bruschetta

bruschetta is on the dinner menu about once a week at the swoff-house. now that i'm eating onions, its much more enjoyable! i dont really make a very true bruschetta, its kind of the "modified to our tastes" version, and i forgot to take a picture tonight when i made it, so here is one i found elsewhere:

we both got on a big bruschetta kick after M&G's rehearsal dinner, which was delicious! yeah, g is laughing at me right now, because that was over 2 years ago... "yes, i do remember the food at your rehearsal dinner, high five for me"

so, for those of you about to fall out of your chair in suspense, here is my general "recipe" for making the swofford modified bruschetta:

**i'm not awesome at giving recipes, i just kinda cook without paying much attention to amounts or measurements**

1. caramelize onions (which i chop up real tiny, so they really dont exist)

2. add:- bite sized pieces of chicken

(yes, we add chicken, which is probably wrong, but who cares)

-garlic

-green olives (sliced)

-red pepper

-mushrooms

-balsamic vinegar

-s,p, and italian seasoning

-slice grape tomatoes in half, add to mixture after it cooks a bit so they keep their shape

-let all the stuff mix together till desired level of deliciousness

-lightly toast bruschetta bread, which i buy fresh at Sprouts

-pile mixture on bread

-make "yum" and "mmmm" noises while eating

-the end.

if you arent sure about this whole bruschetta thing, watch Julie & Julia. You'll want to make it, and a handful of other things. Happy Thursday!

a little tuesday change

well, if i blogged every time i changed my haircolor, i'd probably have no followers, because you all dont want to know that i added 4 lowlites (which i did on thursday) and how often i "throw in a little more blonde" -- because well, i change my haircolor about as often as i change our sheets. so, needless to say it could get redundant.  here are a few of my haircolors over the past few years, from black to platinum. pictorial evidence below:

                              i only kept the pink a couple weeks

the red was just for halloween, i was poison ivy & drew was mr freeze     

 (not one of the blue man group members)

(ps. sorry you had to endure the photo shrine of me, myself, and my hair)

BUT- this morning, i did something i dont do often, i gave myself a little cut. (sidenote: just because i'm a hairstylist, dosent mean i get regular haircuts, i actually really dislike cutting my hair, my mama does it for me about every 4 months)

so, ignore the horrible lighting in our bathroom, and the fact that i've done zero decorating so you cant even see anything exciting in the background... oh yeah, and the fact that i look like i'm 12, and the stupid face i'm making... but here are my new side bangs.

i dont much care for bangs, mostly because i dont like my hair touching me (why do i have long hair ? who knows) but i think i needed a change, its been a while since i've had them. i always judge my hair, by how it looks in pictures (is that stupid) so, i went back to the side bang because i like my hair in this picture:

do i plan on going this blonde? No.

but thats just today, i could change my mind in a week.

what is YOUR favorite hair color on YOU?????

with this ring...

with WHAT ring??? haha, i completely forgot to give my MOH (libby) andrew's wedding ring......what????????????? i know. fail. haha! anyway, the whole wedding party had it all figured out, and even had the back-up plan (Gabe's cotton bowl ring) -- except, well, me.

i didnt realize that i forgot the ring until i was already down the isle, preacher man had begun, and i started thinking about making sure when i handed libby my bouquet, she also grabbed the antique hankerchief that my aunt carol had given me (it was wrapped around my bouquet)--- and then.... i realize what i forgot, and turn white as a ghost!!! i start fidgeting and panicking, trying to figure out what to do... luckily everyone is trying to communicate with me (discretely) and lauren mouthed the words "its okay" to me... deep breath! situation handled...

needless to say, we all got a huge laugh out of the situation, mostly during the ceremony... even preacher bruce almost lost his composure. he had the sweetest sermon about what the rings symbolized and the significance of wearing rings, all the great stuff... and we're all literally trying to hold back the laugh. james places my tiny little band in bruce's hand, and then libby plops this giant bowl game ring next to it.... priceless! anyway, it all worked out... we got married with a texas tech ring, so really... whats better than that?

