Wes & Erica's vacation photo album// Tulsa, OK // June 2025

The June theme for my sewing club's sew & share is A June Wedding and, boy, did I fulfill that challenge!👰🤵 Wes & I got invited to my friend, Miranda's wedding so I made my dress, a garment bag, and her gift. The dress code was formal (evening) attire so the garment bag was extremely useful. Wes still had to steam his shirt at the hotel, but my dress came out in pristine condition. 💅 The wedding was in Tulsa so we made a little trip of it.  

Preview of wedding pictures... there WILL BE MORE!!
Fun fact: Andrea made her bridesmaid dress (top left). And even more impressive is that she sewed it in two days 😲

We dropped the dogs off at camp Friday morning, and headed out. The Road to Oklahoma shop hop is every June & July, and even though I've been an avid shopper for the past 3 shop hops, I've never visited any of the fabric stores around Tulsa. Our first stop once we got in town was to change that! 

Got my passport and block pattern. And, the striped fat quarter was the free shop hopper gift!

We went to The Quilting Studio. The store was gigantic with all sorts of fun quilting cottons. It was sort of a maze when you first walk in. 😵 There were several classrooms toward the back of the store, too. The shop hop special for the week was $2 fat quarters, but the specials change each Friday... the cashier forgot it was a new Friday so I got my 2 fat quarters at the discount! The only downside was that I had to spend at least $5 to use a credit card, so Wes had to grab all the change out of my car while I rummaged my purse for any cash I had. I guess I could have bought more to remedy this embarrassing situation but I'm trying to not buy too much fabric nowadays. 

I got the calamari banh mi and Wes got the fried chicken bowl. The cinnamon chips were weird as a side.

Next was lunch. 🥪 I saw an Instagram post about Lone Wolf years ago and have been wanting to try it each time we come to Tulsa... but then I find other restaurants I would rather try. LOL We finally made it, and while it was good, I kind of wish we ate somewhere else. 😕The restaurant was right next to Fixins Soul Kitchen (which was amazing... we had lunch there the last time we were in town) and Wes wanted to pivot to eating there again, but I stayed firm with banh mi. Like I said, the food was tasty; Wes said his chicken bowl was good, but my sandwich cost $13.50!! I've never paid more than $7 for a banh mi. Don't jack up the price because you "elevated" ethnic comfort food... ugh, so annoying. 😑

We still had time to kill before the hotel's check in time, so we headed to Scheel's after lunch. It is an enormous sporting goods & athletic apparel store. We were greeted by an aquarium at the entrance and a Ferris wheel in the middle of the store. We walked around both floors but barely looked at any sportswear. We spent most of our time in the pet🐕, snacks🍬, and toys 🏎 sections. In defense of our sportiness, I did look at Pilates attire and Wes looked at pocket knives... we just didn't buy any. We bought dog treats, candy, and Wes found some collectible Hot Wheels for a friend. 

My favorite hotel of all the places we've stayed at in Tulsa.

Our home for the rest of the day would be the Ambassador hotel. It is a historic hotel in downtown Tulsa. Our room was so nice!! It was a lot bigger than some of the others we've stayed in. The lobby had an alcove that was a photo booth, but the computer/camera didn't work 😞 We got to rest for about an hour before the wedding. I was going to curl my hair but my curling iron stopped working, so I took a power nap instead. Wes was worried we'd be late, but I know Miranda and I know weddings... both are rarely ever on time. LOL We had time to get all dressed up, drive to the venue, park on the street and walk to the ceremony, and still had about five minutes to spare!

I saw on their website that the Dresser Mansion has tours, so I'll have to add that to the to-do list the next time we're in Tulsa.

The wedding was at the Dresser Mansion. 🏡 The mansion is a historic site (with the actual National Register of Historic Places designation) built in the 1900s. The house is kept in its original state with art and furniture in all its rooms. We got to walk through a couple of the rooms on our way out to the back patio where the wedding was going to be held. I should have assumed a June wedding would be outdoors but I was so surprised (and a little annoyed) that it was. The mansion had such large, beautiful, air conditioned rooms.

