...110 almost 6

The past couple days were filled with my lovely ladies!

Friday night started with an annoying trip to the Love Field Airport. My reason was not annoying, but there were so many flights that they brought out the cops to keep people from idling outside the doors. The cop would tell me to circle around, and keep driving, so I would cheat and just scoot up. I shuffled my brain around to come up with an excuse if they tried to talk to me.

"I'm so sorry sir!! *Giggle* My dear friend just landed, and she's pregnant. I don't want her waiting in the cold. *Coy smile* I'm so nerves she's gonna get sick and that could effect her to-be-son."

There was blinking and head tilts involved too. All this work was for my favorite Rebecca!!! She flew in to surprise our Ashlee at her bridal shower!! I helped host Ashlee's shower yesterday, Saturday. The house was transformed to celebrate my dear Shlee!

I just looked through my photos and realized I didn't really take any of the house. So...enjoy this picture of the cupcakes I got.

These cupcakes were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not even being dramatic when I say this. Just Desserts by Marcie, will change your life and your wallet!! (Excellent prices!)

So, here are few pix of the peeps.

Sweet Kay came and she knew of Becca's arrival and came prepared with gifts. :)

Sorry about the lighting, but you gotta love Shlee and her mom's reactions!!!

Lovin' the baby bump!

The hostess with the mostest. :)

We were bummed that Jana couldn't be with us, so we replaced her w/ her momma bear. We realized mom wasn't an accurate reflection of Jana's height, so we fixed that.

We also had a little visit from Phil!! For those that don't know, Kay and Phil live in Kaufman, so it's a big deal that they showed up!! :)

I love my ladies and am always blown away by how much we've all grown up!!! Jana is married to an amazing man and living in Japan. Shlee is getting married to a Canadian that is perfect for her. Becca married a man that loves her well, and these two are bringing a little boy into this world. We're all excited about being aunts to this sweet little man.

BABY J!!!!!!! We're ready for you!!! :)

I'm ready for March to be here. Shlee will be marrying the man of her dreams, and Becca will be giving birth to her little man. AND...Jana will be here to experience all this with me!! Growing up isn't always fun, but doing it with people you love makes each journey special.

...mugs

I am a little excited about this post; it has been in the making for the past week or so. For Christmas my friend, Torie, gave me a set of mugs that have different city names and landmarks on them. I LOVE THESE CUPS!!! I've actually been to 4 of the 6 destinations. Which ones you ask? Well, let me know show you. :)


I've been to New York a few times in my life, but I'm going to take you the fall of 2008 when my friend Joy and I went to Philly for a week. We spent one day in D.C. and one day in New York where we met up with my friend Allison! That's right, we rode the ferris wheel INSIDE Toys R' Us at Times Square. We also befriended Jason, the ferris wheel operator and Obama fan.

SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I've only been to California once, and I have NO CLUE where we went. BUT...on my return from Japan I stopped in San Fran.
I was beyond blessed that my 8 hour layover turned into a 1 hour layover!! Here I am waiting for my flight. I was catching up on some textings...2 weeks away from the phone...not gonna lie, it was pretty nice. On the left you see a Japanese treat!! It was a huge cheese puff...I'm sad I only grabbed 2 for the plane rides back. They're delish!!

"I think I'm going Japanese...I really think so!"

My next cup takes us to Tokyo. I haven't officially been there, but I flew through and I mean come on...I've at least BEEN to Japan, so this TOTALLY counts. :) My 1st weekend back in the states I was craving some sushi and missing some Jana and Robert, so I ventured out for some food. There is an HMart by my house that carries lots of Asian grocery foods, and actually has a little food court. I decided to try the spicy bento box. It was pretty good!! I'm excited to try it again.

I loved that there was always a random cut out. :)

We now head west to the city of love, the city I love...Paris.

(I found a Paris scene on my computer!)

I've been to Paris twice and I honestly don't know why I love it so much. I think it's because I feel like I can hide and escape from people. I don't look like a tourist, but if I need to I can play that card. This past trip was one for the books. I mean, just look at these 2 appetizing pictures! The beauty of just the architecture and the beauty of the culture and people. I loved being at Sacre Coeur.
My hostel was a 5 minute walk from there, and I spent as much time as I could there. I adored the people watching. Studying the tourists and the locals. I'm getting excited just thinking about it! I would love to return, but I also want to visit more countries.

Two places I can add to my list are Shanghai and Rome. I never thought I'd be visiting the eastern world like I did, but I'm excited to possibly travel to China! I also never saw myself hitting up Rome. I mean I love art and I love men, so you'd think this would be a no brainer decision! Yet, for some reason I just haven't made it that way. Soon my friends...soon!!

...Dallas

Guess who's home?! After 3 plane changes I taxied home around 1am, and crawled into bed around 2am. I don't want to board another plane for quite some time!!!! (Yet, realistically I'm already trying to figure out my next trip.)

My last few days in Japan were packed with fun and friends. One afternoon Jana and I headed down to Naha, the largest city on Okinawa, to do some shopping. We didn't really purchase anything, but we did some wandering. I realized that i LOVE to wander in unfamiliar cities. My favorite part of Paris and London were the hours I spent just roaming around and taking in the sites. It was fun to watch the interactions of person to person as they go about their day. The normalcy of their day is foreign to me, and so fascinating to observe.

We rang in the New Year at Jana & Robert's friends' house. The house was located in town at the top of a mountain which resulted in a GLORIOUS balcony view of the city. It was night so all you could see were the twinkling lights below, and the vast darkness beyond was the ocean. HOW COOL????? I've been keeping a list of what I want my house in heaven to look like. Jesus, *hint hint* and a *nudge nudge*

(Sorry for the lack of photos, I forgot my camera, so I'm waiting to get pictures from Jana.)

My last night in Okinawa was spent with a karaoke machine. It didn't even occur to me to karaoke in Japan!! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Real mature Jana...

(Sorry Bobby!)

From just THIS night, I had to filter through 133 pictures. So these are just the tip of the iceberg! Excellent first night of 2011 and even better last night in Oki!!

The next day was filled with sleeping in, packing, then a little adventurous dinner! We hit up this quaint Persian Restaurant to realize we got there 30min before they opened, so we wandered around the beach.

I mean for real...can it seriously be any prettier???????

After killing time we headed back for an excellent last meal in Okinawa. They didn't have any veg options, so I asked for a meal with no beef. The lady asked if I was vegetarian, so I think she cooked a meal specially for me. The restaurant was tiny, with one cook in a kitchen probably smaller than your kitchen. So our meals were definitely made with love, and it tasted like it too! (I don't think I had one bad meal in Okinawa.)

After dinner we headed to the airport where saying goodbye to Jana and Robert I got a little choked up. (don't tell them) So the fact that it took 30 min to just get my tickets was a good/frustrating distraction. I'm not complaining because I ended up getting on an earlier flight from Cali to Texas, so I didn't have to deal with an 8 hour layover. THANK YOU JESUS. :)

Some fun fair well photos.

And Japan makes my, Countries I've Visted List, lucky number 13.

Thanks Whites, I had a blast!!! :)