I heart Tina Fey!

Sarah Palin/Katie Couric

Sarah Palin/Hilary Clinton

Obama Notes 'Remarkable' Resemblance of Palin and Fey
By Perry Bacon Jr. Sen. Barack Obama finally had something to say about the other break-out star of the 2008 campaign, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, after spending the past several weeks trying to ignore her. "The resemblance is remarkable," Obama told "Entertainment Tonight" when asked about actress Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin on "Saturday Night Live." Obama taped an appearance on ET in Detroit on Sunday after a campaign event and was joined in the interview by his wife, Michelle, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden and Biden's wife, Jill. As for how SNL was portraying him, Obama said, "My ears are easy to characterize." "Just big," his wife noted. "It's a compliment," Obama added. "If you haven't been on 'SNL,' then you must not be mixing it up in politics."

Shoes...

So, I have no patience and went shopping at lunch... I love these shoes and think they will go great with the dress! Now the struggle is going be making myself wait until next weekend to wear them!!!

New Cocktail dress needs shoes!!! Stat!

I purchased this fabulous dress the other night at White House Black Market, and yes, Ari, I got a discount - even more than 5%!!!

Now I'm trying to decide on shoes... I like the red shown here but am really leaning toward purple or a deep teal. I'm also thinking I'm going to use a broach from my grandmothers collection that is made up of brilliant sapphire stones right in the center, as it's a bit low cut - EVEN for me. I also have matching earrings...

Any suggestions?

Fake Eyelashes!

I've always LOVED fake eyelashes and all the power that comes with them! However, I've never been to keen on putting them on myself... I've had them done before but, again, have not been able to successfully apply them all on my own. Jennifer wears them all the time and she is a super pro at putting them on which I've always envied.

Well Friday night for Pink Trash Ball, I won the battle! I successfully applied some FABULOUS wild fake eyelashes. My tip - drink a few oz of liquid courage prior to application!

Here are the one's I used - Make Up Forever from Sephora- I really like them, they were very easy... and below is the end result... I part my hair on the left so it kept brushing against the feathery end, but other than that there were no issues what so ever!

Vegas, baby!!!

Last week my mom and I went to Las Vegas to begin her 50th birthday celebration - her birthday isn't until September but 50 is definitely worth celebrating for a long time.

We flew direct from Tulsa, here's us on the plane...

It's great when you fly to Vegas, because in theory, it's free time with the time change. We left at 3:15 and landed about 3:40!

Mom has never been to Vegas before so it was fun to see her reaction to all the craziness of the city! I went to Vegas last April for Liz's bachelorette party and had a blast! It's constantly changing with new hotels and casinos going up EVERYWHERE!

We stayed at Harrah's mainly because it was in the center of Las Vegas Blvd. It was very convenient to just get up and go and be able to walk everywhere. As soon as we got checked in and dropped our stuff off, we headed toward north toward the Venetian.

We also walked through Cesar's the first night and had a bite to eat, then watched the fountains at the Bellagio... and then headed back to the room, we were beat!

Friday morning, we hit the pool for a good desert tan! It was really relaxing to lounge by the pool and drink ... all before noon! After the pool, we walked all the way down to MGM, stopping at lots of places on the way. We stopped in at Margaritaville to grab lunch - we split a cheeseburger in paradise and of course had margaritas! For those of you that don't know, my parents are Parrot Heads...clearly.

We also kept seeing this bus... I ABSOLUTELY love Absolut Marketing so I had to have a picture of this...

We stopped in Paris where I won $25 on the nickle slots! YAY! We also went in the Coca Cola and M&M's stores. I was so very glad to see the Coke store because it seemed like Vegas itself is sponsored by Pepsi... (sorry B's, but I don't drink Pepsi). We crossed the strip and headed into New York New York. We walked back toward center strip and headed inside Bellagio to check out the Buffet. When we went for Liz's Bachelorette Weekend we all went to the champagne brunch buffet at the Bellagio and it was FABULOUS! Mom and I actually decided against gorging ourselves on all that food - it's hard to eat a ton when it's so hot outside. So we headed back to the hotel for a while and to play some slots.

