Non-Adventure #38 At the Ballet! Cinderella & the Winspear!

I love ballet it is one of my most favorite things. So when my wonderful and totally awesome friend, Kurt got tickets to the ballet and asked me if I wanted to go, I was in! We (Stacie, my best friend, and I) left bright and early on the morning of October 2nd and headed out to downtown Dallas to go see Cinderella at the Winspear Opera House. It is AMAZING! Totally beautiful inside and out. I was kind of excited because I had never seen Cinderella. I have seen the Nutcracker many times, but this would be a new one.

We left pretty early that morning because we wanted to avoid college football traffic and so upon arrival I was pretty hungry. I purchased this sandwich and soda to snack on before going in and finding our seats.
Here is Stacie and I all decked out before the show.
The food area where I purchased my snacks
When we went inside there was this massive lighted hanging chandelier. It was incredible! When it came time for the show to start the lights pull up into the ceiling.
The view to the stage from our seats.
The tiers behind us


Our seats. They were super plush and extremely comfortable, no squashed feeling here. The aisles were also pretty wide, I usually have my long legs running into the seats in front of me but not here.
Us goofing around before the show starts.

After the show we tooks some more photos.
The main dancers came out and signed programs. Here is Cinderella and her prince:
Cinderella and one of the Ugly Stepsisters
Both of the Ugly Stepsisters



When we were leaving there was a couple taking their wedding party pictures outside.
The ballet was fantastic. Everything was super beautiful and we had a great time. It was a totally fun day! Thanks Kurt your the BEST!

Non-Adventure # 37 Everybody say Surprise!

My friend Ben's birthday is in August and his sweet wife and my good friend Leah decided she was going to throw a surprise birthday party for him at the marina in Grapevine on a party boat!! So she had us all meet at the marina 30-40 minutes before they were supposed to "arrive". We all gathered there on the boat waiting for them to show up. If you look close you can see them walking up the dock.
stepping on the boat after we yelled "SURPRISE!"
Me with Leah
Some of the girls
Everyone chatting as we headed out out onto the lake

Amy and her hubby Richey
I fully admit the pictures end here. Our party boat guys docked us out in the lake and one of them started cooking the hot dogs, yes they cooked and yes the boat had a grill as well as a slide! After everyone grabbed a hot dog and their favorite chips and beverage choice and chowed down most of us got off the boat. We grabbed some life vest and headed into the water to float our afternoon away. After the heat of the summer we had been experiencing the water felt great. We all sang Ben Happy Birthday from in the water. At some point most of us climbed back onto the boat to grab ourselves some cookie cake. Finally the party boat guys herded us back onto the boat and drove us back in. We all mostly sat on the upper deck getting some rays and drying off in the sun. It was soooo much fun, just hanging out and partying wih friends.

Happy Birthday Ben and welcome to 30!

Non-Adventure #36 Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving!

So this is THE year, the year I am now officially thirty, flirty, and thriving. I have a tradition of always celebrating my birthday and Stacie's (no I didn't step on your birthday hour) together with our high school best friend Erik (we celebrate his in December). So this year we decided our dinner out would be at Cheddar's in Keller. I love their vegetable plate as well as their chicken tenders so yummy! So here we are at dinner (Erik came to our side of the table for the picture)

Then we decided to head up the road and go see Despicable Me. Here we are with our 3D glasses waiting for the movie to start. It was super cute and really funny!
Then I thought it was appropriately fitting that the July Chick Flicks movie fit in and we had it the weekend before my actual birthday.

Our July movie was:

13 Going On 30

So a group of girls headed over dressed in their funnest pj's. I asked everyone to bring toppings. Toppings for their favorite pizza and what they would like to eat with ice cream. I provided dough, sauce, and cheese as well as fruit (you can see it towards the back of the picture). I set out all the toppings in bowls and gave everyone a rolled out slice of pizza dough. Then everyone went around the table and put on their favorite toppings. We cooked them in batches in the oven.
Tiffany and Leah hanging out in the kitchen
Leah and Amy made theirs into giant pizza pockets
Amy showing off their handiwork
some more pizza fun
I received this cute homemade apron from Amy and Leah (I also got a handmade apron from Baylee) to add to my apron collection. I promise one day I will take a picture of all my aprons.
We took a trivia quiz and this month everyone was a winner. Everyone received Razzles (candy that is also gum) and an 80's Jams cd that I mixed together. It has some great tunes that include Thriller, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Loveshack, Jesse's girl, etc.
A couple of pictures of everyone with their Razzles and cds.

We all watched the movie and took a brief pause to make our ice cream sundaes in edible waffle bowls. After the movie which brought back many memories from our childhood, we packed up all the leftover toppings and everyone headed home.

On my actual birthday I arrived at work to find that my boss Cyndi had decorated my desk with tons of thirty party stuff. She felt that I needed to see the actual number thirty all day long. So she put this big thirty on the door across from my desk.
She even climbed on my desk and stood on a step stool to put up the thirty things hanging from the ceiling and tied a balloon on my wires. The cards were from some of my co-workers and Chris gave me the bite-size cupcakes which were delicious.
Maxine gave me some new ring bling!
Stacie came and brought me this huge Happy Birthday balloon and...

my favorite banana pudding that her mom makes. It was sooooo yummy and delicious! Yes, I shared with my co-workers.
I met my good friend Leah and her son Casen at "our place" aka Chili's in Hickory Creek for lunch. We had a good time talking and remembering how much fun we had at the Eclipse party.
Here I am surrounded by all my birthday goodies
eating my cupcakes
That night I went to dinner at Babe's with my family. They spared me the humiliation of the chicken hat and being sung Happy Birthday by a bunch of waitresses. Sometimes I can't believe I am thirty but yes I am OFFICIALLY:

THIRTY, FLIRTY, & THRIVING!!!!!

Trivia Quiz

1. What was the original title of 13 Going On 30?

a. Sparkle

b. Sugar and Spice

c. Turn Back Time

2. What was the most popular girls name of the 70's and 80's?

3. In what country was the title changed to Suddenly 30 because the distributors thought audiences would misunderstand the original title?

4. In what year did Cosmopolitan magazine get its start?

a. 1886

b. 1946

c. 1966

5. What was Jennifer Garner's first major in college before switching to drama?

6. In what decade did Mattel introduce the first Barbie Dream House?

Rambling #26 Hap-py Birthday Char-he!

For as long as I can remember Stacie and I have said that to each other on or birthday's, it is from All Dogs Go To Heaven. Unfortunately for Stacie she had to get locked up at the jail on her birthday aka she had to work. So long ago she told me she wanted me to make her a coconut cake for her birthday and bring it up to her while she was at work, so I did. Here I am visiting her at the jail, on July 5th.
Here is her coconut cake I made from scratch, icing and everything. It was a Barefoot Contessa recipe found here.

Here is the birthday girl cutting into her cake! Doesn't she look happy cutting into her cake!
She said she had a wonderful birthday and she loved the cake!