26

A little over a week ago I celebrated another birthday. I wasn't very excited in the months preceding this one, but I've eased into my new age. I just remind myself that I'm not as old as Henry and never will be. ;)

The first event of my special day was birthday lunch at the flagship Whole Foods. I had some great "comfort food," Whole Foods style: chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and wheatberries. Oh yeah, and I drank this delicious, monster blood orange Italian soda. (Not all at once though; I rationed it throughout my birthday weekend.)

It was so hot up there on that patio, but I don't think you can tell by the picture.

That night Henry and I had dinner at Chez Zee for the first time. To be honest, I chose this restaurant based on a Yelp recommendation of their fried pickles, and we were pretty disappointed. The pickles were sliced so thinly that they were just like eating pickle-flavored potato chips. Salty and sad. The entrees were pretty good, but it was hard to recover from the dissatisfaction of the appetizer.

Afterwards we went to Ulta, Old Navy, and another Whole Foods store for some light shopping. It was a low-key day to be sure, but that's what I wanted. Last year I had a dinner party with lots of friends, and it was a lot of fun. This year I wasn't feeling up to the fanfare.

Late that night my parents arrived at our apartment ready for good food and family time. The next day we had TacoDeli tacos for breakfast, and then Mom, Henry, and I went shopping at DSW and Target. Later that afternoon we met my niece and nephews and their significant others for an early dinner at Trudy's (Mmm, stuffed avocado), and then we saw Midnight in Paris at the Violet Crown. Cute movie that the whole family (especially my dad!) liked at a hip, artsy downtown theater.

On Sunday we cut into my cake. It was exactly what I wanted: lemon chiffon with strawberry/lemon filling.

Courtesy of Kerbey Lane Bakery

 Henry and I added the citrusy slices to the top ourselves. Got the idea here (via Design Mom).

It was a good birthday. Twenty-six isn't so bad.

Happy Fourths

I. We spent the Fourth of July in Houston with my parents, my oldest sister, Henry's brother, our sister-in-law, and our sweet and very calm baby nephew.

Oh, almost forgot. In our way into town, we also stopped for my two year old second cousin's birthday party. It was fun seeing my aunt and cousins.

J with the helicopter toy we bought for her.

 On Monday we stuffed ourselves silly with all kinds of grilled goodness (Meatless Monday was an afterthought that day...). That night we watched a free concert they have every year in my hometown.

Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88s

My dad loves this band. They do covers of music from the 1950s and 60s. Once their show was over, it was time for fireworks. Henry took about 50 pictures of fireworks, and for the first time ever, they actually look pretty good. It makes it hard to choose a favorite, so here's a few.

II. Yesterday was our fourth wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been four years already, but those first two years that we spent finishing school were kind of crazy. It's been a great four years though. Henry truly is my best friend, and every day of my life is blessed with him in it. Marriage is everything I hoped it could be and more.

So last night after Henry got home from work, we set up our tripod and tried to get some nice anniversary photos. Technically speaking, they aren't the greatest, but I still like them.

 We went to dinner last night at Jasper's. It was a good restaurant for an anniversary because it wasn't too crowded, the food was really good, and it had that fancy, special occasion feel without being stuffy.

We ordered Thai chicken wantons with sweet mango chile sauce.

And baked potato salad. Really good, but rich.

 And we split the Texas Peach Barbecued Pork Tenderloin entree. Also very good.

For dessert we attempted this huge trio: rocky road ice cream sandwich, vanilla dessert toast, and dark chocolate molten cake with dulce de leche. Oh my goodness. We almost finished all of it. Almost.

Good dinner. Now it's time for me to pack up once again for another trip to Houston and New Orleans this weekend. Ah, summer. I still like you and the adventure you bring.

No. 28: Skillet Chicken Vesuvio

 

I made this for dinner on Friday. Simple to make, but very flavorful. It got a "pretty good" rating from Henry, which means we'll probably have it again.

And here's a picture from today (taken by Henry):

Love.

Laura's Lake Travis Wedding

I've been thinking about how to write this post for a day or two now, and I haven't really found a good way to organize my thoughts. We'll see what this morphs into. I want it to be part family record, part informational for those MOHs out there searching for ideas like I was.

