I'm ENGAGED!!

Boy do I have some big news for the blog...are you ready? I'm engaged!!! I was so shocked when it happened. Casey completely caught me off guard. He proposed on Saturday, December 13th. We had just gone out to get ice cream at our favorite place and then to drive around and look at Christmas lights. When we got back to my apartment, he started acting weird. I walked into my room and he was kneeling by my bed like a kid prays by the bedside. I sat on the bed while he kneeled and we talked for a while. I finally asked what he wanted to do that night and he told me to go put a movie in. So I did and got all cozied up on the couch. Well, then he realizes that he wants me to be standing when he proposes so he tries to get me to stand up. In my mind, he had just told me we were going to watch a movie and I was snuggled up so there was no reason to get up from my warm spot. He kept trying to get me to stand up so I decided to make him work for it (not knowing of course that he was trying to propose). I have this stuffed dog that I have had since I was a kid that Casey is not a huge fan of so I told him that if Dog asked me to get up, I would. So Casey went into my room and got Dog and held him up to his face and did this "dog-voice" and asked me to stand up and give him a hug. Well, I was so entertained by this that I wanted to keep it going so I then said I would get up if he danced with Dog, which he did so I stood up and gave him a hug. Turns out this isn't what Casey needed me to do either because since I was facing him, he couldn't discreetly get the ring out of his pocket. So he asked me to go into my room to get me to walk in front of him. When I turned around, he was awkwardly leaning against my door and I kept giving him a hard time because he was just acting so bizarre. All of a sudden, he's down on one knee and says, "Well...I want to know if you will marry me?" Tears instantly start pouring out of my eyes and all I can say is "Are you serious?" over and over again. This is the part of the story where Casey likes to add "I was down on one knee holding a diamond ring, I'm pretty serious!" So I finally said yes and we were engaged!

Side note: I was wearing sweatpants, an old T-Shirt, and had no make-up on when he proposed so the only picture taken that night was of my ring. The picture below is the first photo we took post-engagement.

Spending the weekend outdoors

This past weekend, Casey and I went camping in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge with some camping friends of ours. The area was really beautiful. We had lake front property for our cmapsite and we saw a lot of cool animals while we were there. Here are some pics so you can get an idea of our trip...

This was the first stop along one of our hikes...

I had no idea Oklahoma looked like this!! We just missed the Fall colors so we hope to go back next year to see how pretty it is around that time.

The camping gang: Pam, Rusty, Candace, Ryan, and Casey (I'm the photographer) We hiked to the bottom of the litte ravine and then I spotted 3 "billie goats" trying to climb up the side of it back to the top On another trail, we found this cool cave made from several GIANT boulders
On our way back from hiking, we spotted a real buffalo!!! I had never seen one like this so I thought it was really cool (as seen in my expression)

Before dinner, we went to the top of Mt. Scott for a beautiful view. Although, it was crazy cold and windy up there, we still had to get a photo op.
For dinner on Saturday, we ate in the small mining town of Meers, OK (home of the famous Meersburger). It's ranked the 8th bets burger in the country and its HUGE. We split the Siesmic Meersburger and it was plenty of food. The funniest part was that the bun is stilla verage size and then the meat hangs over about 2 inches.
I caught this photo of a Longhorn on our way out of the refuge. No zoom was used. There were a bunch just wandering this close to the road. I've seen longhorn plenty of times before but I jsut thought it was cool to see them in their natural habitat.
So overall, it was an awesome trip! We played bean bag toss all night (the boys won the tournament we played which did not make us girls happy). Another animal we saw was an entire field of nothing but Prairie Dogs which was hilarious. They would pop up form their holes and yell to each other in a sound I can only describe as the sound Beeker from the Muppets makes. This is definitely a repeat camping spot!!!

The Grinch in ICE!

Yesterday the annual ICE exhibit opened up for us to preview so we got a sneak peak at everything. This year is definitely the BEST that I have seen yet! The whole exhibit walks you through the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Here are some pics to give you a sneak preview too!!

