Easter

Easter is my favorite holiday. Each year we go to Elgin where I grew up to get together with the Ford's, our long time family friends.




Easter 1987

Easter 2009

My trip to New York

Wow, what can I say? This past weekend was I think the maximum amount of fun and crazy that one weekend can hold. I feel happier today than I have in 6 months and it is because I keep thinking about my trip last weekend to see Jennifer. I am giddy just thinking about it.

Of course all of the things we did were super fun, and I will go into detail about that later. But the best part of the whole weekend was the fact that I didn’t think about the things that have been getting me down so much lately. It was a vacation from my real life where lately the emotional roller coaster has been getting the best of me. Who needs anti depressants when you have a friend like Jennifer? My only regret is I wish I had gone to visit sooner.

So like I said before, all of the “activities” we did were really fun but mostly the funny people made the weekend worthwhile. It is no surprise that Jen and Mike keep such quality company considering the type of people they are. All of their friends that I met were truly lovely and welcoming and fun and some of them even really mean. (you know who you are…) Also, my friend Lance from TX was up in NY at the same time so we got to hang out with him a little bit too~ and him and I have a total love hate relationship where every conversation ends with us declaring our undying hate for each other. It’s funny in our own sick way I guess.

On my flight going up to NJ I left 8.5 hours late…which means I sat in the airport with a eclectic group of raging mad people and one guy who kept saying that his free soft drinks made the delay worth while. I am pretty sure I am not the only one who considered punching this guy in the face.

I finally got there at 6 am instead of 10 pm…but whatever. I got there, and I got a free $350 voucher so I can’t complain. It was worth it because now I can go back sooner and visit.

On Friday Jen and I got a couple’s massage…it was extremely romantic and sensual except for the fact that my massage therapist had a cold was breathing really loudly and wiping her snot every five minutes. She also kept karate chopping me. But it was really relaxing and it was a fun thing to do. It is a memory. Let’s just leave it at that.


We then went into the city to see Jen’s Aunt and Uncle Loops and Jenny. These two are probably presidents in the aunts and uncles hall of fame. They are so much fun to hang out with. I had met them 8 years ago when we went on vacation with them in Florida and every time I go up to see Jen I like to go hang out with them for a while. They have 3 boys now so we got to see the kids (who are unusually adorable) and play musical chairs. We ordered dinner in and just spent a few hours chatting. I am hoping to go back this summer and spend some more time with them.

After that, we went over to Jen’s friend’s Rachael’s apartment for her birthday party. It was all girls and we all just hung out and danced and ate cupcakes and played with the exercise ball….you know, the usual. It was really great getting to meet everyone that I had heard so much about and getting to reconnect with Jen’s friends that I had met during her wedding parties. After hanging out at the apartment for a while we went to a club and met up with Lance and his friends from TX.




After a few hours of hanging out and what not we headed home. We had packed so much into the first day but everything was well worth it. Saturday we slept in late and then in the mid afternoon went out to help Mike find some glasses. I can say with some confidence he may regret going eye glass shopping with two such strongly opinionated women. In the end though, he found the perfect pair I think. I’m not really sure actually how that shopping trip ended.

Picture with a chicken 2007


Picture with a chicken 2009

Next we had to go to CVS b/c the night before I lost my bag of lip gloss out of my purse. If you know me, you know that I am lipstick and lip gloss junkie to the extreme and generally I like to mix all the colors until I find the right combination…So this was a devastating blow…and sadly probably $200+ worth of lip gloss and lipstick gone forever. So sad. So we had to go buy more lipstick and lip gloss at CVS. Even writing about this is painful. I am only slightly exaggerating.


Then we headed into the city to go shopping a little bit. We stopped at H&M and bought some scarfs. I know it should say scarves but scarfs is funny. I was trying to surprise Jennifer and buy her one too but she was complaining so much I had to just give it to her right then. The woman loves presents. I also bought a fake purse at Chinatown. It’s actually not so much a purse as it is a ginormous bag. It is delightfully wonderful. Love IT!



After the shopping, Jen and Mike had to go to a special invitation dinner so I went and met up with Lance and his people for dinner. We had Indian food and it was delicious. I had such a great time at dinner. Everyone at the table was so funny and sarcastic that a moment didn’t really pass without someone saying something funny. The waiter also kind of had it out for Lance too which was hilarious to watch. And also Lance had on an ugly shirt at dinner. Had to throw that in there RD!

So then after dinner, I went back and met up with Mike and Jen and their other group of friends from church. We hung out for a while at this sports bar. I think it was called Woody’s? Again, I got to meet more people that I had heard a lot about. It was good conversation and good drinks. After Woody’s we headed back home to Hoboken to play rock band and dance and do some other embarrassing things that will not be revealed in this blog. Ok, one of them involves me waking up Jen and Mike’s roommate Tony. The rest will remain a secret! Oh yeah, and Daniel threw a football at my face.

