Last week in pictures (11/20-11/27)

Saturday, November 20, 2010: My aunt Chris got married! I missed the ceremony because I was working but I was able to make it to the reception. Welcome to the family Kelly! (Morgan was their photographer so I got these pictures from her!)

Sunday, November 21, 2010: I collaborated with other vendors to create a mock fall wedding photo shoot. Erin Woolsey captured everything perfectly. Take a look at EventsByShelbiRene.blogspot.com and EEPhotography.squarespace.com for more pictures from the day. Here are several from Erin's blog:



Monday, November 22, 2010: I went with Annie to see Michael perform several songs at The Contemporary Theater of Dallas. He was unbelievable as always. This is him singing "Taylor's Response" (VERY funny). Move to New York already!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010: Ella spent the night at mom and dad's house. We made a castle out of packages of toiler paper rolls and when I sat down and put my legs out straight Ella said "It's a drawbridge!" Then Ella made Trey make her a tent on the stairs.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010: The Watten fam went to a Hibachi restaurant for a family dinner. All I could think of was the movie "A Christmas Story": "Fa Rah Rah Rah Rah, Rah Rah Rah Rah!"

 Turkey Day 2010: Preston and I spent Thanksgiving apart this year because it was our turn to spend it with the Rampy family in Austin and I had to work on Friday. It was just going to be too difficult to drive down I-35 and back in one day (if you've ever tried to drive this stretch of road on a holiday you know what I mean) so we just made the decision to split up this year. Not the most ideal situation but hey, you do what you gotta do and I still get to go down to Austin on Black Friday to spend the weekend with the Rampys. I went to three Thanksgivings in Dallas this year. In the morning we went to the Shannon and Marsha Bonneau household to have a Thanksgiving brunch. Then we went to the Cowboy game for Thanksgiving lunch, which by the way was an awesome game despite the fact that we lost. Morgan and I went down to the home side tunnel and took pictures and high fived all the players as they went out onto the field. Oh yeah and Keith Urban touched my hand...no big deal. He was the halftime show performer and went onto the field before the game with Nicole Kidman and their daughter. After the game we went to the Watten grandparent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. (I'll post more Thanksgiving pics later...maybe).

Sunday Rose, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban

Black Friday 2010: I worked and then flew to Austin to see the Rampy clan and I saw this in the Sky Mall magazine and wanted it immediately. I am fully aware of the title at the top of the page.

Saturday, November 27, 2010: The twins, me and Atosha went to see "Tangled" at the movie theater. I love seeing these two!

Last week in pictures (11/12-11/19)



Friday, November 12, 2010: Shopping for Christmas or for myself? The world may never know (but I'm really good at shopping for myself...and others).

Saturday, November 13, 2010: I took a million pictures of Evan and Shaylee's wedding that can be found on this post.

Sunday, November 14, 2010: We had a holiday decorating party at work and this guy was creeping us out in the stock room. I kind of love him.

Monday, November 15, 2010: Neato arrangement that arrived for someone at work! Is it stalkerish that I take pictures of other people's flowers? I think so.



Tuesday, November 16, 2010: Preston and I had dinner at Market Street, one of my many happy places, and their floral department is simply divine this time of year.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010: Preston took me on a date to Twisted Root for lunch and I had a Caramel Root Beer Float. Ya'll it was delicious. Caramel + Root Beer + homemade ice cream = muy delicioso!

Thursday, November 18, 2010: Mo and I saw Harry Potter at 7:30PM because my sister is a rockstar and got us tickets to a real premiere! We would have had to go at midnight (in fact Morgan actually did go again at midnight) but I had to work the next day and was not too thrilled about going to work on 4 hours of sleep so when Mo got us tickets to the 7:30 showing I declared her THE best sister in the world.

Friday, November 19, 2010: We set up for Friends and Family day at work. Lot's of goodies to buy!