Right as we got settled into our seats, I realized I left Miranda's present (that I spent an entire week working on) in my car! 😖 It was already a little past when the wedding was supposed to start, but I know these things never start on time so I asked Miranda's mom and the officiant if I had 5-10 minutes to run to my car to grab something, and they both said no. So we stayed put in our seats while I sweated & stressed out about the gift. I guess it would have sucked if we missed Miranda's grand entrance. She and her dad appeared on the balcony and came down the stairs for us. She looked so happy. 😊 (In hindsight, I would have had plenty of time to run to the car, grab the gift and make it back into our seats.)

The ceremony was beautiful. 💕 Miranda looked gorgeous in her dress! She and her husband had a wine ceremony where she poured some white wine into a goblet, then he added some red wine to it, and they drank the combination. The wine had been sitting out in the heat all afternoon so I doubt it tasted good but it was a cute gesture. LOL At the end, they were announced as Mr. & Mrs. Mulkey... he took her last name!! That was the first time I've seen that and thought it was so cool!!

They had personalized Pop figures (bottom center left) #soadorable
One of our wedding gifts was a guitar pick with their picture on it (Miranda is a musician); also freaking adorable! (right, third from top)

There was an open bar so we all hung out and drank after the ceremony. Fun, but less so because it was outside in the early evening heat. (🌞 It would be another 2-3 hours before the sun set.) Initially, Kelly from sewing club, was the only other person I recognized, but then I noticed some other familiar faces. We all stood about in the +90℉ heat and talked about how hot it was, but was thankful it wasn't storming. Yay for summer in Oklahoma. 😒 By pure coincidence, we sat at a table with Kelly and Donna... Miranda's two other friends who sew! We had homemade authentic pork tacos made by one of the groom's friend's family. 🌮 The tortillas were so good!! I ate four 😋 I was hot, starving, and slightly buzzed by dinner time so I forgot to take any pictures of the meal.

We watched the first dances, cake cutting (🍰cake was also delicious and I ate it all before I remembered to take a picture), and listened to toasts after dinner. I've been to plenty of weddings, and I think Miranda & Josh have the most caring and genuine friends. Their toasts were so heartfelt; I almost started crying when Andrea started crying during her maid-of-honor speech. Then Josh gave a speech about how happy he is to have joined their family and how much he loves Miranda.💑 I would have been weeping along with him if I wasn't so mad about how hot & sweaty I was. One of his seemingly drunk friends grabbed the microphone after his super emotional speech to give an annoying bro speech, which I thought was kind of rude but it was a good segue into the next round of activities for the night. We had the anniversaries dance (Wes & I came in third with 10 years; Miranda's parents won with 48 years!), the shoe game, and the bouquet toss. 💐We were chatting with her before the toss and I was about to take a picture with her when the DJ announced it. I was like, we'll find you later for our picture. She insisted that we take it now, so I stupidly replied, but you have to toss your bouquet. Then I remembered she's the bride and I should take a picture with her and everyone else can wait. I was four drinks in by this time... and there was no water. Insanity. We were all outside, there was an open bar, jug of lemonade & tea that kept getting refilled, but no water. There was a small jug of water at the beginning of dinner, but no one knew where more was after it ran out (and trust me when I say I asked around). The bartender took pity on me and gave me a cup of ice with a little bit of melted water from the bottom of his bucket. 💦 I knew it was time to head out when heat exhaustion and dehydration started setting in. LOL 

The wedding was a ton of fun and the food was amazing (much better than your standard wedding catered fare); I'm extremely glad & thankful Miranda thought to invite us and let us be a part of her special night. 😍 My dress was literally stuck to me by the time we got to the hotel. I showered, drank an entire bottle of water and promptly fell asleep. I didn't even notice when Wes got in bed. 😂

We got there just before the rush. I've learned that if we're going to a popular breakfast spot, it's best to get seated before 10am.

The next morning, we went to Bramble for breakfast. It was so good! I got the birria chilaquiles; highly recommend. They had a breakfast cocktail menu but all I wanted was water. (I would definitely go again and I'll get a mimosa then.) Wes said he liked his breakfast, but the sausage wasn't as done as he'd like and the latkes were a little over done... if only they met in the middle.

I told myself I was only buying fat quarters for the shop hop block patterns, but I couldn't pass up the Ruby Star fabric with the dainty bows.

