Holiday Cheer!

The holidays came and went and we're in 2012! For some reason the holidays didn't seem as holiday-y - probably because we haven't gotten an ounce of snow and just recently, the temps broke the freezing mark! Celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. Love, love Thanksgiving food. Unfortunately, both Truss and Brett had the stomach flu the week before and weren't feeling 100 percent the day of. And, to top it off, Patrick got (stomach) sick at the house, so Court and Brett had to cancel going out to Gardner later in the day to have Thanksgiving with Brett's family.

Christmas time was full of parties and get-togethers. Karen and Mike Hudnall (Truss' mom and her husband), came in town and had their annual holiday dinner at Hereford House, which was fun. We had my work party at our office (I just LOVE going downtown on the weekend back to the office I just left 24 hours prior). We celebrated Christmas eve by going to Church and then the Brooks' house for a few drinks. Truss loves Christmas Eve more than Christmas, so he did something soooo wonderful....he flew in lobsters for us to have on Christmas Eve. I love lobster and these didn't fail me. Absolutely delish! Christmas morning, we went to brunch at Truss' dad's house, then returned to my parent's house. It was so fun spending Christmas with Patrick. Of course he was only interested in ribbon and boxes. Truss and I got him a dinosaur toy he can push and ride on. He's crawling like crazy, so it's only a matter of time before he's standing and walking!

He is by far, the cutest baby in the world!


When I'm not drooling over him, I've been wedding planning a little more. I made a list of things left to do, thinking it was pretty small. However, there are a ton of small things we still have to accomplish.

Highlights from the past few months:

• Found my dress! I can't remember if I already wrote about it.
• Bridesmaids dresses just came in - Courtney says they are beautiful!
• Went and talked with Siegrist about invitations - they'll be pretty traditional with script writing and a gold monogram at the top.
  
• Decided to have Elle Tyson (Truss' niece) and our nephews (Brooks Tyson and Patrick) in the wedding. Elle will be 5 years old, Brooks will be 2 and Patrick will be 16 mos. Soooo...with the two little ones, anything goes, I guess :) Could be quite entertaining...
• Deciding on tents for the patio - either white or clear. I'm really wanting the clear!
• Booked our rehearsal dinner location - Il Centro!
• Working on the bachelorette party. Court is primarily planning this - we were going to do Vegas, but the flights are ridiculously high, so we'll wait a little bit to see if the prices go down, or choose a plan B.
• Truss bought his white dinner jacket for the wedding - he looks fantastic in it, I do have to say!
• Have started working with shower hosts on dates. We tentatively already have 5 in the works. First one is later next month - let the fun begin!
• Booked hair and makeup. The wonderful artists, Roxanne (hair) and Laura (makeup) will come into do everyone up. I'm excited they are coming to us - that will make things a little less hectic, I think.
  
• We met with the cake lady and discussed how that would look. I'm basing the look loosely after Kate Moss' wedding cake (below). Of course, it won't be that monstrous...
  

Until next time...

Fall...

Wow, I'm really not very good at keeping up with this. Maybe because I'm busy, maybe because I forget about it. Anyway, these last few months have been filled to the brim with what seems like mostly wedding stuff and sporting events. Throw in a few BBQs, going out with friends, Plaza Art Fair and you've got a pretty packed beginning to fall!

Wedding planning is definitely under way. Here's what we have accomplished (or not accomplished due to my indecisiveness)

• Wedding dress shopping at Bridal Extraordinaire - found one dress I liked, but didn't love

• Tent meeting - meeting with a guy my dad knows to discuss tents - he's new in the business so I thought it would be worth a shot and we could maybe get a deal. The meeting lasted something like 2 hours and the guy kept rambling. Truss attended this meeting and found out the hard way, these meetings with vendors aren't all fun. Inconveniently for him, that day he decided to stop drinking during the week and was trying to stick to it. Bet he wished he had a cocktail to get through that meeting! I emailed him after our meeting to get an estimate of all the things we talked about. This was Sept. 8....and I still have not heard back. You snooze, you lose, tent guy - moving on!

• Bridesmaids dress shopping at Bella Bridesmaid - Court was a great model and tried on multiple dresses. I couldn't find the right coral color, so I decided to keep looking.

• More wedding dress shopping at Gown Gallery. I found a beautiful Alvina Valenta dress that is definitely in the running. I couldn't pull the trigger, so we're going back on Nov. 5 for a trunk show to see if they have anything else. I just want to be 100 % sure - it's a pricey dress!

• More bridesmaids dress shopping at Gown Gallery - it was slightly overwhelming with the racks and racks of dresses. Court and I thought we found the perfect dress and it was so affordable. Turns out, it was discontinued and we couldn't order it. Disappointment...

