Kappa Alpha Theta Girl

Back in college I was a sorority girl. The University of Oklahoma is one of the biggest Greek schools around. I was a Theta, a little KAT. All through high school I used to go and spend weekends with my brother at OU. Luckily I didn't have to stay at the frat house (he was a Lambda Chi) or the "Flood House" that was shared with 5 other boys. My dear friends, I stayed at the Theta house.

Call me biased but the Theta house was the most lovely house on campus. It was like living in a fairly tale setting. The house slept 89 girls and was beautifully furnished and decorated. I always loved the French style of the house. It is nearly impossible to get a picture of the entire house because it is so big that you can't fit it all in the view finder.

This is just the front door and isn't even a 1/3 of the house.

845 Chautauqua Avenue became my home the second semester of my sophomore year and remained my home until my senior year. The house is big but the pledge classes were even bigger, mine had 93 girls in it. You could only be accepted to live in the house based on grades, points (earned by volunteering and participation in events) and attendance to chapter meetings. I figured that after living there for a couple of years it was another girls turn.

The best part about the house was the food, living in gorgeous quarters with your best friends and the Pink Couch. The Pink Couch was where you would wait for your date to pick you up. It was where you chatted with said boys after your date (no boys allowed upstairs). Countless conversations were held on the couch with your best girlfriends. It was a Theta staple. I have no idea how old it is or who bought it for the house but I loved it. And apparently it is leaving!

Two fellow Theta alums went to the house recently to pick up our beloved couch with their little legacies in tow. These two girls were the prettiest, sweetest and coolest girls in Theta and I can think of no better place for the big Pink Couch to live than in one of their houses. Here they are picking it up to take it to its new home at Sarah's house. They are still the prettiest girls around.

Pink Couch and Friends.

Thanks to Sarah and Taryn for saving the couch and for blogging about its fate.

Ghost Chair Giveaway!

AllModern

Happy Thursday!

One of my fav blogs, Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone, is hosting an itty bitty Ghost Chair giveaway from AllModern.

Brooklyn Limestone

Here is an example of a growns up Ghost Chair in Brookln Limestone's office. Love everything about this office but the chair is perfection.

Look at the cute chicness of it all...

AllModern

The mini version comes in a variety of colors. Perfect for a little one's room.

Terri Smith Photography

I don't know which is cuter, the chair or the baby ballerina...

To enter to win simply click here and comment on Brooklyn Limestone's post. Good luck!!!

Hot Bod

How do you stay fit? Do you walk the dog every day, do Pilates in your living room, chase around little ones, or are you a member of a fancy gym? No matter how you do it, it must be done. You get one body and you better take care of it. After all who wants an "Ada" body (gets you from point A to point B) when they could have a Ferrari body?

We all have our limitations whether it be time, genes or...well we are all filled with excuses. But what incentive; that is what gets our rotund rumps off the couch and into spandex.

While I have always liked working out my desire has waned from time to time. Right after BF and I got engaged I was all over it. Inspired by my future sister-in-law, who you should know has the will power unmatched by anyone, I decided to cut the junk that was inevitably forming in my trunk and get in gear. Having already joined a fancy gym all I had to do was make a plan. The wedding alone was not incentive enough because this new fitness regimen needed to last long after the wedding if I wanted to be healthy on a long term basis. Let's be honest if I can't get in the gym as a 20-something, I sure as heck won't when I'm a 30- or 40-something.

Gyms are great. Mine is lovely and I would move into the spa-like locker room if I could (www.vida.com), if you want to see for yourself), but the battle still remains of entering the gym and not having a plan for my workout. Enter, Crossfit.

Crossfit has changed my workouts and my body. It is amazing.

"CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide."

Don't let the description freak you out. I ain't no body builder folks, nor am I a member of a military special operations unit. All you have to do is go on to the Crossfit website everyday and they give you a workout to do, with helpful comments from other crossfitters. Majority of the workouts take less than 30 minutes and leave you sweating and exhausted. It is awesome. If you don't have a clue as to what a particular exercise is, a clean and jerk for example, all you have to do is watch one of their many demos. There is a demo for every lift and exercise.

You will be sore afterwards, sometimes for days.

You will see results.

You will love being able to go to the gym with a plan and get in and out.

Dudes usually seem impressed by ladies who can do a ton of pull-ups.

Courtesy of www.crossfit.com

CrossFit Camp Pendleton's Strike FO at the Games

I like to mix in Pilates or spinning on the rest days too. Hope that you all check it out. It is good times. Sweaty good times.

Frame it

My Mom and I have been trying to do decorate the reception space as much as we can ourselves. Brainstorming and throwing out creative ideas has been a ton of fun as my mama has been blessed with both the brainy and creative genes. She is a one-woman show!

BF and I chose the Stoneleigh Hotel for our wedding reception and it is spectacular. We have rented out the Penthouse, which is no ordinary penthouse but the home of the original owner of the hotel in the 1930s. It is a home. We figure that the decor will be pretty easy. The space is gorgeous that it needs little embellishment anyways. Our goal is to make it look like it is our house.

That is where the creative kids come in. Mama and I figure that we will just strategically place votive candles every where along with framed photos of the BF and me, along with family and friends. Rather than buy a bunch of expensive frames Mama has been on the look out at her local thrift stores for frames with interesting textures and shapes. When she finds these, usually at the whopping price of $.25, she scoops them up and takes them home to be painted. All of the frames will be white and should stand out nicely against.

Check out her before & after weekend painting project...

Before

After

Pretty good, huh?

