Addicted to Food...

Every Tuesday night at our house we watch Biggest Loser followed by Addicted to Food on OWN, Oprah Winfrey Network. This show is one we do not miss... it is my Mennie's reality show. Mennie is my Dad's mom, she wears many hats... she is a mother, grandmother, therapist, founder/owner of Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, a frequent guest on the Ruby show, an author, and now the star of her own show! My Aunts Kim, Karen and Cam are also on the show because they all work at the center...Kristi is also part of Shades of Hope but works from her home and is not on the show.  

Kim, Kristi, Me, Tate, Karen

We are so proud of her and all that she does and it is so neat to watch her work to change the lives of others every Tuesday night.
Tonight will be the perfect night for lounging in front of the TV at our house, Im still sore from my wreck yesterday and poor Jeffrey has a stomach virus.

If you don't already watch it you should!

Easter...

We I decided we would celebrate Easter here in College Station instead of in Abilene this year. Thursday night Erica and the kids came in town. We met them for burgers at Koppe Bridge and then I took the girls with me to Mason's baseball game. My Grammie and Papa drove in for the game also and brought Layne and Landrie. It was so much fun!

Friday my mom and Tate came in and we went to dinner at Knockouts then to Corner Bar so my mom could see what it's all about haha. Saturday we went to the new Tony Roma's then spent the day shopping until... Tate got stung by a wasp on her back 3 times!!! Such a freak thing! She was trying on a really cute romper and the wasp happened to be in the garmet when she put it on... poor thing! She's allergic so we went straight to the doctor and decided to stay home for the rest of the evening. We watched Little Fockers, ate pizza, and dyed Easter eggs. Jeff was so funny once he realized we were dying eggs he asked if any little kids were coming over the next day for an egg hunt... Nope we just like to dye them... Plus they make for a pretty table decoration!

Sunday my mom and I woke up early and prepared our usual Easter Sunday lunch... ham, baked beans, potato salad, and deviled eggs. I also made some lemon bars for dessert which were a huge hit!

After lunch my mom and Tate had to go back to Abilene... after an afternoon nap Jeff and I went over to his parents. Erica and I sipped on adult raspberry lemonade on the porch as the kids played outside for a few hours. Then we hid a ton of Easter eggs for the girls to hunt, it was so wonderful watching them open each egg and being just as surprised as the last candy filled egg... Oh the simple things in life!

 I loved having my mom and sister in town and cried like a baby when they left. This morning when I went to the guestroom to get my work clothes out of the closet I couldn't help but smile because the scent of my mom was still so fresh in the room. I quickly closed the door in hopes that it just might smell like her a little longer.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend!

Concerts Galore...

 I hopped in the car and headed North on Friday for a fun filled weekend in the Metroplex. I picked up Tate, Janelle, and Michael from the airport and went to meet Ali at Hotel ZaZa. When checking in I found out I was eligable for their VIP Rewards program... WHAT! I know get Bud Light with my turn down service haha I'll take it! Alison's friend Mallory met us poolside for drinks on the Dragonfly patio. It was soon time for me to take Tate and her friends to American Airlines Center for the Travis Barker, Nicki Minaj, Little Wayne concert. This is not my cup of tea but it turned out to be one heck of a time! I love any chance to hangout with my sister and her friends... Its fun to be act 18 again haha...Oh to be that young and wild again. Between performers we took a bathroom break at what eneded up being the perfect time... we got to meet and take a picture with Travis Barker.

After the concert I dropped Tate and her friends off at the airport, so they could go to Senior Prom the next day in Abilene, then picked up Rachel and her sister Sarah so we could go meet Ali Knox Street Pub. Knox was crowded, full of loud music, laughter, and lots of fun!

Saturday was Ali's BIRTHDAY!!! That morning we woke up, planned out our busy day and put it in action...Cupcakery was first on the list! I just had to show the girls my favortie new cupcake place, its pink, its bright, fun, serves champagne with your cupcake, and is right up my ally! Brunch was next on the list but soon slowed our roll. We went to Bread Winners, it was delicious, beautiful outside, as we ate on the patio we watched all the teams for a local pub crawl that was going on, planned our next years Kentucky Derby party, and waited...and waited... and WAITED for our check. An hour and fifteen minutes after we had finished our meal we finally got our check! This threw a major cog in our wheel and we no longer had time to go look at wedding dresses for Rach... looks like another girls trip to Dallas in our near future! Twist my arm!

