...and we're back

it's official: i am back online.  

this weekend ross & i left little ol' college station and headed to the familiar city of houston.  friday night we celebrated my cousin mary catherine's birthday at a swanky mexican restaraunt downtown with a marathon-long table with seats filled with family and friends from every corner of the country (and a little ways out of it, too).  margs, chips, guacamole, laughs & stories were shared for hours, and the party continued on at my uncles house nearby, where we celebrated with pretty cupcakes and an a good time. 

we woke up early saturday morning to share a incredibly tasty breakfast at the hotel with my parents, and made room at our table for more as other family members trickled in... and we might have scared away a certain celebrity with our excited whispers.  several cups of coffee later and with fully satisfied appetites, my amazinghardworkingdiligentmedschoolhusband studied in our room at the houstonian all day saturday and i got to spend the afternoon with my parents wandering around the galleria.  

thanks to an incredibly generous gift from my dad, i am now blogging from a shiny new computer.  to say i am grateful & excited is a severe understatement- not just for my parents giving hearts and generousity, but for the way they always believe in me. they are brilliant examples of the kind of people and parents that ross and i pray we'll become.  but the best part of the shopping trip was when my mom and i walked out of j.crew to find my brother brother sitting on a bench, his leg acting as a pillow for my very asleep dad.  

that evening we attended the wedding of my uncle kent to his finace sarah.  once again, we spent an entire night enjoying beautiful food, wine, and company.  one of my greatest joys in life is when the whole crazy family is together, or at least most of them, and we can talk about old memories while making new ones.  toward the end of the night, ross, my cousin william and i straight up crashed the other two weddings that were going on at the hotel.  our criteria for wedding crashing evolved into several must-do activities:  walk around the reception, get a diet coke, make small talk with the photographer & get your picture taken, and finally leave- with a wedding favor in tow... all in good fun. 

it was such a happy weekend.  one of the sweetest parts of being married is seeing your spouse with your family.  ross and i are a family now, and it's so fun to see how much the rest of my family loves him too.  he's the man. 

anyway, i'm officially back to trying to be a graphic designer & photographer through this rockin new computer, but more on that later.  in the meantime, here's some inspiration i found while soaking up my long-lost friend, blogosphere... don't even laugh- you're obviously friends with it too. 

{above 3 from marina at makina, found via ohjoy!}

{via design*sponge}