Im a bride!

So two weeks ago I ventured out into the freezing cold...It really was like 30 or 40 some degrees, and took my bridal portraits. My dear mama came to be my dress wrangler and funny face maker. We went to this place called Dunvegans Keep its just south of Austin, TX and its actually this guys house, and it is AMAZING!! When we pulled up we slightly freaked because we thought the GPS took us to the wrong address or something as we were in a neighborhood. But alas, when you go around back its like a medieval wonderland. We didn't use a lot of the Medieval notions but there were some beautiful spots where we did take pictures. I was a little nervous as I did my own hair and made the bouquet myself, but I think they turned out fabulous and actually on the wedding day my hair will be mostly down unless its raining and I will NOT be making my own bouquet!!

Here you go enough talking, these are a few of my faves. ENJOY

seperation anxiety

So I sent out my wedding invitations last Wednesday.

Why does putting 140 envelopes in the mail make me nervous? It is such a simple thing and one would think it was a huge stress off my shoulders but no it wasn't, at least not for me at that time it wasn't...

It was kind of silly that I was so nervous But I slaved over those things all the cutting and gluing and stressing and averting minor crises. I finished them all and then I had them weighed and bought stamps and then I was worrying that maybe they were heavier than that post office worker told me. I have heard you should go to several different post offices to get them weighed but I didn't have time for that so I just bought the stamps the lady told me to buy.

Then I was worried that all the glue would come apart and people would open the envelope to a mash of random papers since I did not have them hand cancelled like you hear you should. But I figure ok, so I spend an hour hand canceling them myself and then the post office lady puts them in a bin and at the next point on their journey they are thrown in with all the other envelopes and go through the machines like all the other envelopes. So I didn't have them hand cancelled and I was worried that now Im a bad bride and allllll the time and energy and stress I put in to them was for nothing and people will receive a crumpled and smashed envelope

Well apparently at least some of them arrived in one peoples hands in one piece. But now I am nervous because I made them and the invitation is the first impression of what this wedding is going to be and OMG IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS BIG OF A DEAL!!!

But alas they are out and now I just have to wait for the responses and non-responses and the time that will come to hunt people down to see if they are coming or not.

None the less a weight is lifted that now every waking moment is not spent working on my precious babies and I am now an Empty Nester...tear. Call me crazy but there was a twinge of separation anxiety... and I did hang on to a few just so I can look at them.

13.1

I did it!! I ran my first half marathon.

When this whole thing began a few months ago I had the notion that I would complete the half marathon with no intentions of running the whole thing, just completing it. Well I guess I am too competitive for that. I started out with all my training on the treadmill. I still remember the day when I ran 5 miles and thinking what an accomplishment it was. I was just thinking holy cow I ran for an hour straight and I actually ran 5 miles! Then I moved to the medical center, an area more conducive to outside running. With the move, about half of my excuses for not running very much went out the window. I still continued to run completely on the treadmill and I remember the day I did 8 miles it was such a great feeling, I got in my zone, I was focused and I actually enjoyed it! After that I realized this half marathon is real and I liked how running made me feel, it was an escape I could clear my mind and I prayed alot.

My mom told me about and then everything changed, I started to run outside and OHHH EEEEM GEEE running outside is so much harder than running on the treadmill. I mapped out my course and took off. I set out the first day to do my 10 mile run. Being new to the area I made a wrong turn and ended up running about 11 miles on accident, The next week I did 11 on purpose and that was the longest I ran....Until Sunday...Race Day

I was so psyched, My uncle who I would consider an expert gave my mom and me a pep-talk the friday before and I couldn't wait till sunday. On saturday we went to the Expo to pick up our race packets and tons of free goodies, tasted several samples of milks, protein drinks, goos and bars of all sorts. It was so fun almost a whole new world I never knew existed, or I did but didn't care because it never pertained to me but now that "I AM A RUNNER" it was enthralling.

Sunday morning although I woke at 4AM I was pumped not tired in the slightest. We got to the parking lot and had to walk what seemed to be about a mile to the gear check where I had to part with all my belongings, including my jacket...it was a teensy bit chilly. We got into our corral and waited to get to the start line after about 38 minutes or so we started.

