Quirky but Beautiful.

Why hello there.

I hope everyone got off to a good start for their week.  Countdown is T-Minus 2 1/2 weeks until Christmas vacay/celebrations. I'm pumped.

After getting sick as a dog this weekend and losing one of my weekend days to the couch and trying to bring my body back to life - I feel like I deserve an extra day to catch up on all the errands I could only do on Saturday and missed! Wouldn't that be peachy?

Work got insane last week so I'm just now getting to post this quirky picture of my sister Katie. I convinced her and my mom to go for mini photo shoot when I was back at home for Thanksgiving and look when I ended up with.... a weirdo :) But actually a pretty cool picture with the sun coming through. I gotta hand it to Katie for always throwing a fit for being my "subject" and then "turning it on" when I start snapping away!

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What an Honor...

To have a sister that graduated the school of nursing at OU with honors! This past weekend I was quite the busy bee.  I dashed to Tulsa Friday to have a fun dinner/night with my mom.  Woke up early Saturday, got dressed and headed to Oklahoma City to go meet up with Katie before graduation and getting a little shopping time in. Then headed to Norman where Katie's graduation ceremony was held in a hotel.... that seemed a bit odd and much different than my KU graduation.... but nonetheless exciting to watch my sister walk across the stage to get her diploma and cheer her on! On Sunday I made my way back to Tulsa where I ended up staying an extra night to spend some much needed time with my mom and then off to KC at 6 a.m. this morning... MAN am I glad to be sitting on my bedroom floor knowing I don't have to travel for another three weeks.

But back to bragging about Katie ;) Katie just got offered a job at the OU Medical Center in OKC.  Her first big girl job!!! She is really hoping that the hospital in Chicago she interviewed with gives her an offer as well... but for now.  Being employed is her biggest priority and she did it! WAHOO! Now off to the real world...

Sweet little Katie - That's Nurse Katie to you ;)

Katie's Pins

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SURPRISE!!!

First, I have to apologize for my lack of posts the past couple of days.

My weekend was filled with going away parties and engagement showers and NO internet.  I am needless to say, NOT happy with my cable/internet provider (Time Warner Cable), and their inability to provide good customer service.

Now onto the BEST part of my weekend. Mandi's surprise

Three of my friend Mandi's bridesmaids (Myself, Kara, Katie, and Sarah) have been hearing Mandi talk about wanting a beagle puppy SO bad lately and how she wanted to get one this Summer. We thought why not speed up the process and get her a beagle puppy as a surprise for her wedding/engagement shower gift!

After endless hours of looking online for the cutest and best beagle puppy we could find, we found her in Bethany, MO (2.5 hours away from KC). We took her fiance Matt to get his approval (we didn't want to be the ones to blame completely if she turned into a little monster that tore up everything and barked all night...ha! ) He fell in LOVE with her and immediately said this is her. We gave them the down payment, waited two weeks and Kara and I went to pick her up the night before the engagement party.  The puppy stayed with me all night Friday and Saturday, I of course fell in love with her and decided the sooner I can get a baby puppy of my own the better... but needs to be when I am in a house not a box.

Long story short I wrapped a huge box with a lid as a present and we hid the puppy in the car (yes the windows were open and it wasn't hot outside so she was fine) as we waited for the present opening to start.  Anxiety immediately kicked in once word started to spread about our surprise and all of us were SO worried all the commotion would cause Mandi to be suspicious.

Finally, when the last gift card was being opened, I flagged down Kara's boyfriend to go get Katie and Kara who had the dog in the box with a big bow on her neck.

They walked in and placed the box on Mandi's lap and Mandi immediately was asking why the box had holes in it. She started to open our card and Matt and another bridesmaid were asking what the heck she was doing and to just open the box! She pulled off the lid and out comes the puppy! Mandi was FREAKING out.  It was the best surprise EVER.  Her reaction was priceless as she cried, laughed, cried some more (tears of happiness of course).  So stinkin' cute. Now for the photos to show you what all the commotion was about with this cute little pup they named Millie.

Mandi's Suprise Face! PRICELESS

Family

Millie. 

 A little fun fact. The named her Millie to go with the "M's" they have for Mandi and Matt and they are also getting married at Mildale Farm. Cute, right?

Besties.

This weekend I made a trip home to Tulsa, OK where I was raised for MOST of my life (2nd grade +).

My mom still lives here, and my sister, Katie, lives in OKC which isn't too far away so I always love coming back so I can get some family time in every once in a while.  Especially on Easter weekend since I missed it last year (my b-day/friend's bachelorette party fell on Easter last year- priorities first...)

As usual, we usually go out to dinner one night and then get a home cooked meal the other night.  Tonight was the going out to dinner night.

We had a blast at dinner with my mom, my sister, and my sister's best friend, Carissa. Lot's of wine flowing  as were the laughs which made for a GREAT first night back.

Unexpectedly my sister announces she wants ice cream.  She basically leaves me no choice by to drive her and Carissa to get ice cream at a Braum's near by.  Even at this moment I cannot believe an ice cream shop remains open until 11:30 p.m..... Regardless, I take her and Carissa there for their "night-cap."

This is the result:

Love these two together. They crack me up!

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Good Morning. Good Morning.

This is how I started my day this morning.

This is Harley.  Remember her? She's my little sister Katie's little bundle of joy.  Katie came down to celebrate my birthday early with me (I turn the big 2-6 tomorrow) and brought along Harley.  She's the cutest boston terrier I have ever seen and she is SO LOVEY... especially when it comes to sleeping in bed.

Every night when Katie and I would go to bed Harley was right there with us.  Not only that... but she would wiggle her little crooked tail underneath the covers and sleep right between us. She acted as a little space heater all night.

Well this morning when I was waking up look who crawled up between me and Katie and decided she not only needed the covers but a pillow too! (and yep that's Katie still sleeping in the background)

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Girls Night!

Tonight I had a much needed girls night... I am racing against the clock to get today's post in but I think these shots are well worth it....

Kara, Katie (KJ), Mandi and I went to Houlihan's where we slurped down some Long Island Ice Tea Raspberry flavored drink as we waited for 45 minutes to get a table... then enjoyed a two hour long catch up dinner that was much overdue.  Approximately 30 minutes of this dinner consisted of coming up with team names for our upcoming pub crawl which was probably the highlight of the evening.

After dinner, we went over to Mando's house to continue cocktails (well wine...). After we proceeded to break the wine cork...

...We finally got to our favorite part... the drinking of the wine. 

And to give props to my ever so wonderful friends, I captured a candid moment (or as Kara calls it "natural" moment) of the three of them:

Love you girls and had a great time tonight!