I Can't Carry a Tune: My First Karaoke Experience

Saturday night, I went to Jessica's birthday party. She is quite the singer and wanted to celebrate by doing karaoke. She is the one holding the mic in the pic below.

Jeff, her husband, rented a private karaoke room...oddly enough at Main Event, the same place we celebrated Cheyenne's birthday party like 3 hours prior. When I arrived to the karaoke room, there was some technical issues, so the manager provided a few rounds of drinks on the house and also refunded their money for the room, to make up for it. An hour later, we were singing. By that time, we had our playlist and we were off!

I met Jessica and Jeff through Cheyenne.
Last year, Cheyenne became good friends with her classmate, Sophia.
Sophia is Jessica and Jeff's daughter. Interesting fact, the live several houses down from us.

Trey stayed at home and watched the girls. I told him all about it and now, I'm trying to convince him to have his holiday party there.

I'm so glad Jessica and Jeff invited me.
I had a blast singing and rapping.

Cheyenne's Birthday Party

Saturday, we celebrated Cheyenne's birthday at Main Event.
We decided to have a little get together. Cheyenne wanted to invite 3 girls from school and luckily all three were available to attend. We had a blast!

Dutch

Last week, my friend/neighbor/running partner went out of town. While she was away, the girls and I watched her welsh corgi. Isn't he the cutest??? His name is Dutch.
We even took him for a short walk.


The girls and I kind of want a dog, but we've decided it would be best to just dog sit. Before Cheyenne was born we actually had two welsh corgi's, but after Cheyenne spent over a week in NICU we decided to re-home them.
Here are the 2 pups we had...
Harley

Corky

Backyard Wedding in South Dakota

My sweet friend Jeri got married, last weekend. Here are a few snapshots from her weekend wedding.

Friday afternoon, I flew into Sioux Falls. Jeri and Meg picked me up from the airport and we headed straight to the rehearsal.  I finally, met the groom - Kyle!

All of Jeri's friends and family were so nice. After the rehearsal, I headed back to Jeri's apartment. We were in bed somewhat early.
Saturday, our day started at Panera Bread and then the salon. 

Jeri was so laid back and cool the entire morning. By mid-morning she was ready for the wedding and we had enough time, she decided to have a first look with Kyle, before the ceremony. That was such a sweet moment. I know she'll be writing a post about the wedding, so if you'd like to see more pictures or hear about more details you can follow her blog at http://jerbear8.blogspot.com

It was such a great weekend!!! I'm so happy for Jeri, Kyle and their pug Ollie!

Weekend in Houston

We took a road trip. We took Trey's super duty truck, which was a win for me - since I didn't have to drive at all!

We spent the weekend visiting with Steve and Linda. They've lived in Houston for a few years, but this was our first trip to their house. We usually see them a few times a year in Abilene or Ft. Worth. We are so glad we made the trip to see them and their boys!

Friday night, we grilled at their place and later went out for dessert - at Vintage Park. There was live music and the kids really enjoyed that.


This week was a recovery run week for me. Friday before we left town, I ran my long run, which was only 8 miles. The following morning, Linda and I went for a 4 mile run around The Woodlands. It wasn't as humid as I was expecting. After our run, I grabbed some freshly brewed coffee from H-E-B (the little things that make me so happy).


That afternoon, we went to a water park, where Linda and her boys have a summer membership. For dinner we went to MOD pizza. We ended our night with cocktails and shots (no shots for me) at their place and watched 2 episodes of Wet Hot American Summer.

Dakota enjoyed herself so much, she said she was going to stay with them forever. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the toys and also the trampoline in their backyard.

Texas Raceway

Friday night, we went to Texas Raceway. Chris was planning on racing his Mustang. Trey thought it would be funny to race the Mustang against the Twin Temp Service van. Guess who won?

It wasn't for advertising or anything like that…there really weren't a lot of people out there anyways…it was just for good fun. When Trey finishes restoring his truck, he wants to take it out there. It was a fun night. We also went out to dinner with Chris. Matt met us at the racetrack. We got home pretty late and I missed my Saturday long run. I made up for it on Sunday. I ran 16 miles. Ooooohhhh, it was a long one!



Before they raced, the had to take the ladders off of the van.

Graduating From Kindergarten

Here's a throwback to the first day of school, back in August.

Saturday, I recorded Josh and Sommer's wedding in Mineloa. It was a gorgeous wedding, despite the morning rain. The rain cleared up - in time for the outdoor reception.

Sommer booked me a hotel room, so I wouldn't have to make a 2 hour drive home following the reception. I woke up pretty early on Sunday, drove to the church to pick up a cord I had accidentally left behind (it's not a wedding unless I forget something) and then I made the drive back home.

Later that afternoon, Cheyenne and I had a ballet date at Bass Hall.
While we were there, we met up with Amanda (She use to watch the girls for me). I won an extra pair of ballet tickets (it was a Texas Ballet Theater FB contest) and I gave her my tickets, since I already had a pair. I also won tickets to the Botanical Gardens and Japanese Garden...I kept those and plan on taking the family this summer before it gets too hot.

