Bonfire wasn’t one of the traditions that drew me to Texas A&M as I decided what college I wanted to attend, because I’d never seen it in person prior to my freshman year and just didn’t understand it. Which means, despite being a freshman in the dorms the push to get involved in Bonfire never pressured me into going out to cut.
Then I attended my very first Bonfire, and to say I was amazed is truly an understatement. The site of it burning and the heat radiating off it even at the distance we were at was unbelievable. By far my favorite Yell Practices while at Texas A&M were the ones held at Bonfire.

Junior year, my friend Ashley & I decided to take our small group out to Bonfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows at one of the perimeter fires and watch the progress up close on the night of November 17, 1999. That year there was actually a burn ban and we didn’t realize it until we got out there, so all perimeter fires had been put out. We took a few group pictures and few pictures of stack and headed out, with no idea of what would unfold the next morning. (will try to dig out pictures this weekend and scan them in)

On the morning of November 18, 1999, I was awakened, like many of fellow Aggies, by a phone call from home asking me if I was okay. It was before 7 in the morning and I had no idea why I was being asked that. . . and then my mom told me that Bonfire had fallen. I was in shock.

It was a devastation I’m not sure I could ever fully put into words. I had never worked on Bonfire and didn’t feel entitled to the emotions I was experiencing. But with that said, Aggies are family, and if any Aggie is lost we all grieve for them. It is this very sense of family that made me fall in love with Texas A&M. Walking around campus that week was eerie; we didn’t know how to cope with the loss we’d just suffered.

As selfish and horrible as this may sound, I was relieved Thanksgiving was not far away and I had a reason to escape heartache and feel like I could breathe again.

This year on the 11th anniversary of Bonfire falling, it seems to hold even more significance to me. I think that has to do with my friend Bill (he’s the boy in the picture).

These two people are very near and dear to my heart and I am thankful today (well and every day) to be able to call them my good friends, and to see how happy they make each other… had things been different that night Amber would have never met Bill, which also means that while Amber and I would have still been friends, she might not have ended up in Dallas and who knows if we would be the good friends that we are today.

However, to the 12 who died, I did not know you, but you will forever be in my heart… and you will never be forgotten.

(feel free to post your memory in the comment section, I’d love to hear yours)

Before I really jump in, I should say, by no means do I call myself a movie expert, nor do I read up on movie reviews to determine what movies I want to go see in the theater. I’m just your average run of the mill movie-goer, so with that said. . .take this as you will.

I love a good chick-flick. The type of movie I can just run in the background for noise while I’m trying to get things done around the house or finishing up a project. Though I’m not sure this one would fall into that category. And, despite the efforts of the TV ads to convenience you that you’ll want to “see it again and again,” I was would not agree.

To say this movie is cheesy is an understatement. It was funny, in parts, but it was also painful in parts. Watching Kristen Bell’s character repeatedly trip, or spill something or hurt herself got old about 30 minutes into the movie.

Though if I’m completely honest, there is no way I could hate this movie all the way around because I do love Kristen Bell; even though she can be a bit corny, she is the voice of Gossip Girl!

On the positive side, movies like this always come with a healthy supply of eye candy for everyone. That is one thing you can always count on a good chick-flick for. The girls are beautiful and the boys are hot!

If you don’t believe me, then go check out Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, James Wolk and Sean Wing’s IMDB pages.

Though, the number one redeeming quality of this movie was the comic relief of the screen stealer, Betty White. I mean who doesn’t love Betty White?

If you are a fan of overly cheesy movies, then this one will be right up your alley, if not then I suggest you wait to see it on DVD and save a few bucks!

I love this little girl, but now that she is in school (well technically she’s been in school a few years) we don’t see each other often. So, I decided I wanted to spend some time with her for her birthday. It worked out perfectly because she had her birthday party yesterday that was followed by a slumber party so I’m pretty sure her parents enjoyed one less child in the house even if it was for just a few hours.

Trying to come up with something to do that an 8 year old would find fun had me completely stumped. After asking around, someone suggested that I take her to Sweet & Sassy. I had heard of this place before but obviously had no reason to actually go there.

They had one opening today for a mani & pedi, which I thought was perfect. I picked up Ainsley and we headed straight to the mall for her appointment. She picked out a blue color for her fingernails and purple for her toe nails. Not to brag, but she had a total blast!

I think the concept behind Sweet & Sassy is great, however. . .being in there for about an hour, I have nothing but sympathy for the employees known as “party girls.” These girls host and facilitate birthday parties for little girls all day long, singing, dancing, and MCing fashion shows.

I do NOT know how they do it. In the hour I was there, all of the noise and commotion was enough to drive me nuts. There are so many people and things packed in this store that you can barely hear yourself think. It is so chaotic I don’t know how anyone over 12 can manage to be in there for an 8 hour period. The best way I can describe the scene is organized chaos. With that said, these little girls there for the two birthday parties going on while Ainsley and I were there, were having a BLAST.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Saturday morning I drove out to Arlington to pick up the cupcakes for the wedding at The Red Oven Bakery. They are the best!

