miami. the best layover.

Okay, we come to you live via South Beach, Miami!! Thanks to Santa (JR) for my Christmas present...I can blog from the beach and update you of our travels! Ha!

Our original Dallas-Miami flight got delayed due to a computer failure at DFW so that we in turn missed our connecting flight to Montevideo. Rachel met us in Miami and I had to utilize my sweet temper and got us a free 2 night stay in a Miami hotel and some food vouchers. Our driver to the hotel I think was on a fancy concoction of illegal substances and drove probably 40 miles over the speed limit. I was very very afraid.

We made it. Our hotel though was the Miccossuke resort and casino!! It looked like a fun house! Regardless it was a free place to stay with a very clean room and comfy bed!

This morning we got up and took a shuttle back to the airport and since we got booked on the next flight to Buenos Aires at 11pm, we figured why not make a day out of it so we took a cab to South Beach, bought some summer clothes and flops and are now enjoying a nice summer day in Miami before we head out tonight for Uruguay!! And oh! We even had first class seats to Miami and we watched Ratatouille which made us think of Emma and Joseph bc we watched it with them on Christmas Day!! Well! That's our update!! Goodbye from the beach!! Happy new year!!!

the heffesse christmas

let the festivities begin

Tonight we will be celebrating our first Christmas!! with my family! My parents and brother will be leaving for Punta del Este, Uruguay tomorrow and JR, myself, and Rachel (Alex's gf) will be meeting them down there next Friday. Thus, we must do Christmas early with my family! To make it that much more exciting, we are opening presents at our house!!!

Then tomorrow night we leave for our Christmas in Oklahoma!! So much to do before then, ahhh! I've been sick with a sinus infection this whole week :( so my list of things to do hasn't gotten any shorter. grr.

On Saturday we have three Christmas celebrations in a row!! yeahhhh! Lots of present openings and food, and a sure way to make me nappy :) Christmas makes me real sleepy, haha! Sunday night we are heading over to the Thrasher house for a wine night and...that's as far as we've gotten!

We wish you all a WONDERFUL Christmas with your families, and hope you all have safe travels wherever you may be!

bracing myself

As many of you know, my parents are in the "process" of purchasing their permanent home in Miami!! I have not taken the news very well, although I've had my entire life to prepare for this moment, but I do owe this occasion a "happy" post, before I get into the sad ones that I know are to come. So, I present to you Ma and Pa Heffesse's new Miami abode :)


The view from their bathroom, yeah....that's real!

Hopefully, the view from The Pettijohn room!



















The spectacular view from the living room balcony, just spectacular.


















The kitchen, uber-modern. This condo is purchased "raw" without the marble floors in yet, and walls painted but you definately get the idea of the overall place.


















View of the living room, out.


Miami, FL....future home of my parents :) and :(

i'm considering

this. I bought my Canon powershot camera a few years ago, and have definately gotten great use out of it. I then got my mom, Nancy, Jodie, and even Ash on the upgraded Canon powershot! I got left in the dark on that one!

Now...I want this thing. The real deal.

I am considering this to be my GIFT this Christmas, mayyyybe. I have read countless reviews of it, and I think it may be a good next step for me. I'm scared and intimidated but I think it's possible for me. JR went with me to look at cameras a couple of weeks ago, and this is the one that stuck out...so it's been on my mind for quite some time. This is how I make decisions. It takes me foooorrrevvverrrrrrr. She sure is a beauty though!

Eventually I'd like to take portraits of the kids, and of our families to practice! I will perfect my craft :) Thought I'd give you all insight into my Christmas wantings!

one more wk

Only one more week until Christmas!! We still can't believe how fast this year has gone by, it seems like just yesterday JR asked me to be his wife and in only a few months we will be husband and wife! wow! wow! wow! I'll have to do a re-cap of the year at some point.

This past wknd we had JR's company Christmas party! The party was at Maggiano's where we are considering having our rehearsal dinner, so it worked out great because we got to see what a party would be like up there! The food was great, they had some hilarious videos of the employees, JR was in them!! They had door prizes (of which we did not win), a couple of coupons for some drinks, and they had it all set up with gambling! So we got "money" to play with and we ended up at the Blackjack tables! It was so fun! Platinum Select was voted one of the Top 100 companies to work for in DFW! Which is a very big honor considering how many companies there really are around here!

