Countdown to Vampire Weekend

And I'm not talking about Twilight or any other "vampire" shows.  I'm talking about one of my favorite bands right now - Vampire Weekend!  They are coming to Houston in October and my bestie Ashley and I just scored tickets!

If you haven't checked them out yet, you need to!

Mr. President

Last week, Jason and I attended the annual Meeting Planners International (MPI) Houston Gala.  The same one we attended last year. 
This year was an even bigger deal because Jason was named president of the chapter for 2010/2011.  I was so proud of him - he made a wonderful speech and lots of great jokes!

I love to compare year to year!  Here we are at the same event in 2009:

And here we are in 2010.  Do we look older and wiser and in married year 2?

Yes, that's my crazy husband in the middle on the floor! 

Wedding Regrets

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has wedding planning regrets.  Overall, I had the best wedding and I got every single thing that I wanted (within reason of course).  During the planning process, I had the attitude of "if it started stressing me out, I cut it out."  I didn't want to become an overwhelmed bride. 

Looking back, I'm not really sure how I got it all accomplished.  Well- yes I do, my mom/wedding planner helped a TON!!!  We planned the wedding in about 5 months all while I worked full-time and attended graduate school. 

One of the standard wedding tasks that I skipped was taking bridal portraits.  In my head, I thought about the entire day being used up plus cost of photographer, hair, makeup, drycleaing dress afterwards, etc.  I just figured that we would get great shots of me on the big day anyway.

I was wrong.  I regret not doing bridals! 

My mom and I were at a wedding a few weeks ago.  As we admired the bride's gorgeous shots, we both admitted that we should have made this a priority.  My mom had an idea...why, can't you still do them?  Life's too short for regrets.  Just pull out the dress, hire a photographer, re-create your wedding look and get it done.  Love my mom!

So the question is - should I (one year later) pop into my dress and get bridal portraits made OR should I just live with this wedding regret? 

I would love to hear your opinion.  What are some of your wedding regrets? 

Bridal shots I love:

Ashley

Laura

Kristin

One Year Baby...Let's Eat Some Frozen Cake

We followed the tradition of freezing the top tier of our wedding cake to eat on our 1 year wedding anniversary.  There it sat in our freezer taking up lots of much needed space...oh, how I cursed it sometimes.  I was very apprehensive about how it would taste - I've heard it's not really that great after a year, but a fun thing to do. 

We had to leave really early the day of our actual anniversary, May 23, to catch a plane to Costa Rica.  Rough life, I know.  I figured we would eat it on May 22 so we would have time to enjoy it, but Jason was very set on eating it on the actual day. Not wanting to eat wedding cake at 5am, we stayed up until midnight before cutting the cake...this was huge for Jason who is usually fast asleep by 10pm. 

We ate it and looked through wedding pics...it was so fun and the cake was AWESOME!  Just to refresh you - we had white cake with pineapple filling and buttercream frosting.

New Chapter

I am very excited to announce (no, I'm not pregnant) that I am starting a new job.  Really, it's a whole new career!  I have been working in higher education as an admissions counselor/event coordinator and most recently, the Director of Recruitment for a small, private university for almost 5 years.  It was the best experience for me, I made lots of great friends, and learned so much.  I was also able to complete my MBA while working there. 

My last day is in 1 week - July 2!  I will then start the very next week at a medical group, working as the Director of Business Development & Social Media.  I am so excited for this opportunity and to get started.  I have a lot to learn and am ready for this new challenge!   

Vegas, Baby!

I know, I haven't even posted pics from our Costa Rica trip yet, but I wanted to share these since there aren't as many. 

Sorry for the light posting- I am currently in the middle of my biggest event that I've planned to date: Summer Orientation.  By the way, I have big news coming tomorrow...would love to hear your guesses...

Back to the post- Jason and I went to Las Vegas this past weekend because his sister, Stephie was getting married.  It was both of our first trips so we were excited!  It was a very quick 3 days, but we managed to pack a lot in.  We stayed at the MGM Grand, where the wedding reception and other events were held.

Day One:  Arrived in Vegas, Met up with the Fam, Walked the Strip!

I was super excited to find out there were lions at the MGM Grand, where we stayed. 

LOVED the Bellagio...hope to stay there for our next trip!

Jason and I ate dinner at one of Emeril's restaurants...so good.  Jason's dish is below: tuna on top of spinach and cheese ravioli.

We loved the fountain show at the Bellagio too. 

Day Two:  We walked the strip again, went to Sugar Factory to pick up their famous couture lollipops, layed out by the pool and went to the wedding!

Cody and Stephie got married at the "Little Chapel of the West" where Cody's parents were married.  A lot of celebrities got hitched here too like Angelina Jolie/Billy Bob and Richard Gere/Cindy Crawford.

Stephie looked beautiful...lots of tears too.

The wedding party...funny story: the Best Man didn't bring a jacket and everyone was worried about how it would look in the pictures.  Jason noticed that they were about the same size so he let him where his jacket...how sweet! 

The cake!  This was the first wedding I have ever been to that I didn't try the cake...no one wanted to eat it...sad day, but it was beautiful. 

Brother & Sister

Day 3:  We walked the strip again, shopped, gambled, ate at Koi, and saw Peep Show.  Jason won $650 on Day 3 too!!!

Koi has the BEST sushi ever.  This was my favorite meal of the trip.  The Dragon Rolls are to die for and we also splurged on a giant ice cream sundae.  I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of this thing!

All in all, it was a great trip- the only downside was that the day we returned, I had to immediately repack and then move into the dorms for work...summer orientation time!

"Favorite Things" Giveaway

There is a great giveaway going on right now at Fantabulously Frugal.  It is the last giveaway of the 31 Days of Giveaways! 

Enter Now!

Have a great day - Chelsea