The Grinch stealing the little Who socks...

The Grinch stealing thier Roast Beast...

Max the dog getting dressed as a reindeer...

All the Who's singing even without their Christmas presents...

The Grinch's heart changes and he joins them for their feast...

Here is the group of us going through ICE...

Happy Halloween!

This weekend was Halloween! Casey and I went to his friend Justin’s house for their costume party. Justin’s girlfriend Alyssa had decorated the house really well so it really felt like Halloween. There were also a lot of trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood so it was fun to pass out candy to them. As far as costumes go, Casey and I went as AC Slater and Jessie Spano from Saved by the Bell. I naturally have the same hair as Jessie so I didn’t need a wig. Casey however, went out and bought a disco afro that we were going to cut down into more of a curly mullet (AC Slater hair). Well, he didn’t try on his wig until right as we were walking out the door. When he took it out, I thought it looked really small for an afro wig. As he tried to put it on his head, I picked up the packaging with the picture of the disco, afro-wearing guy on it and saw that it read “Included: Side burns and chest hair – Additional add-on’s: Afro Wig.” So Casey was trying to put chest hair on his head. We tried to make it work as you can see in the picture below. Sadly, we didn’t win any costume contest this year. Justin (aka Gumbi) or as the trick-or-treaters liked to call him, the giant pickle, ended up winning Bets Overall Costume. His girlfriend Alyssa, is the fairy next to him.

Chili and Sweaters

Casey and I had a really fun weekend. We started Saturday off bright and early with a trip to Bass Pro Shop. We have 2 camping trips planned for November so we were on the hunt for a sleeping bag. Our search didn’t take long and we found the perfect one! Right outside Bass Pro in the parking lot was a giant chili cook off to raise money for the fire department. We decided to let that be our lunch and we tasted a ton of chili and still didn’t try all of them. The craziest chili we had was the one that used rattlesnake meat. As the guy served it to me, he said “oh wait, you didn’t get any snake in that sample.” I let him know that it was ok. I’d hate for him to have to go digging for snake meat in his chili pot just for me. Casey and I were unanimous in choosing who would get our votes for People’s Choice, Hot Grannies Chili!

Saturday night, we had a reception to go for our friends Lori and Dana’s recent nuptials. As we were getting ready to go, Casey asked me to go get a shirt out of his truck for him to wear. When I got to the truck there was an Old Navy bag with a sweater in it. Now, for you who don’t know Casey, he gets hot at about 70 degrees and has always refused to wear a sweater, even though I always tell him how cute they would look on him and how much I would love to see him in one. So, his gift to me that he had bought a sweater and was going to wear it just for me. He looked so cute in it too! Check him out in the photos below!

Road Trip

Last weekend Casey and I took a road trip with Casey’s dad and Denise down to Austin. It was so much fun! Here are the highlights…
* Eating lunch at The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas for lunch
* Buying Texas Longhorn shirts and sweatshirts for the game (and because I didn’t pack enough warm clothes)
* Walking through Austin and seeing all of the tailgaters and fans
* Getting TCBY before the game
* Learning all of the fight songs and chants while putting my “hook ‘em horns” up
* Watching UT beat Colorado!
* Surprise detour to San Antonio for lunch on Sunday
* Getting to meet up with Donnie for lunch at La Margarita in the Mercado
* Eating a caramel filled churro from Mi Tierra
* Seeing The Alamo

Here are some pictures from the weekend…

Bevo, on his way to the game

Bringing out the Texas flag
Morgan and Denise Jackie and Denise



I think you know these two...

Remembering The Alamo

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

I love the Theater, especially MUSICAL Theater. Last night, Casey and I went on a date night for the last show of my season ticket season to see Mary Poppins. We started off the night with Casey taking me to dinner in lower Greenville to Gloria’s. Neither of us had tried it before and it was delicious. The weather was great so we even got to eat outside! That reminded me of my California days. The exciting moment of the dining experience was getting Casey’s truck back from the valet (who was training by the way, which is something I don’t think you ever want to hear). Casey’s truck is a standard and this girl didn’t put the emergency break on when she was stopped so we stood there and watched as the girl tried to get out of the truck while the truck began rolling backwards. Luckily, the truck is ok and still in tact.

