Shopping Adventures...to say the least

So of course anyone who knows me knows that I adore shopping. I mean truthfully if I could I would make it my profession, except I would want to keep everything for my self!!

Anyway, there have been a few shopping trips that I've been on the have proven to be unique to say the least.

The first one begins with the rumor that one of my favorite boutiques in Tyler was having a huge blowout sale at their warehouse. So after hearing this I knew I had to find it. Brandon was such a good sport and took me to search for this "hidden" warehouse. Finally after many failed attempts at the rumored location we finally find it about 5 miles on the outskirts of Tyler in an unmarked previously vacant store. Apparently this little sale only happens once a year so it's not something that is hugely advertised and they apparently don't pick the same location each year to have this warehouse sale. Anyway, we finally found the place and it took me no time at all to load Brandon's arms with designer threads that were about one-third of the retail price. The store was organized by price which is something that is hard for me to pay attention to when I can use the excuse "but it's like 80% off", even though it's still not super cheap. After rummaging through several of the racks Brandon convinces me that I should probably start eliminating things by trying them on. As I head towards the back of this not so large store, I notice a giant curtain covering the back wall of the store. I proceeded to ask the associate for a dressing room and she just points to the large curtain and says "Maim I hope you don't mind but it's a communal dressing room." My first thought was ummmm ok this can't be that bad, but as I walk through the curtain I realize it's not a dressing room at all, it's just a large room with a couple of empty racks to hang your "try-on" clothes on and a few large mirrors placed against the surrounding walls. Normally I'm not a shy person when in front of my friends but to be trying on clothes in front of complete strangers was a whole new experience. There was one other girl in the room at the time so I made sure I was on the complete opposite side of the room from her. Once I began trying on clothes the awkwardness of the situation went away and all I could think about was the amazing pieces that I was going to get! :) One thing that I was thankful for was that there was really only about 3 other people in the store at the same time. After finding several things that I knew I could not live without I would just take them out of the dressing area to Brandon and he would give me a thumbs up or down. During my last set of try-ons I again found myself in the dressing area with another lady. I don't know about everyone else but normally if I'm half naked in front of a complete stranger trying on clothes I don't really feel the need to ask advise or conversate with that person. I guess though this lady didn't feel the same way. She kept coming over and asking what I thought about her outfits and wanting me to help her choose, needless to say it was very awkward standing there in nothing but my undies trying to cover my bare top in an un-obvious way but eventually she just went away.

After all of this interesting shopping experience I walked away with a beautiful pea coat, a great pair of designer blue jeans and two absolutely gorgeous Diane Von Furstenburg dresses that I am madly in love with!!! I smile just thinking about the experience because it was so unusual yet very successful!! :)

Going to be an Aunt again...well kind of!

Well Brandon's middle sister, Amanda, is pregnant. We are both pretty excited about it, even though we won't be around for the birth and the first few months. 

Right now she is about 10 weeks along, and due in early January. 

I'm really really really hoping it's a girl!! 

Keep her in your prayers! 

Living for the weekends

We've been back in Texas now for a little over one month. Brandon is so busy studying over 10 hours a day preparing for his test on June 29th. He has been so devoted to making sure he gets the best possible grade on his boards. I miss him so much because we live about 40 minutes away from each other. Truthfully it's probably the best thing for him right now because I'm not around to distract him and he can study in peace and quiet. I've been working with my step dad during the week and staying busy on the weekends doing things with family and friends.

The first weekend I was home was my mom's big surprise 50th birthday party. It was sooo much fun! The DJ was a blast, the food was amazing, and my mom was totally surprised. It couldn't have turned out any better.

A few weekends later was one of my friend's wedding shower. We haven't seen each other since Christmas so it was good to catch up. Her wedding isn't far away and I couldn't be happier for her.

The weekend after that I planned a lingerie shower for her. I was so proud of myself for planning it all by myself. I never really realized how difficult it was to get things like this together but it was so much fun. We had great food and wine and had a blast watching her open her treasures for the honeymoon.

After the shower was over my sister and a few of her friends came over wanting to go out dancing. We decided to go to Electric Cowboy, which is one of the few fun clubs in Tyler. Since my sister and her friends are usually dressed in boots and jeans I decided to wear my cute little cowgirl boots too. We had so much fun dancing, joking around and having a few drinks. It was a great night out with the girls.

