Cinderelly Cinderelly

When Eric is in Midland for school, I get shunned to my little corner in my sister's bedroom.  Complete with a twin bed and right next to a lizard cage with a bright red heat lamp and stupid crickets.

Lil Bit Famous

So as I usually do, I was strolling through the blogs on Wedding Bee and came across something oh so peculiar.  A picture of ME...IN THEIR BLOG SECTION!  What does that mean you ask?  Well, ANYONE can post on Wedding Bee, but not anyone makes it into their "blog" section.  You have to be selected to be part of that exclusive community.  And today, while clicking through the most recent blogs, my face popped up.  I got selected as the "Gallery of the Day" which is where they find a picture or a post they really like and put it on their blog part of the website so people can see some inspirational photos.  Without further adieu, here is my boring famous post.


http://www.weddingbee.com/2012/02/15/gallery-of-the-day-776/

Valentine's Our Way

This was our first year as a married couple for Valentine's Day.  When people think "Valentine's Day", they think romance, flowers, gifts, expensive dinners, and candles.  When they think "First married Valentine's Day", they think everything is even MORE romantic.  I don't disagree.  Valentine's Day is all about showing the person you are with that you love them.  It's a wonderful commercial holiday that reminds us when to be sweet to our partners.  Since I am a woman, I absolutely adore Valentine's Day. I mean come on, it's yet ANOTHER reason for my man to dote on me.


Naturally, I was very excited for our first married Valentine's.  However, after telling people what I was planning on doing for him, a lot of people gave me this look.

I think they were expecting a much grander display of affection.  When my response was "I'm baking cupcakes and then we're working out", I think people assumed I must hate the guy.  I thought it sounded like a perfect idea.  We could have sweets, work out (which is something we like to do) AND avoid the horrible waits at restaurants.  Win win win!  Turns out, people expect something like this at Valentine's Day. 

Not this

Well, I caved in a little and got what I thought was perfect Valentine's Day gifts for my man.  We ended up getting some champagne, pizza, and romantic comedies.  Then for his gift he got a pair of Texas Tech sweat pants (super romantic!!), cupcakes, and the most romantic amazing card you have ever seen.

 Not the most romantic gift ever, but at least I gave in and got "Valentine's-y" type things.  That counts for something.  Eric ended up getting me the best gift ever.  I know most girls would look at it and probably throw it at their man's face, but I LOOOOOOVED the gift! It shows how well he knows me, which is what matters to me on a holiday that celebrates love.

That's right, he got me a first aid kid, waterproof matches, Bear Grylls mini-survival kit, two battery-free flashlights, twizzlers, and Dove dark chocolate covered almonds!  What more could a woman ask for?


We ended up watching "What's Your Number" and "Something Borrowed", both were really good movies.  

I had an amazing Valentine's Day. And while most people would think the way we celebrated it and the gifts we gave are not traditional, that's fine.  We're not traditional people.  And now, when those people who judged us need help surviving during the apocalypse, they'll be begging for my help thanks to my handy dandy kit.

Top Chef: Puentes

Eric and I are obsessed with Top Chef. I mean, who isn't?  It' a show that combines food, drama, and reality TV...all things I love!  I love food so much, it's probably my best friend in the whole wide world. So naturally, I love shows that involve food, especially making food from scratch. That's not only awesome TV, but it also adds in a little supernatural. I mean come on, you give these people 30 minutes to cook a dish from fritos, bakes beans, candy corn, and flour and somehow they come up with this?

Ok not really, that's actually a rattlesnake taco thing they made.  But still, you get my point. I'm given just bread and a toaster and somehow this is what comes out.

So as you can see, my absolute love of food mixed with my absolute incompetence when it comes to cooking leads me to be obsessed with all things Top Chef.  Thanks to my obsession, I now compare all foods that I order to Top Chef creations.  I look at the plate and determine whether the judges would be happy with this meal.  Luckily, I am married to someone who plays along with me.  We did this a lot on the cruise.  We would look at our food and look for any mistake, like a drop of soup on the plate, and we would determine whether this would be appropriate for the judges.  Most of the time, we decide Padma would not be impressed.


