Della-palooza '09

This weekend was Della and Dave's wedding weekend and it was seriously amazing!

From the rehearsal dinner to the bubbly good bye - each and every aspect of the wedding was perfect!

Della and Dave are now celebrating their new married life in Cancun on their honeymoon and I can't wait for them to return and hear how it went!

We had such a blast this weekend in College Station! It was great to see everyone that attended and I saw so many old faces I hadn't seen in forever! We definitely relived our college days Saturday night after we said goodbye to D&D. We hit up northgate for some good 'ole college station drinking and eating - you must have Tijuana fries from the chicken :)

I will admit - I steal all of my pictures. I don't have a camera and haven't had one for some time now. I broke mine at Kristin's bachelorette party in October...oops ... miller light had nothing to do with that....

I was supposed to buy a new one when I reached one of my weight goals... but other things seemed more important or necessary each time I hit a goal and so I put off getting one. So I don't have any pictures to post until my friends post on FB and then I can steal them, save them and post them.... I know I'm a thief. You've now learned my dirty little secret...

So when they get around to posting I'll post here...

Della looked absolutely gorgeous :) My favorite part of the whole weekend was after the Priest pronounced them Husband and Wife; Della turned to us (her bridesmaids) and in the cutest little voice said "I'm Married!" and had the biggest most happiest smile on her face I have EVER seen.

I was so honored to stand as her Maid of Honor and will forever treasure being a part of the happiest day of her life.

Della and Dave - I love you guys and if you need anything...I'm only a phone call away! LOVE Y'ALL!

WOWZA...

First of all... I hate Mondays; especially Monday's after a weekend spent in the most sinful city behind Las Vegas....New Orleans, LA! (I will reference here as NOLA)

Our adventure to NOLA started on Thursday for Della's bachelorette party. She is getting married this weekend in College Station and I'm super excited for her.

We will go by days for the recap:

Thursday:

5:00am - alarm went off...Karen stayed with me b/c we had to get up super early to make our 7:30am flight...if you fly with me you know I have to be earlier than most b/c I fly standby on passes...the earlier you are there the better chance of you have of getting on your chosen flights. It's the price I pay to fly for free...

5:45am - Mom picks us up (with the radio BLASTING might I add) and takes us the airport where we promptly meet up Cayla... If we only could have found a Jungle Juice stand at Love Field... (More to come on Jungle Juice)

7:00am - Board our flight....

7:30am - take off

10:30am - land in NOLA...During our one hour wait for Della at the airport we ran into Sam Bradford (OU Quarterback) and Colt McCoy (TU Quarterback) apparently there were having some football camp in NOLA sponsored by Peyton Manning and they were all there. We wished Della was there so she could have taken a picture with them... we thought it would be cute for her to a "gig 'em" pose in b/w the two rival schools!

11:30am - Della arrives...we promptly load a 15 passenger van driven by a man with the THICKEST Cajun accent EVER...he seemed safer than some of the other cab drivers...and head to our hotel.

12:00pm - we get to the hotel...get early check in... SCORE! and head out to get lunch at the Cajun Van Driver's (CVD) recommendation. Central Grocery - for the Original Muffaleta. **Not to mention on the way we stopped to get a frozen beverage at one of the many bars along the way.** I had drink envy - I bought a frozen red bull and vodka (YUM-O) but Cayla got Jungle Juice and I was envious...it was soooo yummy

We made it back to the hotel ate lunch, Newbie and Audry joined us...and the girls changed and headed down to the pool. I had to work on Thursday - I had been answering emails and on calls all morning (minus flight time obviously). My email had been going off since about 5:30am and didn't stop until 5pm... what a day. But everything was handled and in place. I had 2 conference calls to be on that afternoon - so as the girls finished off a bottle and a half of champagne I was in the room working (BUMMER!!!). I got off my calls a 4ish and headed down to the pool with them ... where we went through a few more bottles of bubbly and then headed back to get ready for dinner.

Thursday afternoon pics:











5am wake up call ... calls for no makeup and pouty/kissy face...

Karen at the airport...showing off her fleur de lis....

Getting our yummy drinks on Bourbon Street














Workin' by the pool...actually I think I was talking to Mom here...











Gettin' our tan on....


