Californian?

Our trip to California has come and gone and all I want to do is go back IMMEDIATELY.  I was so sad to leave.  Usually after a vacation I am ok with heading home - looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, seeing Bella, cooking, and all that jazz.  Leaving California, though, brings out such different emotions in me.  For some reason, I always panic a little at the thought that this might be my last trip to the state (why?  no clue), and I get super bummed about heading home.  Seriously, had we been able to get Bella out to us last week, I might not have ever come back to Texas.

Is it weird/pathetic that I still kind of consider myself a Californian?  I lived there for 15 years.  I've been in Texas for 13, so I've been here almost as long as I was there.  Considering I had only planned to be here to finish high school, the fact that it's been 13 freaking years is kind of unsettling.  I wonder if I will never get back there.  Saul is down to relocate, but there is the ever-present issue of work and housing and since I am not too keen on the idea of living in a box under the highway, we'll probably stay in Texas for a while longer.  SIGH of all sighs...

Anyway, our trip to Los Angeles was awesome.  The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there, we got to see a bunch of family, and we spent a lot of time just the two of us.  Going to California, while always amazing, tends to be more about seeing family and doing planned activities and less about taking an actual vacation and just relaxing.  This trip we made sure to carve out a few days for just us and do whatever we wanted and oh my god, was it awesome.

First, we rented a convertible.
!!!!!!!!
It was completely unnecessary and I really was kind of resistant when Saul initially suggested it, but HOLY SMOKES am I glad we did it.  It was a blast!!  Cruising up and down the coast, top down, sun shining, with the wing blowing through my hair...bliss, I tell you.  PURE FUCKING BLISS.

We stayed in Marina del Rey for the first 2 days of the trip and ate and drank our way up and down Washington Street.  We ventured over to Venice Beach one morning and did some of the best/most insane people-watching of our lives.  Mostly, though, we spent our days just driving around aimlessly, dreaming of what our lives would be like if we moved to the beach.

Granted, that dream looked a lot like homelessness, but really - if you're going to be homeless, be homeless in Manhattan Beach!

Now for some photos...

 Objects in mirror might seem colder than they appear.
The 70 degree temps totally eff'd me up.

 Hello, convertible driver - take me for a ride?

 Headed up the coast to Malibu.
No plans, no timelines...not a care in the world.

 I miss cliffy coastline...

 Paradise Cove, in Malibu.  Found this place completely by accident.

 First beers of the trip - at 11:30am!  Why not?
Lobster approves.

Avoid the calamari tacos at all costs...


Depending how motivated I feel later on, you might get to see more pictures.  Maybe.  We all know I am awful at recapping.  It's just how I roll, yo.

Happy Thursday ;)

Home is wherever I'm with you...

Clearly it's been a while.  So let's catch up, shall we?

The weekend of the 4th was kind of anti-climactic.  Texas issued a burn-ban for the weekend, so there were no fireworks here, save for a few professional shows downtown, but driving for an hour, standing in a crowd of thousands of people for a few hours, and then driving home (in traffic) sounded like my idea of torture, so we stayed home.  Also?  It was a no-refusal weekend here, so we definitely stayed wherever we drank.

We mostly spent the weekend in a pool - sometimes ours, sometimes not - and drank a lot of beer and lots of yummy frozen SeaBreezes (vodka, cranberry, grapefruit).  We ate a lot of BBQ and saw a lot of friends, so all in all, it was a successful 3-day weekend.

The week following was for recovery and hydrating, since the weekend of the 9th we had a bunch of friends in town and went to a wedding shower Friday night and helped host the bachelorette party on Saturday.  Saul went downtown with the guys and I went with my girlfriends to the Woodlands to celebrate.  The wedding is this weekend/next week in Mexico and one of my very best friends from TLU is the groom, but sadly we can't go.  Boo.

The Mexico trip runs into a trip we have planned to go to California to celebrate Saul's g-ma's 90th bday.  We're using it as an excuse to have a family reunion, which I am so stoked about.  I love Saul's cousins and aunts and uncles, and also - WE GET TO GO TO DISNEYLAND!!!!  Seriously, y'all...I am dying over here.

