Faces of March

Carolynn and I working at the Summer Ellis™ Studio. We love working together and sharing life! The times that we do spend at the studio together are so refreshing- we talk for hours about life, joy, and cupcakes from Olive Branch. She is an amazing woman- so kind and passionate about God.
Aidan. My rommate's nephew. He comes over on Saturdays usually to play with "Tae Tae". That's what he calls my roommate, Cristi. He has to bring his own toys though... we need a toy chest or something.
And "Kath-a-leen" is what Aidan calls my dog. Aveen is still enjoying life and chewing up all kinds of stuff. Aveen is invincible. She dives behind dump trunks, eats coffee grounds, make up, hand sanitizer, lotion, bags of chocolate chips, boxes of treats left on the floor of the closet, chicken bones, and much much more... Aveen has yet to eat anything that she didn't like... or that's killed her. haha.
These beautiful girls are in my lifegroup. I really love hanging out with them- Maddi, Emily, and Maegan bring so much life to any social event with their laughter, humor, and crazy dancing. All their parties turn into dance parties! Seriously, these girls... are amazing!

We've Come So Far Conference- 2011

I just like this picture.

Best friends.

puppies, babies, and doctoral degrees. (in no specific order!)

I have an Office

I have an office.

I have an my very own office.

I have my very own office at Baylor University.

I started working at Baylor today, and honestly, couldn't be more thrilled. After one day, I was reminded of why I wanted to be employed there so badly. Baylor really takes care of its faculty and staff. There are so many perks and benefits for being on staff. Professional development is one of their strengths as an organization. I was so excited to pull up the pages of development classes offered for the faculty and staff- everything from web mastering, digital media, budgeting, management & communication.

So I stuck my faculty & staff parking decal on my car (which means sooo much being a former student, I can park anywhere!!) and officially re-activated my Baylor ID and ID number.

I'm back at Baylor.

Here's my office. I can't wait to decorate it.

Haha, I can see myself making it all recycled-modern art- anthropolgy-esk.. my office would probably stick out compared everyone else's. Office dress code and offce "decore" codes kind of but more...But maybe not, it seems to me, from my first glances, that Social Workers are kinda like really educated hippies, super laid back, and working to see change for the good. I like that. They seem casualy- their tattoos are hidden by their white button down shirts, rolled to the elbow, and kahki paints so desperately wanting to go mountain biking.

And since Baylor was so expensive to go to, I'll work every one of my hours per week to pay back my school debt. Baylor's paying me now! ha. :)

It was a happy day.

Aveen first experience in the snow

I let her out in the morning, in our usual routine, knowing full well that there was 2inches of snow on the ground. She's never seen the snow.

So I videoed what she would do.

And she seemed to be fine. She's afearless dog. I've never seen her back down to anything, except for maybe Ed and Amanda's great dane, but she seemed fine in the snow!

Even though she had little icicles on her paws afterwards.

Tribute to Lana Beck's Wedding

This is my sister. Lana Beck. We just recently celebrated her marriage to Daniel Beck. And I have to say, it was a blast!! Probably one of my favorite weddings ever-- but what can be better than partying with friends and family for a week straight. It was a true Hilton celebration-almost on the festival level. It seems like wedding trends are changing to a "do whatever you want" theme, and that is exactly what we did!

Pictured from left to right: Alfredo Dfoo, BBQ Daniel Beck, and Salsa Podge snacking the night before we left for Vegas.
My brother and I were enjoying the view of Las Vegas from the 21st floor of the New York, New York hotel in Vegas. The mountains, the lights, the sun setting over thousands of hotel rooms. Taking a picture was a little difficult, it required staging yourself behind thick curtains so as not to get a glare.
He's got talent!


Las Vegas.

I wander what inspired writers or musicians have come from this city. hmmm... probably not many. Not the place to go to find inspiration...

And so the bridal party gets ready for the big day! We gathered in the mother of the bride's room to get ready.
The bride does the maid of honor's make-up. Las Vegas colored eye shadow I might add.
Now the maid of honor does the bride's hair.
the crowning moment, the tiara.
Bride at the salon..... looking so beautiful!
wow, I love these pictures. I'm not the best photographer. I kinda get annoyed at taking pictures because it hinders the moment. But I do like these.
Mom blown away at how beautiful her daughter is!
Yep, still blown away. So exciting!!
This was just moments after the ceremony with the whole party crammed in the elevator to go to The Mix, 64 floors up. Celebration!! Pop those corks!

First few moments as Mr. and Mrs. Beck.

looking over the horizon,

to their future,

full of unknowns and surprises,

and endless laughter together,

just as it began.

love yall!

Going to the Chapel

We've landed in Las Vegas for my sister's wedding. It's pretty fun traveling with a group of 20 or so people, trying to get 20 people to the same places. We landed at the airport and took nothing less than a limo to our hotel. Living big! We did in fact, cram 11 adults and 11 adult's luggage into one limo. Our driver went out of his way to accommodate us, even illegally. Here is half of our luggage crammed into the trunk of the limo.

Las Vegas is wow. Here's our hotel that we checked into today. The New York, New York. It's even got villages of restaurants, pubs, and theaters inside the lobby... and a roller coaster that goes through the hotel and outside the back. We rode that yesterday. Even though my sister lost her phone on one of the corkscrew twists and turns. :( We think her phone is now in pieces 25ft below the roller coaster. We might still try and get it back... it's under warranty.


