When you know you love your dog too much...

Is this for real?!

BUT then again, I know a little dog in Alaska who might like a hot pink Snuggie...

... afterall, she's been known to wear a sweater from time to time.

Caption Contest!!!

It's caption contest time! Here's a little ditty I took of Carolyn back in December when I visited for Kirstine's wedding. What do you think she's doing?

My entry:

Andyyyy get out from under there! It's really not that scary - it's just queso!

Kendra's Tattoo

It’s a little known fact (…to my parents at least) that I’ve always wanted a tattoo, but my chronic indecisiveness has really slowed down the process. I should probably get it figured out, though - it’s only a matter of time before I tattoo a skull and crossbones on my chest in a drunken moment of weakness.

Luckily for my friend, Kendra, she had it all figured out.

Back in October, Kendra called me up and asked if I wanted to go with her to get a tattoo. She’d been thinking about it for awhile, and had settled on a heart made out of music notes tattooed on her side. I was pretty curious about it seeing as how I’ve been too chicken to do it myself… so I said I would be there!

Kendra came to get me, and we picked up Trisha on our way to the tattoo place. It was all fun and games as we headed inside….

While waiting for her technician (is that what they’re called?!), Kendra checked out some of the items available to be pierced… gross.
Finally, the tattoo artist was ready to go. And so was Kendra.
He had her lie on her side…
...while Trisha and I tried not to make her laugh. Here we are in the mirror over Kendra’s head. The whole thing took about five minutes*…. and she was done.* Kendra objects to the five minute assessment. She says it HAD to have been ten minutes at least.

She seemed totally fine when it was all over, but as she was receiving her directions on healing her skin (the guy kept calling it an “open wound” – sick), she PASSED OUT! It was actually really scary…. …but I guess it was nothing a little apple juice couldn’t cure.

All in all, it was a pretty quick process, and she was happy with her results!NOW, if I could just figure out how to break it to my mom that I want a tattoo…

Kirstine's Wedding Rehearsal

A short three weeks had passed since being in Austin when I found myself back in the coolest city in Texas. Kirstine was getting married, and it was time to celebrate! As I walked down the terminal toward baggage claim, I passed a man singing at one of the airport restaurants. If that isn't typical Austin, I don't know what is!

Carolyn was there to pick me up, and we headed straight to a fancy little spa to meet Jen to get our nails done. Although we were offered wine while we got our pedicures, Jen stuck with her beloved Big Red.

Never one to pass up free alcohol, I happily accepted my wine... as well as Jen's.

On our way out, Carolyn and I noticed some snazzy hats for sale...

I'm pretty sure this picture was taken at Jen's direction.

After our mani/pedi's, we made a quick stop at Taco Cabana (I was DYING for some!) and then headed to the church for Kirstine's wedding rehearsal. All of the bridesmaids were already there and looking lovely!

Please note the Nazi wedding coordinator below in red. As I was beginning my walk down the aisle, she caught me by surprise when she grabbed my arm. Apparently it wasn't quite time for me to start walking, and I stumbled a bit in response to the grab. As I stood at the front of the line during our second run-through of the wedding, she said to me, "Make sure not to trip." Thanks lady.

Kirstine was so cute in her pre-wedding dress!

A shot from the bridesmaids' perspective:

After the rehearsal, we all drove out to Salt Lick for a YUMMY meal!

Carolyn and Melissa:

Our whole table:

I loved the koozies!

Being the pregnant lady she is (or should I say was), Melissa was prepared with a snack prior to dinner.

But soon enough, our meal came!

Gui - who has dabbled in the vegetarian lifestyle - ate the most meat by FAR! I actually mistook his plate of demolished ribs for a new plate of meat... and when I asked him to pass James the ribs, Jen V (Gui's wife) almost lost it!

Kirstine gave us all very pretty scarves for our bridesmaid gift.

Five Codeheads... and one SASsy girl.

I was staying the night with Carolyn and her husband, Andy, and they had been telling me about their neighbor's insane Christmas lights display. Like... INSANE. I was pretty excited to see such a spectacle, but as we pulled up to the infamous house, we realized the lights weren't turned on!!!

Not to let that spoil our fun, Carolyn and I made ourselves at home in the Nativity scene.

Just call us the two wise women.

Although the lights show was a bust, Carolyn's other neighbors had a pretty impressive display. Carolyn and Andy had special glasses that made Christmas lights an even more psychedelic experience... so I slapped on a pair of those babies and frolicked through the lights.

Carolyn saw what an awesome time I was having and decided to join me.

