Woo-ful Website

In all my world-wide-web surfing, I've happened upon some pretty great finds.  This one nears the top of my list of favorites.

http://www.pickyourplum.com/

They post some new item every single day.  They send an email notifying you that the new item has been posted and then you have either until time runs out or until the item sells out to purchase it.  These things are on mega-clearance (like 70% off) so they're usually steals.  The items range from cool buttons to magnetic boards to clever fabrics.  If you enjoy good deals and one of a kind finds, I would suggest adding your email to their mailing list!

Happy Shopping!!

Living Room Makeover - Beginning Stages

In honor of moving into my new bachelorette-pad in downtown, I've been going crazy gathering decorating items (and subsequently spent a very unhealthy amount of time in Hobby Lobby).  I've done a lot of shopping and a lot of blog perusing so I've picked up some great bargains and snagged some fab ideas.

I've decided to completely re-do my living room color scheme (and bathroom and eventually my bedroom.  Eventually...) for a couple of reasons.

1) I gave away the couch I had in college when I moved out.  Thus I will be purchasing a new one and thus it will now be exactly what I want.  (I'll be making this big purchase soon so if I skip a few days of blog posting you can assume I've just passed out from the anxiety of spending so much all at once.)

2) I lived with boys all through college (I highly recommend this - they bring zero drama) so our places of residence were always kept very..."gender neutral."  Don't get me wrong, I loved my first college apartment (and my roommate - love you, Zach!).  We tried really hard to make our "house" a "home" and thus decorated as creatively (albeit cheaply) as we could.  Here are a few snapshots of my favorite things in my first apartment:

If you've been reading my blog, you know I'm a huge quote person.  This should pretty much confirm it if you had any doubt.  I loved this quote so much (especially during my college years) that I decided to paint it on the wall under the kitchen bar!

This fancy schmancy wall came about because we couldn't find anything cheap enough, yet large enough, to put on this wall.  Anything in our price range was too small and looked dumb.  And anything large and nice enough was way too pricey.  Alas, we painted...please excuse the blue painters tape - this was taken right before we moved out and painted back over it!

So obviously I love to paint.  And get crafty.  And find DIY projects.  And after living with a color scheme of brown, maroon, and cream (with splashes of army green and mustard yellow) for years, I've decided I needed a change of scenery.  And that I would do most of it myself.  For as cheap as possible!

Now, I'm not really the super girly type - especially when it comes to home decor items.  However, now that I'm living on my own I don't see the harm in bringing some good old-fashioned flowers into the house!  Or some paisley prints.  Or some button flower bouquets (my next DIY).  Or some embroidered throw pillows.  Ok, I think you get the point...

My new color scheme will consist of dark brown furniture (think antique), a white couch (think Pottery Barn classic), with an accent color of seafoam green/blue (think awkward color you love but don't know what to call).  I got a little ancy and wanted to start decorating before I moved in so I went ahead and did my first new-apartment-DIY as part of my living room make-over.  Here are a few snapshots:

I started with this.  Some paint (of course!) and a sheet of scrapbook paper.

I forgot to take an "in between" picture but here's a rough view of the monogram before I cleaned up the edges!  And the color is a little funky in these pictures...its less green, more blue.

And here's the finished product!  It looks much cooler in person because you can see through the paint in some places so it gives it a very rustic/aged feel.  And that's not the frame I'm going to use - I haven't found a brown one that I really like, yet, and had that laying around for another DIY project I'm planning so just popped it in that frame for the time being!

So there you have it!  The beginning stages of my living room make-over.  Check back for what I'm sure will be many more posts on home decorating and my DIY projects! 

Growin' On Up

Today was a big day.  Why you ask?  Well...because I signed the lease on my very first, very own apartment.  That's right - as of Friday I will officially be all moved to Uptown, Dallas.  Woo!  What does this mean, exactly? Well...

• No. More. Traffic.
• Which means I can go ahead and add an extra three hours of freedom to my day every. single. day.
• And I will definitely be using that added time to get some extra shut eye in every night.
• As well as get my work out on via The Katy Trail.
• And get crafty as I head full force into all my planned DIY projects (some I've already started...more to come on these).
• And finally...I will have a 30 second commute to/from work considering my office building is conveniently located smack dab in the heart of Uptown and one (yes, ONE!) block from my apt.
• Which means I will cut down significantly on gas every month as well as those dreaded stops at the pump (and considering pumping gas is one of my least favorite things to do in. the. world. I consider this a huge bonus! Even if less gas means more rent...totally worth it in my book!)

