the christmas queen!

hope y'all had a marvelous holiday filled with friends, family, laughter and a whole lotta food!  i must say that this christmas was exceptional in every sense of the word and i feel so blessed to be surrounded by such lovely people and given the gift of baby Jesus.  isn't funny how as you get older spending time with the people you love and going home is all that you need for christmas?  one of the reasons that i love coming home is that my mama works super hard to make sure all of us kids come home to the cozy house we know and love.  for those of you who don't know my mama she is a firecracker and a little cRaZy, but i have always loved her zest for life.  when it comes to christmas, this lady leaves every square inch of space covered, no detail overlooked, and the folks at hobby lobby are friends.  this post is dedicated to my mother, who's style of warm, eclectic, homespun decor makes me as proud as a peacock! here's a little sampling:

                           

november always reminds me...

to be thankful for life's blessings.  big and small.

my dad is awesome...

sometimes you just need a little dose of tough love.  

miranda!

her new record - four the record - drops today.  yayyyyy!  and she was fantastic on the today show this morning....LOVE this girl!

i couldn't have been the only one who saw this coming...

looks like kim kardashian & kris humphries are headed for the big d, and i don't mean dallas.  if my trusty hometown newspaper confirms it, it must be true...

what a joke, no respect for the sanctity of marriage.  couldn't they have given it more than 2 months?  i guess when you have glittery ponies, three wedding dresses, and helicopters at your wedding things are D.O.A.  like many americans, i watched the two-part e! wedding special and i saw bad omens that this relationship would tank (how uncomfortable was the rehearsal dinner where the betrothed didn't even sit together?)  i am appalled that this wedding earned the kardashians an estimated $18 million profit, yet i still watched...don't really know if i want to follow this family anymore?

texas book festival

this past saturday, i had the privilege of volunteering at the texas book festival at our state capitol.  if you're unfamiliar with the festival, it was started up 16 years ago by my FAAAAAAVORITE first lady in the world, mrs. laura bush.  ah, i just adore her.  anyway, it turned out to be a beautiful day, as evidenced by my iphone photo of the texas capitol:

i found out about the festival through texas monthly and i thought, "hmmm...i don't have any weekend plans and this sounds like it's right up my alley!"  i was assigned to the google technology tent, which i soon discovered was not my forte.  i had to spend the entire afternoon convincing people of the magical, liberating, and dynamic powers of the e-reader (irivers, kindle fires, nooks oh my!) when i positively detest the idea of having one.  i realize this is the direction the world is going, and like many associates at google assured me, "you'd love having one on an airplane!", i still can't shake my old soul ways.  i need to smell a book, i need to feel it in my hands, i need to write my name and the dates i read it in the front cover, i need to dog ear the pages, i need to write my notes in the margin, and i need to place it in its alloted space on my book shelf.  (sounds more like a love scene in a telenovela i realize, but i do have a passionate affair with my books.)  as you can see, the tech tent was not a good match for me.  next year, i shall do author escorts.

the increcible part about the festival was that all of these remarkable authors were in attendance and from what i am told, it is a huge honor to be invited to the texas book festival.  i was giddy at seeing all of the people's names from texas monthly - mimi swartz, jake silverstein, and paul burka and i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw that sarah bird, molly shannon, and paula deen would be there!  surely by now you do know that paula is one my icons?  side note: before i married my husband, my grand plan in life was to move to savannah so that i could marry bobby deen and have paula as my mother-in-law...i'm not even being facetious.  i didn't get to meet her, but i did buy her new book which promises to be tasty and phenomenal.

one of my favorite parts of the day was going to tall of the cooking demonstrations and i sat in a fabulous one by virginia willis, author of bon appetit y'all.  she was gracious, kind, and a firecracker and she used to head up culinary arts for martha stewart!  she's from georgia, but she's french trained so she mixes the two to create her cuisine.  i am DYING to try out some of her recipes.

