Houston bachelorette

Today I wanted to share a few pictures from my trip to Houston a week ago for my girlfriend's bachelorette party!  I'm still really new to my camera and this is one of the first couple of "events" I took photographs for.  Definitely working on all of the settings but had fun taking these pictures!! Her party was so cute and we had a blast on a pub crawl in downtown Houston.  Of course I didn't take my camera along for the drinking shenanigans ;-)  Thank you, Alison, for letting me photograph your party!!!  The Matron of Honor and one of the bridesmaids planned this party and they did such a good job!  I've done my best to tag a few sources.

My design style

My friend Kristina and I had lunch at the Tea Room in the Lewisville Antique Store the other day! If you're not familiar with the Tea Rooms, there's a couple of Antique stores in the DFW area that have them! This was my first time to the Lewisville location, but I was just as impressed with my food! It's a great place for a quick, quality lunch, and a quiet relaxed atmosphere. The food is delicious... I had the chicken salad sandwich and a side of fruit... and of course, iced tea (I mean, it is a tea room!). Most adorable thing we saw... a young girl and her grandmother having a tea party, complete with old fashioned tea pot and fancy hat. Kristina and I could not stop talking about how sweet that was, and how much we still enjoy seeing children being CHILDREN and having fun, but at the same time, behaving remarkably and respectfully.
Just being in the Antique store made me think of my mom, and for perhaps the first time, I really REALLY appreciated the love of antiques that my mom has passed on. What used to be me tagging along behind her and looking at the boring "old" stuff, has now turned into me going to antique stores with my friends, browsing and admiring the gorgeous furniture. My appreciation has been growing over the years for more ornate and traditional design, and now it is stronger than ever! When I started college and began my degree, my taste was much more contemporary. I think part of me was rebelling against my mom's taste, just because I lived in her house with her style and once I was "on my own" I wanted style of my own.
But now I've come to understand the value in these antique stores. They are not just stores for older generations to shop and reminisce... it's important for my generation, and generations after me to see the value in these items... they come from an era when people cared about the work they did and the product they put forward. It was about making quality items that stand the test of time, not something that breaks every few years and you have to replace with a new one. Why is my generation so concerned with pumping out technology so fast, that nothing else matters? Why are people's eyes caught by glitz and glam instead of quality? Why are we all about a fast, to-go lunch instead of sitting with a friend or family member and really spending time together? Do you know how many people I know don't even get a lunch break at their job?! Too many.
This may not exactly be the most original post... not like no one has ever brought up this idea before... but really, does my generation care or not? Are you proud of the advances we have made or have we torn apart society where people don't even want to interact with each other and don't want to have furniture and clothing, etc that lasts? Am I truly "old-fashioned" for my ideas and likes, or is everyone else just too afraid to admit they miss when people cared? I miss people caring... I miss people having manners and being polite... I miss quality craftsmanship... I miss modesty and tradition... it wasn't THAT long ago...
It was really nice eating lunch with Kristina and browsing the store afterwards. We had our eyes on many gorgeous pieces of furniture, and I caught myself thinking how long that person spent on that piece and the love and sweat that went into it... and how unless people like me talk about this and pass on the respect we have for older generations and the beautiful labors of love they gave us, pretty soon everything will be crap that breaks. If my mom had never taught me anything about antiques and didn't proudly display them in her own home, where would my design style be today? Maybe I wouldn't have even studied interior design! My style has grown from a love of contemporary to an appreciation for eclectic design, mixing antiques and newer items. I can thank my mom for that. And I can't wait until the day when I have more space and I will begin my collection of antique furniture, just like my mom. I'd love to start with this piece, spotted at the Lewisville Antique shop on Friday... gorgeous Art Deco piece! I look forward to investing in my designs and not just filling my rooms with the design trends and redecorating every few years. Quality always wins!

Rise and shine!

