Preening Peacock

I love peacocks.  They're beautiful, their calls are erie, and they're fabulous!  Their colors are beautiful and go with everything and versatile.....and I could go on and on.  My outfit yesterday was inspired by these beautiful, majestic creatures.

Got my ring cleaned and recovered and all spruced up!

Skirt is from ages ago.  I got it for Christmas one year and just rediscovered it.  I believe it dates all the way back to my high school days.  (Which, speaking of our 10 year HS reunion is now in like 2 years.  Yikes!)  And yes, this is my superhero pose.

Here are a few pictures from my peacock inspired past.  First two are from UCO's anual faculty Halloween recital at UCO's Jazz Lab.  Me with my good friends, Kristen and Lizzle (Lizzle was in our wedding!) Then me with my zookeeper Hubby!  It was an interesting car ride to the venue, to say the least...

                  One of the UCO Vocal Jazz concerts.  Kenzie, Brian and I were triplets!!

A Memorial Day to Remember

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance.  A time to remember those that have gone before us.  A time to honor and remember those who have served this country and sacrificed in order that we might have freedom.  I can't even begin to thank servicemen and women enough.  Thank you ALL for all that you do.

Grandpa Clarence C. Forrester's grave.  We went to decorate Saturday.

                                  [York family reunion in Collinsville]

[A sneak peek at my next DIY project!]

[Gardening with Mama, Grandma and Bandit at Grandma's house]

[Bandit ist eine Pensive Puppy]

[Memorial Day breakfast with Mama]

[Delicious grilled burger!  Hubby marinated hamburger patties overnight in white wine and Teriyaki sauce.  While grilling, he seasoned them with garlic herb shaker stuff, topped off with home-made cole slaw=the perfect burger!]

Oklahoma Reliefs

I am sure many of you have heard about the tornados that ripped through Moore and SW OKC, Oklahoma May 19-20, leaving devastation in their wakes.  I am so blessed to live in such a caring, loving, helping state as Oklahoma.  The relief efforts and volunteers and donations have been overwhelmingly amazing in their magnitudes.  (I know, a lot of big words, but the response is worthy of as many big words as I can find.) 
    Many churches and businesses are stepping in and lending a hand in any way they can.  I've heard of donation sites having long long lines of people waiting to drop stuff off for the families affected.  My church, Olivet Baptist Church-Tulsa is taking up donations of diapers, wipes, gatorade and snacks to take to Moore.  I cleaned out all of my drawers and closet and am taking some gently used clothes.  It made it a LOT easier to clean things out when I knew it was going to people in need.
  
    Another of the businesses that is helping in the relief efforts is Tulsa's the Vintage Pearl hand stamped jewelry.  100% of the proceeds from the pictured Oklahoma necklace are being donated to the American Red Cross and it's tornado victims relief efforts.  I was blown away when I heard how big the response has been in just 2 days!  If you clock on the Vintage Pearl above, the link will tke you directly to the website where you can order it. 

    Oklahoma is truly an amazing place to live.  We are people that are full of love, hope and life.  We aren't afraid to step up when there is an overwhelming need.  I am proud to say that I'm an Okie!!

Twinsies!

Let me just say, I love twinsie moments. Today was the ultimate one. Shurayah and I went shopping at Kohl's this past weekend. They had a lot of good sales!! Well we both ended up getting the same shirt. (Who can resist leopard?!) 

Then we went out to Sushi Hana for lunch and of course, it didn't go unnoticed. Our favorite waiter was so sweet and said he liked our jungle theme! 

Mayfest and More!

So this weekend was a fun filled weekend that left me going to bed at 8:00pm on Sunday evening.  I fell asleep just as the quiet evening was giving way to peals of thunder from the oncoming storm.

[Saturday was part of 'art car weekend'.  Mama and I ran accross a banana car on our way to the Cherry Street Frmers Market]

                                                                   [Mama and me]

                                                                [A peacock car]

                                                                 [A toaster car]

[I work for an insurance company that helped sponsor March of Dimes and hosted a Wine Dinner and silent auction and live auction.  It was an amazing Art Deco evening full of good food, good drinks, and wonderful company.  Not to mention, the proceeds were going to support a very worthy cause of helping fund research to help mothers have healthy babies.  Diferent chefs came out, representing different restaurants and set up a working kitchen in one ofthe many beautiful kitchens that Metro Appliances had to offer.  A few of the restaurasnts present were Far Guy's Burgers, Waterfront Grill, Le Madeline (I ad like 5 of their delicious fruit tarts) and Cardigans]  I will post more pictures of this event soon!

[Sunday I went to Tulsa's Mayfest and Blue Dome Art Festival with one of my good friends and her husband.  Above is a picture of a very decadent, unique, delicious 'BBQ Parfait'!!  Oh it made my mouth water just looking at the sign for it. Though I will admit, I was a little repulsed at first.  BBQ and Parfait are not two words I expected to see in the same food sentence.  Ever.  But boy am I glad someone came up with it!  It was BBQ-heaven-in-a-cup!  Layers of baked beans, pulled pork, BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes with the crowning glory of a yummy scoop of seasoned mashed potatoes drizzled in more BBQ sauce.  It was definitely the highlight of my Mayfest treck. (Aside from spending time with my good friends, of course.)  I also ran into several other good friends and parents.  Sunday was definitely the day to be out!]

                                       [My friend, Amelya and me at the Blue Dome district]

[And of course, our weekend of fun was finished off in a relaxing manner of watching Star Trek and cuddling with Hubby our precious little doglet.]

Weekend Hint

Here's a little hinty hint about what we have going on this evening. It's going to benefit a great charity called the March of Dimes. They help mothers have healthy babies! That's as good a cause as any to me. Babies are our future generations. It will be good for us to be able to donate a little of our time to help this good cause!

