Year In Review: Highlights of 2011

I know I said I was going to start with 2012, but I had such an amazing past 12 months or so, I’d thought I would give a quick cheater bullet list to show the abundance of blessings in my life!


Nov/Dec 2010
 • Not technically 2011, but a couple of things worth mentioning…First, Costa Rica. Ahhh, Costa Rica. It was fabulous. Such a gorgeous country with so many activities to enjoy. Kathy, Amber and I took a girls trip for 8 wonderful days. We ate some of the most amazing food I’ve ever had…actually we gorged…and gained a few lbs…but it was AMAZING. We had massages, we went zip lining, we hiked the Arenal Volcano, we spent an evening soaking in the Tabacon Hot Springs, we went white water rafting, we walked on the beach, we read several books by the pool…and we ate A LOT.

• Secondly, Lisa finally convinced me to join match.com. I was only on it for a few months, but highly recommend it. It’s a great place to ‘meet’ people and weed them out before the actual, awkward first date. It has its flaws but overall, it has great potential. I have some great stories out of it for sure…including the new words ass-tastic and blowski, as well as, about 15 offers of steak and wine from the same guy in his 50s that just couldn’t get the hint. A couple of my women’s bible study nights ended with my match profile on the big screen and the entertainment of some guys and their emails/comments/profiles. Good times.

January

• Aggies make it to the Cotton Bowl! All the Aggies gather at Lisa’s for a game watching party and dinner. Fun!
• Dallas gets snow…and lots of it! And I ‘borrow’ a cute kiddo to play with me in it!

February

• Cirque de Soléis comes to Frisco!


March
• Angie and Ron get married!!

• Megan turns 10 and we have her party in Dallas at the park with the Andersons and Lyles!

April

• Granny turns 80!
• Easter Potluck dinner at my house…and Brandon Woods walks in my front door, not knowing anyone, but confidently meets part of my group of friends with no knowledge of what the future held for him. :)


May
• Lisa, Mica and I take our mom’s on our annual NYC trip…Mother/Daughter trip of a lifetime! We shopped, we ate, we negotiated, we walked, we ate, we laughed, we hit all the touristy spots, we ate, we went to a broadway show, we met all the ‘plastic’ stars, WE MADE MEMORIES…and we ate some more!!

June

• Megan’s 1st dance recital

• Lisa announced her 4th pregnancy…what will it be this time!? He...or she...

• Fabulous (free) trip to Hawaii – Ritz Carlton, zip lining, shopping, food, wine, catamaran and snorkeling tour, helicopter tour over Maui, beaches, tried ahi tuna for the first time and fell in love with it…yum!!

 July

• Annual summer week with Megan in Dallas – pool parties, girlie dinners, cookie making, aquariums, girls only sleepovers, train rides, mani/pedis and photo shoots…so much fun!!

August
• Finally bought my Mac. Love.It.
• Kathy’s Baby Shower!

• 8/14/2011 – First real date with Brandon. Hadn’t seen or heard his name since Easter. He pops up on my facebook in a tagged picture with a mutual friend. I see it, send him a friend request…and he immediately starts a conversation and asks me out on a date! We start dating exclusively right after that! And I'm a big fan :)


• Annual River Trip – Malpractice/Doctors & Nurses Theme

• Begin seeing the acupuncturist (aka Dr Voodoo) for my sleep issues…doesn’t do much for me over the next couple of months so I quit


September


• 7 day Cruise in the Caribbean with Jill, Bruce and Shane. Jamaica – catamaran and snorkel tour. Grand Cayman – Swimming with the Dolphins and Stingrays. Cozumel – laying on the beach/swimming in the ocean

• Lisa’s big gender reveal party…IT’S A BOY!!

October


• Celebrate Bama’s birthday in College Station. Aggies beat Baylor!

• Mom FINALLY gets to skydive. Her lifelong dream! And she loved it!

