Okay, let’s wrap up this blogging about my love for Boulder, Colorado nonsense shall we?

But there was no way that I could skip over an homage to my now favorite breakfast spot. That’s really saying something, because I’m not usually a breakfast lovin’ kind of gal. I prefer my sleep to getting up early and stuffing myself full of sugary syrup dripping foods. Yes, I realize that there are plenty of breakfast meals that don’t include syrup. But you must admit, breakfast does seem to hold the monopoly on syrup inclusive dishes.

Anyhow, the restaurant is called Lucile’s. It’s off of the main shopping strip and you can see it blocks away because of the hoards of people outside waiting for a table.

Lucile's is one of those restaurants inside an old house. Everything is quaint, imaginative, cheery, and absolutely delicious.

First off, we sat outside on their adorable porch. Let me try that again, I sat outside to eat on their adorable porch. I generally despise sitting outside for a meal. (Yes, that means picnics are totally lost on me) Why would I hate such a supposedly romantic notion? Bugs, weather issues (hot = sweating profusely = uncomfortable, cold = can’t feel my fingers = uncomfortable and hail = unconscious), gusts of wind knocking everything over, dirt, birds staring me down so they can steal my food, need I continue? Nobody eats peacefully when there’s a pesky food whore of a bird around! But this one time, the Boulder weather was so gorgeous and my tummy was rumbling so loudly that I gave in and we took the one available table in the great out of doors…on the covered porch. Baby steps people, baby steps!

And from my outdoor seat, I spied this cute little fragrant rose.

So, what kind of food do they serve at Lucile’s? It just so happens that they market themselves as a Creole Cafe! I love Creole food! Yum!

Let's start with some coffee shall we? They did have chickory coffee on the menu, which I'm intrigued by, but I couldn't resist the mocha au lait.

Next up? How about a lovely plate of freshly fried beignets? Oh it makes my mouth water at the very thought of them!

Or perhaps you would prefer a fluffy biscuit the size of your head with a side of freshly made raspberry or blueberry preserves?

Okay, I was too excited to eat my actual meal that I didn’t get around to taking a picture of it. But I got a half order of Hank’s Eggs. It was a mound of eggs, potatoes, avocado, cheddar cheese, and tomatoes. Trust me when I say that it was so very delectable! But there was no way I could finish even the half order! Sigh…if only I lived in Boulder and could take my leftovers home. One can continue to dream and apply for jobs online.

Thanks Dave and Mary for spending time with us and showing us the brilliance that is Lucile's!!

And that concludes our Colorado weekend. We had such a wonderful time and hope we will be able to visit again soon! Please feel free to browse through the rest of our pictures by clicking here. Okay, now I’m only a week and a half behind in posting. Give me a little more time, I’ll catch up again!

Fourth of July in Colorado. What a wonderful idea! Want to know what wasn’t a wonderful idea? Hiking on the Fourth of July. Well actually, hiking on any day is not really my idea of fun. My parents used to take us hiking all the time when we were younger. Sadly, this activity has never really stuck with me.

Can I do it? Yes, I will trudge my way up the stinkin’ mountain with determination, perspiration, my handy bug fan, and a scowl from here to Timbuktu (6109.2 miles) on my face. Will I be cranky? Oh my yes! Will I refuse to waste my precious oxygen on chatter? Yup! Will I take twice as long getting back down the mountain as I did going up because I have completely locked every joint in my body to avoid tumbling down? Heck yes! Will I miss most of the beautiful scenery because I’ve been too intently studying my feet to determine the best path? Yes again! All in all, hiking is a painful activity for me and all those that surround me. But despite all of that, we decided to give the Chautauqua Trail a shot…

Me trying to be brave and attempt the activity they call nature hiking. You will not see any other pictures of me after this point. If Andy tried to photograph my discomfort then I might have pulled a celebrity fit and smashed the camera out of rage. Granted...camera smashing takes a lot of oxygen.

Andy thinking incorrectly that this is going to be a fun casual hike up the Chautauqua Trail outside of Boulder. Oh how mistaken he is!

We’ll just say that the hiking trip ended without either of us murdering each other, which is a huge plus. After a quick shower at the hotel, we headed for a Fourth of July barbecue at our friends Dave and Mary’s house. My goodness, the food was amazing and the company was wonderful!

It isn't a proper Fourth of July barbecue until you bring on the pie!

Andy and his buddy Dave discussing their brewing processes, favorite beers, and miscellaneous other bits of beer information.