Two hours and twenty seven minutes and a potty break later (So mad that I had to stop and pee at mile 0.1) I finished. It was so exhilirating!! People cheering you on passing up people and at about mile 7 thinking oh seriously I have a long way to go still!! At mile 11 it got real tough I could see the alamodome but new I was still 2.1 miles away!! I kept telling myself I had already come this far whats two more miles!! Before I knew it I was crossing the finish line and being handed my shiny new medal!!


I did it and I kind of still cant believe it, I enjoyed myself and had fun. I am most certainly doing more and I must have got the crazy bug or something because I want to do a full marathon next year. I hope to stay inspired and not let the novelty of it wear off. Once the wedding is over and I can stop working so much I can start to train more seriously, and I should probably buy some "real" running shoes not my $30 New Balance from the discount store.

I saw in March there is a Disney Princess Half Marathon I thought would be cute and in Sept I want to do the Virginia Beach Rock aand Roll with my Family but those are just a few beacons I look to for the future. I will be doing some more close to home and if Im really really lucky I will get picked for the Nike Womens Marathon in San Francisco but its by lottery only so like I said only if Im really really lucky but who knows.

Helloooooo are you in thereeeee???

Oh Hi yeah I have been a horrible blogger lately but I have been kinda busy.

For one planning a wedding... but I think I have all the big things taken care of... except the honeymoon but that will be dealt with next time I am in San Antonio. As soon as we move I will be taking on the invitation suite a huge task but one I am sooo excited to get started on and also fine tuning all the little wedding details. I am still having fun with it all and I am can't wait for the big day, although I was talking with M the other day and I am not sure what I will do once the wedding is over as most of my free time is dedicated to wedding stuff...maybe I can pick up my hobby of scrapbooking again who knows.

Also we are moving so for a while there my free time was taken up with finding a new place to live... We found a fabulous new midrise aptartment without carpet(has woodlike floors) in the main living area and an amazing kitchen...not to mention I am only 2 miles from work so that means I only have to drive about 5 minutes if at all, the complex has a courtesy shuttle that will take me to work!! Also its right by a huge beautiful park so I can run outside and take the dog for long walks and whip his fat hiney into shape!!

I went on a cruise with my best friend Erin I promise I will give a full update on that very soom but it was just too fabulous to only dedicate one sentence of my blog to.

We also revamped our wedding registry we discovered that one of my favorite stores (the one with a bullseye) has a horrendous return policy for gifts so we decided to scrap that and go to Bed Bath and Beyond.

And last but not least I am running a half marathon with my awesome mother. I hadn't run in about two weeks and she told me she did 5 miles the other day as she is religously following her training schedule. So, not to be outdone I went and made myself do 5 today and I must say I am a rockstar because I ran 5 and still had energy afterwards, as of yet I am not too sore. You see I come from a family of runners my one uncle has done more marathons and the like than I can count on one hand and my grandmother was a racewalker (her walking is my jogging) shoot she did the new orleans marathon at 75!!! So I have the genes I just need to utulize them and I am finding I AM A RUNNER!! I can do it and I am so excited. When I run it clears my mind and energizes me and So I really look foreward to Nov when we do this thang!!

On top of all that I work overtime as much as possible so yeah I think I have an ok excuse but I promise I will show my face around here more, really, I promise...cruise blog tommorrow!!

Whip it up week 4

For this weeks theme of Healthy Options i decided to let M decide since there was nothing I was dying to make. I gave him the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook and told him to choose something.

He chose Pizza Burgers

I like hamburgers but for whatever reason I never make them at home probably because we dont own a grill and they are never the same on the stove.