So when it comes to me making our dinners every night, I feel sad every day because I know I would have to pack my knives and go home.  Good news is, I am slowly but surely beginning to cook. Lots of what I do now comes from simple chicken recipes and steamer bags as sides, but I know I'll get better. Not "Top Chef" better, but at least I think I would be able to make it through a quickfire at least once if I needed to...maybe.


So here are just two of the meals I have made lately.  The one I made from "scratch" (no steamer bags, and the other I made the side from a steamer bag.  I need to be a better blogger and take pictures of me in the process of making things. I think that would make for an interesting post!

Salmon Caesar pizza 

Lemon herb chicken, raw carrots, and alfredo pasta with veggies

The judges wouldn't approve of my plating, especially since the bottom picture is on a paper plate (major points would be deducted), but I think if they did a season called "Top Chef: Wives who burn toast", I would have a good chance at winning that season.

Things Learned From Wedding Planning

I am going to toot my own horn here and say that for never planning a wedding before (mine was obviously my first wedding), I did a pretty good job at getting a cohesive wedding theme put together.  I've also never really been involved in a wedding planning process either since I was the first out of my sisters to have a big wedding.  So I must say that for only spending 8 months planning a wedding, I did a pretty good job.  TOOT TOOT!

I did, however, mess up some stuff, require assistance from professionals, and cry to mommy a few times.

So here are my lessons learned.  There aren't MANY lessons, seeing as how I am pretty awesome and know a lot about everything.

1. Things WILL go wrong at the wedding. Period. End of story.
2. Wear long-lasting lipstick.  No matter how convinced you are that you'll keep applying lip gloss, you won't. You're lying to yourself.
3. Nobody will care about your wedding as much as you do
4. Don't leave men in charge of getting your overnight bag to the hotel room
5. Take the time to get a picture of just you and your husband on the wedding day.  This seems obvious...but some of us forget :/
6. Always plan to take longer getting ready than you should
7. Hire a day of coordinator, even if your venue provides one. These sweet little messengers from God are not overrated
8. Don't stress if your unity candle blows out. Lighting it twice just means the marriage will be twice as strong
9. Don't forget the ring bearer pillow
10. Your bridesmaids are NOT your slaves.  Let them have fun getting dolled up.  Their main priority is to look pretty and keep you from running away. That's it.  YOU chose to have a huge wedding, the responsibilities are mainly yours (and your mom's...duh)
11. Make lists of everything. Even the most A-type personalities will forget little details on the wedding day.  Give the list to everyone around you, even your dogs, so that nothing gets overlooked.
12. Don't open your mouth wider than necessary to put cake in it.  There will be pictures capturing your depth perception being off
13. Remember a camera is always on you
14. The two times you will have the most pictures taken are cake cutting and first kiss, don't make stupid faces
15. If you have a poofy dress, wear an adult diaper or go to the bathroom 457,596,204 times before the ceremony begins so you don't have to go find someone to help you during the reception
16. Set a STRICT budget! Or take your budget, divide it in two, and say that's your budget so when you go over, you still have enough money to pay for it
17. Think of your favorite time of year or holiday.  Now DON'T plan your wedding around that day
18. Put aside all ideas that your new husband helping you take off your wedding gown in the hotel room will be romantic.  In reality, you will be sticky, sweaty, and probably get stuck in the dress. Oh, and it WILL ruin your hair
19. Your marriage will last longer than Kim Kardashian's
20. Have fun. It is not easier "said than done", it is actually easy to do. The day of your wedding is about getting married. All the planning is done.  Don't be a cranky bride.

#14 - Remember, people are watching...

Proof number 13 is important

#12, cake is smaller than it appears