Evan and Shaylee Webb

Shaylee and Evan are married and I have the pictures to prove it! This was definitely one of my favorite weekends of the year. We got to hang out with great friends, see family and witness one of our best friends get hitched. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Preston and Shaylee have been BFF’s since birth and have pretty much been like brother and sister their whole lives. I met both of them around the same time in college and after dating Preston became quick friends with Shaylee too. If you were at our wedding, she's the one who sang The Prayer with Michael Gasparro during the Prelude. On the way to Shaylee's wedding Preston said maybe he should call her and remind her that she forgot to ask him to sing in the wedding...like he would've said yes if she had asked. ;)She sang in her own this weekend too and it was of course beautiful. The ceremony was at Hyde Park Baptist in downtown Austin and the reception was at the Headliner's Club at the top of the Chase building downtown. Both were gorgeous venues!

I know this picture is blurry but it is super cute so I had to include it!

ACU friends! Sam, Elena, Taryn, Bethany, Lana, (Chris sneaking in back there), Candice and me!

I love this picture of us...so sad it's blurry too. :(

This was hilarious...Preston's friend Tara gave her son a time out and he was just standing against the windows sobbing. SO CUTE!

They changed for their departure into coordinating outfits! I mean, look how adorable they are! They look like they just walked out of a Banana Republic catalog!

As soon as we all headed outside to wish the newlyweds farewell we caught a glimpse of the getaway car heading the opposite direction. Evan's brother was driving and Shaylee's brother was navigating and they accidentally turned one street too early so they had to circle the block to make it back to the front of the building since the entrance was on a one way street. It took about 10 minutes for them to come back around so we all just stood there ringing our bells, saying good-bye and laughing! Of course they handled it beautifully. At one point Shaylee's dad said "If you need me I can give you a ride!"

Hugging everybody good bye

Now what do we do?

Let's be really cute and kiss.

Me and Brooke ringing the daylights out of those bells.

Yay! Here it comes!

And they're off! (Finally!!!)

Congratulations Evan and Shaylee Webb!!!

On the way back to Dallas we were listening to the Cowboy game (How ‘bout dem Cowboys!!!) and when the power went off at the stadium so did the radio reception to the game. After a couple seconds of silence the station began playing commercials and all of a sudden we hear “As the official electricity provider of your Dallas Cowboys, Direct Energy is proud to offer the best rates for you and your family…Jerry Jones trusts Direct Energy with his stadium so you can trust Direct Energy with your home!” It’s at about this point that we both laughed out loud because having been listening to the radio, we just assumed the game was in Dallas. We called my mom to relay the humor and that’s when she told us the game was in New York, but it sure was ironic either way. Kinda makes you wonder who is the official electricity provider of the New York Giants?

A Picture A Day...

So a friend of mine inspired me to start a new tradition. I am going to attempt to take a picture everyday of this year and document it right here on my blog. Crazy maybe, but much easier than writing every day and hopefully I’ll be able to look back and sort of remember what was going on every single day of my 26-year-old life. Kinda cool! I have assured myself, though, that if I miss a day it’s not the end of the world.

So here’s this week’s installment:

11/5/10: I already posted this pic but here it is again! Preston took me to dinner for my birthday at Nick and Sam's in Uptown and this was my birthday dessert! YUM!

11/6/10 (My Birthday): An odd picture you might say for my birthday but while I was coordinating the wedding I had a little break and saw on Twitter someone wrote to look up this directions from Japan to China on Google Maps and check out direction #43 and so I did...

11/7/10: We went to lunch for my birthday with my fam at the Galleria and I saw this gorgeous couch at Pottery Barn and am in love. I'll take the whole shabang...pillows, throws and that hot guy in the corner.

11/8/10: My birthday was on a Saturday so Monday morning I showed up to work and my boss had decorated my desk for me!

11/9/10: I cheated and stole this picture from NBC5.com. Meredeith Land interviewed Matt and his wife Lauren on the 10 'o clock news about his life this past year since being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Great interview and can be found here.



11/10/10: This guy's boss had 200 balloons delivered to him for his birthday and I helped pull them all out of the bags. I had permanent static electricity in my hair for the rest of the day...so worth it.

11/11/10: This came for someone at the office today and I just think it's adorable! It's a bouquet of carnations made to look like a cupcake!!! I love it!

I will also do quotes of the week when applicable...

Granny Bonneau's status on Facebook yesterday (I anticipate many more of these in the future):

"Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. That is not going to be any fun."

and

"Would like to sneak a thought in,without God knowing it."