As much fun as we were having, we had to get our festive selves in bed. Kirstine's wedding was the next day, and we needed our beauty sleep.... everyone knows the bridesmaid is the most important part of the wedding, afterall. :)

A Whirlwind of Showers

Back on November 12th, I headed to one of my favorite places (Austin) to spend a weekend doing some of my favorite things (Partying, Queso-ing, S'moring, and Tailgating) with some of my favorite people (the Codeheads)!

1/3 of the Codeheads came to the airport to pick me up. It was great to be greeted by Melissa and Jen's smiling faces!

After having a late lunch at Shady Grove and doing a little shopping, we headed to set-up for Kirstine & Joey's shower to celebrate their upcoming wedding. We had planned a yummy spread of food, including Jen's queso/chili/guacamole dip... and build your own S'mores... SO good!

Here are Kirstine, Jen V, and Melissa waiting to dig in to the food....

Out on the patio, James had a serious amount of sausage cooking.... as well as one lonely S'more.

Kirstine with James, Gui, and Matt:

After eating...

... we dug in to the Longhorn cookies...

... AND the S'mores!

Me and teeny Kirstineey roasting marshmallows:

It was getting a little chilly outside, so Gui put the fire to good use!

Kirstine with her sister, Brittany:

This poor little marshmallow had seen better days.

The next day, Jen invited me to have lunch with her family and friend, Lindsay. They were all going to Matt's El Rancho to celebrate Lindsay's birthday, and I was happy to come along!

Check out the crazy lady in yellow.... Jen's mom cracks me up!

Me, Jen, Lindsay, and Carolyn (smiling nicely this time):

Jen's cousin Natalie and her two kids, Benjamin and Abigail, also came. It was great meeting Natalie -- the first thing she said to me was, "I already feel like I know you, because I always read your blog!" That was quite a coincidence because I always read HER blog, too! Now that I've met her, I feel like much less of a stalker.

Although I'd eaten a boat-load of queso the night before, that didn't stop me from eating more at lunch. Abigail was pretty excited about the queso, too.

Yum, yum, yum...

In addition to a lot of queso, Abigail also indulged in some sherbet.

Now, truth be told, I was feeling a little buzzed after lunch. I attribute that to the fact that (a) I'm a lightweight; (b) my margarita seemed a bit strong; and (c) Jen told me I had to drink half of her Mexican Martini, or else she wouldn't be able to drive us home.

That being said... after lunch, we decided to go shopping for Melissa's baby shower. We were looking everywhere for the high chair Melissa had registered for, and finally found it... on a fairly high shelf...

... and for some reason (that reason being the alcohol running through my system), I thought it would be a good idea to climb the shelves to get the chair.

Long story short, the chair came crashing down and nearly missed Jen's head... BUT we'd gotten it!

A few hours later, Jen and I picked up her dad to head to campus and do some tailgating before the UT/OSU game. I hadn't been to a tailgate at UT since I was a student, and I'd forgotten how crazy the whole experience is!

Jen's brother-in-law, John, does the bar-b-queing for one of the private tailgates, and he got us some wristbands so we could get in.

Jen and her dad:

The tailgate was awesome! Free food, free drinks, and lots of fun people...

Jen's dad even made friends with a little person.

Jen and John:

After hanging out for awhile, we decided to head down to Joey and Kirstine's tailgate. On our way, we ran across a few interesting sights...

We thought this hearse summed up the UT's football season pretty well.
Not only did we find Kirstine....
... but I ALSO found my friend, Marlene, who was my roommate in college for three years. I hadn't seen her since we graduated, and I was SO excited!!!
Lulu, Greg, and Mimi... back together again!
As the night was coming to a close, we walked past the Capitol... MAN, I miss Austin!

The next day, I decided I needed a good meal before going to Melissa's baby shower. Chicken fried steak sounded like exactly what I needed, so we headed over to Threadgills.

We had to wait a bit for our table, so Jen and I sat down at the bar for some fried green tomatoes...

... and a Bloody Mary... at 11:30am. Jen wanted me to make sure I documented I was drinking before noon. But come ON, I was on vacation!Right about the time we finished our fried tomatoes, we were seated.

Delicious!

Fully satisfied by my chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni & cheese (any restaurant that includes macaroni & cheese on their vegetable listing is okay by me), we headed to the baby shower. Everyone had done such an amazing job decorating!

Melissa, Carolyn, and Jen V:

Melissa enjoying a cupcake!

One of the games we played involved matching celebrity couples to their respective baby's (crazy) names. Wouldn't you know that Carolyn -- the girl who got a 1600 on her SAT -- got 100% correct?! I love that not only is she book smart, but she also totally kicks ass at celebrity trivia.

Jen's daughter, Mackenzie, made a cameo appearance...

Immediately after the shower, I rushed to the airport to head back to Denver. I was sad to leave, but I knew I'd be back in less than 3 weeks for Kirstine's wedding... and I couldn't wait!