The next weekend was Memorial weekend which is traditionally the weekend we all go to the river. Although Brandon was not able to go I still decided to go with our friends. There were four of us girls who didn't have our boyfriend or husband there so we all stayed in a room together. The river was kind of low this year but it didn't stop us from having fun. It was a great weekend, the only thing that could have made it better was Brandon being able to be there.

The last weekend of May was my little sister Cameron's high school graduation. I went to Lovelady Friday night so I could spend some extra time with my dad and family. Her senior class was only about 35 people so the ceremony went by pretty quickly and we headed home for dinner and cake. My sister had a cake made from our awesome cake lady and it became the life of the party! My little sister really enjoys doing outdoorsy things with her boyfriend. They do a lot of hog hunting together so we decided to have her cake designed as a hog with a graduation hat on. It came out so amazing. The best part was that the inside cake part was red velvet so when you cut into it, it looked like blood. (Which was kind of disgusting!!)

The next day I spend the day riding around with my dad looking at all his deer blinds, refilling deer feeders and shooting his new gun. We also road four-wheelers and just spent the day visiting and munching on good food. It was an all around relaxing, fun weekend. I love spending time in the country with my dad.

This last weekend was my family reunion. Every year we have our reunion at the same place, Whispering Pines in Red Springs. Every year this place gets better and better. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and spending time with family. We spent most our day hanging out by one of the pools watching the kids play. The food was very yummy and the company was even better. I always look forward to this weekend each year. It was a great day!

The next several weekends will be jam packing with traveling and plans. I am having such a blast this summer but I am more than ready for Brandon to be done with his test so he can join in on all the fun activities. This weekend he is tarring himself away from the books to go to a Ranger's game on Friday. The following weekend my mom and I are driving to Dallas for a shopping trip. And only one week later my friend is getting married and I get to be part of her special day. 

Brandon takes his test only two days later, June 29th and I can't wait!!

Home at Last

Tuesday we had our last day in St. Maarten. We had lunch with friends at Sunset Beach bar one last time. It was a beautiful day and great to get to see our friends our last day on the island. It was very sad to say goodbye. After lunch we boarded a small bus to the airport. Our plane took off from St. Maarten at 4:20pm. We had several other students on our flight. Once to Charlotte, NC we decided to have Mexican food for dinner. Sina, one of Brandon's friends joined us for dinner and afterward we headed our separate ways. Our second flight boarded at 10:10, we lost track of time a little bit at dinner and barely boarded our flight in time.
We arrived in Houston at 11:35, where Dad and Grandaddy where there to pick us up.
The next day while Dad went to work I had Brandon drop me off at the closest mall. Brandon studied of course. I spent the entire day shopping at all the stores I had missed while gone. I have to admit that I did not exhibit much self-control during my shopping spree. The day ended with a dinner out with family at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants. It feels so great to be around family again and back home to Texas. I look forward to a great summer!

Cooper with our suitcases, he's excited for his Aunt and Uncle to be home!! :)

Days like this...