We stopped in Sand Springs on our way home. I had another fabric store to visit! We went to Quilt Nuts. It wasn't as big as the shop in Tulsa, but I liked it more. The owner was friendlier and the store just had more welcoming vibes. Most of the fabrics weren't my style, but she had Ruby Star Society on the clearance rack!! 😲 This NEVER happens. I asked how much it was discounted and she said 70% 😮, so I had to get 3 1/2 yards. Main Street in Sand Springs had a ton of cute little boutiques & antique shops, but we couldn't browse because we had to pick up the dogs from camp early. We did stop into Boulder Coffee for a driving home drink. I got the Almond Joy cold brew, but without coconut syrup, so it was more of a chocolate covered almond-flavored cold brew. 🥤 Wes got a plain cold brew and said it tasted average. 

I am so jealous of this lush & healthy basil plant. Mine is dead. 😢

It was a short trip out of town this time, but we enjoyed it. 😀 I really liked the hotel we stayed at, and am glad we got to attend Miranda's wedding. I would consider her sister, Andrea, a close friend but I was a little surprised when we got Miranda's wedding invitation. Wes & I have been to a bunch of weddings, and I think (and Wes would agree) that we felt most welcome & comfortable at this one. It was like we all knew each other and were ready for a good time... more like an evening out with friends than a formal wedding. We talked to everyone, including Miranda's parents, and everyone was just so authentically happy to be there. 💗 Best wishes to Josh & Miranda Mulkey!! 

Erica makes Alan & Melanie a sculptural picture frame.

I don't have a single picture with Alan & Melanie so I'll just begin this blog with a picture of our dogs.

I have been blessed with good neighbors throughout my lifetime. There were always friendly kids in the neighborhood when I was growing up, I never got cursed with wicked roommates in college and I've made friends with my fellow apartment dwellers in my adulthood. This past spring, one of my best friends moved into my neck of the woods. Since Alan, his girlfriend, Melanie, and their dog, Jameson, moved in about a block away, Athena and I have taken several walks for puppy play-dates and family dinners. Continuing in my tradition to DIY everything, especially gifts, I decided to make a special Christmas present for my special neighbors.

Jameson and Athena are best puppy friends.

One thing that Alan always has on hand at his house is good drinks. As I was browsing Pinterest earlier this year, I saw several projects that incorporated wine corks. I asked Alan to start saving the wine corks from the bottles that he & Melanie drank. I expected more corks, but this is all I got. LOL Using these, I made a tabletop picture frame. I'm almost 99% certain that Alan doesn't read my blog but if you're reading this now, STOP... it'll ruin your Christmas surprise!!

DIY Sculptural Picture Frame Tutorial-
       Materials needed: Styrofoam fabric, craft glue and Styrofoam glue, wine corks, clothespins, toothpicks

Puppy not required.

1. Measure and cut Styrofoam to desired size. I'm sure an Exacto knife or a more appropriate crafting knife would have worked better but all I had was a bread knife, which worked just dandy. LOL

2. Measure and cut enough fabric to fully wrap around pieces of Styrofoam.

3. Glue fabric onto Styrofoam as if you were wrapping a box. I used both craft glue and Styrofoam glue. I'm sure just using craft glue would have been enough but I fear my projects falling apart after use so I always over-glue. After gluing fabric onto Styrofoam, set aside to let glue dry.

4. Decide how you want to stack and arrange the Styrofoam pieces. Poke toothpicks into one piece of Styrofoam. Using both glue and toothpicks, connect the pieces together.

5. Glue clothespins onto toothpicks. Set aside to let glue dry. These will be used to clip photographs onto the sculpture.

6. Arrange wine corks around perimeter of Styrofoam sculpture. Leave space in between two corks for where you would like to poke the clothespins toothpicks.

7. Use craft glue to attach the wine corks onto the sculpture.

8. Clip photographs onto sculpture and write notes and memories to pin onto the Styrofoam sculpture. Memory board is complete!!

Erica's first costume wedding

The happy groom & bride dressed as Pokemon trainers.

Last month, my friend Jessa married the love of her life and became a Mrs. (insert mushy "awwww" sighing here) She and her husband, Mason, are geeks and proud of it. LOL

For their wedding, they had a Pokemon themed costume party. It was just like the cosplay weddings you see on TV... everyone (well, not me because I went straight from work) was in costume, the decorations & cake were themed, and even the ceremony was staged as a "Pokemon battle." I don't know anything about Pokemon and have never attended a themed or costume wedding so I was in for a treat!