VERDICT: this festival is a must do!  who wants to join me next year? 

theron's music!

hope everyone is having a good day out there!  i thought i'd shamelessly plug my love's band for a sec because i happen to think he is uber talented.  i might be a tad bit biased, but i'm just so proud of him!  he has been playing for the last eight years and along with playing piano, guitar, and harmonica he is also a tremendous singer/songwriter.  he writes about his own experiences or things and people that have inspired him along the way.
 he has just released his debut album TEXaS FoReVEr and it's now on iTunes!  fun fact: tracks 8 & 11 are about the author of this blog.  if you're in to folk/americana/texas country, you should definitely check him out!

you can also visit his facebook page THERON & THE OLD QUARTERS and become a fan!  i know he would really appreciate it...

maggie sottero

cool thing about buying your wedding dress from maggie sottero? she just might put you on her site! 

click HERE to see the rhiana royale in all its glory and hear my "say yes to the dress" story.  

open letter to courtney kerr

as i mentioned in my previous post, i was a consistent viewer of bravo's "most eligible dallas."  it's not the proudest moment of my life, but somehow this series found its way into my little world.  when i saw the previews for the show, i thought it was somewhat tacky and tres cheezy, but my interest was peaked because i wanted to see how bravo would portray texas and i also had a good friend who dated one of the main characters and we were curious about that as well.  out of all of the characters, i gravitated toward courtney kerr.  though i thought she had some unabashedly rude moments coupled with lingering (and very difficult to watch) insecurities, i applaud her for having gumption, sticking to her guns, always lighting up a room, dressing to kill, and being what i like to call a real girl's girl.  one of the main story lines of the show was the relationship between courtney and her "best friend" aka love of her life matt nordgren - a former ut quarterback and man about town.  the finale on monday night led us to believe that matt & courtney had FINALLY decided to give it a go after all these years, but watch what happen live with andy confirmed that matt was a D-A-W-G and screwed things up with courtney.  apparently he's hooking up with rh beverly hills housewife taylor armstrong?  weird.  though it is entirely none of my business and a little creepy that i care so much, i thought i'd offer my best advice to courtney:

Dear Courtney,


I grew to love watching you sashay through Uptown and ride the magic carpet of a pretty young Dallas socialite on Monday nights.  So many of your perils reminded me of myself and when you spoke of your longing to find a good man and that you truly believed he was out there somewhere, I resonated with that because I believed in that dream myself.  You had a certain indelible quality about yourself, a panache of sorts.  Your fearless fashion sense coupled with your mane of enviable locks made everyone take notice.  However, it was your grit and moxie that was most admirable.  You weren't just a dumb Dallas blonde looking for 15 minutes of fame, you were actually smart and sarcastic.  


Watching your relationship with Matt unfold was touching (and I really was rooting for you two), however most of the advice you doled out to others, you hardly took yourself.  It was blazingly obvious that you were madly in love with Matt.  From your jealous showdowns with his other women to your insistence that he was the man in your life, you weren't fooling anyone with the "just friends" rhetoric.  Come on Court, haven't you seen "When Harry Met Sally?!?!"  Men and women can't be "just friends."  Not if you're really close anyway.  The way I see it, Matt (like so many men who have come before him and will inevitably follow) wants to have his cake and eat it too.  He likes to keep you around because he genuinely enjoys your company and "loves" hanging out with you, but he isn't willing to give up his harem of women.  Yes, timing is everything and maybe "someday" you guys could work it out, but do you want to wait for someday?  What if someday never comes and you find yourself 42 years old still pining over Matt Nordgren when you passed up the opportunity for someone to come sweep you off your feet and treat you like a real man.  The problem is if Matt is always in the picture (as he has been for the last five years) you will never be able to make room in your heart for that man.  


Please don't think I'm scolding you or telling you what you should do, but in this situation, I know from which I speak. All you have to do is read this blog to figure that out.  Like you, I was an independent, educated gal loving life and having a great time, but I was always attracted to (and therefore relentlessly chasing) men who were really fun, energetic, ambitious (all good qualities) but alas completely emotionally unavailable.  I spent years trying to do the right thing and be the right person wondering why I wasn't good enough.  I then spent ANOTHER two years trying in earnest to convince a man who I was absolutely crazy about to love me.  Like you, I thought I could be the one woman to get him to settle down and be monogamous, but my attempts were futile.  I can't explain it, but one day I woke up and the world just looked a little different to me.  I looked at myself in the mirror and said, "What the sam hell are you doing?!?  You've got to stop wasting your time sitting around waiting on a man to change.  You have to love yourself and know that you're enough.  You have to believe that there is a man somewhere on this planet who will think you are the bee's knees and the only girl in the world."  I started to believe that message in my core, I got rid of the toxicity, and I started to live with the hope that all I had to do was be myself.  Literally, less than six months after making that decision, God delivered a man who fit every single one of my criteria, writes songs about me, tells me I'm gorgeous when I wake up in the morning, and works diligently to make all my dreams come true.  I didn't have to twist his arm or give him an ultimatum to marry me.  He asked me to marry him 118 days after the night that we met and when I asked him why he did it so soon, he replied, "Shannan, when a man really loves a woman he cannot bare the thought of her being with anybody else."  


