A Very Vintage Birthday

It's no surprise that I love hosting parties.  A lot.  If I had lots of money and more than 744sqft to my name, I would definitely do some cool things.  But until then, I'll settle for the occasional 1960s-retro-themed-birthday party.  With the help of my friends, we put together this little shindig for Taylor's 25th birthday:

The boys chose not to participate in our retro theme...

Happy 25th Birthday, Taylor!

Nostalgia

For anyone who knows me at all, you know I hold on to everything.  Memories, ticket stubs, newspaper articles, clothing I haven't worn since 6th grade...but most of all, memories.  I hosted a birthday dinner for one of my best friends this past weekend and as we all sat around my kitchen table munching on fondu* and chocolate cake, it hit me how truly lucky I am to be blessed with such a close-knit group of friends.

Flash forward three days later and I'm still thinking about how legit my friend group is.  How close we are.  How much we love each other.  And mostly about all the cool things we spent four years of college and the two since doing.

Like the time we all went to Mardi Gras and we momentarily lost Kip.  And our dignity.  But not like that...we just drank a lot of Fish Bowls and watched other people be half-naked idiots.

Or the time we bought 26 bottles of champagne Andre for the six of us to ring in New Years 2010.  And then spent all of Sunday passing around the Ibuprofen and Gatorade.

Like all the late night Whataburger runs for HBCBs and taquitos.  Even as Fuego slowly morphed into the new late night comfort, Whataburger still held our hearts captive.  Or sometimes we just went to both.  And ordered twice.  Eww.

And that time we road-tripped to Austin, left Josh on a bus, broke a window at a pizza stand, and paid $32.00 dollars (total) for six of us to squeeze into the Roadway Inn?  Yeah, that was pretty fun.

So was the time we drove the 12 hours to Panama City for spring break, spent seven days in a three bedroom house with 18 people, woke up to this song every morning, and danced our hearts out on the beach every afternoon.

I'm going to stop there before you think my group of friends is a bunch of raging alcoholics.  Which we might have been.  But we've since sobered up, entered the real world, and do things like host 60s-themed-retro-birthday parties on Saturday nights.  And to be fair, the 'Death Punch' still made an appearance this weekend...

Over and out,
A

*No, I did not make the fondu.  Or the chocolate cake. Or the dip or shish-ka-bobs or weenies or any other food item in attendance.  But I did put up some kickass decorations.  TBD - maybe I'll post pictures.

Hello There, Old Friend...

Why hello, blog world, so nice to see you again.  You'll have to excuse me for my little hiatus, I was merely busy living life being too lazy to write.

Yes, too lazy was definitely the reason.  Coupled with too tired and too busy.  But mostly just too lazy.

However, while I might have been too lazy to drop a note, I was having a grand ol' time living life (see? not a complete fib).

The problem with this, though, was that blogging became a chore to me.  I started this blog as a way to document my struggles and successes (and just damn good times!) that I encountered as I navigated my crazy life.  Which is great.  In theory.  But what it became was a daunting task I felt tied to - to write a review on every musical I saw, to upload pictures from every fun night I had out with friends, and to give the world my thoughts on every book I devoured.

And while that is good and I do want to preserve these memories I'm making, maybe that's not what I need this blog for anymore (thank you, Instagram, for stepping in as my memory-keeper!).

What I need this blog for now is to organize my thoughts; to send my ideas out into the world.  And while many of my deepest ponderings and true concerns will be absent from my posts, I think it will be helpful for myself to at least allow you a little peek into my heart.  And, really, can you blame me for being a bit withdrawn?  You never know who might stumble across this and read it...

Cheers to being back amongst the masses.

Memphis: The Musical

I am so back logged on posting about this!  But...a few weeks ago I went to see the musical Memphis.  Remember how I have season tickets with all my work friends?  Well, we cashed in on yet another fun night with this outstanding musical.  They picked a really good order to put these shows in because I swear they just keep getting better and better!

This musical is one of my favorites to date (although I don't think anything will ever trump Wicked on Broadway).  It had a great story line that kept me interested, fantastic dancing which I greatly appreciate, cast members with fantastic voices, and really great set designs.

Definitely recommend.

Painting With a Twist

Last Thursday I got crafty again with Painting with a Twist.  Essentially you bring your own wine and they walk you through a painting.  I naturally signed up for the Merlot Medley painting a month and a half in advance to ensure I secured my spot.  My kitchen is decorated in red/maroon with wine bottles all over.  I needed this painting.  And after the super stressful week I had, a night of dinner, wine, and painting with two of my greatest friends was just what the doctor ordered!

Carrie and me.

Lauren and me.

The three of us.  Don't mind my peek-a-boo stance...

The only other time I've been to Painting with a Twist was for a friend's birthday so we had our own private room, got to pick our painting (essentially the night was catered to us), etc, etc...so I was really excited to experience this class in a normal group setting.  And it did not disappoint - so fun!