Have you ever seen a Ninja Turtle dancing with the Mad Hatter?

So many costumes!!

One would think that I wouldn't really enjoy myself since I'm not fanatical about video games or anime, but I had a great time :)  I got to see some old friends & meet new ones and I learned a thing or two about geekdom! I've learned that in social situations, if you ask questions, everyone will want to fill you in and that's the best way to make friends. Even though I couldn't really appreciate the intricacy of the Pokemon theme, I was very impressed by the table settings & decor and the bride's & groom's cakes were gorgeous. 

Bride's cake was from Pokemon and groom's cake was from Megaman.

I missed the entire wedding ceremony since it started in the mid-afternoon and I was still at work. I arrived just in time for the reception, though. I learned from other attendees that the ceremony was a staged Pokemon battle. I then learned that a Pokemon battle is where two trainers take their Pokemon out to fight. The ceremony went like this: the bridesmaids were Jessa's Pokemon and the groomsmen were Mason's Pokemon. They walked down the aisle and "fought." When it was over, the officiant announced that Jessa's and Mason's Pokemon teams would actually be better if they joined and worked together. So, it became official that the two of them would join and be together forever and ever. This is what I was told... I'm still waiting to see the video recorded ceremony.

Sadly, I also missed the first dance and maid of honor's & best man's speeches, but I arrived just in time for the cake cutting. For food, there was a taco bar ... aka heaven. It was probably the best tacos ever! They were home cooked by the wedding party. There was shredded pork, beef and turkey, flour and corn tortillas and all of the fixings. Instead of dancing and mingling, I was the fat girl who sat alone at the table and ate... and ate... and ate! 

This was when I went back for seconds. I already had 2 tacos before this but I forgot to take a picture and I thought, "For the blog's sake, I better go get more."

After dinner was taken care of, it was time for the bouquet toss! All the girls lined up on the dance floor as Beyonce's "Single Ladies" played in the background. Jessa pretended to throw the bouquet a few times and then she just spun around and handed the bouquet to one of her friends. What?? Her surprised friend stood there momentarily and wondered why a bouquet was just handed to her. Then her boyfriend tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and he was down on one knee. OMG! Waves of awww's and sighs filled the room.  A wedding and proposal in the same night!

Red velvet cake pop.

The rest of the night consisted of chatting, dancing (which I did not participate in because I was pooped from work and I'm a killjoy), drinking and karaoke. I was able to catch up with two friends that I hadn't seen in literally a decade--one was married to the bride's sister and the other was also part of the family... small world. I stayed to watch a few karaoke performances and then left for the evening. I am so happy for Jessa & Mason. What a fun and unique evening!

My friend, Courtney with her husband, Alex, and their adorable Ruthie.

Oh and because I always have to brag about RagsReborn, here are the customized pillows I made as their wedding gift.

This was actually Jessa's bachelorette gift.

Pokeball pillows with the bride & groom's favorite colors.

Happy wedding day!!

Old Town Albuquerque, SoZo Coffee & a visit to the Boynes

Erica & Wes' belated honeymoon road trip, part 4 -
       TEMPE, AZ & ALBUQUERQUE, NM

I've tried to kiss this dog in every picture but she refuses to kiss me back!

The last installment of my travel journal is here!

Late night arrival

We arrived at my cousin, Dianne's, house late Saturday night.  I've visited her every year since she & her family moved from Oklahoma to Arizona and this is the second year that Wes & I have visited together. Dianne is awesome. She was the one to buy me a prom dress when I was the most unpopular kid in my class and didn't even think about going to the prom. She always brought Trevor (then only a baby) over to play and he was the only one who could get my dad up and smiling when he was very ill. Her two boys, Trevor & Andrew, are the only two kids I've actually loved for their entire lives (sorry to all my friends with kids).

It was too late to really hang out when we arrived in Tempe so we all just chatted a bit (thanks to Wes & Andrew, I learned the true definition of a box and that my laundry container is really not a box) and went to bed. The next morning, we had lunch at Red Robin and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing games with the boys. Sadly, I am horrible at board games. We played Gloom (a Christmas present from me a few years back), Risk & 4 player Connect4 and I came in at a dismal last place each time.