But Alas here we go

Here's the cast:


You'll need
1 lb. 96% lean ground beef
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. low fat mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup low fat, lower sodium, low sugar Marinara Sauce
4 Whole grain hamburger buns

1. Preheat the grill
2. In a large bowl, mix the beef, oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt until well combined, Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and shape into balls, packing them tightly as you do. Press each into a patty that is about 1/2" larger than the diameter of the bun



3. Grill the burgers for about 2 mins per side for medium rare, or until desired doneness (Do not smash the burgers with a spatula) About minute before the burgers are done top each with the cheese
4. Meanwhile put some marinara sauce in a small bowl and heat up in the microwave about 30-60 seconds. PLace the bun halves cut side down on the upper rach of the grill away from the flame for about 20 seconds or until toasted.
5. Place each bun bottom on a serving plate toasted side upand then place the pattied cheese side up on the bun bottoms. Spread the bun tops with your marinara sauce and place on top of the burger



Since this week is healthy options I thought I would add the nutrition facts

Per Serving 304 Calories, 32g Protein, 27g Carbs, 9g fat (3g saturated), 68 mg cholesterol, 5g fiber, 605mg sodium

1. was this good? Yes, it was good, not my favorite as Im not a big fan of meatball subs and that is basically what this is, but M loved it!

2. would is the recipe easy to follow? YES This recipe was so easy to follow and so easy to make and was done in no time, we didnt make ours on the gril and we used ground turkey instead of beef so ours took a little longer

3. would you make this again? I would make it again if M requested it but not on my own accord only because Im not a huge fan of the meatball sub type dish

Update

If you remember when I wrote about the little girl who was wandering around by herself

Well, M and I were at HEB grocery shopping yesterday and we saw one of the officers who came to the house that day. SO we asked him whatever happened to the little girl.

He said they found the apartment the little girl lives in and the dad was sleeping and the little girl let herself out. The dad had put his mattress in front of the door so the little girl wouldnt get out as he works night shift and was going to sleep and put Barney on TV so the little girl would watch. Apparently she is a little more advanced than Barney because the officer said he asked the girl to show him how she opened the door and lock and she did. Apparently the parents are divorced and this was the dad's weekend to have the little girl but he had to work the night before.

The officer told the dad he needs to get a top lock for the door with a latch that would be out of reach for the child even if she were to put a chair in front of the door.

SO at least its good to know he wasn't passed out, or on drugs or whatever else could have happened. That dad and little girl are very lucky that God was on duty that day!!

Whip it up week 3

Regional favorites was the name of the game and being from south texas i didnt really feel like making southwestern/mexican type food so I hit up my Gram who lives in Slidell which is outside New Orleans and asked for a recipe from her region mainly because many of my memories from childhood come from being at their house and the meals they would prepare... SOOOO GOOD

So I decided to go with Shrimp Creole one of my favorites which I had never made before but brought back memories from my childhood vacations and the few months of 4th grade that we lived there while my mom moved from California to Ohio

Shrimp Creole

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 Tbs instant minced onion (I actually used about 1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2Tbs flour
1Tbs Season-all
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp cayenne or red pepper
2tsp parsley flakes
3 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 lb cooked, cleaned shrimp (cook shrimp in boil for spicier taste)



Melt butter in large (10-inch) skillet.
Saute onion, celery, and green peppers in butter until is lightly browned


Blend in flour
Add remaining ingredients except shrimp; mix well
Cover and simmer 30 minutes
Stir in pre-cooked shrimp and continue simmering just until shrimp is heated through


Serve over hot steamed rice



This recipe was so good and very easy to make I would defanitly make it again and it made a good amount of left overs which is always a plus in my book!!

Finally

I finally received a working cd from my photographer with our engagement pics. He had us a dvd promptly 5 days after our pics were taken but for some reason my computer wouldnt read it soooo it then took a while to get the other one for whatever reason but here we are and here are some of my favorite faves.

I must say we chose an awesome photograher and he is really good at photoshop because it was about 112 degrees that day and we were sweating like little piggies!!! But based on the pictures you would never know!

We had planned on wearing several different outfits and yadd yadda but ended up using just the two mainly because we just walked around and stopped to snap pics in different locations so changing often wasnt possible and Im really glad with how the pictures turned out anyway!!

Whip it up week 2

For this weeks theme "Guilty Pleasure" I decided to make some pancakes that have been enticing me for some time and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to make them.

I came across this recipe on Bakerelle I absolutely love that blog and couldnt wait to make these pancakes

Here is the recipe

The night before I made the Maple Butter

You'll need:
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup

-Combine all three in a small bowl with a rubber spatula.
-Spoon the mixture on a piece of wax paper.
-Roll and re-shape back into a stick of butter.
-Twist the ends to secure the wax paper and refrigerate.