So stay tuned for posts about my relocation to downtown, my new apartment, and all the adventures that come with it!

Rounding Out Nicely

As aforementioned in my previous post, I had quite the weekend reminder of adolescence.  CARS 2 and an arcade bar kicked it off on Friday and on Saturday night I did one of my favorite things ever:

Please excuse my crappy iPhone pic.  

It really looked super beautiful in person!

Oh how I adore firework shows - especially the really awesome ones that are choreographed to hip, fun, entertaining music like the one I sat through on Saturday.  I think what I like most is that it's pretty and, more importantly, it's at a distance (I am terrified of fire in close proximity to myself).  Shooting off just a few blocks from my house, I made the trek up there with my friend, Gena, and we plopped down on the grass to wait for this monumental occasion.
 
Unfortunately I think I realized I have a grass allergy.  Note to self: bring a blanket or lawn chair next time.  But that's neither here nor there.  What is pertinent is what happened the next night which proceeded to round out my weekend flashback of childhood:

Why, yes, that is New Kids on the Block.

And right, again, that is Backstreet Boys.

And yup, those are two of BCG's finest decked out in full 80s/90s gear!

Not pictured left: white washed, rolled up jeans, and Keds.  Not pictured right: leggings, pink leg warmers, and Keds.  Needless to say, we were hot.  All in all we had a pretty good time.  We had three suites in AAC which immediately turned into a raging party of 50ish professionals shamelessly singing :: and dancing :: along to an embarrassingly large number of NKOTBSB songs.

So there you have it: an animated feature film, a series of childhood games, a mesmerizing fireworks show, and a throwback tween concert.  I do believe my weekend rounded out quite nicely!  

Bars and Cars

My Friday night consisted of the two above things: Cars and Bars.

My company had an office event and rented out a theatre at Studio Movie Grill for the staff and their families to see the showing of 'CARS 2.'  The experience was pretty fun (you can't beat free food and drinks!) and it was my first time at SMG so that's one more thing I can check off my list of things to experience!  As for the movie itself?  I've seen better and wouldn't really recommend it...

Later that night I met up with some friends at Manhattan's in Uptown.  Being that it was their one year anniversary everyone was treated to free (yes, FREE!!) drinks until 11:30pm, compliments of the Grey Goose sponsorship.  Score.  I did make a faux pas when first arriving, though.  There was a long line of pissed looking girls standing outside the bar and the bouncer at the door had a list so I all of a sudden started getting nervous - I was going to be really embarrassed if I got turned away!  Here's how our conversation went:

Me: (hands bouncer ID)
Bouncer: (starts scrolling down the list and flipping pages)
Me: "Uhh do we have to be on the list to get in?"
Bouncer: (gives me a 'you're an idiot' look, flips the page again, and points to a name that is definitely not mine) "You are on the list.  See?"
Me: (picks up on what's happening) "Ohh, riiight. Ok." (Jerks thumb at guy friend next to me) "But he's on the list, too, right?"
Bouncer: (rolls eyes) "Yes, haha, he's on the list, too"
Me: "Ok thanks.  Sorry.  Uhh I obviously don't come to clubs much." (Proceed to be glared at by line of angry girls)

Phew.  I guess I'm flattered I 'made the cut' although quite embarrassed I made an idiot of myself.  So much for being suave, huh?  I didn't realize Manhattan's was that kind of bar that only let certain people in...

After we cashed in on a few free drinks, the group made our way across town to Barcadia.  This might be my new favorite spot.  It's a bar off Henderson that has a ton of games: Ms. Pacman, Skee Ball, a huge Jenga set (and if you've been keeping up with my blog, you know I'm a big fan), and my very favorite: Connect Four!  Apparently I suck at Ms. Pacman, am decent at Skee Ball, and greatly excel at Connect Four.  I may have been on quite the winning streak last night - 8 out of 9 games won!  Here are a couple pictures from Barcadia:

Stephanie was a huge fan of the Jenga.  I, however, am starting to become quite apprehensive about these life-size Jenga games I keep playing.  I lost with both the one in College Station AND this one and get so nervous every time they start to tumble that I freak out really bad.  Last night resulted in me jumping so badly that I spilled my drink all down the left side of me and all in my hair.  Gross.

Giant Connect Four.  Seriously.  Favorite bar game ever.  I want to make one of these for my apartment.

