My dog is definitely Mexican...

This morning Ben and I were standing in the kitchen when I tried to jump on him. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that I kneed our makeshift liquor cabinet. Ben’s most expensive bottle of tequila fell to the ground and splattered.

From out of nowhere Sylvester comes to survey the damage. As I am apologizing and picking up the glass, Sylvester is sniffing around.

Next thing you know he is rolling around on the carpet where the tequila spilled. We try to push him away but he keeps coming back for more. The tequila was like cat nip! He even found the towel that we soaked it up with and was in heaven. I guess the Chihuahua in him smelled home…

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

Let New Year begin...

7:30 AM….that is the time that Ben and I rolled out of bed on New Year’s Day. After our night of fun, it was a STRUGGLE. Why did we torture ourselves and get out of bed that early? For the our traditional (we have done it twice now, official tradition) trip to the Winstar Casino in Oklahoma!

This year, Ben and I invited Jon and Erych to join us. Miraculously, they were ready to go before us! So we picked them up and headed to Winstar. The ride up wasn’t too bad. We were all tired from the night before and I think Jon and Erych both took a little nap. In tradition fashion, we stopped at IHOP in Gainesville to have breakfast with my mom and her friend. This year, they were running late so what did we do to pass the time….. CATCH PHRASE! We probably looked like crazies hanging out in my car yelling inaudible words at each other.

My mom finally got to IHOP and I finally convinced the boys that Catch Phrase in IHOP was a very bad idea. So we all ate breakfast and headed to the Casino…..of course with a 10 min game of Catch Phrase along the way. (See the addiction, yet)

Once we got there, the four of use headed to slot machines. Of course, we lost my mom and her friend so we had to figure out how to lose money on our own. We played tons of penny machines with loud noises and bright lights. Is it bad that I pick out my machines by the pretty colors and lights? I think not. Ben played some Black Jack too. We played for about 3 or hours so. I don’t think anyone won anything although Ben pretty much broke even.

Also while we were there, we had a free Caricature made. Jon and Erych made mugshot ones and Ben and I had one with me punching him (Love!). When we finally got ours back, I was a little confused though. Somehow some Mexican girl took my place. The only way you could recognize it was supposed to be me was because of the huge boobs the artist drew in. Oh well! Maybe next time, I can get in the picture and not my boobs. :D

After lunch of greasy pizza, we all got in the car and headed back to Dallas. I had a huge headache…..but it didn’t stop us from playing Catch Phrase again and screaming for the hour long drive. After the drive, I was finally able to get some excedrin and ice cream. Needless to say, it was a great day to start off the New Year.

NYE 2009!!!

I have always enjoyed bringing in the New Year, but is even better when it leads into a long weekend. For New Year’s Eve, I invited a couple of friends to come over to the apartment, have some drinks and food and then walk over to Dallas’ outside gathering/celebration.

As soon as I got off of work, I rushed home to meet Ben. We picked up the free wristbands (most pointless thing ever) for the Downtown Celebration Party, ran to Target so Ben could buy a beanie, to the store to pick up food and drinks and then back home to get ready.

I made cupcakes and awesome Jalapeno/Artichoke dip. Ben on the other hand went really gourmet. He heated up some quesadilla rolls and bagel bites. We popped open some champagne and waited for our friends.

My Gay Husband Casey was the first to show up. Since Casey showed up, we decided we could start eating the snackies. Who would have thought that Ben’s food would be gone in less than 30 seconds? Man, those bad boys were good. At least my dip and cupcakes lasted for our other guests.

Soon after the ‘Stuff your face and hide the evidence of other food’ event ended, Jon and Erych showed up. We all had more drinks. I added “Bling String” (as seen on TV!) to mine and Jon’s hair and then… we broke out Catch Phrase. Oh Sweet Jesus! This game is awesome. Especially after everyone has been drinking. Needless to say, we played this for awhile and then Angel and her man showed up and joined the festivities. More Bling String, more Catch Phrase, more inappropriate comments and guesses and of course more drinks.

Finally someone realized we all weren’t just hanging out to play the little electronic nugget of fun known as Catch Phrase. So we all bundled up, took mini bottles of champagne and hid them in our coats, grabbed our noise makers and pop bottle thingys and headed to the Big D NYE Celebration.

Since we left so late for fun, we decided to leave the wristbands and just stand wherever we could. After the extremely noisy walk (Tipsy Jon and Stephanie should never be given noise makers of any kind), we made it to the celebration. Victory Park was nowhere near full, so we got new wristbands and walked into the fun. Jon and I also decided we weren’t impressed by the live band so we made our own music with our noise makers (once again, never let us have these). So while some people were enjoying their drinks and the music, my group decided to have their own fireworks as well…..and by fireworks, 5 million camera flashes for the last paparazzi photo session of the year.

