Wedding

Even though I’m far from being Royal, all the talk of this Royal Wedding has me  remembering the days leading up to my wedding and my actual wedding day! :0)

No, I’m not overly obsessed with the Royal Wedding (buying magazines, following blogs, etc), but I HAVE been up since 4 a.m. watching all the festivities and I did shed tears as Kate arrived at the Abbey!  What an amazing moment!  I also think it’s cool that this wedding is a WORLDWIDE event!  MILLIONS of people are watching!!! 

Last night, we ate dinner with friends and on our way home, I thought “I’m going to write a blog about my wedding day while watching the Royal Wedding in the morning!” and I see that a few of my friends had the same idea! 

We were married on April 7, 2007.  I had a blast and truly felt like a “Princess”!  I wanted a “Fairy Tale” wedding at home and I got just that! 

Here’s a few of my bridal portraits! 

My photographer kept making me laugh!  She was awesome!!! :0)

Our wedding day was supposed to be a beautiful spring day in April….guess what we got instead?  The last cold front of the year complete with SLEET!  In Southwest Louisiana!!! 

Oh well…everything about the day was still beautiful despite the weather! :0)

We were both incredibly nervous before the ceremony!

Here comes the Bride!  I walked down the aisle to “Trumpet Voluntary”. My husband is a musician and he plays the trumpet so I thought it was only fitting! :0) 

I love that my photographer caught this look on Jason’s face! This is right after he saw me for the first time! :0)  Awww…

Vow time!

I now pronounce you….

   

I love(d) my Bridesmaids!  We all had a blast and they were a ton of fun to be around!!! :0)

Wedding party!

One of my favorite shots!

 

Limo ride to the reception…

Fairy tale = Disney in my opinion!  Hehe!

 

First dance!

A few other favorites of mine…..

 

What a day!  Seriously this was the best day of my life followed closely by the day I ran the Disney World Marathon! :0)  I’m a runner at heart what can I say?!  Haha!

I had  a great run yesterday with a friend!  We again ran 4 miles at the lake - only yesterday, the weather was GORGEOUS and cool and clear!!! Wish we had more days like that!  I’m praying for weather like yesterday’s for May 7 when I run my final race of the 5k/10k season – it’s a 5 mile race that I’ve run the past few years!  Can’t wait!!! :0)

Have a fabulous Friday!

Recipe: Disney's Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake (Copy Cat)

If you know me, you know all about my Disney trips and my love for the Disney Dining Plan!

You’ll also know that I have friends who love the DDP as equally as I do! :0)  During our Marathon trip, we made sure we had a few similar reservations so we could visit and most importantly, EAT!
Heather introduced me to the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake at Liberty Tree Tavern and let me tell you….THIS stuff is my 2nd favorite dessert at Disney (cause nothing beats Ohana’s Bread Pudding)!

Notice how everyone at the table ordered the same?!  Hah!
SO, this past week, I was browsing the internet for yummy Disney dessert recipes and I came across this one!  Naturally, I just HAD to make it.  I’m glad a co-worker had a birthday this week so I had an excuse not to keep it all to myself! :0)
Here’s the recipe:

Cake Bottom:
Ingredients: 1 box yellow cake mix
1 each, egg
1/4 cup butter (1 stick)

Method of Preparation: Mix ingredients and put in a greased baking pan 13" x 9".
         
Cake Filling:
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
3 each, eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Heath bar pieces
1 pound powdered sugar

Method of Preparation:
1. Put cream cheese in mixer.
2. Slowly add eggs and vanilla.
3. Add butter and mix well.
4. Put in powdered sugar, then add chocolate chips and toffee pieces.
5. Just mix; do not over mix.
6. Put on top of Cake Bottom in pan.
7. Bake at 325 for 35 minutes, then check. (I actually had to bake it for longer – it was closer to 55 minutes – I baked it until it turned slightly brown in the middle).

I made two little extra dishes for Jason and I to try before I brought it to work – I wanted to make sure it tasted ok!  :0)

The finished product!

Add it with a little Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Syrup….PURE HEAVEN!!! Yum yum! :0)
On the running note, I definitely ran on Monday and Tuesday, I also did the Jillian workout on Monday and Wednesday, and I’m running again this afternoon with my friends.  It’s COOL outside today!  Hope it stays that way for this afternoon! :0)
Have a fabulous day!