I thought this part was slightly unneccesary as it took forever to mix and at that mine didnt really incorporate well and then to me it didnt add anything extra to the pancakes except that I love me some butter on my pancakes!

Then for the pancakes you'll need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar, plus two tsp for blueberries
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
2 cups blueberries
Extra butter for coating griddle
Maple Syrup
(Makes about 16)


-Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
-Whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg in medium bowl.
-Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.
-Toss blueberries in a small bowl with 2 tsp sugar.
-Heat a griddle over medium heat. Take extra butter and run over surface of griddle. Repeat as necessary throughout process.
-Pour batter on griddle 1/4 cup at a time.
-Add some of the sugared blueberries to each pancake.
-Cook for about 3-4 minutes
-Flip and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.





This recipe was very easy to make I have never made pancakes from scratch only from a box so I was really unsure that this would turn out especially since I have had a history of screwing up recipes. But alas, it turned out perfect there was nothing about them that I would change and I love a recipe thats easy to follow

I would defanitly make these again, I kind of want to try them with strawberries though.
The recipe made alot so I am planning on freezing them so I can just heat them up later for a quick breakfast

One of many reasons why I love him

I can always count on a good laugh here and there

M is getting his wisdon teeth out tommorow and has to brush his teeth for thirty minutes tonight, I am not sure why, I guess to kill some mouth bacteria but yet you go to sleep and imsure your mouth will grow some more but what do I know, I have never heard of anyone having to do this but whatevs so

M: Man, I have to still brush my teeth for thirty minutes... good thing I have like 5 toothbrushes

Me: ...what? Why do you need 5?

M: because I have to brush my teeth for thirty minutes and you cant use a wet toothbrush

Me: ...

M: You know when I was a kid someone said you should never use your toothbrush if its wet, why do you think I always have like 2 toothbrushes...

Me: WHAT I am SO confused (while rolling on the floor laughing) But, I wet my toothbrush before I use it

M: Yeah so do I...

Me: Um **speechless** Ok then why do you need 5 toothbrushes again?

M: I dont know cuz that would just be weird to use the same one for all thirty minutes, I have to switch them out

Me: ***speechless, but still rolling on the floor laughing***

Whip it up week 1

I am so thrilled to be participating in whip it up this year I would read everyones posts from last year but i couldnt join in the middle, not sure if it was the official rules but I didnt want to join in the middle so this year when my dear friend Erin started mentioning it I was super excited and jumped on the bandwagon

In case your not sure what whip it up is here is a link to the headquarters
But basically everyweek there is a theme which I can follow or choose not to but I probably will because its morefun that way and then I have to cook a recipe I have never made before and post about it here on my blog with pitures, the recipe, and a recap of the recipe

So here we go... Week 1... Holiday food

I ran across a recipe for a whipped mashed potatoe salad and just HAD to make it, when I was little there was a lady whom my parents were friends with and she made this potatoe salad that was a mashed potatoe salad I loved it because I dont really like all the chuncks that can be involved in Potatoe salad so over all these many many years I was never able to find a recipe similar to this ladies but alas... here we go

I found the recipe here on The Pioneer Woman an awesome blog I read all the time

You will need:

5 pounds russet potatoes (about 8 medium russets)
1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
4 tablespoons prepared mustard (regular, Dijon, or a mixture of both)
5 green onions, sliced up to the darkest green part
8 small sweet pickles (may use dill if that’s more up your alley)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

and here is the whole gang:

Cut potatoes in halves or thirds, then boil until fork tender. Drain.
Mash potatoes or run them through a ricer or food mill to make them extra fluffy.

Roughly chop your pickles, green onions, and boiled eggs

measure out your wet ingredients, ** A little note, slight variation from original recipe, I thought I had plenty of Mayo but apparently someone uses it more than I thought because I only had about a half cup and needed one and a half cups sooo I had to improvise I used sour cream and a little milk and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, also When I measured out the mustard it came out to about 1/3 cup plusI added a little more... I like mustard**

Mix it all up gently (I dont think I was so gentle but it came out ok, plus my bowl was a little too small to be gentle)I also used alittle of the juice from the pickle jar to add some moisture to my mix
And here we go served up in my bowl ready to enter my tummy!!


