Some Of The Staples

Okay. We did it. "Did what?" You ask!

OH, we already acquired:

• The Brides cake
  
• The Grooms cake
  
• The color scheme
  
• The venue

And lastly, and certainly, MOST importantly

• The wedding dress

No pictures of that to be revealed of course!

What now, you ask? Well, first things first... We've got to select the wine, DUH! I will be hosting a wine tasting get together at my apartment tomorrow (Saturday, October 20th, 2012) in honor of Pam's plunge. I'll go to trader joes after my pole jam sesh (separate post about that soon!) and be positive to rob the place blind of all their whites, all their blushes, and all their sweet thick butter reds. 8 is when the party official starts, but it actually starts when we get thirsty.

So let's get back to that precise and delightful little list of tasks since accomplished, shall we! We all deserve a little pat on the pack here. Pam couldn't, and WOULD NOT want to select a place where she didn't truly feel like her guests would love it. After getting the group decision, which included Mr. Carlisle, Krissy (the wedding planner), Eric (the younger yet still big brother) and myself (the maid of honor, duh!).

Everything from the dining room,

 

to the wedding party seating area,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the skyline wedding isle

 

Just screamed their names.

 

And sooner than we know it well be watching them shove fistfuls (if you know the couple, you'll know this is NO exaggeration) of gorgeous custom baked cake in one another's beautiful face.

 

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Pamela Lee Mclelland + 1

Where do I even begin? I guess I'll begin this story the same as I do most stories regarding Pam: "I've known this girl since the third grade..." and I have. I didn't necessarily like her. I was first introduced to Pam by a classmate and Pam's softball teammate, who at the time was my best friend, Sydnee. Sydnee and Pam were two of my neighbors, along with the twins, Beth & Alex. Since I lived close and class was out due to snow, Pam and Syd walked on over to play. For some reason, I really didn't feel like sharing my best friend with the new girl on my beloved snow day. Any true Texan knows those are hard to come by.

We had sleep overs here and there, usually played outside, rode our bikes, and humiliated our little brothers. Who by the way, are all the same age. Perfect! A circle of inseparable young girls, and another circle of disgusting raging monkey siblings. Lets just say, there was some pooping on remotes and fart bombs happening on Audra Circle. Don't worry, all of our parents drank together to deal with the stress of us all. The parties mainly consisted of "the Adults" drinking and singing Metallica on Karaoke, and us kids escaping to an abandoned house and playing truth or dare. Dare, always of course.

Growing up together made it easy for me to learn how truly precious Pam is. To me, and as a person. I have yet to meet a person as patient and genuine as her. Not to mention, she CAN'T lie. Seriously, she sucks at it. Moral of the story, she's an angel (so what I'm about to say next comes as zero surprise). So when Tyler Carlisle popped the question, I knew it was was for the books.

He had everything planned to a T. Not going to lie, I was pretty surprised! Not surprised he could pull it off, just surprised a guy to pull it off. he he.

 

He organized a Carriage ride through historic Downtown Fort Worth, where him and Pam would arrive 20 minutes later. We all gathered at the dinner table anxiously, greeting family members of Pam and Tylers. I was overcome with joy when I saw Toni, Pam's mom at the dinner table.

Toni & Tyler

Beth captured the first hand shakes and hugs after the question

I knew Pam would be especially happy to see her of all people.

 

I took it upon myself to order a margarita. Matt was getting at me for whatever, and the thought of my best friend getting engaged was driving me crazy! I was overwhelmed, had just learned that this was all going down the tuesday prior. The first step Tyler took out of the carriage was to bend down on that knee and ask the question Pam has anticipated since, ... ever.

 

At first, she didnt really do, ...anything. Just a 5 millisecond pause that probably felt like forever for Tyler. Then, the halfway pronounced "YES!" and the sobs commence.

 

She was then walked in, under the assumption it was an evening for two. When she turned the corner, she was greeted by most of her loved ones that could make it for the occasion. Such a beautiful evening.

 

That, my friends, is what a girl looks like after she's been proposed to by the perfect guy with the perfect ring.

If you're a man, you'll be VERY lucky to capture this kind of reaction from your lovely lady. This is no swift easy emotion to evoke from your female. This takes planning, secrecy, and of course having the mother of the bride to be tell you her daughters dream ring. Cheating, you say? NOPE! I say, get in good with those in-laws now, they'll teach you a thing or two about the person you're soon to be wed. After all, you are about to be together until death do you part .

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Food, Fitness & Summo' Food

So last night I cooked food for the week after dance class. I ended up making some egg muffins (keeshes, whatever), salmon and rice. Nothing too exciting. I also chopped up all my veggies so they're ready to roll on the fly when I am super hungry. Which is damn near all the time really.

So, the steps on

How to Make Tobin's Protein Egg Muffins

are simply as follows...

Ingredients:

• Fist full | Greens! (Kale, spinach, broccoli...)
• You're the judge | Additional veggies (Red bell peppers, mushrooms...)
• You're the judge | Cheese (don't get crazy, still being healthy here)
• Table Spoon | Seasoning (I used garlic and pepper)
• You're the judge | Meat (super optional. That shit takes forever to digest and also comes from poorly raised/handled farm animals)
• 18-24 | Eggs, obviously (the glue of all this awesomeness)

 

So, first things first!