A Series of Unhappy Events

Yesterday, I met up with a few friends and ran a VERY hot, humid, and WINDY 4 miles!  The weather was gloomy all afternoon as if it was going to rain. 

The rain didn’t hit until early early this morning, though.  It stared with a vengeance (so I’m told) and went out with a BANG (no electricity).  I was OUT (sleeping) and didn’t hear a thing!  There were reports of hail, tornados, wind gusts up to 56 mph, and of course lots of rain, thunder, and lightning.  Funny thing – I didn’t wake up until 5:45 a.m. when the power clicked off.  Hah! 

A few years ago, I stayed home during Hurricane Ike and we never lost power – so I’m really amazed that we lost it today!

The wind blew the cover off of our table/chairs and threw our chairs in all different directions across our deck! 

It was crazy!

 

Here’s a few pictures of damage in our area.  I am glad that we don’t have many trees around my house!

Because the power was out before I even woke up, I felt as if everything was messed up this morning – and that continued throughout the day!  I guess it’s because I wasn’t able to follow my normal routine this morning and it totally threw me off!  Here’s a basic synopsis of my day

-No electricity…ok….Flashlights?  Hmm…do I even own a flashlight? What about a taper candle?  Nope, none of those either.  Oh well. I’m glad I downloaded a flashlight app on my iPhone4!  Guess that will have to do. 

-Ok what am I going to do with my hair?!  It’s bad.  Really bad.  Guess I’ll have to use this iPhone4 flashlight to put on my makeup and put my hair up?!  This can’t be good.

-I NEED Coffee – oh yeah, I can’t make any. Ugh.

-Gonna catch up on Dancing With the Stars from last night.  Dangit. Can’t do that either.

-Grab breakfast and go so I can flat iron my hair at work….

-Oh wait. I can’t open my garage door cause it also runs on electricity.  Wow.  This stinks.

(After trying for a while to figure out how to open the garage door, I realized that all I had to do was pull on the red string and push the door up myself.  My oh my. I was also very sad cause I had to leave my puppies in the DARK! :0(  Poor babies!!)

-Wow….this is strange driving to work with NO lights on ANYWHERE – including stop lights!  Dangerous!

-Yay I arrived at work 20 minutes early to flat iron my hair….wait?  What do you mean a patient is waiting on me?!  No…this can’t be!

(Finally flat ironed my hair but not until my lunch break.  Yes, I looked like a frizz ball all morning.  Not. Pretty.)

-I’m hungry.  Why is it only 9 a.m.?!  I wonder if missing my coffee this morning threw me off.  Yep, probably so. 

(FYI – I claimed today official Bad Hair Day and Fat Day!  Fat Day cause I ate too much before lunch! Hah!)

- Whew.  Glad this day is finally over – it’s been one thing after another!  I’m excited to meet my running group friends for a 4 mile run.  Oh.My.Gosh. I have NO sports bra?!?!  HOW did I do that?!?!  Seriously!?  This is definitely a FIRST for me! Oh well, guess I’ll run anyway!  Sorry people! Hah!

WHAT
A
DAY!!!

Even though I forgot that essential girl running item (hehe), I still had a great run with my awesome Marathon friends!  Today, we made plans to run the Mandeville Half in October as well as the Houston Full Marathon in January!  YAY!

It was even hotter today outside than it was yesterday!  We ran the same 4 mile route as yesterday….it was very  hot, humid, and windy but we did it!  It was tough but we made it the whole way!

Waiting for me in my mailbox today was this:

  

Thanks, Luna!!! :0)  I can’t wait to try it!

Happy Easter! :0)

Well I’ve had a fabulous weekend!  It began on my day off - Good Friday morning with a 10 mile run through my town. 

Friday night, we decided to go to the Friday Night  Movies Under the Stars at a local park – last week’s was cancelled because the wind was awful.  They only do this for the month of April and again for a month in the Fall – since it’s usually SO hot here in the Summer!

Friday night’s showing?

Monster’s Inc!  Jason’s favorite!! :0)

 

We met up with a few friends and had a really good time!!

