work shower

my friends at work threw me a wedding shower last week. they went above and beyond with the decorations and the food!

we were in full western mode...
with my mom and future mother-in-law...

cupcakes: caramel apple, chocolate peanut butter, and pumpkin spice. soooo good!

31!

i wanted to do something really low key for my birthday this year since july was going to be such a busy month. we heard afroman was playing at war bama in silas, al and michael had been wanting to go there so it was a perfect fit. the new fellows for horseshoe farm arrived just the week before so they joined us for the night.


we had not seen afroman since our college days and oh how times have changed. he has definitely aged {like i haven't} and now he is a one man show with his music on an ipod that he sings along with. also, i think he's pretty broke as you can pay $1 and have your picture made with him after the show. all in all, it was a pretty comical night. and john allen was gracious enough to let us crash at his grandfather's old house after the show.


michael did surprise me with a camera of my choice for my birthday present. i chose the canon xt1. hope to be taking some nice shots soon!

kate, will, and the princess and the pirate

on wednesday, april 27 tornadoes rolled through alabama and many lives were lost and entire towns were destroyed. {i debated posting this because i did not want to in any way to down play the devastation that occurred, but what followed is a memory i want to remember.} warning: long story ahead.

i called my grandmother on thursday to check on her - she was fine - just lacked power. but she was very worried that she might miss the wedding of prince william and kate the following day. at first i laughed it off - i mean, with all the devastation shown on tv and she was worried about some wedding. well, it hit me later that night how much she was looking forward to it and the woman is 92 years old so this will likely be her last royal wedding to watch. so i hop in my car at 9pm and drive to decatur. i called her on my way and she kept saying it was crazy {but i could tell in her voice she was so excited}. when i arrived she had on her silk jammies and a bag packed. we made it back to birmingham a little after 11pm. my alarm went off at 4am to start watching the full coverage. maggie crawled in bed with me and we sipped coffee and watched the wedding of will and kate. by the time i left for work she had fallen back asleep {and missed the kiss on the balcony}, but it is a memory i will never forget.

then on to saturday. michael and i met in monroeville for marshall black's (to jessica pettis) wedding which was beautiful and so fun! {no pictures though}

then on sunday i drove back to birmingham to get ready for isabell's 3rd birthday party. david {the dad} had asked me a while back if i would dress up as a princess for his daughter's birthday party. i thought he was kidding so i said 'sure'. well, he wasn't - but he was able to talk jeff into being a pirate. as usual, susan and david went above and beyond for the event complete with a balloon artist, face painter, bouncey thing, new playset, and tons of wonderful food.

jeff and i with the birthday girl...

easter weekend 2011

{yes, i am playing catch up} for Easter this year, michael volunteered us to help out with egg hunt at church. it was so fun to see all the kids dressed up with their cute baskets.

sweet jodie helping out with the pony rides...


me with the easter bunny (poor hope was burning up)...


then we headed to birmingham to go to church with michael's parents at st. stephen's and had a great lunch with maggie in decatur. after lunch we sat and talked. mostly about the upcoming wedding of will and kate. i think maggie had watched every story leading up to it - she knew every detail.

frank patiently waiting around for lunch...
mary and maggie...

'dega, baby!

yesterday i ran my first half marathon at talladega. 12 weeks of training paid off. such an accomplished feeling but glad it is over! got up at the crack of dawn to eat some oatmeal and hit the road. i had packed coffee, water, and gatorade in order to be awake and well hydrated. i was in line to use the porta potty when they were asking everyone to line up. in fear that i would miss the start and come running out of the porta potty, i opted to hold it until one of the stops on the course. well, then i didn't want to stop so by mile 12 i was dying. oh well, lesson learned.

heading to the start line...


hmm... looks like everyone is moving in this pic except for me. smiling before i knew what was to come...

and we're off...

crossing the finish line...

could barely stand at this point...

my official time was 2:05:42. better than i had expected so i am happy. i said this would be my first and last race {while training} but it really wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be so we shall see.

bowling for ja

last weekend i participated in the bowling classic for junior achievement. luckily we got an end lane so only a select few could witness how truly terrible i am. the problem i have with bowling is the ball. i cannot find one that doesn't weigh 15 lbs that my fat thumb will fit into. oh well, it's not like i plan on going pro.

getting my game face on...(why is one piece of my hair extra long? luckily it has been cut since then)....

let the festivities begin...

team photo...

san fran: day 4

for our last day in san francisco we hit napa valley. an old co-worker and friend of dani’s lives in san fran now so he got a trip up together for us. our car was truly a melting pot of different cultures. stephen, the canadian. michael, the german. michelle, the brazilian. dani, the mid-westerner. and then there’s me, the southerner. we technically “tagged” along as they did business as they are over food and beverage at four seasons sf. i don’t think i could ever go back to a winery as a “normal” person {not sure if that is a good or bad thing}. the service we received at all the wineries was top notch.

stephen picked us up bright and early at 8am. we stopped and had breakfast at this “great little bagel place” {which turned out to be just a convenience store with a deli in the back that served bagels out of a bag}. our first stop was pahlmeyer. it was there that dani and i discovered we were in a room of pros while we were definitely beginners. everyone is swishing and spitting while we are guzzling.

on our way to our next stop, chateau montelena, we stopped at this castle just for some photos…

at chateau montelena we were given a tour of the residence and had our tasting in their awesome kitchen…

then it was off to rudd. by far our favorite. cameron, our wine educator was about 25 years old and knew more about wine than i ever will. he gave us a tour of the grounds, the cave, and finally the tasting. i have no clue how long we stayed - but it was hours.

the cave...

the concrete "egg"...

they had a cool event space in the cave for parties and dinners and this special room....

then it was on to the tasting...

we ended the day with dinner at dean and deluca where i think i had one of everything. then it was back to san fran.

dani and i left the next day and of course decided to try a new {to us} mode of transportation. bart. it was a fiasco as we were on the wrong train and had no clue what we were doing.

dani waiting on our correct train...

it was a great, memorable trip. can't wait for the next one!