So there you go Courtney.  I just think you're too wonderful and beautiful to be chasing some silly boy around with hopeless devotion in your eyes.  You're so much better than that and you've got to believe that! 


Hope to hear your love story one day,


Shannan

i've missed you darlings...

dearly! i'm sorry i haven't blogged in so terribly long. i took some time off to get hitched, set up house and the like, and just didn't seem to have the inspiration to write. it's not that there wasn't anything noteworthy to document, it's just that i didn't have it in me to write about it. i have noticed that my blogging is an adequate picture of my life - ebbs and flows, anti-social and extrovert, fast lane and country pastures - so i let this little blog get away from me a bit and everytime i thought about returning, i would think thoughts such as, "no one reads that anyway!, you've lost your touch!, and God knows you have more pressing items on your to do list!" but the truth is, i like blogging, i really do. i like writing and it's as therapeutic for me as playing the guitar is for my husband. i like being apart of the "blogging community" and i love reading all of the witty dialogue that all of you bloggers come up with every day. so yes, i think i will officially sit a spell and reconvene shannan's southern comfort.

to get reacquainted, i thought we'd play a fun little game of Q & A so that i could put all inquires to rest and catch up on the last few months.

1. how was the wedding and how's married life?

it's hard to do the wedding justice, it was just beyond. i still plan to do a wedding post, and i wanted to do it sometime ago, but i was waiting to get my pics back. finally have those, so no more excuses. me being a reasonable gal, i tried to have some level of expectation management with the wedding because i didn't want to be let down when my big day was just lovely and not blockbuster, blow-your-mind life changing. the honest to God truth is that it was better than anything i could have ever imagined. i was just so proud of my mom for pulling the whole thing together and i was (and am still) overwhelmed at the amount of love that was assembled that night. to have all of your friends and family at the same place at the same time is just fantastic. i am only regretful that i couldn't spend more time with everyone. being mrs. pfeifer (still not used to that) ain't a bad gig either. ha. my husband is truly wonderful and marrying him was the best decision i ever made. i didn't settle and i took to heart what carrie bradshaw said, "maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. maybe they just need to run free til they find someone just as wild to run with them." i loved that quote because it meant so much to me. i met my match and now we are navigating through this adventure together.

are you still teaching? if not, why not? and what's your day job?

no, i am no longer teaching 2nd grade at el dorado. i had already accepted the job before i even met theron so there's no way i could have predicted what would happen. when we became serious, we discussed the fact that i would probably need to find a job more flexible so that when my husband is home we could actually spend time together. for those who don't know, my husband is a merchant marine and works offshore in the oil business. he works even time which means he's off for a month, but is gone to trinidad and tobago for a month, which means he's gone 6 months out of the year. at the time, we were also fairly certain that we would be relocating to s. america for his job. thus, we made a joint decision that i would not go back for the 2011-2012 school year. though i loved my children and co-workers dearly, i'm not sure that i had the nervous system to be an elementary teacher. for those of you in the biz, you know what i'm talking about. i may go back someday, but it would have to be under different circumstances. now i'm in a transitional period trying to figure out what my life's calling is all about. in addition to his shipping job, my husband is also a musician, so i'm his manager and i handle the merchandising, booking, and general business of the operation. i'm working on a market research project for a private home builder that is about to do some awesome things at baylor university. and i'm trying to break into the free lance writing world. i'm also volunteering with the texas book festival, communities in schools, and san antonio rodeo - three things of which i am EXTREMELY passionate!

what's buzzworthy on your radar right now?

