We have been so super lucky to have not one shower but 2! Our friends and family are truly the best. I don't know what we would do without their love.
In September my AWESOME Aunt Lindsay (BTDubs...it is sooo weird to call her my aunt, all of my friends are around her age in their early thirties) threw me a beautiful traditional bridal shower while I was visiting family in Michigan. She had Italian food catered (my fave food is pasta besides tacos...alas tacos don't say "I'm a bride" quite as well as fancy Italian), homemade cupcakes decorated like dahlias, and even let me wear her GORGEOUS veil.
Me and AWESOME Aunt Lindsay
She was a wonderful shower hostess. I am still impressed and will be forever grateful. Now...some shower porn...hehehe I secretly hope some perverts land on this blog with that post only to be thoroughly disappointed. I'm evil. I know.
Cupcakes...mmmm nom nom nom
Our guestbook (held together by our flower girl's wedding day hair barrettes)
Flower Girl Gabs did an amazing job helping me with presents
JR. Bridesmaid Jazzy gettin' her blur on
With one killer shower behind me, I felt so blessed when FMIL's friends offered us a couple's shower in early February. We had an amazing time and made out like bandits! FMIL and FFIL's home is packed full of gifts...until we can get a home purchased and bring all those goodies home!
Our couple's shower was held at Guest Ranch in Strawn, owned by FMIL's good friends. Their home is incredible! From the kitchen to the pool to the formal dining room, I could not stop drooling. The wine probably didn't help with my drooling problem. Eh, what can ya do? Drink more wine I say! And now, some more pr0n.
Cake, Punch and Candy Buffet
FBIL G and his girlfriend S
Groomsman B and Mr. Catkins
Me and my beloved wine
BM J, MOH P, Mr. Catkins, Miss Chatkins, and Step Mom M
Just a fraction of our loot
The food spread
The most delicious lemon cake up close
"Opening" the coolest kitchen tool tree ever!
10 points to whoever can guess what this present is
I call this my "Seinfeld" face..."whaaat's the deal with towels?"
Our guests enjoying the shower
Our guests losing steam after 12,312,557 presents
Our beautiful shower hostesses. Love these ladies!
All of the mister's family that was present
Us with my parents...all of my family that attended :)
Groomsman J, Groomsman B, Mr. Catkins, Miss Chatkins, MOH P, Bridesmaid J
And now I leave you with the funniest of the oh-so candid funny face pictures:
Ew! No, not that VD. Get your head out of the disease ridden gutter. I'm talking about Valentine's Day of course!
The media has taught us that Valentine's Day is the one day out of the whole year where you must break the bank to prove your undying love. And I will say, in the early days of mine and the mister's relationship, we totally followed suit. Over the past 7 V-Day's we have shared roses, jewelry, DVD's, even elaborate trips to San Antonio or the (at the time) brand spankin' new Omni Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. On our second Valentine's Day together, he gifted me with flowers AND a crock-pot. I'm talkin' husband material!
Since we've been engaged, the hype for Valentine's has seriously chilled for us. We've become much more practical in our gifts. Last year in lieu of flowers, he had an edible arrangement sent to my work. Why is that better than beautiful roses? Well for starters, I'm powerfully allergic to flowers. Not to mention they die the moment they enter my care. And chocolate dipped strawberries and apples?! Hell yes! Fruit and chocolate are two of my favorite food groups (and yes, chocolate is indeed a food group, ask any woman). My man understands me. You can't ask for more than that. This year's practical gift in lieu of flowers was an Amazon Kindle. Oh. My. Gawd. How I've longed for one of these babies!
Every time we move, which is coincidentally a lot, I have to lug around giant huge boxes of books that I just can't part with. Now I can donate all of those books and load them on to my Kindle that weighs less than a pound. I am in Heaven.
The other side of our new practicalValentine's Day...take-out. No 2 hour wait for a pricey restaraunt that jacks up their prices for "Valentine's Specials." Nope, not for this uber smart couple. We honor each other's differences in taste and get each other take out from a restaraunt we each personally don't enjoy but the other one loves. For instance, my fiance loves him a Chinese buffet. The only thing I like there are the Chinese donuts and fortune cookies. So on this very special evening, I treat him to Chinese take-out.
He in turn treats me to some good ol' Chili's. It's not that he doesn't like Chili's. He just firmly believes that in a city as big as ours there are so many options that we shouldn't waste our dining at a place we can enjoy in our home towns. I, on the other hand, could live off of their queso. And the chicken crispers, hallelujah!
You might be thinking, so he got you a Kindle and all you did was take him to get a take out plate from a Chinese buffet? Of course not! I gifted him with the very best gift a fiancee could deliver. (Seriously, mind out of the gutter now!)
