My BFF

- Is a boy! Lol. Seriously.

DANNY SALDANA.

^^^ This is us at our 2006 Band Banquet

There are so many great things to say about him, I  have no idea where to start.

In reality, I actually meant to post this a long time ago - but I don't want to leave anything out.

He's a really great friend. He's been there with me, for me through thick and thin! No matter what stupid things I may have done or whatever I've gone through, for better or worse - he's been there to talk me through them. I swear I don't think there's one thing that has happened to me that he doesn't know about.

I'm so lucky, I get to talk to him at least one point everyday. I feel privileged  that he fits me into his busy and hectic schedule. He's in Austin living it up and attending UT - he's going to be an amazing music teacher one day. I know it. And I know he will do great things in the music industry.

^^^ Fall 2006 - our first semseter out in college, I was visiting UT from UTSA

Isn't he a stud?! Gosh, all the ladies dont' know what to do with themselves when he's around!

We've both had our tough times - wether it was friends or family. We have been able to maintain our friendship and I think it's pretty strong right now and can withstand anything!

I can talk to Danny about anything. Even wedding details!

I'd say we've been friends since we first met in middle school - on the bus to an All - Valley clinic . . . way back in the day! LoL. But we were not nearly as close then as we are now.

 

^^^ At Mount Bonnell in Austin November 2008

Even through his busy and hectic schedule he made it to my college graduation!

^^^ December 2009

I definitely plan on being there for his as well.

He's a great guy and one of the best friends I have. My life would suck without you Danny Saldana! Truly. And I hope we are great friends all the way through to old age! ;-)

If only I had a million dollars . . .

 . . . the possibilities are endless! Well almost, lol. Priorites first people! I'm just kidding.

No but seriously, wouldn't the world be a lot better if everyone was just all of a sudden credited $1,000,000.00?? I mean come on, the economy would be better right? hahaha. I know that money has to come from somewhere, maybe if all the celebrities out there donated some money for the goodwill of the country that would work. They make ridiculous amounts of money! And for what?

I don't even know where that rant came from, it kinda just happend. I was gonna post a new blog and that's what I typed out. lol, oh well.

So this morning started and I woke up with no plan. Not a thing to do. I mean I have things to do, but I didn't plan anything out like a normally do. So my little sister and I decided to take a drive to Brownsville in an attempt to house hunt. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out too well seeing as we had no idea what or where we were gonna start. We just took an exit and started driving around . . . that didn't turn out too good. We had no idea where we were going and getting frustrated with eachother because we just didn't know what we were doing.

I know what I'm looking for. I just don't know where to look. We need a house with a yard because we have a dog and I would like it if she wasn't cooped up in an apartment all day. I mean look:

Doesn't this just say: "Please momma, get me a house with a decent yard so I can run around."

We easily gave up.

Then after that I made plans with Becky [my future s.i.l.] to hang out. Not much of anything just to hang out. We ended up going to eat at Luby's then walked it off at the Outlet Mall in Mercedes and finished it up with a trip to Starbucks :) I really enjoyed it and hope we get to do that again soon.

I have a lot to do now.  Wedding related, but I really don't want to tire myself out by making a list. I'll probably throw myself into a panic. So what I'm planning on doing right now is printing out labels for the rest of the invitations that still haven't been completed. We are already a month and a half away from the big day! I think it's past time for those to go out! I'll let you know how that goes, lol.

An Eventful Thursday

Ok I tried the mobile blogging thing. Didn’t quite work out the way I initially wanted to.


Yesterday we had our engagement session and it turns out that we didn’t just have 1, but we had 2 photographers and a videographer! Now if that doesn’t make you feel like the center of attention I don’t know what will. We had the amazing David Pezzat accompanied by the talented Jay Caballero… and I feel bad because I didn’t catch the videographer’s name! [BAD Jessica! I know!

I was nervous! Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m photogenic until I see the pictures and then I’m like “Oh! Those didn’t turn out too bad!”

Anyway, the day started off with errands:

1. Pick up Daisy from the spay/neuter clinic by 9 AM.

We almost didn’t make it! The West Bound traffic was a nightmare! First, we thought it was an accident. Then when we finally made our way around it we saw that it was just highway construction that had a portion of the expressway shut down so they could finish the job, whatever that was. I swear – we pulled in to the clinic at about 8:53 AM! But the important thing is that we made it! Daisy was so happy to see us, she semi-jumped on my lap and gave me a few kisses! Which she never does, the kisses I mean. LOL.

2. Take Daisy home and iron my dress for the engagement pictures!

This took a little longer than I would’ve liked but it got done. Then we got the Kia all packed up and ready to go seeing as we’d be driving over to the location for pictures just as soon as I got out of the salon.

