Weekend Recap {{Dirty Thirty Fun}}

The past few days have been a whirlwind! Thank you guys for all the awesome birthday love here and on Instagram! I had a relaxing birthday, filled with family and friends... and just a tiny bit of booze :) 

On Thursday, my bestie Jen went and got her first tattoo! She made a bet with herself that if the Royals ever won the World Series she would get a KC tattoo. Well, nobody made her do it, but she totally went and got a KC logo! I have to say, I called her a puss more than once. Hence, the shut up and don't take photos picture. I'm a good bestie. Afterwards, we had to go to happy hour so she could drink away the pain. 

On Friday, we had a normal day. Gabriel came and visited me at work for a bit. Then we went out for margs after work. The usual. On Saturday, we got pretty and went to Ra Sushi. We'd never been there before and I have to say, the food was good, but the service was only so/so. 

I love to drink Sapporo or Kirin when I have sushi and the server came back and asked did I know it was a big bottle and did I want a glass. Nah, girl I'll just drink straight from the 40oz. And yes, I can read it's a 22oz beer. Which is actually less than 2 beers, just saying.  

 We like to order a good variety of "junk food" sushi and straight up raw fish. I love it all!

There is an ice skating rink outside the restaurant, so we went and watched people busting their asses on the cold ice for a bit. Just being all romantical and shit.

Let's get to the good stuff. The gifts. Gabriel bought me purple roses, the sweetest card, and my fave perfume. If you've never tried Bond No. 9, you should! My absolute favorite is Bond No.9 Central Park West , it has narcissus mingled with tangy ylang ylang and a pinch of piquant pepper. A beckoning white-petal mélange— orris, jasmine, and linden—and majestic gardenia. I don't know what most of that means, but I do know it smell amazing! 

 On Sunday, which was my actual birthday, we went to The Bristol for brunch. They have the BEST brunch! My mom made me a whore in a drawer cake for my dirty 30, which made me immediately think of Nadine who has a #inthedrawer instagram challenge going on!

I didn't get too fancy for brunch, but I get down on the mimosas and lobster mac-n-cheese! Calories don't count on your birthday :) Jen ended up coming back to the house (as she only lives 5 doors down) and finishing a bottle of bubbly white after brunch... I ended up asleep in bed at 3pm, then back up again at 4:30. Day drinking is the best.

More gifts! My parents gave me a Royals gift extravaganza. My mom had a fleece blanket with tons of our photos from Post-Season on it, a Royals mini tree, car magnets/decals, a 2016 desk calendar, and a SCRAPBOOK! They gave me the same scrapbook last year too, which I love. It has all the special articles from the Kansas City Star in it. 

The Bond No.9 perfume comes in the cutest bottles and with fun bracelets. I actually first picked the scent based on the bottle, then ended up loving the scent. My Uncle and his GF gave me the cutest necklace, I can't to wear it. I also took some advice from Kathy and decided I needed to treat myself for my birthday. I've been wanting a rose gold watch, so I went and picked one up from Kohl's for less than $12 after all the sales, coupons, and Kohl's rewards I had. How could I not treat myself for that price?!

I hope you all had a great weekend too! 

Weekending {{Holiday Parties}}

December is crazy for us and our families, but this year is different. Gabriel's parents are moving to Houston, so they are packing up their home and we are trying to squeeze in every drop of time we can with them before they leave on the 18th. This weekend, we went to a gathering about 2 hours outside of Kansas City, hosted by my Mother-in-Laws family.

In years past, this get together has been wild and crazy. This year, we were pretty chill. Meaning, I just got slightly shitty, but managed to still eat McD's and fall asleep on the way home. Gabriel has such an awesome family!

We sat around having a hen party and sexually harassing dudes on tinder. Turns out, most of the dudes on tinder are lame asses.

As an exit ticket to leave the party, the hostess has each family take a photo in front of the tree. I LOVE THIS!

