Happy 2012!

In the spirit of the new year, I thought I'd pop in to say hello. And, if all goes according to plan, you'll be hearing from me a bit more often in 2012! Just like the rest of 2011, the past couple weeks have been a flurry of fun, family, traveling, and all-around good times.

Matt's Holiday Party Extravaganza
(yes, Foxy pants is wearing a tree skirt around his neck)

Celebrating Christina's awesome gift of Radiohead tickets...what what!!

Yummy Christmas Eve dinner with Lizzi and her Danish muffin

Lots of smiles at the Doak family Christmas

Lizzi with the always-stylish & adorable Graham

Fun night out in Breckenridge

Skiing in Breckenridge with my fave
(I'm not crying, so chances are we were sticking with greens at this point)

Babies Babies Babies

As the newest addition to the family, Graham has gotten most of the attention lately, but Anne & Mark are definitely not the only ones with a little sump'n sump'n going on in baby-land.

Mike & Laura's little girl is going to be here in no time flat --- like the next couple weeks!! Since they live in Bermuda, I really haven't seen Laura's baby bump grow, so it doesn't quite seem as real (I know she'd say otherwise), but the big day is going to be here so soon and I'm going to have my first niece! There are just way too many tutus and tiaras and pink sparkly things in this world for her not to be spoiled rotten, so that's just going to be a fact of life. Tough, right? Laura posted some pics of the nursery last week and it's (of course) so cute. Sweet and baby but modern and Mike & Laura-esque all at the same time. And what about Laura? She's going to deliver a baby in no time and she looks like that. I want those genes!

 

A little closer to home there's even more baby news. Double the fun. Twice as nice. Two times the par-tay. Get it? Get it? Okay, so, about six(ish) weeks ago, Pat and Stacy made a big announcement - they're pregnant again. With twins!!! They headed to Midland this weekend for a gender reveal party and what color were the cakes? BLUE! Both of them. Two more precious little boys on the way. How fun is it going to be for them to have 3 little monkeys running around? The Doak brothers. Again. Watch out world. How sweet is this pic of their little (growing) family? I love Jack's "big brother" shirt.

Which brings me to Jack. Decidedly not the baby of the family anymore, but the first baby of them all, and the one who's at that perfect wanna-eat-your-face-you're-so-deliciously-cute stage. (That was weird, I know.) These pics are of him a few weeks ago when we got together to celebrate Lizzi's b-day. Look at his curly locks! The first one is cute and precious, and the second one cracks me up because it's what he does when Stacy or Pat says, "Jack, do your silly face!"

My family rocks. xx

I Luv Summer

Since it's officially fall, now seems like a good time to catch-up on all of the fun stuff that happened this summer. Or at least some of the highlights...

Horseshoe Bay Trip #1
High: Cops breaking up Matt's 4am dance lesson
Low: Finding out leeches had invaded the lake

Lundy's Neon-themed 8th 21st BDay
High: everything up until the low
Low: the bus ride home and everything after

Emily's 2nd Annual B-day Tubing Trip
High: Emily's bus dance on the ride home (why, oh WHY, do I not have a picture or video of that?)
Low: Realizing we missed the 1st exit and had 4 more hours to go

Random Austin Trips
High: Too many to pick, really, but I'll go with the 1st trip to Barton Springs
Low: Leaving

Girls' Weekend @ Lake Conroe
High: Jumbo Slip n' slide. Hands down. No question.
Low: Not having Juli or Erica with us this time

Las Vegas 
High: this one's tough, so I'm going with several: 1) Dancing at HOB with our friends from the Hoodie awards (don't ask), 2) Matt's late night sleepwalking debacle, 3) dinner (and amazing dessert) at Nobu, and 4) WHEEL (dramatic pause) OF (dramatic pause) FORTUNE!!!!!
Low: Accidentally sleeping through an entire Cirque du Soleil show

ACL

High: Finally going

Low: Trying to meet up with people... not. easy.

The Survival Race

For the past couple years, I've heard about and seen pictures of various mud runs and always think they look pretty fun. So when a Living Social deal came through for one in Dallas, I was on it. Not everyone thought it sounded so amazing (cough cough, Sarai, cough), but Lizzi agreed to do it with me. The race was at some random paintball field in the middle of nowhere and had 8 obstacles over the course of a 5K. Here's the rundown...

1. A football training-camp-esque tire run. Turns out we were supposed to run on top of the tires vs. doing high knees through their centers. Live and learn.

2. Crossing a mud pit...via a tree branch.

3. Climbing up a muddy incline, while some A-hole sprays a hose at your face.

4. Trudging through a muddy creek where Lizzi ate it, I made fun of her, and then God laughed in my face as he struck me down too.

5. A rope thingy-ma-bopper that you climb up and over. This was definitely the scariest one. Don't let the look on my face fool you; I was smiling so I wouldn't cry. Lizzi, on the other hand, looks pretty confident.

6. Some stupid cement spindle that you're supposed to climb over. The guy working at that stop (and Lizzi) had fun watching me run and try to jump over to no avail not once, but twice. Then the two-part grand finale of...

7. A crazy high* blazing fire pit you have to jump over *crazy high = 4 to 6 inches off the ground

8. A big sloshy mud pit with barbed wire down low that you have to crawl under on your stomach. This was clearly my favorite one...hands down. I can't promise that Lizzi and I quite went for it like this lovely gentleman in the picture – I'm just assuming that's a man – but you've got to appreciate his effort.

Lizzi was hungover for the entire thing and forgot her inhaler, so it was more of a mud stroll than run, but we had fun and got some good pics. Hardcore, right?

46 Days of Baby G

Here I am, back again, from a little blogging hiatus. There's definitely no better place to pick up than with all the gooshy details about my newest nephew, Graham.

Before we get to the big day, I should rewind even further to the baby shower we threw Anne back in May (I'm so late, I know). We had Jill design cute invites to coordinate with Graham's bedding and used them as inspiration for circus themed decorations. All in all, I think it was a success, and it was really cool to see all of Anne's friends so excited to celebrate with her.

Then, after much anticipation, Graham made his debut on July 1st. I know I'm biased, but he was seriously the cutest newborn I've ever seen. Maybe the only time being a chunker is a good thing is as a newborn, and he knocked this one out of the park. At 9 lbs, 5 ounces he was the cutest little tub 'o love you've ever seen, with little round and delicious cheeks. The timing was perfect, too, because everyone was able to visit a bunch over the long weekend.

Anne and Mark's house is just down Northwest Highway from my office, so it's been awesome to be able to sneak away during lunch every now and then for visits (and to give Anne a chance to shower!). This pic was taken a couple weeks ago, when he was about 4 weeks old. He's the cutest, right? I love you, Graham! (And your awesome momma and daddy too!)

Facebook Fail

One of my clients is Blue Plate Mayonnaise and they have a new FB page which I was asked to "like" this week. I just looked at my profile.

Such unfortunate – yet ironically insightful – timing.