Even though we were sorely tempted to stay at Dave and Mary’s due to the torrential downpour that popped up out of nowhere, we headed back to Boulder in the evening for a fireworks presentation at the University of Colorado’s Folsum Stadium. Why would we do such a thing in the rain? Well…I’m not entirely sure. But I am glad we went! The fireworks were awesome and it gave us a chance to spend a little extra time with the newly married Kuchenrithers!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to take too many pictures due to the rain. Our fancy camera doesn't tolerate a lot of moisture. Not to mention, being cold, wet, and tired...we weren't so thrilled to get our picture taken anways.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!!

Again, I know that I’m WAY far behind in my posts. But now that I’ll be home for the next month (so I believe), I’m going to try my best to catch you up to our present day lives. Moving on the afternoon of Saturday, July 3rd!

After we did a quick clean up at the hotel, we jumped in our rental Chevy Cobalt and headed for the hills. Okay, the hills in this case = Rocky Mountains. (And by the way, the Cobalt is not my favorite rental car. It has a terrible turning radius, leaving us backing up in the middle of several intersections due to failed U-turns and has a funky trunk that must be slammed multiple times to close properly.)

The wedding location was high in the mountains at the Wild Basin Lodge. I should also point out that I get terrible motion sickness and was turning a little green with all the twists and turns in the road. Please let me know if you have any advice or cures regarding this little problem. Normally, I just have to close my eyes and pray that the Mountain Gods will stop being so cruel to me. Once we arrived, however, the beautiful scenery and gorgeous weather soon made me forget my nauseating woes.

Even the minor hike to get to the wedding location didn’t bother me, and that’s saying a lot since I have a general distaste for spending time in nature! (though I do wish I had known we would be going on a little adventure and had worn appropriate shoes…i.e. not high heeled sandals) But all was good and well with the world once we arrived at the magnificent ceremony site.

Here we are, the guests of the Radcliff-Kuchenrither wedding, on a wedding trek.

Along our mini hike there were wonderful views of the mountains.

And the sound of a little river keeping us company with its trickling soundtrack...

We have arrived at the ceremony site with one of the most awe inspiring backdrops a wedding could ever hope for!

And before we knew it, the wedding had begun and our friends Erin and Kevin were doing the getting married thing!

Erin being escorted down the aisle with her dad. No matter how many times I may see the same procedure this summer (and in my lifetime), I still think it's a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately, the breeze was a little too defiant when Erin and Kevin were trying to light their unity candle. The thought still counts though!

After the tears were shed, vows exchanged, rings blessed, and applause applauded (I really wasn’t sure where I was going with that…), we headed back to the lodge for the party to begin! The food was delicious, the cakes were decadent, the wine was flowing, and again I’d like to point out that the weather was amazing! In fact, most of the guests preferred sitting and chatting outside on the wrap around balcony that was covered with delicate little hummingbirds zipping about. (Not to mention, dancing the YMCA at such a high altitude was a challenge within itself and required some relaxing on the balcony time afterwards!)

The Kuchenrithers and the Trommers enjoying an evening of wedding fun.

All too soon, the skies were dark and it was time to bid our friends good luck and goodbye. We happily made our way back to Boulder with just enough time to conclude our evening at a local brewery that Andy had read about. The Mountain Sun Pub is a local favorite and a perfect way to end a perfect day.

Andy and his multitude of tiny beers, otherwise known as a beer flight. A flight enables him to try several of the brewery's beers without burning a hole in his pocket and without drinking too much alcohol in one sitting.

Please click here for more of our Colorado pictures!

Okay friends, thank you for sticking with me and checking this blog in hopes that I’ve updated it. Life has been hectic between all the traveling and the necessary chores in between the traveling. But I’m slowly trying to scrounge up enough time to fill in some of my backlogged stories. Let’s start with last weekend, shall we? Andy and I were lucky enough to be able to travel to Boulder, Colorado for a wedding (yes, another one). After a long wait at the DFW airport due to bad weather and flight delays (Thank goodness I thought to throw a pack of cards into my purse. But after 2 hours of gin rummy, I was tired, cranky, and bored), we finally made it to our hotel at 2 am.

