Loving Imperfections

"People call these things imperfections, but they're not...naw, that's the good stuff!"

Check out this fun clip! Love the writing, love the meaning, and really enjoy the idea of remembering that no one is perfect - but it is the imperfections that make us so lovable!

TGIF

The 3rd Annual Nathan J. Trifone Invitational

This post is about Memorial Day weekend - and is one of the many reasons I love my family! As you know from prior posts, Memorial Day weekend is Nathan's holiday and time for the annual Nathan J. Trifone Invitational golf tournament. 


The weekend went as so...


Thursday: Welcome Letter/ Schedule of Events
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 3rd Annual Nathan J. Trifone Invitational! 

Last year, Team Nathan improved by 8 strokes to shoot an even-par 72 to win the title over Team Mark by 3 strokes. I expect the same level of competitive spirit this year as Team Nathan looks to defend their title and Team Mark hopes to regain their place among Champions. 

Team Nathan would like to welcome their newest team member - Ryan L. Please help me welcome him to the event as it is his first time in the Dirty Dirty.  

Attached is the schedule of events for the weekend. Please open the document and review the itinerary. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly. 

See everyone tomorrow! Nathan

Friday:
7:00pm – Opening Ceremony (The boys welcomed Ryan with a "Smirnoff Ice")

 7:30pm – Welcome Dinner (Including our welcome packets)

9:00pm – Evening Entertainment (Kegger)

Saturday:

TBD – Team Meeting / Practice (Team Nathan)

TBD – Practice Round, Colonial Country Club (Team Mark)

5:30pm – Dinner, Ameristar Casino

7:00pm – Evening Entertainment, Ameristar Casino  

Sunday:

8:45am – Tee Time Team Mark

8:54am – Tee Time Team Nathan

1:15pm – Presentation of Trophy

1:30pm – Lunch

6:30pm – Pre-Champions Dinner Hors d'oeuvre

7:00pm – Champions Dinner

8:15pm – Trophy Presentation

8:30pm – Closing Ceremonies

 

Byron Nelson

So I have spent the last hour catching up on blog posts! The past month has just been crazy so I have been delinquent! But you can see below that I did a pretty good job of catching up!

Last Thursday I went with work to the Byron Nelson and it was so much fun! And I was not the only lucky Lunde to get to attend. Matt got to go Saturday AND Sunday (while I was in Baton Rouge). It was our first time to the Byron and I think we are both sold on going every year now! Maybe next year we will be able to go on the same day!!!

The course is so amazing.

"Working" with Tracey and Diana

Our kin was playing. Bill Lunde! Wonder if he could be related!

Welcome to the Real World Marky!

This past weekend I flew to Baton Rouge to watch Mark walk across the stage to become an LSU graduate. He is now officially a Mechanical Engineer and is moving to Houston to start work in July. I am so so so proud of him! He is going to do great things as a contributing member of society - and I am just so excited to have him in the great State of Texas!

Highlights of the weekend below!

Proud siblings. (Also, is this dress not PERFECT for an LSU graduation!)

Proud gf!

My fabulous family!

Nathan and Amy

I love this guy!

Of course to celebrate a LSU graduation you would naturally do a crawfish boil! 

The LSU kids/alumn

I'd Like to be an Artist!

I love art. I love looking at it and I love making it! One of my clients had the most captivating picture in their office. The first few times I was there I just couldn't take my eyes off of it. For some reason, the painting just spoke to me. So one day, like a creeper, I snuck a picture of it. Why? Because I wanted to use it as inspriation for a painting of my own. So a few Saturday's ago I watched about an entire season of White Collar and just painted. So relaxing!

Isn't this just the most amazing painting...I have no idea why but I absolutely LOVE IT!

My version :) It just makes you realize how talented true artists are!!!

Dinner Made Simple

It is no secret that I hate cooking. Oftentimes I find myself eating cereal if Matt is out of town. So after about a week of cereal or hh for dinner (Matt was at training for an entire week last month) - I decided I needed a new strategy. The root of eating cereal is that it is a two step process: 1. pour cereal into a bowl, 2. pour milk. And cleanup is one bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. After work...the LAST thing I want to do is spend an hour pulling something together. And yes, it would take an hour because I would have to decide what I wanted to eat, go to the grocery store to get the ingredients, and lastly...my knife skills just aren't up to par! 

So what I needed was a meal that was basically cereal-ready to eat when I got home. Introduce Crockpot! I found 3 fabulous recipes online for frozen crockpot meals. One Sunday I spent about 2 hours grocery shopping and chopping and it was worth it. You put all the raw ingredients (so no pre-cooking) into ziplock bags, write out any last minute instructions on the bag, and freeze. Then the night before you want to eat the meal, you set the ziplock bag in the fridge to defrost, morning of you put it in the crockpot and when you get home it is ready to eat! And now, crockpot makes those bags you put in the crockpot so there is ZERO cleanup! Just a bowl and a spoon in the dishwasher!

So exciting!!!

Ready to be frozen. In two hours I had 6 ziplock bags... each bag making 4 meals!!

Ready to throw in the crockpot before work!

Love the crockpot baggies!

Delicious!

Memphis...the Musical

Last week we had the pleasure of getting to have date night with Katy and Drew. It has been forever since we have seen them - and everytime we are together...it seems somehow we discuss musicals. So when Travelzoo came out with an amazing deal to see Memphis, Matt texted Drew and arranged date night. The two of them came over for dinner and we headed off to see Memphis! On. A. Schoolnight.

