Bachelorette Party!

This weekend was so much fun that I can't even come up with a cheesy title for this one...

This weekend we had my final night out as a single girl- my amazing Bachelorette Party in New Orleans! 10 of us met up in New Orleans to stay at this beautiful house:



On Friday we hung out at the house while everyone got into town and then got ready to head down to Frenchman Street for the Satchmo (Louis Armstrong) Festival. It was so much fun, and just the right kind of low key night we needed. Here's a pic of the Pine Tree girls on the trip:

Here's the whole group!On Saturday we woke up and headed over to the New Orleans Cake for breakfast and then over to the downtown area to Polenamics for a pole dancing lesson. I just have to say that Natasha (our instructor) was absolutely amazing and I had a blast! Also, pole dancing is HARD work and I was sore for a week after the class! Here's a picture from the class:

After leaving the class, we went home, changed, and headed out to see New Orleans. Of course our first stop was walking around the French Quarter and then to Deanie's Seafood for a late lunch.

Saturday night we headed out to Bourbon Street. First was a wonderful dinner at Red Fish Grill where we got to use the adorable koozies that my wonderful friends had made for our party:
And for dessert, an adorable cake from the same bakery where we had breakfast.

We had so much fun on Bourbon Street and we really hated going home on Sunday. I have the best friends a girl could ask for and I am so thankful for each and every one of them!

Meet the Teacher - Early!

When Casey and I got engaged and set our date for August 21st I was so excited that we were getting married on my Nanny's birthday. The last thing on my mind was that I would be starting school 36 hours after we tie the knot. This is now coming to bite me in the butt. With work week being the week before we get married and "Meet the Teacher" being at the exact time of my rehearsal, I have had to get a little creative with how to do things. I was really sad that I wasn't going to get to meet my new kids and their parents before school (I didn't get to last year either) so my friend and fellow Kindergarten teacher Jackie recommended that I make a video to show to the parents and kids when they show up for Meet the Teacher. Three and half hours and a short iMovie tutorial later, here is my "masterpiece". What do you think?

Half a Century

Oh yeah... and also I turned 25 this past Thursday. Birthdays have always been kind of strange to me. I feel like everyone wants you to be SO excited (and I kind of want to feel excited) but it always feels like just another day. Thursday was one of those days - I got up early and headed off to church to help with Vacation Bible School.

Pastor Ware with his Roman helmet and spear

After that I went to have lunch with my friend Andi and then went home and cleaned up around the house. When Casey got home we hung out and then went out to eat at Sake Kawa (my favorite restaurant in The Woodlands) and to my surprise (sort of) Chris, Jessica, Kelli, Andrew, Mike, and Amanda were there! The reason I say "sort of" is because Casey and I are HORRIBLE about surprising each other. We're just way to much of an open book to be able to keep things from each other. That's okay though - it makes for a wonderful honest and open relationship. :) Sake Kawa was AMAZING and we had a great time hanging out with our friends.







On Friday we went to get our Marriage License! YAY!


On Saturday we headed up to Huntsville to go to Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is a scuba place, but you can go there to swim if you are with someone who is scuba certified. Chris and Jess came with us and we had the best time just hanging out and swimming in the crystal blue water.





All in all it was a pretty darn good 25th birthday. I can't believe I'm already 25 - where does the time go?

Rollin' with the Homies

NERD ALERT!

For those of you who were not aware until I was about 16 I had an intense passion for roller skating. Yes I was one of those "Rink Rats" that was at the skating rink 3-4 times a week. It started out with birthday parties and maybe going occasionally on Saturday afternoons with my dad, but it turned into a true passion. I started going Friday -Sunday to every session and when I was 11 decided I would try my hand at inline speed skating (the equivalent of speed skating in the olympics, but with inline skates instead of ice). I joined the East Texas Sprinters and for several years practiced 4-5 times a week and competed at meets all around Texas. It made me so happy, unfortunately it did not make my dad (or his wallet) as happy. I ended up getting burnt out and quit skating and took up golf (that's a WHOOOLE other story). Since quitting I have missed it constantly, but it's hard to find people who love skating as much as you and you never want to be the 25 year old creepy woman skating by herself at the skating rink on Saturday.

