Cruise Story: Outtakes

I’ve blogged before about the “idea” of perfection that blogs can sometimes create. A perfect family, a perfect job, a perfect wife and even, a perfect vacation. We all know that this perfect life is really all about perception.

I would hate for any of you to think that I’m perfect or that our vacation was without flaws.

Just for laughs I thought I would include a few of the outtakes. We rarely see these “bad” pictures with too little lighting or heads cropped off in the age of digital cameras. I saved a few of mine. So here you go!



Sometimes, the wind was a bit of an issue . . .

I was trying to capture a beautiful sunset. Guess you had to be there?!?!

Lots of these. We took tons of pictures from our balcony. And that meant that I was able to see my reflection in the window- it worked like a mirror. I was caught more than a few times, checking myself out in the window, instead of looking at the camera!

Darn wind again!

A little problem with the zoom . . .

I wanted Jeremy to take a picture of me with my beautiful dessert. Just as Jeremy snapped the picture, someone said- hey your dessert is sliding. That's my true reaction!

Can you see that other ship in the distance??

Lots of pics where the flash forgot to come on . . .

And there you have it- some not so perfect cruise pics!

A Wedding Story

I feel like it was just the other day that I was blogging about Ethan's engagement and how I couldn't believe he was growing up!

Now, it's already time for him to get married. I left Dallas on Wednesday night and drove on to Corsicana, so I could help my mom with last minute rehearsal dinner tasks.

I have lots of rehearsal dinner pictures, since I was mostly involved with that!

The rehearsal dinner location was a little bit . . . unusual! It had tons of different stuffed or preserved or mounted animals all over the place. It was crazy- everywhere you look- you saw a different animal or bird or snake or something. Just a tad bit creepy.

Since the room by itself had such a personality and made such a statement, we decided to decorate with black and white and primary colors. The centerpieces and table decorations are DIY. Pretty inexpensive and a great idea of you are in need of some decorations.

Jeremy with one of the room's residents

The tables have large tin buckets with colored lollipops and black and white lollipops (all available online). The buckets were filled in with orange sours, but you could use any round candy. We also wrapped animal crackers (the kind in the box) in red and zebra paper. Tall cylinder vases were filled with m&m's. The plates and table linens were all black and white! I think it turned out super cute!

Me and my mom

Tabitha came in all the way from Ecuador- we were so happy to see her!

The groomsmen

Me and J with the groom to be

Sarah, Ethan, me & J

Do these cupcake pops look familiar??? My family helped Sarah with her wedding favors and we made about 200 cupcake pops! You might not know my family well, but they transformed themselves into a well-oiled cupcake pop machine. Everyone had a specific job and we cranked those pops out! And we had a few laughs along the way!

Sarah chose a lovely historic home for the wedding location. It was absolutely perfect! The flowers were beautiful and the home was idyllic!

Sarah was absolutely gorgeous- her dress was simple, but very classy! She was definitely a blushing bride!!!

Our family of 5, about to become 6!

Like father, like son

All those favors!

Caught! Looking out the window at the arriving guests

Just the four of us!

Our family of 6

Ida also went to BU, so we had to do a sic 'em pic!

Jeremy hearts cupcake pops!

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Ethan and Sarah!!!

The Arrival of Baby Brinley

I found out that Amy was being induced on Wednesday morning. I was really excited, since we've been anticipating her arrival for several weeks now! But also, it made things a little difficult, because Ethan's wedding is Saturday! I decided your BFF only has her first baby once and your little brother only gets married once.

I left for Dallas on Tuesday night. I figured Wednesday would be a slow day for Am and she would need someone to keep her busy- read some magazines, catch up on celebrity gossip, or maybe even some crossword puzzles if things got desperate.

I got the call about 5:30am that things were moving quickly. I decided I better get up and get ready so I didn't miss anything. When I got to the hospital, they told me that it wasn't a good time for visitors, so I waited in the lobby for about 30 minutes when I got the call from Rocky.

Little Miss Brinley Jane arrived at 7:27 am, weighing in at 8 lbs., 8 ounces!

She was absolutely precious! Really- a very beautiful baby. I only got to hold her for brief moment before they took her to get cleaned up and measured and all that fun stuff. I helped her mama get to her cozy, big room and at the first chance, her daddy and I snuck a peak in the hospital nursery.

Ok, this bow might be a little too big for right now. But her mom has already said- Brinley is going to be bow head! And I'm perfectly okay indulging her!!!

This bow is just right!!! Wonder who gave her this one!?!?

Instead of reading magazines and girl talk, I was the photog for the day. I got to take lots of family photos and greet Brinley's steadily growing fan club. You can see lots more pictures on Am's blog.

I know Am is going to be a little mad about this pic, because she said that she didn't want any pictures of her that day. But I love it- she's so happy- already a glowing mom!

And here is me and Brinley Jane. I'm her Auntie Erin and my number one job is spoiling her. She already has tons of clothes and bows from me!

I can hardly believe that Amy and Rocky are parents. I mean, I have had 9 months to get used to the idea, but sometimes, it takes a second to really sink in. I know they are going to be fabulous parents and I can't wait to see Brinley grow up! I'm looking forward to lots more pictures like these!

Here is Brinley with her Uncie J (I cheated a little bit, because this is from our trip back to OKC after the wedding).