Saturday we were going to try and repeat the pool experience but it was CLOUDY!!! Who would have guessed it... it seems as if we took the humidity to Vegas with us. So we headed back north on the strip toward the Wynn/Encore. We walked through the Fashion Show Mall and then ate at a patio hamburger place. We walked around some more and then went inside the Wynn and through to the Palazzo and eventually back to the Venetian - it's very nice that these are all internally connected - it was hot and super crowded outside. It's definitely best to go when you can have a few days of the week to explore rather than fighting the throngs of tourists on Saturday.

One thing of mention - there were lots of kids there. I found this odd... family vacations are great an all but why Vegas for your 8 year old? We did hear about the adventures of a family in the airport where the 8 year old boy kept telling everyone that he pretty much stayed drunk and he was going to tell his teachers that. I taught him to say inebriated rather than drunk - he should at least get some vocabulary points!

Saturday night, we had tickets to see LOVE - the Cirque du Solei extravaganza... it was phenomenal. It was a multitude of performers dancing interpretively to all Beatles songs. It was so much fun! Before that, we ate at a bar called Stack... yes, you are correct in assuming that are the waitresses were just that... My oh so funny mother insisted on taking my picture in front of the sign after I explained the meaning of the name...

Then we had drinks at REVOLUTION which is the theme bar to coincide with the performance. Here's me sitting in the U and my mom standing in front of the TSince it was our last night, we decided to go to the Piano Bar at NYNY from great recommendations from Melanie (aka Martini Momma). It was so much fun. My mom chickened out on letting them sing to her so that was too bad because I'm sure it would have made for a great picture and a great story.

It was a great trip!!! I had so much fun and am ready to go back again...

Happy 1 year Anniversary to Liz and Chad!!!

So one year ago today, we were all gathered in Taos, NM at a fabulous compound to celebrate the marriage of Liz and Chad! It was such a great time for everyone.

I'm so very proud of you both for making it this far and going about it fairly easily! You have a great relationship and I know neither of you could ask for anymore in someone to spend the rest of your life with! I could not ask for better friends in my life either! Liz has been there through WAY too much and I know Chad has at least heard most of the stories and actually experienced some of them as well!

Here's to many, many more years of wedded bliss, and not too much pressure to have a kid or 2!

Hope to see you soon!

All you need is love... Beatles style!

Well I'm back from Vegas - had a BLAST! It was so much fun. We went to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday which really isn't until September but she's celebrating all year. The best part of the weekend was the Cirque du Soleil show Beatles LOVE! at the Mirage. It was a great experience!

I've got lots of good pictures to post in the coming days! Stay tuned!!!

Adventures at Sam Moon

If you don't know what Sam Moon is, you are missing out! It's a fabulous warehouse style import adventure of all things accessorizee! I love going there when ever I get the chance! I tried to go on July 4th - thinking it should totally be open, low and be hold IT WAS CLOSED! It was a sad afternoon. However, I went back on Saturday.
As I was browsing and fighting my way through the throngs of crazy women (no man ever makes it past the front door)... I over heard the irony of all ironic conversation... A very much wannabe fashionista 12 year old girl made the comment to her extremely over accessorized mother: "I'm gonna buy me that fake Louis over there" to which her mother replied "Your daddy's gonna be in China next week, he'll just get you a real one." Bless their hearts...

There is also a great shoe store in the Sam Moon complex and I got two pairs of fabulous shoes that are sure to hurt my feet, but they are freakin' cute!

Things I believe in...

This is a totally random list of things that I think are important in life

- for me.

They may not be for everyone, but hey, this is MY blog...

