a case of the mondays?

more like a case of the springtime cold.

i woke up at 5:00 this morning and knew that i was going to be absolutely worthless at work. i called in to the office where the answering service picked up. i'm pretty sure the girl answering thought i was a man with a girl's name. oh well. i knew i couldn't miss anymore work, so i was determined to get better as fast as possible. i slept all. day. long. travis spent the day golfing with zach for his birthday and enjoying time out in the beautiful spring weather.

i'm glad he was able to enjoy his time off and do something he likes so much for his birthday.

happy birthday travis!

happy birthday travis! on saturday travis turned 25, so his birthday fell on a saturday. he took the day off on friday and on monday to give himself a nice long weekend. i would like to say that it was jam-packed full of fun ... but alas ...

after coming home from work early on friday i slept for a bit and then headed over to travis's parents with him. the smoke in the house didn't help with my breathing much, and my throat started hurting more, so i wasn't the best company. i stayed cuddled up under a blanket in the recliner or on the couch for most of the evening. amanda and zach came over, so dee fixed dinner for everyone. she said we weren't supposed to eat together until sunday, but since we were all there she decided to go ahead and do it. we ate and visited, and then came home to snuggle back into my bed and watch a movie.

the next day was saturday and i was supposed to be assembling graduation invitations, but i felt pretty icky, so i stayed in bed, slept late, and woke up to find the house empty. everyone was gone to the pool hall. i took some medicine and then crawled into travis's bed and fell asleep again. he came home to check on me and give me some more medicine, but for the most part i slept all day long. i wanted to get well quickly. getting up and out only seemed to make me feel worse. i think we ended up going to his parent's this night, too, but to be honest, it's a little fuzzy now.

since we ate together on friday, i didn't think we were doing the sunday birthday party with the lears, but on sunday morning my mom asked what time everyone was going over. i wasn't sure, but found out we were to be there around 6:00. sunday i felt worse than i had on friday or saturday. i really did stay in bed all day, waking up in time to take a shower and clean myself up a bit before heading over to the lears'. i'm not sure why i went to the trouble, though, because we weren't in the house five minutes before i was asleep in travis's former room. i missed dinner, but was woken in time to watch him blow out his candles and open his gifts.

there were fewer people at the house this year than usual, but it was kind of nice. his parents, my mom, our siblings, and their significant others, and us. we left not long after cake and ice cream so that i could get back to bed. travis came in and watched a movie with me to keep me company.

sorry i wasn't better birthday company for you babe! happy birthday just the same! xoxo

ick, ick. i'm definitely sick.

the week after kate's birthday i started feeling a little puny {not that the two were related in any way}. i had a lot going on with the business, though, and told myself that i didn't have time to get sick. my little antibodies needed to kick it into high-gear. i guess they didn't listen or had the week off, because in the middle of the night thursday, i woke up with fluids runny down my face {not a pretty picture} and my throat felt horrible. i woke up long enough to realize i was sick and then fell back asleep. travis had taken the day off friday in anticipation of his birthday weekend, so i had to drive into tulsa myself. on days when travis drives i can nap in the car, but that friday i just had to suck it up. i overslept a teeny bit, so i didn't get to the office right at 9:00. i sat down at the computer and was a little grateful that i didn't have to work on anything that required too much brain function. as the morning went on, i started feeling worse and worse. i was sneezing every two seconds and had to live with a tissue box in my hand. at lunch time the guys decided to head to el tequila. they've recently built a new one not far from the office. i wasn't feeling too hot by this time, but was the selected driver, and i thought a little tortilla soup might help me feel better. we ordered lunch, talked about topeka changing their name to google, and a lot of other "tech-y" things, and then headed back to the office. i was actually feeling a little better. maybe there really are healing powers in chicken broth. it didn't take long for my sneezing to kick back in, however, and by 3:00 i knew i wasn't going to make it until 5:00. i finally conceded at 3:30 and headed home. tom could tell i felt horrible because everytime he looked at me it looked as though i was crying and he would make a sympathetic face. i went home and promptly fell to sleep. travis came to check on me a few times, tucked me in snuggly, and i slept while he went to the pool hall. at least someone enjoyed their friday night. =)

and how long have you been 17?

on march 22, my darling friend kate turned 26. {shh, she's not telling}. last year turning 25 was a big deal for kate ... and leaving 25 behind was almost more than she could bear. i told her that she was just too special to not celebrate, though, and she and nick put together a fun twilight-themed birthday party for the saturday before her birthday. i had been dying {no pun intended!} to have a twilight-party and was more than thrilled to hear she had decided to do it for hers.