Secret Garter

The whole notion of having one's husband stick his head up your skirt in front of your entire family and every friend since childhood just to remove your garter with his teeth has never been appealing to me. But that is just my personal opinion and preference. If you and your husband/wife did this at your wedding, more power to you it is just not for this little pony.


That isn't to say that I don't want a garter though. Oh, there will be a garter and it will be precious. My adorable Aunt J took me to Italy in February. We explored Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. Rome was A-mazing, Florence was home to the David and the Ferragamo museum, and Milan had the Duomo but Venice had the lace.

Aunt J is the most talented seamstress that I know. And she is adorable to boot. So when we were going to the place where lace was invented we had to buy some especially for my garter. How sweet is that may I ask? Super sweet.

We measured my thigh (which I secretly hope will be a couple inches smaller by the wedding), bought the lace and the ribbon and I drafted up a design with the counsel of my personal designer/seamstress. I can't wait to show you guys. For now you can enjoy pictures of our trip to Venice and more specifically Burano Island - the home of lace.

Will show you a bit more of Italy another time. Have a great weekend!

Garter pic courtesy of http://www.icestandard.org/

A Proper Topper

What do you think of our cake topper??

Just kidding, I'm not even having a cake! I like a good cowboy as much as the next kid but come on now. This thing is glorious. Check out all of that lace.

Photo courtesy of my mama.

Bucket of Truth

This could be you! Or me. Not to be selfish but I kind of hope it is me. But don't worry I will totally share! Pinky swear.

Don't forget to go to Madsen Cycles to register to win one of these bad boys. They are giving away a couple of them on July 15th. Not into bucket bikes? Are you sure? They do have little seats that you can put in for your kiddos...or your puggles...or your flour sacks...

Okay, okay you're not into buckets. How about a nice big rack? Don't go all gutter-brain on me - this kind of rack. Cheeky perverted monkey.

Think of all the stuff you could transport on your rack. All sorts of things! You can be just as happy as the lady with a bucket full of children. Think on that.

I'm Dressed All in Blue

Since the BF checks out my blog every once in a while I can't talk about my day-of wedding garb much. But...here are a couple of clues.

BF - feel free to close out now. Otherwise you're going to find out all about my bright blue gown encrusted with jewels and feathers. You don't want that.

These are my shoes - what do you think?

Who doesn't like feathers, rhinestones and a touch of glamour?

More clues to come...What was your favorite wedding fashion detail from your big day?

Shoes Courtesy of www.jcrew.com

Headband Courtesy of www.shopbando.com

A June Wedding (Updated)

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, John and Kate got married this past weekend. It was a gorgeous wedding and definitely the largest one that I have ever been in or even attended. Kate is amazingly organized and pulled off a flawless event with 500 people in attendance. She is WonderWoman.

It was an honor to stand by her side as a bridesmaid. The Bridal Luncheon was hosted at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas and was lovely. It was a perfect venue for a luncheon. The room had floor to ceiling windows on two sides that made you feel like you were sitting in the garden. It was over 100 degrees outside so it was nice to feel like you were outdoors while still enjoying the A/C.

The Bride and Bridesmaids

Kate and friends

The rehearsal dinner was F-U-N. It was a party. The groom's family hosted the event at the Sons of Hermann Hall. The Order of the Sons of Hermann was organized in New York City in 1840 by a small band of men of German descent. This marked the founding of the nation's oldest fraternal benefit society. This particular Hermann Hall in Dallas was built 1911 and is still kicking.

Random fun pic of moi, our friend Caleb and Kate

The Granger Smith Band played the rehearsal dinner and rocked our socks off. There was plenty of chicken-fried-steak, fried chicken and mashed potatoes on hand to keep us two-stepping for hours. Wranglers were in high demand that night.

Next to the toasts the talent competition was the second most hilarious portion of the evening - I lost the whistling contest to my Mama. She is good. Real good.

I totally choked.

This little one walked all over the dance floor. On her hands!


A fun table

Some of the cousins may have gotten into the wigs at the family after-party...

There is a good chance that the groomsmen tore off John's boot and made him use it as a drinking glass. A really good chance.

Saturday was the big day and had a big temperature to match. My car read 106 degrees and that doesn't even include the heat index. At 12:30 a.m. it was still 95 degrees. Hmm, sticky. Kate held up beautifully in the sultry weather and had the brilliant idea to take very few photos outside. Instant sweating is instantly bad in a floor length gown.

Kate should be in bridal magazines.

Ready for the show!

Highland Park UMC was the perfect venue for this large and very traditional wedding ceremony. It was beautiful from the flowers, to the dresses, to Kate's aunt's incredible singing. BF's daddy performed the ceremony and made it that much more special. Check out the gorgeous flowers.

A big party followed at the Belo Mansion downtown. What a cool venue. Kate's taste in flowers was flawless and well executed. She went for big volume and impact by using massive amounts of Baby's Breath that looked like huge, white, puffy clouds. Genius.

This is the coolest Groom's cake that I have ever seen. John and Kate were engaged on the South Portico of the White House, hence the cool cake.

The couple hired a super fun band that played all night and kept us on our feet. They did something really creative at the end of the evening and led the party in a conga-line outside for Kate and John's departure. When the bride and groom were ready to leave the band played them out the door with a New Orleans-style Second Line and into a waiting 1970 white Cadillac convertible.

You plan and plan for months or in Kate's case a year and then it is over in a flash. Now it is our turn. Does anyone have any advice on savoring the day?

Wait for it...

My apologies for the lack of posting lately but this past weekend was insanely busy!

BF's brother married the most beautiful girl last weekend in Dallas. There will be a post with pics and such to follow.


Here is a teaser from the rehearsal dinner...can you guess the theme?