Non-Adventure #11 Great Times with Great Friends!

Here is a little update about what I have been upto lately. A couple of Sundays ago my friend Cherlynn aka Woody had a birthday dinner at the Greenhouse. I have known her a long time because she is the sister of my best friend in the whole world, Stacie. The birthday girl sat at the other end of the table and I was not pro-active enough in my picture taking to get a picture of us but since I was sitting next to Stacie I did pop out my iPhone and get one of her and I together.
Last Saturday was the annual Dog Days of Denton down at Quakertown Park (aka the Civic Center Park). My bestie Robin came down with her rescue dog Mattie and I took Sookie and we headed over to see what was going on. I took Sookie last year and she had a great time and I even had her picture taken (with a lot of work we finally got her still). This year however I decided to skip all that trouble and just hang out. Here is Mattie in the car on the way there.
Robin and I before we headed in:
Here is the official start to the Dog Days area. Unfortunately like so many things because of the economy there were not as many people there hawking their wares, special foods, and other things.
Here's my Sookie (she needed a haircut BAD!)
Awww new friends sharing a drink of water
Robin and I as we headed out a little hot, a little tired, and a lot hungry.
The dogs were great friends after their shared adventure!
And of course that time of year is now here when seniors finish things up and graduate from high school to head out to that wonderful world of college! It is Baylee's turn to graduate from high school and last weekend was the baccalaureate service at church. The seniors pick the songs and scriptures and then after the message there is a video of pictures with recorded messages from their parents. After church there is a luncheon to honor them and all the graduates get a table where they can set up pictures, accomplishments, and people drop off gifts for the graduates. Here is Baylee and I in the gym after service.
Baylee and Claire
Baylees table
Last summer they showed movies on the screens in the plaza area in front of the AAC (American Airlines Center). Well they kicked them off again on Wednesday night with Twilight. So my friend Stacie and I headed out picked dinner up on the way and claimed an area for our friends. Here is our little group. It consisted of Stacie, Robin, Rob (her husband), and Rob's friend Jake. R&R also brought their little dog named Mattie.
Here are some pictures of what it looks like. There are three screens (one to our left and behind us). Everyone just picks a screen and they pump in sound. Just bring a chair, blanket, pillow or whatever you want to sit on. Bring some dinner or something to munch on and settle down and watch the free flick!

SO, thats what I have so far. Just hanging out, hanging with friends, and lovin' on my dog Sook!

Non-Adventure # 10 Weddings Near and Far!

After my friend Chrissie got married I still had two more to go. The next one or the near one was for my cousin Matt. He was marrying a fantastic girl named Jessica. My sister Donna has been hanging with us since my brother-in-law has been deployed in Guam and my other sister Melissa flew in from Louisville to visit and attend the wedding. There was a big rehearsal dinner at my Uncle Charlie's house catered by Abuelos. It was good food and a chance to meet all of Jessica's family. The wedding was on a Saturday evening on April 25, 2009. We drove out to the Country Club (where everything was going down) and sat outside and watched Matt and Jessica say their vows to each other. Then we headed inside for appetizers, dinner, and dancing. Here are the happy new couple Matt and Jessica:
Here are me and my sisters Donna (Davenport) and Melissa (Marciszko):
Here we all are with our mom!
Here are my wonderfully fantastic parents, they won the dance for the longest married! They will have been married for 36 years on July 27th! (They really only won because my Uncle JF and Aunt Kay weren't there)
Here is a couple of pictures of the whole family!

So the last or the far wedding was for my new friend who I met in Bible Study Fellowship. Her name is Loryn and we became fast friends during our Monday night meetings. She became engaged and married Alex in Abilene and they now reside in San Angelo. But she went from being a Brown (no actual relation that we know of) to being a Best on May 16, 2009! Here are a couple of pictures I took during the ceremony at First Baptist Church in Abilene. (the first couple are with my iPhone):

The kiss!!!! The happy new married couple Alex and Loryn Best!!!! She was so beautiful that day!
Loryn and I
I was so blessed that I knew people in Abilene. I was able to stay at my friend Annalee's parents house. The Luttrell's are the most amazing people I have ever met. I have known them since I was a freshman at ACU and some of my most treasured memories from college either involve them or their house. From Christmas parties and graduation tea parties to dress fittings it was always such a joyus and God-filled place to visit. Everyone is immediately treated like a part of the family and they were so wonderful to provide me with accommadations for my brief visit in town. I know that Sherri reads this sometimes and so I want to say to her Thank you so much! Love you all!

Rambling #6 Diaper Cakes #2!!!

So part of what has made my spring busy is a flurry of new babies and with them requests to make diaper cakes. I am posting all of the ones that I have made recently to show you the new concepts and color schemes I came up with.