Honeymoon

I figured I would sneak this post in here about our Honeymoon to Branson.  I'll post later as well about the details of our wedding, since that kind of is why I started this blog.  :)

                                                             [Our rented Mazda 3]

                                                                         [Bride and Groom shirts I made for the first day of our Honeymoom]

[Luggage from my parents for our Honeymoom, with Bride/Groom tags. We didn't want to get them mixed up....;)]

[Welcome to Missouri!  We went and did everything there was to do in Branson, Missouri!]

[Dinner at the Outback Restaurant our first night t here.  Delicious food.]

[For our wedding night, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Tulsa]

[David met the Genie at the Hollywood Wax Museum]

[I met Hugh Heffner.  He let me borrow some of his bunny ears]

[Lunch at the Baldknobbers Restaurant.  Home cookin style buffet]

[No Branson trip is complete without riding the Ducks!  Plus who can resist the free quackers; all they were missing was cheese......*quack quaaaaack*]

[We went to Silverdollar City on the last day!  I tell you, this was the time to go.  It was during their Festival of Lights.  Children were still in school, so it was just us and a bunch of Senior Citizens groups.  Hardly any lines for the rides and really not too crowded.  It was actually part of our deciding factor for going to Branson. (Not the senior citizens, but SDC's Christmas Festival)]

[We youred Marvel Cave while at SDC.  It was a lot of fun!  It was one of the best trips to SDC]
[We also played mini golf at Grand Country Buffet, went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, saw Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Christmas show (complete with the most amazing meal I've ever had there, I even got to take home my little hen that we were served.  Unfortunately, I left it at the hotel in the fridge and never got to finish it...) Also saw the Jim Stafford show, toured a winery and did a wine tasting, saw the Titanic Museum (it's such a tragic, yet amazing story.  I will never tire of hearing about it,) rode on Branson's Scenic Railway into Arkansas and back (which we found out after we'd already purchased our tickets that in the Christmas season, they had a reenactment  ride of the Polar Express, complete with singing waiters, hot chocolate and cookies!  Maybe we can do that next time.)  We shopped at Branson Landing, down by the river, shopped in Hollister, a cute little German-esque town just outside of Branson, and hit just about every antique store in and surrounding Branson.]

[Welcome home sign from Mama and Daddy!]

The Perfect Weekend

Oh goodness!  Where do I begin?  This weekend was such an amazing weekend.  It was full of productivity, love, fun, adventure and celebration for all of you wonderful mothers out there. (Though, just for the record, I have to revert to childhood antics and say that my mom is better than your mom.  Say what you will.)  :)
     After a long evening of working all day Friday, then working the Jason Aldean concert in the evening at the BOK Center, I had Tulsa Opera Chorus auditions on Saturday.  I felt like it went really well!  I used one of my favorite Bellini arias Oh! quante volte from his E Montecchi ei Capuleti.  Beautiful piece sang by Juliette.  I hope to hear back soon.  Their next season starts in October with Le nozze di Figaro.  Wish me luck!
    After auditions, we took Bandit to the dog park then took him back home before we went on a little antiquing excursion to Skiatook and Collinsville.  While in Skiatook, David found another antique rotary fan to refurbish. (In case I hadn't mentioned it before, David loves antique fans.  In fact, you could say he is a 'fan-attic'!  Tee-hee)  While there, we also ran across an old Dolorian car on display in the back of an antique shop.  The owner's husband had bought it for her as a Christmas present years ago and there it had sat.  She felt like it wouldn't be appropriate for a grandmother to be driving it around, but to each their own!  It was pretty neat to see one in the flesh.  I had never seen one before.

    Saturday morning we went to breakfast with Hubby's mama at Cracher Barrel. Yuummmm.  As always, I overate.  I think it was the hashbrown casserole that did me in.  *sigh*  Gets me everytime!  The rest of Saturday after antiquing was spent trying to tidy up the house, which is represented by that first picture on the left.  I have graduated from stuffing things in my pockets or purse that I have found around the house, to putting on random articles of clothing that I find around.  I feel this helps me get more cleaning done.  Don't you?

    The precious birthday boy pictured below turned 4 years old today!  Soon, he's going to have to start using 2 hands to count his age.  his older brother and sisters are starting to have to use their toes soon.  It's scary how fast they're growing up!  Along with celebrating Mother's Day at Grandma's house (to a meal of corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green beans, mac&cheese, salad, fried zuchini (I might have started munching on that last one WAY before lunch was actually served,) we got to celebrate a precious little guy in our life. Sunday was a day full of celebration and of more productivity!

I'm not at liberty to say why quite yet, but I had to cut down a tree from the side of our house.  This is only half of it that's pictured.  I did it all by myself with a hand saw. (Actually, now that I think about it, I might have left that saw sitting on our front porch all and might still be there...)  But it was part of a big project that we have underway!  Pictures, before and after will be coming soon, I promise!
    Puppy was pooped after a day of running around outside in the beautiful weather.  I can always count on him for some good cuddling time! 

My other couple of projects this weekend were trying to start growing this avocado pit into a tree, (I know it doesn't happen over night. Haha!,) putting up the volleyball net we got from our wedding, and  trying to finish the rest of my Red Velvet birthday cake.  I only made it through half of the piece that was left.  But that was because, A. I was still partially full from Sunday lunch, and B. I had just cooked some delicious fajita chicken and rice quesadillas for Hubby and myself for a Mexican dinner night, complete with Mariachi band music playing in the background.
    All in all, it turned out to be a perfect weekend.  Plus, we might have a little soccer player puppy on our hands.  He loved playing with the volleyball that we got.  Though he mostly just tried to fit his teeth around it.  Ha!  I wasn't ready for the weekend to be over!