This, That and the Other Thing.

We had a fabulous weekend celebrating a 30th birthday! 

We drank a lot, played flip cup and beer pong, ate Red Velvet cupcakes, ate too many crawfish with taters, mushrooms and corn...the list goes on. Am I ever going to grow up? I think not. 

K turned 30 and she is preggers, so we wanted to make sure she had a fabulous birthday! E and I gifted her this fabulous Kendra Scott Dani ring:

I made her red velvet cupcakes that were to die for good. You know I love cupcakes, so I jumped on the wagon when I asked to make dessert. I found the recipe on my All-Recipes App on the iPhone. It didn't disappoint and the best thing...it had a cream cheese icing recipe to go with them. I wish I took a picture, but I wasn't in the picture taking mood. 

All in all it was a fun-filled weekend with dear friends. 

 The start of our beer pile. It was filled with over 70 beer cans\bottles by night's end. 

 I cannot wait to have my beer pong partner back. (I had to drink all the beer since she is preggers, but I forced her to play with me so I would win, terrible.)

 This beer is sooo good! I am not sure if you can find it outside of Austin, but if you see it Buy.It.

How great is this? My girlfriends use gloves to eat crawfish...I mean, who wants to mess up their manicured nails? Obvs not these girls.

I love making memories.

Confess-sesh.

I am so grateful it's Friday.

Confess-sesh:

-My back hurts so bad today. I thought I was better yesterday, but it's worse today. I am sure it has nothing to do with sitting in a conference room the past two days working really hard on a strategic plan. BUT, perhaps it's our bed. We received a Sleep # bed from my parents for our wedding gift and I think it's not working of us any longer. Mattress shopping, anyone?

-I haven't had my ring cleaned in over a year. It's still really pretty, but there is nothing better than a sparkly gem on your left hand.

-I am dying for a bev that includes alcohol. Problems?

-We have eaten terrible this week, haven't worked out and I am now thinking the back pain could be linked to this instead of the bad.

-I am addicted to pudding.

-I really have moved past wanting a pair of Tory flats and now would like a pair of Tory flippy-floppies. Should I?

-I really want K's birthday present. I might steal it and buy her something else.

I kid.

-I am thankful our place of work has an over abundance of tampons.

-I am crushing over a JCrew purse. There is a problem with liking expensive things.

-The whole Treyvon debate has me confused and sad at the same time. See- I believe the right to bear arms, but definitely don't believe in killing innocent people. Will we ever know what REALLY happened? I doubt it. AND- Florida has pretty liberal laws regarding self defense. This deserves it's own post.

-I am laughing inside at Tim Tebow. Moving on...

-I am going to eat my body weight in crawfish tomorrow.

-I am going to drink my body weight in beer tomorrow.

-I really miss NCAA football.

-I am glad MI ST lost last night because I bet quite a few people made a lot of money by choosing Louisville. Winning. in. Vegas.

-I am leaving work at Noon today.

Happy Friday!



Strategy.

In my place of work, we compile a five year strategic plan that has to be turned in every year. I work for one of the big wigs...IE: second man in line, so I was summoned to help on the plan last year. This year is no different. 

See- My color is red\yellow. I am a creative person, but am a person that needs stuff done...NOW. As in, I tell people what to do a lot and I expect them to do it and never ask questions and just obey. This has worked to my advantage because my boss isn't this way. He tends to over analyze documents and so forth, but I love that about him. We are so very different, but our partnership and team work are really like no other!

So for the next two weeks, I am going to act like Hitler and demand that we have a bad-azz Strategic Plan.

Cheers. Where's my wine?

Loves.

So happy it's hump day and one day closer to a day where I can sleep in because I am tired! 

I am absolutely loving life right now. I feel like a free bird. 

My loves:

The weather is going to be beautiful this weekend for K's crawfish boil. I cannot wait to celebrate my dear friend's 30th birthday with crawfish and her fabulous gift. 

Have you ever released "that" poison in your life that seems to make you negative or bitchy? I am in the process and when I was driving home His ray of light shining down made me feel fabulous and put a smile on my face.

This makes my mouth water. 

These makes my eyes and mouth water. Delish.

 My favorite.

Love these two colors together. 

And because I love things that make me laugh:

I love my husband too!

Like no other.

Real talk- I am a ranch addict. (throw in instagram, pinterest, alcohol, shopping, food and facebook...)

There I said it. 

I could eat ranch with every single thing...not even joking. My favorite ranch is definitely jalapeno ranch (ala: Hula Slut or Chuy's). I have been on a search for a good recipe and I believe I found it!!! I made it last night and it's already half way gone. (and...why do I complain about my ass getting bigger?)

Recipe:

Half a bunch of cilantro

1\2- 1 jalapeno

2 fresh tomatillos

1 package of ranch seasoning

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup Mayo (You could use low fat mayo or olive oil may to cut calories)

1 clove garlic

1 pinch of salt

1 grind of pepper

Mix everything in a food processor

HEAVEN!

I made some pulled pork in the crock pot, so we put that on a bed of lettuce with ranch on top. I really liked it; E thought he would have liked it a bit more over rice. 

I am just obsessed with the ranch so I will eat anything with it.

And- let's be clear- that's E's plate. 

Next thing-

I love a good sweet after dinner and before bed, but I try to watch my sugar intake because I have had issues in the past and don't want to be haunted with them again. 

