Recap

So, survived TAKS week. Very dull, trying...but I did manage to get a lot of grading done. So that's good news. 5 more weeks left of the school year. Of course...my comprehensive exams to finish grad school in July loom large. When that's done....party's on.

Here are a few shots from Casey's triathlon last weekend.
Somewhat scary smiling biker Casey. After biking for that long, I guess all smiles get wonky.
After the race. Back off ladies, he's taken. ;-)
And, Casey proudly serving his penalty for drafting...which he was kinda doing on purpose and has done before...but this time he got caught. It didn't bother him much, as you can tell!

So, this weekend, I get to finish my paper over medieval poetry...woo woo! :-)

Extrovert Stretch

It's been a very social week.

Wednesday, Casey and I had dinner with Casey's brother and sister in law in their new home. It's a beautiful, big house with lots of really nice details...wrought-iron staircase, marble counter tops, custom wood blinds. Unfortunately, they have hardly any furniture yet...but it's going to be a great place to host parties sometime soon. We really like hanging out with them..so we better get invited to some of those parties, Aubrey!
Thursday began the festivities for my good friend, Stephanie's wedding. Stephanie's mom hosted a dinner for the bridesmaids at Hibiscus, a really fancy restaurant that I've heard much of but never have gotten to go to. I mean...you ask where's bathroom and someone walks you there, and when you get back, your napkin has been refolded at your table setting. But, the really amazing part is the food. Cheese platter, amazing. Osso buco, delicious. Grilled broccolini, smokey and fantastic. Mac and cheese, beyond indulgent...and the chocolate cake! I may never recover. It was such a treat. The company was wonderful as well, so it was a really special evening.
Stephanie, the bride, and the chocolate cake!

Friday was the rehearsal dinner at "The Little "Blue House"...which was literally a little blue house transformed into a private restaurant. Really fun ambiance.

And the wedding. It's been quite a while since I've been in a wedding, and I forgot about all the running around and details and fuss. Stephanie was really well organized, but she had also designed a very personal and detailed wedding, so there was still lots to do...some maneuvering to prevent the groom from seeing the bride last minute. Some of the details include homemade fudge (made by the bride) in these pretty little favors, streamers with ribbon to wave as the bride and groom exited, picture boards, individualized and very thoughtful gifts for the attendants. And the flowers were just beautiful. Stephanie, Daniel and their families really worked hard to plan a beautiful and very personal wedding.

Personally...my wedding was about 1000% simpler, much smaller, less fancy and detailed...but a lot less stressful for the bride and groom. Of course, that is Casey and I...low maintenance and thrifty! Both are good, of course, and it really was beautiful. I love weddings, and it was wonderful getting to be the part of seeing my friend Stephanie finally get married (after 6 years of dating)!

And as the Maid of Honor, I had two major responsibilities: give a toast, and make sure that the dance floor actually got used, because Stephanie really wanted dancing at the wedding. And as proof that I've become more extroverted than in the past, I pulled off both just fine. I got some laughs with my toast (without any resorting to jibes at anyone's expense) and a few touching points, and I kept the dance floor warm with my Zumba moves. It was really fun, especially when the little kids came out and danced too. I burned off some cake calories and had fun too.

Another nice part of the wedding is that my best friend from college, Megan, came from out of state for the wedding, so I went to church with her and her family today and out to lunch. Eggs Benedict and old friends. Really good stuff.

Of course...the introvert in me is totally worn out now! And there's darling Emory Kate's first birthday party this afternoon too. I don't have much concentration left for Medieval French literature today...so I may be cramming to get it all done tomorrow. :-)

Half!

Kelli and I started training in February (I think) and yesterday we did a half marathon. It was really fun. We had trained all at the lake, which is nice, but it was fun to run through neighborhoods and have folks cheering. I think that really sped us up.Casey ran too...even though 13 miles is normal for him, but it was fun when he ran back after finishing and did the last mile with us. We still had lots of kick. Good run.
The race started and ended at Fair Park, and we got to run through some of the prettiest neighborhoods in Dallas.
Yay for being a runner again! I wish it was cool enough to train for a marathon...but maybe I'll train for one in the fall, if nothing else big is going on.

Also, this weekend was our Mercy Place Women's Retreat. I was on the planning committee, even though I probably didn't do too much of the planning...I did help, and it was nonetheless a really great retreat. The speakers and worship leaders were really good, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves at a nice hotel and got to meet and spend time with people outside of their normal group. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next event and spending more time with the wonderful women of Mercy Place.

Also, I started working on my paper! Woo woo for two pages! Only 10 more to go! I think now that inertia has been overcome, it will come more smoothly, and I won't stress about it as much. I also emailed professors asking them if I could take their comprehensive exams in July, the last step in the process. Soon I will be done with grad school...thank the Lord!

Celebrations

My family was never big on celebrations. We're low-maintenance people, which is nice a lot of the time. Casey is too, and we've let some special occasions go without much pomp. But I've been slowly realizing that celebrating special occasions is important to me, and I'm disappointed if they're not celebrated. To complicate things, in the past, I've always hoped that the celebration would materialize (because it was supposed to happen) but didn't want to initiate it myself because that would take some of the fun out of it. So, if wanting something to happen + not doing it yourself = being disappointed over it not happening, then that's a lousy formula. So, I'm going to work on that.
For Easter today, I hadn't planned anything, being that all my planning energies went into the shower yesterday. But Casey suggested having my parent's over last minute, and we put together a lunch of little filet mignons, roasted asparagus, salad, bread and angel food cake and strawberries for dessert. It was nice, and it felt like a celebration. So, success!Also, these are the little bird's nest cookies I made yesterday for the shower. They were quite cute and Eastery...but almost no one ate them! I think because they were too big to eat daintily. Dainty is the key at bridal showers. So, I put the candy into some brownies this afternoon (OMG...so good!), and the rest of the leftover food went to the puppies' breakfast. They especially liked the ham and cheese pastry puffs! Spoiled rotten puppies. ;-)

Wedding Shower

My dear friend Stephanie is getting married in three weeks, and today I threw her a shower. Stephanie's mom was nice enough to make the cake.
Isn't it pretty? Heaven knows how many hours she spent rolling out gum paste to make those flowers!
This is the Bride-to-Be and her mom, the only guests I managed to take pictures of...too busy being the life of the party! ;-)
And I also took this one...hence I look like a spazmo. Stephanie is someone whose known me for a long, long time. It's great to have friends like that, who you know and who know you, and who accept you and don't judge you, even if you look like a spazmo in pictures.

I'm looking forward to her wedding in a couple weeks and getting to be a part of that (and it's a party I don't have to plan.) Wee! :-)