Awesome Friends over Awesome Food Equals Awesome Time

And occasionally awesome news as well!

I've mentioned Vandrew (Van + Andrew = Vandrew) a time or two here on the blogs. They're our awesome (foodie) friends. When we get together, food is always involved and it requires consumption of it that is 4x the size of your stomach and then you keep going. all. day. long. Feel your stomach expanding and aching just hearing it? Yea. It's an art.

We were super fortunate to witness something amazing during our Christmas 2010 vaca to Jamaica - their proposal! It was the most hilarious proposal - ever (ask Van), but it was so them and of course, perfect!

Andrew proposing after a comical misunderstanding

on Christmas Day 2010 in Jamaica

The newly engaged Vandrew! Yay!!

This past Friday was another group get together over food, of course! Duh! At our favorite local BBQ joint, Hutchin's. While I thought it was just another friends get together, Vandrew had something else on their minds. Since I laid out the background for ya already, I'm sure you know where this is heading. As for me, I was completely clueless (as always).

After wolfing down dinner, Vandrew excused themselves and came back with a tray full of huge, homemade fortune cookies (the ladies in Van's family are serious baker extraordinaires) and passed one out per person.

(*Note: horrible iPhone pix ahead because the ONE day I take the camera out of my purse is the ONE day something exciting happens. Sigh...).

They handmade these! Craziness!!

The color baby blue is going to be a very important detail

 and no it does not involve a baby

The hubby with his cookie

Baffled by the size, we were told to quickly unwrap the fortune cookie to reveal our fortunes.

And what did the fortunes read?

Eeeep! Wait. Does promising mean its not for sure yet?

The boy's fortunes. Disclaimer and all. Ha!

The lucky numbers on the back. The date they were

officially "Vandrew" and their engagement date.

And since all the ladies was still unsure of our fortune as Van's bridesmaid, she handed personal letters to each of us to seal the deal.

My fortune cookie with my fortune and my

personal letter. I'd say it's official don't you?

After all the confusion and squealing of excitement settled down a bit, the boys decided to have way too much fun with their fortune cookies and fortunes.

The hubby making his fortune cookie talk like a clam before sticking his hand in the "mouth" to reach for the pearls fortune

Best Man A, Hubby, Groomsmen S

making fortune moustaches

But most importantly, consuming the monstrous fortune cookie. It was the end of the meal after all...

 

Food always tastes so much better when you're in good company, but when it includes awesome surprises, it makes it that much better! Especially when it involves helping out great friends plan their wedding. How darn cute are those fortune cookies??? I still can't get over the fact they were handmade. I thought they bought them from one of those giant fortune cookie sites! Shame on me! LOL! First on the Van's bridesmaid To Do list - engagement party.

We took group pictures after all this also, but they're on Van's camera so I'll have to go steal them from her soon.

How did you ask your girls to stand by your side on the big day?

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

For some reason, picking out bridesmaids dresses was a thousand times more stressful then picking out my own wedding gown. I'm sure part of it had to do with the color of our wedding (clover) and partially with the fact I wanted the girls to like what they were wearing.

Initially, I told my girls to send me over some ideas of dresses they liked and we'd start narrowing them down that way. I was secretly hoping they wanted cocktail length dresses, but the first unanimous opinion the girls expressed was long dresses and something that hides their pooch. Darn on the cocktail length, but the pooch?? Really girls? They were all petite girls and I couldn't see a darn pooch on them anywhere! Anyway, emails started slowly trickling in with suggestions.

Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

7093, 7069, 7071, 6553, 7006,

 6540, 7016, 7042, JH5815

My MOH would be in town a few weeks later and offered to go try them on with me to help narrow down the choices and relieve my stress of picking out a dress for the girls. After trying on several dresses, my MOH narrowed the choices down to two dresses. I immediately emailed my other two girls to go to their nearest Alfred Angelo store, try them on, and decide which one they liked better. From there, majority rules. Simple enough, right? Right! The votes were casted and one dress came out victorious! The dress had a corset back and a ruched bodice, similar to my wedding dress!

Alfred Angelo's 7006

With the decision made and deposit paid. Bridesmaid dress dilemma was over. Phew! Finally!! Or so I thought...

How did your bridesmaid dress scavenger hunt go?

Weekend Recap (Mar 19 & Mar 20)

One thing I absolutely love about my corporate job - my manager is super flexible! When I ask my manager if I can leave work a few hours early here and there, it's never been an issue. Last week was Spring Break, so the bride-to-be, Hany, her MOH, and other bridesmaid took advantage of the open schedule and drove up to Dallas from Houston to go wedding dress shopping!!! I asked my manager if it was cool to take off around 2pm on Friday and he said, go for it! No questions asked. Sweeeet!

