Simply the best!

My mom is turning 50 (something) in the next few days, and to celebrate her birthday she flew to Dallas and we went to see Tina Turner. She loves Tina Turner. I mean she even saw Ike and Tina back in the day. We had amazing seats, and with some help was even able to get tickets for Elizabeth and Celeste!


Celeste is also a huge fan, and regularly does her own version of Proud Mary at Karaoke bars all over Texas and Louisiana. It's not to be missed. I think both she and my mom got some new moves from Tina's set to add to a joint routine they will probably do sometime in the future.


We arrived a little early to have some food and drinks. With great weather we hung out on the patio of the platinum club for a while. It was great people watching, and not a bad view.


The Tina concert rivaled new Kids with the outfits. I know that Elizabeth managed to get some good photos of some of our favorites.


Tina put on quite a show, at a little over 2 hours that 70 year old is amazing. She is ageless when it comes to singing, dancing and those legs!

Month-A-Versary

Yep, we were married 1 month this week. Normally we are not one of those cheesy couples that celebrate all things about "our love" (gag). But as a wedding gift we received a date for our 1 month anniversary from my God parents. They've been married 30 years, and go out to dinner every month. They think it's a great tradition, and wanted us to start the same one. We're more Tin Star types than Nick and Sam's, but we decided to honor it this first month.

Tuesday night we dressed up and headed to Screen Door, a newer restaurant with fancy southern food. I have to say...it lived up to the hype. Normally new restaurants in Dallas are oversold, not because of the food or service, but because for a while it's "the place to be seen". So I was prepared to be disappointed, but I wasn't. Great service and food. From the gumbo, to the fried green tomato's and the fois gras studded meatloaf. Delicious.

So happy 1 month since we put ourselves in the poor house to have the most fabulous party ever, and could legally add one another to health coverage and life insurance.

Saving Second Base

Or the Second base Savers. That's the name of my Komen team here in Dallas. This was a tough year for everyone...so many things going on, and so little time. When I finally looked up I was a team of 1 this year, but to me...that was enough.

October is breast cancer awareness month, and Saturday some friends of ours had an event after the walk called Octoberfest for the Breast. Catchy right? It was fun to see some familiar faces, and some new ones. I met a woman who was diagnosed while pregnant over a year ago. Once the baby came she needed a double mastectomy, and a hysterectomy as well. She just finished her treatments in July. She walked on Saturday with no hair, but a beautiful smile and a family by her side. Younger then me!!! Diagnosed at 29, now 30...and while pregnant??? I can't even imagine.

In honor of her, and the thousands of others I decided to post the video of the 2007 race. Perhaps next year we will be a team of many.

NKOTB

That’s right…they're back, and don’t think I would miss this. When I first saw the tour dates released and Dallas on the list, an email went around among girlfriends that read something like this. “Is it completely embarrassing that I'm asking you guys if you want to go to this, because I totally do”? The responses were unanimous, we were all in. So the morning tickets went on sale I was online, credit card in hand. After 15+ years of waiting, this past Sunday, they were here.



A little background on my relationship with New Kids on the Block. I was in love with them, and convinced I was going to be Mrs. Joey McIntyre. If only he met me, of course it would be me. My music selection as a pre-teen was very restricted, but NKOTB made the cut. I had the VHS music videos, and slept in an oversized New Kids shirt. For my 12th birthday my poor dad took me and 3 of my girlfriends to the concert. He said he couldn’t hear for days. I thought I had died on gone to heaven.



Sunday I felt like I was 12 all over again, but in a 31 year old body. The stadium was filled with women in my age range. I have never seen anything like it. Many came in large groups, and had made NKOTB t-shirts, or ordered them online somewhere. They also had those huge buttons from the original New Kids Era. Some were wearing all neon, leg warmers and side ponytails. They weren’t messing around.



I was totally unprepared for the rabid Japanese fan sees Michael Jackson type reactions. I mean the screaming, some were even crying…god I hope no one did the fainting. The show was great. They played all the favorite old stuff, complete with original dance routines and clothing. It was very entertaining, and they still looked great. The crotch grabbing and stripper dancers in the show were a new touch to the old stuff. The highlight for everyone was Hanging Tough of course. The entire crowd sang along waiving our arms in the air like we just dind't care.