Sunday morning we woke up and it was time to head home already. We sat around in the living room for a while while Mike told the same story 5 times about how he was secretly texting someone from someone else’s phone the night before. Yes, Mike, it was hilarious. Kudos. Jeni and Mike took me to the airport and headed home to be picked up by Scooter and Sophie. It was great to see them, I get so anxious when I am away, even though I did have so much fun.

I think sometimes in our life there are just people that you meet and you automatically click. Jennifer and I were not like that at all. That is my fault b/c I thought Jen was too Bibley at first. But now we are peas and carrots and even though we don’t get together often enough, when we do each time is better than the last. We are soul mates and I love her. I can’t wait until next time we get together. Thanks Jen and Mike for a wonderful weekend!

My thoughts exactly...

I have tried to collect my thoughts about the recent inauguration but haven't quite been able to put those thoughts into words. My friend Cass posted a link to this blog and I feel like this is the first thing I have read that I can really relate with. Thought maybe some of you would enjoy reading it too.

A Tribute to my Main Man...Mr. Scott West, CPA

This is a Territory Trail Production...enjoy!

Happy 30th Birthday Scott!

Marta, Heath, Devon
The Birthday Boy!

Don't Mess with us!

Goofy Marla!

The Homies of Territory Trail

My Sweet Niece Rachel and her hottie mom, Marla!

Marta and Darby acting silly as usual...

Sorry Kyle, I had to post this one...Ladies, he's taken, I know what you're thinking...

The Dads

The Ole Gang: Phil, Kat, Pete, Craig and Scott. Where's Paul? Hmmm...

This ain't fast eddie's...

The moms and daughters!

The girlies. Hailey installed her own pig tails~very cute!

Marla, Me, Marta...Their names get confusing!

The guys

The party was really fun!

Sutton is 2!

Last week my cousin Marta's little boy Sutton turned 2! We have a small group (it is really just the four of us and the kids...) get together one night a week and last week we celebrated Sutton's birthday. Here are some photos! Darby eating cupcakes. Her hair is just gorgeous and she is very proud of her curls (they are natural, lucky girl!). She is quite the little sass!

Kyle, Scott, my Mom and Marta eating dinner. I set the table for the third time ever, don't be impressed!

Cupcakes with Spider Man cupcake holders. On a side story, I selected the spider man theme because Darby really wanted to Spider Man for Halloween! She instead had to settle for a female super hero, Super Girl.

Sutton and Darby riding in the fire truck we gave Sutton for his birthday. He walked into our house and immediately knew it was for him. It was so hilarious. His legs are still a little short to drive it properly and he kept getting stuck in it. He also only wanted Scott to help him get unstuck, no one else! What a little booger!

Here is Sutton with "Got" as he calls him. They are very tight, as you can tell. Sutton is the funniest little guy. He loves giving "squeezes" (hugs) and he is just now starting to talk a lot. It has been a pleasure watching him grow so big the past two years. He doesn't even look like a baby anymore which kind of makes me sad sometimes.

We had a good time eating stir fry and celebrating the little man's big day. It seems crazy to me that he is 2, it was just yesterday we were up at the hospital visiting them when he was born!

Visit to Houston

Last weekend I went to Houston for Halloween and to see some friends. First stop on my agenda was at my sister-in-law's house in Cypress. It was Halloween night so we passed out candy to trick or treaters. Here are my nieces as the evening was winding down...Aren't they so cute?! Saturday morning I went to Clear Lake to see Jamie and Jay and their new precious baby Josiah! It was so good seeing them and meeting Josiah. Jamie of course is such an adorable mom. Let's face it, the whole family is just the cutest. We had a relaxing day just hanging out and soaking in the wonders of this new little life they brought into the world!

Jamie and Me

Jay, Josiah, Jamie

I had to put this picture up to show how tiny he is!! Hopefully when he is older he will forgive me for posting pictures of him getting his diaper changed on the internet ;)


Me, Jamie, Josiah

On Saturday afternoon I went to Sugar Land to see my friend Cassidy and her two little girls. I only got one picture though while I was there. I think Cass and I were too busy talking. Cass was one of my best friends in middle school and high school (and she still is). We don't get to see each other often enough but the great thing is when we do it is just like old times! Now she has two kids and she is the best mom. She is so patient and I love watching her talk to Caroline. It is very interesting how creative you have to be when rationalizing with a 3 year old!

This is a picture of Susannah, Cass's youngest daughter.

She is the most calm and sweet natured baby. She was just as happy as she could be and she is so cute!

It was a really fun weekend! This weekend we were super lazy...We did the movie the Changeling and it was a very intense film. It was good but of course, very sad and shocking. I would recommend seeing it though if you like a good drama.

That's all for now!