Getting Ready for the Wedding

We had people come to the room to do our hair and our make up for the wedding. Since we were going to spend a few hours in the room, I brought mimosas to enjoy while being pampered :). The rooms at the hotel (Hotel Valencia) were spacious so it didn't seem cramped when we had 1 bride, 4 bridesmaids, 2 hair stylists, 1 makeup person, and a baby. We had a fun time laughing and relaxing before the big event. Lindsay seemed pretty calm through out the entire day, which is awesome! You don't want a jittery bride on her big day!

Chris stopped by the room to drop off a card for Lindsay and for her mom. Of course the bride and groom can't see each other, so I had them pose on each side of the door :)

Lindsay's dress was long, elegant and flowy (is that a word?), and was perfect for her 5'10 thin frame!

Lindsay's earrings

Melissa (Chris' sister) and Lindsay getting their hair done. I'm not sure how Lindsay found the hair stylists, but they did a really good job with all of our hair. Especially since we all gave a basic idea of what we wanted done, and they delivered some good looking hair. I regret not getting a better picture of my hair, but I was more focused on getting bride photos than my own photos.

Lindsay and Michelle

This little guy is Ethan, Melissa's son. He is 5 months old and just a cutie pie! He was really good while hanging out with the ladies!

Don't you just want to squeeze his cheeks?

We are so damn lucky to have a good friend that is a make up artist! Vannessa works for MAC and did mine and Lindsay's make up for the day. She did wonders with my make up!! I need to hire for each time I go out :)

Vannessa and Lindsay

Lindsay had beautiful orchids in her hair, which looked fantastic.

She was (is) such a beautiful bride!!

Ashley and Michelle strutting their stuff through the hotel

Ashley and I

We took one of the riverboats from the hotel to the wedding venue. It was about a 5 minute ride, but still a lot of fun to have our own boat!

The wedding was held at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. This little room was the bridal suite. The venue was perfect... outdoor wedding and an indoor reception all in one place. I'll post a few other photos of the wedding in a different post.
While we were waiting for the ceremony to start I snuck out to check out the venue and I ran into Jim! A quick self portrait before the fun began

Jim's Birthday Dinner

We went to the Salt Lick with Jim's family to celebrate his birthday, his mom's birthday and his brother-in-law's birthday. We wanted to find a place where it would be okay to linger before and after dinner to hang out with everybody. It has been a few years since we have been to Salt Lick so I was looking forward to eating there. There wasn't to long of a wait, just about 45 minutes. Not bad for a Sunday, but I think the rain helped keep people away.

Perhaps I should have brought a different koozie for dinner. :) Nothing like advertising for a different BBQ place in Austin while eating at a different BBQ place

Jim and his sister, Jamie

I guess I'm trying to attack Jim?

Mmmmm... Stella

I ordered their combination plate with brisket and ribs. The ribs were very tender with good flavor. The brisket was good, but not my favorite.

Caden and Dawson (Jim's nephews) were trying out the jalapeno's... not sure if they have tried a bite out of a pickled jalapeno before. I have to say I think Jim was egging them on. Bad Uncle.

Clearly Dawson wasn't a fan

Since the kids tried the jalapeno, I had to try a bite. It had a bit of heat, but not to bad

We totally forgot that the Salt Lick was cash only, so I had to go to the other building and get cash from the ATM. I noticed this meat pit while I was there. I started to take a picture when I got waved over by one of the employees who said I could walk around and take pictures. Umm.. hell yeah! It was very hot around the pit... I assume this is where they keep the meat warm before they served it because it didn't look like it was really cooking anything.

MMMmmmm.... look at all of those ribs

Jim's mom bought the boys matching ties

Cute nephews!

Ryan and Jim

Caden and I

Ryan, Caden, Dawson and Jim

Jim's Birthday BBQ

Normally we are those people that don't really celebrate birthdays with big celebrations. Typically we just go out for dinner and have a quiet night. This year I thought having friends over for a BBQ would be a fun time, and indeed, it was!! Jim and I have some wonderful friends and it was great to spend a night with them. We prefer house parties over bars because you can really spend time with people talking and catching up. Plus it is WAY cheaper than going downtown for the night. Of course that being said, I still enjoy a fun night downtown... just not every weekend.

I had this big plan of taking pictures of the food so I could post them here on the blog, but as the hostess, I was a busy lady and didn't take pictures. So I'll just tell you what I served.... shredded pork, grilled chicken (for tacos), homemade chorizo charro beans, potato salad, apple/blue cheese/ bacon salad, along with some chips/dips and finished the night with some sugar cookies and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

Lindsay, Tammy, Vanessa and Erin enjoying drinks on the porch

John, Chris, Charlie, Matt and Mike

So happy these two made it to the party... Nicole and Steven

Chris and Kyndal (Ashley and Jason's oldest child, and way back when our flower girl at the wedding). She is getting so tall! I meant to get a picture with her because I bet in a year or two she is going to be taller than me! I'd like some proof that I was once taller than she was :)

Party on the patio

Kyndal and Jackson.

Jason was the human chair for his kids... Kyndal draped over his legs and Jackson hanging off to his right.

Kyndal was the first (wo)man down at around 8:30. Ashley said they had a big day of sports and running errands.

One of my few good food photos.... this was the pork shoulder after a slow roast for 5 hours
The spread

Ashley, Chris and Lindsay

The New York Gals!!! Next week I'll be travelling to NYC with these two fine ladies. It is Lindsay's bachelorette party so we are going to party it up!!! Neither of these two have been to NYC so I'll be acting as a tour guide... I sooooo can't wait!

Dawn and Matt- Although we only met these two a few years ago, we love to hang out with them!

Chewie was trying to woo Dawn.... I think it worked :)

My gal Vanessa!

me, Dawn and Jim

It's a Jim sandwich.... smooshed between two Matt's :)

Tammy, Lindsay and Magen

Lindsay and I helped Chewie up for a photo op

At one point it was the boys outside and the girls inside... come on guys... it's not a junior high dance!! Time to mingle! :)

Nick, Jim and Jason... Chewie is hiding back there some place

I believe this is a birthday lick?!?!? It seemed like a fun thing to do at the time... not sure this is the best photo of me but way to funny not to post

Lindsay, Jim and I

There was no shortage of love for Chewie. It was kind of an odd night... some of our friends didn't know that Taylor passed a month ago. I didn't know really how to let friends know that our dog had died. I did a post on this blog, which really was more of a way for me to find closure and cope with the loss of my first dog but not all of my friends read my blog. So I had to explain a few times what happened to Taylor which was fine for me and I was glad that everybody knows now. I do appreciate the friends that did know trying to quietly let other friends know about Taylor so I didn't have to do as much explaining.

Chris, Nick, Jason and Jim. Chris is getting married to Lindsay in May and these guys (along with 2 other guys) will be the groomsmen. These 4 guys have known each other since elementary school.

I think I might be one of the shortest girls out of all of my friends. Neither Lindsay or Magen are wearing heels and I'm like 3 feet shorter than they are :)

This is Chewie the day after the party..... poor guy didn't get his 8 hour nap on Saturday afternoon and then we made him stay up after midnight. He spent most of Sunday sleeping :)
I hope Jim had a great birthday, because I really had a great time!