This time around I was pretty sure Joe wasn’t going to see me in the crowd while singing “Please don’t go girl”, and think I was the one for him. This time around my feet hurt, I was thinking I should have brought ear plugs, and I was tired from being up so late on a school night. Times have changed a little, but I was giddy like a 12 year old, had a sore throat from screaming so loudly, and had one of the best concert experiences ever. So some things haven’t changed.

I’m back!

Let me start off by telling you I’ve never been more grateful to Chris for sticking it out in a job he hated his first year out of grad school than when we boarded that plane. You see, that crappy job had him traveling every week of the month and racking up ridiculous airline miles. Because of those miles we were able to fly first class all the way. Nothing like it period.



With seats that recline into beds, personal entertainment consoles so Chris and I didn’t even have to watch the same movies! I won’t even get into the fact that there was an ice cream cart that would make its way down the aisle after dinner offering vanilla bean with the optional hot fudge, warm butterscotch, nuts, fresh red berries, and whipped cream. Ridiculous.



We arrived in Paris and it was definitely fall. Cold, windy and gray, but I had been looking at the weather and prepared with jackets and scarves. The hotel was beautiful, the people were nice, the room was huge, and they kept giving us free stuff all week!





The location couldn’t have been better. We were practically in the Tulleries Garden, a few blocks from the Louvre and the Place du Concord, and I can’t even tell you about the shopping on our street. The below picture is on the walk we took almost every morning with our coffee.

Sorry

I am so sorry for the giant photos on the posts below. I swear I minimized them...I have no idea why they are so jacked up and I don't have time to figure it out tonight. It's just annoying because they tell the stories so perfectly. Whatever.

Kids, that will have to wait for a while because I am off to PARIS. Yep, the honeymoon starts tomorrow. I'm not sure I will be able to blog from the City of Love, but you know I might try.

I'll miss you all...sort of.

M.E.G

Brown Chicken, Brown Cow

My dear friend of almost 20 years has a birthday...right now actually. October 2nd. The title of this blog came from the wedding weekend when Colleen sang "brown chicken, brown cow" when trying to imitate sexy music that is actually brah chicka bah bah...you know the sexy music I'm talking about. Well she thought people were saying brown chicken brown cow. Hilarious.



Friend, my life was forever changed that first day of eighth grade when I met you. Sure the double bonus was that you were allowed to watch Days of our lives after school, and you were allowed to go to boy/girl parties, and had your own phone line with the double swatch phone that lit up. You were so cool, and I wished we could be friends forever.

Well it looks like I got my wish. Oh, by the way....MOVE TO DALLAS already.

A Family Thing

It's a family thing. We’re loud, in each other’s business, and love each other to death. You have met most of us, but not all of us. Meet my youngest Brother Allen, and my sister Samantha. She took 3 planes to get to this wedding and flew with 4&5 year old boys. Amen to her for that.



I figured out during this wedding that I get the details and the stress over the details from my dad. He did so much work for this it was amazing. He glued the napkin rings, created the crystal tree, and did all my cupcake boxes. He also cooked a feast for 30 people on Saturday night. He figured that people had traveled all this way, it was the least my family could do. Granted…the mess and massiveness of it all about sent me over the edge, but the food was great.



The entire wedding my family was working behind the scenes to make everything as close to what I wanted it to be as possible. I don’t even know quite how to thank them enough accept to say my cup runneth over.



I could do an entire post about my brother Rob's toast at the wedding, but I'm not really sure I have the words. Everyone who saw understands, but it was so sweet...so special. He felt he could have done better (because he was a little emotional) but it sounded perfect to me.

Biking, Hiking, and Bloody Marys of course.

The weekend was wide open for everyone to do the things they wanted to do. People split into groups and some went on a hike to Emerald Bay, some went to the Casino, and some took a bike ride along the river. That was the healthy part of the weekend. The views and scenery were amazing, and the weather was what we had hoped for.