well...bravo tv is where it's at! i'm not sure there's another network that can compete in my world. hook-hook-hooked on all those brain zapping "real housewife" debacles. never quite succumbed to dc, miami, or atlanta but if beverly hills, orange county, ny, or new jersey is on, i'm there! i'm not proud of my taste in television. it is certainly not thought provoking, chic, or moving. it's trash! my husband abhors that i watch this stuff (i think he's frightened that in our dave ramsey household, i will start to covet houses in the hamptons and $25G sunglasses) but i have tried to explain to him the beauty of escapism. i'm also addicted to "most eligible dallas" which should aptly be named "most vapid reason i don't live in dallas." haha all in good fun dallas friends! but seriously, can you believe that finale? back to RH, anyone in the greater san antonio area who would like to join me for the new jersey reunion, come on over! i make special cocktails and themed food based on the show! in the literary world, i am subscribing to town+country, vanity fair, cowboys&indians and garden&gun currently. i am also reading "outliers" by malcom gladwell and "women food and God" by geneen roth. i am loving shopping for great deals at homegoods, nordstrom rack, and never paying full price for anything! i am having fun trying out new restaurants in my city and spending time with good girlfriends over a margarita! and i am cooking every conceivable recipe from my pioneer woman cookbook!

what are your goals for the future?

right now i'm dreaming of renovating my old 1800's farmhouse on my 20 acres of rolling hill country land. brushing a pretty palomino and running my fingers through his hair. chasing my raggedy, muddy children around in the yard. becoming a pretty
amazing cook. checking off my travel list. writing a book. meeting the authors i really admire. paying off all our debt and becoming financially solid. doing something good in this world, even if no one ever hears about it.

you must see "the help!"

i'm fairly certain that most of you, especially those of you belonging to the book-loving, southern variety, have already heard about this little phenomenon called "the help," but for those of you who haven't...get out from under your rock! i just saw this film tonight and it inspired me so much i just had to blog about it! it is truly the best movie i have seen in quite some time. and that is coming from an extremely harsh critic! like millions, i read this new york times best seller months ago and have had quite the inner-debate going on as to whether it could possibly match the literary sensation's standards - and it did! my only two other films in that category: gone with the wind and to kill a mockingbird. i couldn't believe how well the screenplay had been adapted. interesting little credit tidbit, i noticed that nate berkus - as in design guru discovered by oprah - was an executive producer. interesting.



anyway, the reason i found this movie so compelling was that it seamlessly brought to life the rich characters of kathryn stockett's novel in a way that was profound and moving. the attention to detail was immaculate, from the character's jackie kennedy/doris day wardrobes to the descriptive attention paid to southern cuisine, everything was dead-on accurate. although i'd like to identify most with the protagonist heroine "skeeter phelan" - we do have a few things in common: journalism degree, wistful hope of writing a book someday, beau who works offshore in the oil business, and although we routinely find ourselves in the company of sorority loyal, thank you note writing, junior leaguing, pearl adorning women; somehow we always feel like a complete impostor - my friends think otherwise!


the archetypical jackson woman at bridge club...let me tell you, that bryce dallas howard can play a real witch!

feeling all skeeter-like and ready to submit a feature story to the san antonio express news, my girlfriend who saw the movie with me exclaims, "ya know, you reminded me so much of celia foote!" celia foote? the white trash, nouveau riche blondie from sugar ditch, mississippi who is barred from all social events and can't keep house or cook to save her life?!? can't be...but then my mind flashed back to the scene a few night before when my in-laws came over for dinner and i had tried so hard to entertain. i stuffed all of my messes into the nearest closet, put out all of my finest wares from williams-sonoma and even picked out some flowers for a centerpiece. i set the table the best way i knew how (junior cotillion and robert spence were good for something!) and prayed that my mother-in-law (a true cosmopolitan woman from new york city) wouldn't grimace at the sight of all of it. ambitiously, i decided to make chicken fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and cobbler all from scratch! dear lord, you should have seen me double dipping my steaks and spreading flour all over the dang place, i probably used 20 bowls! meanwhile, standing in my "i kiss better than i cook" apron, my husband remarked, "can't we clean up while we cook and not create such a mess sweetheart?" with steam coming out of my nostrils and eyes turning red, i berated, "I WENT TO THE GROCERY STORE AND SPENT MY HARD EARNED MONEY ON THIS MEAL, I HAVE BEEN SLAVING AWAY IN THIS KITCHEN SINCE TWO, I AM SWEATING AND COVERED IN FLOUR...AND YOU EXPECT THE HOUSE TO BE PERFECT!/!?@#$!" so yes, i can see why the comparison came so effortlessly. i am utterly a mess at becoming a domestic diva. the way everybody has to make such a big deal about it when i cook, nodding, smiling, offering up encouraging words like "we're so proud of you" and "you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble" really does put me in the category of mrs. foote. but i will say that girl always has perfectly coifed hair and she's got spunk!


