st. pattys day

We had a blast at the Irish Channel St. Patty's Day parade. We love our family so much!!!!

7.13.11-summer equals...

BASEBALL!!

Tim had to work in Dallas last week, so I joined him. I spent my days shopping with MIL and GIL and staying cool in the pool while he worked. We spent our nights meeting up with friends in the area. On Saturday, we went to see a Texas Rangers game. It was so much fun--and we got to see a walk off homerun by Josh Hamilton!! I had definitely never been to a game where that happened! The atmosphere was electric!

Before the game:

Chit chatting...

Awesome seats! :)

Girls Trip!

On Wednesday night, Marlo, Veronica, Lauren and I left Little Rock to head to the Emerald Coast. We drove for about six hours and then decided we should stop for the night to get a little rest. The first hotel we stopped at in Hattiesburg, MS was completely full. So, we got back in our cars and drove to the second hotel. In which Veronica and Marlo stood at the front desk for over five minutes with no success. So--we got back in our cars to drive to the third hotel. Jackpot! Or...ok. A room was available. Not so much jackpot though. We could tell we were in for an adventure the moment we opened the door and a musty smell greeted us. But...oh, there was so much more:

The Ramada on the Hill was our sleeping place

Our four star bathroom, duct tape and all:

The windshield after driving through southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana and a good chunk of Mississippi:

DAY ONE
We woke up at about 7 the next morning and headed to Seagrove Beach, FL. We got there around 11:30...went grocery shopping and checked in to our condo. After that we headed to the beach. I didn't bring my camera with me on the first day to the beach.

After we decided to call it a day at the beach, we headed back to the condo, showered up and made mango mojitos and daiquiris.

Enjoying a mango mojito. Yummy...

Cutting up fresh mangos for the daiquiris...

Enjoying some mango daiquiris...

On our first night in Florida, we had big plans to make a nice salad, bake some chicken and watch the Grey's Anatomy finale. We still had about two hours until the finale so we decided to try out some shuffle board. We were struggling--until a nice resident informed us we needed to "push it, don't hit it." Little did we know, Michael's advice and wise words would provide helpful throughout our trip. This was his first bit of helpfulness, though. Always remember, "push it, don't hit it."



So...about that prelude to Michael being helpful. Extremely helpful. Once we tired of shuffle board, we decided to head back to the condo, get dinner started and settle in to watch Grey's. Chicken was in the oven, the show still had about 20 minutes until start time, so we decided to go enjoy the SUNSHINY warm evening on our patio. Well, there's a sliding door with a bar that you place in the track to prevent anyone from forcing it open...that is...when you're SLEEPING or NOT THERE. When you ARE there, you're supposed to remove the bar from the track. Common sense, right? Well, not to four women. So, the bar was in the track and we couldn't get in through the sliding door. No big deal, right? We'll just hop over the patio and let ourselves in through the front door. Ha! Fate had another plan. Veronica has a habit of dead bolting doors because of the lovely violent spout Little Rock had a few months back. So...yes, you're reading it right. The door was locked. Ok. We sucked it up, called the office and were ready to pay the $50 fine to get back in. Keep in mind--the chicken is in the oven.

The office lady (sidenote: her last name was Pickle--she's not sure if she has relatives in Arkansas--but how common can the last name Pickle be?!?!?) came to unlock our door. She immediately went to the door knob. "Oh no," I say, "that is not what is locked. The deadbolt is locked." After her JAW dropped she looked at me and asked, "why is the deadbolt locked?" Well, I suppose because we don't live in Seagrove Beach and actually have to worry about intruders? I just shrugged. I didn't know the answer...ok. As this story is getting long...I'll shorten it. She didn't have a key to the deadbolt and Michael and her had to break into our condo. Michael used a crowbar to the kitchen window and I pulled out some old cheerleading moves to get through the little window.

Michael the hero, with the crowbar he used to break into our condo (yes, the chicken is STILL in the oven):

DAY TWO

We woke up and drove out to the airport to pick up Jessica on Friday morning. After getting her we headed to the Outlet Malls where we all racked up. What a great shopping day! Then...we headed to Publix to get some beach toys and headed back to the beach.

So...about the picture below. I react to salt water and the sun. Isn't it beautiful?!?!? And yet...every time I go to the beach on the first day, I do it, you'd think I'd learn a lesson, right? It's like a rash--hot pink sunburny thing. It's NOT comfortable. ALL it takes to avoid this is to wash all the sea water off--or just not go in the water. I'm such a kid.


Aviator glasses!!! :)

We decided to go out to eat on our second night. AND we decided we wanted a tourist trap that served seafood. So, we headed to Pompano Joe's in Destin, on the beach. Ummm...let me just tell you. If you EVER see grilled crablegs on the menu, get them instead of the steamed. They are SO. SO. GOOD. Here's our obligatory tourist trap restaurant picture:

I felt the need to document V as a D.D.

DAY THREE

On the third (and final) day we just wondered around Seaside and Seagrove and spent all day on the beach.

Sister Self Portrait. Tim hates this hat. But it provides great sun protection!!

Marlo and her boogie board.

Lauren hid from the sun. I let her borrow my hat.


All that boogie-ing made Marlo need a nap!
Girls pic on the beach.
Anyone remember back in the day when all the chicks would be wearing bikinis (no towels around the waist and no cover ups)? and smiling and holding drinks? My, how times have changed.

Make sure to check out the post below to see mine, Veronica, Marlo and Jessica's awesome cheoreography skills!!

A Mardi Gras to Remember!

I know it is not even officially Mardi Gras until tomorrow...but 2009 was no doubt a huge year for Our Little World!! As we were planning lunch on Friday with Tim's cousin, Amanda, she went into labor! So...we drove to New Orleans knowing we were going to get to meet the newest addition to the family, Maxx Robert!! What a joyous moment. He is SO perfect!!

So, after meeting the newest Henderson, Tim and I headed back to my parents house where several of our very close friends were...and we went to watch the Friday night parades. We all had SO much fun!! And made a team effort to save parking spots in front of the house...here are some pictures from Friday/Friday night:

But none of the above is the moment you all are looking for, now is it?

So, Yes. It happened. I'm a little scarce on detail as I was the absolute LAST person to know...but Mr. Timothy Patrick Rafferty knelt on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of COURSE I said YES!! My sister, friends, parents, some of his family...they were all in on it and they were there to celebrate with us! To the point that Veronica admitted she felt like 007!! The ring set is my namesake's, my grandmother, Shay. Tim bought the diamonds, but the set is hers. It is so special to be wearing something that she wore every single day. I'm so blessed with the family and friends in my life and look forward to all the new adventures that being a Rafferty will bring!

We have decided on a date (for those of you that know me...you know that "planning" is nothing that I put on a back burner!)

April 24, 2010 is the big day! We'll be exchanging our vows at the St. Andrew Cathedral in downtown Little Rock. We are so excited and are looking forward to sharing our big day with everyone.










Well, after all THAT excitement...

Tim had to go home on Sunday. Lauren, Bobby and Jessica went home, too. Our friends, Sunnie and Michael came into the city to watch Bacchus and a couple of other parades with us. It was fun...though we were bummed Tim and the gang couldn't be there with us.

I really couldn't stop looking at the thing!!