Happy birthday to me!!!

Today is my birthday! Yes, the day after Christmas! Horrible, you think? No way! It is what I have always known and I like having my birthday the day after! It is three days of family, friends, and presents! I thought it would be fun to go through some of my past birthday celebrations! Don't make fun - I think I look better with age! :)

1996

I had a joint birthday party with three friends, Devry, Melida, and Lisa. It was not the day after Christmas, but we had a blast. We had a pool party with all of our friends!

2000

My 16th birthday!! I went out to dinner with my friends at a fancy restaurant in Highland Park and remember having virgin daiquiris!

2004

21st Birthday!! We went to eat with my parents, brother, sister in law, and then my dad dropped Ashleigh and I off on Greenville to meet up with some friends! It definitely was a fun night!

2005

After dinner with my dad and grandmother, Brittany and Ashleigh and I hit up the bars all along McKinney Ave in Dallas. I had just moved into my apartment in Dallas so it was all so new to me!

2006

Again, out to dinner with the family and a shot with my brother! Then Brittany and I met up with friends at Dragon Fly at Hotel Zaza.

2007

Karaoke at the Corner Bar! My birthday was on a Wednesday night so that meant karaoke! This really was a fun night!

2009

We celebrated low key this year, by going to dinner at my neighborhood pizza place, Franki's, and then family and friends coming back to our house for gifts and cake. Here is Mason posing with me!

 2010

We celebrated with the family during the day by bowling and lunch and that night I went out with all my friends who were in town. Here is Ashleigh, AJ, me, and Brittany. We went to dinner at Nick and Sam's Grill and then Quarter Bar.

This year we are going to the Mavericks game with Brittany and her fiance Dave! I think it will be a fun way to celebrate this year!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas from the Bases!!

Finally sharing a copy of our Christmas card!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and spends it with the ones they love!

The Crazy Trio Unites!!

Last night I got to hang out with two of my best friends, Brittany and Ashleigh. You might remember them if you read this post. We all went to UT together and have many a fun, crazy night. Well, we are {almost} 28 now and last night we pretty much took it back to the college years, maybe even high school!

Brit and Ash live in Arlington (they went to high school together), which is about 30 minutes away from me, so we decided I would drive out to them since they are the ones here in town for just a few days. Arlington does not have a vast variety of watering holes, so our only choice was pretty much Sherlock's. Think typical, smokey pub/bar. I sorta planned on coming home, but packed a bag, just in case. You know, it's better to be safe than sorry!

Well, once we arrived at Sherlock's, we learned it was happy hour until nine, which meant $2.50 glasses of wine!  After about glass number three, I was texting Eric that I would be staying the night for sure! We had such a fun time, just catching up and reliving old stories (and learning a couple new ones!) So around 10:00, we call Brittany's dad, Mr. Kane, to come pick us up. He was so nice to get out of bed (yes, he was asleep!) to come pick our tipsy selves up from the neighborhood bar! We all reeeeeked of smoke since Arlington still allows smoking, so I am sure the car ride home was extra special. Ashleigh called her parents on the way home to tell them she was spending the night. (See? This is like high school!)

But the night didn't end there! In true high school/college fashion, we took (ok, maybe snook!) beers and a bottle of wine from her parents fridge upstairs and sat around drinking more and laughing and talking. We drunk dialed Ashleigh's boyfriend Scott to ask him when he was going to propose and woke Eric up because we wanted to ask him a question about taxes! Seriously?!?! Taxes!! At least our drunken conversations have evolved since college, right?? Before we knew it, Ash was passed out and Brittany and I were still awake at 2:00 am! Needless to say we had headaches this morning! Mrs. Kane kindly asked us how we were feeling and we just said we had felt better!

I love being married and sharing my life with Eric, but sometimes it is just fun to have a girls night and just let loose with your girl friends. Eric doesn't get how we can all get together and act so ridiculous. We just have a good time! I can't believe that the three of us have been friends now for almost a decade!! These girls are definitely friends for life! And in true, crazy trio style, we took some photos, of course.

 Ashleigh, my California girl, and me

 Brit, my "midwest school teacher"

 We might have had a shot...

The Crazy Trio!!

It's OK Thursday!

It's OK...

I finished my Christmas shopping yesterday and still have to wrap it all!

I am now a huge fan of box wine! My dad found this at Costco and it is so good!

I am a little sad about giving up my queen size bed even though we are getting our new king size bed delivered today. It has been my bed for years and I like it! 

That even though we have above mentioned king size bed, I know Ollie and I will still sleep in the middle and poor Eric will still probably have no room. Sorry! We love you though!

I am addicted to 4 Square now. Thanks Neely and Amber! I checked in like 10 places yesterday and am #1!!! Don't worry, I don't publish to Twitter or Facebook (all the time...)

I am super excited to go have drinks with The Crazy Trio girls tonight! 

Yay for both of them being in town! 

I have like 9324839 tasks/chores to do around the house and I am blogging!

Okay, what's OK with you?!

HAPPY THURSDAY!!!!!!!

Celebrating Christmas a little early!

My brother and his family have been in town for the past couple of days. They live in Greenville, SC now, so they come back to Texas for Christmas and have to split their time between Dallas and Houston, where my sister in law's family lives. This year we got the first half of the trip so we celebrated Christmas and opened presents on Sunday night. This trip was extra special because I got to finally meet my new niece, Merritt, who was born on October 21st. She is absolutely perfect and so cute! Here are some pictures from our Christmas, but the truth is they are mostly of Merritt!

 My grandmother holding Merritt for the first time

 My aunt Ginger trying to soothe Merritt. 