We headed out that evening for dinner at Acme Oyster House (Another recommendation by CVD). It was YUM-O... there was about a 20min. wait so we had fun taking pictures outside waiting to be called in!

Dinner Pics:










The group outside Acme Oyster House












Aud and Del











Me and Cay











HIGH FIVE!!!!!











The group (minus Cayla she was taking the pic I think)

After a YUMMY Dinner we hit Pat O'Brien's and Tropical Isle... two necessities if you are in NOLA...Hurricanes and Hand Grenades...











Cayla and me with our hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's .... we even were able to keep the fun glasses!











Group shot (minus Cayla...she was taking the pic again) with our hand grenades :) YUMMY

Friday - we hung out by the pool ALL DAY seriously from 11am - 3pm...had poolside cocktail and lunch service...with fun music. Took a little nappy from 3pm - 4pm got up and did it all over again ... but this time with super fun bachelorette festivities...a checklist, a veil, and a sash can get you free drinks ALL night :)

Dinner was at NOLA (Emeril's Restaurant). It was fantastic; however my pork loin was a little dry... I won't fault them too much because they made up for it with the sweet potatoes and basil pesto garlic infused soup. Not to mention; amazing focaccia rolls and jalapeno cornbread.

Pics from Friday night:










Group shot on Bourbon Street













Our bachelorette!











Me and Del














One of her checklist items was to dance on a bar....











Newbie and Del











Singin' karaoke at Cat's Meow.... David Allen Coe-Why Don't You Ever Call Me By My Name
This was during the "Let Me, Let Me, Let Me" part


We had a blast... We owned Bourbon Street that night... we even played our traditional "High Five" game...

Saturday was rough and so was Sunday - but I'm hanging in there and trying to catch up on sleep... The wedding is this weekend and we'll do it all over again!

CONGRATS DELLA AND DAVE! I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH AND CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO SPEND YOUR LIFE TOGETHER!!!

They say it's your birthday...

And...THEY ARE RIGHT!!!

Today is my bday and I think by far the best birthday EVER... and the day isn't even over yet!!

If you've known me long enough you know I celebrate "Birthday Month".... I concocted this month long celebration as a child; I think partially b/c I never got to take cupcakes to school b/c I was a summer baby.... so I said.... "If I can't take cupcakes to school; I'll celebrate all month"... makes sense right??

This year I have been a little bit more low key in celebrating "birthday month", but I still in my head knew that I could whine and say "BUT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH"

Saturday we had Della's shower at this precious little tea room in Richardson, The Chocolate Angel Tea Room. I highly recommend you use this place if you need to host a baby shower, bridal shower, bridal luncheon, anything... it is awesome! The food was fantastic, the service even better! It was phenomenal!

Saturday night we went out for my bday to Cool River in Irving. I picked this place because there was supposed to be a cover band, Big Daddy, playing ... but they backed out last minute and another cover band was there; which was cool b/c they were good too! We had so much fun! I have lots of pics but again... they are on FB and I can't get on FB at work... so you will have to wait.

Then today I get to work and my boss takes me out for an awesome lunch at Cozymel's and my awesome co-workers baked me a cake and sang me happy birthday.... Not to mention the influx of emails, texts, phone calls, etc.... My mom gave me $ towards my Hawaii trip...SO AWESOME... It has seriously been like the best birthday ever!

Pic of the week = picS of the week and a little overdue blog....

I was going to blog about this waaaaay back when HERE however - my little "bump in the road" of unemployment got in the way - so this waaaay overdue!

Let me take you back to October 25, 2008 -

Saturday, October 25, 2008 My dear dear friends Kristin and Nick got hitched. I was SUPPOSED to blog about this like six months ago - but I didn't and I feel HORRIBLE that I never gave the appropriate shout outs to them on my blog that I know nine million people read every day. J/K

Kristin and Nick are very near and dear to my heart. They are wonderful friends (more like family) who have seen me and supported me through many trying times in my life. I am very lucky to have friends like them.

In fact I am very lucky to have all of my friends in my life. Sometimes I think we take for granted the 2am sobbing phone call , the 6pm I had a hideous day at work phone call, the OMG I'm getting married phone call, or the OMG I'm having a baby phone call, or the OMG we broke up phone call, or the every day "how was your day" phone call. I am so blessed to have many people in my life that I call friends. And I love each and every one of you! enough w/ the sappy stuff... let's get on to the goooood stuff...