Saturday morning, I went Bridesmaid dress shopping with a friend of mine!  I’m her Matron of Honor and her sister is her Maid of Honor.  She also has 2 Bridesmaids! :0)

 

I used to drive these two around EVERYWHERE!  The one on my right is the Bride and the one on my left is her sister!  It’s hard to believe they are all grown up and now one is getting married!  My how time does fly! :0)

We had a blast on Saturday! 

Just like old times! :0)

This morning, my husband and I got all dressed up for church!  We usually get all dressed up, but Easter Sunday is an extra special occasion! :0)

 

I even bought a new outfit on Thursday complete with matching purse! :0)

After Church, we went to Jason’s grandparents house for Easter lunch!  The Easter bunny even dyed the deviled eggs! Hah!

 

We went over to my parents house after lunch because my mom text me “Let me know when you want the Easter Bunny to lay some Easter candy at your house.  He threw some baskets of chocolate and other stuff down our chimney while we were sleeping!” 

My oh my…my mother!  Gotta love her!! :0) 

(I also think it’s hilarious that “The Easter Bunny” used my Easter basket from when I was a kid – no joke, I think the basket has 1987 written in pencil underneath it!  Hahahah!)

Hope everyone’s had a fabulous Easter! 

HE is risen!! :0)

10 miles on a HOT Good Friday!

I created a running plan last night.  In a few weeks, I’m running a 5 mile race (a hot one), so I decided I was going to run a long run today after the sun was out to test the waters.

My plan was to wake up at 7 a.m. to being my run!  I didn’t set an alarm because my husband was set to arrive from work around that time.  Well, he came home and got in bed and apparently, I was sleeping so soundly that I never heard him!  I woke up because a text from my mom came across my phone 8:30 a.m. to ask if I was running yet – YIKES!  8:30 a.m.?!  I jumped out of bed and got ready as fast as I could!  I wanted to treat this run as I would any normal long run, so I got my spi belt/hydration belt together and set off on my journey!  Usually, I do all my long runs with my running group but they will all be in New Orleans this weekend for the Crescent City Classic tomorrow!

My plan was to run a 2 mile route around my house, drive my car to a local Blockbuster (cause otherwise I’d have to run across a VERY busy 5 lane highway that has a speed limit of 60 mph! No thank you! ). After parking my car, run the 2.5 mile route to my parent’s house, re-fill up my water bottles, run 3 miles around their house, then run 2.5 miles back to my car!  Total – 10 miles!

I can say that I was successful with my run but let me tell you – it was HOT out there!  I felt like I almost threw myself into an asthma attack twice (that hasn’t happened in forever!) …I stayed very well hydrated, however.  I had an unopened bottle of Cytomax from the Dallas Half so I drank that as well as lots of water!

During one of my many treks to my parent’s house, my mom showed me a birds nest in one of her trees!  Isn’t the little birdie cute?  Don’t worry…we didn’t touch it or anything!

It was SO HOT out there!  See how red my face is?!

After the run, I made my husband get us Subway for lunch, we watched a few episodes of Glee from Season 1, then we drove to our local snow cone stand and got each a stuffed snow cone.  Now I feel as if I was hit by the sugar fairy!  Hah!  That’s ok!  The snow cone was GOOD!!!

 

I had Pink Bubblegum…

…and my husband had LSU!  Yes, LSU!  It’s purple and “gold”!  Haha!  The flavors: King Cake and Cake Batter!  It really did taste like a King Cake! :0)

 

Apparently the “stuffed” part means that they put vanilla ice cream at the bottom of the snow cone. 

Ice cream + snow cone syrup = SUGAR OVERLOAD!!!

 

Like I said though, it was super yummy!! :0)

We are about to leave to eat dinner, then we are going to try Movies Under the Stars at the park again!  They are playing Monsters Inc!  Hopefully the wind doesn’t mess up the screen this time! :0)

Hope everyone has enjoyed their Good Friday!  4 years ago, I was having my wedding rehearsal on Good Friday and we were married on “Good Saturday”! :0) 

Don’t forget the reason we celebrate this weekend!

He’s done so much for us!  Never forget the sacrifice He made!