Road Tripping Texas: Austin Bound!

This month has been a month of traveling Texas! Last week I was in Corpus working an event at Whataburger field, this week I am in Austin for the Texas Nonprofit Summit. The life of a PR Girl is never boring, that I can say for sure.

I am here in Austin helping spread the word about an AMAZING Direct Energy grant program called Reduce Your Use for Good.

We know that small changes can make a BIG difference. Direct Energy is offering to donate up to $100,000 to nonprofits to implement energy-saving changes so they have more funds to put toward doing the good work that they do. All nonprofits have to do is submit a short video explaining their mission!

We are here at the conference helping nonprofits film and get their videos up. It’s an amazing group! One of the people I helped yesterday works for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, which is a nonprofit that is very close to my heart. I’m so glad I met them here!

So. Here is where you come in! When you have a chance, make sure you Like the Direct Energy Facebook page. For every 2,500 Likes, Direct Energy gives away another $2,500 grant. Tell your nonprofit friends to apply and let’s spread the word!!

I’m looking at you, MommyMac. You are going to be a Reduce Your Use star very soon.

On an unrelated, but very Austin note…

After the conference is complete, I am going to head to Lady Bird Park for a run. The Lady Bird Trail is around 10 miles, and I recently found this 13.1 songs for 13.1 miles playlist (thanks pinterest!) so I want to test it out. They estimate one song a minute, but I’m a little slower than the lululemon team… so I may add some favorite tracks of my own. What songs do YOU love running to?

Do cool stuff.

Every so often, Matt throws out an amazing little gem of a wedding idea. This is my favorite (so far).

Note: We were talking about centerpieces.

“Babe. All of your ideas sound great. I just have one really important thing to say,” Matt announced.

“Sure! We both need to have things that are important to us at the wedding. What are you thinking?”

“Okay. So we need to make sure we do cool stuff.”

Now I’m cautious.

“Right… so that is definitely the plan. What were you thinking?” I replied.

“I don’t know. You could just bust out with the moonwalk halfway through the wedding!!”

So. I think we’ve settled on hydrangeas with a side on moonwalk. Thoughts?



Road Tripping Texas: Jersey Style!

This post could also be titled: Maggie and Alexa’s Big Adventure.

A few times each year I make trips to Corpus Christi, Texas for client events. As I have mentioned before, I love road trips, I love Texas and I love the client I’m working for… so it’s the perfect project for me. Since I make this trip so often, I have a few favorite things I do every time that I really look forward to.

Now. Enter Alexa.

We recently had an event weekend and for the first time ever, a colleague would be travelling with me. I really enjoy introducing people to new things, so I could not have picked a more perfect companion… Why? Because Alexa is new in Texas… by way of New Jersey (and then Kansas and then New York). Remember those favorite things I do every time I visit Corpus? Imagine my delight at getting to share those with a Jersey girl.

First things first. Every Texan knows where you make a pit stop on any road trip of any length. Buc-ee’s. Can you hear the angels sing? When Texans go to Heaven, I’m quite sure this is one of the venues that line those streets paved with gold. But I digress. A week prior to the events, I began extolling the virtues of Bu-cee’s to Alexa. I’m fairly certain that she was skeptical at first. Who gets THAT super pumped about a gas station?

But now she is sold. Or… at least this photo is proof that she is at least a little bit sold.

For these particular events, we activate at the Corpus Christi Hooks home field… which is the namesake of ANOTHER great Texas road trip staple: Whataburger!

Our plans included partaking in this particular delicacy after the Friday night game, because my number one priority on night one in Corpus is always Waterstreet Market. I needed my yearly Shrimp Picayune Fix! I actually found a recipe online, so watch out!! Unfortunately, the Hooks failed to triumph in their Friday night game, so the series was cut short and we headed home a little bit early… Skipping Whataburger. Very sad.

BUT. We did stop at Prasek’s Hillije Smokehouse on the way home, which is another one of my favorite traditions. Peppered pork tenderloin, anyone?

So all in all, it was a fabulous trip. Although, I still owe Alexa a Whataburger sometime soon.

Oh! A quick note on parking. Another reason I love small Texas towns how nice the people are. They don’t tow you… they just… park around you. I’m actually surprised they didn’t just pick the Fiesta up and move it out of the way.

Happy Reverse-ary!

It’s official! Matt and I are celebrating our One Year Reverse-ary today.

That’s right. We have picked our date!

In exactly 365 days, I get to marry my best friend.

While we have our location all lined up, I’m still nervous about all of the tiny details…

But that’s okay. Because we have exactly one year (or 31,536 000 seconds) to get it all figured out.

Tying the Knot: With Ribbons!

While I will admit that I have spent a lot of time daydreaming about marrying Matt, I have not spend much of that time dreaming about decor. I know I want simple, and I would like there to be a mason jar or two.

Or twenty-two.

Because we have yet to make a final decor decision, I have embraced that age-old bridal tradition of looking at other people’s wedding photos. LOTS of other people’s wedding photos. And I am falling in love with ribbons.

This is the photo that started it all:

Every Last Detail

While I like simple, adding ribbons to the chairs would fancy things up a bit:

Simply Peachy Wedding Inspiration

And you can add my two favorite things together! Mason Jar + Ribbons =

Style Me Pretty

And THEN (thank you Google and Pinterest), I found this photo… and I think I’m sold.

Intimate Weddings

And this? This is just adorable:

Manette Gracie Events

Last thing. I foung a DIY guide to the ribbon wand! Let’s do this.

Oh! In related news, I think we have picked our venue. I don’t want to jinx it, so more on that later.