What I'm Loving Wednesday #23

"If you let love guide you, you will never regret the story that is written about you."


It's going to be a quick blog today because I'm currently in Oklahoma City for work.  Yes...another trip.  Seriously, I'm setting some sort of record for amount of time away from home (and my wonderful own bed).  Sigh.  Oh well....on to some things I'm loving today!  Linking up with WILW.

1.  More wedding photos.  Photos continue to emerge from the crazy Texas wedding last weekend.  Here are a few of the funnier ones.  I can't beleive I am publishing some of these for the world to see.

That would be my attitude face during the "Jump On It" song.  Classic.

I think this picture of Brett-Brett pretty well sums up the reception.

Jewish chair dance thing...clearly I did not get the details...before they
dropped poor Brett-Brett.  More than once.

Conclusive proof that I have no business doing any dance other
than the two step.  Poor dude in the bowtie next to me looks confused.

2.  This blog about 25 things I want my ranch kid to know.  Love it.  Lived it.  Hope to teach my kids it one day.

3.  This quote from Modern Family.  Hilarious.  And feeling a little true these days.

4.  This song.  Moon River....one of my favorites.  I just love their version!

5.  This article about loving Oklahoma for loving the Thunder.  I love the comparison to a 20 year old yoga instructor.  Hilarious.  Oh, and Thunder, it's time to Thunder Up, by the way!  Let's get this thing back to OKC where it belongs.

6.  These articles about things that she's like to tell teenages.  I think that she's spot on with a lot of these.  Maybe I'll do my one one of these days!

What I'd Like To Tell Teenage Girls

What I'd Likt To Tell Teenage Boys

There we have it, boys and girls!  Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Even Weddings Are Bigger In Texas

"We love because it's the only true adventure." ~ Nikki Giovanni

Y'all.  Texans know how to throw a wedding.  This weekend I was in the Big D to be a bridesmaid while my best friend from law school, Brett-Brett, married Miss Texas.  They do things bigger in Texas, including weddings apparently!

Me and Brett-Brett

As usually happens with me, things got interesting in the travel department.  (Remember the recent emergency landing and almost-hijacking?)  Well this time it was a crazy cab driver.  I get in and it's a woman driving who has not shaved her legs in like months and is barefoot.  Ok....  I tell her to take me to a coffee shop, like a Starbucks, so I can use free internet while I wait for my ride.  She says, "And you want me to just like, leave you there?"  Um....since you are a cab driver, yes.  Yes I do.  After we got that straight, I asked if there was a Panera because I'd rather go there.  She says, "Let me check my Gammin" (she apparently could not say GARMIN).  Then she tells me the Gammin is named Robert after her ex husband because they were both so difficult.  Ok....  She plugs in the address for Panrea and Robert says, "turn right in one mile" and then "turn right in 1/2 mile" and the crazy lady says, "Robert, you are so single minded, just like when we were looking at buying that house!"  Ok....  By some miracle I made it out of the crazy cab alive.  Just another chapter for my book.

Friday night was the rehearsal where we practiced the art of standing in a certain spot, walking slow, and generally not embarassing the bride and groom.  Not rocket science.  Then we hopped on a bus to head for steaks at J.R.'s, where I proceeded to stuff my face.  So good!  We capped off the night with a little dancing at The Glass Cactus, a club at the resort we were staying at in Grapevine.

And then it was the big day.  I started off with a 2.5 mile run with the wedding coordinator.  At dinner the night before we were complaining about how much we ate and she mentioned she was going to run in the morning and offered to let me join her.  It was not fun getting up early, but I sure felt better afterwards.  I also learned that the wedding coordinator has lost 85 pounds in the last year doing Jenny Craig and running.  She showed me a picture, it was like a different person.  Talk about motivation!

And then it was time to head to the bridal suite to get ready for the day.  Where we spent the next 8 hours.  Holy crap....it was a lot of stress, estrogen and hairspray in that room!  But everyone wound up looking beautiful and the mimosas helped to calm the nerves.

Then it was time for the big ceremony....and it was beautiful.  A friend of Brett-Brett's who played football at UCLA with his older brother performed the ceremony and did a great job.  It was short and simple, but really beautiful and heartfelt.  I'll have to do another blog when the professional photos come back....we took one really great group shot that I think is going to be awesome!  We took pictures for what felt like hours and finally hit the reception, which had the two requirements to make a great wedding:  good food and dancing.