Saturday morning, JR woke up wired and we decided to head up to OK! We made our way around Norman to see what the ice storm had left behind and it was as bad in real life :( soo many trees were down. Our next stop was Edmond and then we headed back down to the Taliaferro house to see Blake and Jenn! They have done alot of work to their house and it looks awesome!! Their home is very cute! By the time we were done there, we went to Chickasha for some dinner at Ed's and back to the farm for some sleep!!

Sunday we got up and spend the day with the Thrasher's...Holly fed us all day!! It was like old Weatherford times! We had Mexican casserole for lunch and chocolate cookies for dessert! We just talked and played with Luke! Holly took some really cute pics that I wanted to share of Luke playing with his Aunt Nat under the tree!




and.....we still have some last minute Christmas shopping to do!! ahhhh!

the brock's

Okay Lauren, you made the announcement on yours! So, I can make it on mine!! I am soooo very excited to announce that Lauren Edwards, a forever-long childhood friend of mine just got engaged in NYC at Rockefeller Center today!! She is there with Clint visiting The Rose's and Clint today asked Lauren to be his wife!! Lauren, we are all so so so happy and can't wait to see you become a wife and Mrs. Lauren Brock!! woo-hoo!!!

HOORAY to all of us getting old and married!! CONGRATULATIONS soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Clint Brock!

chef circle

a continuation of my last post...if you all have any good recipes to share, please do! It's fun if we all post recipes that are our favorites, or new ones we need some insight on (although my insight is limited as I am new to the world of domestication), or even some holiday treats!! This could be fun :)

ash, for you

Ashlee asked if I'd post some recipes that I've been trying, and ofcourse I'm always willing to share! Especially if you get your own take on it, I'm always interested in new "spins" on a recipe :)

So, from our Nancy's Country-Style Rib dinner the other night here is the recipe for the homemade ranch dressing:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, chives, parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Disclaimer: This is the recipe I used the other night, except that this recipe comes out a little thick, like dip-style and tastes a little too "mayo-y" for my taste. So I spruced it up with some other seasoning I had at the house, and thinned it out with 2% milk. If following this recipe, use the milk to thin it out to your liking. I have notes on this recipe to help take away the mayo-ness and give it the thinner consistency of a dressing, of which I have not tried yet but regardless here is the only thing you need to change if you want to go this route:

1/2 cup each of mayo, sour cream, & buttermilk (the rest stays the same)

I will try the second way, but if you do before me let me know which you like better. JR likes it a little thicker, so the first way worked well for us, but I'm eager to see what the other method tastes like! Let me know how the homemade ranch turns out for y'all! Happy cooking!

unbelievable

Norman, my sweet sweet home is in an icy turmoil. Unless you live in a cave of sorts, you've seen the massive ice storm that has fallen hard upon Oklahoma. It has caused the largest power outage in the state's history. Atleast 42% of the state is without power, and from friends in Norman, I've heard that there are atleast 26,000 people still without power :( That's just in my town!! OU has been shut down, which they never never do...my town is frozen over.

This is a view of campus from Boyd Street :( unbelievable.
Please stay safe and off the roads...

i miss

Emma is JR's niece, and my soon-to-be, whom I've made a very special bond with. She is my perfect little princess and on family wknds, it's usually her I spend the most time with. Not even JR :) The night I met her, she told me she knew alot about me and that she was very excited to finally meet me, and she was only 3 at the time. She is a smart, smart little girl and I feel like I learn more from her than she does from me! There's not a day that goes by that JR and I don't miss our family in OK, especially our babies Emma & Joseph :( Hopefully one day we'll be living a little bit closer to them...

This afternoon Kourtney called me and told me that Emma had been wanting to talk to me today, so they called and I got to talk to Miss Emma Rose for awhile and it made my day :)

i conquered

I am all that. Really. My kitchen curiousity has struck once again, and I started out playing with a recipe I had for homemade ranch. We really don't like store-bought ranch, so I wanted to try something from scratch. I added my own "zing" to the recipe and JR loved it!!! I did it! I made homemade ranch!! So cool! I felt pretty fabulous.