ecstatic upon hiring the only maid who will actually agree to work for mrs. celia

without giving too much away, the heart of this story is the relationship between the maids and the white children they look after their entire lives. it is a relationship that is far stronger than that of even the child and his own parents. i assure you that this uplifting movie will stir your heart and call into question the courage of your own life. enjoy!

my new little DIY project

for all of you crafty gals out there, you understand the need to work with mixed media, wear your covered-in-paint overalls, browse the aisles of hobby lobby in search of the supplies for your next masterpiece. i have been creating art my whole life and it is a passion of mine. i usually specialize in painting canvas and furniture, as well as faux finishing walls, but i also love to do design and i've recently gotten into calligraphy. i'm thinking about starting up my own etsy site, but haven't made a decision yet...we'll see what the future holds. anyway, something i've gotten into recently is making paper flowers. i had the idea to make them for a project i'm doing for the wedding and it has become very addicting!! it takes almost an hour to make each flower because it's a very intricate process. you have to cut each petal out separately and then attach each individual petal to the stem. it is very tedious, but i'm happy with the results so far:

how cute are they!

the duke & duchess of cambridge hit up the calgary stampede. can't get over these two. a little obsessed.

when love finds you

as i sit here in my living room surrounded by wedding gifts, raffia and ribbon scattered at my feet, party favors to assemble, an endless to do list in my mind, i can't help but notice that the clock is ticking and there are only nine days until i walk down that aisle and say "i do." though i haven't been a "bridezilla," like any girl planning a wedding knows, it's easy to get so wrapped up in the wedding festivities that you forget why you're actually even getting married in the first place. i think there are several reasons that happens. for one thing, there's a lot riding on your wedding day, especially if you're a girl. especially if you're a girl who was raised in conservative, small-town west texas and then you went to baylor! it doesn't get any more southern and expectational than that! now, I'm not the kind of girl who finds total fulfillment in being married, but i'd be lying to you if i said i hadn't thought about this day from a young age. therefore, you add in the expectations of yourself and your life-long anticipation of this event, all the money and time that you and your parents have invested into the event for months on end, and if you're like me, you want everyone to walk away thinking, "wow, i just had the most incredible night!"

earlier today, i was sorting through some boxes and came across a journal that i had been writing in a lot last year. my whole life is collected in the pages of journals, but unfortunately that habit came to a halt with my teaching career. i started reading through the entries when i came across the one from june 12. i was amazed to see how influential God has been in the love story between theron and me. the gift of unconditional love is something i'm eternally grateful for and never in a million years thought i would actually receive. thus, it's not about the wedding...it's about celebrating the love and commitment between two people...as it should be.

June 12, 2010
1:47 p.m.

I'm really, really frustrated right now with EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. Nothing I seem to do is right. Nothing makes sense. When I finally seem to be on the right path, things fall apart. I'm trying to live so righteously and I'm trying to be aligned with God's will for my life, but sometimes this just feels so hopeless.

When will things be calm again? When can I stop worrying and feel at peace? I know I'm doubting God right now and I know that's not right, but sometimes (like right now) I feel so hopeless and alone. Not hopeless and alone as in suicidally depressed, but hopeless and alone as in I'm tired of always fighting for something, always having to take care of myself. One day, I just want someone to take care of me.

On that note, I feel that I have given online dating (a whole month of it!) a valiant effort and it's just not for me. Perhaps it's not good timing and perhaps I need to work on myself some more. I need to process a lot of things and I need to be able to give the right person a clean slate. However, even this frustrates me. Here I am taking classes and Bible studies, I've seen a counselor, I'm addressing my issues, I've been praying all the time, and I'm trying to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength - but is there a man out there doing the same thing?

I have these high ideals about true love, honorable character, integrity, letting one woman satisfy you for the rest of your life...do these things even exist? Are they just a figment of my imagination? Horribly frustrating.

3:25 p.m.
As you can probably tell from the previous entry, I was pretty unglued. It got even worse when I was trying to do my certification program and the whole thing kept messing up.

I called my Mom and became hysterical, and remarkably, she made me feel so much better about things. I'm in such a rough place in my life financially, professionally, personally, but Mom always has this way of putting things into perspective for me. She gave me the whole "character building experience" pep talk and reminded me that I could be at home putting MaMaw into the nursing home and getting yelled at for not having a heart. She ended the conversation with something I've been hoping to hear for a long time, "Your time is coming Shannan." After I got off the phone, I went for a walk (per her suggestion) and wouldn't you know that it was a beautiful day outside and the very first song that came up on my iPod was Carrie Underwood's "So Small." What appropriate lyrics.

