to cheer me on as well! I have an AMAZING support system. As the race went on, I lost Michelle & Tanya & got into my groove. The race started at the Dallas Convention Center, ran through uptown, Turtle Creek, Highland Park, around the SMU area & back down to Fair Park. I really hadn't mentally prepared myself for running the entire race, but once I got to about mile 8 & I hadn't stopped, I figured why not just keep going, I've gotten this far! At about mile 10 I realized that I was going to be able to beat my previous "PR" for a 1/2 marathon, so that was even more motivation! I ended the race at an "official" time of 2:18...I say "official" because my watch said I finished in 2:16:10, but I did stop my timing when my watch told me that I'd run 13.1 miles...so whatevs. Either time, I beat my previous PR which was 2:21! I was so excited & quite proud of myself....oh yeah & exhausted!

Tanya, Michelle & I after completing the Dallas Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon

FIESTA! and now Fiesta is finally upon the fair city of San Antonio! :) This week & a half celebration is such a great tradition in this city & I love it! Last year was the first year that I decided to go all out for Fiesta. Mainly because Lake was in India during Fiesta & I was just trying to keep myself busy! This year on the schedule is: Alamo Heights Night at Incarnate Word Oyster Bake at St. Mary's University NIOSA (Night In Old San Antonio) at La Villita Taste of the Northside at Sonterra Gartenfest at Beethoven's King William Fair at King William District PHEW! What a jam packed 10 days, but oh so fun! Along with all the fun events my place of work also gives us April 15th off for Fiesta! nice perk! Honestly on Friday, I'll just be relaxing & sleeping in, oh & hopefully going to the movies to see Scream4! Happy Spring All!

Lauren & I at Alamo Heights Night

Lake & I enjoying the sun & good food at Oyster Bake

NIOSA with Janine, Michelle, & Erica B

Taste of the Northside at Sonterrra with the hubs

Gartenfest at Beethoven's with Miss Kristen

King William Fair with Little Miss Izzie (Kristen's Dog)

Red, White, & Black....Apparently I'm Obsessed

So, as I was putting together my February album on Facebook last night, I noticed a re-occuring theme going on.....the colors, red, white & black. Weird I know.....let's revisit these moments in my tri-color history......

Feb. 5th:

I was on a mission to find two pairs of shoes. One pair for Cristina's wedding, the other pair for Cristina's Lingerie Shower. I found both! hoooooooray! The ones for Cris' wedding needed to be either silver or silver-ish....well I found pewter & I'm very happy with my selection. The 2nd pair I wanted to be red! Super hot red! ;) I've actually never owned a pair of red heels before & I was excited to see what I could find....here's what I came up with:

these are the shoes I'll be wearing for Dyver & Cristina's big day! I can't wait! I still haven't decided what color to paint my toe nails though. Our dresses are a light blue.......any suggestions???

and here are my new red shoes! ahhhh, I love them! (don't ask me when I have one pant leg down & one up...) :)

After my wonderfully successful shopping session, I met up with some girlfriends for Sushi & I sported my new red shoes for a girls night out!

here's our group at Goro's Sushi (I-10/Vance Jackson). If you look very closely you can see my red shoe under the table. haha.

Feb. 12th:

So the very next weekend I was in the Valley for Cristina's Lingerie Shower. I wore a printed black & white dress with my red shoes to add a splash of color. I'd originally purchased this dress to wear for our rehearsal dinner & it's made several appearances since then. It's a super comfortable dress. Well little did I know......I matched all the shower decor as well!

there's my outfit for the party with my red shoes

here are some of the decorations for the shower. we were going for a valentines-y theme (more red, white & black!)

and finally the Funfetti cupcakes! I told Mon a ba-jillion times that I don't bake, so I was tasked with adding the sprinkles & sticking the hearts in the cupcakes.....I'd say I did a pretty good job! ;)

For Valentine's Eve Lake & I dined at Kumori Sushi & I was wearing a red top, there it is again!