So my Friday night was somewhat of a flashback to my childhood.  Except with booze.  Animated feature films and arcade games - sweet.  Tonight I went to see a fireworks show and tomorrow I'm going to the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys concert so that rounds out my juvenile weekend quite nicely.  More to come on these exciting events in a future post.  Until then, I'm off to read Harry Potter until bedtime ;)

Seriously.  What am I?  12 again?!

Cake Meeting

Today we had our monthly office meeting.  Otherwise known as our 'cake meeting'.  Yes, that's right...CAKE.  Yum.

Apparently a few years back there were some hurt feelings amongst the staff - some departments bought people cakes for their birthdays, others did not, etc.  So, in an effort to make everyone feel special and to promote a fair working environment, our boss decided that at our once-a-month office meetings, we would have a birthday cake.  And those who had birthdays within that month would get to choose the flavor.  We usually order from Breadwinners so the cakes are always top notch.

Today's was a chocolate cake with fresh strawberries and a whipped cream icing.  This was awesome because earlier today I had been reminiscing on last month's deliciousness: vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and the most scrumptious frosting.  I was determined nothing could beat it and swore I would just have to fight whoever else has a September birthday to bring back that amazing cake during my birthday month.  Well, lucky me and little did I know, we would be having last month's slightly darker counter part today!

I may have sneaked an extra slice after the meeting and covertly scarfed it down at my desk.  What?!  They were tiny slices!  We decided that we're getting to be so large of a staff that we're going to need to order two cakes going forward...

So feel free to be jealous of my office meetings (I love where I work!) and I'm gonna go ahead and go for a run and try to work off at least half of the sweets I consumed today!

Quotable Collections or Collectable Quotes?

I'm a big fan of collecting things.  When I was little, I collected coke can tabs and kept them in this clear plastic tub in the garage.  I also collected keychains from everywhere we went on vacation and everywhere my friends went on vacation.  Then, I started collecting all the different state quarters when they started making those.  And finally (or at least...I think you get the point...) I have saved every single movie ticket stub from every single movie I have seen in theaters since I can remember (I'm talking like...five years old).  I must admit I'm somewhat of a "hoarder" and am half-way concerned I'll end up an old maid surrounded by piles of treasured collectables and am only slightly below being nominated for that hoarding show on A&E.

But probably my most very favorite thing ever to collect is quotes.  I'm a sucker for a good quote.  Sometimes they give you the reassurance you need that there's someone else out there going through, or having gone through, what you are facing.  Or sometimes they broaden your perspective on a situation or enlighten the way you view something.  Or sometimes they even bring you back to reality or force you to remember what's truly important in life.  And sometimes, sometimes they're just really funny, or even a little sad, or kinda hopeful...but whatever the emotion they provoke, one thing holds constant, the good ones always make it into my journal for safe-keeping.

Here are a few of my all-time favorites:

"Hate is easy, love takes courage."

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single 

moment before starting to change the world."

-Anne Frank

"The way I see it

isn't necessarily

the way you see it

or the way it is

or ought to be.

What's more important

is that we're all

looking for it

and a way to see it."

-Desi Di Nardo (Starbucks cup)

"Maybe our girlfriends are our soul mates and guys 

are just people to have fun with."

-Sex and the City

"In the long run, we get no more than we have been willing to risk giving."

"Learn for yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

"Take good care of today.  Its the tomorrow you longed for yesterday."

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say "I used everything you gave me."

-Erma Bombeck

"Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he

 treats a person who can do him absolutely no good."

-Ann Landers

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less 

travelled by.  And that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position."

So there you have it, friends.  Just a little peek into my very extensive, much loved, quotes collection.  Which brings me to my question: is this a quotable collection or collectable quotes?!  Well regardless, I hope you found as much truth and inspiration in them as I do! 

Happy Father's Day

Love you, Dad!!

Tour de Texas

Last weekend I had my own little 'Tour de Texas' trip which was quite fantastic.  It went a little something like this: Dallas --> College Station --> San Antonio --> San Marcos --> Austin --> Dallas.  Phew! Five cities in four days with amazing friends and hilarious memories: AWESOME.

Thursday after work, Taylor, Alan, and I headed down to College Station.  After our arrival in our beloved alma mater town, we headed to Northgate.  Duh.  Where else can you cash in on $1.50 pints and $2.00 drop shots?!  

We made the rounds to all of our favorite spots: Sake Bar, Dry Bean, The Lounge (which has washers, now!!), Hatters, and finally ending at Cedar Lane, of course.

Taylor and me at Cedar Lane.