Best parts of the food were the mashed potato bar--I double fisted it and had regular potatos with sour cream, bacon and cheese and sweet potatoes with cinnamon butter and pecans.  Heaven in my mouth.  And to follow up all that goodness, they had cotton candy in martini glasses (you'll see the picture below).  It was awesome.

And then it was time to dance off some of the calories we had just inhaled.  I love weddings where they play tons of fun music and everyone just dances with everyone else.  It was an absolute blast!  There was even the Jewish traditional dance where we all looked confused going in a circle (except for Brett-Brett's family who led the way) and the dance where they put the bride and groom up on chairs and toted them around the dance floor.  They may or may not have dropped Brett-Brett.  More than once.  It was also during this time when the bride's mom introduced me to a little drink called a strawberry balsalmic martini.  Oh my gosh.....y'all must try one.  No lie!

At the end of the night during the last song, the groom was running all over the dance floor to tell everyone to go to the sports bar at the resort.  No need to end a good party!  So we all headed over there and hung out for a while and I let some of the groomsmen convince me to eat pizza at 3 in the morning.  Not a good plan...I still feel sick! 

Now, because I'm a poor planner, I had to get a flight back home at 9:30 in the morning.  Note the reference to pizza at 3 am above and you'll see the problem here.  So I show up at the airport wearin basketball shorts and an old OSU t-shirt, the remnants of my bridesmaid hair, big sunglasses and carrying the biggest bottle of water I could buy.  It was a hot mess situation for sure.  I get on the plane and hear, "Our flight time to Lubbock is one hour." 

Small problem.  I don't live in Lubbock.  So I have a total home alone moment where I realize I must be on the wrong plane.  After some intense questioning, I find out that the plane is going to the right place, but just making a stop in Lubbock.  (Need to do a better job of advertising that, Southwest!) 

When we landed there, the nice guy next to me points to the seatback pocket where he had the barf bag hanging out and says, "I had this ready for you just in case.  Looks like you had a fun night."  I assured him I was not as bad off as I looked.  Then while we were waiting for the new people to board, the flight attendant taps me on the shoulder and says, "Here are some pretzels, honey, I thought you might could use them.  Bridesmaid?"  I said yes and took the pretzels.  Then the guy who sat next to me for this flight offers me a breakfast burrito and says, "It might help."  By this point, I'm thinking to myself, "Just how bad DO I look!?"   I texted the story to a couple of my friends.  The Godfather says, "Maybe you just look sweet and helpless."  Blonde Oklahoma Girl says, "You must look hungry and homeless."  I figure neither was good!

So anyway to sum up my weekend...crazy cab driver, way too much food and drink, a beautiful wedding, lots of dancing, and looking like a sweet, helpless, hungry, homeless person o the flight back.  I call that a successful weekend.  Congratulations to Brett-Brett and Miss Texas, and thank you both for letting me be part of your big day!

Bapa

“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”  ~Unknown

 Last week, I attended part of a funeral service for an amazing man.  And I was reminded that although we have our differences, more things are the same.

I liked Bapa from the first day I met him.  And he spit soup in my face. He was the 96 year old grandfather of my law school bff, Brett-Brett. 

Me and the twins at the Fiesta Bowl

Four years ago, Brett-Brett and I had been studying all day for the ethics part of the bar exam, when his dad called and said to meet him and Bapa for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  So we showed up for dinner and I was seated across the table from Bapa.  We talked about how he grew up in a small town and used to make saddles and riggings for cowboys.  Then the waitress brought his egg drop soup.  Bapa put a spoonful in his mouth, choked, and sprayed soup across the table...literally covering me.  It was all over my face, on my glasses, on the old hoodie I was wearing.  While Brett-Brett and his dad were about to die from laughter, Bapa just kept apologizing and offering to get my shirt dry cleaned.  We bonded that day, Bapa and I.

Bapa passed away last Monday.  His funeral was held at the Jewish Temple where he attended services, and afterwards they had Shiva at Brett-Brett's parents' house.  I'm unfortunately pretty well versed in funerals--I'd venture to bet you that I've been to more funerals in my 28 years than most people attend in their lifetime.  But this was my first Jewish funeral.  So I did what any polite, well-mannered Christian girl would do.  I consulted Google to be sure I didn't do or say something inappropriate!