 Mason, my nephew, who is 4, opening his presents!

 Dad and Grandmother

 Aunt Ginger and my brother, Matthew

 Someone is excited for their presents!

 Mason watching his special video from Santa

 Oliver and me! I actually took advantage of my parents awesome DSLR camera and took lots of pictures of the dogs. A puppy post to come soon!

My dad made his infamous Chile Rellenos. He has made these for years and my mom and aunt love them. They request them for their birthdays. I used to turn my nose to them (no clue why?!) but this year I ate them and loved them! So good!

 Homemade Mexican Rice

 Mason and my aunt Ginger 

 

The iPad dorks club. All three of them are on their iPads playing a racing game. This is Eric's new obsession to get more points, to get better cars, so he can beat Mason, who has the best cars!

It was so nice having Matthew, Megan, Mason, and Merritt (yes the four Ms) here for so long! This week has been full of fun and as soon as I get the pictures from their fancy camera I will be posting about our adventures to the Trains at NorthPark, Legoland, and more!

Nieghborhood Annual Tacky Sweater Party

Eric and I live in a great neighborhood in Dallas where we have been fortunate to meet lots of fun other couples! It started with just a few of us girls going to dinner at a neighborhood place once a month and now has grown into like 20 different families. The girls still get together once a month, but every once in a while we like to do "co-ed" things with the husbands. This was our Second Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party. Thanks to the Feuille's for hosting us all!

 Eric decided his shirt, belt buckle, and hat made him a "redneck dressed up for Christmas". That was fine by me because at first he refused to dress up. Note my tacky Christmas light earrings and my Stella & Dot La Coco necklace with a Christmas wreath pin!

 I went a different route myself and wore a red sweater dress that I actually like and added some fun accessories, like these Christmas knee highs with fur.

 Santa is too fisting! uh oh!

 Natasha, Camille, & Micah in their finest! Natasha actually made her shirt!

 Me and my BFF - Ashley, who is due in May!! WOooohooo!

 LOVED their outfits.

 Uh oh, Hannah's mommy is kissing Santa Clause!

 Sarah and her white elephant prize. A cute Santa apron! 

 Ash & Jerad and their lotto tickets!

Pinata!! I took a whack at it!

Looking forward to next years party already!!

Update, Recipes, and Boob Tube Babble

I cooked two new recipes this week that were so good and healthy! You should check them out. I love this website, SkinnyTaste. She has the best recipes, but lightened up and she puts the WW points on them!

Chicken Divan

Swedish Meatballs

Barbara Walters 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011

I am so over the Kardashians. I do have to point out that Kourtney is wearing Stella & Dot's Pegasus Necklace though, which is pretty cool!

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

These women are nuts!! Each week they get worse and worse I think. I did enjoy watching Taylor horrified by the Chippendale's dancers. I think that is how I would be as well! Seeing them in Vegas makes me want to go to Vegas ASAP! Eric and I are tentatively planning a trip soon.

I really don't think there is anything else new that I watched! I caught up on some DVR.

Pan Am - Love this show! Just watched the episode with the fire. I love Christina Ricci in this. She is so small though!

Desperate Housewives - I have been a loyal DH viewer since it came out. I can't get enough. This season is kind of dark though and I hope the ladies end on a high note, since this is the last season. I will miss them!

Millionaire Matchmaker - Oddly addictive for me. I watched the reunion episodes this week and loved seeing the old clients and every one being called out. For some reason, I like this show!

I am excited for this weekend! We have a neighborhood tacky sweater party tonight and I can't wait to see all the neighborhood girls and their husbands! Tomorrow, my brother and his family get in town! I finally get to meet my new niece, Merritt! I am so excited! The next couple of days are going to be full of fun things with her and my nephew Mason! Can't wait!

It's OK Thursday!

It's OK...

That I still need to get some Christmas gifts...

I keep buying myself things while buying Christmas gifts

 I ate like a plate of french fries at lunch today

That I think Ollie is the most handsome most sweetest dog ever

That I think he is the most annoying dog in the world sometimes

This is my 100th blog post and I thought I would do something exciting, but can't think of anything

That I am bored during the day right now

That I almost cried during a Taylor Swift Christmas song today

I want to buy my new little niece like everything because baby clothes are so cute

That I want to eat leftovers and get in bed and watch tv tonight

OK! What's OK with you??

A Cherry Wedding

First off, don't miss my jewelry blog sale!

My friend Tracy got married this past Saturday night and completed her perfect little family of five!  Tracy has been one of my good friends since 2007 and I am so glad that I took that job at Sprint just so I could meet her and Karla! Ha! Tracy is a friend who I can always count on to listen, be supportive, or make me laugh! I am so happy for her and Brandon, and their three kids, Jake, Cole, and Cate. I love this family and look forward to seeing them grow!

The wedding was held in Plano at the NYLO Hotel. The ceremony was outside in a big tent.

 Karla and I in our new Nordstrom Rack dresses and Stella & Dot jewels!

My date for the evening

Two very fun ladies and some of Tracy's oldest friends

Katie and Meghan

Such handsome ring bearers! 

Jake and Cole

The most precious flower girl ever, Cate Ella

 After the ceremony, having cocktails with the ladies.

Karla and I with Princess Cate

The beautiful bride!

The happy couple!

First dance

Such a sweet speech by the matron of honor, Tracy's twin sister Stacy

 I got to take care of Cate for a while! Such a sweet and good little girl!

(and yes, I did end up wearing her purple flower by the end of the night!)

This is the Tracy we all know and love!

Let's get this party started!

Congratulations Tracy! So glad we all got to celebrate with you!

We wish you many many years of happiness!