We are going to Dallas this weekend to see some friends and their (5 month old) baby we haven't met yet, which is just dick on our part as friends, but we're fixing it this weekend!  A weekend of hanging out and drinking some beer/wine to celebrate their new(ish) baby.  Yay us.

We leave for CA on Tuesday, for A WEEK, which I am so so so pumped about.  I can't wait to turn off my email alerts and just relax for a week.  Bliss...

Happy Tuesday!!

The RHYTHM of the night...

So remember that time I was in a spelling bee? No, not the one I was in when I was 9 and in 4th grade (which I WON, by the way)... the one I was in a few weeks ago when I was 28.

You guys, seriously - you all need to go out and host drunk spelling bees. It was seriously one of the most fun parties I have been to in a while. Never mind the fact that I drank a whole bottle of wine by myself (I am so awesome), or that I didn't make it to the final round, or that pretty much only Saul and I were wearing the required black and yellow - it was a BLAST.

Saul made it to the final 4, but lost to some chick that bought back in, which is a weird rule at a spelling bee, but whatevs. He was pretty peeved he didn't win the whole thing (first place got an iPod Shuffle and a sweet trophy), but I was proud that at least one of us represented.

The word I went out on? Rhythm. How did I spell it? Rythm. Fuck.

In my defense, I was more than 3/4's of a bottle of wine and like, 7 shots, deep at the time of said misspelling. I thought about the word in my head and declared there to be too many "h's," so I (not so) cleverly dismissed one and thought I was the shit. Bummer.

The setup was super official with microphones and a stool for the speller and name tags. Best moment of the night? While I was up spelling one of the words I got right (booyah!), I see a cop stroll through the party and stand behind the host, who was giving us the words. I froze. Really? A cop at a spelling bee? BAHAHAHAHA!!!! The cop said someone in the building had complained about the noise (we were on an outdoor terrace and really weren't being really loud), so he asked us to be a bit less rowdy or he was going to have to shut the party down. I don't know about you, but "rowdy" and "spelling bee" have never really been in the same ballpark to me... live and learn! Also? It was like 9pm.

The same douche came back a few hours later and booted everyone out, so obvs he was serious. Or bored. Or banging the wretched bitch that called in the noise complaint in the first place. Whatevs.

As is my MO this week, here are photos (iPhone...not the greatest) of the night - or what I was sober enough to capture, anyway.

No talking on the roof. Outside. At 9. On a Friday.

Twinkle lights and coolers full of magic deliciousness called beer...

45 people at the mother f'ing spelling bee.

Note the sweet Hawaiian shirt. Homeboy was in it to win it.

The spelling stool. Also, where you went to go to take the house shot... it tasted like vodka-spiked V8 fruit juice. Barf-tastic, but healthy!

Clearly, I am getting tipsy here. Note the complete lack of focus or specific subject.

Blue Moon in the AM - it will cure all that ails you

Anyone else been to any seemingly dorky, but surprisingly badass theme parties lately?

My drive home

I commute 30 miles each way, every day. Occasionally, I have to travel within Texas to meet a client or help with a job, so really, I drive all the fucking time.

Also? I have TERRIBLE road rage. Like, it's awful. And by awful, I mean that I use words in the car that, normally, I am uncomfortable even reading silently, to myself. So you can imagine how pleasant my car rides can be...

Here are a few snaps from my front seat (can you tell I am totally trying to clean out my iPhone photos? an abundance in my "pictures" file just drives me nuts).

The scenic route

My dream home...if only because every time I drive by, I am reminded of California. I think it's the stucco and palm trees.

Rain is coming...

I can deal with traffic on pretty tree-lined roads.

Oh yes...that definitely says 106 degrees. Mother fucking Texas.

Crazy storm last week...it only rained on the west side of the highway. It looked like a bad dream.

Driving to Killeen, TX at 6am. On a Sunday. FML.

Happy hump day!!