During the short service at the house, the Cantor explained that this time of prayer and of mourning was observed in the Jewish religion at home with the family, instead of at the public funeral. Prayer books (which I learned were upside down and backwards...turns out that's normal) were passed out and for about 10 minutes, prayers were recited. And then the people in attendance were invited to tell their favorite stories and memories of Bapa.  The Twenty-Third Psalm was read, which caused me to whisper to Brett-Brett, "Don't worry, I know this one!"  Apparently although the jist is the same, the wording is slightly different and I had to retract my proud statement.

At the house, everyone milled around talking, telling stories about Bapa and stuffing their faces with Mexican food.  As I looked around, I could not help but think back to New Year's Eve when my family did the exact same thing at a hunting lodge following Uncle David's funeral and in 2009 when we all ate dinner after saying goodbye to Mr. Franklin.  Love is love and family is family whether a funeral occurs in a Temple or a Cathedral or a high school gym.  Even though our beliefs may be different, the grief and the support given to each other was not.

Bapa's prayer service ended with the following prayer:

At the rising of the sun and at its going down We remember them.

At the blowing of the wind and the chill of winter We remember them.

At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring We remember them.

At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer We remember them.

At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn We remember them.

At the beginning of the year and when it ends We remember them.

As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength We remember them.

When we are lost and sick at heart We remember them.

When we have joy we crave to share We remember them.

When we have decisions that are difficult to make We remember them.

When we have achievements that are based on theirs We remember them.

As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.

They did not end this with an Amen on Wednesday night, but I will today.  For Bapa, for Uncle David, for Mr. Franklin and for everyone else who we have loved and lost.  May we remember them always.

Fiesta Bowl Champs!

"Oklahoma State football has come a long, long way." ~Mike Gundy's Trophy Presentation Speech

Y'all are probably shocked that I waited a whole entire week to post this blog....my Cowboys are Fiesta Bowl Champs! And I was there to see it in person. Here's how it went down.

It was so much fun to meet up with some of my favorite boys in the world to watch the game: BFF, Cousin Swiss Mister, Mr. Animal House Boy, and Ski Trip John.

And I got to see lots of other friends there as well....Brett-Brett, OSU Pres, and Miss Arizona.

We kicked off the fun with a little tailgating Oklahoma State style. That means lots of boots, beer, red dirt music, orange attire, and wine in a box.

There were also some awesome, creative signs. Here were three of my favorites....

Then we headed inside for the pre-game festivities. There were loads of famous people at the game. Thanks to our awesome seats, I got some great shots. Check it out.

Let me take a moment to trash talk the Stanford Band. At first, I think to myself, "Okay, this is just unorganized chaos...no uniforms, running around everywhere, making noise, stupid costumes. Very California." And then, between them talking trash about Oklahoma, our way of life, the fact that we raise animals, the people who would chose to live there AND then refusing to stop playing the fight song during our trophy presentation....I never thought I'd say this, but I hate a band more than OU's. BFF put it best when he said, "I swear, I'm so glad we beat them if for no other reason than I hate that damn band!"

And then, it was game time. I'm not going to give you a whole play by play (until the last 4 minutes), but I'll sum it up for you in two thoughts. (1) If I ever verbalized my thoughts that Andrew Luck was overrated, I take it back. That dude's the real deal. (2) Justin Blackmon is a man among boys. I swear, on that Monday I would have voted for him to be President, Miss America, the American Idol Winner, my future husband...whatever. He was unbelievable.

And now, for the play by play. We were down a touchdown with about 4 minutes to go. We get the ball. My boy Brandon Weeden drives us down and scores. Fast. With 2:35 seconds left. Everyone in America (including me) is thinking, we scored too fast and left too much time.

Stanford gets the ball. Drives down the field. For some reason I'll never understand (maybe because God is an OSU fan) instead of keeping the drive going, they waste about 15 seconds on a run to the middle of the field to set up a chip shot field goal with 3 seconds left. Things did not look good for the Pokes. I said to BFF, "Is there any chance we block this?" He said no way.