I'm obviously outside of the inside joke on this one being as how 

I don't get why they're making these faces.  Or why they found it 

hilarious at the time.  But it does make for a funny picture nonetheless.

I finally got to play the giant JENGA game!! I lost.

After Northgate, we headed back to Stephen's house, played a game (or four) of Pong (college-ish, much?!), and finally headed to bed (six hours passed my usual bedtime - sheesh!).  Friday I spent all day running errands in College Station.  Carrie and I went to lunch at Newks with our former Fish Camp advisor, Jomita, I became a member of the Association's Century Club (look out for my fancy car decal and sophisticated plaque coming soon!), and went to see a movie ($4.00 - what up college town prices!) with Taylor.  

That evening we loaded up the vehicles and hit the road for San Antonio.  We, of course, stopped at Fuego on our way out of town, though!  After arriving at Stephen's parents' house in SA, we spent the evening playing Catch Phrase, Bowl of Nouns, and organizing a massage train (ok the last one was just the girls).  It pretty much felt like a Fish Camp roadtrip - except with booze :)

The next morning we awoke bright and early to Bruce making us custom pancakes - yum!  We quickly headed out the door and were soon en route to San Marcos.  After spending entirely too much time in Walmart gathering supplies, we finally headed out to the cars to pack everything up.  We did, however, face one tiny hiccup in our plans - we had a leaky cooler.  After many attempts to block and stop the out-pour of water (the cooler lacked a plug), Carrie came up with the idea of using chewing gum.  So there we all were, frantically chewing gum and handing it over to Stephen to create the plug we needed.  Gross.  See picture below: 

Once the cooler problem was solved, we were finally headed to Don's Fish Camp (aka the best tubing place ever).  The line was longer than I had ever seen it but thanks to Matt who was ahead of us and pre-purchased all of our tubes, we were in the bus line in no time!  Here's a picture of 1/3 of our group:

There were 18 of us floating so it was the. best. float. ever.  Complete with frequent stops at all the islands and quite a variety and plentitude of yummy drinks, we were all very happy by the end of our float.  Once we returned our tubes and waited for the stragglers of the group to arrive, we faced a slight panic when we thought we had lost the container with all our licenses and keys and credit cards.  Crisis averted, however, and soon we were on our way to celebrate the day at Los Cucos!!  See picture below:

Just Ghinells, me, and Bri, and the typical photo-bombers, Heintschel 

and Stephen, after stuffing our faces at Los Cucos.  Love you, ladies!!

After our scrumptious Mexican meal, half of our group headed back to the Station or SA, and half of us traveled on to Austin for the night.  We checked into our hotel, showered, and headed to 6th Street.  Upon finding the boys (they had forgone showers in hopes of gaining an extra hour at the bars - gross, I know), we found ourselves dancing the night away at The Blind Pig:   

We soon moved next door to Maggie Mae's (my favorite Austin bar so far) but didn't stay there long as we were so tired from the weekend.  One cup of water down and I was ready to go sleep!  We did manage to wrangle a stranger into taking a picture of ::what was left of:: our group before we left, though.  Although looking at the slanted and off-center technique this guy used, I'm not sure I should have entrusted him with my camera:

Upon arriving at the hotel, we asked forced the boys to take showers and then rearranged the room to fit our blow-up mattresses.  Being that we're all extremely frugal people and the hotel room was very expensive, we expertly squeezed 8 of us into our little space.  Everyone actually got a bed although Carrie and Chelbi slept at a slanted angle the whole night...sucks to come home last!

The next morning we loaded the cars and divided into the College Station and Dallas-bound groups and set out to enjoy a delicious meal at Kerbey Lane before heading our separate ways.  After an awesome appetizer of queso and guac, I ordered this:

That, folks, is the Eggs Francisco.  It's a halved english muffin topped with scrambled eggs, avocados, bacon, and queso.  Basically, a little bit of heaven in your mouth.  I also substituted my two sides for a short stack of pancakes which were to-die for!  Kerbey Lane is always a favorite and a must-eat if you're in Austin.

After finishing lunch and saying our goodbyes, my group headed back to Dallas.  We stopped at the Czech Stop on the way and I treated myself to two kolaches and the (aforementioned in previous post) sprinkled cupcake.  De-li-cious.  

