Old Stomping Grounds

About a month ago, some of my closest girlfriends surprised me with an early birthday present and chipped in to buy a plane ticket for me. A plane ticket to Fargo, ND. Specifically the weekend of the NDSU Bison Homecoming!

Just the girls. All weekend. It was wonderful.

I had a chance to catch up with Ann and Sarah and Amy and Jess and Shannon and KamiJo and others. It was some much needed girl time for me. I hang around one-too many boys down here in San Antonio.

Thursday I spent the day with Sarah and we made a much needed trip to Scheels. I was in HEAVEN. Bison gear AND Twins gear under the same roof! And no shipping charges. Amazing. After Amy was done with work that day we made a short road trip to Fredonia, ND to visit our old roommate. She had just had a baby girl a month ago so we got to hang out with her 1.5 year old and snuggle with the new baby. Too fun.

On our trip out there, I was reminded how beautiful the Midwest really is. Rolling hills, beautiful skies, nothing as far as the eye can see.

On Friday I had a chance to go visit with some of my old co-workers from Bobcat and catch up with them. It's fun going back 3 years later feeling as if not a week has gone by. That night Ann, Jess and I killed some wine bottles and had some major girl chat time.

Saturday we tailgated and cheered on the Bison for a HUGE win over Youngstown. We visited all the old college bars and ran into a lot of former classmates. Serious fun.

The Girls Tailgating. I didn't even mind that I had to wear 6+ layers of clothes to stay warm!

BLH girlies!

My plane to return to back South came waaaaaaaaaay to fast. I had such a wonderful time and hated saying goodbye, but I have come to appreciate the time I get to spend with my friends and just look forward to the next :)

Make sure and tell your friends how much they mean to you. Try and make the effort to see the friend that lives 20 minutes away that you never seem to "have the time to get together." Without getting TOO sappy, I guess I just want to say don't take the proximity of your friends for granted. Once you move 20 hours away- that is when you can say it is hard to find time to get together. ;)

p.s I didn't even mind that it SNOWED while I was there! Obviously I had so much fun with the girls that the 40º weather and SNOW didn't even bother me :)

What Fargo greeted me with Thursday morning!

'Tis the Season

We all know what season I am talking about, right? WEDDING season!!! Thankfully (oh so very thankful) most of our college friends are spacing out their marriages by 6 months or more. Which helps our travel/gift/tux/dress money budget out so much.

This past weekend (the same weekend as my sisters prom!) we were in MN for a wedding up in Bertha, MN. Small town MN. It reminded me a lot of the Olivia/BL/Hector area. Small towns that everyone is linked to. Church in one town, reception in the next.

These two have been our friends pretty much since day 1 of college. Well, Jake anyway. Amanda didn't come around until our JR year at NDSU. She traveled to Cancun with us and they both came down and visited us in TX, so they have been great friends. We were so happy it worked out to make the trip home!

Here is the lovely couple on their big day!

She had such amazing decorations, which she made 90% herself. (She is a home-ec teacher just to help you make you feel better about yourself after you look at this!) haha She made the cake toppers, the cake, and those bottles/flowers. She also made her own poms that hung from the ceiling on the dance floor. It was such an adorable wedding!

In addition to celebrating the marriage, Kyle and I got to catch up with a ton of friends from college. It was an amazing yet exhausting weekend, but I really enjoyed it! I even had some girlfriends drive from Fargo to meet me for breakfast Saturday morning before the wedding. I woudl have a picture but one of them (*cough* amy* cough*) has not shared yet!

Love these girls! All attended NDSU and enjoyed lots of weekends together!

My partner in crime for the weekend....and generally most of the time ;)

Kyle was an usher in the wedding. Nice colored suit, isn't it?!

It was a great "friends weekend" and now in just a short time it will be a "family weekend!"

Wedding Bells

Last weekend Kyle and I traveled all the way up to Bismark, ND for a very close friend of ours wedding. It was a long trip (3 hour plane ride, 4 hour drive to Fargo, then another 3 hour drive to Bismark) But it was well worth it. On our drive to Bismark we saw so much water!!!! They were controlling it at parts to keep it from flooding. Can we ship some of that to TX, please?!