• Rangers make it to the playoffs and Brandon and I get to go the final game at the Ballpark. Such a cool event to be at!

November


• Harper is born! Such a beautiful, sweet blessing!

• Twilight – Breaking Dawn: Part 1 – I saw it twice in one week. Once with Ang and once with Mom. So good! Can’t wait for the next one!


December
• Jury Duty – First assignment, not one of the 12 jurors selected but it took about 12 hours before I knew that. No Fun!
• Minute to Win It game night at Lisa’s house – Mica, Lisa, Kathy, Amber and all of our guys! Good times!

Brandon and I win!!

• Telluride Ski Trip with Brandon, Amber and John – Gorgeous views, fantastic food and fabulous friends! 2 days of skiing and 1 day of snowmobiling, lots of eating, happy hours, walking the town, riding the gondola and…AMBER AND JOHN GOT ENGAGED!! Absolutely amazing setting…top of the mountain at sunset and a stunning diamond ring!! So exciting!!

New Year, Fresh Start

I know, I know…I’ve said it before, but I’m going to try start writing a blog again. No promises, but it’s a start. Not really sure where the inspiration is coming from, but I did read something the other day regarding blogs/picture albums/scrapbooks…the advice, don’t look back. Just start new and move forward. So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve been overwhelmed by the thought of starting a blog and not knowing where to begin since I’ve had so many awesome things to write about in the past couple of years. I have no doubt 2012 is going to be the best year yet…so let’s start there.

Any suggestions...any advice on new 'things to know' since I last blogged...any ideas on a new 'look'...all welcome from my blog experts.

Wow…I’m really 30!?

So this year was my big 30th…and boy did I celebrate! (yes, I know this is a bit late…and no I doubt I won’t do it justice but I’m going to blog about it almost 3 months later…b/c I had such an amazing time!). let me just say, I have amazing friends. my friends went all out this year seriously. We all know I like to celebrate bdays…and I typically celebrate several times each year and this year was no different…I literally celebrated the entire month. I had work bday lunches, multiple bday dinners and 2 amazing bday parties!

So, I began my bday celebrating with an amazing bday bash in Waco. Lisa and Mica know how to throw a party…to say the least. We (aka all of my ‘young friends’) had a blast for the entire weekend…we had everything from water balloon fights, wagon and mule riding, 4-wheeling, hot-tubbing, horseshoe throwing…black and pink themed decorations including balloons, flowers, an amazing banner, ‘kellie’s favorite saying’ cards, advice for kellie cards…we had yummy food galore including catering from my favorite BBQ restaurant in Waco, my aunt Nancy’s infamous potato salad and fabulous cookies, Candice’s yummy banana pudding, a huge cake…seriously, nothing was left out. These girls went all out. My parents volunteered their house (hotel Watson) for us to throw down at this shindig…we stayed all weekend, drank their beer (and apple pie!), took advantage of Barney on-demand, and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast Sunday morning, prepared by my dad himself. The invitees included all of my favorite ‘people of my past/present/and future’…including my best friends from high school and their families, my amazing college roommates and my two very best college friends. My entire family showed up for this big celebration and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. I planned to write this blog long ago…but it’s so overwhelming to write blogs like this, b/c there’s just no way to capture all of the planning, effort, money and time that went into something like this. I can’t show my appreciation enough to all of those involved. The party was amazing. My pictures are so fun to look at. All of the kids that mean the most to me had such a wonderful time playing with each other. The weekend was perfect. It involved everyone that knows me so well and I could not have asked for a more perfectly planned event…or a more perfectly celebrated birthday. Thanks to Mica and Lisa for being the great friends that you are. Thank you for planning such a fun event for us all. Thanks to all of you who gave me such great gifts and made my 30th bday so memorable.