Feb. 19th:

So this now brings us to this past weekend. I had decided I wanted to host a Twilight Movie Marathon about a month ago & in the last few weeks became very entertained with the idea of going all out with the decorations. All the girls that came over brought an appetizer that went along with the movie, it was too fun! :) One theme that I noticed during my research was the use of red, white, & black, since those are the colors of the book covers. My mom's a party thrower & I knew she'd have some good stuff to borrow, so I was able to use 3 of her table cloths & few other supplies that she had. Everything else that I used, I either bought or made myself. I think it turned out pretty swell.....take a look:

here's a pic of everything pre-food. Again, I borrowed the table cloths & place holders from my mom & the red candles/black holders. The red & black cups I got at Hobby Lobby & the red ones were on super sale b/c I bought them the day AFTER Valentine's Day! ;)

Here's just one of my "quote signs" that I made on Photoshop. I just created a new image with a black background, then create the vine looking things with the Custom Shapes Tool & used Goudy Old Style font to create the text. I would have loved to use the actual font that is used on the covers, but I wasn't going to pay for it! I figured this was close enough.

The book cover above the quote sign came with my Twilight Saga Book Box Set (thank you Lake!).

this was our entry table. I used my boxed set as part of the decorations. I had used roses for one of the main centerpieces but had too many, I decided to use them as parting gifts instead. and of course tea lights....lots & lots of tea lights!!

our stove just kinda happened to get decorated, but I think it ended up looking really cool. The apples are actual apples! My dear husband carved them out for me & we shoved a tea light in each, it was a super fun & CHEAP idea! And of course I used the DVD cases as decor as well.

And now for the food!!!

I made these skewers. I went to HEB & bought a pre-made Angel Food Cake & a pound of strawberries. I sliced the cake & then cubed it & I cut the strawberries in halves. Alternated the cake & strawberries on the skewers, then right before everyone got there I drizzled them all with Black "Sparkly" Icing & Strawberry Sauce (what you'd put on ice cream). It was so easy!

I also made "Werewolf Kibble".....I know this completely goes against my "Team Edward" beliefs, but who can resist chex mix, chocolate, peanut butter & powdered sugar! Most people know this as Puppy Chow! :)

One of my friends brought over the most incredible "7 Layers of Love" Dip....or commonly known as 7 Layer Dip. It was absolute deliciousness! I stuffed myself with it! So much so, I had no room for much of anything else! ;)

Another friend brought over Twilight Chips & Salsa. yum, yum, yum!

And finally, "Bleeding Cupcakes" My friend made regular cupcakes & filled them with strawberry pie filling that she pureed. I finally had one today after my dinner, they are amazing!

Not pictured in the food pics: Garlic Daggers & Blood; AKA: Garlic Bread Sticks w/ Marinara Sauce: Blood Wine; AKA: Red Wine; Vampire Cocktail: cranberry, vodka, & raspberry liqueur; Various fun red beverages, including "blood" orange soda & a multitude of red, black, white & pink candy :)

and here's my masterpiece (errrr, well, I think so). Each item represents the Twilight Book Covers:

Apples: Twilight

Roses: New Moon (they should be a very specific tulip, but I think they turned out just as pretty & probably a lot cheaper)

Ribbon: Eclipse

Chess Pieces: Breaking Dawn

So there you have it, my February has been filled with red (which isn't surprising) but also with black & white! :)

it's been a fun month! I'm eager to see what March has in store for us!

SNOW!!!

well, more like ice covered with a thin layer of snow. Yep, that's what greeted San Antonionians on the morning of Friday, Feb. 4th 2011. Let's revisit it, shall we.....

Thursday night I was downtown eating a fantastic dinner at La Frite. If you've never been there it's on South Alamo, across the street from Azuca, anyway, it's a small Belgian restaurant that has great tasty food! During the course of my meal I had mussels, yummy pommes frites, an onion & brie tart (I LOVE BRIE!) & the best piece of chocolate cake! I was there to celebrate two things: my friend Kristen's Birthday and my other friend Rebekah's recent engagement!

