NYC - Part 1

 On Tuesday, I arrived in New York for a market trip for work.  Typically, work trips are mostly work and a little fun, but I think I have had a pretty good balance this time.  The first day we shopped Soho.  Shopping is probably one of my favorite parts of my job, and I love it even more now that I am in junior's apparel.  Shopping in men's was also fun, especially when I traveled to LA, but I really enjoy knowing women's trends more than men's.  Anyhoo, my boss and I spent the afternoon shopping Soho, walking our floor at JCP and then team dinner.  The weather was super warm (and rainy - gross)!  Dallas was freezing when we left and our plane was delayed because they had to de-ice.  I took a screen shot of my phone to send to John because I did not think he would believe me that it was 61 degrees.

Our first day in market was LONG.  We were in appointments for 11 hours, none of them were in the same building, we were off schedule the entire time, and it rained all day.  My Hunter wellies definitely paid off!  Today was way better.  We had less appointments and finished much earlier, giving us time to enjoy the city.  This is my first time to experience the city at Christmas so we headed to Macy's:)  The store was so pretty, and the windows were even more beautiful, but the craziness of holiday shoppers stressed me out.  Our next stop was dinner at Pronto Pizza and then shopping at Sabon.  Since it was still pretty early we decided to walk around Bryant Park.  The tree was beautiful!

There were a ton of cute booths so I did a little shopping.  I found this little ornament for Ashley.  When we lived together we started the tradition of buying Christmas ornaments for each other, just like our moms did.  I am so excited to give it to her later this weekend.

We found this fun sign to hang in our sample room at the office.  Our team has an obsession with coffee!

I really wanted a giant chocolate chip cookie and hot chocolate.  The first hot chocolate booth we found was closed and when we asked another vendor if she knew if there was another she suggested we go to Starbucks.  NO!!!  We walked by several Starbucks on our way to Bryant Park because we wanted something more special.  Imagine my excitement when we found a booth that sold both hot chocolate and giant chocolate chip cookies!

 The hot chocolate was so thick that we had to add water, which made no difference so we threw it away and went to the Hot Apple Cider booth.  It was so yummy and just what we needed.

We shopped a little more and then headed back to the hotel.  I was back in my room at 8:45 so I decided to have a mini spa night with the products I bought at Sabon.  Tonight was one of my favorite nights at market ever!  I have a few more appointments tomorrow and then I get to spend the rest of the weekend with Ashley.  I am SO excited!!!

Wedding Information

Hello Friends & Family!  For Wedding Information click on the tab above.  We will continually update this page as the wedding gets closer.

Engagement Photos!

Below is a sneak peak of our engagement photos.  Amy did a FANTASTIC job!  As I stated in a previous post, these were taken at SMU, the Stockyards, and TCU.

  

I was very giggly that day!  John kept whispering funny things and making ZZZZ noises in my ear.  

 

I have no idea what is happening here, but John's face cracks me up!

I'm not a fan of the last photo in this series, but it is funny so I posted it anyway.  I did not see that John was giving my TCU shirt a thumbs down.  It all went so fast that I did not have a chance to make a cute face in the last photo. 

This is one of my favorites.  This was taken inside Dallas Hall at SMU.

Standing on the edge of Frog Fountain

IN Frog Fountain!  LOVE this one!

I'm a really good jumper so I had to do a jumping photo

 

The End...

My Grandpa's Garden

I was looking through old photos on my camera and came across pictures I took of my Grandpa's yard and garden I took a few years ago.  I spent a lot of my childhood playing in the backyard, but never appreciated how beautiful it is until I was older.

Front yard and front of the house.  I wish my grass was this green!

I love the M on the front door!

Garden - I loved picking (and eating) raspberries when I was little.  Probably the reason they are one of my favorite foods.

So Charming

Every inch of the yard is PERFECT!

Growing up, I loved to swing from the clothesline

If only we could get our yard to look this beautiful.  Maybe we need to get some tips from my grandpa. 

Oh, How Pinteresting!!!

Pinterest has seriously changed my life, so this post focuses on pins I have used (and love).

Elf is my FAVORITE Christmas movie so I ordered this on Etsy last week.  I cannot wait to get it in the mail!

Homemade Butterfingers!  They are SOOOO easy.  1 pound bag of candy corn and 1 jar of peanut butter (I used Peter Pan because they is what the recipe suggested).  Melt everything on the stove (the recipe said microwave, but I thought the stove was easier).  Pour into a small lined baking dish and let cool.  Cut into desired size and cover with chocolate.  I used Wilton Candy Melts in Light Cocoa that I bought at Michael's - Thanks Mom for the chocolate suggestion.  I did melt the chocolate in the microwave, it was much easier than the stove.  Not only are these super easy, they actually taste like butterfingers!

I happened to have everything to make these.  We don't have kids so I know this was a strange thing to make, but they were delicious!

I made this a while back for a dinner party we had.  I don't use it like the picture, I just use it as a cute dry erase board and occasionally use it to write "Tonight's Menu"

I bought a case of disposable wedding cameras on a Groupon-type wedding website.  I know it is cheesy, but I thought it would be fun.  I made a version of this to go along with the cameras. 

I pinned this to my wedding board.  My friend Jessica has an amazing Etsy site.  She will be making almost all of my wedding accessories (veil, hair accessories, and bracelet).  You can get to her shop here.

Of course I had to pin and post one of my items from my Etsy shop.  This is very similar to a sash I just shipped out to a bride to be.  You can find this sash here. 

Essie Matte About You top coat.  I am not a fan of the nails in the photo, but the top coat is fun.  I have only used it a few times, but it is a fun change to make any nail color matte.

It is officially scarf season...some days.  Unfortunately, it is still kind of warm in Texas.

This just makes me smile and pretty much sums me up.

Ashley & Ryan's Engagment Party

This weekend we celebrated Ashley & Ryan's engagement.  Ashley was my college roommate, and now lives in New York.  She and Ryan will say "i do" in March.  Apparently I did not get any photos of the happy couple together (...or John, I swear he was there).  

RAJ (Rachel, Ashley, Jessica; a.k.a neapolitan ice cream) - The three of us were Fashion Merchandising majors at TCU and met in our Clothing Construction class.  We are all still great friends.

Jessica & Jordan

 The cake was adorable!

After we ate the cake, it was time to play dress-up with the pieces.  Ashley looks like Kim Kardashian on her wedding day. 

I guess I did get some pictures of the happy couple.  Ryan reenacted the proposal with the fondant ring. 

 I don't have words, this is what I love about them!

Jordan's turn to play

Freshening up with the fondant lipstick

Jessica's turn

Time to eat the accessories!

Yum...

...until 10 minutes later when everyone had a tummy ache.

Congratulations Ryan & Ashley!  I cannot wait to celebrate your wedding in March.