1. Start cracking eggs and chopping veggies.
2. Then, preheat the oven to 350
3. In one bowl, mix the seasoning, eggs and cheese
4. In another, mix ALL those veggies. And meat, if you're dumb.
5. Usually, I beat the eggs and mix in EVERYTHINGZ into one bowl. But this time, as you'll see I have first poured 1/2way full cups into the cupcake pan, then tucked the veggies and cheese in with a spoon right in the middle. It's important you fill the cupcake cups halfway rather than full, because when you put the veggies in there AND the egg rise with heat, you're hosed. - Anyways, get all the sexiness in the cupcake pan you can manage for the first round. You may have two batches. Or you can SUPER TIGHTLY Tupperware your leftover yolks & veggies for the morning or whatever.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. You'll know they're ready by sticking a toothpick in and pulling it out. If it has chunks of yolk on it, you're a genius, they're not ready. I like to wait till they have a slight brown at the edge.

Eggs and seasoning, waiting to add vegetables

Finished product!

 

Ta-daaaa!

 

 

Now, check out this awesome soup I made out of carrots, kale, spinach, mushrooms and whole grain angel hair pasta! Boiled in vegetable broth. It was the cheapest thing ever and all organic.

 

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Post weekday promo funk

Last night I had a promotion for Three Olives Vodka, Loopy! They're always pretty fun. My boss is always there, setting up shop for us and taking our pictures for us, which is nice. We went to two bars: nodding donkey, and State & Allen. I like State & Allen for their killer salads. Fresh spinach, grilled asparagus and FRIED artichoke! Holy. Moly. Also, they're green everything basically. They do this thing called "tree-tini" where for every (particular) martini orded, they'll plant a tree (somewhere I forgot). Nodding Donkey is also cool because they do corn hole on the patio, baller.

 

Want to see what I get to wear to my promos?! Don't be so excited.

ThreeOlives Vodka

 

So now that I just made your day with that photo, onward...

Also something neat I did was make a butt ton of smoothies for my week.

I crammed tons of Kale, carrots, spinach, Strawberries, blueberries, bananas and apples in the blender along with some grapefruit juice. Oh yeah, and don't forget the asparagus I cooked. Love it!

I think I'm going to give this whole 30 day ab challenge a 'go'. Taking pictures of myself (every day) and posting them (every day) will make me put up for shut up. I've never had a super strong stomach, so now it's on. Got to get ready for thanksgiving coming up!

Day 1...

 

Meals:

• 1 whole wheat bagel w/ peanut butter
  
• 3 cups of awesome smoothie
  

 

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Want to know what I made today?

So I went to sprouts and went a little nuts. I made all my salads, chopped all my vegetables, and made all my smoothies till Saturday. Picture below, duh. Hmm... What else significant did I do today? Got a risk department group photo, was reminded I have to bring mints to a baby shower tomorrow, got a package in the mail. Pretty boring, but that's Monday!

Get some green in your life

 

Tomorrow I have dance until 8, can't wait to put in some practice time for my levels 2/3 graduation next month!

 

Miss you mom

I just started watching weeds through Netflix (LOVE!) and am currently about to watch episode 7. At the end of episode 6, you see the widowed mother curled up in her comfy bed watching an old home video of her and her husband. It's actually of them making love, she's reminiscing. Maybe it was the music in the background, or the fact that I'm about to start my period, but I teared up.

I honestly felt like I could relate. No, I haven't taken the leap down the isle, but I do know that feeling she has. If you havent experienced this pain, I can't explain it to you. They're just there, and then they're not. Like a dead end, just non existent. What you once knew and relied on to make you happy has become incomplete, annihilated, halted, ceased, whatever you'd like to call it.

There is not one thing you can do to change it once it is done, and that's the worst part. The strongest man in the worlds mother could die today and you'd see a boy, it's just what happens. When you see someone everyday, tell them you love them and depend on them for your own personal happiness, it can be very hard to let go. Wether it be a child, lover, parent or best friend.

I think it defines and shapes the person effected by this loss in the fact that you're forced to face life, like it or not. You can't go to your bedroom and shut it out forever because the truth of the matter is that losing someone effects your daily everything. Even coming out of your bedroom is awful. Slowly opening your door to listen downstairs to hear if she's awake, and realising that it doesn't matter because she will never hear the doorknob turn anymore. Checking the locks and realising youll never have to lock the back door to the patio, because there was no longer a smoker living there. Putting off healing will only make it worse. I'm still trying to find out when you need to stop healing, and Im starting to think the answer is never.

I will continue to miss and by saddened by my moms death until I know that there is in fact a God and that I'll see her and apologize for myself. But as long as I'm still skeptical about an afterlife and wethere humans are even part of the big picture, I'm going to have my regrets.

Hold onto what you have while you have it

RIP MOM

Miss you

 

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Helping an old friend

Right now, at this very moment, I'm sitting in my living room on my big ottoman chowin' on some Guac (you already know there's a Pic) and petting my spoiled cat while I have a Netflix party. I cooked some dinner for my brother and I, and also sort of half way did laundry. Not all of us have or want the same things, but everyone has a place they call home.

My old friend Lauren and her older sister Kayla have recently experienced a tragedy causing them to lose their home.

Their home caught fire on Tuesday morning.

Life is full of obstacles we must overcome

 

We all know how difficult is is to be young and supporting yourself in the journey to beginning your life. I hope the people surrounding Kayla and her husband can contribute a little something to this young couple during their time of crisis. After all, I couldn't imagine how devastating it must be to lose an adorable home as theirs.

I've gathered just a couple things so far...

• Women's t-shirts, soffe shorts & tank tops (S,M)
  
• Men's t-shirts (L,XL)
  
• Wall/house decor
  

n00b

Trying out my blog for the FIRST time!

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