Matt and I had seen Memphis in New York and absolutely loved it! The basic storyline is a white DJ bringing black music to the radio. Great music, talented artists and a really awesome storyline. Katy and Drew loved it - and I could see it over and over again! I think my favorite song is "The music of my soul."

Lion King and Jersey Boys are coming within the next year or two and those will DEFINITELY be on our list!

Starbucks Alice

For YEARS Starbucks has been getting my name wrong. I say "Alex" and they hear "Alice." Agree to disagree on who is at fault. I would like to blame the espresso machine for being loud and obstructing their ability to hear my correctly - although I could see that the other side would argue perhaps I need to annunciate more! Regardless....the below is very descriptive of what comes out from behind the barista!

In my favor is the fact that Modern Family recently did an episode highlighting the fact that Alex is oftentimes mistaken for Alice. Hilarious!

Our First Staycation

Matt and I have been traveling LIKE crazy the past two months. I think we have gone about 8 out of 9 weekends of either one or both of us being out of town, or having house guests. So a few weekends ago I had a work trip in St. Louis. Our plan was to have him fly out and we could explore and hang out for the weekend. The plan seemed great until it felt like we were starting to recognize the TSA people. So last minute we decided to cancel his flight and our hotel (thank you Southwest for no cancellation fees) and spend some time, just the two of us, locally. We have never done a staycation before, but we both felt that even though we weren't going to travel to St. Louis we still wanted to have a getaway and spend some quality time together...so Matt took over the planning and we had an amazing time. 

Matt booked a night for us at the Four Seasons in Las Collinas and we did a couples massage, spa and pool time, a bit of shopping and a fun picnic in the room! I don't know that I am sold on the staycation idea - only because if feels weird spending money on a hotel room when you could stay at home for free 15 miles down the road - but I love that we did it at least once and will always have that memory!

Pool time!

What a view - it was fun to see them setting up for the Byron Nelson

We stocked up at the grocery store right down the street and had the sweetest picnic on our terrace!

Room service for breakfast...SO FUN!

3 Times the Fun

Prior to bringing Lemmon into our lives I was deathly afraid of dogs. And it didn't matter the size, breed, age - nothing...scared of THEM ALL! But as we have started to bring dogs into our lives - I have eased up a lot and actually started to like other dogs besides my own. So when Tracey asked if I could dogsit in a pinch - my first reaction was - "yikes, 3 dogs in my house...I don't know" - but I wanted to help out and I thought it could be good for Lucky who is still continuing to get used to other dogs. (I think she must have gotten beat up at the shelter because she is so scared of other dogs.) 

So Tracey dropped the dogs off and kept her two in my bathroom until I got home from work. I was really nervous to let everyone out of the cage because it was just me that weekend and I didn't know how everyone was going to react. Well...they did famously and I think when Jazzy and Bandit left on Sunday Lucky was actually a little sad! 

Friday night I still had work to do and the little pup INSISTED on sitting on my lap. Lucky was NOT having it so she came over and sat right under me. She got used to it after awhile though.

And then we had to work through other dogs getting to sit on the couch.

But by the end of it - this is where we were!!! So proud of Luckster!!!

Tracey - Lucky and I would love to dogsit anytime!!!

Mom's Day

I have been so blessed to have a phenomenal mother for the past 28 years. I tell her all the time that if I am just half as amazing as she is when I am a mom - I'll be doing pretty good! And you know what...I really mean that. My mother is selfless, caring, my rock, incredibly smart, driven, talented, and she gives THE MOST AMAZING advice. She tells me all the time how proud she is of me, she sends me sweet things in the mail, and she has taught me what it means to be a strong, successful woman. We have had a lot of really special memories together over the years, and if I am blessed with a daughter one day - I hope to pass down the same traditions, values and gifts!

I also can't forget to write about the other moms in my life. I have never been afraid to reach out and connect with really amazing women - and in return no matter where I am, there is usually a "local mom" right around the corner. And getting married gave me the added bonus of two more moms - who are wonderful people and love me so much!

Lastly I have all of my friends that have become moms...and wow are they impressive mothers! You know who you are - and I hope you had an amazing mother's day!

Free From Fear

My mom sends me the Catholic devotional each quarter - and I usually try to skim through the pages. Technically there is one prayer / article per day - but I usually just sit down and read several at a time and see if any particularly speak to me. This one did - because I like to plan all aspects of my life - even years in advance - which is not always possible, or ideal. So for those planners out there like me - maybe this will resonate.

Free From Fear
It is I. Do not be afraid. John 6:20
Freedom from the unknown allows us to live with a measure of security. We usher into being many things to keep the unknown at the far fringes of our lives. We plan our calendars months ahead. We gaze into the future, picturing our mind's eye all sorts of scenarious. To enter the unknown is terrifying.
The disciples are frightened when they see Jesus walking on the water. It was impossible for them to place that scene into any familiar category. When Jesus speaks, their fears are calmed, knowing Jesus makes the unknown bearable. We can move into the future with hope. The presence of the Lord brightens the darkness of all tomorrows.
Night nears for all of us. A time will come when we will have to leave everything and everyone behind and be brought into the unknown. Our hope is taht Jesus will speak loving words to us, inviting us to come nearer. - Fr. James Stephen Behrens, O.C.S.O.

Matt's Bday Bash...the details

I love a good party theme and details - so here are some up close and personal shots of the stuff I made for Matt's party! Thanks to Tracey for all of her inspiration!

Hershey Kisses with golf ball messages on the bottom...



...and then stuffed into "party favor" bags

Placemats with golf sayings for each person's place

And my favorite - cute little labels on mini water bottles!