On Friday Kyle borrowed some clubs from our friend (unfortunately it was a female friend with pink and purple clubs) and I treated myself to an afternoon with the girls and pedicures. It was amazing! Then we had the rehersal and grooms supper, which was an amazing evening at the park with make-your-own tacos. It was a beautiful evening (with GREEN grass!).

The hair dresser got to the room at 7:15 am to start on hair. It was an early start to the day but with 9 girls getting their hair done it takes a while! Shannon, one of my other super close friends, did my hair and I loved it! Picture and the ceremony turned out wonderful...can't wait to see the professional ones!

My partner in crime for the weekend, Kelly. Kyle & me, and me with the beautiful bride, and my very close friend, Ann

After the ceremony all the wedding party piled in the 'Retro Bus' to drive around town to go take some group pictures out by the (flooded) river. They turned out awesome! She picked an excellent photographer. The reception was amazing, with plenty of dancing and drinks to go around. She had a super cute idea of a popcorn table instead of candy table, all with different flavors. The entire day was a success and it was awesome to spend time with friends. Even though I payed for it the next day, I had an amazing time :)

The Retro Bus..complete with fuzzy pillows and rope lights in the floor! The bus drive made a pit-stop at Dairy Queen...we were all so confused. Here he wanted to get the first thing for The Newlyweds to share...an ice cream cone!





The popcorn table (every flavor was delicious...Ranch, Jalepeno Cheddar, Parmesan Garlic), a group of old college friends, the "Hector group" and the group that started the entire friendship...the Call Center Group. We all met through our part-time job at college at NDSU and we all developed life-long friendships.

Congrats, again Mr. & Mrs. Shoenberg!

Congrats!

Just want to send a quick "Congrats!" to one of my friends back in Fargo who very recently got engaged! We met when I was working at Bobcat, and became friends...and still are! I am so happy for them!

Me and Jessica in Fargo at the Going Away Party shew threw for Kyle and me before we moved to Texas. Also here we are dressed up for Halloween! Minnie Mouse and Spidy-woman. :)

Congrats Troy and Jess!!!

happy new year

Happy New Year!

After a couple weeks off spent at home, I was able to see family (my seeing-friends trip was canceled due to SNOW) and have a ton of fun.

The 19 hour drive home went as good as it could, and Tucker slept the ENTIRE way home. He did amazing! He made instant friends with Chester and Trigger, and even payed his respects to the older pups, Maggie and Hershey. He was also spoiled rotten by every other family member. He is bored and lonely now in TX!

We were able to go out and enjoy a warm(ish) day in the snow at the Bruns', and snapped a few pics while we were at it. Tucker loved the snow, and I even had fun in it! (I am not a huge snow fan). We got the four-wheeler out and took the sled for a run.

I have way more to post about and more pictures to share and more thoughts to type...but this is a nice short and sweet post, a welcome-back post. These pictures, on the other hand, remind me that snow can be fun, but I am still loving my warm TX weather... ;)

snowy vs. sunny...

I read alot of online news sites like MSN, CNN, MSNBC, the San Antonio Express News, and of course, the Inforum from Fargo, ND. I checked the Inforum website today, and was shocked at what I saw! The first headline that jumped out at me was, "Fargo-Moorhead "bulls-eyed" by snowstorm, reports of 11.5 inches so far today"

After reading that, I thought I must have mis-read, because surely, it can't snow a foot in one day, can it?

Oh how soon I forget the power of SNOW.

As I looked at the article, it was hard to believe that as employees looked out the window to the parking lot at work, they saw this:

Outside the Microsoft Campus in Fargo

Compare that to when I looked out my window towards my parking lot at work:There is a bit of difference! Crazy to think I would be in the same spot a year ago. It also boggles my mind...I need my AC on today and Fargo needs shovels and snowplows.

So- if you are up North, hope you are warm, safe, and well. If you are down South, hope you are cool and comfortable!