Risk lasted almost 5 hours. How is that even possible?

Playing games with Trevor & Andrew was a lot of fun even though strategy board games aren't a usual hobby of mine. I've known them since birth and it's always interesting to see how they've grown & changed each year when I visit them. I fear for the day that they're too cool to want to spend a weekend with me. (;_;) We had pizza for dinner and left at the boys' bedtime. It was a school night after all.

We spent the night at my friend, Christine's. I met Christine several years ago through another cousin of mine. I've also been visiting her and her husband each year for about 7 years now (convenient how everyone is located in Arizona). I told her that Wes was a huge coffee aficionado so she took us to her favorite coffee shop Monday morning.

I had a Thai chai. It tasted like a Thai tea with some chai tea spices.

SoZo coffee is all about local art and artists. If I lived in Tempe, I would be there every morning for my cup of joe. There was local art on the walls and they have free independent movie screenings each Monday night and a stage for nightly performances (live bands, acoustic sets and poetry readings!) Christine's piano students' recital was scheduled to be at SoZo that upcoming weekend. Feeling the artist love, I placed a RagsReborn card on their community board.

Then it was lunch time. Christine took us here last year and I should have remembered how big the sandwiches were but I didn't so I got a full sandwich instead of a half. It was so much food. And it's so so good so I wanted to eat it all. But in the end, I struggled and had to give up that last few bites of my sandwich. Forefather's has the best Philly cheese steaks that I've ever had!

I got cilantro jalapeno ranch on mine! 

Our last destination was Albuquerque, NM. I wasn't sure what was there but a friend I used to know almost moved there and recommended that I visit if I ever got the chance. We stayed at the Best Western Rio Grande Inn. Wes booked the hotel so I can't leave a review (unless I steal his user identity, hehehe) so I will leave a review on my blog.
       It was the best hotel we stayed in our entire trip. Even better than the fancy Las Vegas hotel! The room was clean & had signs everywhere boasting of their environmental friendliness and pleas for patrons to do their part. The hotel did its best to not waste water and electricity. Our room had a fridge but no microwave (which was odd because they usually come in a pair). The only food we had for the night was microwavable Easy Mac. I called the front desk and asked if there was a microwave I could use (thinking it was in some sort of community kitchen area by the lobby) but instead, the front desk sent a microwave to our room and had it installed for us! The guy who brought it up was super friendly, too. Not often do you encounter friendly hotel service at 11pm.

And I got a towel folded into a chicken.

While in Albuquerque, I decided on a trip to Old Town. Old Town consisted of a plaza, church and tons of gift shops. It reminded me of the small town I studied abroad in while in Spain. It was modeled after old Spanish towns so I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise. I had to pay for parking (which I hate) so we only paid for an hour but ended up staying for two. Luckily, the meter maids weren't very diligent in their patrols. I could have walked around the plaza and went into each and every gift shop (so many neat things!) but we left in the middle of the afternoon. They had a set of street performers who played movie soundtracks on the wooden flute and other Native American instruments. Wes recognized the score from the Karate Kid II. 

 The gazebo at the center of the plaza. Essential for every town square.

 The Catholic church; San Felipe, I think it was. The first adobe Catholic church I've ever seen.

 Rectory and church courtyards.

One of the many gift shops. Wes bought souvenirs for friends and a necklace for me. I once again sucked at shopping and gift giving.

Before we left, we dined at Sadie's. It's a local chain that is known for its super spicy chili and generous portions. The food was definitely spicy and the plates were loaded. It was pretty darn delicious. :)

I got the taco and Wes got the tamale. Both came with beans and smothered potatoes. 

Somehow, we both got sick on the last day of our trip. Maybe it was the change in altitude or just being in the desert for a week. Whatever it was, we were ready to be home. With sore throats and headaches, we drove home and were back by Wednesday. It was really nice to have the extra days to just stay at home and relax. Originally, I wanted our trip to last the full two weeks but I'm glad we got back early to recover. And we got to see the pups a few days sooner than expected. Athena has doubled in size!

The puppy is almost as big as Sadie is now!!