Here's my beautiful bride sister, Lana.
I'm so happy for her, she is an incredible woman and I'm so proud of her.

Endless Christmas

So Christmas this year was great, it felt a little endless because of so many parties, gatherings, and gift exchange. It wore me out! But I was blown away by the gifts people gave me, which I totally wasn't expecting.

This Christmas party was core LG... with a vague theme of "yearbook party". We brought yearbooks, if we had them, and ate some fantastic food. I have to see we have a collection of great cooks in this group! And we tend to go big every event.
The girls: Micheal Ann the punk rock star, Laura in 80's vogue, Cristi the aerobics instructor, and Amanda the high school tennis team all-star.

Then my other LG had a party, themed "tacky Christmas". It was great to see what everyone came up with. There was some tackiness. Emily and I went shopping at Goodwill and found some good pieces... including Sean's glossy red vest.

Elijah came dressed as a Christmas tree, although he couldn't move very far from the wall socket. Very funny.

Net Net & Nu Nu. Love these girls!
And finally my brother and I with cameras rolling. My brother is so funny and makes me laugh probably more than anyone else on earth. My sister trained his humor. So I guess I should thank her.
Darin got a new gun for Christmas, a hand gun.

Tree decorating

My dog helped decorate the tree....

We got some fabric and cut it into stripes and then braided it for tree decor. Aveen helped braid, too!


This is the finished product. We used a real skirt for the tree skirt and put a few lights. It's fun to look at in our cozy living room.
Rachel and Cristi enjoying some couch time together at our chili night. Both are so beautiful!!

My best friend and my's traditional christmas pic in front of the tree, only this year with puppies and babies.

Rach gets cuter everyday, and now she's cooing and making sounds.

disclaimer--I'm not obsessed with Aveen or Rachel, I promise, even though these blog posts might reveal other wise. They just seem to be the only objects of my pictures lately. And in general bring a lot of life and laughter to my daily life. So I like them.

Thanksgiving

Well, thanksgiving is over for 2010. I had 4 different Thanksgiving dinners this year, wow. I'm kinda tired of the mushies. I had one at the Feast, one with the Espinosas' core group, one with my lifegroup, and one with my family. But it was great food and family and thankfulness. I am blessed, that is for sure!

I gotta say, my family has some great cooks!

I dediced, though, that we need a designated "monitor" that stands in the door way and regulates your portions before eating a huge paper plate mountain full of food and becoming totatlly uncomfortable afterwards. I mean we all ate our mountains of food, and then were like pre-hospital admittance-full for the next 4 hours. Stupid. Who can be that person that says "too much mashed potatoes, put a scoop of green bean casserole back, you need about half that much turkey".... maybe I'll do that next year.

haha.

I had fun being with family, as always.

Dfoo and I went out for ice cream... we've been on a Paciugo kick lately (italian gelato shop). They usually have really weird flavors in their rotation like orange basil ice cream, carmalized maple bacon ice cream, or Black sesame ice cream.

But we stuck with traditional "good" flavors and got chocolate turtle, peanut butter crunch, and Bailey's.

And this is a funny video of Aveen playing in a leaf pile in my back yard. She's so cute! Until she started choking and had to pause for a cough fit.

November

Sweet November.

Has it been sweet? hahah, I guess so. It's been crazy that's for sure. My life is sooo dramatic, when did that happen? I feel like there's is always something to be "figuring out".

But I'd prefer it that way. Life is unwritten! So full of surprises, full of circumstances that you'd never imagined. Life at 26 is different than what I thought it would be, how much more so the future will be!

I don't have many pictures to post, because I've been in survivor mode--- not really taking a whole lot of pictures, not really blogging, not really communicating with anyone except for those in front of me. (sorry anyone else! I do miss you!)

But I've moved into a new house!

And I have a new job that's fun and allows me to be creative and organized and peaceful. I work at a store called 201 Collective in downtown Waco. It's for sure the trendiest and cutest place to get clothes in Waco. It's fun because I get to dress up for work, by whatever inspires me that day. When I get dressed in the morning, I just never know what I'll end up coming up with for the day. And they encourage me to grab something off the hanger and wear it at the store for the day, which is so fun! I get shop and play dress up! And then of course, I find some amazing Summer Ellis earrings to go with the outfit.

I'm watching myself on wanting too much.... expressive and original clothes and jewelry, uh-oh, my debit card is in trouble!

This is a odd picture, but it's the only recent on I have! My friend Maegan had a 1920's Murder Mystery costume party. We all had to dress up accordingly. I was Mrs. Toosteal, wife of a Congressman. I didn't kill anyone or get killed, so I cam out pretty well. But I am pictured just two left of the murderer!

Baby Quintin

Ok, I had to put up some pictures of Quintin, the newest Faya family addition.

He's adorable.

And I feel like he's my baby brother or something... I'm so proud of him! Last February, Paul and Erin announced to our team that they were having a baby at a Valentines' dinner.... and we've been waiting to see him ever since!

Love the ducky outfit. Congratulations Fayas!

Everyone I know is having babies!

It's gotta be related to the full moon or something.