"Aunt Teej!" How does that sound?

I got another GREAT birthday surprise this weekend, too. I found out that I'm going to be an Aunt!!! My brother and his wife are having a baby! I know that they will be awesome parents. Isn't that the coolest thing?! We're very excited for them. Could life be any more exciting?! Kelly and I are getting married and Ryan and Monica are having a baby! I'll keep you updated!

My Birthday

My birthday started a little early this year. The girls at work took me to La Mission on Friday for lunch. They surprised me with a sopapilla and birthday song! It was a good time! Saturday the 25th was my birthday. Turned 24! Man, I'm old! I went and got my hair done. Pampered myself a little bit. :) Then, Kelly got home and we went and ate dinner at Carinos. He surprised me and told me that he was able to go to see the band play. He originally had to work, but had asked off a couple of weeks in advance to surprise me. It was sweet. After we ate, we drove to Big Spring to see the Mark McKinney band play at Howard College. It was good to see everyone, as always. They played a good show! After the show, we drove back to Stanton to my parents house and had cake and opened a few presents. Got some new shirts and some nice jewelry. Sunday, Kelly took me down to get all set up with AT&T. He bought me a new phone for my birthday! The iphone. It's AWESOME! I've got a new number now. If anyone doesn't have it, just email me and I'll let you know what it is. Sunday night, Kelly and I had dinner with his parents and brother at Chili's. We went back to Kelly's dads house and had some wine. It was fun! They got me a new bottle of wine for my birthday! Can't wait to try it. (I'm a wine-o!) :) I ended up having a really nice birthday.

Kelly and TJ Update

Kelly has been busy working. That’s just about all he has time to do. For those of you who don’t know what he does, he works for a drilling company called JB Hunt. He is actually a Driller out on one of the drilling rigs. He starts his morning at 4am and comes home about 4pm everyday for two weeks straight. Then he has 4 days off. I don’t know exactly what all he does out there. You would have to ask him! It’s very confusing to me. He could tell you all about it, though. I just know that he is very good at it and really does love doing it. It's a very dangerous job and it takes someone very smart to do what he does. Although it's very dangerous, I don't worry about him too much because I know that he is very careful and has years of experience. He's been working on a rig even before he graduated high school. I still have to worry about him anyway. Just a little! :) I am very proud of him and know that he will only keep moving up in the oil industry. He’s very smart and is a very hard working, determined person. He works hard at everything he does and I know that he will work hard for his future family. I even think that one day he might run his own drilling company. Oh, and by the way, his hometown is Big Spring! Funny how the love of your life was so close, but yet so far away! Oh well, found him anyway!

Ok, what’s been going on with me? Well, most of you know that I graduated from Cosmetology school about a year ago and started working in a salon. After a few months, I just knew it wasn’t for me. After I stopped, I decided that I wanted to try substitute teaching to see what that was all about. I did it for a few months right before school was out for the summer in Stanton. It was really interesting and fun being up there around my mom. It was strange being on the other side of things. Being the teacher instead of the student after all these years! Well, summer had arrived and I didn’t have a job again so I decided to start looking back at Midland College where I worked part-time while going to school. I applied for a few jobs there and nothing seemed to be working out. Then, all of a sudden, a job was available! My former boss and friend from Midland College had emailed me letting me know that she was resigning. It was the same job that I had part-time except it was full-time! I ended up getting it and that’s where I am today. I am a full-time clerk for the faculty work room. I recently figured out that I am only three classes away from having an Associates in General Studies so I’m going to go ahead and finish that up. Then, I don’t really know? I am thinking of going back to school eventually for some type of Business degree or possibly teaching. Right now, I'm just really tired of school. I know I will do something. I'll figure it out one day.

Engagement Pictures

Thanks to my awesome Sister-in-law, Monica, I have the BEST enagement pictures ever! If you haven't checked her new web site out, do! It's under my favorites. (More of these in our photo album).

Wedding Stuff

I've already gotten so much accomplished and we've only been engaged for 2 months! :) Can you say, "EXCITED"!!!!??

The Place: Cuthbert Mansion. If you haven't seen this place, you're going to LOVE it. It's a pretty interesting place. It used to be an old movie theater here in Midland. They have converted it into a wedding shop/wedding venue. The front of the building has everything you need for a wedding. The dresses, the tuxedos, flowers, decorations, etc. There is even a travel agent there to plan your honeymoon. In the back of the building, there are two HUGE rooms. A ballroom and a chapel. They are absolutely breath taking. We have rented both the ballroom and the chapel for the wedding. They are right next to each other separated with beautiful french doors. Both rooms look similar, but the ballroom is a little bigger. The inside of the rooms are very elegant. The floors are those white polished tiles. There are HUGE, beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Along the walls are HUGE white columns. It just looks awesome. I'm so excited to be getting to have my wedding there! When it gets closer to time, all I have to do is go pick out my flowers and decorations and they will do it all for us! Check it out for yourself. http://www.weddingsbydesigntx.com/

The Dress: I have already gotten my dress! It's already being altered. Very exciting. I got it at the Cuthbert Mansion. I can't say much about it, except it's perfect! ;)

The Entertainment: I have asked Ryan if the Mark McKinney band would like to play a few acoustic songs during the wedding. Also, I have hired a DJ. This is going to be a blast. Lots of good music.

The Wedding Party: Kelly and I both decided that we wanted a small wedding party that was just immediate family. Maid of Honor-Kelsey Coggin (My sis)/Bridesmaid-Monica Coggin (My sister-in-law)/Best Man-Tyler Wade(Kelly's brother)/Groomsman-Ryan Coggin(My brother)/Flower girls-Roxy McKinney and Cypress McKinney(My little cousins)/Ring bearer-Jagger McKinney(cousin). Our preacher is going to be Mike Harris from Stanton.

Catering: Bonnie Franklin from Stanton. I heard her food is amazing! We are actually meeting with her this weekend to make plans.

The Cakes: We've got them ordered. A lady named Leslie, who has a very good rep here in Midland, is doing them. I don't want to reveal too much about the cakes, but you will love them! They will be very different.

Wedding Theme: The main colors of the wedding are tropical blue and black. My flowers are going to be hot pink and orange. The theme of the wedding is going to be "Paris". You will notice that there will be lots of "French accents" during the preparation and at the actual wedding. I LOVE the Eiffel Tower. You will see these a lot as well as the Fleur de lis, lots of black lace, and other things such as French foods and wine.

That's what I've got so far! You could say that I've gotten most of the wedding planned out already! Haha! :)

The Engagement Story

On August 12th, I went to my first day of work back with Midland College. When I came home, the lawn was mowed, the house was clean, and there were a dozen pink roses on the kitchen table when I walked in. I started to read the card that came with the roses, but Kelly told me to wait until after we ate dinner. He told me to sit down and let him do everything. He brought out pizza and salad from Pizza Venti. This was where we ate on our first date almost 3 years ago. This time, he brought it home for us to enjoy! Then, he opens up a good bottle of wine from the Wine Rack. The BEST place to get wine in Midland. We sit and enjoy our dinner and wine. Then, he tells me I can open the card that was with the roses. I opened it and it says that he loves me more than words can say and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. After I read it, he asks me if I will marry him and pulls out the ring!!! Inside the ring he engraved the words "Without You," which is the name of our song by Motley Crue. And that is how it happened. :)