Gabriel's family, including his sister and brother-in-law who came in from Houston. We've already planned our trip in March to come see the new baby! Sarah has been buying her wrap dresses from Pink Blush Maternity online and raves about how awesome and inexpensive the clothes are. Her dress from the baby shower also came from there. My tunic is the one every blogger and her mama has from Nordstrom and my skinnies are from Express. If you haven't tried Express's denim, you  should! It's stretchy, but still holds it shape and comes in mid-rise, so your butt crack doesn't show.

I embarrass Gabriel so much by smooching on him. I just can't help myself. He looks os fine! 

This upcoming weekend is my 30th birthday, so I'm hoping to see more friends and family! Have your holiday parties started? What do the holidays look like for you guys?

Baby Shower Fun

I had the privilege of helping plan my sister-in-law's baby shower here in Kansas City. She lives in Houston, so this was a fun filled family weekend. Her hubs came to town with her and family that lived out of town stayed over at my in-laws, so after the shower there was a shrimp boil and shenanigans.

The baby shower was held at Seasons 52, a very upscale restaurant on the Plaza. We decorated in a "classy" fashion, which was reminiscent of prom.

There were photos of the soon to be mom & dad from childhood and some of their wedding/engagement photos. We also had Nothing Bundt Cakes in white chocolate raspberry and lemon. If you have never had this cake before, you have to try! Sooo good! 

Little goody bags for each guest were filled with hershey kisses, nail polish, lip gloss, a candle, and other small yummies. 

One of my favorite things to do is have guests write their name and address on envelopes, so that the thank you cards are a breeze for the guest of honor. Especially since she was leaving for Houston the next day. We also had mini bottles of champagne and nonalcoholic sparkling water to pop bottles when the baby is born! Instead of a guest book, picture frame, etc to sign we had guests sign a copy of "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" and leave a note to the baby. 

 

The tags on the champagne bottles. Once I figured out my printer settings, these were a breeze to make! I found the little It's a Boy tags at Michaels, a craft store. 

One of the best gifts that the mama to be got! It appears that little Baby Boy was procreated at the Cancun destination wedding of mama and daddy. I gave copies of Gabriel and I's favorite books as a child and we each wrote a note in our favorites. Mine included "Where the Wild Things Are" and the Little Critter's books "Just Me and My Dad/Mom" and Gabriel's were "Harry the Dirty Dog" and "Berenstein Bears Spooky Old Tree"

 The gaggle of women and the GBFF.

Momma to be and Grandma to be! 

From Ms. to Mrs. {{Getting Ready & Photos}}

The day of the wedding, I got up and worked out, loaded my car (cough, Jen's car I didn't have a car, cough) full of food in coolers, and off we went to the venue to help set up and decorate. Mostly, I just did what my Mom told me to do. It's safer that way. I was so incredibly lucky that many of my parent's good friends, my family and my two good friends came to help with all this. At 2pm, Jen, Kala, and I went to the hotel to get ready.

This is the only photo from the hotel time. We didn't have a photographer during this time and I got ready with Jen and Kala.  Leslie from Classically Chic Designs did our hair and makeup. My mom also came and got her hair done after a bit. The girls and I ordered pizza, listened to guilty pleasure music and had fun! My goal was to have big, bouncy hair with lots of volume, so I totally used clip in extensions. I also wanted to make sure my eyes popped and my makeup stayed on all day, so I had air brushed makeup done and lashes applied. You guys, if you ever are on the fence about extensions, air brush makeup, or false lashes JUST DO IT! They are all totally worth it and make a huge difference. 

At 5pm, Gabriel showed up so that we could go take photos with Barbara Danielle. 

My bouquet is something I will keep forever. I made it. Blood, sweat, and a whole lot of hot glue later I had a bouquet that I love. 

Our bling. This is also one of my favorite photos. Gabriel did such a good job picking out my rings. For his, he chose a brushed platinum band. 

I really loved the time that Gabriel and I had taking photos, we just walked around Westport and it was really easy going. We didn't have any specific shots that we wanted, so much as we wanted pictures of each other having fun. 

