Life Lately

First things first, let me start this post by saying that I just found mold in the bottom of the cup I've been drinking out of since 8:00 am. Awesome!

OK, well I thought about naming this post "two weekend wrap ups," but that sounded a little funny so I went with "Life Lately."

I do have two weekends worth of O'Donnell adventures to update you on...so just get ready! It'll be a long post. AND...this post includes an update on my birthday celebration--which makes it even better!! (I'd better hurry up before the next weekend gets here!)

OK, so let's start with my BIRTHDAY!

Friday, July 10 (My BIRTHDAY!)

After tossing and turning all night because I was too excited to sleep, I woke Friday morning ready for a great day!!

When I got to the office I found this waiting for me...

(A few of my other co-workers stayed up late/came in early to decorate my wall with cute pictures and sayings, put up balloons and hand made flowers on the ceiling, and lather me with cakes, cookies, cards, and presents!)

And all of these...

And this too!

I had about the same reaction I did when I got engaged--including jumping up and down and screaming!

They made me TWO Upside Down German Chocolate Cakes, thank you very much!

(I was nice and shared them with everyone :))

But the FUN didn't stop there. I was a little sad that I hadn't heard from my old group at all (seeing as how I'd been dropping hints all week--I've been know to do that!), but little did I know they were up to no good! One of my friends, Robin, planned a huge surprise birthday lunch for me at Coal Vines (a pizza, excuse me, a pie place in Uptown.) She intimated that lunch was going to be just the two of us, but once we arrived at the restaurant, the whole gang was there! (Again, insert jumping and screaming!) If you know me at all, you know how much I love surprises--so I was in heaven! We stuffed ourselves to the brim and headed back to the office for some delicious Upside Down German Chocolate Cake. YUM! What a wonderful start to my birthday celebration!

After a long, very unproductive, day at work, I headed home to celebrate with my hubby. I wanted to do something a little different this year so we headed to the Gaylord Texan to check out all the hype.

Beautiful hotel!

We ate at the Riverwalk Cafe and had some of the most amazing food. Best thing about it--BUFFET! I could eat as many desserts as I wanted! Not that I was hungry or anything...

Stopping for a quick pose by the Riverwalk...

See, it really does look like San Antonio (minus the humidity, mosquitoes, trash, and green-ish/brown-ish water)...

Walking around soaking in the scenery...

Ricco Suave found a post to lean on :)

Close up!

Another quick pose...

Look at the beautiful water fountain...

Isn't it just gorgeous?

After we were done walking around we headed home only to find yet another surprise on our front porch. Our friends, the Smith's, dropped off a styrofoam cooler filled with more of my favorite goodies--Blue Bell Rocky Road ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge, and cherries! Even after eating all the yummy food earlier in the day, I still had to sneak a bite. I was stuffed and tired from a wonderful day, but the celebrating didn't stop there.

Saturday, July 11

Kelly and I got to sleep in on Saturday and it was glorious! We had the best of intentions to head to the gym and the layout by the pool for a relaxing weekend, but those plans quickly changed once our computer crashed Saturday morning. And we're not just talking crashed. We're talking blue screen-lost-it-all-I-got-nothin' crashed. My poor little Dell had a great life of 5 years to the day (I got him for my 21st birthday!) But the even sadder part about that is I lost every paper, every memo, every cover letter, every resume, every note I ever saved (and if you know me, you know that's a ton of stuff.) So, it was off to the store we went.

We were already planning to get Kelly one of these:

So while we were there we checked out one of these (another huge item on our want list):

Needless to say, we walked home with both of them! Looks like we know what we got for brithdays and Christmas this year! I think I was still in a stage of denial for a little while because I was holding out hope that the Dell would magically work when we got home, but alas, it did not, so now we've had a blast playing with our new toy!

While we were out running errands we went into Pottery Barn to look at some bedding I'd been eye-balling for awhile. I got tons of gift cards to PB for my birthday from my friends at work, and was able to get this bedding with it!

Here's a pic of our old bedding:

You know you're a southern bride when you have your 16x20 bridal portrait hanging on the wall!

And the NEW bedding!

Kelly was never a huge fan of our "wedding bedding," and I've been wanting a new, fresh look for awhile now so we decided to go with this one. I've already got it on our bed and it looks fantastic! I just haven't take a picture yet. Be looking for some fun new changes to this room!

After a long, expensive day, Kelly and I headed over to my parents house for some YUMMY food and AMAZING chocolate cake! Mom made King Ranch Chicken (one of my faves!) and the family recipe chocolate cake. It was so fun opening presents and cards with them, and getting to celebrate yet ANOTHER time with cake and ice cream.

Later that night Kelly and I headed to the movies to the The Proposal. I'd been wanting to see it and since it was my b-day, I got to pick the movie! He's a great sport!!

All in all it was a great day celebrating with family!!

Sunday, July 12

We were up and at 'em and had plenty to do to keep us busy. Kelly worked on the computer while I worked on the bedroom! Later that night we went to bid our friends, the Farmers, farewell as they headed to Australia for four years! We will miss them (and will be totally jealous of all their experiences!)

We were pooped after a long and busy weekend, so we headed home to crash!

The next week was a busy week for me at work. I'm sure you've all seen the coverage on the "football size" hole in one of our aircraft, so our office was swamped--but you better believe I still found ways to celebrate my birthday!

Thursday, July 16

After the long week at work I as so excited to get to celebrate with my college roomies at one of my all time favorite restaurants--Chuy's! Emily was in town from Houston (escaping the study hall at her house as her husband prepares for the Bar Exam,) so Jen and I met up with her for some much needed girl time! We ate, laughed, ate, talked, and ate some more! It was so much fun catching up and we can't wait to do it again!

Friday, July 17

I headed into the office for a bit, but had the afternoon off to run errands and get ready for the weekend. Before I headed out for the afternoon, my boss took me to get a mani/pedi to celebrate my bday! She was here on my birthday but wasn't able to join us for lunch, so she wanted to do something extra special to make up for it! WOW! Was I totally surprised, or what! That evening our friends, Michael and Virgina (and their pup, Major,) came in town for a quick visit and they stayed the night with us. We went to eat at Anamia's and stayed up way past our bedtime catching up!

Saturday, July 18

Saturday turned out to be a very restful day. I had some errands to run, and Kelly worked on the computer a little more (trying to salvage the stuff we stored on the external hard drive.) We went to church that night and then headed to dinner at another fave restaurant of mine, Red Robin. I love their onion rings and hamburgers! Delish!!

Side Note: As we were getting ready to head to church I got the phone call that my cousin, Lauren, got engaged!! We are so happy for Lauren and Chase and can't wait for their special day!

Sunday, July 19

I headed to the gym to work off some of the calories I'd been consuming and then I had a wedding shower to go to for my girlfriend, Jill. Kelly spent the afternoon vegging while he played NCAA 2010! Once I got home it was time to get ready for the week--laundry, dishes, cleaning. YUCK!

Monday, July 20

After work I got together with Jill at this delicious sushi place, Oishii, and we had a great time catching up and hearing all about her upcoming wedding plans! Hard to believe its less than a month and a half away!! Then it was off to the gym to burn more calories!

As much as I hate to say it, I think the weeks of celebrating my birthday have finally come to an end! It was marvelous while it lasted!! Thanks to you ALL who made it a great day!

This weekend we're looking forward to welcoming a precious baby into this world! Our dear friends, Wes and Brandye, are at the hospital this very minute anxiously waiting for their little one to arrive! We're going to the hospital tonight and will be hosting Thad all weekend long as we make many trips to see Baby Brayden!

Hopefully I'll have pics to post soon!