The best birthday ever

I think I just spent the past two days simply recovering from the party Saturday night. I wasn't even hungover, just so emotionally spent. I kind of feel like I did after our wedding - so happy that I just can't stop thinking about the night!

Apparently it's been 4+ months in the making! Tingaling came up with the original idea to Joe and after much brainstorming they decided on a party to end all parties at T's house. ALL my friends and family were in on the secret, which explains why no one has been calling for the past month - I thought we were being anti-social, but apparently everyone was afraid they would spill the beans!

I guess I am completely gullible, but I am so glad, because otherwise there would not have been a surprise! We have over 300 photos from the event, but I will only post a few :)
"WTF?!?! Why is everyone here???"

"OMG! There is no party at Lynn Wyatt's? Does this mean I'm not meeting Bon Jovi?"

"Ann! Ree! Bill!" I'm not sure whose name I am screaming but it has to be someone from out of town :)

Poor JJ wasn't sure to make of all the people, and he was up way past his bedtime!

The best sister and friend in the world!

The best husband in the world!

Some dear girlfriends - I loved that the theme was PINK and everyone wore it!

The cutest and best parents in the world!

Fabulous friends from grad school!

I think Joe and Tingaling could make a career of party planning!

Me and my cuties!

Blowing out my birthday candles! Both Joe and Tingaling gave touching toasts, that made me feel, somehow, even more loved than before!

Billy Boo, in the glasses, flew in from NYC!

All told about 60 people attended the party. This is the last photo we took. Obviously it was impossible to get one with everyone in it, but this is a good example. I am still reeling and maintain I am the luckiest girl in the world! And guess what, it's not even my birthday yet ;)!

speechless

amazed. blessed. unbelievely lucky. so so so happy. and even a bit exhausted.

I cannot express how I am feeling today. Last night my friend M was taking me to a party at Lynn Wyatt's house. To make a long story short, he told me a friend of his got invited and that friend wanted us to come as well. Being a trusting friend and never one to turn down the possibility of meeting Bon Jovi (who he said was rumored to be there), I accepted with great pleasure. We were planning on meeting at my sister's for drinks prior to the party.

Imagine my surprise when we showed up at my sister's house and 90% of the people that I adore in my life being there, including BK, one of my besties from high school! It took a few minutes to register than 1) everyone was here for me! 2)no we weren't meeting Bon Jovi and 3) there was no other party! I don't think I stopped smiling for at least an hour after the surprise. And I know I have never felt more loved :)

I don't think I snapped a single photo last night - my dear hubs and friends took over that job. Everyone was dressed in pink! We had tons of food and even a photo booth!
dress: Banana Repulic outlet
shoes: Gucci, remix'd
necklace: Anthropologie

Of course I snapped a remix photo prior to leaving for the party. I bought this dress at the outlet mall last month and love it! The shoes were from last year, my absolute favorite pair ever! And the Stormy Seas necklace from Anthro was the huge hit of the night.

And as much as I love looking fabulous and having new clothes, nothing, nothing can replace the wonderful people I call my family and friends. And that's all I ever want for my birthday.

Shedding tears

*WARNING: LOST SPOILER ALERT (if you have not watched this week's episode: The Candidate)

My favorite show EVER hands down is LOST. Don't get me wrong, I adore Friends and could watch back to back to back episodes any night and SITC comes a close second. But for plot, dialogue, action, character development, Lost is it for me. I watched from the pilot episode (mainly because I think Matthew Fox is hot!) until the most recent episdoe, which I just caught up on this afternoon.

I am upset that I only have 3.5 hours left of this show and am savoring every moment I can. With that, I have to acknowedege the loss of some of my favorite characters of the show.Sayid! Sadly, he lost his soul this season, but redeemed himself at the end.

Jin and Sun! I was bawling by the end of the episode.

Unfortunately nothing is going to replace this series, but I am glad they are ending it with a bang.

A rare event

I work 2 Saturdays each month, so I love months with 5 weekends, like this one, because then I have 2 Saturdays off in a row! I could get used to this!Top: J. Crew, remix'd
cardi: Express, remix'd
jeans: Gap, remix'd
shoes: Via Spiga, remix'd
shades: Dsquared, remix'd

I am going to get my hair cut this morning. I think I am going to ask David, my stylist, to chop it even shorter. I really need a new summer 'do!

3 for 1

I've been feeling pink and black these days.This outfit for work yesterday was super comfy and I got lots of compliments on my shoes! I mean, how can pink shoes not make you smile :)!
After work, Joe and I celebrated a dear friend's birthday over cocktails and ceviche! Yum! This look is my homage to the popularity of clogs. Unfortunately the Chanel studded ones are way out of my price range, but these Via Spiga ones work for me! I got them last fall in NYC, so I guess I am a trendsetter!

Today I wanted to be even more comfy because the schedule looks like it could be pretty busy. I also try to keep Wednesdays and Fridays flats days because I practice yoga after work and wearing heels all day can tighten up my hamstrings too much.