i designed her invitation for the event along with coordinating signs with quotes from the books/movies.

the day of her birthday we got snow! not that oklahoma has never seen snow in march before, but we had the most beautiful spring weather in the days leading up to the party. one by one party-goers started sending their regrets. i was a little nervous to drive from muskogee to tulsa without travis, but the roads didn't seem too bad, so i loaded up my car and away i went. i couldn't miss her special day.
the party was held in the movie theater room in the clubhouse of the apartment in which she and nick live. kate's favorite food is hors d'oeuvres/appetizers, so we had platters stocked full of yummy goodness, several bottles of wine, and supplies for chocolate martinis. getting everything from their third story apartment to the clubhouse, in the snow, was a little challenging {and it wasn't without casualties ... i broke the lid to an apothecary jar and felt horrible! and nick broke a wine glass special to him and kate on the trek back}. once we were indoors however, we set to work placing the candle hurricanes and the platters of food. roxie and i had arrived early to help set up ... and aside from nick's sister we were the only guests able to make the event.


it was perfect though. the three of us were able to snuggle up under blankets, sip our wine, and snack on our treats while kate explained different aspects of each of the twilight movies to us while we sat back and enjoyed the shows. even though it was much smaller than we had planned, it couldn't have been a better party. kate with her best girls and her man, and an evening filled with her favorites.

at the end of the night i decided that i would much rather sleep in my own bed with connor, and i wasn't all that tired, so i loaded the car back up and made the trek back home.

travis was still awake when i got back in town because it was also zach's birthday. he, amanda, and zach had all gone out to brewskies and were quite tipsy when i met them at amanda and zach's apartment. we sat around visiting for a bit, but i was getting pretty tired and was just ready to be in my own bed. travis and i finally called it a night at about 3:00 in the morning and headed home to drop into our beds.

all in all it was a pretty great weekend for everyone.

busy bee at notably noted.

andrea has been getting on to me for not blogging more often. as a blog-stalking addict myself, i can completely understand. however, i've been so busy, i haven't gotten to read any other blogs, much less write on ours. the orders have been rolling in for notably noted {yay!}. it's definitely hard juggling that with my other job. i had an order for graduation party invitations that took 31 hours. just. to. assemble! that didn't include any of the design, printing, cutting, scoring, etc. time. that was 100% assembly time. i offered to pay every single person in my family to help me, but no one was available. sierra was out of town at my uncle randy's until thursday. when she got home she set into helping me. we worked non-stop all through the night. finally at 6:08 we put the finishing touches on everything and boxed the invitations and envelopes up. then i proceeded to fall into bed ... for a super long nap of 45 minutes. hahaha.

here's a brief glimpse of my past week:
tuesday night: worked on invitations and finally went to bed at 4:00
wednesday night: worked on invitations and went to bed at 2:00 because i had to drive the next morning and i will fall asleep at the wheel if i'm too exhausted.
thursday night: i didn't go to bed at all. well, i got a quick 45 minute nap before waking up to go to work at sixbyte in tulsa.
friday: i was so exhausted when i got to sixbyte, i grabbed my blanket i always keep in the car and a pillow, closed the door to one of the offices, shut off the lights, and took a 2 hour nap. i couldn't take it. there was no way i was getting any work done. i woke up to do about 30 minutes of work, and then i headed to lunch with kate, roxie, and several other addison girls. i was using lunch as a meeting with kerry to deliver the invitations that had kept me awake all week.

saturday: oklahoma saw snow!! after having several days of warm weather. it was ms. kate's 26th birthday party. she & nick had organized a twilight party in her honor and there was no way i was missing her special day. i was a little nervous the roads would be bad and travis wasn't driving with me, but it turned out they weren't bad at all. i'll do a post just about the party later. a good time was had by all. while i was in tulsa, travis was helping zach {amanda's boyfriend} celebrate his 26th birthday as well. they were up until the wee hours of the morning celebrating!

sunday: finally the week ended {or started} with a little house shopping and then an afternoon spent at the movie theater watching bounty hunter {yay!}and then green zone with amanda and zach. it was so nice to sit and do absolutely nothing for hours on end. both movies were really good, too. i just love jen aniston, gerard butler, and travis's look-alike, matt. we wrapped up the weekend with a quick visit to braum's with zach and amanda. travis and i were full of popcorn, so we didn't partake in any braum's deliciousness, but we had fun visiting a little bit with amanda and zach.

mcbirthday!

happy birthday lindsay!