This potatoe salad was so good!! I loved how smooth it was with just the small chunks of onion and pickle and the eggs YUMMMM I would totally make this again however I would ensure I had enough mayo before starting It was still good using some mayo sour cream and milk but Im sure it would have been ten times better with just mayo!!
It was very easy to make, i did forget to peel the potatoes before boiling them soooo it made things a little more difficult but aside from my own errors the recipe was very easy to follow

Here is the recipe for those of you who want it in its wholeness
P-Dub’s Potato Salad
5 pounds russet potatoes (about 8 medium russets)
1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
4 tablespoons prepared mustard (regular, Dijon, or a mixture of both)
5 green onions, sliced up to the darkest green part
8 small sweet pickles (may use dill if that’s more up your alley)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
Cut potatoes in halves or thirds, then boil until fork tender. Drain.
Mash potatoes or run them through a ricer or food mill to make them extra fluffy.
Fold potatoes together with mayonnaise, mustard, green onions, salt, pepper, and other seasonings you like. Fold in pickles and eggs, then taste for seasonings, adding more salt, mustard, or mayo as needed. You may also splash in juice from the pickle jar if salad needs a little moisture.
Serve with baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, burgers…and two pieces of pie.

Dress up time!!

So as previously mentioned I found my wedding dress.

Going into the deal I had always heard that "you will just know" well I had tried on dresses several weeks prior and liked pretty much everything I tried on. I wasnt ready to commit yet and so I waited and the next time I came in town we made another appointment, in that time we also learned that the owner of the bridal salon was a family friend of sorts. My dad drives the school bus at the daycare her children go to. This is why I decided to even look in San Antonio a second time as I was originally planning on buying my dress in Houston.

Well, I had a dress ordered in to try on because I loved it, well in person it was beautiful but just didnt give me that feeling.

I tried on several dresses all where beautiful and then the Lady Teresa who owns Mayfair Bridal pulled out a dress for me and I didnt like it because it had thick off the shoulder straps which Im not into, but she told me they could be taken off and that I should try on the dress anyway, so I did

and Alas we have the dress







Its actually only going to kind of look like this they are actually mixing the neckline of this dress, so it'll have a smoother sweetheart neckline:


onto the body of my dress, but this is what the original neckline looks like on my dress which we will be doing away with asap!


Going into the day as I was trying on dresses and I loved how everything looked I was starting to feel like I would never be able to make a decision but as soon as I put on this dress it was just perfect and I got that feeling that I had to have THIS dress...with some changes of course :) But now I guess I can say I have a custom one of a kind dress

Check... Check...Check

Last Thursday M and I ventured to Austin to take our Engagement pics. I was a little nervous just because I know how M is in front of the camera (he gets nervous) and I was having faith in our photographer to make it work.

I got the edited proofs today and they look awesome(but the website wont let me copy the pics)! More on that to come when I get the cd so I can put some pics on here

On friday my mom, and dear friend Erin found my dress!! (more to come on that later too!) This is a sneak peak I will go into more details on another post because really it'll be a custom dress, but without going into too much detail it's going to have a different top than the one pictured...but this is a rough idea



Found a caterer, a florist, and possibly a lighting company.

The catering issue was something that was causing us much stress in the wedding planning, most places were either too expensive, had poor customer service or just didnt seem right as far as the type of food we were looking for

We decided to use the Columbian Culinary Team they actually sent me the proposal BEFORE I came in town so I could look it over and decided if the cost was what we were looking for and if the food sounded good, that way when I did come in town I could do a tasting. Being that I live in Houston, planning a San Antonio wedding can be slightly difficult, so I much appreciate when a company is willing to work with my travel plans. The food was AMAZING it was so good, and the lady I worked with Heather was awesome too, also, it always helps when the food is in the price range previously decided with the ability to have a few extras added in!!