So, I came back to Dallas on Sunday afternoon…and Monday night had another fun celebration. First, I got flowers during the day from a couple of the girls. Then, some of my closest ‘single’ girlfriends started off my week with surprise dinner at Bob’s Steakhouse. I had never been there…they all love it and knew that I had never been…so they treated me to dinner. YUMMY. Wow, it was fantastic steak…and we had a fantastic evening. I was treated at lunch on Wednesday by my team at work. Wednesday night (my actual bday)…we won’t go into the details about what I was ‘supposed’ to do that night…but what I ended up doing was hanging out with Mica and Lisa again. Yes, I am blessed with two of the most amazing best friends you can ask for. They dropped their plans last minute, raced to meet me and take me out to dinner for my actual bday. We went to BJ’s where we could partake in our ‘one big splurge’. The one thing that makes this dinner more interesting is the fact that as they are driving to meet me from their respective homes…a storm is brewing…not just any storm…a tornado. The fact that BJ’s restaurant is a building that is complete ceiling to floor walls of windows…helped us to witness exactly how bad the storm was about to be. We watched poles being blown around as if they were made out of gumby himself. They both had their husbands questioning their sanity as they left their house…but they were absolutely determined to be with me…on my birthday…and they were. As we sat down, we immediately began looking for a place to ‘hide’…our table moved around so nope that wouldn’t work…and we began texting those we loved telling them we loved them. And I laughed…well, after the storm passed us…about the fact that at least if I was going to die that night, at least I would get to die with them instead of sitting at home by myself!

Thursday I had another work lunch with my ‘old’ group. Friday night was a big 6 person group birthday bash. We had a big group Happy Hour and then a few us went out on a couple of boats for a midnight cruise. We had a blast. My single friends are so much fun…we have made so many great memories in the past few years…and this night just added to our collection of pictures! We had about 80 people respond to the evite that they were coming…we owned the bar that night…it was awesome. Later in the month, I had another bday dinner with another set of girls that I just adore…and they gave me even more presents. Wow, I am one lucky gal. I have friends coming out my ears…but blessed with many very close friends that would go out of their way for me at any time. I am thankful for them all…and thankful to them all for always creating such great memories for me. I’m not sure where I would be without every single one of them.

Happy 30th to me!

(btw, i have pics to add to this post, but since this has been written for almost a month now, i needed to get it posted to get one of those friends above, that I won't mention, off my case!!)

Lesson Learned

Last weekend was Jeff's 30th Birthday party…Jeff’s actual birthday is this weekend May 23rd, but it's also Memorial weekend so Lisa had his party last weekend. After Field Day, I loaded the kids up and we rushed back to Dallas, picked up the cake and made it to Lisa's just in time to welcome Jeff home for his 'big day'! Lisa catered one of our favorite Mexican food places, Blue Goose, and it was scrumptious! We ate, we played, we jumped on the trampoline, we had cake, we hung out with superheroes...all in all good times. That is...until...Jeff insisted on giving Mason 'the floor' to tell us 5 funny things. So, as most of Lisa's immediate family gathers around the table to listen to Mason and his 'top 5 list', he is beaming and you can see him mind working...which is NEVER good. I have no idea what his first funny thing was, but the 2nd one, i remember all too clearly. He proceeds to tell everyone that "Kellie toots in her sleep"...yes, a little humiliation for good ol' aunt kelbel! Fortunately, i know Lisa’s family VERY well or i may have washed mason's mouth out with soap and taught him a lesson or two about messin' with me!! They've all heard plenty of mason stories to know that this kid is CRAZY...and he'll admit it! It was hilarious though and we all cracked up.

BUT Lesson Learned: never give a 5 year old…especially one named mason…the floor. Somebody please pass that on to Jeff.

This picture does not do Lisa's very cool sign justice...it was awesome!

Field Day – No Longer a Competitive Sport??