After such a great weekend full of traveling Texas, delicious food, floating the river, and spending time with 15ish of my best friends, we made it home just in time to watch the Mavs beat the Heat to become the NBA Champions.  What a great weekend :)

GO MAVS

I knew today was already going to be better than the norm because of one amazing thing: we could wear jeans and tshirts to work!  In honor of our beloved Mavericks, our office was allowed to wear all our Mavs gear AND, if we wanted, take the morning off to go to the parade.  Fantastic.

I definitely decided to partake in the jeans/tshirt opportunity.  Although I couldn't find any of my Mavs jerseys or tshirts (I can only assume they're still packed away in boxes from college) nor could I find any to purchase at Walmart, I did find a gigantic Mavs sticker for $2.50.  Score.  So off I went to work today decked out in my black skinny jeans, keds (remember these?!), and white v-neck adorned with said sticker (that counts, right?!).

Well little did I know my day was about to get ten times better...I had already planned to watch the parade from our terrace (we're one block from AAC) and we had the live feed of it running from all the TVs in our kitchen (as well as my personal external monitor).  What I didn't expect, however, was to be handed a free ticket to a catered suite in the American Airlines Center to be a part of the Mavs celebration and interviews in person!! Super score.

So at 12:00pm today I trudged the block to the AAC and very much enjoyed my little half-day sabbatical from work in the company of co-workers, free food, and booze.  It. Was. Awesome.  Although it was a tad difficult to go back to work after such an exciting afternoon!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Dallas Mavericks: NBA Champions - Whoop!

 My very favorite player. Ever.

 All the players and Mark Cuban.

 MVP.  Look at that bling.

Just a few BCGers.  Please note my big blue sticker.

Alternative Route

Every morning on my way to work I always hear something like this: "Condition: yellow, Southbound 75 you're backed up Royal to Spring Creek - gotta stalled vehicle in the right hand lane, causing heavy congestion."  Neat.  I usually hear something similar right as I'm pulling out of the office, too.  Also neat.

However, in all the weeks I've been driving downtown, stuck in stop-and-go traffic on my way to and from work, I've (surprisingly) never heard these words: "Take an alternative route."  Until today, that is.  Well, there's a first for everything, right?!

As I'm entering onto the freeway this morning, beginning my usual commute, I flip on the radio to catch the traffic report.  What's the first thing I hear?  "Southbound 75, you've got a major accident at Blackburn, backing things up all the way into Plano.  This one's gonna need an investigation and you only got one lane gettin' by right now. Uhh you're gonna want to take an alternative route if at all possible."  I'm still unsure as to what they meant by "investigation" and was halfway tempted to continue on the southbound 75 route and merge into the rubberneck crowd to see what the scandal was, but decided to heed the traffic reporter's suggestion instead and cut over at the High-Five.

Then, just as I'm pulling out of my office's parking garage today I hear this: "Northbound 75 you got an 18-wheeler accident at Forest Lane involving multiple, multiple vehicles.  You're gonna want to avoid this area if you can, the liquid spill from the 18-wheeler is uncontrollable.  I suggest taking an alternative route."

Really?!  Twice in one day?!  Needless to say, North Dallas Tollway, 635, and I became great road buddies today...I mean, we DID have a splendid three hours of bonding time ;)  But in all honesty, I didn't really mind all the traffic for once.  Why you ask?

Because of this girl:

 Meet Julie, my best friend.

She had the job of keeping me sane today whilst I whittled away precious time sitting on the parking lot freeway.  We've been best friends since our freshman year in college when we both discovered our mutual love of Potbellys, country music, Captain Morgan spiced rum, and cowboy boots.

Although life has played a cruel joke and separated us into different metroplexes five hours 

apart, we still manage to pick up where we left off every time we talk - like today!

Below are just a few pictures to pay tribute to our beloved friendship.

 Bonfire at 'The Shoe' - please note my blonde hair.  

You can tell this one's old!

Man Games at 'The Shoe' - notice a trend?  

Yeah, ok, so we spent a lot of time out at the Krooked Horseshoe...

 Wednesday night before Piano Bar at The Tap.

I miss College Station summers...

 Chilifest '09 (not pictured: CF '08 and CF '10)

Trip to the coast - Summer 09 

"And we never could stay sober on the Corpus Christie Bay"

Fightin' Texas Aggie Ring Day

 Fightin' Texas Aggie Ring Dunk! Whoop!!

(More on these Aggie traditions later for you non-Ags)

I had to end on this one...it's "our pose."  

Ok, we may have stolen it from J.Fo but lets not get technical...

So as you can see...

...we go way back...

...and have made and shared many a memory...

...and many different hair colors (ok, that one's just me)...