Today was one of those days you just thank the Lord for all the things you are blessed with. Yesterday Brandon took his final comp to finish his fifth and final semester at AUC, so this weekend we decided to spend it celebrating and enjoying our last few days in St. Maarten. Some of our friends were telling us about a place near the airport that you can rent small boats for full or half days, so we decided today was the perfect day for riding around the island. The boat was small but perfect for two, with plenty of extra room for our cooler and snorkel gear. We began our drive towards the Marigot bridge and continued around Friar's Bay, Happy Bay, and stopped at Creole Rock for a little snorkeling. We saw some amazing fish and beautiful coral. After snorkeling we continued on to Anes Marcel and even further to a beach we had never even heard of. We stopped there and just lounged in our boat and enjoyed the rays. We did a little swimming and took tons of pictures. After exploring a little we decided to go back towards Marigot to have lunch among all the sailboats and yachts. We parked our little boat right in the middle of the bay and enjoyed our little boat picnic. After lunch we went back through the channel across the lagoon and to get a great view of all the mega yachts and hidden resorts that you can't see from the roads. We continued on to the dutch side, through the Simpson Bay bridge and over to Sunset Beach, where the planes take off. The water was a little more rough on this side since it was actual open water but it was worth seeing from the ocean. We sat right in front of the beach by the airport to try to get a video of planes landing and taking off from an ocean point of view. As I was filming a plane coming right over our heads my video camera died and I wasn't able to get it. I was so disappointed because it is very rare that planes take off in the opposite direction. It felt like the plane was coming right AT US! It was a scary feeling but also so neat! By this point our time on the boat was dwindling and it was time to return to the dock. On the way back we had to head back into the waves, which seemed kind of scary because they felt bigger than before. As we were rounding our last turn to head back into Simpson Bay beach we kept having the feeling like the boat was raising up in the front. It felt as though we were going nowhere fast! I asked Brandon if he thought something was wrong so he decided to stop for a second to check if seaweed had possibly rapped around the propeller or something. As I turned around to look at the engine I was shocked to see a large rope tied around the propeller that we had been dragging for who knows how long. I don't even want to know what was attached to the other side of the rope. I became very concerned because all I could think was "we are going to be stranded in open ocean, in a tiny boat, with no paddle or way to contact anyone to come get us!!" Needless to say we carefully untangled the rope and headed back to the dock as quickly as possible.
We had such a blast enjoying a different side of the island than we normally get to experience. I have to say that nothing is better than being on a boat, on a beautiful island with the person you love. We both agree that one day we would love to own some type of boat and live near a beach. We loved just exploring the island freely and getting to see things we haven't seen before. This was probably one of the best things we have ever done since we have been here. This is one day that I will be able to look back on and smile and think we are so blessed. It's days like these that I can look back and think, thank you Lord for moving us all the way to the Caribbean for medical school. I wish we would have figured out this little treasure sooner because we definitely would have done this several more times.

Farewell Lunch

Today was the 5th semester farewell lunch for all the spouses. Every semester the lunch is held at Pineapple Pete's. This isn't exactly my favorite restaurant but it still has pretty good food and the service is one of the best on the island. It's still a little sureal that we are leaving the island for good in less than a week. I've been to plenty of these lunches but it is really weird to think this one is our turn. It was good to have one last lunch with all the girls before its time for us to leave. Some girls I had to say good bye to for the last time and others I know I'll see at least one more time before I leave. And some girls decided not to say anything at all, which is okay because I didn't expect them to anyway. I guess that's something you have to expect coming to a place where everyone is forced to try to be friends, not everyone is going to like everyone but that's okay. I'm really going to miss a lot of these girls. I feel like we have become kind of a little family of sisters. The build up of this leave has been really weird and something like I've never experienced before. I'm excited to move on but very sad to leave my little family. It is truly bitter-sweat.

4 years!

Happy 4 year anniversary to us!
April 10th marks the 4 year anniversary of our first date. Our first date was a little cliche but definitely memorable. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went to the movies to see Miss Congeniality II. I remember the both of us being so nervous but still having such a wonderful time getting to know each other. He was a perfect gentleman; picking me up at my house, paying for the date, and not even attempting a good night kiss.
4 years later he still brings butterflies to my stomach when I see him smile.
Normally we don't really do much for our anniversary, mainly because it comes after a long series of holidays (Christmas, New Year's, Valentines Day, and my birthday), but this year we decided to do something a little more special.

We went to dinner at a 5 star restaurant called Le Santal. The atmosphere is what really drew me to the place but the food was amazing as well. Le Santal is located on the french side of the island tucked away behind an old neighborhood and is located right on the ocean edge. We were practically the only people there which made it feel like our own private restaurant. It was 5 course meal with each course being better than the last. I was really impressed and enjoyed every bite!
We also had a little entertainment while waiting for our main course, sting rays feeding on the ocean shore! It was one of the coolest things I've seen on the island. They are such beautiful creatures and it was so exciting to watch them feed.
The view was the best part, hands down!! We arrived just in time to watch the last 30 minutes of the sunset and it was amazing. All I can say is only in the Caribbean!
We always have a great time no matter where we go together but it was nice to do something extra special for our anniversary. Thank you baby for a wonderful 4 years and a wonderful anniversary night!
Love Love Love!