21 Years of Cleaning

A long, long time ago.... 21 years to be exact.. my mom and some of her girlfriends started cleaning houses as a little side income. 

She interviewed with this couple who offered my mom wine and cheese, which she politely turned down, and the couple decided "they could probably trust her." 

I was 5, the red head was 3, and the blonde was a wee little babe. 

Fast forward 10 years, and this couple who had always been in the textile industry decided to begin their own company. A quilt design company. A year later, they hired me. I worked in the upstairs room of their house and would pull samples from the attic or the garage. I cut fabric swatches and eventually began designing some quilts. But every Friday, my mom would be there.

 When the business got big enough, we moved to a warehouse. My mom was the person they called right after the alarm company called to say someone broke into the warehouse.

All of my friends knew them as "Mollie's quilt bosses"... They would take us to fancy dinners and eventually teach me how to drink red wine. Sometimes we went to breakfast with frozen fountains.

They even came to my college graduation.

She came with us to buy the red head's wedding dress, and, of course, let my mom clean their house a day early for the red head's wedding. 

Mrs. Crowe let me borrow her braided mink for my bridals and the wedding.

 And now, I get to keep one of my first quilts ever on one of our guest beds. It is still one of my favorites.

During this 21st year of cleaning two things happened... I got married and the blonde graduated from Baylor.  And mom always said that once the blonde graduated Baylor and she got all three of us through Baylor, she would give herself back her Fridays. 

Today is that day! It is the last day for my mom to clean the Crowe's house. It might take me a while to get used to my mom not being there on Fridays, but I'm sure it will not take long for my mom to adjust. After all, 21 years is a really long time.

GF Orange Chicken

We have been over this before. I crave chinese food. I love it. This whole gluten free thing has put a kink in living the gf life. 

So, when I knew Duck Dude was going to be gone for dinner last night, I was already thinking Chinese. I looked up a gluten free orange chicken recipe on pinterest and was determined to try it out.

I got to the store. On my list were things like coconut oil and coconut aminos (what is that even?).. and siracha sauce which I don't have at my house but I've at least heard of it... and honey or maple syrup (those are two very different things in my mind, how can there be an "or" there!!!).... and I was already stressing that this was not going to turn out well.. then I'd have to just go get Chinese food!!

As I roamed the Asian aisle, I entirely changed my mind. So, here is my four ingredient orange chicken... that I get to eat leftovers of in approximately 15 minutes and cannot waittt. 

You need chicken, broccoli (ours was frozen in a bag), and these two ingredients. 

They both had huge "gluten free" signs on them and it sounded a whole easier and cheaper than buying all those random coconut things. One of them was 79 cents and one was 2.99. 

I got home and browned the chicken... you would think you might miss the "breading" part of the chicken, but I didn't mind it at all. Then I threw in the broccoli and browned everything a little more. Ok, so I added some crushed red pepper and pepper (so technically 6 ingredients) because I like my foods with some spice. 

Then I poured in the sauce, let it simmer a little longer and drained the rice noodles that take about half the time of pasta noodles. Scooped some of my delicious chicken on top of the rice noodles and wa-bam!!! Gluten free orange chicken!! I'm sure that other recipe was going to be great... but for a night at home by myself... this was perfect!!!

 

(and I'm mad at myself for forgetting to sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. Just horrible picture taking skillzz. 

Tonight's menu? Gluten free lemon chicken alfredo. Hopefully, it's just as successful!!

Reception Details

I almost feel overwhelmed to try and begin to explain how incredible our reception was. There's over 800 pictures and they are all SO good.  So, I decided to start with the details. 

We walked down a long flight of stairs with our wedding party to "Bring Em Out" by TI. I was ready to get going at this point and wanted the music to reflect that!! 

Our first dance song was an acoustic, country version of "500 Miles." I spent forever trying to find the perfect song for both of us. This was definitely it!! We sang along, talked about how awkward it was, and I gripped on tight so I wouldn't fall.

 

Our food was fajitas! Catered by home church cook. They have a catering business fittingly called, "The Church Ladies." We bought our salsa and jalapeno ranch from Chuys, because YUM.

 

Our cakes were actually done by two different people. A donor's wife did Duck Dude's. It was amazing!!! My cake was done by Elizabeth's Cakes in Plano, Tx.

All of my flowers were done by Dominie at Wild Rose Events. She is also a wedding coordinator, so I was able to get my tablecloths through her as well. She also did the set up for my cake. There was about 6 inches between the table and a sheet of glass with flowers in between. It was beautiful. 

My centerpieces were borrowed from Duck Dude's cousin's friend who made them for her wedding. The only thing I added was the gold napkin, yup that's technically a napkin, underneath it. My other favorite part of my tables were the silverware holders. My aunt and cousin made all 300 of them out of burlap and lace. They were seriously the most perfect addition of uniqueness! There's got to be a better picture, but I cannot seem to find it right now. 

Our DJs were phenomenal. They kept everything going! They were with Astounding Sounds out of Dallas. They joined in the dances, threw in couple of slow songs, and kept everyone happy!

My dance with my dad was to Trace Adkins "Just fishing". It tells the story of a dad taking his daughter fishing and talking with her about life and all the time she thinks their just fishing.

 

Duck Dude and Shop Mama danced to "20 Years Late" by Aaron Lines. A song that talks about everything a mother did for him and he just called to say thank you and I love you 20 years late. 