San Diego Photo Dump

I was in the Mission Valley area of San Diego a few weeks ago for work, which would have been amazing had it been sunny at all (it wasn't), nice and warm (it wasn't), and I didn't have to actually work (I did).

Full 11-hour work days coupled with dinner with clients each night meant I didn't get a chance to see any friends, which is always a bummer, but I was traveling with one of my co-workers that I've known since high school, so we had a good time.

We didn't get to do much sight-seeing, but we DID go to In-n-Out the first night we got into town - I'd been craving a double-double for a solid month...pretty much since I found out I was going to California.

Because I have been just spectacularly lazy the last month or so, here are photos and not many words...

The mothership

Animal Style...the only way to go.

The view from our dinner at George's in La Jolla

La Jolla

Walking along the harbor

Harbor Island

Wish the sky was blue...

Ocean Beach. Hello, lovely.

Hope all has been well in your neck of the woods!

Can you use it in a sentence?

I am sooooooo (my iPhone corrects that to "spooking" FYI) tired of getting to Friday and saying, "oh my god - work whooped my ass this week!" BUT HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, work fucking whooped my ass this week.

So, in an effort to unwind, I'm doing the most relaxing thing you can imagine doing on a Friday night...

I'm participating in a mother fuckin' SPELLING BEE.

Oh, you heard me.

SPELLING BEE, bitches.

If you just read that and went, what the fuuuuu...? you're in good company because that's exactly what I did when Saul read me the eVite. Will we be judging it? Will kids be spelling? I don't get it.

Turns out, this is a legit spelling bee, hosted by some of our super-smart doctor friends (no medical terms allowed, we've been assured), and we're actually going to have to spell words.

Also, we are to dress in yellow and black.

Oh - and we have to take a shot before each round of spelling.

I am guessing I will last 2 rounds.


Tomorrow, we're going to see our new niece (born 6/1!!), little Miss Henley - or "Pope Henley" as Saul calls her, since she was born with quite the little cone-head.

We're also hosting a birthday party for one of my good friends from high school, so we'll probably have about 15 people in the pool at some point on Saturday afternoon. I'd be super pumped about it, but really I am just super jealous, because SOMEONE has to travel to San Antonio for work on Sunday, so SOMEONE can't party all night with friends.

And by travel to San Antonio for work on Sunday, I mean I have to literally work on Sunday in San Antonio. Balls.

Besides that small blip in an otherwise awesome-sounding weekend, it should be good times all around!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

4 days til San Diego...woooo hoooo!!!

So...it's June?!

First, let's start with a list of things I had in my mind to accomplish in May 2011:

1. Finally fully recap the wedding. Um yeah...the one that took place in 2010.
2. Run at least 4 times a week
3. Get wedding pictures up (yep...from the one that took place in 2010)
4. Start cooking again on the regular

Not a huge list, right? Totally accomplishable (is that a word?).

Wanna recap what I actually DID in May 2011?

1. Wrote 2 posts about the wedding, and then kind of left y'all hanging. They did highlight my excellent keg-stand sensibilities, though.
2. I ran 5 times in May. 5 times in 31 days. 13 total miles. PATHETIC.
However, 2 of those times were 5Ks, bringing my 5K total for the year to 4.
3. There actually are a few wedding photos up in our house (hooray!), BUT they are because my best friend took pity on me and framed them for me for my bday.
Newlywed fail.
4. Pretty sure we went out to eat (or ate like complete shit) AT LEAST 3 times a week for the whole month.

Mother eff...

What I have been doing is a) losing my mind at work, b) losing my mind on Pinterest, and c) losing all motivation to blog.

It's getting hot as hell in Texas, so I am going to San Diego next week for work (yaaaaaayyyyyy!!!). Hopefully I'll get to see some old friends, and I will be in a gorgeous place, so maybe that will bring my blogging mojo back (not that I had a ton to begin with...let's be honest, here).

With that, I leave you with a few items from Pinterest that I am obsessed with - seriously, y'all, I could disappear for hours into that website.