I'm surprised how much Cheyenne likes going to the ballet and can sit through it without getting fidgety. Typically, the show is about 2 hours long. The intermission and breaks help. She takes a pen and notepad in case she doesn't want to watch parts of the performance. This was the first time, this season, she sat and watched the majority of the show. Going to the ballet is something we look forward to doing together. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but I went ahead and subscribed to another season with Texas Ballet Theater, so that means we'll be going to more shows in the fall and spring. Now, I'd like to look into doing something with Dakota….some one-on-one with her. She's too young for the ballet, right now. If you have any ideas, let me know. I'll be kicking some ideas around.

After the ballet Chey and I drove to Grapevine to meet Dakota and Trey at Great Wolf Lodge! I'll write more about that in the next blog post!

Dakota Day! We Toured the Fire Department.

While Cheyenne was at school, Dakota and I toured the Fire Department. There was a whole group of us from church.

The kids made Valentine Cards for the fire fighters.

Nice Ride

When someone gets what they've always wanted, you can't help but be happy for them.
Trey's business partner, got his dream car.

Long Time Friends

Look who stopped by...
I'm so happy they stayed a while to visit!

Ballpark, Coffee Shop, a Breakfast Date & Sleep Walking

Trey scored four free tickets to the Rangers game. I would've joined him, but I had a wedding consultation, that I didn't want to cancel. Plus, after working a 10 hour shift, I just want to veg on the sofa, especially when I'm still getting over this cold…but Trey had a blast having a guys night out.

 I had a low key night. I met with a bride/potential client at a coffee shop, afterwards I picked up the girls from Rosa's, by the time we got home, it was time to get ready for bed.

Today, was bring your Dad to School and Eat Breakfast Day.

Dakota woke up at 9 pm wanting me to carry her. In case you are wondering that dress is her nightgown. She is so stubborn about what she wants to wear and to me some battles are not worth fighting. I let her sleep in her day clothes, if she wants. Right now, she only has a few outfits she wants to wear, this dress is one of them.

I Have Sweet Friends

This past week, Chey was sick, well Wednesday I came down with a head cold, chills, fever and an ear infection. On top of all that Dakota started coughing.

Being sick is tough.

I committed to filming a wedding, so yesterday, I sucked it up and made it through a 13 hour work day.  I woke up that morning with high hopes, since I was feeling somewhat normal, but as the day progressed, my condition got worse. My voice was shot, I had to scream just for people to hear me -- which wasn't really a scream at all - it was more of a whisper. My ears were popping, and my throat felt like it was bleeding and throbbing. I could go on and on and say how horrible it was, but instead I'll turn my focus on the positive stuff, like today how my friends from church bought me goodies, when they heard I was not feeling well.

My friends Dan and Kristin brought me homemade chicken broth and Elderberry Syrup.
Rosa, my friend who watches the girls made Dakota and I cinnamon flavored water. Dakota loves this stuff. Oh, and Krista and Casey took Cheyenne to church today. My friends are the best!

Going back to Saturday ---
During the day, I tried to keep my energy up, by eating some quick snacks.

This was me at the wedding reception. All smiles, trying to smile my pain away. Smiling and being positive did help, some....I'm glad to be home and resting up. Night. Night.

Ballet Camp 2014

Today, was the end of the week ballet recital. Bria and Chey have had the most amazing week together at camp. They both did an incredible job performing! I'm so proud of them!

Cheyenne can be shy (especially in a ballet setting), but when she has a friend by her side, she seems to break out of her shell. It was exciting to see her perform with so much confidence.
Dakota was a good girl and sat during the entire performance, which allowed me to record Chey's dance.

My precious girls. I love them!

The B family! It was nice seeing Erin and the girls this week. Mike drove into town for the performance and afterwards, we went out for a quick bite. I told the girls we were celebrating their dance accomplishments! They were thrilled!

You May Not Recognize Her

Cheyenne has had a few trims, here and there.

For the longest time, she wasn't interested, but somehow I convinced her. Erin has been in town and staying with us this week (it's ballet camp week ((YAY!!! )), so she cut Chey's hair.

We love it! She looks so sophisticated.


Dakota likes it too.

Dakota's 2nd Birthday Party at Chick fil A

This weekend we celebrated Dakota's birthday at Chick Fil A.
The girls love the food and playing there, so having the party there - made sense for us. Also, no clean up for mommy. WIN!

The birthday girl...

When she was presented with a cupcake and candles she knew exactly what to do.

She's only 2 years old, but it's like she knew it was her special party. She was thrilled to be the center of  attention.

We invited a few friends and Trey's parents drove from Abilene to join us. It was a nice surprise seeing them. While Dad was in town, I gave him his Father's Day gift. Red wine and coconut flavored almonds. Trey is going to get a wallet. I'm going to let him pick it because I want him to have exactly what he wants.

Dakota appreciated the cards. She lisented carefully as Nana read them to her.

The best part of the party was playtime!

FYI - Dakota dressed herself…PJs and a colorful tutu.

The kids weren't the only ones to have fun. Krista my coffee date buddy was there too. Ahhh, I love this girl.

Cheyenne's Ballet Recital

We are so proud of our little ballerina!


