A Lazy Weekend

I didn't take any pictures this week! I'm such a slacker... Saturday AM I had a very interesting experience. I did a screen test for a documentary about women in India! Very cool - film crew and all. The film makers are looking for 8 American women to send to India for 10 days to interact with Indian women and then document how the experience impacts their life. It would be such an amazing experience! 4 of the women will be believers and 4 will not. I'll let you know what I hear back in 2 weeks... but the experience of a screen test in itself was a lot of fun.
Saturday afternoon was BEAUTIFUL so I enjoyed being out by the pool. This really is the best time of year in Dallas! Saturday night we hung out with Janelle and Michael and their fun neighbors. Tonight we hosted our small group for a lasagna dinner and a thought-provoking talk about "giving" and what we're all called to contribute of our money and time to God's kingdom. Great discussion... Now on to another busy week! Next weekend the girls from college are going on a short cruise to celebrate Caroline's upcoming wedding. Can't wait : )

Opportunities to Change the World

We had a really great night tonight. Partners International, a wonderful Christian non-profit that we are happy to support, came and talked to our friends tonight re: opportunities to give back to the world globally. PI is so amazing and we really enjoyed hosting them! To learn more, check out: www.partnersintl.org

Thought of the Week

If money was not an issue, and failure not a possibility, what would you do?

Sunny Days

This weekend the weather has been beautiful and we've just been taking it easy. Saturday we spent the day at Watermark Church, taking classes on topics such as: How to Share your Faith with Authenticity, How to Help the Poor & Needy, What did God Create me to do? and Understanding the differences in beliefs between Muslims and Christians. It was a very educational day we we were very impressed with the quality of the teachers that we met. I was really shocked to find out how many similarities there are between Christianity and Islam - I had no idea how many beliefs we shared.
Unfortunately I had to miss Kate's birthday celebration at Loft 610, which I'm dying to go see. Sounds like the girls had a lot of fun! Today we're just working (I know, boring) and Christine is shopping for baby gifts since everyone we know seems to be pregnant these days. Tonight we're taking a break though to get together with Janelle and Michael for dinner so we have something fun to look forward to.

A Wild Weekend of Events

This weekend was full of fun for the Allens - and we weren't even together! Dana had 2 fun parties on Saturday (Sibley, Cecelia and Hudson's 2nd birthday at the Dallas Arboretum) followed by Mike and Anissa Fox's birthday bash. The weather was incredible (75 and sunny) and he really enjoyed getting to hang out with so many of our good friends and play around with his camera.
I was in St. Louis attending my 10-year college reunion at Washington University in St. Louis. 7 of the Kappa Kappa Gammas in my class made it back (and we really missed Sara and Caroline)! It was great to see how much campus has changed. It's soooooo beautiful. I really wanted to attend college all over again. I hope my children at least consider going there one day. It's now ranked #12 in the country, so they'd better be really smart! I'm not so confident I could get in today : )
We had cocktail parties on campus and at Sqwires, enjoyed pitchers at Blueberry Hill (one of Wash U's more popular bars), ate Toasted Ravioli (it's really fried - and a St. Louis specialty) at the school's annual Thurtene Carnival and indulged in delicious crepes at the City Creperie. The reunion didn't have a huge turnout, but we had a lot of fun time just seeing each other. Saying goodbye wasn't too bad, since I'll see the girls again in 3 weeks on Caroline's bachelorette cruise!

How great it feels to Laugh

Tonight we went to Christian Comedy Night at the Addison Improv. It was... interesting. You just never know what you're going to get at a comedy show! One of the comedians was actually really funny. It always feels so great to have a great laugh!

I love Spring!

We sort of took it easy this weekend since Dana had the flu earlier in the week. Friday we stayed in and just watched a movie. Saturday we met Lauren and Steve for lunch at Mi Cocina and then took a stroll around the Dallas Farmers Market. It was a gorgeous day out so it was really nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air.
That night we went to Ellen Copaken's baby shower. The hostesses did an amazing job and it was really just a (couples) party with a lot of fun drinks. Seriously - there were like 7 fun party drinks. I got stuck on the delicious White Sangria and forgot to move on and try the rest! Needless to say, one of the best baby showers I've been to!
The party was held at our friend's Linda Bethea's new house. I won't bore you with details but I have to say that it felt like MTV Cribs. It's stunning. Some of you Sonic fans might appreciate that they even had a Sonic ice machine installed because they like the ice so much at that restaurant. Hilarious.
Today after church Dana was sweet and made French Toast for Nicole and I and then we just did some gardening and stuff around the house. It was 85 and sunny here today. I love Spring!

Congratulations Sara & LMJ!

Now that the word is officially out to everyone, I can say a big congrats Sara & LMJ! Lindsay is the first one of us (Kappas from Wash U) to get pregnant and Sara just got engaged to her sweetie James... and moved to Austin. (All the cool people are clearly migrating to Texas) We are so excited for both of you!

Time to Redecorate

One of my team members just kicked off an office redecorating contest over in our Innovation department. My cube is now black, white and hot pink! We're going CRAZY. Needless to say, the gray walls that used to make us look like we worked in Accounting are GONE.
Diana even hosted a "cube warming party" after she redecorated. Her paninis and champagne were a hit! Too funny...