Thankfully, the bridal salon Hany picked to check out was only 2 train station stops and a 10 minute walk away! Once everyone arrived, we got to work on pulling dresses and finding The One for our bride. The bridal consultant was completely useless. Sorry! She never came to help us pull dresses off the rack and put them in the dressing room, never the less help us identify dresses we were looking for and help the bride in and out the dresses. Um, I know my wedding wasn't that long ago, and I'm pretty sure that's part of their job! Hany tried on about 12 dresses in less than an hour and has a major contender for The One. Yay! 3 bridesmaids and 1 bride make things super efficient! :) This was the first planning event I was able to participate in so I was super stoked! Simple mind, simple pleasures, I know.

After wedding dress shopping, we decided the shopping extravaganza shouldn't stop so we headed a mile North to Northpark Mall to grab a bite at La Madeleine (I totally heart this chain French Cafe).

Top left and clockwise:

Chicken Friand, Potato Galette, Croissant with Chicken

Salad and a side of pasta salad, and Spinach Pochette

After burning some calories at the mall, we headed over to Krispy Kreme. Lilli has major love for this donut place. The girl shrieks when she sees this sign lit up half a mile away for goodness sakes! haha! And yet, she still skinny as a stick! Totally jealous.

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Saturday morning was working at the shop and since I was still on a shopping high from the previous day, the hubby was kind enough to take me to Allen Premium Outlets on the way home. Normally, we only hit up 2-3 stores (4 max) because we're so darn tired after a grueling 10 hour shift at the shop, but we took advantage of the gorgeous weather (85 degrees) and walked the entire mall. Best purchase: a pair of jeans and three shirts at Banana Republic for $25, for the win! WOOT WOOT!! I also stopped by BCBG Max Azria in hopes of picking up a dress for a wedding we're attending in April, but that was a fail. :(  The hubby did pick out a really nice dress, but my not so nice body denied it with a quickness. Super sad!!

Me sucking in hardcore to see "what if"

I lost enough weight by then... It was

still exposing all the wrong curves! Fail.

Meanwhile, this shopper was also checking out dresses at BCBG:

Tshirt with running shorts, panty hose/tights

with Ugg boots? I know I'm not fashionably

inclined, but does anybody else think this is

a fashion breach?!

Sunday was more working at the shop in the morning then a dinner fiasco at a Hibachi and Sushi buffet since I didn't have lunch (I woke up STARVING and that rarely ever happens). I've been on a sushi kick lately despite what I've recently learned about the potentially deceiving wasabi being served! Oh well! Hi Serena from Big Apple Nosh!

Pigging out - wasabi and all! Ha!

They serve shaved ice here! Unfortunately,

the complimenting condiments were eh.

Papaya! Totally good for your digestion

and moving things along if you're um

struggling in that particular area!

Chocolate fondue with an assortment of

fruits. Tomorrow - back on the healthy

wagon I go!

We're also dogging sitting for my former colleague for the next 10 days. Say hello to sisters, Calle and Scout, y'all!

How was your weekend?

P.S. I get to wear my contacts again today. I can't flipping wait!! Eeeep! No more glasses suckas!

Bridesmaid's Dresses: Revisited

I recently had a major minor panic attack when my dear friend, Hany, a bride to be, asked her fellow bridesmaids to pick out a style of dresses each of us liked. Well, I guess Hany's prayer for me worked because a light at the end of the tunnel was visible and a silver lining in the sky appeared. Cue angels in a church choir singing - hey! I can use all the help I can get okay?? Shesh! Anyway, I'll let you be the judge of how well I did on my selection:

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Well judges? How did I do??

Lost: Feminine traits

1 week into blogging, and this will be the third time my woman card is getting pulled, but I digress. Truth about Alice #2: I don't do shopping. I have zero patience for shopping and have the lamest style - ever! Kelsey at Minted Life (she has such a natural beauty and her wardrobe is fabulous) is doing a weekly showcase of her wardrobe so I'll do that next week and show you what I mean by lame. I see what I like, but it's usually rather simple and boring. Items purchased also have to be able to double dip aka work with dress slacks for corporate world and with jeans for the weekends - cost savings 1 point, variety in clothing - 0.  For instance, LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress, but for $150, not so much.

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Anyhow, my awesome hubby and awesome friend Lilli do my shopping for me. When they go shopping, they just keep an eye out for something I might like and just pick it up. Lilli picks out clothes I wouldn't take a second look at on the hanger nor pick myself, and yet I find myself loving those articles and the hubs likes the spice in my wardrobe. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE looking at the different outfits everyone wears and wish I could dress like them, but either a) I'm too cheap to buy "nice" clothing, b) I'm too wallflower to try anything new, or c) both a and b. Once again, I digress. The main reason for this post - I'm a bridesmaid in one of my good friend's wedding! YAY!!! Which means... dum dum dummmmmm - I gotta pick out a bridesmaid dress! *cue scary knife in horror movie sound*  The bride even sent me a lil prayer via text because she knows how flippin difficult this might be for me:

Her colors are charcoal gray and blush pink, and has left us to our own discretion on choice. Great! Leave can't.shop.for.herself.with.no.sense.of.fashion.girl a blank canvas. *cringe* At least this will give me a great opportunity to start stalking browsing WeddingBee again! Anyone have suggestions for a charcoal gray and/or blush pink dress for me? I'll buy you Starbucks!