My friend Loryn asked me to make one for a fellow employee who was pregnant with twin girls to be named Avery and Emory. The colors (she thought) were purple, pink, and brown. So here is what I came up with. The cake is two sided and has both girls names on it. Here is side one (Avery's side):
And here is side two (Emory's side):
Here is what a side view of the cake looks like:
The next cake that I made was for a fellow employee named Candice. Her best friend was pregnant with a little girl and while she had settled on color choices she had not settled on a name, so this cake ended up without one. Here is her pink and green cake:
Here is the back of her cake:
My friend Kimberly was surprised at a routine doctor visit when she was informed that she was pregnant again! After having two girls and thinking she and her husband were done she was surprised to be pregnant and to be having a boy! So I made her a diaper cake around her nursery colors which were baby blue and bandana red. The cake visited two showers given for her. This is the cake for William Collin Winder:

This is the side of the cake:

This is the back of the cake:

And this is William Collin Winder. He was born with and has maintained massive amounts of hair!



This past year I participated in Bible Study Fellowship and I was truly blessed with a wonderful leader and a great group of girls! Two girls in our group became pregnant and here are the cakes that I made for them. The first one is for Katie. Our group went in on this cake together everyone bringing something for me to build our cake out of. She had a baby boy whom they have named Kevin. (Sorry I cannot seem to find the picture I took of the cake it seems to have gone missing! I will add it if I find it!)

The last cake on this post is one I did for Mashawn. She informed us that she had found out she was pregnant with a little girl. A little girl whom she was going to name Addison (she's due on July 26th! Two days before my birthday!). So on our last night of BSF we had our fellowship and then threw her a small shower! Everyone but one came and everyone brought her something (present or not!) and we even had cake made by Christy. For my gift I made her a small bath themed cake. Instead of a blanket in the center I placed a hooded towel. I also included the baby wash, baby lotion, baby powder, and for a little decoration some pacifiers. Here is what Mashawns cake for Addison looks like:

Non-Adventure #9 March Madness! No Not Basketball!

So March was a crazy and long month. I promised my friend Chrissie that I would help her plan her wedding. She decided that she wanted to get married on March 14 but she decided that in January. So as this was a second marriage for them both they really just wanted a small wedding of family and friends. They each chose one attendant, she chose me to be her maid of honor. So I helped her the best I could with the planning. The night before the wedding we had a girls slumber/lingere party at my house. We had a good time, we ate yummy snack food, and watched wedding movies. Here is what the invite looked like:
After a hectic day of running to makeup and hair appointments and getting last minute things like earrings and dealing with changes of venues (the wedding was supposed to be outdoors but with the rain and cold weather we changed it to inside, which now meant stairs and heels) the time came, the music played and I started the walk down the stairs with the best man. I slightly caught my heel on the first step and would have gone down had Brandon the best man not held me steady. Then Chrissie came down they said their vows and their "I do's" and were pronounced husband and wife. Then came party time. Here are some of the pics from us hanging out after the wedding. All the wedding ones and ones with Chrissie are on my friend Stacie's camera. But here is Robin and I.
Stacie and I
Baylee posing for the camera as usual
Baylee and I
My sister Donna and I
The Kellers (Rob and Robin)
Robin lookin' fierce!
It was a long day and we had a long drive home (the wedding was in Cleburne), so after the cakes had been cut and the bride and groom departed we made our way home. The next weekend was Trend Show weekend at Northpark! I love this weekend. I love getting to see the fashions and new trends in make-up and I love having my make-up done too. We had a pretty good size group going this year. It included my sister Donna, Stacie, Baylee, Robin, my BSF friend Loryn and myself. It was a little different this year instead of the tent they had the show on the third floor and and then we got our makeup done here we all are after the show and makeup appointments.
Donna and Baylee after hitting up the MAC counter:
Baylee and I
My friend Meredith Bunch who works for Bobbi Brown. She did our makeup for Donna's wedding and also went to ACU with me. We are both Nelson girls!
My new friend and fellow Brown Loryn and I
Stacie after the Bobbi counter
My fav pic of Baylee and I
Stacie and I posing outside of Nordstroms
Donna posing for some pictures to send to her husband in Guam
After we were all beautified we went to get lunch at this Italian place called Campisi's. When you walk in it is totally dark and looks like the kind of place you would see in the mob movies like Good Fellas. We even got the corner booth! Here is Stacie posing all artsy like:
Here's the gang (minus Loryn she had to go meet her fiancee to take care of some wedding details). Stacie, Robin, Baylee, Donna, and I:
After lunch we headed back to Denton it had been kind of a long day (we started at like 6 something in the morning). We all had a good time and I think we all looked totally glam!