Oh my gosh.. it is so fun telling all of this again. I cannot tell you how many people have said, "Let's do that again!!!" And I am happy to say that if Duck Dude and I win the lottery and can throw that kind of party again, it will be at the top of our list!!!

Memorial Day Recap

Texas is continuing to be one big flood zone... but that did not stop us from having a marvelous time!   

Friday Night

We celebrated our engagement anniversary. I'm not sure people do that, but we did it and it was good. We ate gluten free pizza... heard the fireworks that we were watching a year ago.. and tried to talk in our whisper voices when we went over to the neighbors with a sleeping baby.

Saturday

We helped sister Laura and Naked Nick get ready to move 0.8 miles from us!!! Duck Dude and I picked up lunch from Taco C... and a couple.... thousand salsas. 

 

We got allll of our trips in to the storage facility before the rain started again. We were so impressed with ourselves, we gorged ourselves on sushi and jenga. 

 

Then, we called the cops. No really, we called the Plano police department. The establishment we were at decided to give away Naked Nick's drivers license to someone else. They were attempting to facebook Nicholas Ross and so was I. After a couple failed attempts, Naked Nick got a "case number"... but we're all thinking he's never going to see that ID again. 

 

Sunday

We went over to Duck Dude's parents house (does anyone else hate the term in-laws? It sounds so negative!!)... we ate a yummy lunch, watched a 1998 movie with Bruce Willis, sat outside for a little bit, and ate hamburgers for dinner. Sister Laura brought us these amazing patriotic pom pom headbands and I loved them so much. We were them the whole day..... and put them on the dogs. Look how happy they are!!

Monday

We hit up the stores while the boys hit up the golf course. I created some earrings with Kendra Scott's color bar (I picked the style, then picked which colors I wanted to go where!)... and I'm hoping they bring along some summer weather. 

 

Then we headed home for a pot luck dinner at our house. I got to hang out with some of my favorites and eat really good food.... again. See any trends throughout the weekend? Food, food, and more food!

God Bless America and all of our veterans, young and old, former and current, alive and dead. I am thankful for all of you.

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today... I was excited for a picnic on the boat.

A year ago today... I wore a shirt I've had since high school.. not suspecting anything. 

A year ago today... I was most excited for fireworks that night on the boat!!!

A year ago today... I had no idea that Duck Dude was a very anxious man!!

Because a year ago today.... we got engaged!!!!!

I cannot believe it has been an entire year and the fact that in that year we have done an insane amount of things. We have gone to Punta Cana, we have planned an entire wedding, we have been through bridezilla moments, we have been to both an Aggie football game and a Baylor football game, we've conquered the holidays of splitting time between families, we've gone to New York and the Jersey Shore, he's supported me at a lottt of volleyball games, I've learned even more about ducks, we've gotten married, honeymooned in St. Lucia, and moved in together as roommates husband and wife. 

It truly has been the best year ever. And I am so blissfully happy that on this day last year, Travis asked me to be his wife! Trollie forever!

El Salvador or Bust

I figured since I had a post dedicated to one sister this week, I needed a post dedicated to the other. 

Just kidding. It just happened to work out that way!! Today I'm talking about my red head and her husband. Why? 

They are in El Salvador for 10 weeks!!! Until July 27th!!! Where exactly is El Salvador? It's not Mexico... like I said a couple times.. It is south of Mexico and has Guatemala in between. 

Specifically they are in the town of Ahuachapan. Each time I say it, I say it a different way.

So, I don't do this very often... slash.. I don't think I have done it ever. But, this blog is a prayer request.  If you find yourself with a spare minute or two over the next 10 weeks and you randomly think about me or this blog, I would love it if you would say a quick little prayer for my sis and bro. 

Specific prayer requests:

• Safety. It's safe to say her pale skin and red hair makes them stand out. 
• They are in a host home. I pray that they are comfortable in their surroundings.
• I pray that they learn the language quickly. Hola amigos!
• I pray they have opportunities to serve! That's why they're there and I want them to have ample opportunities to serve however they can!
• Dietary issues. My red head is gluten free and just recently found out she is also lactose intolerant... which in a completely new country might be a little difficult.

A prayer request that came straight from the red head:

• Mosquitos. She said there are a lot of mosquitos and there are two different diseases they carry. She said, "Bug spray is my perfume this summer."

My bro-in-law is also planning on blogging some updates on the blog they started when they got married and didn't keep up!! :)  He will update when they have access to wifi at the mission center. 

http://benannahfaus.blogspot.com/ 

I know I have some crazy awesome prayer warriors out there and I really appreciate y'all lifting up my red head, Hannah, and bro-in-law, Ben.

 

His Boys

I would be completely remiss if I did not post about this crazy group of groomsmen! The first thing Duck Dude said when I did the "My Girls" post was, "You're gonna do one about the groomsmen, right?" Yes, honey. Of course! This talented group of guys are a blast to be around! There is never one dull moment and they are full of this incredible energy!! I am just not sure how Jen, our photographer, got them to stay still for one picture. 

 Does it get any better than this??

 Of course there were duck calls involved. The boys were upstairs and we were downstairs and we could definitely hear them.... so we had to turn our Brittany Spears up a little bit louder!! 

I am so glad I love his groomsmen! They definitely helped make the day exactly what is was! Thanks boys!!