Next we were on to the State Fair of Texas to get some dessert, look at the car show, and then finally go see Mary Poppins. While we were waiting for the show to start, I was singing the songs to Casey and told him that I probably watched this movie about 100 times when I was little. Before the show started we scouted out seats. Of course, our typically lower balcony seats that we steal were available but the temptation to get even better seats was too strong. So, risking everything, we made our way downstairs and landed some orchestra seats about 14 rows back. AMAZING! I have never sat in my nosebleed seats and I think that is quiet the accomplishment. Mary Poppins was hands down the BEST musical in the series. The sets were amazing and so intricate. The actors were so professional and had great voices. I was smiling and singing along to the songs the whole time. There were easily 2 highlights of the play. During “Step in Time” with the chimney sweeps, Bert literally walks around the entire opening of the stage, horizontally up the and down the sides and upside down at the top. Oh, did I mention he was tap dancing upside down across the top? Then, at the end, just like in the commercials, Mary Poppins flies over the audience and up to the balcony. It was such a cool moment that I even got that one glistening tear that happens when musical theater moves me. I really hope to get to go to the 2010 season! Thanks for my tickets Mom and Dad!!!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Muth!

Saturday night my friends Jill and Nick were in town to celebrate their recent nuptials. It was so good to see them again as I hadn’t seen either one since they moved to Nashville about a year and a half ago. The boys spent most of the time watching the Notre Dame football game while the girls talked. When the game was finally over, I was able to get a few pics to prove they were in attendance.

The girls: Candace, Me, and Jill

Candace & Ryan

Jill & Nick

You did WHAT on Saturday morning?

Saturdays are known for being the day of the week where people finally get to sleep in after getting up early all week. Casey must have forgotten this well known fact this weekend. He made me get up at 7am to…eat breakfast? No. Watch the sunrise? No. Mow a lawn? YES! He made me mow my very first lawn this weekend. I can’t say that mowing a lawn was on the top of my list of things to do in life but I guess I can check it off. The high point of the morning was when he wanted me to start the mower myself and refused to help me. While I admire his confidence in me, after my arm muscles felt weak due to the fact that I tried to start the thing 20 times, I was ready to give up. The fact that Casey was laughing and loving every minute of watching me fight with the mower didn’t help either. I finally stepped away form the mower and said “If you want me to mow the yard today, you better start this thing because I’m ready to go inside and lay on the couch while you do this!” Needless to say I got him to start the mower. I mowed and he edged/weed-eated for probably about 45 minutes. I told him the next time I will be mowing a lawn will be while on a riding lawn mower.

Photo Experiments

My friend Jennifer passed on a website that can help you edit photos for free so I had some fun last night playing around with some of my Europe photos. I wasn't sure what everything was so I literally just clicked on everything until I thought it looked kind of cool.

Eiffel Tower

Colesium

Amsterdam Canal

Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland

Greet & Eat

This Sunday my small group had a little thing called “Greet & Eat” at Macee’s house. Every third Saturday of the month is our turn to greet at church but this time we made an event out of it and grilled out at Macee’s house. There was great food and great fellowship. The highlight of the night was when Lori and Dana asked if anyone wanted to challenge them in Redneck Horseshoes because they were the reigning champions and Casey and gladly accepted. Now in order for you to grasp the awesome-ness that was this game, you first need to understand the game. Picture this: 2 sets of PVC pipes that have 3 rungs each. The top rung is 3 points, middle rung is 2 points, and the bottom is 1 point. Yu have these little numchuck looking things that are 2 golf balls with a rope between them. The goal is to collect up to 21 points as a team. You can also cancel your opponents points out if your golf ball numchuck-thing lands on the same rung as theirs did. Ok, so back the challenge. Lori and Dana were able to keep a lead but Casey and I were never far behind and tied them several times on our way to 21. Eventually, we were both tied at 20 points. At this point, we probably went back and forth at least 5 times where we either cancelled each other out on the 1 point rung or both missed completely. Casey had several clutch moments where he cancelled Dana’s point out to keep us in the game. Finally, it was Lori and my turn again. Lori missed all of hers and one of mine landed on the 2nd rung! 2 points for us which put us at 22 points. Now an important point of this game is if you bust (go over 21), you go back down to 11 points. I had one numchuck left to toss. If I was able to knock off my numchuck from the second rung we would still be in the game. Here I go…I make my toss…the numchuck falls off…then one lands on the first rung!!! I went from “I lost the game for us” to “I tied the game for us” to “I won the game for us!” Casey and I were on a high from the win for the rest of the night. I think that game will go down in Redneck Horseshoe history.