What you got if you ain't got love
The kind that you just want to give away
It's okay to open up
Go ahead and let the light shine through

I know it's hard on a rainy day
You want to shut the world out
And just be left alone
But don't run out on your faith

Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbin'
is just a grain of sand
And what you've been out there searchin' for forever
is in your hands

And when you figure out
Love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small

It's so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big at the time
It's like a river that's so wide
It swallows you whole

While you're sittin' 'round thinkin' 'bout what you can't change
And worryin' about all the wrong things
Time's flying by, moving so fast
You better make it count cause you can't get it back

My mama's right. Everything's going to be alright and my time is coming.


Shannan met Theron later that night.

spanx to the rescue again!

as you know, i don't blog for revenue and i don't do promotions for different products or anything like that; thus anytime i plug something on the blog it's because i genuinely, whole-heartedly love it so much that i have to share it with the world!!! anything i write about in this context has been road-tested and given two thumbs way up.

my trend-setting girlfriend in d.c. had told me many years back about the wonders of the spanx bra - aptly called "brallelujah" - but i was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon, because let's face it...while spanx products suck you in all the right places and give you the coveted hour-glass figure, they ain't the daintiest, sexiest lingerie around! i don't know what you gals prefer for your boudoir attire, but flesh colored spandex is not the same as black hanky panky lace!

that being said, i finally broke down and bought the spanx bra and it is deserving of its name...it's heavenly! it feels as though you aren't even wearing anything...no underwire poking, no tight straps digging into your skin, no loose straps sliding down on your shoulder. AMAZING! Try it and you will be a believer too!

hello again, my name is shannan...

and i'm desperately longing for carefree days of blogging and life analysis again! don't get me wrong, i'm happy to be in full-throttle wedding mode with the hottest, smartest, kindest, most wonderful man i've ever laid eyes on, but i have exactly 3 weeks to pull this shindig together and right now this is what my life looks like:



since the helm of the new year and into the waning months of 2011, i will have gone to 9 weddings! wowza...and many of them happen to be my best friends'. don't know what was in the water this year, but it must have had something to do with nuptial madness. on that note, a warm congratulations goes out to my dear friends britney & christopher on their recent engagement! so darn happy for those two!



as for the sowder-pfeifer wedding, the invitations are sent, the vendors are ready to go, the decor is locked down, and my band(s) - yes, bands plural have all been confirmed. now if i can only get theron pfeifer (the groom) - who's company unexpectedly shipped him down to trinidad for the time being - back in time for the ceremony, i can breathe a huge sigh of relief! please keep your fingers and toes crossed!

*i wish i could share more detail and give you a sneak peek at the bridal portraits, but i'm trying really hard for the element of surprise so after the big day, i shall divulge all the goods!

for all you fitness gurus...

you MUST check out tracy anderson! i am on day 14 of the metamorphosis program and i am loving it! and believe me, it takes me a lot to love a workout routine. don't get me wrong, i like to be healthy and in shape, but i just hate monotony and seeing zero results for all your effort. (and i'd probably rather clean toilets than run on a treadmill...)

i'd heard about tracy for a long time, but finally decided to check it out when i read an issue of gwyneth paltrow's goop newsletter and she endorsed the tracy anderson method. turns out tracy works for just about every hot bod in hollywood - jennifer lopez, courtney cox, madonna, kristin davis...and the list goes on.

the program is hard to maintain on the required daily basis and it does take a lot of dedication, but it's totally worth it. you track your progress every day so you can really see change and the programs are targeted to your specific body type (abcentric, hipcentric, omnicentric, or glutecentric.) this program is especially awesome for any dancers out there; you are really encouraged to go through the moves as if you are dancing in a night club and really improvise. haha...i usually pretend like i'm the only blonde, 20-year-old dancing on a balcony of el kapital in madrid...it's fun :) it's a pretty intense hour of cardio and muscle toning, but i've found if you have killer music it goes by fast. tracy's awesome and she makes you feel like you're working out with your best friend (albeit your supermodel, helen-of-troy, chiseled best friend...) also, i don't like to get that bulked-up look, which is what i was getting with P90X, this program will definitely give you the long, lean, dancer's body.