We presently fell asleep and woke up in the morning ready to explore. After a quick look at the hotel brochure, we discovered that they rented bicycles to their guests. From my quick research, the best way to explore Boulder is to bike it. Parking can be a problem and the entire city is built for hikers and cyclists (I say “cyclists” because “bikers” sounds too much like the motorcycle variety). So, off we went to get ourselves a couple of bikes for the morning…

As soon as I saw the one pink bike hanging on the rental rack, I was sold! Fun! Too bad the the bell didn't work, it made more of a clunk clunk sound instead of the nice clear ding I was hoping for.

As we were going down the trail (I was going pretty slowly to avoid running over any puppies, strollers, and crashing into other cyclists), we discovered the weekly Boulder Farmer’s Market! We simply had to stop and take a look!

Wouldn't it be fun to grocery shop here on a weekly basis? Look at all that fresh produce!

Look at all of those beautiful dark leafy greens! Please take note neighborhood Albertson's, this is how fresh produce SHOULD look! The wilted depressed looking veggies you carry should make you feel shame!

Who can beat the smell of freshly baked bread? Now if only we had some cheese...

Look at all these gorgeous blooms!

For some lucky person, going to an awesome market like this was just part of a normal weekend. This is me being jealous. I want to be able to put freshly purchased flowers in my bicycle basket too!

Mmm...fresh baked pie! Thank goodness we had no way of getting the pie back to our hotel, or else we probably would have eaten the whole darned thing! For that, my tummy is grateful and sad at the same time.

Hello lovely big doughy pretzels. How I wish I had brought cash so I could take you home with me! But I had no idea we were going to find a farmer's market! Sigh...

After we were done oohing and ahhing, we stopped for food at the West End Tavern (Yes I saw this restaurant on Man Versus Food, and no, we didn’t attempt the Wing King Challenge). They have a delicious veggie burger, definitely worth trying if you’re feeling meat-free and fancy. And of course, Andy had to sample some of the local beer, which he absolutely raved about. After lunch, we meandered around the Pearl Street Mall. We had so much fun just enjoying the beautiful weather, chatting with some friendly Boulder natives, and browsing through the unique shops.

Who doesn't need an Alpaca Connection??

Oh Boulder, how very different you are from our current state of Texas. Kind of loving the change in mentality!

We stopped by a random little running store called Newton, at my insistence might I add. Andy had mentioned that he wanted new running shoes for some time, so I thought maybe we could find a useful birthday present for him. Turns out, this little store we popped into by chance has some of the best new running shoes available. Andy got fitted and trained by the co-founder and designer of the company, Danny himself! Danny was immediately able to tell exactly what Andy was doing right and where he was going wrong. The fitting took almost 2 hours! Was I bored? A little bit, but it was intriguing to just sit inside the store and listen to everyone’s delighted exclamations about how amazing the shoes were.

Did I get fitted for a pair of fancy sneakers? Absolutely not! I’m pretty sure my appointment would have taken 5+ hours, there’s so much that I probably do wrong when I run. It’s also probably why I hate running so much, because it causes so much pain and aggravation. Besides, it’s not my birthday! Besides, as long as Andy was happy with his new footwear purchase, then life is good. No wanting to be late, we rode our bikes back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. So far, it had been an amazing day and it only got better. Alas, this post is just too long and I think it’s best if I break it into two parts. Stay tuned for Saturday Part 2: A Mountain Wedding!

We spent the last weekend in another wedding whirlwind, this time for our dear friends Kat and Josh. We left right after work on Thursday and headed for the extremely humid and intriguingly diverse city of Houston. Unfortunately, due to some crazy storms that poured rain so hard that we couldn’t see out of the windshield, we didn’t get to Houston until late Thursday evening.

But it’s okay! Because the festivities didn’t officially start until Friday morning with a bridal brunch. It was a fun event with delicious food (homemade crab puffs, little bite sized spinach quiches, mini kolaches…etc), adorable games (A Jeopardy game made by the sister of the bride with trivia about the bride and groom in which my team received Starbucks gift cards for winning!), and memories to share (Everyone decorated a page for the bride’s pre-wedding scrapbook). With the brunch concluded, we headed to Paraiso Maravilla for the wedding rehearsal.

Everyone getting ready to rehearse the wedding formation. It's best to make sure everyone knows where they're going, how they're getting there, and how they're leaving. I'm happy to say that everyone walked and stood very well!

After a quick stop at my corporate headquarters (my company is based in Houston, why not stop and take a look while I was there?), Andy and I headed for the Hawaiian chic rehearsal dinner at 3 Olives in Katy, Texas. Thanks go to Ethan for letting Andy borrow a Hawaiian shirt. I was shocked to learn how much it costs to buy a loudly printed polyester shirt! The company was lovely and the food was yummy. (The snapper fish dish was delicious!)