Preston’s comment to me after I slammed the bathroom door in his face when he asked me to stop singing (with a smile on his face he would add): "I like your singing! It's funny!"

Happy Birthday To Me!

I hate singing "Happy Birthday" to me. It's just so awkward. Where do you look? I always try to focus on the candle but sometimes there is no candle so then I just focus on the cake. This weekend my Granny told me it helps to sing along. Still awkward but it did help. Made me feel like I was singing to someone else.

So it was my birthday this weekend and even though I was working, I really had a great time! Here's the breakdown of the weekend:

Wednesday Preston had these gorgeous beauties delivered to me at the office:

Stunning aren't they? And how wonderful is it that they come back in season right when it's my birthday?

On Friday he surprised me with a load of Godiva chocolate covered strawberries (they were gone before I could get a picture) and Friday night he surprised me with a birthday dinner at Nick and Sam's in Uptown. Oh. My. Goodness. Y'all. Best steak I've ever put in my mouth. I am not kidding you. I was shocked. I mean this place wasn't cheap but I've been to some pretty darn good steak restaurants and this place takes the cake! Literally. Check out my enormous birthday dessert:

Saturday we went shopping in the morning for birthday clothes. I told Preston that for my gift this year all I wanted was for him to go shopping with me and not complain. I told him he could sit on the couch and play on his phone but when I came out of the dressing room he had to humor me with his "honest" opinion. He got kudos from all the girls at Anthropologie for being so patient (4 hours I believe?) until they realized he was my husband and not my boyfriend. He still got a little credit. :)

At the end of my escapade I had a bundle of "yes's" and our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: What's my budget?
Preston: How much is all of that?
Me: What's my budget?!
Preston: HOW much is all of that?!
Me: I ASKED YOU FIRST! What is my budget!?!
Preston: HOW MUCH IS ALL OF THAT!
ME: (This is where I named an ungodly price that I will not share.)
Preston: Uh, that's four times as much as I was thinking.
Me: (in a high pitched squeaky voice) THAT'S WHY I ASKED WHAT MY BUDGET WAS!!!!!!!!

I threw out two outfits and we were good to go.

I then went straight to work on the wedding I coordinated that night. I couldn't have asked for better clients on my birthday. They were so sweet, so easy-going and so much fun. The bride even wished me a Happy Birthday on stage at her reception and told all her guests they better do so too. So great. I loved them.

On Sunday we went to the Grand Lux cafe at the Galleria with the fam and mom took me to Sephora and bought me the airbrush makeup machine for which I had asked. Then on Monday I showed up to this at work:

and that night I went to dinner with all my Anthro girlfriends at Cheesecake Factory because three of use have birthdays on November 6th, 7th and 8th! It was a miracle we were all able to get together...a birthday miracle. The chances of all of us being off on any night of the week are very, very slim. The waiter brought us three chocolate sundaes and sang to us. I sang along again.

The birthday girls and Molly! Me (11/6), Amanda (11/8) and Michelle (11/7)

My Anthro girls! Leslie, Leigh, me, Amanda, Molly, Michelle and Amy

So we played it pretty low key this weekend and it was perfect. Now I am closer to 30 than I am to 20 and it's freaking me out. I was getting really comfortable at 25...

Happy Halloween!

I am EXHAUSTED from this weekend! It was so fun but SO crazy. I wore four costumes for Halloween. FOUR! I just couldn't make up my mind but hey, I probably spent a total of $20 on all four costumes put together so no harm done. I also threw myself a Halloween/Birthday/Rangers party on Saturday night so I was in the zone all day Saturday; but let me start with Friday.

At work everybody goes ALL OUT for Halloween. Not only are the costume outrageous, but sections of cubicles were transformed into everything from Harry Potter's castle to Avatar's forest. One section of cubicles decorated their area to look like a scene from the Blair Witch Project and when you went inside people jumped out and scared you. Of course I loved every moment of it. Not sure anyone got a thing done at work on Friday but we sure had fun!

Our lovely front desk

This robot had blinking buttons and everything!

The Blair Witch Project

Tropic Thunder...they had bubble wrap on the ground so it sounded like gun shots when you walked through their area.

Avatar

 And for your viewing pleasure...one of the skits at the office Halloween party...