Since dress shopping was now out of the question we skipped to the next thing on our list... going to The Renissance in Ft Worth to check in and get ready for the Kenny Chesney, Zach Brown Band, Billy Currington, Uncle Cracker concert! Little did we know our brunch delay would not be the only set back we would have... as we hit our exit just .3 miles from our hotel we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes... Ali ran out of gas in the middle of this fiasco and I could not get to her because I was stuck several cars back. The plan was to leave for the concert at 3:45... We arrived at the hotel at 3:50... FAIL! We were determined not to let these little set back ruin our day so we rushed to get ready and got on the road to Cowboys Stadium, singing Kenny the whole way there and laughing about our crazy day. We parked at my dad's restaraunt, the Fishbone, I took the girls in to see the place and have a drink before we walked across the street to the concert. We walked in to the concert at the perfect time! IT WAS A BLAST! I am so thankful my dad was able to get us tickets! We sang, danced, screamed and it could not have gotten any better! The people around us got an added experience at the concert, added vocals by Natalie McCarty and Alison Shepherd... Im sure they loved it! Singing about going coastal, "cold drinks chillin in my right hand", and sweet summertime, sure made me ready for the beach and lazy days at the lake this summer!

 After the concert we were still high on life and not through singing so we hit up Pete's Piano Bar to close out our night and end Rachel and Alison's Birthday weekend with a bang!

Sunday came and before we traveled back home we enjoyed a fabulous brunch at Joe T Garcia's! My voice is hoarse, my eyes a little puffy from lack of sleep, a bruise on my shin from who knows what... Successful weekend in my book!

All in one...

This weekend I spent much needed time at home doing nothing except laundry, cleaning, cooking and baking... I. LOVED. IT! I've been dying to copy Kristen from LullabyLubbock and make cake batter bark so that's exactly what I did!

Then I decided to make Apple Cinnamon bread to have for breakfast this week... It turned out a little more bland than I had hoped but it didn't stop us from eating it... I guess I'll add a little more apples and cinnamon next time.

Monday was Rachel's 26th birthday so we went to dinner at Christopher's to celebrate. I was so excited because as we all know I love birthdays! I couldn't wait to try this restaraunt and I must say I was impressed. It was such a great time and nice change from our usual meeting place... Corner Bar haha.



I cant get this pic to turn so here it is...TaDa!



After dinner I waited and waited for a call saying Kaley had delivered the twins... About 11:30 that night I got the call! They are both here safe and sound. The little girl who ended up being named Peyton Blake was 6 pounds 2oz, 18" long and the little boy, Slade Jayton, 5 pounds 13oz, 18" long... Congratulations Garner Family!

Peyton Blake Garner

No pictures of Slade yet because he is in the NICU for a few more days but I will share when I can.


Tonight Rach and I will be enjoying some girl time and margaritas on the patio at Garpez, 5 O'Clock cannot come soon enough!
Half way to the weekend...Happy Wednesdsay to all!

Sunshine Days...



I'm just loving the warm weather, Sno-Cones, Frozen Yogurt, enjoying drinks, lunches, and dinners on the patio somewhere, and spending many weekend nights with great friends at Corner Bar... Take a look!



Pickle Juice Sno Cones

putting together Cortney's wedding invites



La Bodega



Rach rockin her High Gucci's



Corner Bar



Also some exciting news... Tate is for sure coming to college here in CS! She and my cousin Morgan will be rooming together at Z Islander and I couldnt be more excited! They are already loving dreading being so close to me and are already joking talking about having to kicking me out of their place.

Tate came in town last weekend to look at places with Mimi (Morgan) and we ended up at the tattoo place Friday afternoon. Since Kaitlyn was 12 she has been wanting a tattoo and has asked me to get one with her when she turns 18. I would never go out and get a tattoo just to get one and could never think of anything that I would want on my body forever but a few months ago we decided we would get each others birthday in roman numerals.

3.26.93



10.21.86





Wine night Wednesday...

The local winery, Messina Hof, has a wine and chocolate paring on Wednesday nights. I have been wanting to go for some time now but never actually got around to it. A co-worker of mine, Joe, said that his wife Christy and her mom, PK, would be interested in that type of thing so I invited them. After work on Wednesday we met at the winery and it could not have gone any better. PK and Christy each brought a friend and we made such a wonderful group. 