I AM a Chi Omega

Last night I went to my first Chi Omega Alumni event. I received a newsletter for the Northeast Tarrant County XO Alumni group and it looked like they had a lot of fun events coming up so I decided to try it out. The first meeting was in Southlake and was a wine and cheese event. I never would have expected how nice it would feel to be surrounded by red, yellow, and owls again. It was just really nice to be around women who even though we didn’t know each other, we instantly had a bond. There were women there from every generation, including a grandma who was wearing her letters and a giant gold owl medallion necklace. She seemed like a hoot! (owl pun intended). After being there for a couple of minutes, I thought I recognized a girl there. It turns out that I did recognize her, she works in the spa at the Gaylord and I had spoken to her last week without knowing she is a XO. So we talked and sat together. I signed up for the Happy Owlers (the group that does Happy Hour together once a month) and I signed up for the book club as well (which I’m really excited about!). Overall, I am so glad that I went and I’m looking forward to more fun events!

Chili Quest - Entry 1

Sunday was a very Martha Stuart day for me. I was cooking up a storm. All weekend it had been rainy so Casey and I decided that it would be the perfect weekend to kick off our quest for the perfect red chili recipe (the quest for the perfect white chili recipe is long over). So I pulled together two different recipes and took what I thought was the best of both worlds and started up the crockpot. While the chili was cooking, I made peanut butter cookies, which was a request from Casey’s friends. I decided to put a little twist on them and dipped them in chocolate though and I only have one word…YUMMY! The next thing on the cooking agenda was cornbread to go with the chili. I was so close to having a completely successful day of cooking when I went to get the cornbread out of the stove (set at 425 degrees mind you) and I must have had the hot pad misplaced because the top of my thumb got seared on the baking rack. As Casey likes to say, Baby Jenna came out a bit. He was my hero/doctor yet again and grabbed my hand and put it under cold water as I whined and whined. The water was followed up with hydrogen peroxide and some Neosporin. Boy did that burn hurt! The only positive from the burn was that I was unable to do the dishes, which I’ll admit, was a big plus side.

To report on the outcome of Chili #1: The spice was definitely there, but had there been no spice, the chili would have been a bit bland. Next time, we plan on adding some green bell pepper and perhaps picking a can of diced tomatoes that has seasoning already mixed in it. Outside suggestions are welcomed!

The other woman

As some of you may know, Casey moved down to live in Fate, TX to work at an elementary school out in Forney. Well, I have come to find out that my worst nightmare has now come true. The other night Casey told me that he has a new girlfriend. Her name is Bailey and...she's in first grade. She loves "Mr. Williams." When she sees him walking in the halls, she jumps up and down and shouts "Mr. Williams!" and runs over to give him their special hand shake which is basically a little fist bump. She showed everyone in P.E. their handshake. Casey told me that she's blonde and always has a big bow in her hair. Does anyone remember a little blonde girl that always had a big matching bow in her hair? Haha, I told him that I would have been that girl only would never have had the guts to talk to the cute teacher.