Our table at the rehearsal dinner, don't we look perfectly Hawaiian?

The last time Kat and Josh will be fiance and fiancee. (Why are "fiance" and "fiancee" pronounced the same but spelled differently? Why bother at this point?)

All too soon, the morning of the wedding arrived. Since the ceremony was to start at 10:30 am, the wedding hostess (aka yours truly) had to get up at 5:30 with one of the groomsmen in tow (aka Andy) to start preparing for the event. I was extremely nervous about coordinating such a big and important event for a good friend. I’ve never done anything like it, and the birthday and girls’ night out bashes that I’ve thrown aren’t really of the same scope.

But with some amazing helpers, the ceremony room was beautifully decorated, the entrance way was functional and pretty, the cupcake tower was absolutely adorable, the reception area was perfectly elegant, and all the vendors were happy (and paid). Lest you think that everything was smooth sailing, there were several items that I had to solve creatively. So yes, I had multiple hats to wear that day: amateur photographer (Note: there was an actual photographer, I just took my own for some added experience and points of view), flower arranger, decorator, diplomat, waitress, cupcake server, bartender, announcer, traffic director, and problem solver. But as long as the bride, groom, and guests couldn’t notice any hiccups, then my job was a success. Judging by the smiles and laughter, I’m going to guess that my hard work paid off with a smooth and very memorable wedding.

The yellow roses that decorated the ceremony smelled so lovely and brightened the entire space.

We created a wall of memories right by the guest book to help remember loved ones on their own wedding days.

These are the most delicious cupcakes I have ever eaten, and isn't the cupcake tower too cute for words? The mother of the bride made the tower herself! Can you believe it?

In the end, this was the most important part. Kat and Josh got married!! Congratulations!!

Several people asked me afterwards whether or not I would do this again in the future. As a career? Absolutely not! If another good friend asked…I’d think about it. In the end, I can definitely recognize and appreciate that there does need to be someone at the event making sure everything is running accordingly. Whether or not that will be me remains to be seen.

It's me, taking a quick break to check my notes and prepare for the next event.

To unwind, Kat and Josh were gracious enough to invite the wedding party and some friends to Hotel Zaza for an evening of drinks and nibbles (the mini ahi tuna tacos were spectacular). It was a perfect way to end a wonderful (though hectic) day. We were able to share memories of the wedding and talk about everyone’s future plans.

Some of the people that joined us for after wedding drinks, including the new Mr. and Mrs. Butts!

We headed back to Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon. Now we’re happily back in our house doing massive amounts of laundry, cleaning, running errands, and spending extra time with our pets. Please click here to see more of Kat and Josh’s wedding pictures. We’ve now completed 2 out of the 5 weddings this year. Next weekend? Wedding #3 in Colorado!

This week we were lucky enough to help celebrate my good friend Brittany’s birthday. Now, I’m a very firm believer in celebrating birthdays. As we get older, I expect people will want to celebrate less and less. The presents will dwindle, the cakes and candles will disappear, and refusal to acknowledge another year of life lived will occur. But I think that every year that you’re alive needs a little reminder of what you’ve accomplished and a good look at those that love and cherish you.

So for our dear Brittany, we started by trying out a new and somewhat famous restaurant by our house in Watauga called Chef Pointe Cafe. It is a wonderful gourmet restaurant inside a Conoco gas station. Story goes that the owners couldn’t get financing for a restaurant space, but they were able to get a loan for a gas station. So, a gas station it was! The cafe is so incredibly popular, that the wait was incredibly long. But we soldiered through our hunger pains and were soon served an absolutely delicious meal right next to the Slim Jim dispensers, lottery ticket counter and the coolers filled with Gatorade. Everything on the menu sounded so good, that we took the “everybody gets a different dish and everybody shares” method. So, we got to try the crab cake pasta, the blackened stuffed chicken, fried chicken, chicken marsala, lobster bisque, and meatloaf. Yum yum!! We will definitely be going back for another try!

Then on Friday night, we had a proper celebration with a barbecue at Carrie’s new house. There was food and drinks galore! We played card games and listened to music until the wee hours of the morning. (Look at this amazing musical group that we found! Remember, there are NO INSTRUMENTS!)

Some of our favorite people gathered for two big events, Carrie's housewarming party and Brittany's birthday!

All the girls hanging out on a Friday night!

