June was good

Holy whats that word when you completely stop doing something- oh yeah, neglect- Holy blog-neglect! My bad..I was about to say "things have just been super busy" but that wouldn't be accurate.  I do not have an excuse for my lack of blogging.
Now that we're halfway through with July (WTF?) it's time for me to figure out how to post in reverse chronological order so I can remember all the fun stuff we did in June!

Team Headband!

1st weekend: How sad is it I need assistance from social media to remember what I did when? Friday 5/31 our friend Geoff hosted a "fish fry rager" at his place and it was a great party- all of our friends were there, as were some familiar faces who I really enjoyed talking with and want to get to know better.  I had an event the bright and early the following morning (6:00 a.m. on a Saturday!) so I had to drag Guy out of there at a reasonable hour but you know it was a good party if even Guy didn't want to leave!
My event all day Saturday was a big success, and Saturday night we went out with Guy's brother/roommate Thomas and his girlfriend Kristi who will be our new roommate next month as she has been offered a job at her company's Houston office. Rent just went down a lot so that is good news for everyone! Turns out I am terrible at cornhole (or bags or bean bag toss or whatever you call it depending on where you went to college). Our cool team uniforms were a result of Guy noticing a hole in the seam of his short cuffs- Team Headband lost.

2nd weekend: Erika's Bridal Shower in Denver deserves all capital Title letters and its own post.

3rd weekend: Guy has taken up fly fishing as his latest gear-related outside hobby, so we took a drive to the nearby Texas Coast. I did not have high hopes for the 'beach' and I was right to have that bar set super low. He waded in the salt flats to practice, soI crossed the street and lounged on the beach on a neon green plastic chaise I bought from Academy. It was nice to hear the waves while I read but laying next to an ocean that is too gross to swim in for cooling off is a weird form of torture (water torture hahah oh I crack myself up) After we'd had about enough, we drove up the coast to Galveston since neither of us had ever seen it before. We drove up the highway where there's ocean on one side and city on the other, walked around the historic area, had lunch on the pier and came home. I don't know that I'll go back anytime soon but now I can check that off my list of places in Texas I haven't been!

So much seaweed everywhere

the geared-up fisherman

ALSO: HOW DO I GET RID OF THESE ADVERTISING HYPERLINKS? I HATE THEM!!!
(update: I figured it out- hooray!)

I just now realized June had 5 weekends! No wonder it was so awesome!

4th & 5th weekends: Erika's wedding and Colorado vacation- stay tuned for separate posts!

worth it

Here are some random pictures from our trip to Big Bend & Marfa 3/29-4/01/2013

 (how do I get my pictures to look good on Blogger??)

Almost 9 hours each way in the car, almost went to Mexico on our way there

15+ miles of hiking, terrible blisters, sunburn

- worth it

View from the South Rim SR#4

the silence is deafening

Thanks for offering to take a picture where you can't see us!

slightly better

SW rim

here come the sunset pics

        

    

  

Halletsville

As always, such a fun time!  Arrived late Friday after work- this was so long ago, I'm just going to list the highlights in no particular order (mainly what I can remember):

• hugging Linnea and talking about Kaitlin
• 2 bottles of pomegranate Orchid arriving just in time
• sunset on the drive to Hallettsville
• the Best Western is SO MUCH nicer than the Hallettsville Hilton
• red snappers -a big hit (of course)

• Tom, Alita and Luke top 3 Gone to Texas
• huge rainstorm, mud pit, no party at the Fryers, lack of Saturday night jamming
• Not hungover on Sunday! Great successs
• Bad Kid and her hubby came to support- Guy stopped by too
• Bubba, Carl and Ricky top 3 Texas State Championship
• theme of the weekend: YOLO

crawfish boil & pie recipe

My favorite time of the year (except for Christmas and fall and the 4th of July and St. Patrick's Day): Hallettsville! It is so different going to the crawfish boil from Houston after working instead of driving with Julie from Austin and eating jello shots in her car all day. I was very torn between leaving early and sleeping in my own bed since I had to work on Friday, but I brought sleeping supplies just in case I wanted to have more than a few drinks and stay up late. Guess what ended up happening..Friday was a big struggle- somehow I managed to get to work on time after sleeping on the floor of the trailer, driving home, taking a power nap, showering AND eating breakfast. It was terrible. But totally worth it. Next year I'm going to take Friday off.

Every year I make Julie a pie for her birthday and bring it to the boil (or in previous years, her pre-Hallettsville jam/birthday party at her house in Austin). In the past I have made a guitar-shaped cake (that was pre-pie), coconut cream pie, buttermilk pie and Nutella crack pie.  This year it was this chocolate peanut butter pie recipe. Julie said it was her 2nd favorite ever and that Eric ate it for breakfast. I got a thumbs up from Julie Morris too so I think it's a good one:

erika's wedding bridesmaid plans

My oldest good best friend Erika J is getting married on June 22 at the Ritz Carlton in Denver.  I am so happy for her and her fiance Nick- and so excited to stand by her side as a bridesmaid! I feel like a deadbeat one since I was too broke to afford the bachelorette weekend trip to Vegas.  I can't believe her wedding is only now just a few weeks (3) away! Time to really step up my cardio and clean eating to look as good as possible in my champagne strapless chiffon floor-length gown! My mom, along with the other two mom bffs are throwing her wedding shower next weekend and I was able to afford that flight home so I'll be there but she doesn't know it.  She hasn't asked but I haven't told her I'm coming- I am hoping she's assuming I won't be there so it will be a surprise. I can't wait to go back to Denver! It's just a short weekend trip, leaving late Friday night and taking Monday off work.  The shower has a princess theme! It is going to be so much fun!  The wedding is going to be a blast too. More on that after it happens..

sorry I have to share this

Most cuddly dog in the house

St. Patrick's Day housewarming party (in photos)

yup this is our special holiday!

Paddy's day punch - key lime, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes- that green blob in the pan is  Lucky Charms Rice Krispie Treats.
This caption would not be complete without mentioning that Guy was putting chunks of the Rice Krispie Treat ON his cupcakes (cupcakes plural- as in he ate FOUR...because it was his special day)

Friends in the well-lit backyard (thanks motion-sensor light!)
Nabiel, Ryan, Bailey and Sweet Dee

Gingers + Green clothes = instant leprechauns!

Drew & Jessica 

Alyssa & Daniel

a secondary bar set-up

the rainbow factory (looks slightly meth-y)

TA DAAA!!  "Taste the Rainbow" jello shot mold,  complete with almost an entire bottle of passion fruit vodka
Totally worth the 4 hours I spent making this as the party got started!
Click HERE to find the recipe and instructions!

"Look at those cross-sections!" -geologist nerds/the majority of our guests
And just like a real rainbow...it was gone as soon as everyone realized it was there