3. Go to Zales to pick up/pay off Danny’s wedding ring!!

I hoped he would like the one I picked out for him, poor Danny was working when I went to go buy them. He LOVES it! It’s his style and he loves the color! I was so pleased. Points for me! :)

4. Go to the salon and get all done up for the pictures!

My initial appointment was at 9:30 AM. But then it was made known to me that we wouldn’t be taking pictures till 3:30 PM. So I rescheduled for 12 noon. But then the worry-wart in me got panicky and thought that that wouldn’t be enough time to get ready and be at the location in time! Luckily, it took just the right amount of time: 1 hour for the hair and 1 hour for makeup. I was unsure about the amount of makeup because anything more than what I normally wear, which isn’t much, is drastic for me! But Danny could not stop smiling at me and kept telling me how pretty I looked!

Here’s me right after my hair was done:

Here I am in the car on the way to take pictures:

And to be honest, after this picture I could see the resemblance:

I used thsi picture of Ziyi Zhang from "Memoirs of a Geisha" for that Dopplegangermabob thing on Facebook a few weeks ago.

So we arrive to Los Ebanos Preserve in San Benito and are amazed at how we never noticed it before. Right as you exit the highway to go to South Padre Island, right on the left hand corner as you pass through the underpass of the expressway there is the entrance! It seems so secluded and you cannot even hear the vehicles passing by on the highway, which was amazing to me seeing as it is so close to the highway!

The land was BEAUTIFUL! It was an old plantation style type house with a resaca for a front view. Not bad at all! The house inside was beautiful as well. It was apparent that it had history but it has been so well maintained.

We had an awesome time shooting our pictures. It was a little awkward at first, but we got used to it. And I really think we got a lot of great shots in. I'm so excited and cannot wait to see the proofs!

It was a really good day! I'm eager to take my bridals already!

Wedding Wednesday!

Well it seems another Wednesday is upon us, and as a matter of fact - it's almost over! But as a last attempt to continue these posts, here I am!

So I haven't really done much wedding errands! Nothing compared to the past couple of weekends.

This past Saturday Danny and I went to finalize all the details for the tuxes and then we went to buy his jeans for our casual outfit. Once that was done we were done! Lol. We really had a low key weekend. Well I did, poor Danny had to work all weekend - the crappy hours too.

Then on Sunday I went out with my mom in the afternoon with my mom for a couple of things. Mainly I needed to go to Michael's to inquire the price about getting a custom frame done for my diploma - only to find out it cost to freaking much! And that was with a 50% discount!! Crazy I know! But then we bought some lights to wind around the stair case rails at the ballroom the day of the wedding. And then we were on the hunt for some greenery/beading to wrap around our candle filled glasses for the centerpieces. Unfortunately we didn't find much and ended up at Wal-Mart because my mom was still looking for some mirrors to use as the base for the centerpieces. I'd been searching for the toasting glasses for some time now, just whenever we were out and about and I remembered really. We'd seen some plastic ones downtown - but they looked awful! And they also had some glass ones as well with gold or silver trim. Those I considered but didnt' committ to, mostly because of the price. But at Wal-Mart ... they had them in sets of 4 for $5!! Downtown they were priced at 6 for $15.99! Wasn't a big steal, but hey even a little goes a long way right!

So this week I hope to finish off addressing and labeling the rest of the invitations - and [cross your fingers here] maybe go out and deliver them with the help of my future sister-in-law! So I need to get them all ready to go and stop wasting time!

That will probably be my Friday Night/Saturday Morning project since tomorrow Danny and I are going to be taking our Engagement Photos! I hope they turn out well! Tonight I went to Spago Spa & Salon to get a hair cut and a manicure! Tomorrow I will go in and get my hair done and get my face put on! The stylist and I started discussing it {he was the one who cut my hair} and he started to mention something about color and fake eyelashes ... hmmm. IDK about that! LoL! I'm sure he will do a great job! Pictures to come!

We will also be going to Zales to pick up Danny's Wedding Band! It is in!!! I'm so excited for him to see it and I really hope he likes it!

Wish us luck and great photos tomorrow!

Wedding Wednesday!

So this post is a little late, but hey better late than never huh?!

Saturday:
1. Went to pay off the balance for the limo! That's all taken care of :)
2. Went to make a payment to the florist, and briefly spoke about making a future appointment to finalize the bouquet details!
3. Delivered a few invitations after venturing to downtown McAllen to look for centerpiece items - to which we were unsuccessful :(
4. Met Danny for lunch and discussed possible engagement outfit ideas.
5. Went out to shop for said ideas! It was fun, it's always fun to shop for Danny especially when he isn't there! ;) JK DANNY!
6. Went [window]-shopping for wedding bands! I actually bought mine and ordered Danny's!