Then as a grand finale of the weekend (and birthday present), we took Brittany to see Wicked the Musical at the Fair Park Music Hall. I’ve been super excited to get a chance to see this much talked about musical for some time now. It ended up being a cute, funny and rather light-hearted twist on the traditional Wizard of Oz story. Unfortunately, it’s not my favorite musical. I would still highly recommend going to see this musical if you get the chance, we definitely had a fun and entertaining afternoon.

Getting excited for the start of the show!

We spent today running a few light chores and going to see the new Ansel Adams exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum. I love seeing Adams’ work. It reminds me that even though everyone has a camera in these modern times, not everyone has the talent it takes to create a beautiful piece of work. It also inspires me to try harder and learn more about photography. Maybe one of these days I may even watch my Nikon SLR dvd…because beyond clicking the big button that takes the picture, I usually have no idea what I’m doing!

So with yet another hectic week about to begin, I wanted take a second and wish all the dads out there a Wonderful Father’s Day! Thank you for all that you do!

Sorry everyone, I didn’t mean to neglect my blog. Things have been super hectic as of late. It appears that wedding season 2010 has officially begun with a vengeance. Though, I suppose I should get used to the crazy schedule. After all, we’ve got four more to go!

A couple of weekends ago (June 5th), I helped throw a bachelorette party for my friend Amber. I won’t spend too much time describing the night that we had…we’ll just leave it at a party bus, amazing drag queens at Station 4, and a wild bunch of girls. (I  made the bachelorette’s veil. It’s got multiple colors of pink flowers on the front and the back. If you like it, let me know and I can create a similar one based on your style and color preferences)

Amber and me on the party bus on our way to a night of mayhem.

Then this past weekend, we drove the 2 hours to Wichita Falls to attend Amber and Michel’s wedding ceremony and reception. I have never been to Wichita Falls and hopefully will never have to go back again. (For those of you from Kansas, Wichita Falls is similar to downtown Topeka, just smaller and more abandoned…) But thanks to my friend Eileen who is a Wichita Falls native, we did find a spectacular place for lunch. It’s called Hibiscus Cafe and has the most amazing Greek food! The gyros and hummus were delicious!! I’m just sad that it’s so far away! Though it’s probably good for my waistline that it’s out of reach…

Eileen also suggested a small list of sites for us to visit if we had time. Well, we discovered a site that was close to the reception building. So, we set off to see the World’s Smallest Skyscraper. Yeah…that’s as impressive as it sounds. In fact, it was built by a con man to swindle the town. The building is only four stories tall and was extremely easy to miss. We kept driving past it until Andy finally saw the tiny building off the main road.

Con and I in front of the World's Smallest (and Least Impressive) Skyscraper. Don't we look delighted?

My friend Con came with us because she was hired to do the makeup for the bridal party. So, I hung around keeping everyone company while Con worked her magic. If you’re looking for a professional and experienced makeup artist, Con is your girl! She’s done everything from weddings (of course!) to runway shows and photo shoots. She’s also amazing at putting on fake eyelashes, a feat that I have yet to figure out. (This may sound too much like an advertisement…but I’m just sharing my wisdom!)

Con giving Amber extra attention before the wedding began.

Amber in all her bridal glory. Pretty no?

Amber and Michael decided to have a pretty outdoor wedding at the Kemp Center for the Arts. Fun story about the building, it actually used to be the public library. Back in the early 1900′s, a well to do businessman built this building for his wife as a Christmas present. She loved to read and therefore turned it into the public library of Wichita Falls. I think I also need a library dedicated to me for Christmas next year…but that’s for Andy to figure out. Back to the wedding, it was a short and sweet ceremony, much to our relief because it was very hot and humid outdoors! We did have a lot of fun with the party favor fans though!

Con and I trying to keep cool before the ceremony began. We became quite efficient with swishing our fans open with the mere flick of the wrist.

After the ceremony, the rest of the evening was spent eating, drinking, and dancing.

Cake anyone? Yup, that's the groom's cake!

Our pretty little table at the reception. Everything was decorated in pinks, greens, and silver. Beautiful!

We had a lovely time and we’re wishing Amber and Michael all the best in what I’m sure will be a long and happy marriage.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Michael Heck!!

Please click here to see more pictures from Amber and Michael’s wedding! Next up on the Trommer’s schedule? We’re getting excited to see a show in Dallas this Saturday! Stay tuned to read about our next adventure! (I’m going to try my best to go back to posting at my regular once a week interval.)