Last Friday, I took off work to go to Megan and Mason's Field Day. I was so excited! I love Field Day! I have some great memories from 'back in the day'. I remember doing the 3-legged-race with Jamie Fannin…and one year with Lisa Little. So fun! There were some great competitive events...relay races, potato sack races, tug-of-war...and lots of practice and preparation went into this big day of the year. In high school, since it was during our off-season of sports, we even got to go 'work' a few of the stations our Junior/Senior year. It was so fun. I remember Lisa Little and I working the potato sack event and we raced each other before everyone else got to the track. Anyway, things have changed. And not for the better. I was so disappointed. I would say that Field Day is no longer any kind of a competitive event. The events have changed drastically and now include...15 minutes in a blow-up bounce house, 15 min on the playground, a less-than impressive obstacle course, parachute activity in the gym (sitting/standing in a circle with your class holding the sides of a big parachute and making waves, etc), wet sponge toss (over your head to a person standing behind you), short class/team relay and a very non-competitive tug-of-war game. Yes, it was a bit boring to watch. Don’t get me wrong, the kids had a good time, they all seemed to enjoy themselves...but let's be honest, they don't know any better. I do know better. It was boring on all accounts.

Besides the fact that it was boring, I think it now deprives the kids of what field day is all about. Work hard=Win big=Feel accomplished. When I was a kid, there were actual competitions, races, winners and losers. There were 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons given out. I'm pretty sure if I looked hard enough I could find a ribbon or two now. Yes, if you lose, you may be sad. But, if you don't teach kids now that there are winners and losers in life, when are they going to learn? I think it's a mistake to take competition out of school functions like field day. Those kids need to learn the value of putting out extra effort and working hard to get what they want...you may not always win even if you give your best effort, but that is a valuable lesson. As adults, we sometimes lose. We may try our hardest, we may work long hours, we may stress over something in order to be successful...and we may fail. The presentation may not go as well as planned. We may not get the job, the position, or the recognition that we feel we deserve...but that's life. At dinner last night, we were discussing the same type of thing. One of the girls was talking about how her manager said that she has started seeing young adults coming in for a job interviews…with their parents! What the crap?! Seriously? If you walk into an interview that I am the interviewer...and you bring your mom...you can walk right back out. Not interested. It’s stuff like this that makes me think we have gone way too soft on kids these days. Let them go alone to an interview. Let them compete at field day and lose if that's what it takes! Teach them independence and how to work hard and compete against others to win! Stepping off soapbox...I may not have been impressed with the events, but i did enjoy seeing the kids having fun...and have pics to prove it.

Field Day activity...really???

Part of the obstacle course

Choose Your Battles

A couple of weeks ago Brad and Megan came to town to spend the weekend with me. Megan loves to come to Dallas and even more so, loves to go through my closet in search of 'THE PINK HIGH HEELS' and go through my jewelry box looking for my most gaudy jewelry. So, this time was no different. She immediately walks in and asks "Can I go get the heels?" So, she proceeds to find them and wear them the rest of the weekend. Saturday night as we are getting ready to go out to dinner, she asks if she can talk to me in 'privat-cy'. We walk to the back room and she starts with, 'Please don't say no, please don't say no'. Of course, when anything starts like that, the anticipation of what might be circulating in that little head of hers cracks me up. She asks if she can wear the heels to dinner. Keep in mind, I wear a size 9 1/2 and she's wearing a kids 3...so needless to say, my shoes are way too big for her. But, the moment is priceless and her sweet face is just too hard to say no to. It's times like this that I think...or hope...that she'll always remember. I want her to remember the fun visits to Dallas to hang out with her Aunt Kellie...cool places to go, cool friends to hang out with, cool jewelry, cool high heeled shoes...and the memories of getting to wear those shoes to dinner even though they look ridiculous. Plus, i figure if Davis can wear his 'cooker' hat to school, Megan can wear ridiculously big 'high heels' to dinner...choose your battles, right Lis??

I’m back…again…for now...