i've always looked at personal service professionals as a means of their own advertisement. i.e. if you're a dentist, you better have dang good teeth; if you're doing my hair, your hair better look coifed too, you get the point. i think tracy's body speaks for itself...join me on the journey!!!

engagement photo shoot

it only took a million years, but our engagement pictures our finally hot off the press! i am so pleased with how they turned out and i couldn't be happier with our photographer - julio costilla of helo photography. i knew of a lot of photographers, but i had no idea how to choose one until i was referred to julio by rebecca trois (a goddess who i adore and also the owner of our wedding venue). julio is the official photog of trois estate and he's worked with some of the best in the business. he's the consummate professional and very wise beyond his years, plus he made it so easy! i don't know about y'all, but every time i looked at engagement portraits of other couples, i would think to myself, "i wonder if it's really awkward to take photos like that? do they give you directions for that stuff?" our photographer was all about letting us do our own thing and blending himself into the background so we wouldn't even know he existed. it sounds strange, but i really didn't even know he was there...which i guess you can tell as many people have asked, "so did y'all just decide to make out the whole time?" i'm sorry! i know there are a lot of kissing pictures! oops ;)

anyway, i wanted the photos to be very representative of us, our lifestyle, and our personalities. i decided to do the shoot at floore's country store since i knew there would be some good backdrops and that's the place where theron and i met, plus we love it out there! i'm the kind of person that can see something in my head and i know what i want, so i told julio that i wanted pictures that told a story (rather than portraits of us just sitting there with my arms draped around theron's neck) and i wanted a pictorial look to the photos, something like a photo spread you might see in cowboys & indians or texas monthly. he really hit it out of the park and his use of color is just phenomenal! here's a few, but you can check out the rest on facebook:


love all the signage! i was going for an old gringo/double d ranch ad and i think we got it!


color turned out great on this one...


haha reminds me of an epic romance...


shannan d'aun sowder, would you marry me?!


i'm a huge dancer and have been all of my life. thank the lord, i found a guy who loves to dance too! this is our little homage to that...


i like this cute little spy shot!


fan of this one...well, because red is my fave color and my man looks hot!!! is he not a dead-ringer for the dude from country strong?


under the neons...


this shot was very spontaneous...we wanted to take a break so we just saw some chairs sitting there and had a seat, but i love the way this turned out!


i thought the antique finish on this one turned out cool, plus i love the general vibe of the photo. too bad my husband doesn't plan to run for governor of texas...i think this one would make an awesome campaign photo!

i hope to be back with more wedding updates soon, but this will have to do for now! i will get to blogging more frequently again i promise!

in honor of teacher appreciation week...

i must give some love to all the teachers out there! hope you're all surviving the end of the school year, and if you're counting down like me (22 days to be exact), you know that the promise of a beautiful summer is just over the horizon. i have complained about the hardships of this job, but i foreshadow that it will shatter my heart into a million pieces when the school year draws to an end. it sounds strange, but since i don't have any children of my own yet, those kids were my kids and i have treated them like my own all along. me and those 18 kids, well, we're a family. i know, i'm probably not your stereotypical teacher. i didn't ever even set out to do this...never in a million years. i become really obsessive about investing in these kids and working scrupulously and i take everything personal and i also fight for them like a mama bear.

even though i am beyond thrilled about the opportunity to catch up on my reading, get back to blogging and writing, catching up with old friends, wedding planning, and decorating/organizing our little home; it is difficult for me to imagine not getting up each morning to see juan's gap-toothed smile, the pretty new dress ximena's abuelita made for her, and hear diego's incessant knock-knock jokes. and yes, i'll even miss the awkward, "well, i think you should ask your parents about that..." line that i've had to deliver countless times.

case in point: today, i had several bottle of water on my desk (trying to be healthy here) and one student came up to me and asked, "ms. sowder, why do you have so much water on your desk?" almost immediately, another shouted out,"miss can't get pregnant, she's not married yet!" and yet another exclaimed, "don't you guys know, you don't have to be married to have a baby! you don't even have to be in love!!!!!!!" eeeek :/

anyway, thank you all, not just teachers, but anybody who has a profession that requires a tremendous amount of service and investment in other people. keep it up...this world needs you.

my babies on nerd day:

my sister is GORGEOUSSSSSSSS!

paigey got her braces off today and she looks smokin'. she is going to break so many hearts now :)