While at dinner Rebekah & I kept glancing out the window to see if there was snow yet, we're both from the Rio Grande Valley & didn't grow up in a place where it snows on a regular basis. We ended our very fun dinner right before 10:00 p.m. & when we walked outside there was a slight drizzle/mist falling from the sky, but it was definitely NOT snow! I was still excited though, when I got to my car the windshield was already frozen over so defrosting took a few minutes. I then got on the road & headed home. The highways were pretty empty, but still very driveable, I guess there hadn't been enough moisture to form ice on the roadways yet.

When I got home I plopped myself in front of the news & as the newscast wore on I had a sneaking suspiscion that school would be cancelled or if not, then definitely delayed! Around 10:45 it was announced that all the highways in the city would be closed down due to the icy conditions. I was so grateful for the fact that I had made it home safely & early enough to have avoided the road closures. Lake & I headed off to bed & at my usual alarm time I got out of bed & looked out in our backyard, didn't see too much of any of the white stuff so I thought maybe school wouldn't be cancelled or delayed after all.....then I went to our front door & our sidewalk, driveway, street were COVERED with the white stuff. It was so pretty!

I think snow is very peaceful, it's usually very quiet & always looks clean when it first falls. I immediately ran back inside & to my computer & sure enough, all over Facebook were posts of "NO SCHOOL" "SNOW DAY", etc. I turned on the news & let Lake know about work being cancelled, he & I both enjoyed a nice breakfast at home & he worked from home, while I napped till about mid-morning. By that time the snow had almost all melted so we thought we'd go out & grab some lunch then Lake would head into work. Well, one hour LATER after all the traffic from I-10 still being closed, we finally got to The Rim (normally this trip would take 5 mins).

We ate lunch & sometime during lunch the highways were finally opened, so Lake went to work & I went to the gym.

All in all, it was a good "snow" day! :)

Our street/sidewalks covered in snow & ice :)

I'll admit it....I'd Never Been on a "HIKE".....

.....until yesterday! :)
So Lake & I were wanting to take advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend & take our run outside, preferably somewhere that wasn't around our neighborhood. We will normally do longer weekend runs at the Salado Creek Greenway that's located in between Hueber & Blanco, just south of Bitters. It's right by the new Hardberger Park. I love going there & the path is pretty wide, so you don't have to worry about getting trampled by folks riding their bikes or unsupervised children riding their scooters. The only problem with that trail is that it's a bit of a drive for us, so I wanted to find somewhere that would be slightly closer & more convenient.

Here's where Eisenhower Park came to play. It's located off of 1604 outside the loop on NW Military about 3 miles north of the loop. We'd never been before, so we thought we'd give it a whirl. Grabbing the trail map we discovered the only paved path was a .9 mile uphill path, so if we wanted to run 4 miles, we'd need to run it twice & then some. Not an ideal run. PLUS the paved path was pretty narrow, so another bummer.

A decision needed to be made, so we opted to instead just walk the trail. As we were going along there were side un-paved trails & we decided to take one, that would lead to 2 others. I'm not much of an "outdoorsy" type girl, the interest has never been there for me. I've always figured, why walk through the woods, sticks, rocks, trees, when a mall is such a nicer option! :) (i'm obviously sorta kidding here). But it was a really pretty day & I knew I had to get some sort of exercise in, so I had fun with it. We ended up "hiking" on 3 un-paved paths for about an hour & a half when it was all said & done. I had a really good time & boy was some of it tough! We would have taken the nature trail down the hill, but I had to be at dinner with one of my JL girls at 6:30, so we ran out of time. We're actually thinking of going back next Sunday in the morning & completing the entire Hillview Trail which is the "nature" trail that surrounds the entire perimeter of the park.