I'm slowly trying to turn myself into a morning person... pause for laughter... I've always been a night owl & a sleep-in-til-noon girl

In college, my roommates used to play "not it" when it came to figuring out who would wake me from my slumber. I am a grumpy gal when I'm sleepy, what can I say ;-) But now that I'm older and I work for myself and I'm not rushing to class or an office every morning, I've come to realize that the quiet morning time where I'm sipping my coffee and the world hasn't seemed to get crazy yet, is actually my favorite time of the day! Sometimes, I get up earlier than I need to, just to give myself that time. I love to watch the sun come up and the world "come alive" after the darkness. There's something about it when you can FEEL God in the morning... you can feel the possibilities for a great day!

Here's to sippin' coffee, browsing the web, petting the cat and relaxing a little before "life" starts. What a blessing!

The comforts of getting old

I've been thinking a lot about our 10-year high school reunion coming up and how much things have changed since high school. You wouldn't think in a mere 10 years you feel like a completely different person, but I do. And I'm sure most people I know do. The things that were important in high school seem like a joke now. Life has gotten so real, but at the same time, I look back at life then and compare it to now, and I'm so much better now than I ever was. I actually feel excited to go to the reunion, which isn't something I predicted for myself. I didn't like high school that much. Of course I have some great memories of really fun times, but it was a very uncomfortable time for me... I think it's like that for a lot of kids.

I think the reason I'm excited about it is I'm actually comfortable with myself now. Maybe it took me longer than my friends, I don't really care. But at the age of 28, I'm finally feeling like I know myself and I'm starting to see what I want for my life, not what someone else wanted. It takes a strong person to be confident in themselves... I think I had to face a lot of things in my life before I could ever look at myself and see ME.

There are two reasons I'm finally to this point... my boyfriend Chris, and my bold move to take a chance on Mary Kay. When you fall in love, you realize things about yourself you never ever knew. I look back on how my relationship came to be and the fact that Chris and I were in high school together but didn't get together until years later. That's GOD... all GOD. He knew we were two different people in high school than we are today and that's why our relationship didn't develop until we were both older. We weren't ready for each other back then, because we hadn't tested ourselves... we didn't know ourselves. And in our relationship today, we're still finding ourselves. Mary Kay is the way I'm finding myself. Chris is a marine, and let's be honest, can we all think of a way to get to know yourself and test yourself better than going through the Marine Corps and fighting wars..? Not really... that's pretty hardcore "getting to know yourself". It's what Chris needed... and what I needed was Mary Kay.

I think a lot of people think I'm crazy the way I've taken to MK, but I don't really care. It's not just my job, it's my livelihood, it's my purpose every day. I have learned more about myself in Mary Kay training in the past 3 years than in the first 25 years of my life. Because it's scary to bet on yourself when you don't even really know yourself. Scary but not at all impossible. It takes faith and it teaches you faith. My relationship with God is great, and continuing every day to get greater. I have Mary Kay to thank for that. My faith was really being tested before MK, and I think I was failing. There are things in my life that I had to face that no one, even the closest friends of mine, know about. That's true, still to this day. When you're tested, and you take on those tests with God by your side, you come out of them so much better. I can't say I'm thankful for some of the things that have happened, but I can say I'm thankful for the things they're teaching me.... like, high school was a lifetime away, and every single stupid insecurity I had back then is fading away... because I CHOOSE to make them go away, and I CHOOSE to believe in myself more than other people believe in me. I could be focused on a lot of negative feelings about high school, about mean girls and guys, or stupid things that happened or that people did to me, but I CHOOSE to be focused on remembering the fun things and looking at how far we've all come.

10 years is a long time, especially throughout your 20s. A lot can happen... the biggest things that have happened to me are falling in love and beginning to find myself. I don't care if it takes me longer or if everyone else already has everything figured out in their lives. I don't care if it seems like "I'm behind" because I'm not... I'm living the wonderful life my Father in Heaven has given me at the pace he intended. In high school, you focus on being on the same page as everyone else... 10 years later, you focus on standing out and not being one of the crowd. I think deep down, I've never been one of the crowd, I just thought I was supposed to be. But I value myself more than that now, and it's the most freeing feeling. Bring on the reunion because all it means to me is great memories with a few great friends that I don't get to see as often as I'd like, because life at 28 years old is crazy ;-)

St. Patrick's Day

last minute decision on St. Patty's Day to go out to South Padre... I didn't enjoy the traffic, but I do have to say I had fun once we got there!