Good Times Ahead

As you may already be aware, Reagan's Aunt Jessica is getting married on New Year's Eve.  This past weekend, the wedding season was kicked into high gear with the first of the showers.  This necessitated a trip west for Reagan, my mother, & I, which commenced Friday around noon.  Having been promoted to a front-facing car seat, Reagan was all smiles as we departed.  She enjoyed her new view so much that she refused to nap the entire trip, with the exception of about 30 minutes.

Friday night we met Aunt Jessica at Maggiano's in the NorthPark Mall for dinner.  It was delicious, & we added several boxes of leftovers to our already full Tahoe & headed to Jessica's apartment.

The euphoria of the front-facing car seat was long gone Saturday morning.  Reagan & I were both suffering from stuffy noses & were in foul moods until we got a little of our beverage of choice in us.  

I drank mine from this mug I bought Jessica a few years ago.  It combines two of her favorite things, an argyle pattern & coffee.  You can't go wrong with either. 

Warming up to the idea of a little shopping:

Being that it was game day (& we were so close to Oklahoma, which coincidentally starts with an 'O' like 'O'verrated), there was no question that Reagan would wear her uniform as we traversed the NorthPark Mall.  

We easily maneuvered the throng of Texas & Oklahoma fans, finding holes in the crowd & forging ahead, stroller & all, a blur of Graco equipment & purple & gold.    

Reagan was far too interested in the people & the sights in the mall to nap:

We ate an early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  By early, I mean 5 o'clock, Mamaw & Papaw early.  Reagan got to sit in the booth with us and made a valiant attempt to use the silverware.

With the clock ticking until game time, we dashed in the Tom Thumb nearest Jessica's apartment, where I paused to take a picture of this:

We bought some decaf coffee and Claritin (for the stuffy noses), & hurried off to watch the Tigers roll.

On Sunday, we joined a plethora of Heath's friends & relatives to shower Jessica & Heath with gifts.

The gifts:

The happy couple:

You can't go wrong with ivory Fiestaware.  I adore mine:

Being chic & cool, I ordered a few things off of Jessa's Crate & Barrel registry, one of which was this nifty "coffee" mug: 

(Did you know today is international coffee day?  If you're not a coffee drinker, there's no better time to begin a delicious new addiction & join the 65% of your fellow Americans who begin their day with a hot cup of coffee).  

Once the gifts were opened & oohed & ahhed over, we ate a few cupcakes & were on the road again.  After so much forward thinking, Reagan was unable to stay awake for much of the drive home.

AZ