Then after the caterer we went to look at a lighting company, I am not sure if I will use them yet there is another comany I want to look at first, but I was a little disappointed that the look I really wanted might not be possible due to the way my venue is set up and the electrical issues, because the venue is actually owned by the bank (my reception is actually in the bank lobby) the vendors cant just plug things into the wall plugs because if something shorts out the bank could lose all their very important information so it causes some problems, The guy did have some great suggestions and I just need to see what some other companies have to say first.

But I did find a florist, Eden's Echo, Erin was so awesome to work with. In my wedding planning I never "stalked" flowers and floral arrangements like I did other aspects of the wedding such as say my dress and bridesmaid dresses. So I really only had a vague idea of what I wanted or liked, but being the proffesional she is she had some great ideas and really got me excited about the flowers.

I am going to make my own bridesmaid bouquets so I also bought some flowers to practice that, I learned it's SUPER easy and I need about twice as many flowers as I bought to practice with. I have a website that has great reviews and the flowers come at a great price.

SO, I got so much done this weekend, all I really need to do as far as the big wedding planning things go is to find someone to be my Day of Coordinator and a DJ!

My plan is to have everything set by the end of summmer so all I have to do is perfect the small details and So far... Im well on my way to that goal!!

God... You did it again

Ok, So Last night was CRAZY Im not sure what to even make of it, I learned alot which is always a good thing

I kind of did it to myself, jinxed myself, I came to work and saw my assignment. One baby who Id had the night before and then I was on second admit so usually unless were like totally overflowed with kids I wouldnt be getting a baby. So one kid all night. I go to get report thinking either this kid got sick today or Im gonna have a cake walk night.

I get report even the nurse giving report says "Wow your gonna have a long boring night, Im sorry"...She said the B word and I agreed with her and thats what Cursed me. NEVER say the B word around the babies they dont like it.

So some time goes by and life is going on and at 8pm my baby self extubates which means the Dr.'s Didnt want her extubated but she is her breathing tube is no longer where it needs to be thus not breathing for her= big problemo on a kid the size of my hand. Her heart rate and o2 sats fall and This is where God comes in, one of the Respiratory Therapists happened to be standing right there and two transport nurses happened to walk in the room just as Im slightly about to freak out realizing my baby is probably extubated (it hadnt been confirmed yet, but she totally was) we take her off moms chest (she was doing kangaroo care)and the doctor re-intubated her, but she still was not happy after that (kinda made her more mad I guess) and the night went down hill from there one thing after another after another, all the way up until about 630am when It was time to give report to the next nurse, the baby finally stabilized and was doing OK not great but OK when I left so Im interested to see hows shes doing when I go back

So I learned never ever ever to say the B word around the babies not even if you think you say it quietly, Also God knows best he knew there was no way on earth I could have survived if I had another baby to care for on top of all this and he put the right people in the right place when I needed them there he Also taught me I know how to hold my tongue when I really wanna make a snarky remark back to the nurse practitioner who made a snarky remark to me ( I really hate that just because your a nurse practitioner doesnt mean your better or more important and dont make snarky passive aggresive remarks to me please... Thank you)

God, the protector

So yesterday something very disturbing happened in my neck of the woods. I was sleeping as I had just finished working four nights in a row and I get a call from M. He says he found a little girl and he called the cops and he's bringing her back to the apt. I was in a slight fog so I say ok and drag myself out of bed.

M had taken Ace out for a walk and saw a VERY young girl wandering around on her own, he looked around for her parents somewhere and when he didn't see anyone he saw this man walking so he stopped to ask him if he knew this little girl. He said he saw her walking but assumed her parents were near by, M said no, he didnt see her parents anywhere so they went to find one of the apt managers apts to see if they knew her. As they were walking this other young girl about 10 came up and said she had seen the little girl before and gave them an apt number which she thought was where the little girl lived, so they went to that apt and no one answered (the cops went by there later and found out no one lives in that apt). So M called the police and brought the little girl back to our apt.

She was so cute ivory skin, big blue eyes, and a head full of curly red hair, she was also barefoot had tons of bug bites and a horribly soaked diaper (it leaked on my leg when she sat on my lap)... and the cutest smiley personality, which was kind of odd to me because how many three year olds are happy and smiley with no parents, in a strange apt with two strange grown men?

