Black Saturday??!!

I knew I'd start Saturday off with my family & by the end of the day end up at my in-laws. I needed an ensemble that was cute enough to spend a "girls day" with my mom and Codi & comfortable enough to watch football on the couch.

Cream & black leopard tunic:::: Karlie (purchased at M Elly's Amarillo)

Black leggings::: BP, Nordstroms

Cobra thigh high black boots:::: Jessica Simpson

Mom, Codi & I ended up seeing Due Date, which was pretty hilarious. There were definitely moments where it got a little umm... stupid, but other parts were flippin hilarious. After my girl time I joined the Joneses for steaks, beer & football. Together we watched our Cowboys get defeated during the Bedlam game (heartbreak). Now the waiting begins... which bowl game will we get?!? I had high hopes for the Cotton Bowl, but the stupid Aggies got it.

&&& I love my husband because you can find him sporting his OSU button up each & every game day.

Turkey Day & a Trip to AMA

Since I had to work Wednesday (lame, I know) we arrived in Amarillo early, early Thursday morning.... Just in time to eat.

Thanksgiving was great. I think the last time we had all of my grandparents & parents in the same place was my wedding... And well it's been almost 3 years since that, so we were due for some extended family time.

My favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

1. Nena's homemade chocolate pie

2. Grandma's homemade rolls

3. Mandarin orange salad

Multi Striped Sweater::: Double Diamond (purchased from The Rach in Canyon)

Jeggings::: Trouve

Short Pull on boots in black::: Marc by Marc Jacobs (borrowed from Juju)

So I definitely struggled with what to wear on Thanksgiving. I tried on several "cuter" options, but they all felt to binding for a day of lounging around the lakehouse. When I finally decided on this tunic from The Rack I immediately wished I owned dark brown flat boots. I have some in chestnut, but I think I'd get my wear out of a dark brown pair. Add that to my never-ending want list...

While we went shopping on Black Friday we stayed away from the mall & waited until after lunch to venture out. I spent a whopping $15 on some black jeggings from Old Navy.

&&& I love my husband because he willingly participated in Black Friday shopping.

In-Laws In Town

This weekend we had my in-laws up to visit. The past couple times they've been in the Metroplex they've split their time between Azle (where the other Joneses are) & Dallas. This time we got them all to ourselves.

Saturday morning we took them to tour the SMU Law School, since they had never been on campus before. They were thoroughly impressed with the law school & campus in general.

It just so happened that SMU was having a tailgate, & nothing beats free food & beer. This was Chris's last tailgate as an SMU student. The next one we attend (if we go) he will be alumni. Awesome awesome awesome!

SMU's tailgates are slightly dressier thank Oklahoma State's. Slightly... So I opted for a dressier version of the tailgating uniform, jeans & a sweater.

Fur trimmed cape::: Jade (purchased from M Elly's Amarillo)

Black tissue turtleneck::: J Crew

Gwenyvere Stretch Straight Leg Jeans::: 7 for All Mankind

Booties::: Juju (the brand, not the mother)

Saturday evening the Joneses treated us to a super delicious supper at Hector's on Henderson. It's definitely our go-to place for a nice supper. The last time we took the Joneses to Hector's we had Carter & Beckett with us. Needless to say they did not get to enjoy their meal as much as they would have liked. This time they were able to drink wine, enjoy Hector's fabulous singing skills & munch on some delicious food.

Red Leopard Romper::: Forever 21

Black tights:: Spanx

Black Peep Toe Pumps::: Christian Louboutin

&&& I love my husband because he graduates from SMU law school in exactly 172 days.

Oooh Baby!

Our Panhandle weekend was a success. I got to see my mom & Codi Saturday morning, shop all afternoon with my mother in law, cook out with the Joneses (while watching OSU stomp UT. GO POKES!) & attend my sister in law's baby shower.


While Ellen & I were out shopping on Saturday we went to Et Cetera, a great gift store in Amarillo. We were on the hunt for a sweet outfit for Liz to bring the baby home from the hospital in, but I get easily side tracked. When I saw the entire room full of Mackenzie Childs dishes I immediately knew what I wanted to ask for for Christmas.

It would complete my red & black kitchen. Plus I am in desperate need of pretty, casual tumblers. We might have broken all but 3 of the ones we received as wedding gifts. (& we started out with 16... oops)

Liz's shower was a huge success. She had a phenomenal turn out & received pink, pink & more pink. She is feeling better & very anxious for her little girl to get here. I'm hoping she will decide to make an appearance over Thanksgiving so that we can be there!

Cream Turtleneck:: BP, Nordstrom

Argyle Dress::: BB Dakots (purchased at The Rack in Canyon)

Black Tights::: Spanx

Necklaces::: Various strands of pearls-- Basically any/all I own.

Booties::: Juju

&&& I love my husband because he drove the whole way to Amarillo & back.