Soooo Kristin and Nick hosted their wedding at a HUMGO home in the River Oaks District of Houston. Cayla and I flew down early to spend time with Kristin before the big day and help her finish all of her last min. to do items.

Now if you are reading this and you know Kristin, you know she THRIVES on lists. She has lists for her lists and is so supremely organized that on ANY trip she takes she puts all of her reservation confirmations, directions, etc in plastic sheet protectors inside her folders. She was appropriately deemed "trip mom" years ago when her organizational skills were first revealed.

So I knew that NO DETAIL was going to be left out. Cayla and I PRYED (literally) her wedding binder out of her hands when we arrived and told her not to look back and enjoy her weekend!

What an honor to be a part of such an amazing day for such wonderful people. Kristin and Nick couldn't have planned a more perfect celebration for their marriage. The food was fantastic, the drinks were flowing, and the weather was perfection!

I hope you enjoy the pictures below and get a glimpse of what an amazing night this was and how fun it was to celebrate their relationship.

I LOVE YOU BOTH DEARLY AND CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIVES TOGETHER...even though this is six months late! LOVE YOU!

Kristin Getting Ready...

Group toast with all the girls, Robin and Mama Lu Lu
(we missed Karen and Audry at the wedding)

We couldn't get her to stop looking out the window.... but it made for a cute pic!

A photo montage... props to Clint the photog!


One of my favorites!!!!

We transformed the back yard from ceremony to reception... BEAUTIFUL!!!

Yummy Cake - Nick's cakes were Ice Cream Cake - fantastic!

No wedding is complete without the Time Warp!

Love you!

Here Clint said "Sexy face" - I think Tyra would be disappointed....

Adios Mr. and Mrs. Urbano - We love you and we will pelt you with wedding rice to prove it!

OH MY GOODNESS!!

I have so much to blog about... I haven't had a computer (or the time since the holidays) to sit down and blog so I'll try to do a December 2008 recap...


1. I got a job! AWESOME! I'm so excited I start on Monday, January 5... at Cambridge Integrated Services Group. I am going to be an Account Manager in the Client Services division. My new office will be about 10 minutes from house and I hopefully will have the opportunity to travel. I will have a book of business that I am responsible for once the initial sale has been made by the sales force... this will include implementation, problem soliving, benchmarking and other stewardship reports and meetings, continued education, etc. I am so very excited about this awesome opportunity! I truly know this position was worth the wait! The job and the people completely fit my personality and my goals and I'm so fortunate to have found a job with such an amazing company!

2. FAMILY PICTURES - It was so nice to get the WHOLE family together to take pictures for the first time. Our pictures included - my mom, me, My sister Paige and her family (nick and shelby), and my other sister Anna and her family (Randy, Kaylee and Cooper)... NINE of us... six girls... you can imagine the chaos that ensued...

It was wonderful and we were able to get a ton of awesome pictures from our AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER STEFANIE!!

3. I was able to be a part of an AWESOME friends wedding right before Christmas. Laura was my roommate in college and she married her handsome little husband on December 21 in Georgetown, SC. It was an amazing weekend filled with wedding festivities and reconnections. I was able to see a few friends that I hadn't seen in a long time and catch up. I also was able to meet all of Laura and Jaime's wonderful friends and family. Their wedding was beautiful and I so enjoyed being a part of it.

4. CHRISTMAS! Christmas was so fun this year. It was my niece - Shelby's - first Christmas and so much fun! She loved tearing up all the tissue paper while opening her presents and playing with all of her fun toys. She has started crawling and is now officially on the move! Kaylee and Cooper also had an amazing Christmas... they are so fun as well and Cooper really "got" Christmas this year. Kaylee is the best big sister ever and helped him with opening his toys and playing on the wii with all of their fun new stuff!

5. New Years - WELCOME 2009!! I welcomed in 2009 in Houston with my friends Kristin and Nick. They hosted a party at their house fully equipped with lots of food, drinks and rockband! I'm just about the most amazing rockband singer ever...

This holiday season was filled with family and friends. This was definitely the best way to end a great year and an even better way to begin a better 2009! I hope each of you had an amazing and BLESSED holiday season as I did.