checking out the boutiques of bville.

on friday at lunch, tasha and i hit up all the different boutiques in downtown bartlesville.  there's a store that recently opened called chevron chic, and i've really wanted to go in, but i usually don't have time. jen's birthday gave me the perfect excuse. 

i needed a great gift for jenny's birthday and based off their window display, i thought they would have just the thing.  we went in and looked around, but before making a decision i wanted to see the other boutiques downtown.

the next place we stopped was curbside closet. i loved, loved, loved this shop.  i tried on a couple of dresses (to hopefully wear to jen's birthday), but neither fit me well.  i found another dress i really liked for jen, but she would have had to have it hemmed because it was too long even for me.  i wanted to get her something she could immediately use, so we kept looking. 

this is one of the dresses i tried on -- isn't it darling?  i wish the sleeves would have hung better when i had it one. 


sweet p's was our next stop.  it's such a cute gift and home decor shop, but tasha and i didn't see anything that we couldn't live without, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. we only had our lunch hour to find the perfect gift for jenny, and so far i wasn't have the luck i'd expected to have.

i've been seeing billboards for lubella's boutique and i'd been dying to check it out, so we headed further downtown.  it was a really sweet shop, but i didn't find anything there for jen or for me. 

while driving into work i'd noticed the shop right next door to lubella's.  it's called the french nest, and it was fantastic! i texted kate to tell her she and i would definitely be frequenting this store. 

i still hadn't purchased anything to wear or a gift for jen.  we wrapped up at the french hen and headed back toward the office.  we stopped back in to chevron chic where i ended up making a couple of purchases.

i ended up with this darling dress for jen.

 

 

i tried on several dresses, but didn't purchase anything.  it seems when i'm window shopping, the stores have a million cute pieces i would purchase.  but when i'm actually out shopping, i find so much less.  i hate it.  does this happen to anyone else?  no? just me?  excellent. 

i did snag this oversize envelope clutch for myself.  i didn't end up taking it out for jen's birthday, but i still think it's cute.  the guys at work say i have a thing for handbags and shoes.  i suppose there's a little truth to that ...

tasha and i don't often have one-on-one time outside of the office, so i was glad to spend a little time with her when we weren't talking about recruiting processes. 

celebrating jen's birthday.

last night we got to celebrate my dear friend jen's birthday.  jen's a photographer, so sometimes i'm embarrassed to even share our photos out here, but i love that even if they're sometimes a little grainy and or a little dark, they capture us having fun with each other and the special people in our lives.

i had been asking jen for a couple of weeks if there was anything planned for her upcoming birthday, but it turned all every weekend was booked for her and court, so they were just planning on a family dinner to celebrate.  as it turns out, some of their weekend plans fell through so on monday i got a text from court asking if travis and i could go to dinner for jenny's birthday.  i was so excited we were going to do something to celebrate, but wasn't sure if travis was going to be able to go because it was the weekend he and matthew planned to go to wichita.  we worked out the details, and travis was able to go.

we met up with jen, court, and several of her friends at in the raw brookside. i love sushi, but as i've mentioned before, travis isn't a fan. luckily, ITR has a great steak, so he was a happy boy.  we got to visit more with ashley.  i've heard of ashley for a couple of years now and always see her in jen's pictures, but i had never gotten to meet her until jen and court's housewarming party a few weeks ago.  she's from the same hometown as travis, and it turns out her fiance is a harley certified mechanice {or something like that} so the guys had a great connection.  

after dinner the weather wasn't terribly hot {surprisingly enough it's been a mild summer for oklahoma} so we headed across the street to the rooftop wine bar.  my headaches are back in full force, so i'm not really drinking these days, but i had a great time sitting out on the roof catching up with jen & her friends and spending some time out of the house with travis.

after the wine bar, jenny & court and one other couple headed over to r bar just up the street, but since our car was parked three spots away, we headed home. travis still gets worn out pretty quickly so we can't stay out and do much ... and who am i kidding?  i'm like a ninety year old woman in a retirement village.  i need to stick to my schedule these days.  the sun sets, and i think it's time for bed.

happy birthday, sweet jen!  i hope you had a fun night celebrating you. cheers, pretty girl!

happy housewarming!

this weekend we got to celebrate with our friends jen & court.  earlier this year we found out they would be building a new home.  we got to watch the progress of the house online through facebook, instagram, and jenny's blog, but we hadn't gotten to see house since it was finished.