It was time for another first. Don't laugh. It's embarrasing. I'm willing to share at the expense of my reputation. I washed, chopped, and served my very first head of lettuce. I usually buy the store bought bags, but ever since those disgusting recalls on bagged lettuce I've tried to steer away from such things, as I don't want to become diseased over lettuce. So, I chilled the salad and my ranch dressing, and had a little more time to play since JR went to the gym. (Yes, I should have gone but was too busy being a chef, duh).

My favorite meal of Nancy's are her country-style ribs. They are my request everytime, and my birthday meal every year. I crave them, I love them, and I wanted to conquer them. I had some in the freezer, so I prepared them and they cook anywhere from 3-5 hours so by the 3rd hour the smell of BBQ sauce had saturated my house and I was starting to get turned off my the strong aroma of BBQ and ribs. This was a big deal! I have been rather intimidated by these ribs, as Nancy is a fantastic cook! and fantastic is not the first word that comes to mind when you think Natalie & cooking. It's okay, I'm not offended. Yet. Everytime I opened the freezer, I'd shut it real fast because those ribs were very intimidating! Well, 3 hours later! I did it!! They really should have cooked longer, but it was my practice run...so we had BBQ ribs, baked potatoes, and salad with homemade ranch. Yes, I'm awesome. hahaha! kidding! I was though, so proud of myself I had little bitty tears in my eyes. JR was beyond pleased and very proud of his new domestic lil fiance! He hugged me after and told me how happy he is that I got the domestic bug :) hahahha! He's been waiting a long time for this....

5 months

JR woke up this morning and reminded me that today is exactly 5 MONTHS until our wedding day! I can't believe it is going by so fast! Next Christmas I'll be Natalie Pettijohn :) wow.

christmas pics

Thought we'd share some cute pictures from our night with Lauren & Ricardo last week! Santa hats courtesy of mom!

10 am

At 10am tomorrow morning I will be at the Riviera Spa thanks to my aMaZiNg fiance!! He bought me a swedish massage!!!! I get this excited everytime! He is so wonderful!!

amigos del alma

Tonight is Lauren & Ricardo night...it's become a verb of sorts. We will look at something fun, and say that's a Lauren & Ricardo night! Last week, when Nancy and Ronnie were down we wanted to go see the lights in HP, but they had a sign up saying that the lighting of the trees would be the first Thursday in December (today), so ofcourse we said it's an L & R night!

Lauren and Ricardo have been friends of mine for over 10 years now! Lauren for much longer, but them together, 10 years! They are much more family then friends. I care for them as I do my own Heffesse's :) Ricardo always asked if he could be adopted in, they both have been! They are honorary Heffesse's! Even their wedding is special to us! After I left Oklahoma in January of 2006, JR was still unsure about moving down to Dallas. Two weeks after moving was Lauren and Ricardo's wedding! JR came down for it, and after enjoying their wedding with me we all just made a neat bond, the 4 of us, and it was the Sunday after their wedding that JR decided to move down here. I have always felt that their wedding was a huge moment for JR and I.

We've been to Oklahoma with them, Miami, Ranger games, off-roading, Meers, you name it we've done it or will do it! They are always up for a good time and we are beyond grateful to have them in our life! They truly are wonderful people, amazing friends, and one of the best parts of our family!

They have a strong faith, and solid foundation as husband and wife and it is so encouraging to be around them and see after 10 years together they're still if not more so in love today then ever before. As soon-to-be newlyweds we value their guidance and care they are always willing to share with us.