This next time I'll be more prepared & not wear running shorts, my good running shoes, & take water. :) Live & Learn! ;)

UPDATE on my health: I'm feeling much better, still a bit congested but I think that has to do more with allergies than with anything else. I completed 11 miles for last week & I'm planning on running 4 miles today, so that'll give my 7 miles of "exercise" for this week & it's only Monday, so that's a vast improvement!

Red Oak Trail

Shady Creek Trail

Hillview Trail

Why 2011, WHY?!?!?

Not to be a pessmist, and I'm honestly trying my hardest this year to be more OPTIMISTIC (I figure if I write something in all caps, I'll remember it) but boy 2011, you're kicking me in the booty! Well, let's just hope it's only January.
With the new year upon us, I was hoping for my running to get under way. Especially since I have a 5K next Saturday (Feb. 5th) in New Braunfels AND a 1/2 Marathon at the end of March to prepare for. So far, this month, I'd say running has been one of the last things I can concentrate on because
1. I'm just so darn busy. Between trying to be the best wife ever :), friend time, work, lesson plans, trying to keep the house in order, Junior League, & just life in general, fitting in time to run has been really difficult! I need to muster up my "summer" spirit & get running. I think the weather being cold & dreary a lot of this month hasn't helped much. I hate running at the gym, it's just not something that I enjoy or look forward to, so when that's the only option I usually come up with any excuse to NOT do it! That's so bad. I'm hoping that as the days get longer & hopefully warmer, running outside becomes my #1 option again.
2. I'm SICK! Full on, congestion & cough SICK! I'm sure staying up late at casinos in Vegas did not help my immune system. The day I left Vegas, I left with a sore throat & it's only gotten much worse. I'd have to say the worst day was last Thursday, definitely feeling flu-ish. Over the weekend we were in Dallas & that's when my lovely cough started & hasn't stopped yet. I've woken up the last 2 nights with an awful cough & what makes it worse is that it wakes up Lake, so I feel doubly bad. :( On a good note, I'm not really feeling as run down now, so that's good, hopefully I'll get rid of all the coughing in the next few days & finally feel back to normal & get back to running!
Well, I'm definitely looking forward to what 2011 has to offer, but I'm pretty sure I'm ready for at least January 2011 to be over.
And on a MUCH MUCH better note: tomorrow is my HALF BIRTHDAY! :) Not that I commerate half birthdays in anyway, it just reminds me of Alice in Wonderland & that makes me smile :)




oh yes, and in reference to my previous post (LBD), here was our "LBD Night" in Las Vegas! :)

LBD :)

For those of you who don't know what an "LBD" is, that would be a, Little Black Dress. I bring this up in my blog because I'm headed to fabulous Las Vegas on Friday night for one of my best friend's bachelorette parties. The said "best friend" is Miss Cristina G, whom I have been lucky enough to know since I was 5 years old, I can hardly believe it! She'll be tying to the knot on March 5th, so we're headed to "Sin City" to help her bid farewell to her single life, in style! :) We're still trying to construct our agenda for the weekend, but we do know that Saturday night will be our LBD night in Vegas! My LBD is a dress that I've worn before, in Vegas, as a matter of fact. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress. It's very figure forgiving & lots of fun! In my opinion, it's the perfect Vegas/Holiday dress! One of them main reasons I love it is because you don't have to really worry about jewelry since the dress has sequins, it does a very good job of dressing itself up! I'm so excited to go, I already want to start the packing, even though I don't leave until Friday night & it is only Monday. :o/ Oh well, mentally, I'm packed! It should be a great weekend, not too cold & I'll be with my very very very best friends! I've known all the girls that are going since either high school or elementary school, we all go way back, I'm looking forward to just spending time with them since they all live in the Valley & I don't get to see them as much as I would like to see them, it's going to be a fun treat!!! :) These are the girls who can make my abs sore because we laugh together so much!

ViVa LaS VeGaS! ;)

there's my LBD Christmas 2009