on saturday, they through a fabulous fiesta to celebrate their new home.  i didn't snag very many pictures, but jen's friend ashley snagged these two with jenny's camera. {i wish i was one of those girls who can pull off a fabulous ponytail, but i just can't.  don't judge me. it was way too hot to have my hair down.}

we had such a good time eating tacos from the taco stand in their backyard, watching all the neighborhood kids on the bouncy house slide, and catching up with jen and court.  their new house is beautiful and very them.  i can just see them living there.  i'm so excited for them and can't wait for many more celebrations in their home. 

sunday morning breakfast.

this morning, sierra, haley, travis, and i went and had breakfast with matthew, crystal, levi, and asher.  we decided to grab breakfast with them kind of last minute, but i was glad we decided to meet up with them.

we went to ihop and had kind of a long wait, so i snapped a picture of two of the cutest guys in the world while we waited.

after breakfast we went and watched man of steel at the theater.  the loves couldn't join us, but our household went, and we had a great time.  travis and i have been dying to see the movie, so i was super excited to go.

sierra and haley went and ran a few errands after we got home, and we spent the rest of the day doing laundry and getting ready for the week.

headed home: mexico vacation day 7.

the 5th was our last day of vacation.  big storms rolled in last night {to the point that i was a little nervous we were so close to the ocean}.  it was still rainy and gray in the morning.  we packed and then went to breakfast with nick while kate stayed in the room.  i wish i had taken my camera with us because the storm had done so much damage to all of the thatched roofs.  i can't imagine what the upkeep must be like on all the buildings during this tropical storm season.  the lobby entrance is so impressive, but i was never able to capture a picture that did it justice. 

after breakfast travis and i just watched movies in the room until it was time to go to the lobby to catch our ride to the airport.  it was while we were waiting that i discovered they offered free wi-fi in their lobby. what?? how did i not know this all week?  i would have kept myself entertained in the lobby on some of the rainy afternoons.  ah, well.  a week unplugged was good for me.   

we snapped a few last  shots in front of the airport before heading off on a two hour drive to the airport.  as we were pulling away from the resort, i was able to get a few pictures on my phone of some of the damage from the storm.  they're a little blurry since we were driving.

our ride actually turned out to be a little shorter because there were no other pick-ups on our way in.  it was kind of nice just the four of us.  but also a little nerve-racking because there were militia-style police everywhere.  they had automatic weapons strapped around them and in the backs of their trucks, manned. 
  
we grabbed lunch at margarittaville in the cancun airport.  nick and kate ordered large beers, and they don't joke around in margarittaville. check out the size of these bad boys.

these are the last two pictures from our vacation.  after our lunch, we headed over to buy last minute souvenirs and snacks for the trip home.  kate purchased some organic gum ... and the four of us decided we're just not that green yet. 

dallas to tulsa was our last leg of the trip. we had appetizers at TGI fridays in the airport.  when we first booked the trip we wanted to make the most of our last day on vacation {not knowing it would be rainy}, so we got home pretty late.  haley was still staying in muskogee so we didn't have to worry about picking her up late or anything like that. 

our time away was fun, but travis and i were both excited to get back to our own bed.  

now i'm looking forward to planning our next trip ...

last full day: mexico vacation day 6.

the 4th was our last full day in mexico.  my migraine from the night before was still hanging on strong. and my sweet boy was experiencing crohn's in full force.  we make quite the pair, don't we?

eventually travis felt like he could get up and walk.  he needed food to eat with his medicine, so he and nick headed to the cafeteria while kate and i slept in.  travis brought some breakfast back to the room for me and i took more medicine.  travis's food and medicine didn't help him much so he ended up in bed again.

guess what.  it was sunshiney!  but now we were in bed like a bunch of frail, old patients.

i stayed in bed until around lunch time when i started to finally feel better.  i went and grabbed lunch by myself in the cafeteria.  i sat by an open window and enjoyed the sunshine.  i went back to the room and checked on travis.  he was still resting, but was feeling a little better.  we both took another nap.

a few hours later nick and kate stopped by from the beach.  we join them for another lunch -- well, it was my second lunch, but travis's first -- and then we all went to the beach after.

kate and i read while travis and nick laid in the chairs next to us for a while.  travis had to head back in because he wasn't feeling too well.  nick and kate finally pulled out the paddle ball kate and i had purchased earlier in the week.  they played for a while and it was fun to watch them laughing and having such a good time.  then the sun started to hide, so it turned a little chilly.  it looked like more storms were moving in.   kate and i got in the water for a little bit to try to warm up {weird when the ocean water is warmer than sitting on the beach}.   when travis came back out to the beach, i was lying under my towel like it was a blanket, finishing the last of lean in. 