Let's start on a sentimental note. This was my niece's wedding, and she asked me to be her matron of honor. It truly was an honor to be there by her side, so intimately involved in the planning. I've mentioned before that my family lines are kind of confusing (if you only knew the whole of it!). Here's what you need to know for this story: Laura is my oldest half-sister's daughter. She's four months older than me, so we grew up together. We spent a good portion of our childhood wearing matching outfits, scheming together, and laughing hysterically. She'd come for visits to Houston, and we'd drive up to Austin several times a year. We were baptized on the same day. We went to girls' camp together. She was my slightly taller, half-Mexican twin. Our childhoods very much intertwined. When I moved to Austin in 2003, we'd hang out, but as work and school took precedence, we didn't spend as much time together as I wish we would have. So I really appreciate the time we got to spend together as we planned her wedding. I feel like it brought back that closeness that we used to have, and I want to work harder to keep up that relationship from here on out.

I thought the wedding itself was perfect. The bishop from my sister's ward performed the ceremony, and it was short, but still special. The weather was perfect (in the 70's and sunny). Laura looked absolutely beautiful. I think we all teared up during the ceremony. The only thing that wasn't perfect was that I started getting sick the day before the wedding, but I survived and didn't feel completely terrible until the day after the wedding.

Ok, now for some of the details.

Beauty: I really spoiled myself in preparation for this wedding. I didn't do a lot of these things for my own wedding, and I kicked myself afterward. Wedding photos are forever, and even if you aren't the bride, you want to look your best. So...I think I blew my allowance for the next six months.

• I got a manicure and pedicure from Arboretum Nails and Spa. I will be a returning customer. I got to watch 13 Going on 30 while my hands and feet were worked over. My toes were painted a perfect raspberry color called Miss Bossy Pants.
• I got a spray tan from Palm Beach Tan. When I last checked, they had a coupon up for a free one at the Austin locations. Not orange, not streaky, just a nice bronzing to tone down the bright white. I do recommend two things though: pay the extra $2 for the scent and use a ton of that blending lotion on your hands and feet.
• Eyebrow threading + facial (marked it off my 101 list!) from Nahid
• Taryn of Bird's Barbershop did our hair and makeup. She made me feel really pretty, and she was super nice and affordable. Like I couldn't believe how little she charged me for a hair + eyeshadow trial plus the day-of updo and makeup. Awesome.

 Ceremony Details:

• Venue: Vintage Villas
• We walked to an instrumental version of U2's Beautiful Day
• She walked to The Section Quartet's Such Great Heights
• All of the flowers came from HEB (neither the bouquets nor the centerpieces were arranged the way she wanted, but we were able to fix it)

Dinner Details:

• Place cards were a good idea, but I wish I hadn't started them a week in advance because some people said they couldn't come/were moved to different tables at the last minute. I had to buy a new pack of cards the morning of the wedding and recycled many of the name cards.
• At first we were going to make a fancy seating chart, and then we were going to have ushers with an alphabetized list, but in the end people just kind of wandered around to find their seats. :/ It worked.
• Laura and Michael's sweetheart table with the birds and candles turned out cute.

Reception Details:

• Their first dance was to Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man.
•  My nephew Shannon, his girlfriend Christin, and their friend Brad did an amazing job on the photobooth. Christin made those flowers and the mustaches herself. The guests were streaming through there. I can't wait to see the photos!

•  Loved the cake bar. She got three cakes from 620 Bakery and two cakes from Kerbey Lane Bakery.

 Yum. I'm totally having that lemon chiffon cake with strawberry filling and candied lemon zest as my 26th birthday cake.

Is this now the longest post ever? Feels like it.

Congratulations, Laura and Michael!

Pink and Black Bridal Shower

We're nine days out from my niece's wedding. After what feels like many, many conversations and days spent planning, I think we're mostly prepared for the big day. All the big decisions have finally been made. All that's left is the seating arrangement cards and a few personal items for me like what shoes and jewelry to wear. Oh yeah, and the marriage license!

This past weekend my mom and I threw Laura's bridal shower.

It went something like this:

Friday--5 PM Mom and Dad arrive at my apartment.
5:15-6:45 PM I sit at the table and make lots of little paper birds. Henry hangs fuschia paper lanterns from the ceiling. I direct the placement of said lanterns.