After the performance she was so excited to see everyone.

Mrs. Amanda was there. She did dance as a child too. Before the recital and during the intermission, she was telling me about her dance life. The studio she went to participated in a lot of competitions. The school we have Cheyenne in, is not really like that. There are some opportunities for competition, like YAGP.org and other dance comps, but from what I can tell, that's not the primary focus.

Here are a lot of pictures we took after the performance! Enjoy!








Her next ballet adventure will be Ballet Camp, in a few weeks.

She's enrolled for another semester of ballet. That should be interesting, since she will also be going to Kindergarten in the fall.

Blue Angels Air Show

Ft. Worth Air Power Expo: Blue Angels

Before we headed to the air show, we met Chris for a bite to eat at Jersey Mike's…and then we had to stop for pictures outside! When there is a hippo, you have to!

We fought a long line of traffic, walked a mile and made our way to the air force base.

Chris is the one who told us about the show.

If you ever get a chance to see Blue Angels, you have to go! It was incredible watching them do all their tricks!!! Look how close they are!!!

Las Vegas Pt 2 of 3

I can't believe I was considering wearing heels (at night, in Vegas), but the day before leaving Texas, Jeri and I talked and we were both like NO! That was a good decision! We walked so much! Even with flats, Jeri got blisters on her feet.

Tuesday (last night in Vegas)
As soon as the conference was over I went to the hotel convenient store and picked up a bottle of moscato. So, we had pre-drinks on the cheap at the hotel, while we were getting ready. Best idea ever!

Jeri insisted I wear her green dress, so we could sparkle together, since she was planning on wearing a similar dress, but in gold. We did a smell check…haha…seriously. It passed the test, so I wore it. We headed to Caesars Palace and had drinks at a bar called shadows. I never know what to get at a bar when they don't have a cocktail menu (a sign that I don't drink at bars, often). So, I ordered a margarita. It was delicious.

I have several celebrity chef obsessions and one of them is Bobby Flay! Jeri was awesome and made us reservations at his Resturant MESA Grill. If you go to Vegas, you have to go! Tell Bobby, I sent you. :)

One of my all time favorite quotes is from Mr. Flay.

“If you aren't nervous about your passion, you aren't passionate about it.”

The bar,  MESA Grill and a nightclub - Pure are all in Caesars Palace.
A club promoter approached us and gave us VIP passes to PURE. They also had free drinks for us until midnight. I felt super special and cool, until I asked someone how much cover was and he said he also got a VIP ticket.What? Haha. I found it comical. But really, if you want to go to a nightclub in Vegas don't pay the cover, just walk around and a prompter will most likely give you free admission. I'm not a club goer by any means, in fact before this trip, I had never been to one. I figured I might as well do it before I'm 30, plus - it was so much fun dancing. PURE was super nice!!! I liked the music better at PURE than at the bank. At the bank was more of a rap mix, PURE had more of a dance DJ type of mix going on. If that makes sense.

We ended our night by stopping for dessert one last time at the sprinkles ATM. It was about 3 am Texas time.

So that was my Vegas / 30th birthday celebration / workcation with my awesomely sweet friend, JerBear! I'd love to do it again next year!!!!

Las Vegas Pt 1 of 3

Hi! I'm back from Las Vegas. My flight landed last night. I have the rest of the week off from the office. However, I have freelance projects, so I won't exactly be relaxing the next few days. I thought I'd give you guys 3 entries about my Las Vegas adventures. Part 1 and 2 will focus on the Vegas nightlife, hanging out with Jeri and part 3 will focus on the NABShow conference.

Sunday,  I woke up at 4 am to catch a 7:55 am flight. I got to Vegas around 9 am. I spent my entire day at the conference. Jeri was scheduled to land in Vegas like around 10:30 pm or something. We had already decided that when she got to the hotel, she'd drop off her bags and then we'd go out for drinks. Well, she ran into delays. She got to the hotel at 11:50 pm, but that didn't stop us from hopping on the monorail and going to the strip. Our first stop was at a pizza shop and then the sprinkles ATM.

When we walked through the Bellagio, a club promoter gave us free tickets to The Bank nightclub. By the time we got back to our hotel it was 3 am!!!! My eyes were bloodshot because I had barely got any shut eye! That night, I only got about 2 hours of sleep. Every intention Jeri and I had of running went out the window. Spoiler alert: we didn't run one time, while we were in Vegas. But we wore tons of sparkles, so we were fine!!
Monday, I had a decent break, from the conference, so Jeri and I ventured to the Bellagio Cafe.
 
That night, we didn't really have any plans lined up, but we were both exhausted. We had planned on napping before going out….that didn't happen. And Jeri was too busy that day hanging out by the pool to fit in a nap (vacation problems). So, instead of napping, I laid on the hotel bed for 20 minutes with my eyes shut. They needed to rest! We ended up going to the Cosmopolitan.
It was our favorite casino! Super sleek.

Jeri was dressed in sparkles so she got a ton of compliments on her dress. She looked amazing! 
I almost forgot, before heading back to the hotel we went to Serendiptiy!
Mmmm, it was yummy!