.heart to heart.: take me back to tulsa...

to steal from the beloved band chicago...
"you're the meaning in my life. you're the inspiration."

let's be honest...everyone needs an inspiration.
without kara blain, i would not be the proud citizen of the blogosphere that i am today.
she inspired me to document life via blogspot.com.
i owe her everything.
and not just because she gave me blog codes...
but also because she's sunshine in human form and one of my favorite people of ALL time.

with that being said...
i just HAD to travel back to my old college stomping grounds of tulsa, ok. to spend the weekend celebrating her marriage and future life with korean superstar peter.

when they picked me up from the airport i couldn't belp but have a huge smile on my face when i saw their matching shirts.

i think matching couple clothes are essential to long term happiness.

i was so happy to finally visit the blain home for the first time.
i could feel the love the second i walked through the front door.
i mean, who celebrates christmas in august because part of the family will be out of country when the actual day comes around?
the blains...that's who.

the next morning, i insisted we start the day at shades of brown
a.k.a. the coffee shop that changed my life.
literally.
the chai is out of this world.
and it's just the coolest place ever.

the corner where i heard about teaching in china for the first time.
ahhh the memories.

after morning coffee we were off to the reception spot for some last minute set up.
it was the perfect location for kara and peter.
in one word: adorable.

while kara and peter scrambled around...i made myself useful by taking a lot of pictures.
the decor was screaming for photographs.

paper cranes and hearts oh my!
and those white branches...
it was almost too much for my heart to handle.

korean waffle candies for everyone!

cookies and brownies with adorable little cups of milk (white, chocolate, and strawberry of course).
WAAAAAAAAY better than wedding cake.

it was truly an international affair.
ice cream with sprinkles, chocolate chips, and gummy bears.
yes...kara loves gummy bears on her ice cream.
i still don't get it.

and i was lucky enough to reunite with my twin celeste and her bf tony.
it's been a looooooooong year apart.
so, so good to see her and catch up about the wonders of life back in america.

and how could i forget tim?
another happy reunion.
i've definitely missed this guy.

have i mentioned how much i love this girl?
reason #4857549
she didn't blow dry her hair for her reception:)

after the reception, we were off to the blain residence for a backyard bbq.
mr. blain is more devoted to oru than oral roberts himself.
he even has an oru polo shirt for every day of the week.

i finally met heidi after months of blog stalking.
now we're facebook friends.
no biggie:)
she's pretty awesome.

and i met kylie too!
i felt like i knew her from all the china blogs, so i decided to give her a hug immediately.
she's not a hugger.
i thought i might have ruined our friendship...
but now we're facebook friends too so i guess i didn't scare her too much.

kb and her broskies.
so cute.

no trip to tulsa would be complete without a trip to the drink mecca...
QT (a.k.a. quick trip).

after the bbq, celeste and i made our way to the closest location.

i was craving a rooster booster freeze drink BAD.
it was delicious.
the nectar of the gods.

after church with celeste and tony the next morning, we made our way to tulsa's finest...rioberto's.
don't let the appearance deceive you.
the super nachos will BLOW YOUR MIND.
and they're like $3.
can't beat a price like that.

after spending some quality time at celeste's apt. (dominating in wii tennis and falling asleep to a movie...some things never change)
i headed out to dinner with k&p.
peter couldn't believe that sometimes the plastic sticks to suckers.
apparently that never happens in korea.
we thought it was hilarious.

then we decided we needed to take a tour of our alma mater ORU...
we took a trip down memory lane and visited our old dorm rooms.
it smelled exactly the same:)

no trip to ORU would be complete without a photo shoot with jesus.

i love these two.
good thing they came to CO the next day.
i just wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.

next stop in t-town...
seeing the lovely sarah tucker sunday night!
we had some great conversation over frozen yogurt and corndogs (not at the same time:)
i miss her in my life.

before heading out on monday, i just had to see one of my favorite college professors...dr. meyers.
don't let her face deceive you...she was ECSTATIC to see us!