Enjoy!

pinned by


pinned by


pinned by


pinned by


pinned by

Wedding Recap - Ceremony and Reception

Really, the whole time we were planning the wedding (I say 'whole time' like we planned forever...), I think Saul and I maybe had 1 conversation about the actual ceremony. We pretty much just wanted someone to say, "do you? do you? MAKE OUT." Aaaaand then we wanted to go party balls with our friends.

Saul's dad is a Lutheran Pastor and has presided over the weddings of both Saul's brother and sister. Saul decided immediately that he didn't want his dad to marry us - "I want him to just be able to hang out and not do any work at one of kid's weddings," was the reasoning. So we had Saul's dad's friend marry us instead. He didn't make us do any pre-wedding counseling, no weird handouts to fill out, no uncomfortable meetings. He did ask that we get together at least once to go over our vows, and when we arrived at his house he immediately offered us wine. Awesome.

We talked about the normal stuff, and it went pretty quickly since both Saul and I knew we wanted a super short ceremony. The only thing I had an opinion on was that I didn't want a unity candle, nor did I want the word "obey" used in our vows. Other than that, though, we told him to do his thing.

Oh, and DO HIS THING, he did...

Let's just say that he spoke of poop, and near-death experiences, and oh yeah - did I mention the poop?? Yeah. Poop was brought up at my wedding. BY THE GUY MARRYING US. Bizarre doesn't even come close to describing it, but by the time he wrapped it up (surprisingly neatly) and pronounced Saul and I husband and wife, we were cracking the hell up. One year later, and people STILL talk to us about our actual wedding ceremony, which is not something I can say for every wedding I've attended.

We sent our guests off to go get beer and food while we took a few pictures, and then we were introduced for the first time. As "Sal and Cheryl Kxxxx!" Yeah - SAL. Sigh... All of Saul's fraternity brothers gave him shit for the rest of the night - "hey SAL - go get me a beer!"

The reception was a blast - we danced, we played flip-cup and beer pong, and I even got so classy as to do a keg stand ;) Really, it was the best party Saul and I have ever thrown.

He wore a Hawaiian shirt and spoke of messy things...

Mr. and Mrs.

SAL and Cheryl!

I should have kissed the bride...

And that, as they say, is what friends are for!


Up next...the music!

Recap 1

*I know this is taking me forever to get done, but it's my wedding and I will savor it for as long as I'd like, ya hear?!

**Also, F you, Blogger.

Wedding Recap - Planning

We got engaged on December 30th, 2009. We got married on May 1, 2010. For you Matheletes, that means we were engaged for approximately 4 months. I planned a wedding for over 300 people and pulled it off in 121 days.

Because I am a badass.
And no, NOT because I was pregnant*.

We planned quickly because basically at any moment last year my brother could have been deployed, and the thought of him not being at my wedding because I waited too long to have it was just tragic. It put some additional pressure on us, yes, but it was 100% worth it. To be honest, though, I don't think I would have done it any differently anyway.

I love planning parties, but I've never looked forward to planning a wedding. Frankly, all the detail that goes into wedding planning (flowers, colors, favors, decorations, etc.) is stuff I don't really care about, and pretty much just overwhelms the shit out of me. Why can't someone else just do everything for my wedding and simply tell me when and where to show up? OH, that's right - people like that DO exist, but they cost buckets of cash! And buckets of cash, I sadly did not have.

It was nice to have some time alone with Saul (in Jamaica, no less!) right after he asked me to marry him so we could really talk openly about what our "ideal" wedding would entail. Trust that this wasn't our first wedding convo, though, folks - homeboy and I had lived together for almost 3 years at that point, and we often had small conversations that started with, "well if we ever get married..." Still, it was nice to have each other's undivided attention for a few days.

Since we had started talking about a possible wedding in the years before, I thought I knew what I did and didn't want - I didn't think I wanted to wear a white dress, I didn't think I wanted bridesmaids, I didn't think I wanted speeches. I found out Saul wanted some of the more traditional aspects, so there was a lot of compromising on both sides.