...and several important collegiate/life moments...

...and have been best friends through it all.

So thanks, Julie, for being my best friend.  Oh yes, and for saving me from the 

awful traffic and boring-ness of alternative routes :)

Kid at Heart

Lately I've spent a lot of money...on a lot of not fun stuff: Last week before I left town, I paid off my Macy's card (that I really only opened to snag the 30% off), I put a decent amount toward my student loans, and I filled up my gas tank for the second time that week.  And just now I paid off my credit card (two weeks before it is due!) and wrote my parents a fat check for the money I had borrowed from them.

::Now please excuse me while I wallow in a corner about the sorrows 

of being a grown up with responsibilities and bills::  

Ok, I'm done.  But I'm honestly not too worried about it.  I actually kind of like it.  I like being responsible for myself and I love making my own money.  And please, I'm still a kid at heart...

...as is noted by the Birthday Cake ice cream (with sprinkles) that I ordered (from the kid's section, shh) at Baskin Robbins the other day.  I mean, c'mon, 32 flavors?  I had to get something fun!

I also may or may not have purchased a large sprinkled cupcake at the Czech Stop on the way back from Austin yesterday.  And I definitely chose the last M&M cookie today at lunch.

So, yes, I might be paying big girl bills, and I may be moving into my very own first apartment soon, and I am definitely feeling the pain of rush hour traffic and long hours at the office, but I am very much a little kid at heart still! 

B-E-A-UTIFUL!

Happy Thursday!  What a beautiful day it is in Dallas :)  Besides the glorious weather which provided for a nice walk to lunch, it's my last day this week in the office (San Marcos River here I come!!), there have been some fantastic songs coming through my Pandora, and the MAVS play at home tonight.  Fantastic.  Below is one of my favorite songs to play on a beautiful day.  So if you find yourself flying down the freeway with the windows down, might I suggest you jam out to this:

"Good Life" by One Republic

It will put you in a good good in .5 seconds guaranteed.

Oh yeah, and GO MAVS!!



When Being Proactive Goes Wrong

In preparation for my river trip this coming weekend, I decided to dedicate last Saturday and Sunday afternoon to introducing my white skin to what it feels like to be bronze again.  My skin hasn't seen the sun in months and I'm seriously rivaling Casper here, folks; it's bad.  Knowing this, I knew what six hours of straight sun next weekend would do to my poor white skin, so I decided to try and get a bit of a base going before subjecting my body to such shock and brutality.

I took my book and sunglasses outside and parked myself on the lounge chair.  Trying to be proactive about getting burned, I went inside to check for reddening and tan lines every 20 minutes.  Smart, right?  Well...I kinda forgot that the burn doesn't show up for a little bit...

After two hours of reading, relaxing, and apparently BAKING in the sun, I headed inside.  About an hour passed before I started feeling the little prickle of pain.  At first it was just a little uncomfortable, I was a tad sensitive in some places.  But soon the pain was nauseating.  Every time I turned or moved, my body hurt.  I ran to look in the mirror and found this:

This iPhone quality pictures does NOT do this burn justice.  And for the record, this was also after two days of letting the burn subside.  I quite literally looked like a tomato on day one.  The backs of my legs were the worst but for pictorial purposes, my back with the swimsuit tan line illustrated the burn best.

So in accordance with Murphy's Law, I should be completely peeled and back to fresh, white skin just as the weekend hits.  Despite my responsible and proactive planning, I shall still be floating down the San Marcos, white as a ghost.  ::le sigh::

The Perks and Downfalls of Being Late

Tonight I did two really cool things - I went to see Water for Elephants (finally!) and I went to see Stomp.  Can you tell I'm a fan of the arts?!

Like I mentioned previously, Cynthia and I bought these Dallas Summer Musical tickets and tonight's show (Stomp) started at 8:00pm.  By the time I battled traffic after work, it would have been time to head back downtown just about the time I was getting home.  So instead of going home, I decided to go see the movie I'd been wanting to see for forever (Water for Elephants) to kill time.  This is also a major accomplishment for me because going to see a movie by myself is something I've always wanted to do but have always been way too scared to!  Checkin' it off the bucket list.  Go me.