As 2010 got closer, we all pulled out our contraband champagne and made a toast. When the New Year came in, we all mugged down (no, not together), screamed, cheered, made more awful noise with the noise makers and watched the Fireworks. It was so much fun. I am so glad we went and brought in the New Year with some friends.

Finally, we made it back to apartment, had more cupcakes and of course started playing with our new addiction…..Catch Phrase. Needless to say, I had a great night with everyone. And with great nights, come not so great mornings...

Noise maker fun:

From NYE 2009

Victory Park:

From NYE 2009

Champagne Toast:

From NYE 2009

Some Fireworks:

From NYE 2009

Me and My Man:

From NYE 2009

The Group:

From NYE 2009

HAPPY 2010!!!! Stayed tuned for the rest of the weekend...

Coolest Collars Ever!

So I found out that my coworker makes dog collars as a hobby/side business. For Christmas, I decided to hook up all the dogs in my family with some collars. Having no idea what the collars would be like or look like, I left it up to Finula (my coworker) to create whatever she thought would look good. I sent her a list of the dogs (8 of them!), their names, and a little bit about their personalities.

Needless to say, I was shocked by the outcome! She is amazing at her craft. Here are a few pictures:

This was for my brother’s dog Olive….can you guess what kind of dog she is?

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

This one was for my brother’s dog Martini!

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

And of course, many of you may know that my boy also goes by Murderface. He LOVES his collar.

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

As for the other collars…..

Kramer - He seriously has a licking problem and never stops. Finula made a collar that says: Kramer – Official Air Taste Tester

Roxy – She got the cutest collar with blue fabric and little birds and flowers….danty, just like her! Ha!

Scully – Hers was tons of dog pictures and her name. It was really colorful and cool.

Tag – A picture of a Schnauzer (that looked exactly like him) and his name

JJ – She made him a Boston Bichon collar with Boston Red Sox logo and a bichon playing baseball. Too cute. JJ just came to the family from Boston so it is perfect for him.

I will try and update with some pictures later on…

So if you are interested in a collar, check out www.mydogisspoton.com. They are only $15 and some of the proceeds go to charity. She can do anything you want….I already have 3 more orders for her.

Best Team EVER!

Last summer, some of the girls at my office decided to put together a kickball team. I, of course, joined and came up with the awesome name Balls & Snatchers. We played for about 7 or 8 weeks and lost every game except for one….that was the day half our team couldn’t make it and we brought in replacements. I actually enjoyed the kickball fun, but not so much my team.

The following season I decided to revive Balls & Snatchers and replace all the crappy people with good players. I was sure we would win every game and have a great time playing. Oh how I was wrong... Every week there was some new problem. Our games were either rained out or I was struggling to find enough people to play on the field. We lost every game but one. As the longest season on earth went on, the core players were finally coming together as a team.

Lucky for us, everyone makes it to the playoffs….

In true fashion, we had a rocky start. The playoffs were pushed back a week, therefore, we lost three of our main players. This left me with five original players to put on the field. Mind you, you have to have a minimum of eight. Oh joy.

Thank goodness for Angel. She found two extra players for me and even better they have played kickball. So now with a whopping seven players, we made our way to the field. Did I also mention that I was battling the bubonic plague and could barely take in one breath without hacking up a lung on the field? So pretty much, we had six good players.

Luck was on us again when the first team we were to play showed up and only had five players. They asked us if they could play since they only had one girl. They would do some crazy fandangly line up. I ‘let’ them play…because really, if my team of seven can’t beat five people, then we shouldn’t make it any further in the playoffs. That was almost my biggest mistake. They came close to beating us, but we somehow pulled it off.

On to the next game…..one of our arch nemesises (nemesi?). The Other Team. Let’s just say, that every time the played us, we got our asses handed to us. Total kickball annihilation. Did I mention that everyone from their team showed up too? Yeah, well they did. The Other Team came into the game as undefeated and left with a 12-1 LOSS under their belt! My team of seven killed them. They even had to end the game early since we were winning by so much. Sorry bout ya, suckers!


This meant we were in the CHAMPIONSHIP game! That’s right. On one of the coldest nights, my team of seven players made it to the big ‘ship. There was supposed to be a game to decide who we would play. As we waited to see if everyone for the next game would show up, we all secretly wished they wouldn’t. We would gladly take the title by default. Unfortunately that wasn’t in the cards….. one team showed up for the game and that team was our other arch nemesis. Without a break in between, my poor battered team went into the championship game…

What was one of the most emotional, crazy games ever…my team walked away with THE BIG WIN!!!!! That’s right, somehow my team, the last team in the league, somehow beat everyone the night of the playoffs and WON!