I think the rest of the time it’s safe to say we all had drinks in our hands. The common response to our loud behavior was always “It’s the altitude”. I could tell you about one of my favorite quotes of the weekend…Celeste exclaiming, “I could just see the headline in the paper now, chubby girl dies on bike ride”. She thought the higher the gear on the bike, the easier the ride.

Or Colleen and I staring at our bloody marys and wondering why there was a salad in our drinks.


Another would be that Emily is so addicted to Diet Coke that when Elizabeth had the last one that Chris had hidden for her in the fridge she went for a run. And on her way back she stopped at the 7-11 down the road for a big gulp, and a 6 pack of diet coke, and jogged the rest of the way home with both. Now that’s dedication.

Don’t Stop Believing

The dancing. I’m not sure how to describe my husband’s (still so weird to say) dancing. He is normally so reserved, concerned about what other people will think, and doesn’t like the idea of even potential embarrassment. So right from the kick off of the dancing he busted into the “footloose” dance, then he moonwalked to Billie Jean, and then did the entire video routine to NKOTB’s “Hanging Tough”. People were standing around with their mouths open, and asking themselves…who is this guy? Folks, I have to agree, but I also have to tell you that this is how he is at home. Sorry Chris, but the secret is out. He loves to sing and dance, and I think felt like it was his wedding and he didn’t give a darn who saw him.



The night ended with my best friend Val’s requested song by Journey “Don’t Stop Believing”. I am pretty sure she had convinced herself that it wasn’t going to get played…the DJ seemed to have trouble understanding the difference between Whip it, and Let it whip…hello it is SO obvious. Anyway, we had finished the last “official” dance and I had kept journey a secret just for her. It came on as people were walking off the dance floor and she started screaming out…”That’s our song…that’s our song”!! I think every single person that was at the reception made their way to the dance floor and we all sang it at the top of our lungs. People began to circle around us as the song was finishied, and it was a great moment I don't think we will ever forget.

“Your order hasn’t been processed”

Excuse me?? That is not what a bride wants to hear about the flowers that she ordered for delivery the day before. NOT PROCESSED?? This statement took a second to register. I mean…a wedding with no flowers is just not happening. I had ordered flowers in bulk and was going to do the centerpieces and other floral arrangements myself (with help). So no flowers were simply not an option. Chris and Colleen were packing up the car for us to leave for Tahoe, and were headed my way down the hall when they heard me yell into the phone “are you F*%$#*G kidding me!!!” at the poor customer service person. I believe I heard Chris turn to Colleen and say “that doesn’t sound good; I think we should go outside”. Smart Man.

Well it wasn’t good. I ordered the flowers and paid for them 5 months prior, and now someone was telling me that not only were they 1 day late in arriving, but they hadn’t even been processed or shipped yet. No Bueno. Thankfully, I think, I terrified the poor CSR into immediate action because within 30 min he pulled the order, called FedEx for an emergency pick up, and was sending them over night. He called again 1 hour later with the shipping number, again the next morning to tell me they were on the FedEx truck in Tahoe City, and again after we signed for them to see if I was satisfied. So he completely restored my faith. The flowers were amazing, and he sent an additional 100 calla lilies just for my inconvenience. So what could have been a big problem turned around and into something even better.



Thank you Val and Kerri for our Floral Centerpiece 101 afternoon. We done good kids!

Officially an M.R.S

That’s right. I’m back, for a bit and wanted to post a small update. I will do more over the next week, but wanted to add something small for now.



The entire weekend was amazing. It was filled with friends, family, love and tons of laughter. It had the added elements of stress, emotional moments, and minimal drama….I mean there were 9 girls in one house. What do you expect?



We were so blessed to have several days with close friends, introduce them to our favorite place on earth, and let them get to know each other better. We were up early, some for hikes, some for bikes, and others to create floral centerpieces. We were also up late as we danced in our socks on the hardwood floors, and drank like fish into the early morning hours. At the end of it all we had a wedding, and not just any wedding but the best wedding ever!! Of course every bride says that because it was their own but ours pretty much was.