• Cake tasting at Mission Hills. They have a newer pastry chef so we thought we'd try it out. We tried white cake with an almond-y flavor, which is what I want, cake with chocolate in the middle and carrot cake. Truss came along for this and I think he wished he hadn't. We talked to the wedding coordinator at Mission and decided that while we were there, we'd look at linen swatches. I just thought it would save us another meeting if looked at them during the cake tasting - good idea, right? Well Truss didn't agree and said I sandbagged him by looking at linens. It did make our meeting a little longer, but I thought it was productive...
  

And, Kenny's favorite time of year is upon us - time for KU Football. The Jayhawks officially suck this year, so I've been enjoying tailgates. While the football team sucks, we got a sneak peek at basketball season and went to the Legends of the Phog exhibition game with all the old players. We had front row seats - it was great. And Patrick went, which was fun. He was fascinated by Baby Jay!

A smashing success!

Our engagement party at my parents house on Aug. 20 was a great success! We had worried most of the day because the weather had been horribly rainy and there was a 50 percent chance that day. Luckily, the skies cleared and despite being a little humid, it was a beautiful night. Almost all 58 people were on the patio most of the night. We had heavy appetizers and drinks. It was really fun to have all of our friends and some of my parents friends there.

However, I wish one of my girlfriends had warned me how overwhelming it is to be the center of attention. It's a very strange feeling to have a party for you (and your fiance)! It probably didn't help that I was standing in the doorway during the time that everyone came in all at once. It was an interesting glimpse into what the wedding will be like (but with 4-5 times as many people!!).

Today, my sister, mom and I went to try on more dresses today at Bridal Extraordianaire. I was a little disappointed because they carried the Priscilla of Boston line, which I really liked, and I found out that as of Aug. 31, the company was shutting down and no longer taking any new orders. Booo... Despite that, we went to the salon and I tried on about 6 dresses. Some good, some not-so-good, and one I really liked. I couldn't pull the trigger today and purchase it (even though they said I would get a 15 percent discount for purchasing it that same day--very good tactic, if I do say so myself). I really liked the girl that helped me - she was energetic and really listened to what I wanted. I tried to be open-mined and actually surprised myself by liking a style of dress that I didn't think I wanted to try on. I have another appointment next weekend at Gown Gallery, another bridal salon. So, we'll see...

Next up on the list - Meeting with the tent company - 9/7. Going to talk about tent and other rental stuff...

It's been a good 'girls-filled' labor day weekend. Truss is out of town dove hunting, so I've been out with some girlfriends two nights in a row. So.much.fun.!!!

Capture-worthy moments

Summer is pretty much over - schools started this week and Labor Day weekend is right around the corner. Sigh...

Anyway, over the course of the last few months, I captured some photos on my iphone. They're random, but sum some events that took place. Enjoy!



The two first-time flyers did awesome. The one-hour flight was a perfect test run for both Sadie and Patrick. I find it ironic that I had to pay a hefty sum (more than the round-trip ticket!) to take Sadie on the plane as a carry on and she HAD to stay under the seat. Meanwhile Patrick flew for free and got to be up and about. Should have at least gotten some wings!




Bebe and Patrick hanging out in the sun room. It was so fun getting to spend an entire week with him!



Truss relaxing in the lake...looks nice, doesn't it?




Made my favorite Gazpacho recipe, courtesy of Ina Garten



We ordered our engagement party invites which was fun. Turquoise and orange aren't our wedding colors, but thought they looked good together. We're expecting 50+ people, hope the rain holds out!



Mollie and Sadie are still friends. Truss stayed at my house for over a week recently because his AC went out, so I got to experience a glimpse of what living would be like with another dog. Despite the hair (which Truss cleans up), everything was great. And, Mollie keeps Sadie company while I'm at work.



Came to my parents house to check on the plants while they were out of town and was introduced to a sprinkler leak. All the way down the street to be exact. This lesson proved to be valuable - I found out where my parents water shut off is in the event something ever happens in the future!


Bought these cute Cole Haan shoes on sale, thought they'd be cute (and somewhat practical) with my wedding dress. Took them back because the height of the heel coupled with the platform underneath the toe made them feel like clogs. Sorry Cole Haan, no wedding shoe success for me. Still on the lookout...



Took this in early summer. Apparently I thought 101 was hot. That was nothing compared to the 107-110 we experienced in mid-late July!



Finally, after much searching I found my wedding "inspiration" photos. The top one is kinda hard to see, but the bouquet above shows the general look. Kind of garden-y. Met with a florist last night, who seemed to understand what I am looking for. Still debating whether we'll get married in the church (St. Andrews) or at the club (MHCC) under the tent.




Our company is moving in the new (but old) building on Friday. It's just down the street, so we're still in the middle of Downtown, which is fun. I didn't realize until I started packing how much crap I've accumulated over 6 years. The new space (above) is supposed to be more minimalistic and make us more productive...




