Cinco de P

Okay--you all know that I will find any excuse to throw a themed party. So when my friend Rachel got engaged, and we started planning her lingerie shower for a date in May, we all tried to be as creative as possible. Sooo after much brainstorming, we settled on a Cinco de Mayo themed lingerie shower (not-so-appropriately called "Cinco de Penis"--it WAS a lingerie shower after all!) 

Rachel's sister, Amanda, made this adorable colorful cake!! This is only the second cake she has made like this!! Isn't it great?!

We all had so much fun making crafts and setting up this totally Mexican affair!

As guests arrived, they signed a special book and left Rachel a note and/or their best "honeymoon night" advice.

We had a great spread of cookies, chips, Sharky's spicy ranch (duh), and Caldwell's famous margaritas. 

We also made our own little photobooth, complete with props and a chalk board!

With the beautiful bride-to-be!

We had so much fun watching Wayne's video and watching Rach open up all of her goodies! Then, when all the guests left, we had a little photobooth fun of our own :)

I know I might be biased, but I really feel like it was the best lingerie party ever. Thanks to everyone who came--we love you all!

Phil, Mitchell & Cam: My New BFF's

During one of my random visits to Abilene last spring, my old boss and co-workers mentioned that they would be coming to Dallas to see the filming of "Inside the Actor's Studio" for Modern Family. They said they would get me an extra ticket, but I honestly didn't even give it another thought. 

A few weeks later, I found out this was for real and that I would be seeing Ty Burrell (Phil), Jesse Tyler Furgeson (Mitchell) and Eric Stonestreet (Cam)! I'm not the most religious watcher of Modern Family, but if you know me, you know that I am a fan of any/all celebs. Before we went over to watch the show being filmed, we went to dinner at Private Social, a restaurant owned by Tiffany Derry from Top Chef! 

She was so sweet and let us even come back into the kitchen--and of course take a picture!

This is the best photo I could get from the nosebleed seats, but it was so fun to watch them be interviewed!

They were so funny and overall the night was so much fun!

Easter 2012

This year on Easter, my parents came in town and we joined my aunt and cousins for Sunday church and lunch at their house. Even though our traditions are pretty low-key, I love any excuse to get together and spend time with my family. We enjoyed Granny's special (slightly creepy) bunny cake, and of course a custom Easter basket from the Easter bunny!

I love my sweet cousin Caroline! 

So thankful for my sweet family and the ability to celebrate Jesus' resurrection together!

My Friend Rachel

It’s been sooo long since I last posted, I’m not even sure where to start. Life has been crazy busy—but I am not complaining. Busy is always better than bored in my book. So, I have some good news and bad news…and doesn’t everyone want to start off with bad news? So here goes. At the end of March, my friend Rachel found a mass on her jaw. It was the strangest thing because (turns out) it had been there for over a year and it didn’t cause her any pain. After several weeks of tests, the doctors decided to go ahead and do surgery to try to remove it. After about 8 hours in surgery, they could only remove 90% of it because it was entangled with her facial nerves, which, if cut, could leave her face paralyzed. We made a quick Friday day trip to see Rach and she looked amazing!!!!! We could not stop talking about how great she looked after surgery. What a trooper!

                            

So fast forward a few weeks after several trips to doctors in Abilene and Houston, Rachel got the results that the mass on her jaw was a malignant tumor. The type of cancer she has is a very long complicated word, but we like to refer to it as weird cheek cancer. The doctors at MD Anderson decided that the best plan of action was to do another surgery to remove the remaining tumor, followed by 8 weeks of radiation in Houston. Now, here is where the whole plan gets a little tricky. Rachel and her fiancé Wayne were planning to get married at the beginning of August…which would prove to be a little bit tricky in the middle of radiation treatment. So, why put off a good thing, right? Waynechel decided to move the wedding up to June 3^rd…About 3 weeks after she got the treatment plan. Those few weeks were CrAzy—complete with frantic planning, crying, adjusting, phone calls and mass emails (both wedding & cancer related).

You see, having a 23-year-old friend with cancer is a tricky, tricky thing. Obviously, no one would choose this path for themselves or someone they love, so it is a hard pill to swallow. Cancer is just a heavy word that leaves a pretty nasty taste in your mouth (no pun intended). These last few weeks/months haven’t been easy for Rachel, Wayne or their families, but I honestly can’t think of a person with a stronger drive and support system to face something like this. I am SO thankful that Rachel has Wayne to stand by her side (as her husband, no less!) through all of the weeks of horrible-ness to come. It is just another testament to God’s perfect timing. We are all confident that Rachel is going to pull through this battle cancer-free, and it will just add to the powerful testimony she will be able to share with people one day.

So, the wedding I mentioned earlier… it was pretty much the best weekend ever. Rachel and Wayne’s wedding was on Sunday, June 3^rd, and that blog post is definitely on its way.

