Events...

   Another favorite thing is my part time occupation of Event Coordination. This has spanned everything from church conferences to weddings. Here is my prettiest event to date :) The Villasana-Warren wedding, in May.

They chose to have a 'First Look', where the bride and groom meet alone, before the wedding ensues.

I highly recommend it to every future couple.

You cant beat these expressions  :D

Instead of a traditional arch, we framed the altar with Jean's favorite color :)

I love how kids make the simplest things adorable! 

The bridesmaids dresses were a bit tricky...

The perfect color could only be found in a floor length style. Thanks to a quick thinking bridesmaid, and invaluable seamstress, these were easily altered :)

...and came out stunning :)

Word of advice; brace yourself for all kinds of nutty behavior, from the ones you love most, on your wedding day. Sad but true. In their defense, they are completely unaware of what they are doing ;)

ahem. :) Back to the wedded loveliness...

... a few more lovely details that made the day :)

...for the guest book table...

...for a table at the reception...

tip: Buy flowers in bulk, have them delivered to a trusted friend who will make your arrangements. The selection might not be as varied, but florists charge five to ten times what bulk costs.

finally some r&r for the wedding party...

AND last but not least, the best part of all....

havin a PARTY!!! :D

p.s. I would recommend having a good dj/playlist, to help everyone find their groove ;) There are no professional pic's but the MOG was seen doing the cuban shuffle ;-D

Also helpful, for an amazing wedding overall, is a stellar photographer like Alex Maldonado :)

See his blogs on Jean and James at

http://alexmphotography.com/20100412/bridal-photography-palestine-tx-2/

and

http://alexmphotography.com/20100602/wedding-photography-palestine-tx/

Videos that make me cry...

which is QUITE rare

This one is a stunningly creative as well as nostalgic, wedding toast. I don't know how many times I've seen the musical this number is based on but I was literally in tears from how wonderful this toast is.

Enjoy

Architecture!

I love multipurpose furniture!!! Anything that is highly functional really....


:D

http://www.impactlab.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/practical-staircase-2.jpg

Art

If you are into thought provoking works of art, even politically charged 'graffiti', you will love this guy...

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/outuk/horizontal_1.htm

He makes light of serious issues, in a sarcastic but clever way... entertaining and challenging

...I sound like the Reading Rainbow guy :P "If you enjoyed ____ then you might want to read ___, but you don't have to take my word for it" haha

Roadtrip Sunsets cont'd

The parting gleam/wink/peek....

...now you know why I don't write poetry ;D

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Roadtrip Sunsets

This was an awe-striking, welcome break from the view of the asphalt rolling for miles

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

SHOES =)

A friend of mine is obsessed with shoes. She literally had to take a fast from them because she felt convicted about how much of her life was taken up with shoes. 

Fortunately, I am not quite that obsessed :) So I freely indulged in a trip to DSW this weekend, and marched straight back to the clearance room :) *cue chorus of 'ahhhs' Without my shoe obsessed friend I would not have known about this room either. It's like a tucked away oasis of shoe glee. Just trying on any shoe that catches your eye is a great way to kill time. That's what I did :) No guilt and no regrets. Of course now I am also scavenging for spare change to buy the above pair ;-P

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Anniversaries...

   Today is pretty interesting. Anniversary of bloodiest day in American history - Civil War battle of Antietam. ( I find Civil War and World War history quite interesting. Mainly because the scale of the carnage is so hard to comprehend.) Of course, sadly, this pales in comparison to the number of people killed by abortion....the most 'politically correct war' ever.

   Today and this week are also the anniversary of our Constitution :) Yay!!! I love the fact that a few men took on responsibility for the political destiny of a group of people, and their moral standard, thereby forming the nation I am happy to live in. I wonder how this kind of character can be instilled today...?

   On a personal note, today is also the 13 month anniversary of dating a really sweet guy I am still UBER happy to call my boyfriend :)

He makes my life so much more full. :)

I would also like to take this opportunity to diss any superstitious nonsense about the number 13 and say that 13 can be the best yet! ...of anything :)

Happy September 17th! :)

p.s. I looked to see if today was any holiday that I did not know about....

there you have it. lol

Desk flowers

If you ask me, fresh flowers are bliss in a cup :) 

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Fuzzy things

The irony: now that I am older and more mature I am allowing myself to indulge in 'girly' pleasures more. ;-P Exhibit A: pink socks with polka dots that are actually fuzzy on the inside :D

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Dessert

First attempt at carmelized pears. . .used dark brown sugar, smart balance, ginger, and cinnamon. Over no sugar added vanilla ice cream. .. Total yum :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Dinner

Tilapia cooked with light soy and garlic powder, brown rice with oil and parsley. Not bad for scrimping through pantries :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

This day is off to an interesting start...breakfast thrown into sandwich baggies...no coffee...

To keep it in perspective I will dwell on the happy things. Yesterday I received a fall 'care package' from my sweet sister. Really I think we have just as much fun shopping for things to send each other as sending the various parcels that have become a tradition for marking seasons, anniversaries etc. So now my house smells like a carpet of fallen leaves :) This went remarkably well with the lingering smell of oatmeal cookies that I made last night :) Which brings me back to a happy point about breakfast in sandwich baggies; one of them contains oatmeal cookies :) Besides the fact that this batch turned out particularly well. I believe from now on I should use strictly whole wheat flour and dark brown sugar! :)

Now I must go, the breakroom coffee maker is beeping and I already feel a headache that must be subdued.

One of my FAVORITE things will forever be ...coffee!!! :D Particularly of the dark, nutty roast turned into a creamy latte :) Today I made an especially good molasses latte. Yes. I did. And it was yummy. Granted it doesn't take much of that dark syrup. Honey is another great alternative sweetener. My favorite for a while has been an amber grade from SueBee. Generics pale and quiver in comparison :)

Oh, and this is perfectly suiting the month because ...my favorite season of all time is fall!!!! :D

...Favorite things

Above, are a few of my favorite things related to a place I am happy to claim a bit of heritage from. The bit I got was small, but makes my story that much more interesting :) Back in the day when voyages by wooden ship were the common mode of travelling to populate the new country now known as America, a young boy fell in love with a young girl he met on the boat. She was French and he was English. In true French fashion I'm sure she was dressed comfortable but chic, and had just the appropriate amount of perfume applied ;) It's no wonder they got married as soon as they landed...at the ages of 12 and 13 :P But then, that was rather common back then.