Compromises we made...

I agreed to bridesmaids (but we didn't have an even number of guys/girls on each side...also, my girls wore white - controversial, fo sho.)
I agreed to a white dress (but I told him I wouldn't promise it would be long)
He agreed to no cake-cutting (we had cupcakes)
He agreed to no speeches
I agreed to the bouquet/garter toss (shocked the HELL out of me that Saul wanted to do that!)

We decided on the date, and that we wanted an outdoor wedding (which honestly became the biggest freaking stressor of the whole effing process since the weather in Texas in May can be um...temperamental), which we figured would require only some white lights and minimal decorations. Flowers could be minimal as well, we reasoned. I can't tell you how many weddings I have been in where the bride has had her budget blown to shit because of flowers. That died the next day. To each their own, but I would rather my budget stretch further in different areas.

Which brought us to budget - we knew we wanted to make this as painless as possible for all involved and take on as much as we could ourselves. We also both knew didn't want to be in crazy debt after the wedding. We wanted good food, good drinks, good music, and we really just wanted it to feel like a bbq in our backyard. For like, 300 people.

Yeah - our guest list was insane. Saul and I both went to the same college, but 4 years apart. Our friends overlap, and coming from a school of 1,200, we're still good friends with many of them. Also, since we live in the area where we both went to high school, we're still friends with a lot of those people. And the rule they say to go by while planning a wedding? The one that states about only 70% of your guests will show? UM, NO. That rule did not apply at ours. Just about everyone on the list RSVP'd yes, which was awesome, but HOLY SHIT - we had to feed a ton of people.

So here is where we got lucky:

We got married at the school where my mom works. It's an ABA therapy center for children with Autism (Spectrum of Hope), and it holds a special place in my family's heart, so it wasn't just a FREE venue, but it meant a lot to be able to be married there. The yard in the back is huge and my dad and brother spent a few days before the wedding hanging twinkling white lights through all the giant oak trees. It felt like being in a fairy tale.

One of my best friend's mom does flowers for weddings. They're silk, which I didn't give 2 shits about because they look freaking awesome, and she volunteered to do them for us as a wedding gift. FREE FLOWERS, y'all. Fucking right.

Saul's uncle is a photographer at DisneyWorld. Not only is THAT in itself just the coolest thing ever, but he volunteered to do all of our photos as a wedding gift. FREE PHOTOS! I know...

Saul's best friend owns liquor stores around the city. No, no...we didn't get all of our booze for FREE, but we got about half of it (we had 9 kegs + wine) free and the rest at cost. Oh, also? We drank it all ;)

My hair and makeup were also FREE - a wedding gift from my mom's long-time hairstylist.

So just to keep you up to speed - we didn't pay for our venue, our flowers, our photographer, or my hair/makeup. And we got our alcohol at a crazy low price. For any of you who have planned a wedding, feel free to hate me right now.

My dress was less than $200, thanks to a crazy sale. My shoes were flip flops. The DJ was a friend of a friend who gave us a great deal. The food was from a local BBQ joint and soooo good. We did splurge on a charter bus to take us and all of our friends home at the end of the night - in my opinion, that was the best purchase of the day!

Also? We had beer pong. Oh, and did I mention the epic Flip-Cup tournament?

Next up...the ceremony/reception....

xoxo


Hahaha...I just noticed that I only wrote 11 posts last year regarding wedding stuff, and 5 of them were AFTER the wedding. I am such a shitty blogger ;)

If you want to see my bling, go HERE
If you care to read our proposal story, go HERE


*Yeah, I'm still not pregnant, nor do I want to be so FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PEOPLE, quit asking when I am going to pop out a kid!

(Yester)Day I Will Marry My Friend

1 year ago yesterday, I stood up in front of all of my family and friends and promised to love Saul until the day I died.

365 days later, we're still doing great.


I love you, Husband. You're my favorite.


*This week will be dedicated to wedding recaps...since I never did it last year. If you don't care about that kind of shizz, see you next week! Of course, I'd love if you all indulged me, though ;)