notice libby had to TURN AWAY because she was laughing, and i'm trying to cover up the huge ring with my hand, so funny!

good memories, thanks for the ring Gabe! Go Tech!

twenty-ten

i do realize that we are now in the year 2010, but thats not what this post is about. gotcha!!! haha, jk! i have 20 followers! yay me, i'm amazed 20 people like to read about my crazy life and my weird habits, so i'm feeling pretty popular right now. so, in honor of this incredible accomplishment... i give you:

10 random things about me!

1. i could sit down and eat an entire bag of baked lays in one sitting,

which is why i never buy them at the store.

2. i love chalkboards!!!

3. when i was little, we had a pet parakeet named Sugar, who died on April Fools Day. thats pretty sad when you're in 2nd grade.

4. i like to ask Drew for things i know he will never agree to, like for him to get me penguins, like these little cuties:

5. i'm really good at the card game Nertz!

6. i own hot pink suede knee high boots, and yes... they're fabulous.

7. my favorite number is 3

8. in 9th grade, my friend Kendra and i participated in the French Festival Talent Show, for some really insane reason, because... well, i have no talent (that can be done on a stage) but Kendra, well, she's a fabulous singer. She sang this beautiful song in french... i played the tambourine. yikes!!!! We won first place. I take ZERO credit for that.

9. i regularly forget which side of my car the gas tank is on.

and last but not least,

10. i LOVE the movie Simon Birch! i think little simon is such a cutie-patutie!!! i always wanted to mail him little special made clothes, is that weird?

thanks all for following me! happy tuesday!

a year long break from working

thats right people, its been just right at almost a year since i've had a job. of course, when you do hair... you never really stop working, my bathroom is practically a hair salon for those of you who've experienced the "bend your head over the bathtub and wash out your color" situation. its fun, i love it... but now its time to head back to the grown up world of working somewhere other than my bathroom, or kitchen table (depending on the day) -- maybe someday, i'll have a cute little salon in my house, i'll totally be channeling Steel Magnolias, oh how i love that movie!

am i excited: yes.
do i love working 3 days a week: ummm yes!!!
just enough to keep me busy.
am i ready to stand on my feet all day: ugh! this is where my bad posture really makes a difference. and i have a weird habit of tilting my head to the right, so my neck always hurts. grr! stupid bad habits!
am i super pumped to talk to people: oh yes!
do i plan to work before 10am: new town, same me. no i do not.
is my new salon super cute: of course! (for those of you in the area, i'm going to be in suite 1 at Salon Boutique, in Frisco---
Monday, Tuesday, & Saturday)
new business cards: yes, and they're cute too!

so, in the process of moving my "hair stuff" from our striped bedroom closet to the salon-- i needed to do some organizing and minimizing. so our floor looked like this:

and here are a few of my "hair things"

i love hair products, especially ones that smell good! this is my favorite shampoo, its so great for me because i'm well, not exactly, a "natural" blonde anymore... and this keeps my blonde from fading to that icky brassy color, and it smells delightful!

really and truly, i think i've got the best job in the world, i LOVE when people leave feeling great about themselves, and i'm always so filled up by good conversation! win-win!

at last...

at last (etta james) was the song that was playing when i walked down the isle...

--sidenote: when the ceremony began, all the bridesmaids and groomsmen went upstairs to do their walking in, and i stayed down stairs with one of the photographers, well as it turns out... someone forgot to come get me about half way through the bridesmaids (who walked down the isle to "the way you look tonight") , so "at last" started playing, and i was nowhere to be seen. (me, just hanging out downstairs, chatting it up with the photographer) here's how it went down in the ceremony though:

andrew to bruce (preacher): do you see her?
bruce: no, is she coming?
andrew: i hope so.
then, wooooooshhh they both see me RUNNING down the entrance to the ballroom! phew! i was kinda disappointed that we didnt have enough time to fix my train, which is gorgeous all spread out... but the song had been playing awkwardly long, daddy and i had to just get outselves down that isle.