• always sending thank you notes
• being on time
• planning ahead
• ... but still leaving room for spontaneity aka drama!
• celebrating birthdays in a big way, any year every year
• don't give a gift you wouldn't like to receive yourself ... or buy for yourself
• having a signature piece of flair
• parties should always have a theme
• Tailgating, even if you don't go to the game, it's ok to plan that from the beginning too
• I was baking cupcakes before cupcakes were cool!
• love at first site probably does exist but most of us are all too silly to realize it
• what alcohol can't cure, shopping can
• you should be well versed enough to cuss someone out with actually cussing and without them really knowing you are
• you should expirement in the kitchen - Taco Bell is pretty much always open if you burn something - that gives plenty of time to air out the house while you are gone too.
• VOTE!!!
• you should have a dog before you have children
• yes, you really can relate everything in life to any number of episodes of Sex and the City!
• babies and husbands do NOT make you complete, nor do your friends have to like them, they are both fulfilling and wonderful but not the only answer to a perfect life
• no one has the perfect life
• everyone has a 6th or even 7th sense to know when something is not right with you or with your friends - USE IT!
• be loud, it normally works out well
• there is always something to watch on Food Network and the History Channel
• baking for someone is always appreciated
• ghosts really do exist
• Catholic School is a good thing!
• you should always have TWO books in mind in case you are ever asked what's the last book you read
• the limb you're out on... it might break, no matter how high up you are
• you don't have to buy something off the registry if you don't want to, just make sure your gift is great
• wrapping is part of the gift
• always give to local charities
• we should try to fix our own country before we try to save the world
• Karma is HUGE and it will kick you ass - there are different kinds of Karma, I've learned parking karma at work from Nancy, Liz and I strive to achieve the highest level of dog karma
• shopping in each others closets is one of the best ideas we've ever had
• no matter what religion you are, you should read The Bible - that's on my list of things to do - I admire my mother for having done this multiple times
• Your true friends will always be there for you no matter what, men will not be so make sure your man is your best friend!

It's the Great Cupcake!!!

You've heard of the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown??? Well, this is soooo much better - it's the Great Cupcake! I got this fabulous new toy today at Williams Sonoma - I love that store so much. I've threatened on many occasion to register there even though I'm not getting married or having a baby and even when I do have a baby - I may truly register at WS. I mean really, the kid and baby daddy will have to eat right?

I can't wait to make a Great Cupcake Cake!

Also, for those keeping up, my PB Cup Chocolate Cake was a hit - or so I heard.

Baby Shower Happy Hour

The mother of all baby showers was this weekend - Baby Shower Happy Hour! It was for the always fantastic Melanie Neal in her anticipated birth of Scarlett Isabelle who will make her apperance sometime in mid August. Melanie and I first met when she hired me at Bath and Body Works - A LONG TIME AGO! She's always been a party girl and famous for always getting the crowd at any bar to to a WOO WOO shot - I honestly think she made this up but, still it's fun none the less. Here's how that one works - 1) you must have a group of girls 2) you must tell the bartender what to make - I don't even know the exact recipe but it's normally "some rhum and some vodka and some ... I don't know, I'm already drunk, give me a damn shot of something tasty...

We had to go over the top with this shower - nothing but extravagance was expected. I've hosted quite a few showers - bachelorette, wedding, baby (normally in that order) but this has to be one of the most fun baby ones in a long time to plan!

Anyway here are some great pictures!!!
In sort of an order... the pictures are - the entry table with the invitation, nametags and Melanie's Princess Crown and maternitini glass for the evening - a close up of her glass that Cheryl painted - out side we used large martini glasses filled with oversized silk flowers - we filled huricanes with an abundance of silk flowers to really embellish the look - next is the drink table and a close up of the individual glass decoration, each had a tag to ensribe your intitials as well as a pink crystal pacifier! -next is the food spread, it was great! - followed by the fabulous cake - then there is the group shot with Melanie in the middle - then the local hostesses, Sylvia, Chris, Carrie, Cheryl, me and Lindsey - and last but not least - Melanie doing her infamous WOO WOO shot - non-alcoholic of course.


Here's to Baby Scarlett Isabelle - you are welcomed into this world by your mom's fabulous friends! Of course, all of our children will party like we did not too long ago!

Wine Tasting 2008

Saturday night we went to the annual Art of Wine Event at the Walton Arts Center! It's so much fun and we knew alot of people there. There were about 45 stations each had about 10 kinds of wine - you do the math - that's ALOT of wine for one night. There were also some local resturants that had samples of their tasty delights as well! I'm not really a wine drinker per say - I like the really sweet stuff like Reisling and Moscato! They were well represented and I definately drank my share! I did get to try some new brands and some good favorites and now I'll be a bit more educated at the liquor store. Here's me and Mike, below is Heather, me and Stephanie.

SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE

Last week was the premier of SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE! I flew out to Denver to watch the movie with my best friend Elizabeth. It was a great mini vacation and of course a FABULOUS movie. We also had a pre movie party – “The Return of Martini’s and Manolo’s.” Holly very graciously hosted party at her super swank LoDo loft that is only a few blocks away from the movie theater.

The party was a blast and I met so many new and interesting people. Most people dressed up in fun party dresses and everyone brought a bottle of martini related alcohol and Holly printed cute little recipes for new types of drinks. I made my staples – Cosmopolitans and Pomegranate Martini’s.

It was a great way to get in the SATC spirit before the movie. It was so fun to know that people everywhere had parties and got all dressed up for the movie! And yes, I will continue to make fun of Trekkies and Star Wars nerds – although I wore a fabulous cocktail dress and some rockin’ shoes, I did not wear a Chewbacca suit or pointy ears and a color block jump suit.
In other Denver news, we did a lot of retail therapy and drank a lot – both things that Elizabeth and I excel in! One afternoon, we went to a Champagne Bar for Happy Hour – boy were we happy and bubbly!!!Chad and Liz live in Englewood, CO actually and there is a light rail station very close to their house which is really convenient – however we found out the hard way that the light rail stops running at 2 am … note to self… must leave down town prior to 2 am or risk pulling people out of bed to come get us. THANKS CHAD!!! I came home on Sunday on yet another fun Frontier flight!

Another margarita por favor!

Lindsey’s birthday continued through the week! As tradition, Lindsey, Lynn and I went out dinner, this time we went to Abuelo’s, mainly for the sangria swirl margaritas! It was a good time and always fun for us to get together.

Lynn and I have been friends for 10 years now – we met on the very first day in the very first class for both of us at the University of Arkansas. Lindsey and I met a couple of years later when we both worked at Bath and Body Works. Our lives have all taken much different paths yet we’ve all 3 remained close. I hosted both of the bachelorette parties, was in both of their weddings, hosted both of their baby showers and was there at the hospital with both of them immediately after their first babies were born and was one of the first to hold both of them. That’s quite a lot just in the past 5 years. The first 5 years was much different, consisting of LOTS of parties, Lots of boyfriends, a few fiancés and LOTS of late nights! I don’t regret any of the parties or late nights. I can only imagine what the next 10 years will bring.

B-C Wedding

Brad and Jennifer got married on April 19th at the Ozark Mountain Smoke House – it was pretty much the perfect wedding for two really great people.

Ari and her “Little Black Dress Brigade” did all the planning and décor and it was of course beautiful! Sorry for the late post and CONGRATULATIONS to both of you! Of course we wen't out afterwards and we can't go the night without doing shots!

Rubber Band Man and Holy Jeans

Friday, Big Un's played at George's happy hour. I ventured out early with my mom to make sure we got a table for when we weren't dancing. The weekend also played host to the Dickson Street Music Festival, so parking was disastrous! We ended up parking behind the Bakery Building which is about 3 blocks from George's, not too bad... Earlier in the day, I had gone to Maca and bought new jeans and I was really excited about my sassy new jeans. As always, I had on high heels which normally I don't have any issue walking in - AT ALL!

However, Friday was different. As we were walking down a side road by the Walton Arts Center, my heel caught in a crack in the side walk and BAM! down I fell. All I can remember thinking was "no, don't let your face hit the concrete!" and my hand was in my purse strap so my knee hit first and it hit hard. So hard in fact that it ripped a hole in my brand new jeans. And I scuffed the toe on my shoe too. I got up and brushed my self off and checked out the blood running down my leg... and hobbled on to George's where the bar tender proceeded to laugh his ass off as he helped bandge me up and grab us a beer!

So, after a few beers, I was ready to dance. Zack, Aaron, Brittany, Deborah, (Brittany's Mom) Amanda, Kenny and Marty were there too. Everyone had a big time with Big Un's! Mike came later on and danced with me too, which was good because I was getting tired of dancing by myself.