we could tell the skies were really getting ready to open up, so we decided to head back in.  travis and i took warm showers ... and promptly fell asleep at 5:30 in the afternoon.  just sign us up for the retirement home. sounds like we would fit right in.  we had dinner in the cafeteria and drinks in the cabana bar, but no one felt like staying out late.  i felt kind of bad because it was our last night of vacation, and we were all headed back to the room at a pretty early hour.  everyone was tired, though, so staying up would have just ended up making us all miserable.

i'm still so grateful that travis and i were able to take this trip away, even if everything wasn't picture perfect.  we're blessed to be able to get away, especially with everything that as been going on over the past few months.  and we have awesome, awesome friends to share these adventures with. 

monday, monday: mexico vacation day 5.

how do the lyrics go? monday, monday.  can't trust that day ... 

so last monday we woke to more rain. i was feeling pretty puny, but didn't want to spend our entire tropical vacation indoors.  we grabbed breakfast, but didn't bother getting dressed in any of our cute vacation outfits. so, naturally we ran into the photographer who wanted to shoot us with the toucan.  nick and travis didn't snag a shot with the bird, but kate and i did.  i love her picture!

we decided to head out to the shops just inside the gates of the resort.  we'd heard rumor of a pharmacy there.  so we grabbed our handy, dandy umbrellas {did i mention one of them was broken}, grabbed a shuttle, and rode down to the shops.  there were little huts set up, but then there were gates into a square with actual shops.   we walked around, but several of us weren't feeling too swell.  we had to dash through the rain sometimes to get from one store to the next.  we did finally find the pharmacy, but i wasn't willing to pay the price for the antibiotic, so we moved on along to the next store.  we found another shop that had groceries.  they also had halls cough drops, so i grabbed a couple packs of those and prayed they would soothe my burning throat.

it looked like the weather might clear up after a while, so we headed back to the rooms, put our suits on under our clothes, and headed out to look for lunch.  it turns out that we ate a lot on this trip.  we started living for our next meal ... which really wasn't all that appealing to me or kate.  but it was what we had to do. so we did.

we found a really fun outdoor snack bar, so we parked it for a bit and had lunch there.  it was completely covered, but was wide-open all the way around, so we had refuge from the rain, but could still enjoy the fresh air.

i wish so badly i had a picture of it, but there are the cutest little animals on the resort.  they look like part deer {face}, part racoon {body} and they hop like a bunny!  we saw them all over the place.  while we were eating lunch one of them started sneaking up on the east side of the building.  it saw the worker and slowly eeked backward. it snuck around to the north side of the building and had almost made it to a table with leftover food when the woman turned around and caught him.  or maybe it was a her now that i think about it, because the woman said, "no, shoo chicka. shoo."  she talked to the animal as if it was a pet though, so somehow i don't think it was the little girl's first time to take food from the snack bar.  we had so much fun watching her.

after lunch we headed on down the beach and found another bar similar to the one by our rooms that we'd sat in several times.  we  stopped in there and played spades for a while.  we were getting a little stir-crazy being trapped inside, but just tried to make the best of the time.  it was incredibly nice to be away from work, not checking emails, etc.

the rain did finally stop, so we decided to take our chances and went back out.  it was a little cooler, but we had seen several jacuzzi bars on the map, so we thought we'd sit for a while in one of those.  and maybe we wouldn't even mind the rain if it came again, as long as it wasn't lightening.  it turned out there was a jacuzzi bar just around the corner from us.  it also turned out that jacuzzi just means "bubbles." there was no warm water in any of the jacuzzis we found.  we did have a fun laugh about it, though. we finally just headed into the

this was the night we celebrated my birthday ... and somehow i got zero pictures on my camera or my phone.  we ate at a really fun hibatchi grill.  they lit up the entire bar all the way around!  i've seen grills light the volcano of onions and even do other things on the grill {which this guy did}, but after all our plates of food were ready and he had them sitting on the bar, he lit a trail of fire from one plate to the next.  we were impressed!  i was really glad we all liked the food here the best of all the restaurants we tried since it was supposed to be for my birthday.  and there was no embarrassing singing. just travis, nick, and kate singing softly when they brought my dessert.  the rest of the table looked, but nobody joined it.  it kind of made me laugh.

dinner was great, but by the end of our golf cart shuttle ride back to the room, i started feeling awful.  i got a headache that just exploded and a bout of nausea to go along with it.  i felt terrible because nick and kate were asking if we wanted to stay up and play cards or anything, but i couldn't find a bed fast enough.  i jumped in a burning hot shower and fell into bed.