2007 - 30 Years in 30 Days

I've been looking forward to this year to blog about since I started this. When I heard about the idea from Lauren, I thought it was genius. And then when I thought about 2007...I was so excited. This is the best year of my LIFE. I can already tell you now this will be the longest blog I have ever written as there is so much going on. If you need a snack, something to drink, or bathroom break..take it now. Here we go! Are you ready??

The year started off in Las Vegas, Nevada. A group of us flew out to Vegas to spend New Years together. We got a room at Balley's and it was awesome! Not the room, the trip. It's kind of sad though because on New Years Eve I fell in the limo:

and I dropped my camera case when I did this. So when I picked it up and put my camera back in...the memory card from the first 3 days fell out. The only pictures I have from that trip are from that night. Which honestly, if you are going to loose all put one night of a Vegas trip pictures..the ones you want are your NYE ones. I was very upset about this lost memory card as you can see.

But I was soon over this loss and it was on to celebrate the new year of 2007!!!

This is Katie (who always seems to have her eyes shut) Christy in the back being festive, and then Ashley on my right being just as excited about the night as me. The next story is very near and dear to Ashley's heart. You see, Ashely loves Vince Vaughn. He was in town doing his Wild West comedy show at Mandalay Bay. We had made it over there and I was trying to track down the limo with my lost memory card. I was walking back into the hotel and texting. Not watching where I was going, I walked straight into Vince Vaughn. Right into his chest, sloshed his drink. I looked up and said, "hey Vince!" held up my camera and said, "can I have a picture?" he looked at my mess of a hot self and said, "I'd rather not". He then turned to walk away. I got rejected by Vince, but that's ok. I managed to snap this picture of his back as he walked away up to the Foundation Room.

27 days later the most precious thing came into my life. My Niece. My sister had told us that she was having a girl, but they weren't telling us her name. I was anxious to know the name and had asked Jill if I would like it. She had said to trust her I would love it. So I did. And sure enough, Casey came walking out of the hospital hall and annouced that Reese Mary was here. Reese. When Jill and I were younger we loved the movie Man in the Moon with Reese Witherspoon and would talk about how much we loved that name. It was perfect, and so was she:

In this picture above she looks just like me! That is a picture of me in my baby book the week I was born.

It was then time for my birthday! I was turning 27. I love the resturant Cremona's here in Dallas. It burnt down in 2008 and I cried. But it has since been rebuilt in uptown and I just ate there on Tuesday. Off to Cremona's we went for my 27th birthday with all my friends. Karen and I laughed so hard that night, we had the biggest giggles. There was a picture taken of us laughing and it looks like the perfect ad for shampoo. The flash made our hair look shiney!

Less than a week later it was time to go see Christina!! I love Christina Aguliera. She was coming to the AAC and I was going to hear/see her live. I couldn't wait. Karen was going with me so we ate dinner first and then went. While we were waiting, Pussy Cat Dolls was the opening act. They were ok, nothing to exciting. I really needed to go to the restroom but was afraid I was going to miss Christina. After much deliberation, I left. As I was walking back to my seat in the hall OUTSIDE of the center I hear a roar of cheers. The lights go dark inside and I freak out. No! I am not going to miss this. I ran down the hall of AAC, the security people were telling me slow down, I didn't care. I ran down the stairs (surprised I didn't fall) and push my way down the aisle. The look on Karen's face said it all, "I was so scared you weren't going to make it!". I was too. And then.....she came out. Singing and walking down these steps. I know so many people may laugh at me, but I was overwhelmed with hearing her God giving talent of a voice live and seeing her that it brought tears to my eyes. It was awesome!! Happy Birthday to Me!

It is then one to St. Patrick's Day! It's a big production here on Greenville Ave. They have a 5k race, parade, and everyone just stays out all day. This year I did the race and then met up with Karen and Shelley at Shelley's house off of Greenville. Her brother lived across the street from her and they would have a big house party every year with a band, and brisket tacos. We got out our lawn chairs and just baked in the sun. By 5pm, I was hungry. Because it made sense, I ordered a Cheese and Mushroom pizza from Domino's and told them the address. Almost 2 hours later, they show up and drive right by the house. I kid you not, I was so hungry and still in my running gear from that morning...I ran down the street after the delivery guy! How embarrasing. But I got my pizza and it was great.

