Happy birthday Granny!

We celebrated Grandmother's 85th birthday back in April and I wanted to make sure the pictures hit the blog. We took her to Compari's Italian Restaurant and had a very nice dinner celebrating her 85 years!

 Grandmother and her three kids - Ginger, Ben, and John ( my dad)

I love you Granny! :)

Happy birthday to Blair!

This past Saturday, we celebrated the birthday of our niece Blair. Blair turns two this coming Friday! I can't believe what a big girl she has become! Jessica, Eric's sister, did a wonderful job planning the soccer themed party that was held at Extra Innings in Plano. The kids enjoyed running around in the enclosed field space and the adults enjoyed not having to run after the kids!

Blair was running nonstop the whole time!

 Cute thank you tags to go on the bags of homemade cookies. Yum!

Blair's soccer ball cake, which was made by Eric's mom. She did a great job!

The birthday girl and Libby posed for a photo shoot.

 Happy parents of the birthday girl!

Blair showing off her green frosting face

 Uncle Eric showing Blair how he was filming her.

 She really was loving petting this baby's head!

This super cute dry erase place mat was part of our gift to Blair. I ordered it from Milo Paper when they were having a 50% sale!

 Uncle Eric also served as the entertainment for the children and they thoroughly enjoyed beating him up. He was a sweaty mess by the end of it!

Some quality Uncle and Niece time!

Celebrating my birthday!!

My birthday was the day after Christmas on the 26th! Never late than never right on posting pics? What we do for my birthday is always up in the air as people are usually gone for the holidays, family is in town, or people are just tired! It is a weird time between Christmas and New Years so I can't just pick the weekend closest to celebrate. This year Eric's parents gave us their Mavericks basketball game tickets, so Eric and I invited Brittany and Dave to go with us.

Earlier in the day, I met my mom for lunch (my dad was playing golf!) and then went to the Galleria and returned something and just walked around. It was a relaxing day. The night started off with Eric and I having dinner at one of our favorite places that we hardly ever go to, Coal Vines Pizza. It was actually the spot of our first date! We met Brittany and Dave at Victory Tavern, right by the American Airlines Arena. We had a beer and then headed inside for the game.

 Me and Brit

  Eric and I... he looks thrilled to be taking a picture.

 Brittany and her fiance, Dave, at the game

Let's go Mavericks!

Hi Brit!

Unfortunately the Mavericks did not win the game! Oh well! It was fun! Brittany and Dave headed back to Arlington for the night and Eric an I met up with my friends Karla and Majorie at the Quarter Bar in uptown.

Me, Majorie, and Karla

It was a fun birthday! Can't believe I am 28... seems like we were 18 just yesterday!

Wow, I sound old!

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!

Happy birthday to my dad!!

I feel bad for just posting this because my dad turned 60 on Monday! (Yes, Dad I am putting it on their into the blog world!) Eric and I went to dinner with my parents at Remington's Seafood Grill in Addison. It was a nice, relaxing dinner with lots of yummy food and celebrating.

So happy birthday, Dad!! I love you very much and am very grateful to call you my father! I seriously have the best dad. He is funny and understanding, is always there for me, gives good advice, and is just an all around nice guy. I am very lucky to have him as my father.

 At his 60th birthday dinner!

I thought it would be fun to go through some old photos of the two of us in commemorate his 60 years!

This one makes me laugh! It is from my 6th grade birthday party and he was dancing (He has some pretty smooth moves, let me tell you!) and I was so embarrassed. I am trying to stop him here! Look how young we both look!

Senior Year Prom 2002 - Thanks for all the pretty dresses Dad!!

Hook 'em Horns! I followed in his foot steps and am proud to be a Texas Longhorn like he is! This picture is from my graduation weekend from the University of Texas in December 2005.

Cozumel - Summer 2006

We went on a fun father daughter scuba trip and had so much fun!

He gave me the best day of my life - my wedding! I cannot thank him enough for allowing me to have such a special day.

Showing off more dance moves!! This time I joined in!! I think we call this the washboard - get it?? like you are washing clothes the old timey way on a board?? Dorks... I know!

May 2011

And some even more entertaining pictures!! His younger years!!

 Long hair!!!

My wonderful parents on their wedding day. Looking good Dad!! 

Again, I am so glad we got to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday this week!! 

LOVE YOU!!

Happy Halloween!! 2 years ago today....

We brought home Ollie!!

Looking at these pictures I cannot believe how small he is! He weighed about 12 lbs I think and now he weighs about 60! On Halloween 2009, Eric and I drove out to East Texas and picked up Ollie from a bird dog breeder. I had picked out his picture online so I knew which one we were getting. As soon as we met him, we loved him! He has always been a little on the hyperactive, crazy side and although there were days in the beginning, we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into, it all is worth it. The sleepless nights where he cried in his crate, the puppy sharp as needles teeth, and the cleaning up his messes no longer matter because he is such a great dog. I know a lot of you think Eric and I are tad obsessed with our dog, but he is our child right now. Although we are not planning on a human child anytime soon, having Ollie makes me that much more excited for a baby. I know we are going to be good, loving parents and having Ollie has made me see that I can love someone else so much. He is my running buddy and our constant companion and we couldn't ask for a better dog!

Hope everyone had a good Halloween weekend! We had a busy one. I had a Stella & Dot show on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. After that I went to a neighbors for a pumpkin carving party, went to dinner with Eric then out to McKinney Ave with Kate and Lauren for a Halloween pub crawl.

Here I am with the Indian and the Dino "Kateasaurus Rex". I wasn't in the dressing up mood but did throw on Halloween colors! I had fun looking at everyone else and their costumes.

And last but not least Happy Birthday to my brother, Matt!! He and Megan just welcomed Baby Merritt a week ago into the world and I am sure Merritt, Mason and Megan will make sure he has a wonderful birthday! I am so happy for their family of four! Miss you and love you!

So sweet!!!!!!! Happy birthday Matthew!!!!

Updates - Merritt, Meals, & Our Weekend

Happy Tuesday... just some updates... Here are some pictures of my new neice Merritt. I wish that I was there to hold her! Thanksgiving will come soon, I hope!

 Big brother Mason holding his new baby sister. How sweet is this?? Mason will be five in Feburary.

My dad and my brother with Merritt. They looks so happy!

So yesterday I posted my menu for the week. I made the gingery chicken from Real Simple and to be honest it was not my fave. It took a bit more prep than I like. The kitchen was covered with tons of dishes. It has a lot of rice vinegar in it which kind of over powered the dish. The chicken was really good though, but the veggies were coated in the dressing and it was a bit much. The banana nut bread that I made was quite good though!

 Pictures from this weekend. Brittany and Dave came into town for a wedding so we all got together at the Ginger Man to catch up and have some beers. It was good to see them!

 Saturday night, went over to our friends Danny and Lindsay's house to celebrate Danny's birthday. We grilled fajitas and watched the Texas Ranger's game. This is Danny's Indiana Jones cake complete with a trick boulder. It was pretty funny.

Happy birthday Danny!

While my parents are in South Carolina visiting the baby, Chipper is staying with us. Don't let this picture fool you, they are not friends!

One last thing! Stella & Dot is raising money for Breast Cancer research this month by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Tribute Bracelet. It is a gorgeous little bracelet that can be worn every day as a tribute to those who are fighting or have fought breast cancer. If you would like to purchase it, please visit my personal Stella & Dot website to show your support!