They brought us three wines and two types of chocolates... Almond Sparkling wine, Riesling, and a barrel reserve port wine. I loved them all but in the end the Riesling was everyones favorite!

I will definintly be going back soon! Maybe I can even drag Erica and Rach along next Wednesday! 

Messina Hof is such a neat and beautiful place. On the property there is a wine bar, restaruant, Bed and Breakfast, and a 42 acre vineyard. My friend Brittany took her bridal portraits and had her rehearsal dinner there. If you have not been I strongly recommend that you go!

 

Change of plans...

The week before Tates Birthday I spent a lot of time I planning out all of my outfits, swim suits, and beach hats that I would pack to go to South Beach on Thursday. I thought of how fabulous the weekend in Florida celebrating my little sisters 18th Birthday would be and just couldn't wait to get there! Wednesday night I packed my clothes and spent time with Jeff who wasnt going to be able to go due to an exam... no surprise there. Thursday came and I was on the road to Dallas to meet my dad, Tate, and two of her friends, Michael and Janelle. Half way there I get a call from my dad saying that our flight to Miami has be cancelled! WHAT! NO! He had to be kidding and for a good 2 minutes I thought he was. Once I realized he was serious I pulled over, called my sister and came up with plan B... party at our favorite spot in Dallas... Hotel ZaZa! It never lets us down. Hotel ZaZa is home of the Magnificent Seven Suites, an amazing Spa, and my personal favorite.... Big Flirt Martinis! My dad was already in Dallas and I would be arriving there about 4 hours before Tate and her friends so my dad and I met up and made a plan of our own. First stop was Hotel ZaZa where we got the last Magnificent Seven Suite available, Dangerous Beauty, things were now looking brighter!

I love surprises, big or small, I just love them! My sister has been wanting a new car so dad and I went to the dealership and ended up leaving the lot with a new car for the Birthday Girl. We asked them to park it in front of Hotel ZaZa with a big red bow on it. The presentation of the car was special because he and my mom did the same thing for me on my 18th Birthday... mom took me to the dealership to test drive the car I wanted just one more time and as I walked in "my" car had a huge pink bow on it on the showroom floor... my heart sank. Someone had bought the car that I wanted so badly... that someone was my parents... the car was MINE!!! Anyway back to Tate's car... we drove to the airport to pick her up and as we got to ZaZa she saw the car she got excited, then confused not knowing if it was hers or not. Dad told her that car was ugly and most certainly not hers... he then asked the valet if we could look inside it just for fun. They of course let us knowing it was hers... dad then handed her the keys and she was ecstatic!  

That night we went to dinner at TruLucks and then went back to the hotel to play card games and put on a small country concert in our room.

Friday we had a fabulous breakfast and then spent the morning at the ZaSpa getting massages and facials. That afternoon we hit up all our favorite stores at NorthPark and then returned to the hotel to get ready for the evening. Dad made dinner reservations at Nick & Sam's. I had never been there and was amazed at the wonderful service. They sat us in a private room, the food was delicious and we had so much fun. When we got back to the hotel my dad and I went down to the bar for a few drinks but made sure to be back up in the suite by midnight to sing Happy Birthday! If you know Kel you know he loves games and is always coming up with random ones... he decided that we should all bounce a balloon around the room for 15 minutes and if we could do it without it touching the ground we would get a prize. We all looked like idiots but were not about to let that balloon touch the ground... a prize is a prize people! After the game there was still time to kill so dad decided he would tell Kaitlyn his version of her Birth Story... let me tell you that was interesting haha. It was really sweet and going really well until he said "and then you squirted out"... hummm thats original to say the least. When the clock struck 12 we jammed to 50 Cent In da Club haha.

Saturday was Kaitlyn's actual Birthday so we went to The Cupcakery and then to lunch at Mia's before going our seperate ways. I felt bad about cheating on Sprinkles but once I tasted those cupcakes my heart skipped a beat and it was official... I found a new love! The Cupcakery will now be added to my list of must haves when in Uptown. The cupcakes somehow got a messed up before we got them to Mias but they were delicious none the less. I had tank tops made for her South Beach Birthday Bash and we wore them all day Saturday in Dallas instead haha.

It was such a fun time, even though we did not get to go on the Miami trip, it turned out to be an amazing weekend!

You have 352 days left to be 18 Tate, enjoy every second and appreciate all that this year brings! I love you!