Truss ran in a 5k race for the Komen Foundation last weekend. He ran in celebration of my Aunt Susy (which is noted on the pink flier).




This isn't particularly meaningful, I just thought it was funny. All of my laundry baskets were being used at my house, so Truss resorted to throwing his clothes in a "cooler" laundry basket! Oh, the minds of men crack me up...

4th of July

Another fun-filled trip down south last weekend to celebrate the fourth of July! Truss and I took a trip to Oklahoma City to visit his mom, Karen, her husband Mike and Truss' sister Olivia, then on to Dallas to visit Truss' brother, Matt, his wife Christy and their adorable kids, Elle (3) and Brooks (1). The trip started very eventful. We left KC on Thursday around 6 and about an hour in, we blew a tire. Well, it didn't really blow, just a slow leak anda gaping hole. My first reaction, being the girl I am: "Truss, should we call AAA?" Truss: "Blair, I know how to change a tire." Well, okay then....Truss changed the tire in 20 minutes. I helped by holding the bolts. Actually, I put them in the cup holder while Truss was changing the tire because Truss told me that we can't go anywhere if I lost them. Knowing me and my clumsiness, I thought they were better off not in my hands. So, we got back on the road and headed to Ok City. Arrived late and went straight to bed. Woke up the next morning and headed to Dallas. Truss had a dental appt. with his brother (who is a dentist) to get his tooth fixed. I hung out at the house with Christy and the kids.

Headed out on the town Friday night to a great new Dallas restaurantcalled Alma. It was a fun atmosphere with great food and great drinks.Truss and Matt had a tres amigos drink:Shot of Blanco Tequila with a chaser of House-made Sangrita (looks like a bloody mary, but doesn't taste as good) and a can of Tecate.

Headed down to Christy's parents ranch on Saturday, it's about 2 hours southwest of Dallas. I've never been on a ranch. I didn't really know what to expect, but we had a blast. The house has a great front porch and there is tons and tons of land. We took the jeep out exploring and saw some cow

s close up, which scared me at first. They started running after us in the Jeep, which really made me nervous. Once they figured out we didn't have food, they stopped and went back to just standing around (really, what a boring life!).

Spent the night at the ranch, then headed back to Oklahoma City. Sunday was Truss' 30th birthday so we had his choice of dinner at his Mom and Mike's house (steak, asparagus, risotto and his favorite dessert, chocomocha cheesecake). Spent the night there, visited Truss' grandmother, Mom Marie the next day and headed back to KC. Whew!!! Lots of driving (oh, and I learned to drive stick at the ranch. Need a little more practice, but I got the gist of it!). Then went over to Mission Hills to have dinner and watch fireworks with my parents.

Summer is off to a good start!

It's truly amazing how quickly two months flies by. Kinda forgot about the blog...

There has been lots of stuff going on! Most recently I became engaged! Truss proposed during our trip to Mexico - a really thought out, creative (and tricky) proposal, if you ask me. He proposed on the beach the day after we got there. His mom and her husband and his brother and his wife were there (and were all in on it). It was fun to celebrate with them and enjoy the time as a newly engaged couple. Oh, how I wish I was still in Mexico... sitting at my desk during my lunch hour in front of the computer doesn't quite compare to eating chips and guac, drinking a margarita and sitting on the beach.

I'm still getting used to the engagement. It really, really stunned me - I thought it was a few months away. Planning has been going in full force, starting the minute I landed back in KC. Booked the date, venue and photographer and have been looking at wedding magazines and online for color schemes. Lots to think about! I'm hoping it will be more fun that stressful. Luckily my sister went through it 4 years ago, so I have some background on what I'm supposed to do to plan a wedding.

Next up for the busy summer includes a trip over the 4th of July to Oklahoma City and Dallas to visit Truss' family. Truss' 30th birthday falls on July 3, which we will probably celebrate with his mom in OKC and when we get back in town we'll get together with friends. That trip will be followed by my 30th birthday on July 11. Not sure what we're doing to celebrate at this point.

Then, later in July we're heading up to Minnesota for a week, which will be great.

1 degree of separation

Two words: "Let's Dance!!!!" - okay, he didn't say that, but it was still pretty cool to see Kevin Bacon (to the right) in person. He (and his older brother) performed at Red Ball this year. He's super skinny in person and has a pretty good voice. Let's hear it for the boy...

Holidaying

Holidaying:
1. A day free from work that one may spend at leisure, especially a day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate or celebrate a particular event.

So, according to this definition, I 'holidayed' last month - even if it was just for one day. I leisurely spent my 'Good Friday' off with good friends, Courtney and Hillary having lunch at the Nordstrom Cafe. I always envied the people that get to have a regular lunch in the middle of a work day. No rushing to get back to work, just having a nice long lunch. What do those people do for a living anyway? Kind of like the people I see walking their dogs at 8:30 in the morning - I want that job! Anyway, that's another story. So, Courtney, baby Patrick, Hillary, baby Katie and I happened to pick one of the busiest days to hit up the cafe (I thought I was pretty special having Good Friday off - apparently everyone else in KC is 'special' too). It was worth the wait and we had a good time catching up.

