The venue search is over...

...as soon as they cash the check. After months of searching and lots of flip-flopping, we have finally decided on a venue for both the ceremony and the reception. We will be at the Parador on April 9th. The Parador is a gorgeous building near the Museum district here in Houston. It used to be a Christian Scientist church, but now is used for events.It's a historical landmark, so everything is original and it has this wonderful dome over the main room and a small stage with a dance floor area.

It also has a very beautiful garden which will be perfect for our ceremony.

Can't wait for everyone to join us there!

Family Vacation 2009

So this year's vacation destination was Lake Tahoe. We stayed at the same inn where we stayed when my sister got married several years ago. It was a new house on the property and was pretty nice. It was a great size for all of us. The excitement of the weekend was the bear in the garbage when we arrived at the house at 2am. As you can probably tell from the pic below..it was COLD! It snowed higher up the mountain and was easily in the 40s. A nice breaks from the 100+ weather we were having at home.

Everyone was enamored of Beckett with his cute red hair that sticks out everywhere. We all wanted to hold him, I don't think we left him alone all weekend.

The girls were adorable as well and they enjoyed the hiking and the swimming....

...but their favorite part was the water gun fight! We filled the guns from the hot tub so we wouldn't freeze, but it was still pretty cold.
All in all, a very successful family trip and it was great for William to meet my brother and his family.

Pics of the house

Here are some pics of the house. The front....

The back...
I want to build a pergola next to the passage way to provide some shade and a place to entertain outdoors. Maybe we can get a fire bowl too.

The kitchen before we painted it. Notice the LOVELY 90s wallpaper.

2 coats of primer and 2 coats of yellow paint covered that right up.

Paperdolls...

We booked our photographer today! Love her and her pictures are wonderful! Here's a sneak peek with some pictures from her blog http://www.paperdollshouston.blogspot.com/

Still haven't left Square 1....

So after a weekend visiting potential sites, we still haven't left square 1. The place I really though was the one turned out to be ok, but the reception room was not ok. And the other place, I really like and think would be a lot of fun, but would be expensive for the guests. (Is $200 a night a lot if it includes meals and activities?)

But you can check it out here. So I guess we keep searching...maybe find something here in town and plan lots of activities to make it a fun wedding weekend....

Watching the grass grow...

Here's a pic of our new lawnmower. Isn't it cute? I did our whole back yard today in about 1/2 an hour. (But maybe that speaks to the smallness of our yard and not the ease of using the lawnmower.) Either way, I like it.

When it rains, it pours....

Look at the flooding on my side of town this week. Luckily our neighborhood has really good draining, because less than a mile away the water was still up on the road last night. William drives through the intersection in this picture every day on the way to work.

Life is Good

Frieda enjoying our back yard yesterday morning.

Perusing venues

How fabulous would it be to get married under this? Alas, it is out of our budget. Waaaay out. But if I can't have oak trees and twinkly lights, maybe I can have other trees and a lake view?

And a fireplace outside the reception place?

Hopefully we can get out there to see it in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, we'll keep looking. What do y'all think?

I <3 William

Isn't it cute!? I'm go to brag a bit about how wonderful my fiance is. He surprised me with this out of nowhere. I left my iPod at the gym a few weeks ago and he wanted me to have music while I worked out, so he surprised me. Isn't that sweet. Besos corazon!

Frieda Dog

So I finally got to bring my puppy dog home from my parent's house. She loved her time in the country and had many adventures, but I am glad she is back with me. A HUGE THANKS to my parents for taking care of her while William and I found our house.

A few pics to keep you entertained

Here are some pics from the last year or so, since I know y'all haven't seen many from me.

Pumpkin carving with the Colombians. Didn't they turn out great for people who had never done it before? My favorite is the upside down one on the right.

I made caramel apples for dessert.

William and I at a Halloween party. He was Clark Kent. I was an old fashioned pin-up girl.


Andres, Linda, William, and I at the Happy Hour Shower we threw for them.

And the margarita and pina colada cupcakes I made for the shower.

Stealing Ideas

So I am totally stealing Heidi's idea and am going to try to at least keep this half-way updated. William and I just got back from Mexico for a wedding and I am still recovering 4 days later. Let me tell you, the Mexicans know how to party. We had a blast and got to hang out with a bunch of really fun people. And we wish tons of happiness to Andres and Linda who are currently on their 3 week honeymoon in Asia.

It's typical at Mexican weddings to have props and toys to hand out to the guest during the reception. Thus our crazy accessories.