And this last photo is just an extra for your viewing enjoyment. I just realized I have worn something from the Gap every day this week except Wednesday. I guess I am a gap kind of girl!

Stayed tuned...

for our regularly scheduled progamming. We had some drama this morning - a transformer blew out in our neighborhood! I thought the computer was about to explode! Fortunately no one was hurt and things are up and running, but unfortunately photo posts will have to wait!

Pockets

I have been obsessed lately with skirt and dresses that have pockets.Mind you, I really don't have all that many of either, but I still love them!

Good morning!

We had such a relaxing weekend it's hard to think about going back to work. Alas, there's no avoiding it...I am wearing one of my favorite purchases of the year: this top from Ann Taylor. Love it so much!

8 years!

Since the last time we celebrated an anniversary we have...visited Italy

been to Times Square

been skiing

celebrated another New Year!

spent time with our families

reminisced

been goofy with our friends

run countless miles

and taken endless photos!

Here's to many more!

Another steamy day

I feel like I have been talking about the weather quite a bit lately - just because it's been so good and then so bad!I wore this dress a lot a few summers ago but then kind of forgot about it last year. It's like wearing a comfy tee shirt, only better!

A quiet Sunday

Today was a lay-low kind of day.We ate lunch at a neighborhood sandwich shop. The name always amuses us because Joe used to have a buddy he called JonMon.

This morning was not quite as humid as yesterday, but the temperatures reached the 90s by mid-afternoon. Please summer, I'm not quite ready for you today!

We did make it to the grocery store as our fridge was quite empty.

But the highlight was picking up our new grill! We decided this year our anniversary gift to each other would be this grill. I am hoping we fire up this bad boy tomorrow (and by fire up, I mean hook it up to the natural gas line at the back of our house!).

My fashion goal this summer is to wear the plethora of dresses I have hanging in my closet. I can still look cute even if the hubs is the only one who sees me today, no?

Anatomy of a great Saturday

I love having Saturdays off. I really treasure them because I work at least 2 Saturdays a month for the whole day and usually another just for an hour or two.

Yesterday was a crazily humid day. I was sweating buckets after our morning run. We also practiced yoga at our gym instead of our yoga studio, which I actually really enjoyed. I practice ashtanga yoga, which is fairly intense, at least 3-4x/week. I have been doing so for over 5 years and I absolutely love the way it makes me feel, both mentally and physically. Over the last couple months I have been getting deeper into poses than ever, which again, I love, but is putting some excess strain on my back. So I like to mix up my practice with some vinyasa yoga, which is similar but not necessarily the same.

After our morning workouts, we ran lots of errands. We checked out the 30% off sale at Old Navy, but didn't get much. Then we headed to Lowe's to buy a much needed grill!The hubs did most of the legwork on this. We decided this would be our anniversary gift to each other this year.Unfortunately Lowe's doesn't have a shoe section, so I go bored fairly quickly.But I can always find something to amuse myself with. Hopefully the grill will be ready for pickup today!By this time we had worked up a pretty good appetite so we had lunch at a new-to-us restaurant called Shawarma King, a middle Eastern place. The chicken shawarma I had was delicious and filling!

Our last stop was at Tast-ee Delite for some fro-yo, but I had to stop in Anthro just to check out the pretties.Joe was losing a bit of steam by then so we didn't stay long.

For dinner we met up with some friends at 1308 for a little Tex-Mex and then to Dean's for after dinner drinks. Needless today, we are dragging a little this morning! But all in all, it was an excellent day and I look forward to another one today.And what I wore:I love this wall of jasmine in our neighborhood and wish I could take all my remix photos in front of it!

More shoe lust

OMG - I just found this preview photo of Gap's Fall 2010 shoe collection. Must. buy. those. grey. peeptoe. booties! I missed out on Cynthia Vincent but hope I won't be denied by Pierre Hardy!

Here comes to humidity

Just in time for the weekend! Woo hoo! I knew the gorgeous weather was too good to last. Oh well, that's what I get for living in H-town!This outfit evolved from 1) knowing I wanted to wear flats and pants today for comfort during work and 2) wanting still to be a little interesting. I started out with just a plain ss black top but was not happy with it - just too boring. Then I remembered it was warm enough to wear this top and the flower/polka dots make me much more happy!

I am so happy I am off this weekend...for 3 days! Let's have another woo hoo!

Pretty in pink

If you know me (or even if you don't), you know that pink is my favorite color. The brighter the better, although I like all shades.I thought this outfit was made a bit more interesting by adding the pink peeptoes! Again, those were scored at the Talbot's outlet for $13. {My hair is looking kind of funky in this photo, but I promised it's been washed and styled!}Look how big the little peanut is getting! He can almost sit up by himself, and he is definitely smiling more. 5 months certainly have whizzed by!

Seasons?

In Houston? Get out!I almost wore a sweater this morning, then decided against it because the sun will probably be beating down on us by noon. However, it does seem that this fall/winter has been cooler for longer than normal. I am trying to enjoy it while I can!