It was a long day!

Then on Sunday ... lol. No really we went out and did more wedding errands! We found some ammo for the centerpieces at the flea market - glasses, lots of glasses that's all I will say!

We then went on in search of more clothes to complete the outfits we started to put together on Saturday and finished the day with a trip to Sam's that went on longer than it probably should've. But oh well what can you do?!

Now I'm just focusing on getting the rest of the invitations out! I dont't have that much more to go but those that I do have left, from the guest list  need to be mailed out - so hopefully I can get them out no later than Monday of next week.

I also hope to go to the tux shop this Saturday morning to finalize the details for the tuxedos and get that set. That followed with a possible attempt at going to downtown McAllen again to look for some tulle and Christmas lights to decorate the stairwell at the Villa de Cortez Ballroom, if we find something.

Until next time!

Stalking!

So now that the invitations have been sent out - the bulk of them at least, I'm stalking my registry! lol. Only because since I checked it this morning and discovered that Danny and I are the proud new owners of a TV tray/table set! Lol.

I'm so excited to see what else we'll get, and I'm so grateful - maybe not entirely because I don't know who to thank, but once I do they'll know how thankful we are.

This wedding is coming. It's happening. It really is.

We ran a bunch more wedding errands this past weekend but like last week, I'm going to save those for my 'Wedding Wednesday' post!

What Grinds My Gears . . .

Ok so I work 8-5. Everyday. EVERYDAY! All day. Wah right? What a sob story huh?

Lol. Don't feel bad for me, I'm ok. I've got a job and I'm content.

The part that gets to me is the damn radio! I don't have a stereo to plug my iPod into - I have a regular, old alarm clock. Hey I know, it's better than nothing. And yes I wasn't living under a rock last year and I know what big hits Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga have become. But is it really necessary to play one of their songs every hour?? And I'm talking about both artists, so when I say one of their songs I mean each one of theirs. Today they played Taylor Swift 6 times, and then Lady Gaga 5 times between 8:00AM - 12:00PM/1:00PM - 5:00PM. And yes I'm including Lady Gaga's Bad Romance they played at 5:00PM. At one point they played a Taylor Swift song, 15 [I'm pretty sure] and then immediately followed with Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

Lucky for me though today they didnt' just play Lady Gaga's Bad Romance all day - they actually threw in Paparazzi once and then Just Dance after lunch.

I've been keeping count all week. Repetitive songs really get to me, just because I have to listen all day and I notice.

So that's today's "What grinds my gears" - stay tuned!

Wedding Wednesday!

Well readers - and Joseph! Hi Joseph! How're you doing? How's school! lol.

It's been a whole week since I've last blogged! I'm so sorry for my absence, it won't happen again I swear. At least not for a whole week!

It's Wedding Wednesday!!!

So, remember the last post when my mom freaked out with the delivery fee at the first bakery we went to? Well she insisted on making us check out a baker she picked, which we didn't mind. More cake! And well it went pretty bad. The flavors we tried were orange, lemon, almond, vanilla, and strawberry. For sake of anonymity I won't say where we went, just that it was in Weslaco. The orange and lemon had weird coloring and there was also something in the cake, like little balls of flavo - that weren't very tasty at all. So it was a big disappointment. The only one I liked was the vanilla, and it's just plain old vanilla! No flavor! That's not for a wedding cake! So we won that battle and are having our wedding cake done by Sweet & Tasty in McAllen!

Later that morning we also went to go see the ballroom so my mom could show me the layout of the tables and chairs that they had picked out - this is also where I will be taking my bridal portraits with the one and only David Pezzat! It was nice to be there and feel all the preperations coming together for the end result!

Next we went downstairs to pick out tuxes! First and foremost was to pick a style. So of course leave it to us, we picked out expensive ones - although those are not the ones we ended up choosing. Danny was stuck on 2 based on price. Needless to say they were the 2 cheapest rentals. I don't blame him - at this point we were counting on having to pay for 3 of these tuxes! So one tux was a 2 button coat and the other was just a single button. For sake of looks, the 2 button looks better and that's the one we ended up choosing. So I will be going in to pick out exactly which vest, tie, etc. There's so many decisions just to pick a tux! 

We continued the day in search of bridal shower gifts for the games we are gonna play! Not only that but we also needed invitations! Which we bought - at Wal-Mart! I spent that night writing out 60 invitations! 60!!

Here they are in all their glory: The handwriting isn't too bad! Don't judge me! lol.

So then after writing them out, we started packaging the invitations. With labels and stamps! A good chunk of them got mailed out yesterday! I'm still waiting on a couple of addresses to get all the rest out, and this Saturday we're going out and about to deliver the rest.

