10 Days into May

Life feels a bit like someone pushed the fast forward button. I feel exhausted but happy about all the stuff going on. I'm just going to give a sampling of activities of late.

We picked a beach house for our wedding.

Here is a link to the site and lots a cute pictures of the place. Chris and I drove out to Galveston to make sure the houses were in the same condition as the pictures indicated because of the hurricane. This one isn't even one of the ones we traveled to Galveston for but it was next to one we went to see and looked great.

Today Chris's dad posted to Facebook that it was only 4.5 months til the wedding. Wow. That seems so soon. During that time we also have to move. Crazy.

We also finished our wedding website - link posted to Facebook for friends only. If you follow my blog, you should friend me on Facebook.

Lisa had a girls night and boiled probably 10 lbs of crawfish! It was so delish! We also had watermelon mojitos and smoked from a hookah. Nora was the one who brought the hookah and some type of grape flavored hookah tobacco. It was a strange thing to do because I have smoked cigarettes in my youth but it was nothing like that at all. And the smoke came out grape flavored. We had a ball the whole evening.

My birthday was amazing! Chris replaced my car's windshield for me for my birthday - just what I wanted! I love driving with an unobstructed view now. Unfortunately, the day before it was to be replaced I hit Chris's windshield to kill a mosquito and it must have hit right near an existing rock chip but his windshield now has a crack in it so my view as a passenger with Chris is cracked.

Chelsea got me a lovely lavender scented bubble-bath and some coconut scented shea butter body lotion. I love it. The kids both got me a new pink nano iPod that I STILL haven't loaded with music and books. I keep meaning to but things get in the way. I received a new cuisinart food processor from Peter and Frances, along with a gift check for a spa treatment of my choice which is also partially from Chris' granny! Penny sent me a Tastebook - which is a personalized cook book with several recipes in it. I love it! In fact, everything I got was absolutely amazing. I still have not sent out thank you notes.

The day after my birthday Noelle had baby Jackson.

What a sweet perfect little baby.



Yesterday we went to the Art Car Parade which has become as wonderful a tradition as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And we don't have to get up as early.

This is the annual Mother's Day event for Chris' mom, Frances. We get lots of cheeses and drinks and head to Allen Parkway. This year Chris and I had made about 5 gallons of sangria for the weekend. Some was for Matt & Julie's party Friday night, we took some to the Art Car Parade and we have a lot left over. We're thinking of freezing it until the Frio River Trip with Kevin and Sophia in July.

Sun, Sand, Sea, Surf, Smashed

The weekend was stupendous! What a great time we had. I've been dying to tell everyone that I got Chris a gorilla costume for his birthday but we had to wait because he wanted to freak everyone out at the beach house. It worked out beautifully! Oh my gosh what fun! I ate too much and drank too much but had a lot of fun. Taking the monday afterwards off was a brilliant idea.

Chris and I slept in a little on Friday morning because we could. The weather on the way to Galveston was overcast and patched with rain. This had been expected. What had not been expected was that it was completely clear and beautiful by the mid afternoon and the perfect weather reigned throughout the rest of the weekend. The ferry ride over was the windiest choppiest ferry ride I've ever been on. As we sailed over waves they crashed over the edge as far as the first two rows of cars which got soaked. We met up with Patrick and Lala at the fauxmart that we stopped at to pick up some flip-flops and two koozies which really assisted in knowing which beer was mine the whole weekend. By the time we made it to Shalom IV, Lisa and Brandi were already there waiting for us.

Shalom IV was the most beautiful beach house ever. It had my dream kitchen completely outfitted with my dream appliances, tools, knives, furnishings, and view. It was roomy with tons of counter space and lots of plates and cooking utensils. I fell in love with it. This year Chris and I got our own room and we made good use of it. It was also helpful in the great gorilla caper. The room had a third story deck with a rocking bench outside so you could sit and gaze upon the ocean from right outside your bedroom. The deck(s) at this place were amazing too.

The first night we were there - as soon as everyone had arrived we trekked down to the beach and built a fire. Actually Chris K. built the fire - it was amazing. As we sat around enjoying the fire, a guy without a shirt on emerged from the water - freezing cold (it was cold at night on the beach - hence the fire) and asked if he could join our group. His name was Jason and he's pictured in the photos. What a guy! This kid asks us if we have any acid - right off the bat. Besides which, if any of us had been the acid-doing-type, I don't think he needed any because it was obvious he was on something already. He was talking about heroine but none of us actually believed him. Lala thought he was a ghost - which was good fun. The fire was so perfect though. It was decreed that there shall always be a fire at all future beach houses. In fact, we all had so much fun that we are talking already about doing it again in late September. That would be a blast.

Saturday was a day of eating eating and eating. The open grill turned out to be a good idea but largely WAY too much food. Everyone brought enough lunch to feed the entire group - which would have been like having 6 meals. Most people were full before all the food was done and some food just never got cooked at lunch because there was no need. Lisa made some killer macaroni and cheese - with seven different kinds of cheeses. Amazing. We made desserts - there were brownies and a HUGE lemon cake with lemon icing for all the birthday people. Also, strawberries and pineapples. The pina colada mixers were the right idea but we didn't bring enough of them. Two trips were made to the store for additional pina colada mix until on Sunday morning when we ran out of rum and couldn't utilize all the mixers. We went for a walk on Saturday night too and found the remains of an abandoned fire that my Chris kicked into submission. Just from moving around the embers and remains with his sandaled foot he got it going pretty good and we all stood around warming ourselves on that fire too. There was a full moon and plenty of walking on the beach.

Sunday most people slept in except for the breakfast people and we had home made hashbrowns a la brandi - she shredded the potatoes herself!! grilled pork chops, fried or scrambled eggs, and toast! OMG! That breakfast was to die for! I wish I had had more hash browns but they ran out pretty quick. Some folks had to leave for the drive home but the 2 Chris's, Lisa, Brandi, Carl, Patrick, Robby & I stayed till the very bitter end - around 4 and then drove out to the beach after locking up the house for one final beer on the beach before the drive home.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. A most excellent time was had by all.