So Stanford kicks it. If you've been to a game before, you know you can't tell if it's good or not from the sides. But what you can see is the entire orange half of the end zone seats go absolutely crazy. That's right, ladies and gents, he missed. (Video here.) On the video, it happens in like a second. In real life, it felt like slow freaking motion!

For an idea of how the excitement level increased check this out. Exhibit A was in the 3rd Quarter. Exhibit B was right after the miss when I said we needed a "We didn't lose the game by some miracle!" photo.

And you know how it ends. In overtime we win the toss. Stanford's poor kicker misses again. And then we score a touchdown. By the walk on senior receiver. Everyone goes crazy and the team runs out on the field. We celebrate being the champions. And then they call it back. So we line up for a field goal. And hallelujah for our senior kicker, Quinn Sharp, we won the game and celebrated (again).

My favorite part of the night was when Coach Gundy dedicated the game to The Four. And he brought the widow of Coach Budke up on the stage, hugged her, and handed her the trophy. (Video here.) When we talk about the OSU family, those aren't just words. Those are actions, on a stage, at the Fiesta Bowl. So proud to be a Cowboy!

After the game we headed back to the hotel and hit up some college bar. We had deep discussions about life, watched Mr. Animal House head but a punching bag, discussed stealing a cop car (I convinced them to have a sandwich instead) and closed out the night with BFF yelling random colors out the window.

And then we nursed hangovers and slept until noon the next day. We can still hang with the college kids at night, but it's a different story in the morning!

I'm sad to see this year's football season come to an end. It's been a historic one for Oklahoma State--first Big 12 Championship, first BCS Bowl Appearance, and first BCS win. It's a great time to be a Cowboy! Go Pokes!

It's Okay Thursday #1

"I can't go on anymore bad dates. I would rather be home alone than out with some guy who sells socks on the internet.” ~Miranda Hobbes, SATC

I didn't get a blog written last night. I just didn't feel like writing.....I was not in a mood where I felt like being chipper or witty or optimistic. My plan was just not to have one, but Blonde Oklahoma Girl called me out on it, so I decided to slap something together. Somtimes, you have to fake it 'til you make it, so here's my attempt.

Oh, and I realize the quote above is really not related to anything, but I thought it was awesome and had to use it.

Today I'm trying on a new link up called "It's Okay Thursdays." You've read before about how I think a little ranting does a girl good. Here we go! :)

It's Okay.....

...that last night I almost had a heart attack when I went to feed Brett-Brett and Miss Texas' cat (they are out of town) and he was laying motionless on the bed. Mind you, he's literally 19 years old and I pray every time I am cat sitting he won't die on me.

.....that once I frantically screamed his name, and said cat looked up at me like he was annoyed that I interrupted his nap, I shook my finger in his face and gave him a stern lecture.

.....that last night I had a "to-do" list the length of my arm, but I ended up putting on my pjs and watching an America's Next Top Model marathon instead.

....that I want to go out and buy new Nike apparel just because of this ad campaign below.

.....that after talking to ND Friend about how it's important to be specific when you pray, I'm thinking about adding a request for Mr. Right to be a square toed boot wearer and to hate flip flops just to be sure my bases are covered. (I hope he takes Miss Canada's amazingly wonderful male fashion advice! Be still my heart...)

.....to wish I could block all "breaking news" about the stock market from MSN. I swear, everytime I see something about the Dow dropping it makes me want to take all of my money and shove it in a pillow case under my matress. (I have not acted on that impulse, so don't attempt to rob me!)

.....that I am perpetually confused about bananas. Let me explain. Every Monday, there are literally three big bunches of bananas in the kitchen at work. I mean the big bunches--like the Chaquita lady wears on her head. I went into the kitchen yesterday (Wednesday) and there was one, yes, ONE SINGLE banana left. There are only 14 people who work here. Where do they go?

......that I seriously considered not buying food or clothing for the next month just to be able to afford the plane and game tickets to go to 3 OSU football games this fall. Takes bleeding orange to a whole new level, no?

Untying

"To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others." ~Albert Camus, The Fall

I was talking to one of my guy friends a few days ago about relationships and happiness and all that sort of stuff. You know the story. Boy likes girl. Girl talks to boy. Boy puts himself out there. Girl shoots him down. And he was saying that her rejecting him really bummed him out. (Mind you, 2 days later I was talking to a female friend and it was the same thing---in reverse.)

