Last weekend...ok, wait, make that weekend BEFORE last since time is completely disappearing and sneaking away from me...I got to spend the afternoon surrounded by dear family and friends at this only-comes-around-once kinda thing known as a bridal shower. And it was absolutely fantastic. Craig's mom flew in, the amazing Dana made the journey from Virginia, my MOHSOB (maid of honor sister of the bride, duh!) trekked halfway across the country, Mom & Dad (although no boys allowed at the shower!) drove down along with a wonderful aunt and cousins...and then there's all the people here in the oven who made it a point to be there, too!
To celebrate me. Well, and this Craig guy. It was pretty awesome. Mexican food, margaritas, Bob Armstrong, and absolutely no games. I'm not really a games kinda girl, especially when it comes to...myself. But I do love board games. Excessively, actually.
It goes against every ounce of my being to NOT take pictures at an event, but my goal here was to actually be present and enjoy the time with my family and friends. Which meant no picture-taking allowed - just soaking up the moments and memories. Therefore, all of these pictures are courtesy of the amazing Sarah and her fantastic fixed lens that I just might go out and buy for myself. And she's a pro at uploading and Picasa sharing in a timely manner. Just one of the many, many reasons I love her dearly.
That being said, here's the one picture I'm contributing to this event, which was taken on my phone mere moments ago with a nifty little diddy known as Vignette, which I've completely fallen in love with.
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| Love love LOVE these invitations so much!! Carolyn, you do good work. |
And now...thank you, Sarah, photographer extraordinaire!
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| That sweet, crafty Sarah went and made me the cutest apron...with a "P" in the corner! I think I wore it for half the shower. |
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| Wonderful Sarah friend person crafter photographer amazing. Just summing her up. |
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| Diana was an absolute pro with the cake balls. For bringing them AND for serving them so beautifully. What a fantastic friend! |
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| Ok, yes, I was enjoying my margaritas. Amanda looks perhaps a touch concerned. |
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| Quite a pile to work my way through! |
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My beautiful, amazing, wonderful beyond words bridesmaids (MOH and sistah friend is sitting next to me stage right, of course). Love these girls more than you can ever know.
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A giant thank you to everyone who could be there! I had such a fantastic time celebrating with all of you!
I'm no longer referring to Dallas as Dallas - it's just "The Oven" from here on out. Probably through September or so. And it's kinda unfortunate that my future in-laws visited a few weekends ago in the midst of this unrelenting heat. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in air-conditioning. These oven conditions limit outdoor explorations rather severely, and a lot of my "fun" ideas get blown out of the water.
Sidenote - I think Craig is only mildly amused (perhaps bemused?) by my frequent use of "Pendarvi" rather than the appropriate plural form. But I like it. Deal with it, dear.
The Pendarvi and future Pendarvis (you know, me!) spent relatively cool time exploring the famers market, wandering Half Price Books, embarking on rehearsal dinner extravaganza planning, and indulging in LOTS of eating - Chuy's, Smoke, Big Al's, Y.O. Steakhouse, Manny's, Twisted Root. My body STILL needs some vegetables. Yes, even weeks later.
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| Momma Dale sits Texas-style at Y.O. Steakhouse |
Minimal pictures from these weekend adventures, mostly because I'd still like my new family to like me and think I'm possibly normal instead of "oh my heavens, who is this crazy girl taking pictures of our hamburgers??"
Had a great time getting to know my new family a little bit better, and here's wishing you and yours LOTS of air conditioning.
I love artsy stuff. Especially when it involves people far more talented than I singing and dancing on a stage. So when fellow enjoyer of artsy stuff Diana and I lined ourselves up for a rather art-tastic week (also, after two years in DC, very much a treat to see Diana THREE TIMES in one week), I was pretty pumped about it. Brief recap to follow.
Billy Elliot at the Winspear Opera House - angry tap dancing is awesome, and the Winspear has one of the coolest light fixtures ever. It was a little unfortunate that we bought tickets for this show WAY in advance and had no idea that the Mavs would be playing for the NBA championship that night...and WINNING...but at least it was better than when we went for Rock of Ages and were surrounded by tornadoes.
Oh, and not really artsy, but the boys met us for dinner beforehand, and Craig had his FIRST Lone Star beer. We're getting him integrated, Texans.
Next up - Ben Folds playing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which is by far one of the coolest concerts I've ever been to. I LOVE this man's music, and he is such a great performer - his impromptu composition of a new song (never to be released due to its ridiculousness, I'm sure) on stage was just freakin' cool.
We closed things out with a performance of Next to Normal put on by the Uptown Players at the Kalita Humphreys Theater - Diana and I were a little intrigued by the crowd for this particular show (the demographic was heavily skewed in the loving man-couple direction, which we couldn't figure out...was it a connection with one of the actors? the location of the theater? the musical itself? anyway, lots of fabulous shoes for us to admire...), and the subject matter was pretty heavy, but we both really enjoyed it.
To cap it all off, last week I caught the Spazmatics (80's cover band!) with Jenny and Molly at the Arboretum as part of their concert series. It's such a great setting - right by the lake, bring your own blanket and cooler, enjoy. Plus it's just fun to bust out some of your favorite 80's tunes. Loudly.
TONS of fun, although I think I'll be more excited about the fall shows when I can hopefully avoid rivers of sweat.
Now, if my State of the Arts license plate would just show up...