Then I headed up to Frisco to meet up with everyone else and help set up the reception. They had almost all of the tables finished by the time I got there so I helped with the finishing touches and then worked on folding and cutting the programs. I thought the tables turned out really cute…

Of course we had the best entertainment while setting up the reception, Wesley…we served “crabby patties,” watched the trains pass by and even played on all the old train equipment.

Saturday night my Dad’s sisters hosted a fajita dinner so that we could get together and have some family time. Here is Dad and his two sisters.

It was really good to see the Branches and as always fun to hang with the Sanders, even if Chase and Brice weren’t in town. Fortunately, they were represented in spirit (or rather in stick form)!

Here are all the cousins (prom pic style), minus the two cousins on a stick and Jim.

We had a great time at the Sander’s house catching up, enjoying margaritas and eating some great food.

Sunday morning was pretty calm, Beth and I got to just chill at home before heading up to the mall to meet Tiffany & Chrystal to get our makeup done at MAC. That was quite a process. I honestly had NO idea we’d be up there for right at 3 hours. Though, on the plus side we did get to avoid the last minute panic of trying to put together one more table for the reception.

The girls all got ready in the Bridal Suite, which was a Victorian house situated in between the chapel and the reception hall. It gave us all plenty of room to get ready and goof off before the wedding got under way.

Tiffany looked absolutely beautiful!

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen my brother look so happy, and the smile on his face was the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on him. I could not be happier for him!

Since this post is already getting long, I won’t bore you with more pictures (if we are Facebook friends I’ve got an album of pictures posted you can check out). But I will leave you with this great shot of the Bride & Groom:

Congratulations Scott & Tiffany! We are so happy for you guys. Hope you have a great honeymoon and we will see you when you get back.

I don’t think Scott could have found anyone more perfect to marry. Beth and I are super excited to have a new sister, well really two because we adore her sister Chrystal too!

Not to mention, as of today, Beth and I are officially aunt’s to the cutest little guy:

That’s all for now. . .but wedding details and pics will be posted soon!

Congrats Scott & Tiffany we are all so excited for you!

I picked up an Albarino last week, it was the last bottle of the only Albarino at the store I stopped at, and then today I ran by the store right by my house and picked up another Albarino. Because I was going to be sampling the wine with a few friends I thought it would be fun to have more than one so we could compare them.

Side note: Albarino is a white wine that is predominately produced in Span and Portugal.

First we tried the 2007 Nessa. This was my favorite of the two, but of the four of us drinking it I was in the minority, they all preferred the second one. We all thought you could detect a hint of Chardonnay in each one, but to me Albarino isn’t as bitter as a Chardonnay. This wine is smooth but with an unexpected zip. It is a smooth and fresh wine that is easy to drink, and because it is chilled it is a perfect hot weather wine.

The second bottle we sampled was the 2007 Nora. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was about this bottle that I didn’t like. I think it might have been the hint of grapefruit I could taste, which is not my most favorite fruit. To me this was more like a Pinot Grigio than I typically like. But the other three described this wine as cleaner and less sweet. We all thought we could detect the flavor of a Granny Smith Apple in both of them; what about you (if you’ve tried an Albarino)?

Don’t get me wrong I didn’t dislike the second bottle I just preferred the first bottle. These are the 3rd and 4th Albarinos I’ve had, and I have to say, I am a fan. I am so excited about his recommendation from Monica and Beau and want to make sure everyone else I know gives it a try.

Of course, now that I am getting on a white wine kick, the weather is starting to cool off and it’s time to head back to the red wines. . .feel free to send your suggestions my way!

Cheers!

After brunch we decided to check out some of the shops along Knox. Even though I’ve lived in Dallas all my life I’ve never really visited any of the shops down there.

My favorite find was the Knox Street Market. I didn’t even realize I was looking for things for my house until I found this:

I have been looking for something to cover up my A/C controller in the kitchen because I think it’s in such an odd place. This was just the right depth to do that. Apparently I am a sucker for decorative metal pieces and feel in love with these:

Originally I thought they were priced individually and they were too pricey for me to buy two. But, when the woman in the store went to get it down she told me they were sold in a set of four. Needless to say I was excited! However I’m not sure what I will do with the yellow one, I don’t have anything in my house that is yellow (even though I’ve been told Mustard is in this season).

After I dropped a small fortune, we drove across the highway, where Knox becomes Henderson to visit the Gypsy Wagon. Somehow I ended up on their mailing list but had never visited. The store is huge and has everything from home décor, to jewelry, to fabric, to clothes. I only ended up making one small purchase:

This was only because I had spent so much at Knox Street Market. But they had this mirror that I absolutely loved with an amazing wooden frame. Though with a $250 price tag, I just couldn’t justify buying it.