Wow! Yes, it has been a long time. I have a continuous blog list that I keep as ideas come to me to blog about except I never really get around to it. And actually, eventually I just stop keeping a list altogether once i realize that list is not making it to my 'priority list'. Here's what my most current list says: Eye Surgery/Passing out at pre-surgery appt; Napa Valley Trip; Lisa's strobe light/dance party; Mica's bday party; San Antonio 1/2 Marathon. As you can see all of these things are old news by now and most of you have heard my story from them...so let's just skip ahead 6 months and get more current. With that said, I really don't have much to write about these days! Dang, should have told those stories when they were fresh...maybe I'll get to them one of these days...

I know that all of my friends that currently have blogs…and busy life with kids…and sporting events…and traveling with their jobs…and long hours at work…somehow manage to keep up with blogging on a somewhat regular basis…so why shouldn't I be able to? No, I do not have kids...no, I do not work long hours...no, i no longer travel for work...but let's be honest, I'm a busy girl! I am FUN Kellie after all! I have been continually reminded by Mica that i can even blog and upload straight from my phone now...and we all know how addicted i am to my iPhone...so no excuses right? Wrong. I have plenty. Mostly just laziness.

Now that most of my tv shows are going on summer break, I'm hoping to dedicate a little more time to things like my passion for photography…and blogging. We'll see how that goes. For now, let me catch you up on a few more recent things that are somewhat blog worthy.

I am One with Sally

Those of you who are around me often, know that I am addicted to my iPhone…I love it and have a hard time putting it down. There are so many cool features, so many cool applications…and let’s face it, I just LOOK cool on it. Just when I thought I couldn’t become any more addicted…I was finally convinced to try out a new one…Sally’s Salon. Sally and I have become best friends. This application is basically a game that involves Sally (me) running around her salon, washing, coloring, cutting, drying, waxing, manicuring and trying to get to them all as fast as she can without making anyone angry. As you finish the hair, you get paid and make tips. With this money you make, you have the option each round to buy new stuff…and you get to choose from hiring additional staff to help you, power heated dryers, upgraded manicure stations, heated waiting chairs, etc. All of these new things you purchase, help you to serve your customers better and faster…which makes the game move much more quickly and your waiting chairs fill up. The game also shows you a range of 5 small hearts above each customer’s head which allows you to see how angry they are getting…the fewer hearts the more angry which means you need to get them in the chair quickly before they march right out of Sally’s Salon. Now, it may not sound all that fun…trust me, I didn’t think so either and refused to pay .99 cents for it…I was wrong. I downloaded it this weekend to make megan happy and as soon as I played it once, I was hooked! So much so, that I was one of those people that put off a child in desperate need of attention…“I am playing Sally’s Salon…hold on!”

Seriously, though…I realized my addiction even more so today about 20 minutes ago. I didn’t really want to go anywhere at lunch today so I figured I would just eat at my desk and work a little. THEN the idea popped into my head…I’m on level 10 of Sally’s Salon…I bet I could get to 11 if I played RIGHT NOW! Haha! Seriously…Sally has me hooked…what a joke! And that is when I decided to use more time more efficiently and write a blog!! (Trust me Lis, it’s worth all ninety-nine pennies…)

25 Random Things about me

So, there was a silly survey going around on Facebook that I completed so I thought I would post it on here...and get you all off my back for a bit...that is if you even check my blog anymore for updates! :)

1) My 7 year old niece megan is the light of my life. We have an amazing bond that I hope we maintain as she grows older. My goal in her life is to be the most amazing role model that I can possibly be.

2) I am blessed with amazing parents. My mother is one of my best friends and we talk every single day…at least once. My father is one of the hardest working men I know. He can make or fix absolutely anything you need him to.

3) I met my two very best friends in college and their loyalty amazes me. I hope one day that I can be the kind of wife and mother that they are to their families. I hope that the three of us never take for granted the relationship that we have built over the past 7 years. We have no secrets…well, maybe one!

4) I am a Christian and I believe Jesus died for my sins…I have met some amazing people at church, bible studies and Christian sports leagues in Dallas.

