Weekends with Jess are the best

This weekend was pretty amazing. Not just because I got to see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special or watch the Stars, but because one of my closest friends, Jessica, was in town. And I got to take her to her first hockey game.

 

She got into town Friday night and she was actually really excited to "go hockey-ing." Despite having no idea what was going on, she was a great sport about the whole experience and got into giving some of the Rangers fans around us a hard time for rooting for the wrong team. Jess might have had absolutely no idea what icing was or why people were "put in time out" or even what the "Standing Cock" was, but she had a great time.

 

And then we met a couple guys that had two extra seats. Behind the Stars bench. So she got to get really close to the action.

Saturday we spent the day at the Kimbell Museum and got to go through their brand new Piano Pavilion (which opens to the public this weekend). We also went through the Picasso and Matisse exhibit that is on loan from the Chicago Museum of Art. Both of us were really excited to see the exhibit but we were totally blown away by the extensiveness of the entire show. It was art that spanned almost a hundred years and at least fifty different artists. If you all haven't seen it, I highly recommend you do because it was just amazing. After a stop at the always amazing Museum of Modern Art, we did end up parting ways so she could spend some time with her family here in Dallas.

It was great to see Jess again and be able to catch up on the past few months. Sometimes, its nice to be able to just spend some time with a friend that has stood by you through so much without judgement and not even have to talk about some of the major changes in your life. Sometimes its nice to just watch movies, drink wine, "go hockey-ing" and look at art.

Its also good to know that the next time she's in town I'll have someone to keep me company when I finally go get my first tattoo.

We're in wedding overdrive!

The past couple of weeks have been a very busy time for both Austin and I. Not only have we been spending more time than usual with his family after the recent passing of his grandfather, but we've also been working on all of the little details for the wedding as well as putting in as many extra hours at work.

That's right, Austin is finally starting to get more interested in the wedding and is actually starting to help out. I guess once we passed the seven month mark, he realised that things were getting closer. I'm glad he's starting to take some interest in the wedding, because (unlike most brides) its OUR wedding, not just mine.

Austin looked over the only proposal that we've gotten from the four florists I've met with and we weren't too excited over what she had outlined. And since it has taken the other florists more than three weeks to even get us a proposal, I kindly let them know that we had decided to use another company's services. After all, if they can't get us a proposal in a decent time frame, do we really want to trust them with our wedding? I think not. Our wonderful photographer has gotten us in touch with a florist that she has worked with in the past and highly recommends, so we will be meeting with her this weekend. We think the meeting we have set up on Saturday will go very well... Fingers crossed!!

Last Saturday I went with one of my bridesmaids, Melanie, to order her dress and to pick up my Maid of Honour's dress. Two more things checked off the list! We also heard from another bridesmaid, Amelia, and she informed me that she was no longer interested in being in the wedding party (more on that later). Now all we need is for Callie to order her dress and all of the ladies will be set, dress wise that is.

Austin has really started to think about who he wants to stand next to him (finally). He had already picked out one groomsman, Dan, and his Best Man, but was still working on the final guys. I thinks he's got it narrowed down and he should be able to give me names by Monday. Yay! He has also started to look into what they will wear and, yes with my input, decided this week. The guys will all be wearing a basic black tux with a cobalt tie and vest. Now the hard part will be to find a vest and tie that are the right shade of cobalt.

I have been able to finalize all of the information for the hotel blocks recently. I was happy to get all of that finished, now we have to figure out where we would like to stay for the wedding night... Decisions, decisions... Since that was all finalized, I did get all of the accommodation cards printed and put together, another thing checked off of our to-do list!

I have been talking with a friend of Austin's mom who is a top notch designer and has graciously offered to help us with the decor for the ceremony and reception. Its been a bit of a hassle, but hopefully we'll be able to get a time nailed down when she can come down to the Infomart and take a look around and give us her professional opinion on how things should look.

Well, that seems to be all of the wedding planning we've been working on lately. It might not seem like much, but we can finally see things coming together!

Six Flags!

This past weekend Jessica, Dan, Mel, Austin and I all went to Six Flags. I'm a huge roller coaster fan, the bigger and faster and more turns, the better. And since I was able to get the tickets from our concierge ($22 vs $60 at the gate) so we thought it would be a great way to spend the day and have Jessica get to know a couple of our closest friends. And what doesn't bring people together more than waiting in lines and then going on roller coaster rides?!

Too bad it was about 105. That's right, 105 and it felt hotter. And it was sunny.

Luckily, we were able to get through the lines fairly quickly since most people were smart enough to stay home and not spend the day outside and risk heat exhaustion and dehydration and whatever else we were at risk for. We all agreed that the next time we go, we'll spend the extra money and get a flash pass so we don't have to wait in line. And we're also not going to be going during the hottest week of the year.

What a great weekend!

So this weekend, my Maid of Honor, Jessica, was in town to visit! I took off a couple days from work so we could spend some quality "girl time" together. We didn't really have any plans, but we did end up going to the Hare Krishna temple (which is beautiful!) and to the Dallas World Aquarium. Since it is Shark Week, we figured it was fitting to go to the aquarium and see the sharks. I've never been to the aquarium here in Dallas, but it is actually a pretty cool place. Its right in the middle of Downtown and you don't really think it would be great looking at the outside of it since its all brick. There are tons of different birds and monkeys and fish and snakes and lizards and penguins and spiders and even a jaguar! I would recommend it to anyone!

The Hare Krishna  temple is beautiful. We've both gone before, but we still wanted to go. The temple has an amazing Indian restaurant, Kalachandji's. They are always vegetarian and most dishes are even vegan! Neither of us have gone to a service there, but I think it would be absolutely marvelous and eye opening. And probably very centering. Anyways... We walked around the temple and meditated a little before going shopping. Yes we went shopping...

We went to Alfred Angelo and got Jessica her dress! Well, we ordered it. I should be going to pick it up in about 8-10 weeks. Its a great tea-length dress that I will be posting pictures of later. She tried on about 15 different dress of all different styles in order to figure out what we wanted. So, we were both pretty happy that she was able to get a dress. And, it was under $75!

We really liked this one, but its not quite the style we wanted...

This is one dress we liked, isn't she adorable!

And this is the one we picked! It'll be cobalt with ivory trim!