on march 7th, lindsay leach turned 24 years old. in the weeks leading up to her birthday and asking her what she would like to do to celebrate her special occasion, she said, "i wish birthdays could be like when we were kids ... you know, birthday parties at mcdonalds ... lol." it was, of course, said as a joke, but when justin began asking for ideas for lindsay's birthday that could be fun but low-key, my conversation with lindsay came up and a theme was decided.

a surprise mcbirthday party was planned with her family and close friends. we set everything up on sunday morning {on her birthday} while she and justin were away at church. the original plan had been to have stacks of happy meal boxes as part of the display. we had even reserved our boxed happy meals in advance. however, before the day of the party, the manager handling our event left that location and the new manager wasn't informed of our upcoming party. a promotion was done the week leading up to the party and all of the happy meal boxes were used for that. we were left with happy meal bags. =/

this party was a lot of fun to put together though. lindsay's sister even created a happy meal shaped cake with a cake hamburger and "french fries!" it was her first stacked, fondant cake ever. very impressive.

looking for the different mcdonald characters was so much fun for me. i ran across old commercials, old promotional toys, and even maps and storys about mcdonald land. i remembered how great commercials in the 80s and 90s were {does anyone else remember the red dot on sprite -- that is now a cherry, i believe -- and the way it used to come to life? it has those cool aviator sunglasses ... haha}.

andrea was still in town for the shower the day before, and she snapped a few photos of the party. {thanks, andy!}

silly, but fun, and i think the birthday girl enjoyed just spending time with her family and friends on her special day.

julie & baby keaton's shower.

last week i got to spend some much needed time with several girls who are so very near and dear to my heart. julie gosnell cochrane is expecting her & slade's first baby, a little boy name keaton. several of our friends got together to host a shower for her to help celebrate this very special time.

amelia, andrea, and i were all going to the shower, so both girls drove from their respective homes and met me in muskogee. from here, we hopped in the rodeo and away we went to the quah.

it was so. good. to see girls who were such a big part of my life for so many years. jen (gosnell walker) and i hugged several times. she and i had lunch together a few days before the shower and have made a pact to get together at least once a month.

below are pictures that ms. andrea snapped at the event.

my auntie pam & jen's baby boy, james.

one of my all time favorite teachers (and jen's mother-in-law), ms. walker & tracie lou.

andrea, jules, and the soon-to-arrive mr. keaton

trace & andy

oh my goodness. these next few shots of jules and tracie crack. me. up. they remind me so much of the crazy girls we were in high school and

how much fun we used to have together just being silly.
i love this next picture!
tracie, amelia, yours truly, jules, andy, and nancy

favorite. favorite. favorite. picture of the day. love you girls.

the {pregnant?} bear cake toppper

eh, not the best photo, but still fun to see the girls

mims & jules

with the yummy spread, the mountain of presents, and catching up with old friends, the shower was absolutely fabulous.

after the party was over, andrea wanted to drive around our "old stompin' grounds" and see the sights of tahlequah. we drove past jen & jon's house {where we got caught stalking}. they invited us in to see their home. then we drove past julie & slade's house {less than a minute away from jen & jon's}; downtown tahlequah; the junior high and high school {where we talked about all the changes and our upcoming reunions}; and finally back to muskogee feeling a little depressed about the little town that held wonderful high school memories. after that jaunt down memory lane we decided drinks were in order and headed to chili's for chips, salsa, & margaritas.

thanks for such a wonderful weekend girls.

blogcation?

apparently i took a mini blogcation this past week. and i actually had lots of stuff to blog about, but the week was super busy and i never found the time to post.

01. saturday: andrea and amelia came to town and we made our way to tahlequah for julie walker's baby shower. we ended the day with drinks at chili's, a stop at the store for a bottle of wine, and then a late night run for wings. the girls were tired pretty early and i had to stay up late to finish the pieces for lindsay's birthday party the next day.

02. sunday: lindsay's surprise birthday party (and birthday). she was almost surprised. haha. and i couldn't have been more impressed with the fondant cake sarah made.

03. monday: stigler, oklahoma. blah. but as i told amelia, i didn't jump out the window.

04. tuesday: nick contacted me about a twilight themed invitation for kate's upcoming birthday. i've been super excited to have a twilight party, and i can't wait for this one!

05. wednesday: travis and i both overslept (until almost 9!) which was weird because i've been waking up everyday before my alarm because it's been getting lighter outside earlier. travis went to work at sixbyte; i was supposed to go, but didn't want to make him later, so i stayed home and worked on orders.