As we were talking, I said, "You know, I think that the key to this is that you can't tie your happiness to another person." It was one of those things that came out of my mouth and I thought, "Man, I'm pretty smart. I probably should have my own tv show."

Think about it--how many times do we tie our own happiness to other people---to a boy that we're interested in, to our friends, to our parents, to our boss. When we tie our happiness to other people, the problem is that we have no control over how the other people feel. So even if we are doing our best to be happy people, we might still get drug down if the other person doesn't do the same thing.
It's sort of like a rule that I have for my bucket list. (Yes, I have rules for my bucket list. I'm a lawyer...it's my nature!) I don't put something on the list that I do not have any control over.

So, for example, I cannot put "Go on the Amazing Race" on my bucket list, because I have no control over whether the producers pick me. I can't tie my goal (or my happiness) to someone else. What I can put is "Apply for the Amazing Race." (And you better believe that is on there. I'm still trying to decide on a partner...currently BFF and Cousin Kevin are in the running! Brett-Brett was eliminated after I learned he can't fix anything and he doesn't like to get dirty.)

Anyway, I think that it is good for everyone to untie their happiness from other people. The bottom line is that our being happy is up to us. And if other people in our lives can add to that happiness by being in it, great. But we have to remember that we hae to stay focused on our own happiness. It really is up to us...

It's The Simple Things #1

“It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.” ~ Donald Miller


Last week, the Blonde Oklahoma Girl did a great new link up called "It's the Simple Things." I loved this idea, so I have kept a few notes this week and am linking up with Jesslyn Amber today!

It's the simple things, like

....cute cowboys in square-toed boots (the picture below is my brother, although he was not the cute cowboy to whom I was referring)
.....an inside joke that only three people at the table understand ("It is what it is.")

......the stars on a clear night in the country

....the feeling I have after I get my butt out of bed and go on an early morning run

.....hearing a beautiful story of faith and trust at Bible study from a woman who is losing her husband to cancer

.....the anticipation of a three day weekend

......getting asked by my law school bff, Brett-Brett, and his fiancee, Miss Texas, to be a bridesmaid in their wedding.

A Few Updates

"He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes." ~Proverb

Running Report.

As you all know from this blog, I am in training for my first ever half marathon in San Francisco at the end of July. Up until the official start of my training plan last Monday (I'm doing Hal Higdon's novice training plan), I had been trying to slowly (I promised the cute--but married, sigh!--physical therapist slow and easy) to where I can run 3 miles fairly easily prior to starting the plan. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to put that to the test and run in the Run for the Zoo 5K.

Now, I've read that when you run a race, you should set three goals: one as like the absolute "I have to do this" goal; one as the "I think this is fairy realistic" goal, and one as the "This would be awesome if I could actually do it goal." My goals were: run the whole race (it sounds stupid, but after running on my birthday weekend and learning that one cannot successfully run after eating/drinking margaritas, mexican food, pizza, ice cream and marshmallows in the 48 hours preceeding the race, I was a little worried again!); run the race in under 31:00 (a 10 minute mile); and run the race in under 30 minutes.

Well, I am happy to report.......I achieved all three goals! My time was 29:33. And, when a girl meets her goals, she deserves pancakes! :)

Now that the training plan has officially started, I'm getting more and more nervous about this whole half marathon thing. Let's cross our fingers I can do it! Any advice is welcome.

My Big Fat Mouth

I'm a talker. That's not breaking news. But I'm also surprisingly good at keeping secrets. So when my law school bff, Brett-Brett (the tall one on the right below), told me 6 months ago that he was planning to propose to his girlfriend, Miss Texas, I kept my mouth shut. I managed to say nothing even after I saw the ROCK of an engagement ring he planned to put on her finger. And then, literally AN HOUR from the big moment, I just about blew the secret. Here's how it went down.

Brett-Brett planned a trip to California for the proposal and I told him to call me after he did it. I knew they were leaving on Sunday morning because I'm cat sitting. So, I get a call about 4:00 on Sunday afternoon.....what would you think that call was about? Yea....I almost said, "OMG, CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING ENGAGED!" but instead I just said, "Do you have big news??" At this point, Brett-Brett figured out that I was about to ruin things and jumped in to say that they did--he had taken Miss Texas on a surprise trip and they were IN THE CAR on the way to the hotel (read: Shut your big fat mouth, Tiffany!)