6:45 Leave for Laura's dress fitting. Park Dad and Henry at David's Bridal while Mom and I shop at Ulta next door.
7-8:50 PM Laura tries on her dress, we debate whether one side is longer than the other, alterations lady measures and sure enough it is. Wait while the alteration people fix it. I try on the two modest dresses in the whole store. Mom tries on and purchases her dress for the wedding.
9:00 PM Head to Mimi's Cafe for dinner.
9:15-10:30 Eat dinner at Mimi's. Discuss options for bridal shower games. Choose three. Ask Laura questions for the trivia game. Look at cupcake options for bridal shower. Create a grocery list for the bridal shower.
10:45 Drop Dad off at my apartment and head over to Laura's.
11:00-11:45 Shop at HEB.
12:00 AM Come home and fall fast asleep.

Saturday is fuzzy, but I do know this:
8:45 AM-2:15 PM Henry works like a slave preparing all of the food. He doesn't even stop to eat breakfast or lunch. My husband is a superstar...or a martyr for the cause, you decide.

Somewhere in there, I created the documents for the games, took my mom with me to exercise at the gym, bought presents for Laura at Target, bought vitamins at Sprouts, showered, and cleaned the apartment as quickly as I could---with Mom's help. As I was running around like crazy on Saturday, I kept thinking that there was no way in the world that I would've been able to prepare everything without the help of my family. Even though some of us weren't the happiest about it, it was still neat to see us working as a team to get things done.

Looking back at these pictures, it doesn't look too fancy to me, but it was a lot. of. work.

I loved the fruit tray. Laura brought over her little crockpot set, and we melted chocolate for dipping.

1:1 ratio of Country Time Pink Lemonade and Sprite

Graham cupcakes with Key Lime frosting (Cupcake 32)

We ended up playing 2/3 games: bridal trivia and Laura trivia.

There was debate over Laura's actual shoe size, so she had to double check. =)

After the games, she opened her presents.

You see that mirror to the right of her? She didn't notice that it was a present. Her reaction when we told her she had one present left was pretty funny because it took her a while to figure out what we were talking about. hehe.

Once she finished opening presents, we set up my tripod and took 15 group shots. 15! I don't think any of them need to be posted on the Internet...

I think all in all it was a good party. It was just the right size for my apartment, and I think everyone had a good time. Most of us went over to Laura's apartment for the "after party" where we had our hair and makeup trials.

Here's a sneaky peek of my updo for the wedding. I'm excited about it!

The Weekend

MIL, FIL, & Aunt Aida.

For the second weekend in a row, we had parts of Henry's family over for lunch! Last Sunday, my mother-in-law, SIL, BIL, and nieces came over. This time, Henry's dad and his Aunt Aida came too. Since my in-laws are about to embark on a two-year mission to Siberia(!), Aida wanted to visit the family one last time before they leave. She flew in from California on Friday, and they came up to Austin yesterday afternoon. We ate Thai food from Madam Mam's and just enjoyed our time together. This was only the second time I'd been around Aida, but I can tell she is a very gentle, thoughtful, and intelligent woman. She's a librarian, so it was fun to hear her opinion of popular books. 

We also got to love on our new niece Mary.

I just might die from the cuteness...my goodness.

I'm glad we have family so close by. I'm particularly thankful for our relationship with Henry's sister Lara and her husband William (the mutual friend mentioned in my last post). And of course they've introduced two very cute little girls into our lives whom we love. That's nice.

I'm feeling a little mushy today, can you tell? Maybe it's the proximity of Valentine's Day?

Dad's 80th Birthday Book

A few months ago, my dad turned 80, and since you only have one 80th birthday (to my knowledge), I wanted to do a little something to commemorate the occasion (and really my dad's life too). Because my dad is great, and he should know it. So, with my trusty sidekick, I endeavored to make a memory/guest book of sorts. Dad complained that all of the pictures of him throughout his life + this guest book made his party feel a little too funeralish, but in the end I think he liked it. ;)

We finished the book, my sidekick taping and me positioning, late on the night of January 16th. It was ready just in time for Mom to take it home to Dad on MLK Day.

 

I got to use my new die cut on some of the edges. That made me happy.

And this was my favorite submission:

Maybe you just have to know Brother R.

Dad called and thanked us for the book the next day. He seemed excited to show it to some his friends, so I think this project was a success.