Showering Danis & Drew

My mom and several other women hosted a shower for Danis and Drew this weekend at our home in Conway. I got to go home to help (lots of cleaning and decorating), and my sister came home as well! We had such a great time and I think the shower was a success. Here are a few pictures:

First, the cake, drinks and dessert room.

Cakes by Patty Cakes in Conway:

Present time!

Danis is super excited about something. :)

Great gift idea. Wok with all the Asian seasonings and spices you could ever need:

Danis's great-grandmother quilted every one of the grandchildren a quilt before she passed away. Danis's mother saved it to give to Danis for her wedding. So sweet.

Look at all the great gifts they got!

Danis, Drew and the moms:

Danis and the hostesses:

The beautiful couple:

Per usual, I just said something super funny:

The three amigos. So fun catching up with Christin. Can't wait to meet Baby R at Danis's wedding.

Conway Re-Design

Just a few pictures of my mom's redecorated house. It is gorgeous!

Here's the first view of the den. Love the new chair and ottoman.

Another view of the den.

Third den view. The presents on the new table are not always there... just for Danis' shower!

This is the front living room. The color yellow in the first picture is the most accurate (it's not near as bright of a yellow as the second picture makes it seems).

The kitchen. Again, it's not that bright of a green. I love the new china hutch (and I decorated that piece myself)!

You can see more of the re-design in the next post with pictures of Danis' shower.

Faces

This is a random post, but here it is. As you may know, my computer crashed over the break, leaving me with a blank computer slate for the second time in two years. I lost everything... again. All of my pictures, etc. Then last week my phone started a quick trek to the phone graveyard. It wasn't turning on, wouldn't connect to my computer, and I realized I might lose all my pictures on my phone as well. Then I got really upset. I was concerned I would lose all my pictures of my Dad. So once when my phone actually did turn on I sent several pictures of him to myself so that I could have them no matter what. And now I'm sharing them with you. Enjoy... the faces of my Dad. These are just a few and the most recent, but they're what I've got now.

This is a great one... look how good he looked.

St. Patrick's Day last year... we were at MD Anderson.

Sweetly resting. Quite rude of me to take his pic with his defenses down.

Great picture of Mom and Dad.

At my brother's rehearsal dinner.

Enjoying the sun and beauty during his short time here on Earth.

Miss you Daddy. You have such a beautiful face.

Highlights of a month of lazy.

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I've had many, many blogposts in my head that I just haven't written down. I think mostly it's because I've just been enjoying my down-time from Christmas break. School has started back now, but it hasn't gotten hectic yet.

Highlights of the past month or so:

1) I had a month off from school... awesome.

2) Christmas in NYC - and a blizzard.

3) Visiting my best friends in DC, along with a grueling 5 mile hike in the snow.

4) Putting the horror that was the year 2010 behind.

5) Starting my 3 month bootcamp challenge (I'm loving it)!

6) Visiting my Daddy's family in Louisiana... and eating some delicious food along the way.

7) Helping get our good friend Greg Treat elected to the Oklahoma State Senate.

8) Playing lots of Scrabble (mostly during the blizzard, but AKC and I have since purchased our own board and have suffered through several all-evening games).

9) Receiving fun Christmas presents: Pride & Prejudice Collector's edition, cool clothes, a deep-freeze loaded with meat (and a deep fryer), bubble bath, a cool book by Paulo Cohelo, and many, many other fun things!

10) Did I mention that AKC and I stayed in and went to bed around 11:00 on New Years? Also awesome.

11) Learning to bake bread!

12) Completing the whole series of LOST.

13-20) Fun stuff I can't even remember now.

Just a few Lowlights:

1) Computer crashed - harddrive destroyed - everything (including all pictures) lost.

2) Got the stomach flu/food poisoning... and so did Aaron. Yuck.

3) Did a one week fluids-only cleanse.

Clearly, the good stuff outweighs the bad! Hopefully I'll get better at updating now that I'm back to a regular school/work schedule.

Happy reading!

A Christmas Post

Merry Christmas to one and all! Aaron and I have had a great few days in NYC, despite the frigid (ok, just plain cold, but I'm a winter-wuss) temperatures. We've hit some of the highlights of the city, but mostly had fun just hanging out together and with my family (and my sister's in-laws). Here are some pictures of the trip's highlights:

Checking out the scene at Central Park's Wollman Rink.


Thankfully only looking at, not partaking in, the ice-skating fun. I break things. It's simply a fact of life. Moral of the story: I no longer ice skate.

The best Christmas gift... or at least the cutest!

Aaron and I visited the famous Papaya King. Delicious hot dogs, and some interesting Papaya juice.

Lexington, the star of the show. He had a little run in with Zach's dog "Keiser Wilhelm."

Finally, one of many rounds of Scrabble Flash, which Mr. Cantrell got from my mom for Christmas. This game is crazy addictive, but I am TERRIBLE at it. Not terrible? My sister, Zach, Adam, Aaron, Mr. Cantrell, pretty much anyone else...

Aaron is supposed to leave tomorrow, but looks like we may be stuck here due to the blizzard hitting the town tomorrow morning. Wish I had snow boots! I'm heading to DC/VA on Monday (if the weather permits travel) to go to my good friend Chipley's wedding reception. We'll post some more pics if we get some snow.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Today

Has been rough. This is a bit of what I feel like. If you can name this book, you win... well, my respect?

Six Months and Counting

Today marks the six month anniversary since Aaron and I have been married. I note it only because we have discussed celebrating our anniversary on this day in the future, since our "real" anniversary is surrounded by some very sad memories. Regardless, I can't believe it has been so long. In some ways, it feels like forever. And sometimes, it feels as if only moments have passed.

I would write a post about the highlights and lowlights (like there have been any of those... ;) of these six months, but I'm smack dab in the middle of finals and have been dilly-dallying enough already.

Two days from now marks another six month anniversary. I have spent quite a bit of time mourning this upcoming moment already (meaning that hopefully it is out of my system). It is simply too long to be without someone we love so, so very much. Please keep my whole family in your prayers for this day in particular, and the holiday season in general. Furthermore, I have a final that morning and another one the next day.

I would like to leave you with a picture of The Coopers from our special day. Love to all, and to all a good night.