Courtney, Patrick and I strolled the mall and purchase a few things. Surprisingly,after being at the mall for 3 hours or so, it was me who had to go home to let Sadie out. Patrick is so well behaved when shopping!

The holiday weekend culminated with Church at St. Andrews Easter morning with my parents and Truss, then brunch at Mission Hills, where Court, Brett and Patrick met up with us. I can't wait until Patrick is old enough to participate in the egg hunt. Hopefully he won't inherit Courtney's and my dumbness when it comes to picking up eggs. (picture twin 3-years-olds running past every single egg and not picking them up - it's all on video, thanks Mom.)

Spring has sprung

I don't want to jinx it, but I think Spring is here. Which means, hopefully, we have bid adieu to snow until next winter. It's amazing what a little sunshine and warmth can do to people. I've noticed that people are generally in much better moods. We sat outside for a bit a few weeks ago (even though Truss is wearing long sleeves and jeans, it really was nice).










Spring also means that there is only about a month and a half until we go to Mexico. I've been trying to hit the gym in order to get in semi-acceptable bathing suit shape. Speaking of that, Truss and I have a friend of mine's (Scott) wedding the night before we leave for Mexico - that might be rough. I am always excited to receive wedding invites and the invite for Scott's wedding was especially exciting because it was the first wedding invitation I received with both my and Truss' name on it. I'd call that a relationship milestone!















And lastly, I babysat for baby Patrick on Saturday night. He apparently wanted to stay up late, because in the five hours I was there, he slept about 45 minutes total. Still, he was a cutie and is getting so big!

March Madness!

March has been a busy month so far. Most importantly, March 19 was my dad's 60th Birthday! On Friday, March 18, Missouri Bank hosted a surprise get together for him. Complete with photos of his youth strewn all over the bank, post-it notes all over his car, and a great poster displayed in his window for all pedestrians to see.


































TCG designed it and they did a fantastic job. Then, on his actual birthday Saturday, my mom invited 10 couples over for a lobster party - yum! We weren't invited, but got to celebrate with a family dinner on Sunday.

March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year!!! It kicked off with KU winning the Big 12 tournament, which we attended at Sprint Center. This followed by KU earning a number one seed in the NCAA tournament which began last week. It's off to a great start and KU made it to the Sweet 16 last week. They play Richmond (a 12 seed) on Friday night - here's hoping to move on to the Elite 8. Lots of votes across the country for KU to take the championship. We'll see!

"Sadie Lawrence graduates, Sadie Lawrence graduates..."

Alright, Sadie, unlike Donna Martin, didn't get drunk and didn't almost graduate. However, I had my doubts at certain points during our 7 week training session. Turns out Sadie did catch on to training and she (kind of) proved her skills at final of the course. She learned to sit, stay, lie-down, fetch and a few other things. There were some puppies in the class that needed major help, so it worked out in her favor.

Here's my girl in her cap with her diploma, which is now proudly affixed to the fridge - right next to Mommy's target paper from shooting at the range with Truss.

Auntie Blair

My sister, Courtney and Brett welcomed Patrick William Gray on Feb. 16, 2011 at 2:40 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs, 15 oz and measured 19 inches long. He has quickly become the obsession in our family. So much in fact, I require Courtney to send me a daily picture. He's growing like a weed. He's the cutest thing - looks mostly like his dad, but we can see a little bit of Court in him too. I have a feeling he'll appear on future blog entries!

Two new finds

Two new finds - Home Goods (homegoods.com) and Rivermarket Antique Mall (www.rivermarketantiquemall.com)

These two (affordable) stores, helped me get my bedroom that much closer to completion. I picked up two great lamps at Home Goods, which is owned by Marshalls and has a ton of great finds at great prices. The two matching lamps resemble artichokes (not pineapples, Truss!). Not sure what they're made out of, but they're pretty heavy. They each came with a nice neutral, linen shade.



And I found the antique night stand at the Rivermarket Antique Mall, located downtown. If you go, make sure you have at least 1-2 hours to look around. It's a huge space and there is stuff packed in every corner. Fun though!

The night stand is stained dark and has turned legs. It could be refinished on the top, but serves it's purpose for now. Quite the bargain!

Yawn...

Sadie is in week three of her dog class. She's doing ok, but it's going to take a lot of practice on my part. She likes the smaller puppy class better, however, I think she still is slightly bored.

Exhibit 1: dogs running all around her and she's just standing there! Come on, go socialize Sadie!





















Exhibit 2: She's had enough and just wants to lay on the floor: