Monday, April 19, 2010

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!

Cheerful, Elated, Blissful, Euphoric, Joyful..all synonyms for happy, my favorite..Blessed. What do these all mean? They all describe the unbelievable emotions, I experienced this past weekend, when I spent 48 glorious hours with some of my favorite ladies in the world!!

A couple of months ago, I sent out an email to some of my besties from the class of 98’ to start up an annual tradition of a true girls weekend! I always had heard of groups of girls, going and doing, and travelling and sightseeing, and thought, why cant we do that?! We always had talked about it, but never took action, so I decided to start the ball rolling. Man, am I sooo happy I did!

On Friday, Ashley picked me up around 4, and we were off to Dallas to meet Holly- Addie- Beth-Lauren & Kim at The Cheesecake Factory in Frisco!

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We had such a wonderful dinner, such a yummy dinner, and spent the evening chatting it up..

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Several hours, and full bellies later, we decided to call it a night, and us 7 headed back to the hotel

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We spent the remainder of the evening, talking and laughing, joking and story-telling, before LC headed home, and Addie met back up with her sweet precious family that were staying in the same hotel with us.

The next morning, we all met back up (minus Lauren), and headed downstairs to enjoy our {cooked to order}, FREE breakfast! :) Soon after, Ginger & Amanda arrived, to complete our girls group of nine! After more chatting, and showers and such, we headed out for lunch at The Corner Bakery!

IMG_1007Ashley, Kimmy, Smalls, Beth, Amanda, Ginger, & Addie

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After lunch, we decided to have a little spa day, met up with Lauren, and headed to Hollywood Nails in Frisco! This place was well…interesting. ha! :)

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Have you ever??!! I mean, this is a nail salon for goodness sake..wow!

picking out colors..

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IMG_1013 “What do you think about this one..”

IMG_1019 “Not so much!” Love. Addie’s. Face! :)

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{Not pictured: Holly, Addie & I}

Holly did take a pic of Addie & I, but I deemed it “un-blogable!”

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After our pedi’s, we headed over to The Stonebriar Mall, for a little shopping.. and by that I mean, a little shopping, and a lot of looking! We then ended back up at our hotel, just in time for Happy Hour!! :)

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After more visiting, we had to have more food, so we hit up Christina’s for dinner. At dinner, Amanda’s mother, brother, sister, and sweet baby Colson, met up for a lil’ visit!

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After dinner, we sadly said our goodbye’s to Amanda & Lauren, and the remaining 7 of us headed back to our room, for even more girl talk (yes, even more was possible) and a couple of rounds of..

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So hilarious. I hated the game though {I lost!} ;)

We decided to call it a night, just after midnight, and bright and early the next morning, we started packing up, grabbed another quick bite to eat for breakfast, cleaned up, checked out, and headed off to church. Lauren’s husband Matt, is the pastor of The Village Church, a congregation of over 8000 members, with multiple campuses in and around the Dallas Area! AH-MAZING I tell ya! It was the most moving service I have ever been to..and I’m not just saying that because it was Lauren & Matt.. witty, emotional, relevant, thought provoking.. Amazing! If you are EVER in the DFW area, I urge you to check it out, it felt more like a revival then a Sunday service, I just kept thinking to myself, these people get to witness this every week! Matt preaches strictly from the word, but relates it to everyday life, using today’s terminology, it’s just so relatable, and honest. Lauren also sings, and she’s got just about the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. So natural and pure. So uplifting and emotional all at the same time. It’s what church is supposed to be about, it’s the way I’m supposed to feel about it. It also doesn’t hurt that a certain famous QUARTERBACK, just may or may not attend there, sadly I didn’t see “him” though!! :)

DSC06408Addie (and her girls, Allie & Mabry), Beth, LC, Gin, Me, Kimmy, Ash, & Smalls

After church, we again had to say our goodbye’s to Lauren & Ginger, and the rest of us stopped at Schlotzsky’s, before calling it an end to our weekend, and heading back home our separate ways.

What a fantastic weekend! I can’t wait for many, many more. Truly an annual tradition! A HUGE shout out to all the hubbies, who took care of all the kiddos, and gave up their wives for the weekend, so that we could all spend some good ole’, much needed, quality time together. Mucho Appreciated! ..and to all my girls, I can’t tell you how much you all mean to me, and how thankful I am, that after so many years, we’ve stayed so close. I can truly count on each and every one of you for anything. I love you all, and miss you already!! :)

To all you other gals that couldn’t make it, you were missed and just have to join us all next year!

Until Next Time!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Happy HAPPY Birthday to Brennan & PawPaw!!

This past weekend, we celebrated Brennan’s 6th birthday, and PawPaw’s 59th birthday!! Wow, what a vast difference in ages!! ;)

Friday night, we attended Brennan’s second T-ball game, in which they won, and Matt and I headed to dinner afterwards. The next morning, while Matt was off to golf, I attended a funeral of the girl whose place I took at Magnolia Ridge. Denise was only 52, and sadly was taken from us on Good Friday. She was a diabetic, and went into a diabetic coma that morning, and then cardiac arrest once they reached the hospital. It is such a reminder, that none of us are promised tomorrow, and we must take advantage of each and every day. After the funeral, I had to completely change gears, and head off to Brennan’s 6th birthday party, at none other than..

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This year, Brennan decided to partner up with one of his “girl” friends, Ella, and have a joint party!

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There were a TON of kids in attendance, and it was nearly impossible to get some decent shots, but here’s the ones I did get..

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IMG_0914 this one didn’t look very pretty..

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IMG_0977 The Mom’s {Mel & Amy..and brennan’s hand!}

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After pump it up, I met up with Matt, and we headed to Johnny Carino’s to celebrate PawPaw’s day!

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After a yummy dinner {my one cheat day a week!} we headed over to Mikki’s for cake and cards

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The boy’s enjoyed some boyish fun, while we got the cakes ready for PawPaw!

IMG_0998  Clara and her “mean face”.. :)

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IMG_0997 Mik made these YUMMY, {VEGAN} Key Lime Cupcakes, a true hit!!

After a long night of card playing, we called it a night. So happy to be able to celebrate these two great guy’s birthday’s!! Happy Birthday Brennan & PawPaw!! Can’t believe my baby’s SIX, and PawPaw’s the big 6-0 next year!!!

Until Next Time!