so, here we are:

here is when i see drew:

and drew sees me, it was really crowded up front (because we had over 100 people show up that did not rsvp, so the ceremony had seating for 275, and over 100 people were standing, everything was squished! i'm pretty sure our poor photographer had to military crawl and do some crazy yoga style standing with the camera out just to get this picture:

phew, made it down the isle without tears!!! now, this next part is one of the all time sweetest and most memorable moments of the whole entire wedding.

**** once we were down at the front, bruce did his thing, and then it was time for daddy to "give me away" -- you should know, my dad is not a man of many words, so when he does say something its ususally 1)profound 2)funny 3)correct or 4) completely made up and done so in such a way that you are amazed that something could sound so outrageous. haha! anyway, after daddy said that "he and mama gave permission" or however that goes, he leaned over and gave me a little kiss on the cheek...

then he gave andrew a little hug and said just loud enough that only a few of us could hear " take her hand, hold on tight, and never let go" **** needless to say, andrew and i both had to kinda catch ourselves from losing it at that point, but no worries.... we laughed through the entire rest of the ceremony. story coming soon! what daddy said at that moment was perfect, he had just the right words! drew and i both treasure that!

new on etsy

a high school friend of mine asked me to do these for her sisters-soon-to-be-baby boy!!! i dont get a lot of orders for baby boy stuff, so its always fun. i've got a few things on my etsy site!  his name is going to be Lane, here is what the canvases look like all together:

and then, you can see the details of each one:

the bedding is blue/green/white argyle like the "L" canvas, so since argyle is pretty busy... i came up with a couple other backgrounds to play up each color. also, baby Lane's mommy wanted some grey incorporated. Aunt C says mommy is going to hang stuffed animal deer heads (like mounted ones) in the nursery, how cute is that??? i've seen them at My Cup of Tea (a baby store in LBK) and they're so fun!!! i bet baby Lane is going to have a super decked out room, congrats P.Scott!

behind the scenes

i dont know why i thought that at my own wedding, i'd get to see everything. NO, this is so not the case. as the bride: you're pretty much stuck back in the "get ready" room until go time. so, for today's installment of wedding pics, i'll share what went on behind the scenes.

in hindsight, i'd have done some things differently. like 1) my mother was right, you do need lines in the sign in book. and 2) not wear brand new shoes to the rehearsal dinner (ouch) and 3) take 30 seconds and look at the reception room, after all the planning... i barely even saw it, everything is such a blurrrrr! anyway, back to #1... the sign in book, i decided to do a coffee table album with pics of us for our sign in book. it was absolutely gorgeous, all the pics of the detail things (the lace of my dress, my pearls, our rings, my shoes...ect... you get the idea) so then people could sign in around the pictures. mama wanted lines for people to sign, i didnt, i wanted it to be artsy and discombobulated. high five to me for using that word, huh??? --- like i said, in hindsight, lines would have been better.

some people wanted to write you a little note, some people wanted to write you a novel, and some people just sign their name... needless to say, 1 book + 400 guests = a really long line to sign into the wedding. finally, they had to just close the book and send people upstairs to the ballroom, where our ceremony was. but in the meantime......

all us ladyfolk in the back room needed some entertaining, so what do i do??? i told a fairy tale story about a princess who lived in a pink castle, with a really big closet, and lots of shoes. i'm sure i embellished a bit more than that... but i think my bridesmaids got a kick out of it. pictures below:

i'm not sure how i did it, but i managed to incorporate the happy hands crew from napoleon dynamite into my story, awesomeness!

and then, almost time, we had a little toast to the wedding, a little prayer over our marriage, and touch up the lips... then we were finally allowed out of the dungeon (okay, i'm embellishing again) rather, we left the get ready room, and headed up.... it was time for the wedding to start!!! yay!