Cake Pops...and metal breakdowns

So, this weekend, I decided to try making a new tasty treat called cake pops. My friend Amy had made some for Kate's baby shower and I finally decided that it would be a good time to make my own attempt. It was the perfect time to make them since we were seeing Casey's Grandma Williams for her birthday out in Grand Saline and stopping by to visit his Grandpa Alvis as well. Plus, he's been staying with 3 grown boys who love to eat! Prior to Friday, I had already gone to the grocery store and Michael's and was ready to start baking! Friday when I got home from work I immediately began baking. I baked 2 strawberry cakes and began mixing the cake with icing and had all of my little cake balls in the fridge. When Casey got to my place, I started the dipping process. Now, I thought that this would be the easy part since I had the melting of the candy coating down since I've done it plenty of times before when I make the ghost poop/turkey treats. However, it seemed a lot heavier and thicker when I was trying to dip cake balls. Here is where my mental breakdown began. I couldn't get the cake pops coated right, sprinkles were going everywhere and the candy coating was dripping all over everything since it was too heavy on the pops. Casey tried to tell me some random fact about the lottery and I lost it (sorry Casey!) He was an amazing boyfriend though because he just quietly got off the computer, turned off the TV, came into the kitchen and said "how can I help?" My hero! Together we dipped and coated in sprinkles. I quickly realized that there was not enough candy coating so Casey drove me to the grocery store. Unfortunately, this would not be our last trip to the store. We got everything coated and sprinkled and then it was time to wrap the pops in the treat bags I had bought. Second glitch of the night...the treat bags were too small. Back to the store we went! Finally, around midnight, we were done. Of course, my kitchen looked like an explosion of rainbow sprinkes and icing. To prove my point that Casey is an amazing boyfriend once again...he cleaned the kitchen for me as I finished wrapping the pops. So, 7 hours, 2 trips to the store, and one mental breakdown later...we had cake pops! Luckily, they tasted amazing! See the process below...and check out what professional cake pops can look like at bakerella's site.

Mamma Mia!

Last night I had another date night with my friend Alyssa. We went to eat sushi where we caught up on each other’s lives and then followed it up with a little Mamma Mia! I was really glad to have Alyssa with me since she is a big Mamma Mia fan. She had seen it in London and at Bass Hall. I guess you can say that we had high expectations after Alyssa watching it in London and me seeing it on Broadway, but we had our M&M’s in hand and the ABBA lyrics in our heads…we were ready! Donna’s friends and the dad candidates stole the show for sure. The two main characters, Donna and Sophie were not strong singers at all. The mom, Donna, sand kind of like the cowardly lion or like she had peanut butter stuck to the roof of her mouth. It was very bizarre but Alyssa and I got a lot of laughs out of it. Overall, I enjoyed the show but seeing all of these touring shows gets be seriously craving a true Broadway show. Trip to New York anyone?

Tasty Little Treat

For those of you who know me, you might know that my favorite Girl Scout cookie is the “oh so amazing”, Tagalong. Well, the geniuses over at Dairy Queen have come up with the most brilliant idea since the DVR, the Tagalong Blizzard. The TV has been taunting with these commercials advertising this tasty treat. Yesterday, my will to resist crumbled and I found myself in the Dairy Queen drive thru…and it was totally worth it.

Neoma

This weekend I got to meet more of Casey’s extended family. Casey’s grandmother fell and broke her hip so we went to visit her in the hospital (please pray for a good recovery). When we went to visit her, I got to meet her sister, Neoma, who is a complete character. She is 89 and hilarious! She was talking about her garden and about how her neighbors had bird houses and she said “I put out a birdhouse, but they just didn’t want to rent from me. So…I just took it down!” Then my next favorite Neoma story was about how she was driving to Dallas and looked down and saw she was going 90mph and wanted to see if she could hit 100mph but decided on to stay on the safer side. That was followed by, “I like to go fast, but I try not to go that fast when I have people in the car with me. I try to stay at least go the speed limit.” How great is that?!