So the cops showed up and tried to find out her name, she wouldnt tell them, or me either, she did tell us that she was three though. She didnt know her parents names or where they were either, her speech was very delayed for a three year old. So the police took her to walk around and see if they could find someone who knew her or something, M took ace back out so he could properly walk and said he saw the one sheriff SUV leaving but saw the other sheriff entering an apt with a porch covered in beer cans.

Im not sure what happened to her, im sure they took her into custody or something it had been several hours by the time it all ended and no one had reported a missing child or anything, which leads us to beleive that they didnt miss her or were passed out or somewhere else. She was so cute and I hope God was watching over her after Mark found her, He was certainly watching out for her since M found her and not some creep who might have kidnapped, raped, abused, or killed her.

Let the planning begin!

WOW what a weekend weve had its been major wedding planning mode. We drove in to Austin on Wednesday and met with two photographers one who I'd been dreaming of using for years... I met him and was very disappointed he was nice and his work was good but he just didnt wow me like i thought he would. and he was a little pricey. Guy number 2 who was kind of my backup plan and who I almost cancelled my appointment with is who I think were gonna use, not only are his photgraphy skills amazing but his editing skills are so cool and he was really pumped and excited about all we had planned for our wedding seemed like a really cool guy and his packages include way more than guy #1...so we went with guy #2

Then Thursday we secured the location of our ceremony and reception, we only had one place lined up to look at, the Weston Centre, its actually a bank and is right on the river walk and its so pretty outside and they drape off the bank lobby so you dont even know its a bank and Kat the lady who we worked with was awesome, very excited and loves her job also she responds to my emails instantly which I love. Later that afternoon we met with a caterer no names mentioned as she did not seem willing to work with us at all on our budget she basically had an attitude that I'm sorry unless you plan on spending X dollars per person(waaaay more than we want to spend) then sorry I'm not willing to work with you so yeah moving on in the catering dept.

Friday I was ill, had a little too much fun on thursday night but did I let that hold up our plans NO we met in the morning with a cake person she was so sweet worked out of her house and her cake was very yummy but her prices were a little high. So we went to our second apt. where we put down a deposit and submitted our ideas they man and woman who run the place were awesome the lady has been baking cakes since she was eight and shes probably in her 30's or 40's which means many many years of cake making and I did not try the cake as my stomach would not allow however M said they were AMAZING... WAY better than the first place and they would give us diffrent flavors and fillings for each tier at no extra cost, and they had no problem doing what we wanted them to do. So we put down a deposit and one more check off the list. Then later we met with another catering place. The lady we worked with there was AWESOME she was willing to work with our budget and was very accomodating, we havent received the proposal from her but it looks promising.

And Saturday Duh Duh Duh we went dress shopping SO much fun but So many decisions. At the first place I tried on my dream princess gowns most were ballgowns and some a-line but lots of sparkle, embroidery, and long trains, I loved them




and then we go to the next place and I tried on the most adorable ballgown




and at the mere $5,995.00 price tag it will not be mine

so on we went to the third place where one of my bridesmaids threw me for a loop and picked out a dress I would have never thought to try on but it was BEAUTIFUL! However we couldnt take pictures at that location and i have searched the internet high and low and have yet to find a picture which even resembles it. I wont even mention the last plalce because they didnt have anything that impressed me including their customer service.

I knew going into the day that I wasnt going to buy a dress in San Antonio as I live in Houston and with fittings for alterations and such I thought it would be too much hassle to get a gown in San Antonio, and there are a ton more places to go dress shopping in Houston so the search continues and Ive been told youll just KNOW when you find THE dress and since Im so torn between several of the dresses I've tried on I know that I havent found the one, but I know I will, i know what i love such as ballgowns and dropped waist gowns with full skirts as well as what I hate...the mermaid style BLECH.

one of his many wordisms

Me: SO whats your plan for saving money?

M: I dont know not eating out as much... I think you should work 5 days a week* until were married

Me: Oh really... I bet you do think that

M: Wait... No.. then youd be all all stressed and run down and youd turn into a brideasaurus

Me: ROLLING ON THE FLOOR DYING OF LAUGHTER

M: What is so funny

Me: Did you mean bridezila?