So, tonight is a Lauren & Ricardo night and now you all know why these nights are important to us. There is a "saying", which I will likely butcher...but it says something in the realm of--you are what you eat, you are the books you read, and the friends you surround yourself with. Fruits and veggies are our latest conquest, I have some great books I'd like to share, and the friends we have now are our friends for life. Our family. We are blessed with some of the most amazing friends both in TX and OK, and as we step into the next chapter of our life together we sometimes cannot believe how fortunate we are with the support and friendship around us! We truly have the best friends in the world!

pizza night

I love having themed nights :) I'm a dork. I know! Soooo, tonight at The future Pettijohn Palace it is Mediterranean Pizza Night! ha! We are having mom and dad over for this wondrous evening of pizza from Campania (our very favorite pizza in Dallas), salad from Eatzi's, and our new Mediterranean Nights CD! hahaha! We got this CD the other day that reminds me of music I heard in the piazzas in Italy!! It is a beautiful CD with awesome music and it is actually what inspired our themed affair! Thought I'd share our plans for tonight :) Hope you all have a great Wednesday!

thank you

This was sent to me today by one of my best friends, Ryan! I thought it was an awesome idea, and an easy way for us to send a quick thank you to all of those serving our country! Especially at Christmas time!

If you go to this web site, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them ...

Here's the link: www.LetsSayThanks.com

nesting

It's happening. I'm turning into a wife. Two years ago, I didn't know how to do laundry, make a good grilled cheese, or keep a check registry! (roll your eyes) I know...it's different now! I am still no master chef, but can make a decent dinner for my fiance and some fierce chocolate chip cookies! My laundry skills have improved tremendously with lesser shrunken clothes (lesser not absent) and whites stay white! yay!

My improvement has always been voluntary ofcourse, as I want to provide a beautiful and comfortable home for my family, but it all used to require a significant amount of effort on my part. My laziness proved to be quite a challenge.

What is so strange about the past few weeks, is that I have been Housewife Extraoridinaire! Keeping up with the house, cooking, baking, cleaning, decorating! and I've done it without forced effort! JR noticed it the other day, and asked if I was okay :) haha! He has been pleasantly surprised and told me he would have let me put up the Christmas decorations in July had he known the domestic skills they bring out in me!!

I find it so strange how life prepares you for what's next. It's as if the last two years my domestic ways have been brewing, and poof! just in time for our wedding I feel the need to nest and be "wifey" and sweet, although I am and always was real sweet :) wait til JR reads that!! ha! He may have an opposing comment for that last bit! fair enough...

So I simply wanted to share this whole new world I'm living in, and I must say I am rather proud of myself. It's fun! I have always been the nurturing one, but only had my animals to provide for. (That's why I've had 3,457 pets) Next will be my husband :) Looks like I'm getting started!!

fancy

This is JR's new building!It is 46 floors I think, and he's on the 43rd! He says his views are amazing up there! Thought you guys would like to see this cool pic we took of it! He works in downtown only 5 minutes from the house!

it's december!

I can't believe it's the end of the year already!! Nancy and Ronnie came down for the wknd, just in time for the holidays, and just in time to see our Christmas decorations :) I'll have to post some pics later of the rest of our house! It's very cozy and Christmas-y!



Nancy and Ronnie got here Friday night so we ran down and drove around Highland Park to see some lights, but the only ones really up were the ones at Highland Park Village, which are so beautiful! The actual Christmas lights of the neighborhood and trees will be lit on Thursday so JR and I are going to make a date out of it! any excuse for a date night!!



It was a wedding work wknd! We got up early Saturday morning, had breakfast and went out to try on some tuxedo's for JR!!!! We think we found the one! I can't post pics because he is so handsome, it will have to be a surprise!! Lunch was at Houston's, then off to run some more errands! We fit in a little shopping, but had to be home in time for the Big XII Championship game!! We all got in our comfy pj's, watched football, and finished decorating our beautiful tree! Boooooomer Soooooooner!!! Oklahoma beat the number one team in the nation!!!! To celebrate the occasion I made homemade chocolate chip cookies! JR's favorite...I must say, they turned out rather well!





Sunday was even a work day! We all went to brunch with my parents and then went on to Bed Bath & Beyond to work a little more on our registry! I will be finally posting our registry on our wedding website today or tomorrow!!! yay! www.jrandnatalie.com!



It was a great wknd! and we got so much done! In wedding planning, anything you can cross off the checklist is exciting! Hope you all had a good one!