Yep, a potato. Why a potato? Well here is the poem that I shamelessly stole from Miss Coyote from Weddingbee:
Why Potatoes Make a Better Love Symbol Than Roses
The first reason is that roses only last a couple weeks and that’s if you leave them in water. That’s like saying “My love for you is transitory.” But a potato! Potatoes last for a long time. In fact, not only will they not rot, but they actually grow stuff even if you just leave them in the sack! That part alone makes it a good symbol. But wait, there’s more!
There are so many ways to enjoy a potato! You can even make a battery with it! That’s like saying: “I have many ways in which I show my love for you”. Flowers really only exist to be pretty, so that’s like saying: “My love for you is based solely on your appearance.” Potatoes may be ugly, but they’re still awesome. So that’s like saying: “It doesn’t matter at all what you look like, I’ll still love you.”
For these reasons and more, we would like to see potatoes become the mainstream symbol for love and friendship. So on Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, birthdays, and ANY other gift-giving occasion: save a flower, give a potato.
I have no clue where this idea came from but it is genius! It fits perfectly with our "Eeeen Russia, potato IS fill in the blank" inside joke. Don't ask. We're silly.
Add some Little House on the Prairie to our take-out and it was a perfect Valentine's evening. Do you have any odd Valentine's traditions?
No this isn't a list of cute babies sitting in buckets...but seriously how friggin cute is that baby!
Unlike most 25 year old girls I know, I am unusually excited about being a mother. I am not that crazy about the bar scene and never really have been one to fight for my right to party. But the idea of making delicious meals for my family, swaddling a bundle of joy, or even researching which diaper genie is right for us makes me downright giddy. Let's face it...I have a fever. Baby fever.
I'm pretty sure my fever can't be cured with more cowbell, but who knows.
In order to quell some of my maternal longings, I've created a list of activities I want to do before bringing another life into this world. Some of these things I could do pregnant or even after we are parents, but would be much more enjoyable with a drink in hand and no babysitter to worry about.
1. Go on a wine tasting tour at a vineyard
Since moving to Austin, I have made the transfer from "Wine, oh no!" to full on "Wino". Find me a sweet red wine and I'm all over that stuff like flies on a turd. Napa Valley would be the preferred tour. Alas, with airline prices skyrocketing, methinks a day trip to Fredricksburg would be sufficient. They have some beautiful B&Bs right on the vineyard if we wanted to stay the night...ya know after downing a bottle or two.
Every mom I know has at one time or another dished to me about how much they miss going to the restroom in private. With toddler(s) running around, you simply cannot escape mommy-hood for a minute or two even when nature calls.
One spontaneous day I want to grab my bags and my husband and hit the wide open road. Where we end up at the end of the day is where we spend the night. We can take time to explore a different city without endless research. Just get out and enjoy the world God built for us. We can play blare music that isn't so kid friendly. We can enjoy a romantic getaway without paying someone to watch our kiddos. We can enjoy a car that hasn't been taken over by car seats and cheerios. Let's do this soon!
4. Spend an entire day in bed together watching movies
To me there is nothing better than enjoying a Godfather marathon. The mister would more than likely argue that. Spending the day in PJ's watching our favorite movies with some snacks at hand? Heaven! We could probably do this with a bun in the oven but once that bun is out, probably not. Chances are after little Chatkins arrive, the only time one of us gets to spend a day in bed with movies is if we have the flu. That takes about 100% of the fun out of it. Or if the little one is sick we undoubtedly spend the day caring for them in bed...but all of the movies will consist of talking rats and life lessons. Pssht. Forget the rat and give me an onscreen half naked Ryan Gossling. Ah, movie time.
Oh mimosas, how do I love you? Let me count the ways. The great thing about meeting up with lady friends to gossip discuss world affairs over a mimosa or bloody mary is that when you go home you don't have to chase a rugrat for hours until bedtime. You can take a nap and sleep off the lunch. Or call any friends that weren't at said lunch to dish any news. Now, dear friends, I would never do that. Unless the mimosas were reeeallly good. Then who knows what I'm capable of. Mua-ha-ha-ha!
This one, we have actually accomplished a few times. And it was fantastic! The only way to fly if you ask my dear fiance. However, once we have a baby to travel with, first class will undoubtedly be out of our price range. Not to mention we don't want to be those parents who have a screaming baby in first class. I mean, those nice people did not pay out the wazoo to hear your kid scream.