(Kissing is fun, right?!)

This was a candid shot as I was doing touchups. It is such a great picture because that's my dad standing in the reflection of the mirror. How cool is that?! 

What's your favorite wedding photo?

Weekend in Review: Birthday Edition

Another year has come and gone. Saturday was my for real birthday. I am now almost 30. I have a feeling that this post next year will be considerably more self-relfective. Right now, I am where I want to be, give or take a few things. I have worked hard this past year, had some ups and downs, but overall 28 was a great year. I got married, bought a new car, fixed up my first home.

To celebrate, I decided to be extremely low key. I originally thought Japanese Steakhouse with friends, then decided to do a me and boo night. We went to the Melting Pot, which is one of my favorite romantic night out spots. Unfortunately, it was not the romantic experience that we are used to, but no worries. We can play kiss face anywhere. We went for the Cheddar cheese fondue, which has lots of sharp, bold flavors. Then, the wedge salad, our go to at most places. Next, we had the Fondue Fusion, which is a little bit of everything (duck, stack, chicken, lobster) cooked in the red wine. Last, but certainly not least, our chocolate was the Dark and Dulce, a dark chocolate laced with sea slated caramel. DELISH! I have to admit, at that point we were both so full and the food so rich, we didn't even finish the plate of goodies.

Sunday, my parents came over and gave me the best gift ever. A scrapbook of the Royals season this year, specifically the Post Season. I will have to take some pictures to show you all. It is too amazing. I also got a little Salvador Perez, catcher for the Royals,  lego man to put with my Royals collection. 

Shenanigans

she·nan·i·gans

SHəˈnanəɡənz/

silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.

Ya'll the shenanigans of this past weekend left me exhausted, so I didn't even think about writing a post for Monday. My sister-in-law came into Kansas City from Houston, Tx with her fiancee and we all went to a huge family gathering about 2 hours away. This family gathering has become a time honored tradition of drunken buffoonery. 

This year, there were 45 people present and that many bottles of wine. The house is HUGE, looks like a compound, and I swear was actually made for a Lifetime movie where the man has 100 wives and children living there. 

This is Gabriel, my hubs, and his sister. 

The hostess has the biggest walk in shower/tub that I have ever seen, so of course all the drunk beavers had to go wander around in it. SIL was told this was the only family shower she was getting for her wedding, so she made the most of it. 

There is also a tattoo picture taken. Last year, it was the boys and their cousin in the pink shirt who had just gotten hers done. Me? I didn't tell anybody about my three tattoos because I didn't want to have to show any of them. This year? My foot was in the picture. The other two will stay hidden! Don't let the Hubs fool you, he ain't shy his shirt came off too. I just knew that would be too much for all the beavers in blogland  to handle.

Have you guys started your holiday get togethers? What do you do?

Weekend in Review {{12.1.14}}

I'm sure we all did essentially the same thing this past weekend- ate a lot of food and saw family. That's what we did too. So instead of writing all about it I'll just give you some photos.

I lied, these two photos are from last weekend. I like to make G take selfies and told him he HAD to take a birthday selfie, so he indulged me.

This is Gabriel and his dad, Big Poppa. We went out to Capital Grille last weekend to celebrate their birthdays. 

Our Thanksgiving feast may have been a little different than most people. We decided to go with filet, crab legs, skrimp, and other yummy foods that aren't traditionally served. Best. Decision. Ever.

These were my meager offerings. I love to make bruschetta it is super easy and healthy! 

We then went to the Plaza for their annual lighting ceremony. Even though I have lived in KC my entire life, I don't remember ever having been for a lighting ceremony.

Gabriel, myself, and my Uncle Marty. Marty hosted our Thanksgiving wonderfulness. 

After the lighting ceremony, we went to the local neighborhood bar. And everyone had a hang over the next day, except for me. Turns out, shots of fireball will do that to you. 

Did you do anything super fun for the holiday?