Baby Shower

Chris's sister, Liz, is having her baby shower this Saturday. After having 2 nephews I am super excited to finally have a little niece. The best part? Being able to buy adorable little girl clothes. Ahhhh I can't wait to have a daughter of my own someday.So I went to Swoozies thinking they'd have the perfect gift. Jackpot! I got these super cute bloomers & matching booties.

My next dilemma? What to wear to the actual shower. I've been to very, very few baby showers, so I'm not quite certain which way to go. At first I thought this cute little dress from The Rack would be perfect since we will go straight from church to the shower.

But then I had a vision of a chic all black ensemble with leopard booties. I found these Jessica Simpsons at Dillards. So now I'm going to hunt through Juju & Codi's closets with hopes of finding a church appropriate black dress to wear with them.

On a side note, Saturday evening Liz got very sick. When she wasn't feeling any better Sunday morning David & Ellen took her to the hospital. Long story short::: She was having contractions & was already dilated to a 2. They gave her medicine to stop the contractions, but she will be on bed rest for the next 3 weeks. She, Eric & baby are constantly in my thoughts & prayers.

&&& I love my husband because he loves his family so much. He was so so so worried when he heard about Liz.

Quarter Century Old

I'm officially 25. I round up to 30. I keep hearing how, "You're a quarter century old" & "A quarter of your life is over." I take issue with both of these statements.

1. Any sentence with the word "century" in it sounds like a history book
2. If a quarter of my life is over you're saying I am going to live to be 100, which would be awesome although highly unrealistic.

25 is an intimidating birthday.

As unexciting as it might be, I did end up enjoying my birthday. Chris went to Amarillo Thursday evening for his interview, leaving me to fly in after work on Friday. Even though I spent my birthday at work and in Dallas alone it was ok since I didn't have to make the horrible 6 hour drive from Dallas to Amarillo. I'll take flying any day.

My flight landed just in time for a wonderful supper at the Amarillo Club. That place holds so many memories for me. It's the first place I met Chris's extended family (at Mitch & Lacey's wedding). It's where I got engaged & it's where we held our wedding reception. We enjoyed a delicious 4 course meal & shut the place down. Seriously, we were the last ones in there.

I got the Michele watch I've been crushing on. I have a feeling it will be one of those "every day essentials" for me. I have the best parents a girl could ask for. For.Real.

The in-laws gift didn't' disappoint either. Anything that comes in a little turquoise box is good in my book.

&&& I love my husband because he remembered the Centinneal Stripe makeup bags I had my eye on at Bendels. He got me 2 pieces for my for my birthday. Just when I think he doesn't listen to me ramble he proves me wrong!

It's Been a Long Night in Dallas, too

John Mayer.... Oh how I love thee.

So this weekend my parents, Codi, and Derek flew up to D-F-Dub to eat, go to John Mayer, eat, and go to Six Flags. (For anyone who didn't know my family you'd think we were all big fat fatties considering how much I talk about us eating).
Highlight of the weekend: John Mayer. He is fabulous. I am obsessed & I might possibly leave my husband for him. I'd forgotten how much I love his music. I love his old stuff, his new stuff, and I love the stuff that isn't even his that he covers. He's that good.
I feel like he had a tremendous appreciation for his fans. Which makes me like him even more. I also liked that he liked what he was doing. He seemed like he was having the time of his life on that stage. He was 100% in his element.

&&& I love my husband because he too can play guitar. He's no John, but he can definitely rock it out.

Emi Imo Dairo Doo?

We went back to the lake this weekend (big surprise, I know), but this time my Hoodlum cousins came up for a visit. It was a Hawaii 2010 reunion... 2 months after the fact. It was a fabulous weekend relaxing, eating, catching up, and playing on the lake.

Saturday evening Deisa & I got off discussing childhood stories our Nena used to tell us. We laughed until we cried discussing "The Weedle on the Needle", "Emi Imo" "Wolly the Lamb" & many many others.

I think "The Weedle on the Needle" took the cake as the best story told in the Hood Household. It was a story about a weedle (still not sure what that is) who lived on the needle (the Seattle Space Needle). Well Nena and Grandad had a radio tower in plain sight of their house, so they would point to the red blinking light & tell us it was the Weedle on the Needle. At night when we wouldn't go to sleep they would say, "You better go to sleep or the weedle will get you!"

Emi Im is a whole 'nother story.... It's a nursery rhyme our entire family says & none of us have a clue 1.where it came from 2. what it means:

Emo imo dairo do rump sum pap-a-linkle rap sap penny winkle... I always mess up the rest, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead

See... it's crazy. Deisa says her German foreign exchange student friend says it's German. So we googled "emo imo" in every which spelling combo possible. Nothing. We will just chalk this one up as a Hood Family Tradition... like the Eddie's Chocolate of words (more on Eddie's Chocolate later).

Nothing beats reminiscing with family.

&&& I love my husband because he let us spend the whole weekend with just MY family.

Vegas. Part Dos.

We woke up Saturday morning with a mission: Shop.

But before we hit the mall (again) we went to brunch at Bouschon's. It's a little bakery-ish restaurant on the 10th floor of the Venetian. It was great. I didn't particularly care for what I got, but Dr. Dad got the french toast, which was to-die-for.