The mister has never been to the Big Apple and I only went for a couple of days on a school trip when I was 15. Granted, I got to do all of the touristy things like visit Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, and see a LOT of broadway shows (it was a choir trip after all). That was 10 years ago though. I spent most of the trip plagued with laryngitis and trying to woo a senior boy. Um, yeah, teenage self, boys do not find your hacking attractive. Wait until you are better. Now of course we could travel to NYC anytime in our lives, but when better than when we don't have anyone but ourselves to look after? I can't imagine trying to keep up with a kid in all of those crowds. If we do decide to have kids before making this trip, we would either have to wait until they are old enough to come along, stay home by themselves, or pay a babysitter an outrageous salary. First anniversary honey? No. Alright, fine.
What better way to enjoy being childless than a few days in Sin City? Our gambling wouldn't be a big deal because no one depends on us right now. And if we win big? Hello nursery makeover! You're welcome kiddo. Not to mention a friend of mine that can get us into clubs with bottle service without paying $$$$. So she says anyway....love you K!
Let me clarify, I DO NOT and WILL NOT go during Mardi Gras. With ta-tas like mine, Mardi Gras is no place for a prude like me. But a nice Autumn day in the French Quarter sounds downright heavenly. Not to mention some good ol' Cajun chicken pasta. Nom nom nom
I really hate that I have no sewing abilities whatsoever. I long to sew blankets, Christmas tree skirts, even baby toys for when the little one comes. I know I'm never going to get around to it once I'm a busy momma so I would really like to learn now. I think once the wedding is over, and the house is bought and decorated, I am going to purchase a sewing machine and learn it like a boss.
If I don't learn this before I get preggers, then I most certainly need to learn it before baby is born. My only CPR knowledge comes from TV so to all of you readers, I suggest you don't die around me. That is until I take a CPR class.
The point and shoot I got from FI when I graduated college was perfect back then. It's pink and it takes pictures, what more would a girl want? Well the truth is, said camera kind of sucks. It has to be zoomed in at least one notch to take a picture and has a shutter speed of about 5 minutes (or so it seems). I would really love to learn how to use a good Nikon or Cannon. I want to learn all of the settings and take some artsy pictures...and then eventually artsy baby pictures.
My awesome boss gave me a giant box of stuff to make a wedding scrapbook. It was given to her by her mother but she never got around to putting it together and with 2 kids now, it probably would never happen. I hope I can chisel out some time after the move to put it together. Scrapbooking used to be my favorite hobby so I bet it won't take a whole lot of motivation. All I need is my wedding pictures back, and ya know, a scrapbook to put this stuff in.
14. Become a member of our church's congregation
We have been pretty good about going to church the last couple of months. Give or take a few days when wedding planning or sickness took over the afternoon. Once we get settled I would like to apply for membership at our home church. I would really like to become a part of the community and have a closer relationship with God.
15. Own a home
This might be the most important item on my list. When I bring my child home, I want to know that this is the home that he or she will grow up in. Having never lived in any one place for more than 3 years, I really want my kids to have a "home." I want to mark their heights on the wall and watch them change in this one place. After they have moved away, I want to walk into their room and feel my child in that place.
I really feel for Katrina "Soupy Sails" De Voort in Juno. Everyone thinks she's giving the "stink eye" when really, that's her face. That is just what she looks like.
A couple of nights ago, while out with my fiance and soon to be in-laws, we were enjoying a honkey tonk/Texas country band and I was asked 1,537 times why I was not having a good time. I was having a fantastic time! Why couldn't they tell from my natural demeanor that I was happy to step out of my "skinny jean" music bubble and enjoy some good ol' country tunes? Because, like Michael Cera's prom date, I suffer from CBF. That's right, Chronic Bitch Face.
If one more person tells me to cheer up, smile, or enjoy myself I'm going to punch them in the mouth. Dear grinning fools, I was actually feeling just fine and freakin' dandy until you asked me for the bazillionth time what was wrong. Now I'm pissed...just like my face would have you believe. When I tell you that I'm having a good time, I'm having a mother-farking good time! Leave me the eff alone! This is just my face. Since birth I have had dimples in my forehead right above my eybrows. My lips naturally hang down so when I'm grinning my mouth is straight. If I were an emoticon I would be this guy: >:o/
Not attractive, I know. Teenage girls are fed with crap like, "Never frown because you don't know who is falling in love with your smile." Total b.s. How am I supposed to walk around with a smile ear-to-ear just hoping someone falls in love with a face that isn't natural to my state of being? Pssht. My man better love all my faces because chances are he's gonna see ol' bitch face a lot more than Miss Smiles. I don't know why I don't smile like everyone else, I just don't.
So please, if you see someone who has a straight face, don't pester them about it. It will only take them from normal to aggrivated and you will then be the reason why they are now indeed mad.