Next was summmer time. Karen and I kicked off summer by going to Sundance Square in Ft. Worth for the 8.0's Texas Summer Series. 2 of her friends that she had met before joined us and this was the start of the best summer together. We went every Wednesday night! We had a routine down. Go to Karen's, get a pedi (every other wed), get the Chick-fil-a, and then back to her place. Eat, get ready and off to Ft. Worth we would go. Meet up with Billy and Clint and get buckets of Miller Chill. This was a regular deal the whole summer and man was it fun!

This was also the summer we fell in love with Roger Creager's music. And I want to make sure I'm clear on that, we fell in love with his MUSIC, not him. So naturally we went to every concert he had that year and became friends with the band. Duh! Then I took a brief break from Texas and went back to Oklahoma for Wes's wedding. Congratulations Wes and Julie! I had such a wonderful time and it was a great wedding. Thank you for having me a part of your special day.

Summer was coming to a close and it was time for one last Hurrah to our wonderful time. My old boss/friend has a condo on Lake Travis in Austin that she lets me use every once in awhile. Very nice of her and a good time. Karen and I took off a Thrusday from work and drove down to Austin in my Jeep. Top Off. It was sooo hot and sticky, but it was part of the adventure. I remember on the way back we saw goats in the back of a truck on a trailer...only in Texas. Anyway, we stopped at the grocery store before we headed into town, aka, Lago Vista, TX. We stocked up on goodies and drinks for the next 4 days. Right away we got on our bathing suites and went down to the Beach Club to chill by the infinite pool. And no...I'm not posting those pictures, but they are funny. We spent all afternoon there and then went back to the condo to grill out for dinner. And grill, I mean using a george forman. I must say, for this trip being just the 2 of us we did pretty good with our picture shots! The next day we went Kayaking on Lake Travis. Ok - there is a hilarous story of me loseing my contact the morning of and I thought I would have to wear my glasses on the lake. I know this makes no since and sounds really weird, but I found my contact as we were walking out the door. On Karen's calf. yeah, you read that right. We still to this day have no idea how that happened!! But we found it, and off we went on the Lake. We did get stuck in a bush and couldn't get out. Poor Karen was half under the bush and I couldn't stop laughing. The guide had to come rescue us, the 40+ years olds on the same tour didn't think it was that funny.

Fall was started off by the last Texas Country Concert Festival, Red Dirt Roundup. It is at the Ft. Worth Stockyards and usually is headlined by Cross Canadian Ragweed. This was also when Karen and Josh offically started dating. I also started dating someone, but they are so not worth mention that Karen and refer to him as "Ugh". So that was when Karen and our time of crazy single girls in the Summer of 2007 came to an end. It was by far the best time of my life! There are so many other stories that I would love to tell, but this would seriously turn into a novel instead of a blog.

In August of 2007 I quit working for Clark Consulting, Goodbye Karen, and went back to work for Centex. However, Centex Contruction had been sold to Balfour Beatty Construction and had seperated from Centex Corp. Thus the reason why I was asked to come back. Centex Corp handled all of Centex Constructions Benefits. That was my old job there, so now that they were on their own, my old boss asked if I would come back and help. Of course I gladly came back. Not b/c I was unhappy at Clark, but because I was getting to do more of what I enjoyed, plus I was coming back with a different title, etc. Not long after working there I went with a co-worker to look at the townhome she had just closed on just east of downtown. It was so pretty. I want one!!! I closed on my townhome 5 doors down from her on December 18, 2007. It is 2 stories and I had hardwoods put in and the stairs changed. The transformation:

The year has come to an end. I said goodbye with my last Jingle Booze in an apartment. Back at Adam Hats! Goodbye 2007! I love you, it was amazing year for me. Thank you for all your adventures and the wonderful memories.