Fortunately, Miss Texas didn't catch it and the surprise remained in tact, but holy cow. That's a lot of stress on a girl!

Something Borrowed

On Sunday I went to the movies by myself to see Something Borrowed. I had never gone to the movies alone before, but I figure that if a girl wants to see a movie, sometimes she has to go what she has to do. It was actually kind of relaxing and enjoyable.

I thought that the casting was perfect and the actors/actresses did a great job. I am a little torn about a movie where the take away could be "it's okay to cheat with your best friend's fiancee so long as you two really are meant to be together and she's a jerk, because you'll live happily ever after." Even if your friend is a jerk.

But I must say that I've never related so much to a character as I did to Rachel. Not that I have a Darcy---my girl friends are awesome as we've previously discussed!

But in the way that she keeps her mouth shut too much and is scared to go after what she wants a lot of the time, but instead steps back and watches other people do it. Guilty.

And I think that the take away I got from the movie was to tell people how you feel--don't keep it inside and never say anything because you just never know what could happen--is totally something I need to remember. One last thought....I won't ruin the movie but let me just say if I were here, and some guy sitting on a couch told me I was his first choice, I would have totally picked him. Just saying.

Wine Tasting Tours

While the girls and I are out in San Francisco for the half marathon, we're planning on taking a day to head up to wine country and do some tasting! BFF and I got to tour and taste at several wineries on our weekend retreat to Sonoma a few summers back and it was a blast!

So the girls and I debated renting a car, but we've decided there are several problems with that. First, no one wants to drive in SF (and after this blog, can you blame them?) Second, there are going to be at least 5 of us if not more, so we'd need a big freaking (read: expensive) car. Third, no one wants to be a DD and miss out on the best wineries in the country!

Instead, we're looking into various wine tours. We want something that picks us up in San Francisco, takes us to Napa and/or Sonoma for tastings at a few wineries, and then brings us back. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, PLEASE let me know!

And He Shall Be Called.....

Yes, folks. My new calf has a name. As you might remember from this blog, my friend Yamil was in charge of naming the calf. I waited with a lot of anticipation while he though up the perfect name. Clearly Yamil thought long and hard about this.

And the selection was......Roberto. Love love love it.
P.S.: It's not too late if you want to participate in my gift to Yamil and his friends at the House of Dreams orphanage. I need a few more decks of cards from different states! Just comment or email me to let me know that you'll be sending cards and I will wait until they arrive to mail the package!

What I'm Loving Wednesday #3

"So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances."

Hello hello! It's Wednesday, and I'm loving lots of things! To check out what other people are loving, click here!

1. I'm loving the amazing pictures I took while I was at the ranch this weekend. You saw a couple in my photo challenge blog from Sunday and you'll see a bunch more this week for Family Farm Friday (and in subsequent weeks' photo challenges). For now, here is a little sneak peak....


I am entering the photo above in the Live Every Moment challenge! Be sure to go over and check out the other amazing entries!

2. I'm loving that March Madness starts today. I realize I have not talked much about college basketball on my blog this year....it's not that I'm not a fan.....but more of a direct correlation to the way OSU played. Yea....don't get me started. Anyway, I love college hoops and especially love March Madness! When I was at OSU we went to the Final Four and the Sweet 16 the next year. Talk about exciting! If you want to re-live the glory days, click here.
Anyway, I plan to be watching as many games as I can on CBS online in my office. I did this last year and was really worried that I might get caught and get fired. That was until I heard the partner whose office is next to mine screaming at the end of a game. Phew! I screamed right along with him. Yet another reason my job is awesome!

3. I'm loving a couple of blogs that I read about Lent. You got some very general info on my blog about Lent, but if you're interested in others, I found a couple of great ones. First, the Word on Fire blog had two really great posts. First, Father Steve wrote a great blog about Lent and what the ashes symbolize. Second, Father Barron posted a video about Lent. (The Word on Fire blog is great by the way....and sometimes you can catch ND Friend as the writer! Trust me, she's amazing!) And then this blog discusses the meaning behind the phrase that often hear on Ash Wednesday.