Friday night we were invited to a party by one of Preston's friends from work and in order to understand our costume for that night you must have seen these commercials:



I saw the commercials on Ellen last year and she made a huge deal out of them so Preston and I decided to dress up as...

Shake Weight models!!!

Most everybody got it. Unfortunately we had to explain it to some people. Luckily I had my iPhone cued. Hooray for completely awkward costumes.

Saturday was my party and I spent all day decorating and creating Halloween food. I have wanted a Halloween birthday party for a few years now and finally just decided (a week ago) that this was the year I was going to make it happen. I'm glad I did it but it sure wore me out. On Wednesday night I about had a panic attack after I had labored for hours over my signs for the candy only to realize that when I opened them on the Mac to print them I didn't have the right font so they were all a mess. Then the circles were too big, then the printer was broken, then this computer wouldn't work with that printer, then the circles were still too big. It was an ordeal but I mean when does technology EVER cooperate when you're on a time crunch? Thanks to my calm and patient husband they were fixed in no time and I learned an important lesson about learning to breathe.

I am going to post mostly pictures of the actual party part on this blog but if you want to see more pictures of the decor go to my events blog.

Now to reveal costume #3 for me. You've heard of The Real Housewives of Atlanta...

 

The Real Housewives of Orange County...

And the Real Housewives of New York City...

Well now I present to you, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City!

Get it?! Brittany is pregnant which makes it even better but you unfortunately can't tell in this picture. I am wearing a name tag that says Wife #1 and Brittany's says Wife #2. :)

Taylor and Gwendolyn were characters from the tv show "Chuck."

Preston and Aaron were Wiggles for Anna Grace...not sure she even noticed.

Leigh and me

Kendra making her caramel apple

I look sick because I guess that's the point.

This is just a funny picture...not sure what's going on.

Brittany the party animal, Ashton the bird and Kendra the Little Red Riding Hood

On actual Halloween day I dressed as a peacock and told Preston he didn't have to dress up. He'd already dressed up twice and I really didn't feel like trying to come up with one more costume for him. I started telling everyone he was my escort but quickly discovered that was not the best choice of words. I was referring to the type of escort mascots have at football games (you know, the person who makes sure the mascot doesn't fall down the stairs) because Preston literally had to help me in and out of the car. This was definitely my favorite costume and completely opposite from my costume the night before.

One guy asked if I was Taylor Swift. I laughed and said I was Taylor Swift last year and told him Preston was Kanye West and he said "So is your husband Kanye West again?" I said no I'm not Taylor Swift, I'm a peacock. I think from now on I'll spare myself the trouble and just wear cowboy boots and a guitar every Halloween because apparently all I will ever be is Taylor Swift. What can you do.

Kendra had a party at her house so we stopped by before heading to Coppell to see the Gauntts.

These were in the yard...remind me to tell you about my Granny and the glass floor hotel. Good story.

The hostess with the mostess and me!

Spooky punch...see the hands?!

Look at that awesome food table! Yum!!!

Crate and Barrell...get it?

Alex (Lady Gaga) and Morgan (Harry Potter)

And then the tooth fairy showed up...

She said, "I like your costume Shelbi!" Please notice the toothbrush in her hair and the floss on her wand.

 

Little missy trick-or-treating

Visiting the Gauntt's at their annual Halloween block party! AG said "no!" to her costume.

The birthday boy! He did NOT like that hat.

Happy birthday Boo! The cake was really for me, but since it wasn't really my birthday we sang to Boo. Mmmm Baskin Robbins ice cream cake!!!

You must watch this video from the Ellen show last week. She videoed her "reporter" walking through a haunted house by herself and it is hilarious. I kid you not Preston and I were laughing so hard I was literally crying. I don't think I have EVER laughed that hard.

I love when she screams at nothing and especially when they pan the camera over and it's just a crew member. SO FUNNY!

Can I also just say how proud of the Rangers I am? Who cares if we didn't win? It was so much fun and if nothing at all it helped take away attention from the Cowboys. I think it's great we made it so far and we're good enough to do it again. We beat the Yankees for goodness sake. That's a feat worth celebrating in itself. The Rangers will always be champions to me!

AND I just have to give a shout out to my Dad's alma mater: Sic 'em BEARS!!! It's a great time to be a Baylor Bear!!!