Celebrating a Penguin named Jenny :)

A Penguin & A Bee- A love story :) 

Once upon a time... there lived a little Penguin-girl named Jenny.  She was a very happy little penguin-girl, exploring life and having very lovely penguin adventures with a lil bear, who had honey pot paws, a cat who liked to go "rarrrrrrr", a lollipop with the whitest sparkliest teeth in all the land and an evil little squirrel. ;) She thought her life couldn't get any better, until one day, she met a bee! He was a curious little bee...who was in a grand band and loved art as much as she did.  Little did she know at that time, that her life would never be the same again.  :) They began to spend their days together, strolling through art galleries, sharing stories, making memories..until one day, they fell in love <3!  Everyday they shared their love with the world and a few years later...after their love grew and grew, he surprised this little penguin with the prettiest, sparkliest ring in ALL of penguin land and asked her to be his bride.  :)  They planned and planned until the time came to celebrate her last few days as a single penguin girl, for next week, she would be a very MARRIED penguin WIFE :)  Happy to share in this special weekend, all her little friends from all across the land came from miles and miles and MILES away just to celebrate with her....and this is when the REAL fun began.. :) 

Jenn and her future sister in law Andrea :)



Left to Right: The Cat, The Lollipop and The evil little Squirrel

LB and Anna

The Bee's Aunt Rachael, the Penguin's little penguin-sister Valerie ;) and Kayla

Made the whole restaurant smell like a caramel scentsy candle

Lil Bear sighting!  ;) Over there..off to the left..

you see? you see? you see??  ;)

Excited about her presents

The bee will surely like these...  ;)  Oooooo la la!!

What do we got here?!?

Giving squirrely eyes and a cheesy lollipop smile :) :)

Practicing for the big day???  lol..

Karateeeeeeee CHOP!

Consulting the list of tasks for the evening.  (In no particular order)

1.  Rub 2 guys bald heads

2.  Ask to see 5 tattoos (not on the arm)

3.  Get 3 different guys to buy you shots

4.  Get as many signatures on your arm as possible

5.  Get a guy to wear your sash and tiara

6.  Find a guy with a name starting with a "P" & "B" for a

     PB&Jenn sandwich picture

7.  Gather 5 forms of "protection" ;)

8.  Take over the DJ microphone

9.  Solo dance in the middle of the dancefloor

10.  Get 5 people to give you a kiss on the cheek

Got any tattoos Mr. Waiter-man??

Willing to wear my sash and tiara Mr. Waiter-man?? 

Maybe, perhaps, yes Mr. Waiter-man??

Ughhh...BIG BAG of NOTHING! lol..

What's next Vavrie?

Giving the new purse a good WIFF.... 

Jenn, seeing if her purse smells "new" too...lol.

Demonstrating Val's super smarty HIV testing techniques

BALD HEAD #1 

This man was very willing and able to participate... lol

Taking her bald head rubbing VERY SERIOUSLY..

I'm sooooo NOT even sure what was going on here..

but.. it looks painful!  lol

A penguin and a squirrel doing the "head-bump"

Since Jenn had already satisfied her bald head rubbing requirements...

She got her first arm signature!

Her PB& J sandwich picture..

Dude on the left, I'm sure your mom would be real proud of the way you look in this picture.

Number one of five...found!

  

Drinks for the table

DJ Jenny taking over the mic :)

Trying REALLY hard to hide that Lollipop smile..

Such squeezable CHEEKS!

Awww..the bear and the cat, together again..

Miss my roomie :)

This guy was a little TOO eager to wear the tiara and sash..lol

Cute cat smile

Jenn, making her round getting signatures

Solo dance time

Strutting her stuff and showing us her moves..

hehehehehe...still going..

STILL going..lol..

Pause for a picture

Numero DOS!

Sisterly bonding

One last round of shots before half of us called it a night.. :)



La Chouffe Beer Dinner - The Meddlesome Moth

It usually doesn't take much convincing for Chad to get me down to the restaurant when he has a beer dinner or event to attend.  Even when I end up parked at the bar spending more time interacting with the bartenders and servers than my husband, it's always nice just to be in his presence taking in the energy of the customers and seeing how the controlled chaos is playing out in the kitchen.  This time, the event was to highlight a brewery from Belgium named Brasserie D'Achouffe and the guest speaker for the evening was founder Chris Bauweraerts.  This was also supposed to be one of Chad's days off so I took the opportunity to spend some time with him while taking a few snaps of the event for posterity.  :)  Yet another successful dinner to add to the list.  ;)

Cute little La Chouffe Gnome that usually sits up at the bar

Menu of Chad's tasty creations for the evening

Dungeness Crab Cake with a Creole Remoulade

One of three beer glasses used that night.

As Chad worked the event and the room, one of the bartenders and I played "Paper, rock, scissors" with the Sessions beer tops he opened for the diners that night.  By the end of the night, I had quite the collection.  :)

Course #3.  Orange Peel Beef with Chinese Long Beans and Jasmine Rice

Unfortunately I was a bit rushed through the pictures of course 2 so they didn't make the cut. 

Sorry Chad  :(

First Bottle Signed in Texas :)

Awww.... cute little old man.  :)

Welcome Home Christmas :)

So many times it seems easy to forget the sweet things that are done for you when life gets...well, chaotic.  After the hectic week I had just endured with my family, the last thing I had time to think about was Christmas.  My sweet husband, holding down the fort back in Dallas while I was away, was bound and determined to give me a proper Christmas celebration, even if he did have to work that day... and despite my objections after the week I just had.  Needless to say, he did NOT pay attention to my objections... piling the presents under the tree, filling the entire house with love, warmth and the best welcome home I could've ever hoped for.  I love that man, much more than words could ever explain.   