The only theater still showing the movie around Dallas was the newly renovated Highland Park Village Theater.  I had never been there but was quite surprised when the ticket woman personally escorted me to the correct theatre.  Busting into the theatre at lightening speed (I was late - stupid traffic) I was shocked to find myself in a room barely twice the size of my bedroom.  There were only 16 seats total and none of them were ordinary spring-flip seats.  They were all over-sized, soft leather lounge chairs set in pairs around the room.  Very quaint.  Since I was entering so quickly (expecting quite the normal trek down the ramp, around the bend, and up the stairs...) I had made it to the front of the theatre before realizing I was already at the front.  Turning around I desperately grabbed the first seat I saw.  This, unfortunately, was already occupied.  It was so dark I couldn't see a thing except the vague outline of a large chair and was literally inches from this poor girl's face before I realized I was about to sit in her lap!  Hugely embarrassed I mumbled an apology and quickly crept to the seat behind her.  Awkward.

The movie was good.  Not great, but good.  Of course the book was better as it always is.  I love both Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson so I had high hopes, but I just felt like they had too many important scenes to add and not enough time to do so.  It felt rushed and incomplete.  And I feel like I would have liked the movie even less had I not read the book first - I found myself filling in a lot of the story as the movie left out details and explanations.

I'm definitely glad I saw it as I loved the costumes and set design, but I personally felt the screen play could have used some work.  Oh well.  At least I forced myself out of my comfort zone!  And to be completely honest?  I loved going to the theatre by myself!

Straight from the movie theatre I met up with my sister and we headed to the Music Hall at Fair Park.  We ended up being a bit late and because of such, they had opened up all the un-used valet parking and we lucked into an awesomely close spot!  We bustled inside only to find that they had a ten-minute holding period on the theatre (so as not to interrupt the audience during certain times of the performance).  We at first found this to be a bummer...until we started chatting it up with the usher and he offered us better seats.  So our top of the balcony, nose-bleed seats turned into prime, 6th row seats!!  It was so awesome because you could see all the details of the performance (which was unreal by the way).  If you enjoy music of any kind and you EVER have the opportunity to see Stomp, DO IT!  You will not regret it.  Here's a little clip (which definitely doesn't do it justice, even) to give you a little preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu15Ou-jKM0

So as is evident, through all my artsy fartsy-ing today, I had a little issue with being late.  In the case of the movie?  I almost sat on someone.  In the case of the musical?  I got upgraded big time.  Oh the perks and downfalls...

Smooches and Smoothies

Monday nights always mean one really awesome thing --> Monday Movie Night aka The Bachelorette.  Yes, I realize "The Bachelorette" is not a movie but in the interim between last season's "Bachelor" and this season's "Bachelorette", our group ::tried:: to keep up our Monday night watch parties and just watch movies (or documentaries...) instead.  Hence the coined name, "Monday Movie Night."

But that's somewhat irrelevant.  What is relevant, however, is how much I loathe Bentley after just three episodes!  Douche. Bag.  What is also relevant is how much I love J.P. after just three episodes!  Dream. Boat.

 Loser                                            Lover 

Truth be told, I think the show is a crock.  However, its a crock of a show that I'm highly addicted to thanks to my best friend, Steph, who practically begged me to watch just one episode of last season with her.  One measly episode was all it took to transform my every Monday night into a highly emotional, gut-wrenching, smoothie drinking festival.

Ah.  And so I bring in the second part of my post title.  Smoothies.  Yum.  Tonight it was just Steph, Christine, and myself and as any proper hostess would do, Steph made us smoothies :)  Back in college I'm pretty sure Steph and Christine practically survived off smoothies and because of this I purchased Steph a very sophisticated blender (with built-in pour spout) for Christmas one year.  It was only appropriate that we use smoothies to celebrate our television vice viewing.

And boy were they delicious!

Thanks, Steph!!

So if you're ever needing to find me on a Monday night between 8:30 and 11:00, I'll be enjoying my fair share of smooches and smoothies ;)

   

High Dining

This past weekend I had some very cool eating experiences.  For dinner Saturday, I went with a group of A&M friends to 'Dream Cafe' in Uptown.  Yum.  We split a bottle of this fantastic Cline wine and engorged a variety of different dishes such as Chicken and Waffles, Shrimp Salad, and a gourmet chicken sandwich.

For dessert we ventured to Reunion Tower's restaurant, Five Sixty, set high above downtown Dallas.  Although the prices for wine and dessert were a bit steep for my liking, you were definitely paying for the awesome view and the experience as well, so whatever.  It was pretty cool spinning around Dallas all night and we lucked into an awesome round table that directly faced the window.  And the dessert I chose, Hazelnut Chocolate Decadence, was quite scrumptious.