Needless to say, I forgot about all about the troubles, issues and losing games of the season and have decided to bring the Balls and Snatchers back for another season in the Spring. So if you think you have what it takes, come join us for some fun at our Victory Party!

CONGRATULATIONS, BALLS & SNATCHERS!!!

From Not So Secret World of Stephanie

That went by fast...

Oh man, November flew by and we are already in December! What happened? I guess that means it is time for a November update blog….

Boot Camp: Remember when Mary Beth and I decide to sign up for some boot camp fun? What was supposed to be only one month of ass kicking turned into my standard work out for six months! I finally had to stop going in the mornings because it was too cold to work out. No really, I looked like a fool trying to run two miles all wrapped up in my comforter (not really, but you can imagine.) I seriously recommend Boot Camp to anyone. Not only did I get in shape, gain the ability to run more than 5 feet ahead of me (and not towards cake) but I also lost about 20 lbs and made a new friend as well. It still weirds me out that I have friends from working out…..

Mexico: Since the economy is crap and trade show industry on a whole is declining, my job made everyone take a week of work without pay. Most people would look at this and get upset and whine about missing out on money…. Are you kidding? I just got 5 extra days of vacation! Woo hoo. So rather than waste those days in Dallas, Ben and I decided to go to Mexico. We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya in the Riviera Maya. Our hotel was right in middle of Playa del Carmen and Cancun. The best part about the hotel was that it was all inclusive and….ADULTS ONLY! YES!

Needless to say, Ben and I had a great time. We took a snorkeling excursion. We snorkeled in a cenote, a cave and where the fresh water river meets the ocean. It was so much fun but freaked me out…..I have a strange fear of water and the things that live in it. :)

The cenote that we snorkeled in:

From Mexico

Us in the scary cave:

From Mexico

We also took a trip to the ruins in Tulum, also known as Zamma. I have seen plenty of Mayan and Aztec ruins in my life, but these were gorgeous. The ruins were built on a cliff looking down into the ocean. Our guide was incredible as well and told us a lot of interesting details about the ruins and the Mayan people. We also got to swim in the crystal blue water while we were there.

The ruins:

From Mexico

View of the beach from the ruins:

From Mexico

While in Mexico we also shopped, drank, slept, relaxed, got massages, drank, hung out on the beach, drank and ATE everything in sight. Needless to say, it was a fantastic vacation.

One of many….

From Mexico

Thanksgiving: A week and half after we got back from Mexico, Ben and I were on another trip back to Mexico. Ok, not really but we did go to McAllen for Thanksgiving. For those of you who don’t know, McAllen is on the border of Mexico and Texas. Some of Ben’s family is still there so we spent time with his Dad and his brothers. We also ate as much Tex Mex food that we could fit in our mouths. I seriously wanted to throw up at least once every day. While we were down there, I also got to brush up on some of my Spanish. Believe it or not….I heard more Spanish in McAllen than I have ever heard any time I have ever gone to Mexico.

As you can see, November was a busy month. Now it is time for me to focus on Christmas presents and trying to figure out a way to sell my kidney on the black market so I can afford all the work that needs to be done on my f*cking car…… Just in case you are wondering, I wasn’t in a wreck….I just bought the worst car on earth.

Till next time….

Tour of Dallas - History

The stop on our Tour of Dallas was History. One of the most important pieces of history that is associated with Dallas is “The Day Stephanie Moved To Dallas.” Just kidding. Actually it is the day that JFK was assassinated.

So at 9:50 AM, Ben and I walked down to the Sixth Floor Museum. I was sure we would be the first ones in there if not the only ones for a while. I was wrong. Did I mention that our Tour of Dallas happen to coincide with the TX/OU weekend festivities? No? Yeah, that is because I am trying to forget about it.

Anyway, sure enough we walk in and I see a cluster of Burnt Orange. Ugh… We hurriedly buy our tickets, grab our headset and take the elevator to the Sixth floor. Lucky for me, there was more Burnt Orange. :-/ Oh goodie.

Aside from trying to see around some people, it was a good time. If you have never been to the museum, I highly recommend it. It takes you through the early days of JFK’s administration, through the few days before, obviously day of the assassination and also goes into some of the theories surrounding his death. You see videos, pictures and even some memorabilia from the day.

We ended up spending about an hour and half walking through. I have been before I took Ben, but I assure you I learn something new each time I go. Once again, this is a really great museum and only $14. Completely worth it!

And that concludes our Tour, Ladies and Gentleman…