What a wonderful sight to see when I walked in the door... 

Macie and daddy excited about opening presents!

Awww...

Macie was up first. :)  Chad even sweetly wrote

"To: Macie, From: Mommy"

eventhough I had no idea what it was, AND HE wrapped it. 

She got a new leash by the way, she loved it!  :)

My goober-head husband certainly had fun picking out goofy presents this Christmas. 

The first present I opened was a refill of plastic FORKS

(we were running low..I love him for being practical AND silly ;)  

Oh yes folks.. it really contained forks... not just a box! 

Hahahahaha.. we both got a kick out of that one..I loved it!

Oh and an inspirational book to start our empire with.  :)

Next up... Scrabble FLASH with digital scoring...

So I don't "cheat" he says...lol. 

I don't cheat... I just WIN! :)

Cleverly labeled...

"To my peeps in Texas... Keep it Real - S. Claus"

Hahahaha..how could I NOT love this man?!?!

Ooooo... presents for BOTH of us

For our next major trip in September 2011

And one just for me... a super cool drawing digital pad.

I don't really know how to use it yet, but I can't wait,

IT. LOOKS. AWESOME!!!  Thank you love..I'm sooooooo EXCITED!!

Stocking stuffers  :)

Oh and I only got crappy pictures of the next present but these DVD's came with a

BRAND SPANKIN' new Blu-Ray player too!!

And another goofy gift..which I'm still enjoying I might add..  :) 

Only SOME of the bounty we both get to enjoy in 2011 :) 

Thank you Chad for being such a wonderful husband.  I could've done without any of these goodies and STILL felt loved beyond belief.  You are an amazing person, husband and most importantly, BEST friend.  You are all the present I could and ever would want.  Thank you for choosing to spend the rest of your life with me.  MUAH!

Quadruple Bypass Surgery - Project New Heart

It's definitely much easier to talk about now, since the tides have subsided and our world is calm once again, but less than a week after our return from California, I was on a plane once more..this time headed to the valley...and not under the happiest of circumstances.  Right before Chad and I had left on our trip, my parents informed me of a check up that my dad had gone on...that didn't have the best of outcomes.  Blockage in his heart.  Everywhere.  They would need to operate.  Panic quickly set in.  Words can not describe the feelings we all felt that week.  Leading up to the day, we felt hope that what was routine surgery for his doctor would REMAIN normal and routine... then fear that something could possibly go wrong....sadness of the mere prospect of losing our dad...then nerves as you waited for the man who held your dad's heart in his hands to appear in the waiting room.  It was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. Open heart surgery was scheduled for Friday morning so I was on my way Thursday to spend some time with him and my family.  Emotions high, and nerves reaking havoc on everyone, we said a prayer amongst the family, shed nervous tears and sent him on his way at midnight to check-in for the next mornings procedures.  

Friday Morning:  A little more than four hours after the surgery had begun, the doctor emerged at the waiting room door and I swear time stopped for a split second.  I could tell my mom felt the same way I did, as our hearts jumped to our throats scanning the surgeons face to see if we could tell how it had gone before he even said a word.  Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly the routine surgery he was hoping for, but FORTUNATELY, he would recover well.  WHEWWWWWWWW.... tears of happiness and relief filled the room. 

No one can really prepare you for the way people look right after they come out of surgery like that.  Tubes running from each and every imaginable direction.  So many machines filled the room buzzing and scanning around us.  It was terrifying.  Rationally, I knew this was "normal" and stayed strong for my mom for the few minutes that we were able to see him. 

The rest of that Friday dragged on as we nervously waited for midnight to make our first call to the nurses station to see how he was progressing.  Calmly, the nurses informed us that he was losing blood.  As quickly as he was recieving transfusions, the blood was draining out his body.  What does this mean?  Should we worry?  How were we supposed to sleep comfortably that night?  The night wore on....

Saturday Morning:  Before long, my mom and I were back in the ICU hoping to catch the doctors as they made their rounds.  The surgeon, scheduled to be out that day, showed up to check on my dad.  He was frank with us and told us he had contemplated going back in to see what the problem was...fortunately, throughout the course of the night, my dad's blood loss had subsided considerably but they would need to keep him intubated for the rest of the day.  My mom and I stayed with him, relieved to see some movement (to me indicating that his body was ready to wake up and fight).  Although they continued to sedate him, I was pleased to see my dad wanting to wake up.  All good signs... 

Sunday Morning:  After a full day and a half of being sedated and intubated, they let us know that they would begin the process of waking him up early Saturday morning.  He would need to pass a series of breathing tests before they would be able to take the air tube out.  My dad, quite the rebel, decided in his groggy state to make the nurses work for their pay.  In one full swoop of the hand, he took matters into his own hands taking the air tube out, HIMSELF!  Luckily no damage was done and several minutes later he was greeting his doctors as they came to check on him.  It was smooth sailing from this point forward.  Thank goodness!! 

It wasn't until Thursday that he was finally released from the hospital, but from the moment his air tube came out, he progressed in leaps and bounds.  Every hour was better than the last and every day was like a new day for him. 

WHAT. A. RELIEF.  I'm exhausted again just thinking about it all... what a way to end a year...and start a new one... with a NEW HEART!