A month or two ago my mom gave me this pair of roller blades that her friend gave her but were too big for her (they were a 7-8 which is PERFECT for me!) and I decided I would start skating around my neighborhood for exercise. I thought it would take me a while to get back into the swing of things, but it was like I had never taken a pair of skates off my feet. For the past week or so I've been skating a lot and I have even included Riley a few times. He loves it because he gets to full out sprint while I skate behind him (and I can keep up) instead of him walking quickly when we got jogging. We just got done skating a mile and he is WORN OUT. Riley is currently laying on the hard wood floor panting and trying to cool off and I am about to do the same. Just thought I would share a forgotten passion that is being revived. :)

Bridal Shower

This past Saturday was the day of my Bridal Shower and I would have to say that it could not have been more perfect. My cousin and God daughter came down for the week to help prepare for everything and then my mom, best friends Leigh Anne, Sara Baker, and Jennifer Mawer Waddill came down on Friday. I had so much fun this weekend with my family and friends and of course Casey's wonderful family. Casey's Aunt Lorie and Uncle Ed (also his God parents) came down for the shower as well and I just adore these people. They are hilarious and just plain nice. Here are some pictures from the shower!

Gift opening

5 of my 7 Bridesmaids

Sara and I with our Ice Cream Suicides

The lovely spread

Me and my best friend/Maid of Honor Leigh Anne!

BPs and BFs

This past weekend I went home to spend a couple of days with my Mom and Dad before heading Mom and I headed out to Lubbock for my bridal portraits. Why Lubbock you ask? THIS is why Lubbock. The most amazing photographer EVER (Lauren Clark) lives there! I have been stalking Lauren since our friends Greta and Benny got married a few years ago. Lauren did their wedding and engagement photos and I was so wowed that I started following her blog and prayed that I would get to have her as my wedding photographer when Casey and I got married. After we got engaged, she was the first call I made to see what availability she had for 2010 and as fate would have it, she was only available on Nanny's birthday- August 21st, the day that I had always wanted to get married on. Perfection! When I went to schedule my bridal portraits, I was unavailable on the weekends that she was going to be in Houston and Austin, so I decided it would be perfect to visit one of my best friends Melissa McKay in Lubbock AND get my portraits done in the same weekend. Side Note: I love "kill two birds with one stone" situations. I had been meaning to visit Melissa and this worked out perfectly!

So on Sunday morning Mom and I loaded up her Volkswagen Beetle Convertible and headed to the Great Red West (haha). It took us about 8 hours, but honestly the drive was not bad at all. We had a great time hanging out as both of us love road trips. Sunday night we hung out with Melissa and her handsome cotton farmer boyfriend Zach and his parents and ate amazing sushi at this little place in Lubbock. I had never heard of sweet potato sushi, but it was AMAZING.

On Monday we got up and headed to the mall to go shopping and then had lunch at this adorable place called Stella's. After that it was go time. I felt like a crazy person running here to get my hair done, then across town to get my makeup done, then across town again to pick up my bouquet and then finally back to Zach's house to put my dress on and head out the door for photos. I'm really glad I got to do that though because I felt like it prepared me a little better for the day of the wedding. We met Lauren at Starbucks and then headed to a ton of different places to take photos. I LOVE how creative she is and how she really knows how to direct people in order to get the best looking photos. We got to see all of the photos on Wednesday and I am truly amazed at how beautiful they are. She is definitely one of the most talented artists that I have ever met. I wish I could post one of the photos on here, but unfortunately Casey reads "our" blog sometimes and I really don't want to ruin his surprise.

After heading back from Lubbock on Tuesday I picked up my cousin Jen (also my matron of honor) and my adorable God daughter Abby. I think I drove a total of 13 hours that day but honestly, I had such great company the whole time that I really didn't notice how much time I was in the car.

On Wednesday we headed to the pool early and hung out for an hour or so. Abby loves the water and it was so much fun getting to play with her. Here are some photos from the day:

Me and my cousin Jen

Me swinging Abby :)

The rest of this week we have just been hanging out and now I'm waiting for my mom and best friend Leigh Anne to get here for my bridal shower weekend YAY!

Americana

This weekend was our 3rd annual 4th of July party and I'm just going to go ahead and say it - it was by far our best for many reasons.

Reason 1: I actually bought cute tableware and set everything up beforehand so I wasn't super stressed out the day of the party:





Reason 2: I really liked the outfits I wore this weekend. Yes both of them included Chambray, but I really can't get enough of that stuff right now.



Reason 3: We had a slip and slide...




Reason 4: Our friends brought a TON of a fireworks...




Reason 5: My cupcakes turned out great..




and the final reason....

My neighbor busted out a huge blow up water slide about 2 hours into our party (he rents blow up bounce house things) and almost everyone at the party changed back into their bathing suits and played on that thing for hours...




And that my friends... was a 4th of July party to be remembered.

Happy Independence Day everyone!