So we had some mimosas.... which lead to us being simpled out. This picture seriously cought my family in their prime.

I tried my hand at the slots... I'm not really sure why I do this, because I always always always end up losing. After I lose I get pissy & wish I hadn't wasted good shoe money on a stupid slot machine.
When we got to the mall it didn't take us long to spend our "allowance" from Dr. Dad. Mom & Co hit up LV while I settled for a new Yurman bracelet. I was yippee skippy happy to get my first Yurman bracelet. Thanks, Dr. Dad. You rock!

After a long morning of shopping we went to the hotel pool. I was slightly disappointed. I think Zaza spoiled us... The pool itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It was crowded and the service was poor. It took us 20 minutes to get chairs set up, 30 minutes to flag down a waitress, and 20 more minutes to go order take out from the poolside restaurant. They wouldn't take your order for food, so you had to physically go up to the restaurant, order food, wait on your food, and take it back to your chair. This topped with the fear that I might catch something from the pool... I mean, it's Vegas.... what do you expect?!?
After pool time we cleaned up for a fabulous supper at Lavo in the Palazzo. I had the most amazing spaghetti and meatballs EVER. I would highly recommend this place. The ambiance inside the place was great. I wish I'd taken more photos because it was gorgeous.

Saturday evening we went to the late night showing of Jersey Boys. I was unsure whether or not I'd like it since I'd never really heard of The 4 Seasons, but it was a really good show. Within the first 5 minutes I was invested in the characters & singing along with the tunes. Turns out I did know a lot of their music.

After the show we walked down to Caeser's. Bad idea. 2 young girls + 1 over protective Dr. Dad + late nights & drunkards in Vegas= Bad combo. To say the least men were very interested in my sister & I & Dr. Dad did not find it amusing... at all.
We left early Sunday morning. Sad day. It was a short, but sweet trip.

&&& I love my husband because the house was picked up when I got home on Sunday.

Vegas, Baby!

Last minute trip to Vegas? Please & thanks! Sunday evening Dad called me to see if I'd like to go to Vegas for the weekend. Duh! So I took off Friday & headed to Vegas with the Dem Fam. I left Dallas at noon and arrived to Vegas at 1:50 with my family arriving 20 minutes later.

We made the most of every single minute we had there. After getting our bags we headed over to the hotel, the Palazzo. Chris & I stayed there before, but it was the first time for my parents. It was very nice.

Dad was pretty pumped to be back in Vegas... Hince his "Happy Dance"

His comment after this video was, "This cat can dance."

We had lunch at one of my all time faves, Sushi Samba. I absolutely love their cocktail trees.

Then we headed to Fashion Show Mall to do some shopping. We were pretty unsuccessful on day 1, coming home with only Victorias Secret shopping bags. After some shopping we got prettied up for a nice dinner at BOA in Cesaer's Palace. They have the most amazing steaks.

This was for Chris, since he prefers to gamble at Casino Royale. Class class class....

Dad and I tried our hand at Blackjack. Let's just say he did much better than I did.
I found a baby once. Really, where?..............

Coffee Bean.
&&& I love my husband because he is finally home with me for good. I have really missed him over the past couple weeks.

ZaZa & Gaga

Mom & Codi arrived in Dallas around 2 on Wednesday afternoon. I met them at Northpark as soon as I got off work. We shopped around for a couple hours searching for the perfect "Gaga Wear." What is it about Lady Gaga that makes me feel like I need something super funky to wear?? Ok, maybe not this funky.

Codi ended up getting a super cute black short romper at Arden B and snake skin wedges at Steve Madden & I got the French Connection dress I'd been crushing on to go with my Loubs (nickname for my Louboutins). After a night of shopping & PF's (yes, my mother insists we eat at PF Changs every time she comes to Dallas. She loves it) we headed out to Hotel Zaza.

It.was.Amazing.I cannot even describe how cool this hotel was. It's a boutique hotel, so it was really small, but every single detail was fabulous. When you walk in there's this giant chandelier and plush velvet couches. Very chic. I would highly highly highly recommend it.

After a relaxing lunch poolside we headed to the pool for cocktails and play time. I think it was a good thing we were there on a random Thursday afternoon, cause I have a feeling this place could get a little cra-zy, but in a fun way.

The concert itself was incredible. She came on stage around 9 and played until a little after 11, which was great. I got to dance and sing to all the bests. I was amazed at how humble an individual she is. She expressed many times how grateful she is for her fans, and I believe her.

I didn't know that the whole "Monster Ball" theme was because she calls her fans "Little Monsters." I think it's cool. She also has a song called "Paws Up," so a recurring theme throughout the concert was "Get your Paws Up." Her mission was to make her concert fun, and she succeeded.

Other than briefly forgetting she was in Dallas & not Houston (oopsie, Gaga) she was very interactive with the audience. She did, however, go off on LGBT rights for quite a while. Girl loves her some gays.

Not judgin' just sayin'.