Sure, it could have been about 10 degrees warmer, and it might have been nice to have any single men…the only one was the bartender (not that he was complaining), but overall it was more than Chris and I had even hoped for. Thank you all for sharing it with us, we love you.

Going back to Cali

This past week has been a blur. Between the stock market insanity, all the college and NFL football one can handle (how about them Cowboys!!), and Hurricane Ike… I’m ready to head to CA this morning for a few days of relaxation before the I Do’s.

Last week I was able to have not 1, but 2 girls’ nights. Thursday was the first with Melissa, Christine and Gretchen. We went to the usual watering hole, Capitol Pub. We all had a long week and after some appetizers, a few beers, and silently judging the chain smoker in a suit at the table next to us we called it a night. Gretchen is having a big 3-0 birthday bash this weekend at the House of Blues, and I know Melissa has worked really hard to make the event wonderful. I’m sad that Christine and I will miss it, but can’t wait to see the pictures when we get back.

Friday was the second girl’s night. Celeste came into town to escape Houston and impending doom with Hurricane Ike. Not knowing how long she would be displaced she made plans to stay with several friends over different nights to spread the love. It’s always a party when she's around and Friday was no exception. Our other friend Elizabeth was in from Boston for a bachelorette party and we had planned on pedicures & Mexican food for Friday night. I didn’t tell anyone Celeste was here, and surprised them at the nail salon. After a pampering pedi, and Celeste getting burned by the eyebrow “technician” we headed to Matt’s in Lakewood for some Bob Armstrong dip and margaritas.



The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of last min wedding errands, laundry/packing, and of course taking a trip to see baby Aaden at home and to give mom Erin some company. So today I head home. I have all day tomorrow to do nothing at all without a care in the world. Thursday Chris, Rob, Allison, Colleen & Val come to town…and I see a trip to the Mine Shaft in our future. Friday the rest of the Texans arrive to Tahoe City and the weekend events begin.



When I blog next I will have a new last name.

A few of my favorite things (and one that's not)

The Cowboys have win #1 under their belt. After watching all the episodes of Hard Knocks I love DeMarcus Ware (sigh).



We received the most amazing wedding gift over the weekend. It was a shiny new MAC from the Apple store courtesy of John and Terri (Chris mom & step dad).


We also had a few deliveries from Crate and Barrel over the weekend. Chris thinks it feels like Christmas so he’s in heaven.



I was able to see baby Aaden several times. Weighing in at 9lbs, 6oz and 21.5 inches long he is one big baby! Thank God she had a c-section. Both mom and baby are home and healthy.



I wanted to watch the VMA’s but changed the channel after a while. Russell Brand was annoying, ignorant, and obnoxious. I think the UK can have him back.

Latest Goings On

So August went out with a bang. A summary of events:


A weekend in Tahoe where we met with the pastor, picked vows, got the official marriage license, and tasted cake. Chris has wanted to go to a cake tasting since the engagement, and I have to say this one was worth it. Yummy.



My parents also got us all great seats to a lake side concert that weekend with Sheryl Crow, and James Blunt. It was a really good show, but I thought Chris was going to walk out when she sang a song about Exxon Mobile. I'm just saying that unless I'm at a convention or rally I prefer that singers, you know, sing...I don't need to know thoughts on politics. If I wanted to pay $100 for that I would go to a fundraising event.



My friend Callie had a hemorrhage in her brain, and was in the ICU for a week, no answers, no treatment...no explanation. She was sent home, but was back in the ER last night with spotty vision. I adore her, and ask everyone to keep her in prayers. I will also never go to Plano Presbyterian for anything unless I'm bleeding out and have no other option.

My other friend Erin is having her baby today, in a few hours actually, via c-section. This is a big baby, estimated weight at 9lbs last week. She is doing this solo, and I am amazed at her strength. I know today she is a little scared, but she and the baby will be perfect. I can't wait to see them this evening.



My gripes of the week are that currently I have a DJ that can't seem to return a call, a sudden change in venue coordinators 18 days before our wedding, 32 degree temps at night for our outside reception, and people that don't RSVP. Hello, it has a stamp on it, it's addressed, check a freaking box and send it back. Annoying.