I hope it won't be much longer before they all go out!

Until next time!

Wedding Wednesday!

This seems to be a trending topic among blogs I've been reading. So what better way to contribute than to talk about what is going on with MY wedding! :)

So last week my invitations came in! All 175 of them!

On Friday after work I had a wedding itch and so I laid everything out on the kitchen table and my sister and then my dad  helped finish the job. They came printed on a regular sheet sized paper (8+1/2 X 11") so we had to tear at the preferated edges and arrange them into inner envelopes. It took about an hour and a half in total. Now I just have to work on the labels for addressing them.

Saturday I went to the Post Office to buy stamps for the invites that we'll have to mail out and for the rsvp's we'll send out. I bought 200 stamps.

Last weekend we went to look at some linens and my mom helped out and put a deposit to reserve them. And then we went to check out a bakery to get a quote and possibly save the date with them, but upon hearing the delivery fee my mom kinda flipped out and said we HAD to find another baker! I understand, try to save money where you can. But it's a delivery charge. For a wedding cake. I get that. I can't pick up and set up up MY wedding cake. That's just ridiculous! I think all the bakers are going to have a delivery charge. And if they don't, then I'm unsure about about their quality of work.

But anyway - the photographers are getting paid! I actually just went today to make a 2nd payment for the photographer and scheduled our engagement and my bridal sessions! I've got less than 2 months to make sure I fit in my dress - and comfortably! So let the hard work begin!

Wish me luck!

We're going to be doing some more wedding errands this weekend, but I'll save those for next weeks "Wedding Wednesday" post.

Chorizo and Shrimp Quesadillas with smokey guacamole

Lately, we've been into trying new recipes and different styles of cooking. In total I think I've got about 9 cookbooks, including the one that I just recently bought this past weekend. So my dad suggested doing a dish using shrimp. So while I was busy working on labels for our wedding invitations, I had my fiance [Danny] going through the cookbooks looking for a new recipe to try. Nothing too complicated, and something that could be done relatively quickly. I'd already made shrimp scampi, probably about a month ago and it was great, but we were on the hunt for something new.

So it was in this cookbook:

that my Danny found this recipe. Just hearing it sounded good! lol.

So then it was decided and soon enough we were headed off to HEB to get the ingrediants. It really didn't take long at all, especially since I had him in the kitchen helping me. So here are a few pictures of us making our quesadillas!

This is the brand of chorizo we used

I took the casing off the chorizo and ground it up and cooked it

I boiled 1 lb of shrimp in a pot of water and threw in a TB or so of Old Bay

Danny chpping up the chipotle chile and make the guac

Approx. 1 lb of cheese: Pepperjack, cheddar, and colby jack

The chorizo mixed up with the chopped up shrimp

Ta-da!

Please excuse the poor quality of these pictures, they were taken with my phone!

Mole, mole, mole!

Ole! lol :-)

 

I don't know if everyone know what it is, but it's a mexican sauce that is usually served all over chicken. And here at my house we usually refer to it as the entire plate itself. My dad loves it. And so does my fiance Danny. And until I made it recently, I usually just tolerated it. But this time that I made it, I was on fire! Moving in the kitchen, making the mole came so easily. And it didn't take long at all! And the added bonus was that it tasted great! So I'm going to share my recipe with the world.

 

First you need:

• 1 jar Dona Maria Mole sauce 
• Chicken - any size, I used chicken thighs
• 1-2 TB Knorr - Caldo de Tomate con sabor de Pollo bouillon
• 1-2 TB Knorr - Caldo de Pollo
• Vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• A few crushed cloves of garlic
• Pinto beans - fresh made or canned
• Ex. long grained rice

Ok, so first cook the chicken. You can cook it in the skillet if you want, but I boil it in a big pot of water. In the pot I throw in the chicken, couple of cups of water [enough to cover the chicken and some], a big heaping TB of the tomatoe bouillon and a big heaping TB of the chicken bouillon - and also the chopped onion, and crushed garlic cloves. Boil until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken and place in a big skillet.

While the chicken is boiling, you can start the rice. Brown the rice in a small amount of vegetable oil. Once its all browned up add the water. [2 cups of water per cup of rice] With the water also mix in another 1-2 TB of the tomatoe bouillon, depending on the amount of rice you make. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat down and simmer for about 15 min. or until fluffed and ready.

Then, into a blender throw in the entire contents of the small jar of mole sauce with some of the water from the pot of water the chicken was boiled in. Probably a good 2 cups, just becareful and watch the consistency so that it isn't too watery - mole sauce is supposed to be a little thick. Then turn on and blend until its mixed well.

Next, add blender contents to skillet with the chicken and simmer.

Serve chicken with rice and beans, and tortillas.