Mother's Day Brunch

For several years I have wanted to host a brunch type event for the women in my life but it has never panned out.  Either there is other activities going on or just not enough time to plan.  This year I jumped on it early and planned way in advance.  I had plenty of time to let everyone know so they wouldn't make plans and then I set out to make a legendary and hopefully a yearly event.  

invitation I made on picMonkey

I decided to host a Mother's Day brunch at my house and invite my Mom, mother in-law, sister in-law and my best mom friend, Lauren. I loved planning this girly event and it went off without a hitch.  Everyone loved the entire morning and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  I can't wait to do this again.  

Now for ALL the details of the day!

glasses, cute plates, napkins, and table runner all from Ikea

reused my wedding mason jars and picked wildflowers from the side of the road

added a touch of Paris with macaroons from the Sweet Shoppe in Mt. Pleasant. 

champagne for our mimosas 

table before all the yummy food was put out

mimosas and quiche

I used a silicone flower shaped mold to freeze the orange juice into cute little cubes to look fancy and stay cold longer once it was ready to serve! The quiche recipe I used came from my Magnolia Table cookbook. It was so good and everyone raved about it.  My mother in-law has since made it several times.  Get your cookbook HERE! 

To go along with the quiche which was our breakfast item on the menu I also made a Greek pasta salad for our lunch menu item and a fabulous berry bruschetta for the dessert portion of the menu.  I found both these recipes on Pinterest.  I knew I wanted the menu to be classy, have variety, and also items that we don't have everyday.  I can't rave about the food enough and neither could my guests.  I prepped most all the food the night before except the quiche I made fresh that morning and served while it was still warm.  I will definitely be making these things again.  (Hendrik popped in and even liked all the items so that is a double win)

You can make the Greek pasta salad by finding the recipe HERE and the berry bruschetta HERE!

The full spread before we dug in!

I hosted the brunch outdoors.  It was at 10 am so the heat wasn't too bad yet and had sort of a garden party theme.  Lauren got us all hats to wear while we chatted and the kids played with water balloons and the kiddie pool I had fixed up for them.  

The day was such a great success and I really think that all the moms felt appreciated and special!

Kid Rock Concert

For our friend Paul's 30th birthday his wife got tickets to see Kid Rock at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK on January 26th.  We drove up that Friday afternoon to check in and get decked out for the concert.  We had never been to that casino and it was really awesome.  It is pretty much like a cruise ship on land with a ton of things to do other than gambling like the pool, bowling, and arcade, not to mention the 7 or 8 restaurants on site.  We ate dinner at the casino buffet which we all agreed wasn't that great for the price and then headed over to the concert hall to get our seats.  

Kid Rock put on an amazing show and we had so much fun singing along to our favorites and seeing just how white trash the outfits could get. LOL

After the concert Lauren spent a few dollars playing losing at blackjack and then we played a few games of bowling before turning in close to 2 am.  I sucked at bowling and Hendrik thought it was awesome that there was finally a sport I wasn't good at.  I took the coaching well and did improve by the end of the night.

This was a great night away with our best friends and much needed time just having fun with each other.  

Hiking in Oklahoma

I had been talking about going hiking in Oklahoma for months and hiking is always a bucket list item on my...well bucket lists LOL but we always find ourselves too busy or occupied with other activities.  We had an endless Summer this year and the weekend of November 4th was still warm but the Fall colors were finally showing themselves.  I really had a ton of to dos to do and a messy house but I left it all to another day.  Lesly and I loaded up and headed to Beaver Bend State Park in Oklahoma for a day of outdoor fun.  

We checked into the visitor center and put our names on the list for the longest and hardest hike in the park... the Skyline Trail.  6 + miles of rough terrain and it warned that experienced hikers should only proceed.  HA We are body builders and workout daily we thought.  I get punched in the face for the love of hiking...we can for sure do this.  Its OKLAHOMA how hard can it be!!!??? We parked the car at the entrance and started our hike on the Cedar Bluff trail that was filled with beautiful over looks and scenery of all the fall foliage before merging into the Skyline trail.  

After the pretty look out points the scenery was still so relaxing and pretty to look at but the hike got increasingly harder.  We had to really pay attention to the trail markers as we were on a trail that wasn't as heavily trafficked and so the path wasn't as beat down.  We didn't talk much just got lost in our own heads and enjoyed the outdoors and the challenge.  