See?  It even looks good!  So fancy :)

And I have the absolute coolest friends who made the evening super memorable!

To sum it up: my evening was spent with fabulous friends and 

high dining above downtown.  Was it a great night? Duh!

Boozin' and Schmoozin'

I currently live 27.7 miles from where I work.  That doesn't sound all that bad...until you add rush-hour traffic and silly accidents on top of that and then we're talking a good hour and fifteen to hour and a half drive to and from work every day.  Sick.  In case you suck at math, thats 2 1/2 - 3 hours of driving and time I'm wasting every. single. day.

To combat the traffic, at least on the way home from work, I've started finding ways to simply avoid it.  Monday was Memorial Day so luckily no work = no traffic :)  Tuesday I headed just a few exits down and did some shoe shopping at and around Northpark Mall and then met my Fish Camp co-chair partner, Brad, for dinner in Dallas.  Wednesday I simply stayed 45 minutes late and took my sweet time getting down to my car and out of the building, hoping most of the traffic would have subsided by then.  

But my favorite way to avoid traffic?  Booze and schmooze.  Thursday was Aggie Happy Hour at The Nodding Donkey in Uptown so I met a few friends there for a few hours to let the traffic settle.  Yummy drinks, fellow Ags, and a hoppin' bar - what more could I ask for?!  And today I joined a few people from work for Happy Hour right across from our office.  Although my initial Bellini Tini was not all I had hoped it would be, the Budweiser I finished with and the great company made it a phenomenal way to avoid traffic!

So when it's just been "one of those days" and I'm not in the mood to battle reckless drivers and senseless traffic, I shall turn to my newly acquired favorite avoidance method: boozin' and schmoozin'.

Slew of Shoes

A few weeks ago my chocolate brown pumps broke.  It wasn't the actual heel snapping like you would expect, nor the unsightly scuffing that so many of my other shoes have fallen victim to; but rather, the arch part snapped.  Snapped!  So now whenever I walk, the shoe caves in on itself making for an extremely treacherous walking experience.  Ergo, I have been on the hunt for a new pair of classic, brown, professional-esque pumps.  Easy, right? Wrong!

I. have. looked. ev-er-y-where!  I've looked at boutiques and department stores, bargain bins and designer shops.  I get it, its summer and chocolate brown is a dark, winter color.  But its also a staple color!  There are still mounds upon mounds of black heels stuffed in stores in every height, material, shade, and style you want!  And I currently have several pairs of newly hemmed brown and khaki slacks hanging in my closet growing quite lonely...

The exciting news wrapped up in this shoe quest is the awesome deals I've stumbled upon and subsequently taken advantage of!  I am now the proud owner of two new pairs of flats (one professional and one fun pair to replace my worn-out, hole-infested Toms) and two new pairs of heels (one vintage, peep-toe, leather, wedge heel and one basic two tone camel leather pump).  And the clincher?  All four of these are either from Nordstroms or Nine West and I got all four for a whopping $130.00!!  That's easily the price of one pair of nice pumps, folks!  I love great quality at a bargain price.

But circling back to my chocolate brown pumps...if anyone in the DFdub happens upon a pair that look spectacular and are a decent price, please pass them my way!  Until then, I shall relish in my newly acquired slew of shoes!  Best of luck to all you other bargain hunters out there - I've seen some great deals, lately!

Hidden Treasures

One thing you must know about me: I despise YouTube.  Not the actual site, of course, but rather this obsession that has caught hold of America where everyone thinks that anything on YouTube is the best thing since sliced bread.  Hate to break it to ya, folks, but its not.  Most of the time it's dumb stunts and awful parodies.

Now, I guess I can't dog on YouTube too bad...a few years ago when I was a co-chair for Fish Camp, I suffered through hundreds of mindless videos because I thought, as a chair, I should read every email that came through our listserve.  (Counselors: If you know how much I loathe YouTube, you will now understand how much I love you!)  I did, thanks to my counselors, find some decent ones and a few that actually had me laughing or the one or two that even got me to cry.

I have two that are my ultimate, all-time favorites, ever!  Lucky for you, I've sifted through all the bad ones and found these true hidden treasures for you.  Enjoy, my friends, and make sure you watch both of them in their entirety!

Christian The Lion

Didn't you think he was going to eat them?! Yeah, that would 

have been funny awful.  So good thing it had a happier ending :)

I Love Jesus, But I Drink A Little 

Anyone else want to be best friends with this lady?  

Plus, her name is Gladys...and she "mall walks"....legit.