Please keep Rachel in your prayers over the next few weeks as she will be living in Abilene and Houston, undergoing radiation, and trying to soak up time as a newlywed with her sweet new husband (husband!!!!).  

Bryan & Jill Officially Become Brill

Last weekend, my friends and I headed out to Waxahachie for the highly anticipated wedding of our friends Bryan and Jill. Bryan and I became friends during our senior year of college, and I met Jill when she moved to Abilene last year. It has been so fun to be able to see them transition from dating to being engaged to now being newlyweds! We had such a fun weekend celebrating our sweet friends!

Of course we took a picture in our sunglasses in honor of the groom!

Congratulations little lovebirds! So happy for you guys!

March Madness

I can not believe how quickly March flew by! Can I get an amen?!

March has been a busy month, full of lots of birthdays and weddings! But my excitement really started on February 29th when I found myself riding home in THIS!

Yep, I got a new car. Isn't she beautiful?! I felt like I was breaking about 100 rules driving her off the lot. Am I really old enough to buy a new car?! Anyway, she is a 2012 Jetta SEL which basically just means she is smarter than I am. Awesome. I love her! Ashley has appropriately named her Katniss, which I fully support.

I started off the month of March by celebrating the birthday of one of my favorite people, Miss Emily Caldwell!

Such an occasion definitely called for the Happy Birthday banner :)

I also spent a lot of time in Fort Worth helping my cousin plan her wedding! She was married on March 18th, but unfortunately, I did not take any pictures! I did, however, manage to get a picture with my favorite little 2-year-old!

My boss was a judge in the Texas Wedding Guide Cake Competition this year, so I dragged my roommate Emily along with me to check out the best cakes in Dallas. It was SO much fun to see the elaborate cakes, not to mention, taste them all! I think Em and I could get used to eating wedding cake for dinner!

This is the cake that won. AMAZING!

During the weekend of my cousin's wedding, I also had 2 OTHER weddings for work. 3 weddings in 3 days. Crazy!! But my sweet mom came to town a day early to help me organize my room/life and do all my laundry. She is such an angel on this earth. We both took of work on Monday and spent the day being lazy and did a little shopping. Such a fun weekend!

One night, I met up with my bestie Amanda and her little sister Holly who was on Spring Break and came to Dal for a visit. It was so nice to catch up with my favorite sisters at one of my favorite Dallas places, Sfuzzi's!

One of the most exciting things that has happened recently was definitely the premiere The Hunger Games! A few weeks ago, Ashley and I bought our tickets for the midnight premiere and I have been SO excited. I was never on the Harry Potter or Twilight bandwagon, so this was the first big movie I have been excited about. It was SOOOOO GOOD! I absolutely loved it. Ash and I even got matching Hunger Games cups at the theater with about 140 13 year olds. Incredible.

And of course, what would March be without a little March Madness bracket challenge with the old man?! My dad and I always make brakets for the men's and women's NCAA tournaments and this year we actually bet on something. The men's bracket loser has to make a weekend trip to see the winner and the women's bracket loser has to purchase something for the winner with a $50! I was banking on winning both brackets, obvi, but now my chances are a little slim.

Come on KANSAS and MARYLAND!! :)

Sing Song 2012

I realize I am about a month and a half late on this post...BUT Caldy finally found her camera with all the Sing Song pictures, so I feel now is an appropriate time to write about my first experience at Sing Song as an alum.

Here's some quick background knowledge: Sing Song is totally a small private school Church of Christ thing. I know. Basically, groups of men, women or co-eds put on a 3 1/2 minute show dressed as something ridiculous, singing in 4-8 part harmony, and moving only their upper body. They usually practice for about 6 weeks, and it is the best and worst time of your life.

Because Sing Song is such a big deal when you are in school, it is one of the most anticipated events at ACU. Tons of alumni come back to watch the show, and it is so much fun to be able to see so many old friends. We had a great weekend of catching up with old friends and, of course, cheering on our favorite Siggies!

When I was in school, I was absolutely obsessed with Sing Song. Seriously. I would spend months with my friends brainstorming ideas and story lines, writing lyrics, painting props, sewing costumes, delivering props, staying up all night making the director's costume... whatever it took. It is so hard to explain how much I loved Sing Song, but it wasn't the actual performances I loved so much (don't get me wrong, those were great too!) It was the bonding experience that took place between my closest friends and between those I didn't know very well. Let me tell you, it is a humbling experience to lose when you perform a show you believe in 100%... and it happened to me twice.

Watching those girls this year was no different! Siggies were fireworks. They started out as little TNT dynamites and turned into little explosives while they were singing Firework by Katy Perry. Yes. They were AMAZING!! You could tell they put their heart and souls into their performance, and win or lose, they knew they did an incredible job. They ended up getting 2nd, but I don't even think that mattered to them, because, even though you hear it a bajillion times, it really isn't about winning. I was so so proud of all my little fireworks!!

(Watch the video HERE)

I'm already looking forward to Sing Song 2013!! I wasn't kidding when I said I was obsessed.