All we had was our backpacks with water, toilet paper, and our park map so there was really no way to find out how far we had hiked but when we came across this STOP sign we learned that we had JUST BEGAN even though we had more than likely already hiked 2 miles.  And this is where all the thoughts on "how hard could it be"...gets thrown in our face and crammed down our throats.  

This rest of the hike was literally the most physically challenging and mentally challenging thing I have probably EVER done!  The unknowns killed you...how far have you been, how far do you have to go, where are you, and what if we can't finish.  

At the half way point, the power line road, we were enjoying being in the open and out of the woods and were taking a small breather.  We were about to head back into the the woods when I started back on the trail and almost stepped on this HUGE spider...OMG I jumped back...Lesly had walked right over it not even paying attention.  It was so fury and just gross omg I couldn't imagine having this thing crawling on me...we paid close attention to our steps and our surroundings back in the woods but didn't encounter any more spiders only a million daddy long legs.

Because of the unknowns we had to keep pushing forward and when we finished we were so glad to see people and get to the water fall.  But we weren't really finished...this trail doesn't loop so we had to walk over a mile back on the highway along the damn of the lake back to our car.  We were out of water, drenched in sweat, and so hungry.  We stunk, had blisters, and every part of our lower body from the belly button down was so sore and achy.  I felt like Reese Witherspoon in WILD!!!! LOL  We were so proud of the accomplishment!  Once we got back in the car we had more water and guzzled it down.

We made it back to the car around 4:30 and after catching our breath a minute headed back to the visitor center to let them know we were off the trail and to use the restroom to try and clean ourselves up a bit.  Our shirts were soaked in sweat so we decided to grab a souvenir in the form of a baseball-tee from the gift shop.  I changed into mine as I couldn't stand the smell of my current shirt or the cold sweat that clung to it.  We asked the ladies running the office how long does the Skyline Trail usually take and they said 5-6 hours.  Lesly and I completed it in 4 hours!!!!  This made us even more proud of ourselves.  

We left the park and immediately found somewhere to refuel...we stopped at a neat spot called Burgers and Blues right outside the park and the food was really good.  I would definitely go back and recommend this place if you are in the area.  The weather was still so nice and we still had daylight so we enjoyed our early supper outside and just couldn't get over the day we had.

Lesly and I were so proud of ourselves and felt so accomplished and emotionally energized after completing the grueling hike.  We definitely respect the statement that that hike is for experienced hikers and we pity the fools who are really not athletic people who decide to embark on that trek....it is killer for real.  We talked about it for the next week but not much on the way home as we were so exhausted.  We could barley stay away as our bodies were spent and all our energy was completely gone.  We got home around 7:30 that night and my bed was calling my name after a hot shower!  

More info on the state park and to plan your own visit check out there website HERE!  I will be getting some hiking shoes before our next trip!

Girls Trip to Galveston Part 2

If you missed Part 1 check it out HERE!

Saturday July 15, we slept in until around 8 and lounged around for a few hours planning our day, drinking coffee, and just relaxing.  We headed to the beach for a few hours with our donut floats for some sun and more photo ops. 

After some sun and swimming we headed back to the house around 4 for some really late lunch, a recharge nap, and to start getting ready to go out.  We decided on going to a Latin club in downtown Houston to celebrate Lesly's birthday.  It has literally been so long since I had been to a club/bar and it was really fun getting all dolled up.  We drove a little over an hour back into the city and found the club around 10.  We danced the night away and shut down the club at 2 am.  

After some much earned Whataburger I started the long drive back to our house as Lesly...slept it off!

Sunday July 16, was our last full day in Galveston before heading home on Monday so we decided to explore all the historic buildings and wonder aimlessly around downtown.  

Midday we passed by a taco truck and the light bulb went off.  Before we could turn around we saw another one so we decided to turn back and give each a try.  Best 3 bucks I think we spent.  

This truck above had the best tacos compared to the one below.  

After tacos we headed downtown and found a parking spot then just took off walking.  Took some great photos, browsed some shops, and then ate an early dinner before heading back to the house.  Our late night the night before started to catch up with us by around 6 so we cut the night short. 

We had a perfect weekend get-a-way!  It was so much fun and I hadn't had a girls get-a-way in a while.  We relaxed, explored, and had so much fun just not having too many plans!  I'm so glad we did this for Lesly's birthday!

Fun in the Sun!  Until next time!