Introduce: MY pudding (low calories and low fat)!

2 packets of vanilla sugar free, fat free instant pudding 

1 container of Light or Sugar Free cool whip thawed

3 cups of reduced fat milk (of if you are a whole milk person...have at it)

Mix everything together and chill

Throw in some dark chocolate morsels and you will be singing to the Angels!

AND- I will be visiting the gym today even if I have serious back pain. Who has serious back pain at 30? I mean, I am not pregnant or old. Get real body.

Celebrations.

Living in Austin is down right fun, but it can be down right tiring too. We have two huge, music\film festivals every year. ACL and SouthXSouthWest. Well, SXSW was the past two weeks and to say there were hundreds of thousands of people invading our city would be an understatement. There were sooo many people, sooo much booze, sooo much music and sooo much fun!

Friday started with burgers, beer and basketball at a local pub! 

Then we went to listen to live music

I look like I am about to spew everywhere. :)

Saturday- We decided we were going to celebrate St Paddy's day with a BANG! We got dressed in green and headed to the bus stop that takes us right downtown and is within walking distance from our house. 

And- it all began. Everyone in green, everyone drinking drinks, fun all the way around. Doesn't get much better...I must say.

His wifey is preggers and is one of my BFFs so we sent her this picture to let her know We love her!

I look so sober.

Um ladies, he is single. Is a pilot. Is one of my hubby's best friends. Any takers?

Love this girl. Missing our partner in crime.

I think this was the $100 dollar we spent. ha.

Everyone takes elevator pictures.

Ladies man. 

My husband has the nicest legs. Hands down.

Jared wants YOU as president.

Marley was depressed he didn't get to dye his hair green and come celebrate the Lucky Irish with all of us.

I need water.

Obsessed.

Of course there is a trend with most women and that is we all love a bit of jewelry! I am fortunate to have an array of jewelry that has been given to me by my love, my parents or dear friends. I love all things jewelry which would include watches too! BUT, my latest obsession is none other than Kendra Scott. Obvs, her jewelry has been around for a bit, but I am loving all the pretty colors for Spring. My girls and I really need to go to her SoCo store and try the color bar. There are three pieces of jewelry that I have received the most compliments- the diamond in my engagement ring, my diamond cross necklace and lastly my turquoise KS earrings. I am thinkin' I will be buying a piece of green to sport on St Patty's Day and since it's 15% off it's even a better idea! 

Enter code FEELINGLUCKY15 Sale ends at Midnight on St Patty's Day

 

Sunday Funday.

Saturday was the baby shower and it was a huge success although it was a tad bit pricey, but definitely worth it. The Texas Tea Embassy is so precious with a vintage feel and great tasting teas. I drank each kind, but my favorite definitely was "Wedding Cake." I am bummed because all the pictures I took were extremely blurry. Fail. 

I made the cupcakes and they were heaven-ish! Next time, I will cook them for about five minutes less to ensure the tops aren't dry. I really am thinking about selling cupcakes! It's something I really enjoy and really am good at...probably because I love food.

So presh.

Moving right along. Sunday our friends agreed to cook 700 pounds of crawfish at a local bar, The Blind Pig. There were so many crawdiddys it really isn't funny. The owner picked them up at the airport yesterday morning. G and J did an awesome job and they tasted amazing. I have to say that Sunday Funday is really fun until the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning. Le Sigh...

We drank way too much tequila and beer. Ate way too much. E and my tummies weren't feeling so hot last night, so we both slept like shizz. I cannot wait to go home...eat soup, take a hot bath and lay on our couch. 

Picture overload:

My motto:

Work hard. Play harder. 

Thoughts on Thursday.

It's Thursday and I cannot wait until Friday especially because I get to bake special cupcakes tomorrow for a baby shower we are hosting for one of my BFFs. Some randoms for this dreary Thursday:

- Do you watch The Voice? I received a text stating...you need to cut your hair like Monique. So guess what I am doing...cutting my hair like Monique. I am easy peasy like that- I do what my friends tell me to do. 

It's similar to what I have now, but much shorter layers on top. Presh, right?

- I had mentioned to a co-worker that I was on a mission to find the Birthday Cake Oreos and felt defeated when I found none at Randall's or HEB. Lo and behold she found them and bought me some. Let me say- they are AMAZINGLY DELISH! I have only eaten one today, tough.

- I now have two huge monitors in front me of me all day. It's a good thing, but an annoyance at the same time. 

- I have lost 6 pounds in a week and I haven't done anything. Tape worm, anyone?

- I really love to sweat. Gross. There is just something refreshing about riding the stationary bike and dripping then visiting the sauna. Love. It.

- Myself and a couple of other gals are throwing a dear friend a baby shower this Saturday. I cannot wait! I am making special cupcakes that the baby mama requested and didn't really even know she requested them. I am tricky like that. 

- I was going through my blog roll and noticed a fellow blogger took a picture with a Rita's cup in her hand. Loves it! We own a Rita's and to see someone I don't even know in RL in another state enjoying something that I have put my whole future into is pretty awesome. 

- We are about to win a HUGE contract at work and let me say...it will help my bonus and raise this year. All Smiles.

- I want to visit my parents house, but our schedule is slammed. 

- On a fabulous note, I get to go back to California in the next couple of weeks.

And for good measure:

 Can I please take this kiddo home?