Weekend with Mom

I had a WONDERFUL last few days! Why you ask? Because my mom was in town! We had some great girl time and had the perfect combination of activities and relaxing. We had dinner with Bob, Ellen, and Clay, lunch with Nana, happy hour with The Hailey girls, and then a big lunch with the whole Hailey family (minus Caleb). We had a girl’s night on the town when we went to dinner at Rise no. 1 in Dallas for some fancy soufflés and then off to the theater to see Legally Blonde the Musical and it was GREAT! I also got to have my sushi fix and have a nice dinner on the patio of Brio which I think ranks as my mom and my favorite restaurant here. We also had a couple game nights with Casey. Casey taught us Pounce and Shang Hi and we played well past midnight one night. The competition was thick as we are all three very competitive people. We each won a game so it was all tied up so of course we had to have a tie-breaker and guess who won? Me! Of course I would have left the story off at we all won a game had I not won, haha! Overall, we had a great time!

A Weekend of Deals

Casey and I were on a dearch for deals this weekend. Here is what we did...

Friday: Casey and I were invited to go to Lone Star Park with our friends Alyssa and Ryan. Ryan had received some free tickets so we all got free admission, free programs, and a free beverage. Both Casey and I limited ourselves to only $10 each. My luck started out strong. I placed a two $2 bets and got my total up to $7.50. I played on that for the rest of the night. After the races were over, The Eli Young Band got ready to perform. We had planned on staying to watch but we all quickly realized that we are old. Alyssa and I couldn’t stop commenting on how “kids these days dress!” So many crazy short shorts and short dresses on girls who looked about 16 trying to look 21. It was SO crowded in the concert area we had no place to sit and I think I stepped in a puddle of beer. We decided give in to our elderly state and call it a night.

Saturday: Casey and I were looking for deals this weekend and boy did we find one at Market Street. Thanks to an add in the paper we saw that for a $1 donation, we got a hotdog/hamburger, drink, chips, and a Blue Bell banana split. Well just the mention of Blue Bell got Casey out the door. The store also had a big fajita deal. When you bought the fajita meat, we got refried beans, tortillas, salsa, chips, and guacamole free! How could we pass this up? Plus, there is enough meat to probably eat for the next 2 days.

Sunday: We met up with Casey’s friends Justin, Kyle, Bradley, and Philpot (real name is Johnny) for a fun day at Hurricane Harbor. Casey and I were smart and packed a lunch so once again, we ate for free! It was an interesting experience going to a water park and being the only girl in the group. The boys made me go down the biggest, steepest slides of course which I was quite nervous about. Then they were all trying to get closest to the edge or tip the tube over, unlike my goal of just trying to make it to the bottom in once piece. It was a lot of fun though. I think we rode every ride in the park!

Life Update

Well life has been pretty busy lately. Wednesday, Casey and I went over to Nana’s house for dinner. It was kind of like a double date since Ralph was there as well. Nana made a delicious pot roast, veggies, and the best part of all was the blueberry pie! We had a really nice time. Last night was another one of our shows so Casey and I went to see A Chorus Line. I was surprised at how simple the set and the play was (although the dancing was definitely NOT simple). The cast was great! They were very talented and so professional. One of the girls in the cast had been on Gossip Girl so naturally I was impressed. This weekend will continue to be a busy one. Tonight, Kate and Skip have invited us to go to the Rangers game with them. Tomorrow is Cassie’s big wedding out at Possum Kingdom followed by going to see the latest, greatest Harry Potter film on Sunday. Hopefully I will have some fun pictures to add from the events of this weekend!

Really Texas?

Really Texas? Is it really necessary to be 100 degrees after the sun goes down? Maybe it’s the California in me but I just do not understand Texas weather right now. It just baffles me. I completely understand why it would be 100+ degrees during the day when the sun is bright and blazing. However, why on earth is it impossible to cool down after that lovely heat source has disappeared over the horizon?! I mean come on! Even the desert cools down after dark and has pleasant weather at night. Last night I went to bed and I checked my thermostat and was shocked it see that in order for my little apartment to be 78 degrees, the AC still was running. I knew I would miss the San Diego weather but I NEVER dreamed I would miss Arizona summer weather.