Before heading home we wondered into The Wooden House, which is just next store. I don’t need any furniture right now, but if I did this is the place I would go. They have the most amazing pieces that are mainly one of a kind.

Even though I’ve been in my house for over 4 years now, I seem to lack the ability to pick out things to hang on my walls and have a house full of empty walls. For the most part I don’t really think about buying things, but Saturday while I was at a friend’s house she had this really cool Pottery Barn mirror she didn’t want any more and offered it to me.

This got me thinking about where the heck I would hang it and all my empty walls. Since my house is still a work in progress I thought I would share these fun finds with you and these great local stores.

This was actually a book Meredith found because she was in a book club sometime last spring but she never read it until we went to the Dominican Republic. This week’s book is “The Importance of Being Married” by Gemma Townley.

Jessica Wild receives a surprise inheritance from her grandmother’s neighbor in the nursing home. Going to visit her grandmother had been more of an obligation than something she looked forward to doing. Until, she met Grace. After her grandmother passed away, Jessica continued her weekly visits to see Grace.

Without fail, every visit included Grace interrogating Jessica about her nonexistent love life. One visit Jessica decides the best way to counteract Grace’s disappointment would be to make up a boyfriend. She had to keep the relationship going and eventually she was married to her imaginary boyfriend and Grace was thrilled for her!

Unexpectedly Grace died, and Jessica receives a call from Grace’s lawyer. Turns out that Grace wasn’t just her grandmother’s sweet old neighbor, but she is quite well known and wealthy. However, the one catch is, the inheritance was left to Jessica Milton; of course in her stories she’d taken on her “husband’s” last name.

Interestingly, her “husband” is actually her boss. She sets out, with the aid of her roommate, to make her boss fall in love with her so that she can claim the 5 million pound inheritance.

While the book is pretty easy to predict, Gemma Townley does a good job of throwing in a few twists. If you love the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, you will love this book. It is a quick and easy read but it is also very entertaining.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I would have to give this Chardonnay a 3. It is the perfect wine for a night of wine with the girls. Especially because it isn’t that pricey, and can be found almost anywhere. It is fruity and not to heavy. My last glass I poured through my aerator and it really eliminated the bitter taste that is always present in every Chardonnay I’ve ever had. To me this doesn’t really stand out from any other Chardonnay.

Little Black Dress is also available in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and several other varieties. I’ve had the Cab and the Merlot and thought the Cab was pretty good. The price point on these wines doesn’t hurt either.

After finishing the Chardonnay, I had a glass of Beth’s Gewürztraminer from Messina Hof. I hope Beth doesn’t kill me, but this wasn’t my favorite. I figured I wouldn’t really like it because it would be really sweet and overly sugary, but instead the reason I am not a fan is I felt like I was drinking a bouquet of flowers. It didn’t just smell like flowers but it tasted like flowers. I suppose for some people this wouldn’t be bad but it just wasn’t for me.

Tomorrow, September 2, is National Cabernet day, what will you be drinking?

The costumes were a bit trickier this year; you couldn’t just wear argyle or plaid. . .you had to put a little more thought in it. But I think they all came out great. We had field hockey refs, runners, tennis players, soccer players/fans, and spectators. I loved everyone’s outfits!

The “crawl” took place on McKinney Ave again because it worked so well last time. We were only at each stop for 45ish minutes. First stop was Black Friar, we met there at 4:00. I was so excited about this stop because they sell Leffe Blondes, and thanks to WhitforBrit and many mentions to Leffe’s I had been wanting try one for quite some time. (Quite tasty, if I do say so myself.)

After, Black Friar we headed across the street to Idlerich Pub, where we were joined by a few more friends at this stop. The challenge for that bar was Irish Car Bombs. Not sure why but I’m a fan of these.

Next we headed up to the MAT where Big Al Mack and Red Neck Steve were kind enough to buy us all a round of shots. This is where Scott and Tiffany met up with us; I was so excited they met up with us with all they have going on.

Stop number 4 was Christies Sports bar. . .where thanks to my friend Marshall I have found my new favorite bar game, that shall be left unnamed, mainly because I don’t know the name of it if I’m being honest.

Then we had a bit of a walk up to Frankies, stop number5, where we arrived shortly after the Cowboys game started, bad timing on my part because it was packed! But still we managed to give “Liquid Courage” a try.

I quickly headed to the Quarter, last stop, because they were kind enough to hold some tables on their upstairs patio for us. I am a sucker for patios, even if it’s a bit warm. We got to the Quarter about 8:30 and stayed there until almost midnight.

It was a blast. I feel like I didn’t really get to talk to everyone that was there. . .but I hope you had as much fun as I did, and thanks for coming out for Bar Olympics 2010. Let me know if you have any ideas for next year’s theme!

Oh, and I was lucky enough to receive a lap dance. . .sort of, click HERE to watch.