Last time I really wish I would have taken more pictures along the way so I could document the process.  I made a point to do so this time around:

1. Brand spankin' new canvas. And wine.

2. Draw on the wine glasses and paint red.  And then darker red.

3. Add black and mix different shades of red/maroon.

4. Mix different pinks and corals.  Then outline your wine glass.

5. Swirls.

6. Accents and finishing touches.

Personally I like to think it looks better in person because you lose some of the little accents with the camera.  But whatevs.

Such a fun night with my best friends!

It's funny to me that we all three started with the same blank canvas, received the same instructions, and had the same paint and brushes, yet came out with paintings that actually look pretty different...

I'm interested to see how different our next paintings will be!  Because, yes, I think we're all addicted now :)

Float On

The same weekend I went skydiving (read here or, you know, scroll down), I also went and floated the river (one of my favorite things in the world).

We started the afternoon with a little Beer Cart Friday at work...

...and soon scooted out of the office and were southbound 35.  We, of course, stopped at the Czech Stop to get some awesome kolaches and what would soon be deemed a dozen cheesy chubbies (their real name - I'm not funny enough to make that up).

Upon arriving in Austin (and thanks to my consultant friends' top Hilton status) we were soon upgraded to a suite with an additional connected room.  Sure, don't mind if I do :)

Once the rest of our group made it to Austin, we spent the evening snacking, drinking, and enjoying each other's company until it was time to head to 6th Street!

The Cheesy Chubby Car.

Get it together.

As luck would have it, we walked into the first (well, only...) bar of the evening to find a whole group of my Aggie friends!  Always nice to find familiar faces on vacation.

So lucky to have such awesome work friends:

Below is mine and Michael's "grandma and grandpa" picture of the trip.  Although everyone should be impressed (and then eat their words!) that we both stayed up past midnight AND had more than just one drink (after I so determinedly claimed I would stop at one).  AND with minimal complaining about being tired.  Go us.

I proceeded to get absolutely 0 pictures of the group on the river and 0 pictures of the epic BBQ fat-fest we arranged at Rudy's afterwards so I guess you'll just have to imagine the incredible time we had floating down the river on a beautiful Saturday afternoon through the hill country.  It's a rough life I tell ya.

Until my next river trip in August...float on.

The Time I Jumped Out of a Plane at 13,500ft

That's right, folks.  Last weekend I went skydiving. SKYDIVING!  I jumped out of a plane at 13,500 feet in the air.  And it was incredible.

It's been on my bucket list for quite a while but I've honestly been a little nervous to check that one off.  It wasn't until a group of people from my office got together (which dropped the price), that I felt inclined to finally take the leap (pun intended).

I roped Evan into doing it with me as well so last Sunday at 7:00am we suited up and headed out to SkyDive Dallas.

I was just as nervous thinking about jumping out of a plane as I was thinking about running 13.1 miles a few months ago (read: REALLY nervous).  My stomach was in knots and I was honestly a little scared I was gonna get in the plane and tell them to take me back down.  I knew this was something I wanted to do, though, so was determined to follow through.

And honestly?  Once I was there I was completely fine.  And once I started putting on the jumpsuit, getting fitted for my hat and goggles, and stepping into the harness, I knew there was no way I was backing down.  Pure excitement.

During our two hour wind delay...

With my sweet work friends right before they take off!

...and again without Evan and I ruining the photo.

Because all five in our group wanted a videographer along for the ride, Evan and I got separated into another group at a later time.  It ended up being fine but it would have been so great to ride up with all my work colleagues as well!  I'm at least glad I had someone I knew with me to keep me from chickening out ;)

Sweet hat, I know...

One, two, JUMP!

13,500ft. 120mph. 60 seconds of free fall.  Incredible.

I was in awe of how mind-blowing it all was!

Between 13,500-3,000ft it all looks about the same...like a patchwork quilt.

I was continuously praying that some freak accident didn't happen that unlatched me from the four harness hooks that were holding me in place!

Check out our chipmunk cheeks!

Parachute.

More parachute action.  I got a little scared when the harness readjusted here and I slipped down a couple of inches.

Our videographer dropped a few thousand more feet before he pulled his parachute so that he was on the ground and ready with the camera for my landing.  In the meantime I got to steer the parachute and twirl in the air.  Flying is the most amazing (yet slightly nauseating) feeling I've ever experienced.

Back on the ground!

Pure happiness.

My sweet flying partner.

See ya next time.

And then I immediately called my parents and told them the ridiculous thing I had just done.  My dad told me a long time ago (after my brother went skydiving in college) that if I were ever to do something that stupid, I'd best wait until I was back on the ground to tell him about it.  So I kept my promise.  I figured I'd save my dad a heart attack ;)

All in all, I would do it again ten times over.  To anyone who has any inkling of wanting to jump out of a plane, DO IT.  Conquer your fear and go for it.  It's pricey, yes, but it's a memory I will keep with me for a lifetime.