5) I am now officially a designer jean snob. I resisted the temptation to ever even try them on b/c I didn’t want to fall in love…I have officially fallen in love.

6) I am cheap, cheap, cheap. I love to shop, but I shop cheap! I rarely buy anything named brand (except for jeans now of course!)…one of my favorite annual vacations is on a girls trip to NYC where we buy everything ‘fake’ that they make!

7) One of my biggest pet peeves is being late. I can’t stand being late and if I’m not 10 minutes early, I’m late. (on the other side of this…I hate waiting on others just as much…)

8) I have been skydiving 3 times and absolutely love it!

9) I love reality tv shows…well, let’s face it, I really like tv in general and have way too many things recording on my dvr right now. It stresses me out to have more than a couple of shows saved to watch at a time.

10) I am a busy girl. I love to make plans ahead of time…probably too far in advance. Those of you that know me well, know my schedule is filled up weeks in advance! If you want to make plans with me, you must get on my calendar quickly!

11) I am weird about making my bed and straightening my room in the mornings. My bed is made within 30 minutes after I’m up every single day.

12) No matter what time I go to bed at night, I am awake between 5AM and 6AM every single day. I can go to bed at 10PM and I’m up…I can go to bed at 2AM and I’m still up by then. It sucks, but I don’t have to worry about forgetting to set my alarm clock!

13) I have some awesome ‘single’ friends. Some of my favorite memories in Dallas are with some of my favorite people that I met after moving to Dallas. We make plans and lots of them! Wakeboarding, movies, dancing, volleyball, dinner, pacman, sporting events…we do it all!

14) I love to be outside, especially when it’s a beautiful texas day! I love to wakeboard, I love to snow ski, I love to play sand volleyball, I love to go for a walk or a run…anything to just enjoy the fresh air!

15) I am addicted to my chapstick…I have one kind I realy like and I have them stashed everywhere, purses, desk, dresser, back pocket.

16) I love to travel. My annual trips include a girls trip to NYC, a beach trip either to Destin or Mexico (or really any beach!), somewhere in the mountains to go snow skiing. I try to squeeze in a trip somewhere new around those as well!

17) I lived with 3 other girls throughout college and we had an amazing relationship… not one fight or argument in the 3 years we were together. Two of them are still very close friends of mine and we continue to make time for girls trips, girls weekends and girls dinners regularly.

18) If there are two things that I officially can’t stop eating once I start…it’s Girl Scout Cookies (the Trefoils specifically) and the sweet and salty almond bars…oh my! I don’t allow myself to purchase the almond bars anymore b/c I can eat the entire box at once…and fortunately girl scout cookies only come around once/year (and my ‘dealer’ is at work, so I am a little embarrassed to order too many from him at once!)

19) I love to buy for and give to others. I love to do things for others…if it makes them happy, it makes me happy.

20) I have a really hard time saying no. If you ask me to do something for you or go somewhere or buy you something (my brother! J), even if I don’t want to, most likely I will not say no! This gets me into trouble or just overcommitted occasionally but I will never stop. I love to see my friends and family happy!

21) I am terrible at telling a lie…don’t get me wrong, I’ve squeezed out a few white lies or two in my time, but typically,if I don’t start laughing, you can see right thru me.

22) I love to read but every time I get in the bed to read at night, I make it about 10 min and start falling asleep…it takes me forever to finish a book!

23) I love cologne and baseball caps on guys…wear either of them and it will add a couple of points to your scale…wear them both and I’m sold!

24) I am addicted to my iPhone. It makes me to accessible to checking work email occasionally but the phone is just so stink’n cool!

25) Wow…I’m stumped…I don’t have a 25th random thing! Ummm….I love sushi! Some people argue with me on this b/c I really only eat California rolls…or any variety of a Cali roll with crab meat. I don’t eat anything raw…I don’t eat shrimp…so that limits me quite a bit!

Whew…that was tough!