4. I'm loving Kristin Armstrong. I just think she's awesome. I read her first book Work in Progress and recently ordered her brand new book Mile Markers. I read her blog each week and I absolutely loved this blog called Double Windsor. The idea is that we all have a windsor knot inside of us--meaning that we can do things that we had no idea we could do. To check out the other books I've been reading lately, click here! (And if you're on Good Reads, add me as a friend because I'd love to see what you've been reading!)

5. I'm loving This song by Laura Story called Blessings. I've had this baby on repeat since I heard it on the radio! Favorite verse: "And what if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are your mercies in disguise."

6. I'm loving Cherry Almond Granola from Whole Foods. Oh.My.Gosh. This stuff is SO good! If I wasn't making myself watch my calorie intake, I would have eaten the whole container in about 5 minutes. Seriously amazing.

7. I'm loving the little Bachelor Finale dinner party I had over at one of Brett-Brett and his girlfriend, Miss Texas', house. She made amazing Texas Chili and guacamole....SO good! Then we proceeded to watch the show, during which Miss Texas and I would talk and Brett-Brett would constantly shush us. That's right...the boy was shushing the girls during the Bachelor. However, it was fine for him to repeatedly say that in a surprise twist a midget was coming in on a helicopter and Brad would marry her instead and that Brad's mom would be the newest Bachlorette. And when I say repeatedly, I mean OVER AND OVER AND OVER! I do love that crazy guy!

Margaritas, Field Goals and Marshmallows

"A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world." ~Lois Wyse

Well, today is the big day.......as I mentioned in a prior blog, I have moved into the "late" category of the twenties. (I know Texas Lawyer disputes this, but I still maintain that 27 means late). In light of this, some celebrating was in order. And instead of celebrating one birth day, I celebrated a birth weekend. The theme of which was: Margaritas, Field Goals and Marshmallows. Here's a recap.

Margaritas

So on Friday night the Loud Oklahoma Girl flew in for the weekend!

And to kick things off, a whole group of my absoultely fabulous friends went to dinner at El Pinto....a great Mexican food restaurant. People from the home town, people from college, people from law school, and even post-law school friends showed up....they are all pretty darn great if you as me! And, despite my initital fear that I had gotten lost on the drive, that I would miss my own birthday party, and that we might get killed, everything worked out quite well.

Field GoalsYou all might not know this about me, but I really like football. Shocking that it would be part of my birthday, I know.

Anyway, the Loud Oklahoma Girl and I hit up hot yoga at 7:00 am. This was us leaving the house at 6:30. I was about as excited as I look.

After hot yoga, we invaded Brett-Brett's house because of his incredibly comfy couch, big screen, and Direct TV Sports Pack. Oh yea, and because of his company too.... Anyhow, we spent several hours watching games (including my Cowboys beat up on K-State!!)
And, while we were there, Brett-Brett's brother came by. He happened to have been a football star at UCLA and he let me try on his Rose Bowl ring. Looks good, no?
Then, it was time for the "field goal" portion of the birthday weekend. My friend McCain happens to be a high school assistant football coach. And he agreed to get us onto the field to play football for my birthday. Now, at the risk of sounding like a 13 year-old boy, let met just tell you, that I could not have though of a better birthday event! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, except to say that I made the VERY FIRST field goal that I attempted. Yea.....someone has to introduce me to Dan Bailey because we could be raising some future college kickers!

Marshmallows

After a long afternoon of hard football workouts, we hit up College Roomie's house for dinner and smores in her new fire pit! And in honor of Betty White and Sandra Bullock in the Proposal, there was some dancing around the fire...

The weekend ended with a 5K.....let's just say that all of the exersion at football practice combined with all of the eating I did proior to the run on Birthday Weekend was NOT conducive to being successful at the 5K. However, it was technically a "run/walk" and we did exactly that...so maybe it wasn't all bad! And Cousin W finished her first race ever! ConclusionI'm so lucky to have such amazing friends who participated in the birth weekend. My birthday is always a little hard for me....you might remember that I lost friends in two car accidents this time a few years ago. I'm so grateful to have people in my life who help me focus on the happy and who help to make my birthday so great!