06. thursday: back to stigler. i got a job offer from a local retailer for a management position. it pays $8.50/hr and i would have to throw freight (not good for my miserable back). mcalister's deli pays more starting pay for their beginning/non-management employees. i would also have to leave sixbyte which pays me a considerable amount more. i think i'll call today to officially turn down the job. andrea also left me a comment that inspired me to run and get my laptop right then. i had just sat down to blog when the doorbell rang. my first order of paper from the chicago paper line i will now be carrying had just arrived! out the door went my thoughts of blogging as i began dancing around the house singing "glorious! glorious!" hahaha. i'm so weird. it was so beautiful to open that box of perfect paper, though.

07. friday: drug test for the job offer. worked at sixbyte. met at notably noted client at 1:00 ... only to find out there had been confusion in the meeting time. headed back to sixbyte for about forty five mintues (after getting through the construction traffic) just to leave and meet the client again. i was there from 2:00 until after 5:00! excused myself to meet up with travis and then head to chili's for dinner with shannon. she's had a rough week, so we met up to keep her mind preoccupied (and hopefully cheer her up some). after that travis had a bachelor party to attend (david's from the sixbyte office). shannon and i were both tired so we headed to our respective homes. i was a little depressed to be driving back to muskogee, even though i was exhausted, so i stopped in broken arrow at the red dot boutique and looked around for a bit. kate texted me while i was on the way home saying they were out, but i was too tired to turn around and drive back into tulsa. i got home, changed into my jammies, and watched shows online until travis texted me to say they were headed in for the night. i closed the computer and drifted to sleep.

it's the most sniffle-y time of the year.

on tuesday evening travis sniffled once and told me, "i think i'm getting sick." i told him that he wasn't and to think positive. on wednesday morning he woke up bright and early so he and lindsay could head to work in tulsa. at 9:30 i got a phone call from him. "do you think you can pick up lindsay from work today?" i had an afternoon full of designing, but no set appointments so i told him i could if he needed me to. "good. i'm coming home." david had walked in that morning to find him in the office with his head tilted back and the lights off.

he stayed in bed all day wednesday and thursday (so i knew he was really sick). thursday evening he was beginning to have cabin fever and was tired of lying down, so we headed out for a little fresh air and a drive around town. we didn't go anywhere particular and found ourselves back at the house before too long as being up caused travis to feel bad again.

i had just gotten in the house and changed into baggy, baggy sweats when he asked me if i felt like running to the store. i threw my hair up in a pony tail and away i went. i was certainly winning no beauty competitions that evening.

i picked up sudafed sever cold and sinus caplets for him and then grabbed a 2-liter of 7-up, because who doesn't like 7-up when they're sick? as i was making my way to the front of the store i saw the most glorious aisle. the spring candy aisle. travis and i both love starburst jelly beans, but they are only available in the spring until easter. then they disappear from the shelves for the rest of the year. tragic, really. i made a quick turn down the aisle. it was my lucky night! they were two bag for $2.00. score. i headed back to the house with my goodies in hand to cheer up the boy and hopefully nurse him back to health quickly. we spent the next two evenings snuggled up on the couch with a box of kleenex, our bags of jellybeans, and a stack of movies.

all things random.

goodness. this week has been so. busy! it's been fun, but a little crazy, too. i've thought of the blog every single day, but have been too tired or out of time to blog. nothing spectacular has really happened since my last post, so i went to the phone for a little inspiration and decided to share with you what i found.


i was trying to get a picture of connor in his baseball tee that grandma dee got him for valentine's day. she got him the cutest goody bag of mini t-bone treats and a sweet little tee.

i know i've captured connor sleeping a lot lately, but i just couldn't resist when i saw him with this cute little expression on his face.

this picture is (believe it or not) a picture of sierra driving. or what she likes to call driving. i'm just kidding. i like to give her a hard time, but she's actually a pretty good driver from what i hear.

um, not sure about this one. i think i sent it to travis one day when we were both working in different towns and had to work late.

i've been pretty proud of myself for getting a handle on my calorie intake again and cutting back on sweets and snacks. one morning i was really craving pancakes, though, and we had fresh blueberries, so i whipped a few of these bad boys.
i shared the tea party that i did for my mom so i thought i would share the note cards designed to match. being the good little woman she is, she sent these out the week after her party thanking everyone for the delicious new recipes.


these cards are also some of my favorites. i may create some for myself. i think i shared the digital print of them already, but i just love how they turned out after they were printed. the pink monogram on the back flap of the envelope was a last minute touch, but i love it.

so that's what's been going on in our world. hope you enjoyed this completely random update.