Shooter Jennings was playing on the out door stage and we had a great listening locale on the back patio of George's.

One of the highlights of a Big Un's show is Deborah's signature song "Rubber Band Man." I'm sure there is story, I don't know it though. Someone brought in a bag of extra large rubberbands so we all had flair to accompiny our stellar dance moves. It should be noted that Darrin Ray, the lead singer of Big Un's is Deborah's brother...
Here's an "artistic" photo of the evening and the Rubber Band Man dance.



After Happy Hour, we went to Grubb's, sat on the patio, drank more beer and listened to .38 Special and ate some tasty food. We went back to Zack's and played some Rock Band. While at Grubb's I cut my hand on my sassy jeans - one of the rivets had come loose and the pointed part was clearly out to get me!

All in all, even with the injuries, it was a great night! Big Un's doesn't play HH again until July, hopefully we'll get to catch them before then!

click next...

I thought it would be a fun and inspiring experiment to click the "next" button on the blogger dashboard... Here's some interesting things I found as well as some other stuff worth thinking about.

• there are a lot of blogs en espanol! no hablo!!! je cependant parle français
• check out this cool picture - take note - I want this shot, when and if I ever get married, sans the brown hair
  
• I LOVE baby piglets!!!
  

• people (including me) need better photography skills
• Lindsey has some competition with Little Snails and Pony Tails...http://littlesnailsandponytails.blogspot.com/
• great quote: "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue. Be the PIGEON!"
• a bunch of if's - if Mike had a Wimerimer (he hates them), if Mike had a really bad hair cut (which he does not) and if Mike had really poor taste in decor, not sure about that one, I don't think so but who would ever know? THIS WOULD BE TRUE...
• someone named their child Korde, eh... but I do like the name Finn
• ilovepinkmink.blogspot.com is not as cool as it should be neither is stylecocktail.blogspot.com
• i'm sad that i already know that mike won't be here on my birthday
• i'm really tired of watching how candy is made - it's all the same - damn unwrapped!
• i'm so very ready to go back to VEGAS and can't wait to go to NYC in December although not ready to skip spring and summer
• there is some tacky ass jewelry hawked on TV - STAY AWAY!
• Michelle needs to check out kbstamps.blogspot.com, make her own blog and post her way better stuff!!!
• someone's typical day is swimming, Wal-Mart and bridge... AWESOME!
• there are some super cute puppies and some not so cute kids - yes I know I'm probably now destined to have not so cute kids - please lie to me, but don't dare say they are happy babies!
• there is a blog dedicated to the weather patterns in KC - it's always f-ing COLD!!! there blogdone luvbye!
• drug court with Judge Gunn is on public access tonight (it may be on every night actually)- anyway... some one actually came up to my mom the other night at dinner and told her that they were watching aforementioned "show" and that they saw "billy" (former student) on drug court - for reals? that just happened! Don't be on drug court because this person WILL see you, she WILL tell my mom...
• there is a baby girl name Lochlan - too close to the Lochness monster... bad idea YOU MUST THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS how will names come back to haunt your teenage daughter?
• it is always THE MOST DRAMATIC ROSE CEREMONY EVER!

So that pretty much wraps it up - musings for the evening. I think that was a fun and productive test of personality!

YAY! It Works!!!!

Thanks CHAD!!!

My blog now has its own NON-Blogspot domain. I'm not that savy with the blog making stuff but thanks to Chad, he got it working!!!

So reset your favorites and add http://www.graciefabulous.com/!!!

Good way to end a shitty week...

Bitch is the New Black!

Courtesy of Tina Fey - there is absolutely NO REASON women shouldn't vote for Hilary!
Watch this video clip. If you are pressed for time - scroll over to 2:04 ...

Minus Blogspot

Quick Update - I'm trying to ditch the .blogspot - I'm not sure how to do this though. I bought the name, guess what http://www.graciefabulous.com/ IS available. So very exciting.

But I can't get the two to connect. ugh. double ugh.

So it may be a few days before they connect and you are not re-directed to the godaddy.com site.