happy monday everyone!

ladyfolk of the wedding part two

now that we've got our hair done up and our dresses on... lets get to the really pretty pictures! brittany found this fantastic wall for us to do our pics in front of, i guess it used to be red, and had faded... to a perfect red-ish/pink (in my head, the wall was painted pink just for me, i'll just keep letting myself believe that) anyway: here are my gorgous friends, love to you all Libby, Diana, Emily, Monica, and Lauren. and sweet little taylor-bug and isabella, who were the darlingest jr bridesmaid/flower girls you ever did see!

yes, i'm totally giggling!

here is a full view of little miss isabella's flower girl dress, i loved her dress, i want one in my size!!!

a fun little tidbit about my bridesmaids: i decided that each lady should carry a different bouquet of pink flowers. each bouquet completely fit their personalities, and then mine was an assortment of all the flowers, and feathers. ohhhh i love feathers!!! anyway, here are the girls bouquets: libby (moh) carried lillies, because they're my favorite! lauren carried tulips, because they're her favorite, emily carried these funky spider lillies (you usually see them in green or white, i really dont know what they're called, but i always love them, "they're splodin" haha, eb is totally cracking up at me right now) that my florist dyed pink, because they're the most original/fire cracker looking flower-- and emily is bursting with joy, she's insane fun! diana carried medium pink roses, because she is so classic and glamorous, monica carried hot pink roses, because she always wears hot pink lipstick--they made me think of her! and miss taylor bug carried gerber daisies, they're fun and sweet, just like her! and little missy isabella sprinkeled pink feathers instead of flowers when she walked down the isle, it was absolutely perfect!

the ladyfolk of the wedding

wedding month is back on! phew!

alright, i just have to say... my dear sweet girlfriends are FABulous and oh so very BEAutiful. i love all my b's (thats what we all call each other, its a long very sketchy story, but basically we all have a b in our name somewhere, except me, but since i was the bride, i got my b...i realize that sounds insane weird, but we all get it and it works for us)

so, first my amazing ladies took me to atx for my bachelorette party, which was a blast, and i really wanted to cry and throw a tantrum when it was over, because i was just not finished hanging out with the girls. monica didnt get to come, we missed her face! they got us these fun masks to wear out, and lauren (la-b) said i had to wear the "tease" one because i like to tease my hair. i'm a texas girl, yes i do like my big hair!!! haha, anyway... here we are all dolled up.

getting ready for the wedding was oh so very much fun. we all have so many stories and jokes, its like chaos, but the really good kind of chaos! its a bit more labor intensive for the ladies to get ready than the menfolk, and each of my girls had a different shade of hot pink nail polish on their toes, till i finally found the right one, hahaa!

and yes, of course... the hair!!!!!!! Paige at davidson-taylor did my hair, she's fantastic! i absolutely loved it! i told her, make it really big and do whatever you want to do, so this is what i ended up with, loved it! (sorry the pic is kinda distorted) i told each of my bridesmaids they could wear their hair however they liked it best, so they were each different, and they all looked gorgeous. we all wore pretty fresh flowers in our hair!

and, it was so fun: i got to do my maid-o-h's (libby) hair, we were cracking up because we both forgot to have her change clothes, so i told her i'd just cut that awful longhorn t-shirt off her! it was really special for me to do her hair, its sentimental. i've done her hair for other special occasions, and i wanted to be sure i did it for the wedding too!  

and i did our sweetheart little flower girl's hair too! she got to wear a little bit of make up (like the big girls) -- she was precious! and oh my goodness, that dress! her dress was a big huge poweder puff of pink tulle, the cutest thing i've ever seen!

here's monica putting in my flower, and me fixing my (matron-o-h) mama's hair

the hair was fabulous, my girls looked absolutely gorgeous, and we all had an incredible time hanging out and getting all done up. i love my girlfriends. i am so blessed.

more pre-ceremony pics coming soon, there are soooo many!