M: Maybe... no I think I meant brideasaurus thats what youd be so dont work 5 days a week

* I'm a nurse who works 12 hour shifts, if I were to work 5 nights a week I would be working 60+ hours due to travel and such not to mention I work night shift so I pretty much would have no life and would be a horrible person to be around, I have worked 5 nights a week befor as a nurse and while the overtime is AMAZING they take way more taxes and it pretty muched sucked majorly, I would be soooo burnt out with nursing if I did it often

The post Ive been dying to write!!!

Officially as of two weeks ago I'M ENGAGED!!!

I'm so beyond excited and suddenly everything has become wedding related even little normally non wedding related things are now wedding related such as going shopping it goes like this "ooh such a cute dress...I think I can wear that to engagement photos or some other wedding related event." Wedding blogs I have always read however now... I'm obsessed i read them and analyze them and think how it could possiby benefit my own situation. Its so fun though and Ive waited so long for this time that I cherish every moment of it.

Last night the Fiance (teehhee I like to say that) and I were out and had met up with some of his very very old friends and he said well good luck from now on I guess your life is gonna be very stressful and way too busy. I told him NO I refuse to let myself be overwhelmed and stressed about it, it's supposed to be a fun time in ones life and I'm going to let it be that, if I find myself getting stressed and overwhelmed that's when I need to step back and take abreath and reassess, life's to short to be stressed about minute details

SO come back in about 8 months and ask me about this post I hope I held myself true to my word.

Now for some pictures of the little beauty that I luuurve, I took some inspiration from a blog I read recently







details on the proposal to follow tomorrow

BELIZE

Ok so WOW where have I been!! I have so many posts I need to post... I was in Belize for 10 days over Easter and came home and life has been a bit of a whirlwind since on top of the fact that our Internet was down until about a week ago.

so here I am lets begin

BELIZE ... wow what an amazing trip

I went with an awesome group based out of Slidell, La called Dos Amigos we flew into Belize City, Belize and then took this microscopic plane to Punta Gorda which is in the Toledo District in Southern Belize. I got to ride in the copilot seat!!! SO exciting although I kinda got freaked out when i look over and the pilot is laughing his head off and talking to someone on his headphone and writing notes on paper etc all the while we are in the air now I know they have autopilot but still kinda crazy.



Once we got to our camp, which by the way was AMAZING, (I got way blessed this year as our living quarters are way nicer than they had been in past trips we had bunk beds and an indoor shower and even a freezer for our water) we had dinner unpacked and prepared for he next day.

Throughout the first 8 days we were there we traveled by yellow school bus to different villages in the area to provide medical/dental/optical/social care to the people. these people don't have much access to dental care and not to mention it can be expensive, so the people would wait outside in 100+ boiling sun with crying babies to get teeth pulled!!

I ended up working in the dental area which is not by any means what I went on the trip planning to do, they needed help and said they needed a nurse, someone who was not squeamish to blood, to help them so I said ok well see how this goes..ends up I LOVED IT!!! I got to pull teeth, give the oral anesthesia injections, and hold many a hand and whisper many a word of encouragement, now of course I was working with a REAL dentist and he would tell me exactly what to do and such but it was so much fun!!!

I cannot begin to explain how we got through those days, only one word will suffice and that is GOD I don't know how I would have ever made it through the working conditions we had such as temps over 100 degrees in little buildings with minimal air circulation, you could just feel the sweat pouring out of every orifice, but it was awesome, God delivered us through it and we got up and did it day after day with smiles on our faces!!! I think something that really made it worth our time was seeing how eager people were to get teeth pulled and they would thank us with bloody gauze filled smiles and some people would ride bikes or walk several miles to come see us at the next camp the next day to have MORE teeth pulled

The trip was truly amazing, and the area was just beautiful as were the people.




That's me giving an injection!!!

Finally the last few days we got to go to Ambergris Caye for a little R&R which was an awesome end to such an awesome trip, we went snorkeling and I got chased by an eagle ray and saw nurse sharks and a baby sea turtle SO COOL!!!



The most special thing about the trip though was that I got to experience something my dear grandmother has loved for the last 12 years and this was her last year to go and my mom went too so we had three generations of women and it was truly special.