it's not as long as the car ride...but pretty close

So....It's almost the end of October and I still feel like it should be June. Geesh. Time flies when your having fun (or crazy busy) I guess. September saw a lot of work for Nate and me. We've been busy painting and designing as usual, but we also landed our first BIG photography job. We ended up taking about 2300 pictures for the Conquer the Coast bike ride here in Corpus. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and a LOT of editing. We actually pulled our first all-nighter since graduating college. But, I think we both agree though that if we could get more work like this we'd be really happy. I'll post some pictures from the day, but most of them are up on our new photography site/store, rippkephoto.ifp3.com

Bayfest was also in town that weekend. I didn't get down there in time to get a pickle juice sno cone, but we did get to see Bret Michaels in concert. And it was just as awesome and hilarious as I thought it would be. He put on a really good show. If he comes back to town I'm pretty sure we'll go. Oh, and speaking of music. Vanilla Ice is coming to town in a couple of weeks. Not even kidding. You should probably book your trips now. It's going to be hilarious.

The week between CTC and heading back to Iowa Nate and I finished up some painting jobs and tried to get caught up on work so that we wouldn't be stressed during our vacation. Didn't totally work out like we thought it would. The newest issue of The One Bride Guide (the magazine I design for as part of my job) went to press and is now on stands. It's GORGEOUS. And I'm not just saying that because I'm more than a little biased. It really is. Nate and I had left for Iowa before it was done being printed, but Monica overnighted me a couple of copies (thank you!).

Our trip back was short this time. I was a bridesmaid in my good friend Emily's wedding so we headed up for a few days. The wedding was beautiful and as far as I could tell everything went off without a hitch! Congrats again Em and Nick!

It also worked out that we could celebrate my mom's birthday while in town. We tried to throw her a surprise party...wasn't so much a surprise...but it was still worth it because I got to see people and family from out of town that I hadn't seen since last Christmas at the very least (thanks for coming down Dave and Jen!). I have some pictures from the party on my camera still, so those will have to come later. My family and her sorority sisters did surprise her though with a second surprise party on her actual birthday. Nate and I had already left town, but it sounds like it was a good time. Happy birthday Mom and Grandma! Miss you guys!

Nate and my friend, Kevin, rode back with us to Corpus. It was a long 20 hours for him I'm sure. I know I was more than ready to get out of the car. Ugh. We always enjoy having company though. I had to work, but Nate and Kevin hung out at the beach and the Lexington during the days and then came home and showed me all the dumb pictures of themselves they'd taken. Seriously. These two together is like a one liner movie that never ends. Hilarious. And I don't think I've eaten that much Mexican food in one week ever. Kevin said he wanted tacos for every meal. And I'm pretty sure we hit 75% of them at least. We also spent some time up in San Antonio at the Alamo and the river walk before Kevin flew out.

Now it's back to our routines. Which is actually kind of nice...

A rider getting his tires ready for the 65 mile ride. Yes. It was still dark at 6am. And yes, I still HATE getting up early.

A couple of other riders. There were several hundred all together.

The first pack of the 65 mile riders on their way around the bay to Portland.

This guy was quick. Especially coming down a 200 foot tall bridge.

A rather unusual bike. You pump your arms and legs to make it go.

Some of the 25 mile riders with their CTC metals.

This guy on the right dominated the award podium for the time trials. Must be the aerodynamic helmet...

And...the finish line.

So happy to be finished. I would be too if I'd just spent 4 or 5 hours on a bike seat.

Nate with the K.I.D.S campaign sign and logo he designed.

The newest addition to the Rippke Mac family. So lovely.

Nate and Karina at the Bret Michaels concert.

Worst pictures of Bret Michaels ever...but all I had was my phone. Sorry.

The latest (and greatest) issue of The One. Yep, that's Karina on the cover. Pouty lips and all ha.

And then we left for Iowa....

Trying to entertain myself during the 20 hour car ride home to Iowa. I ate so much beef jerky.

And saw soooooooooo much of this. North TX, OK, KS, and IA all look pretty much the same. Flat.

Nate breaking our "no McDonalds" rule to stay caffeinated on the KS turnpike.

And then my good friend, Emily, got married...

So cute together.

Emily holding my fake hair since I chopped mine all off.

Em doing Emily's hair and putting the veil on.

So pretty and calm.

All the bridesmaids. :) Courtesy of Tim. Thanks!

Hanging out during pictures. Courtesy of Tim (the guy sitting on the left) again. I didn't have a camera. :)

Jen on her color coordinating crutches. Andrew being a very good groomsman. Yep...Tim.

Me and Claire at the fountain pictures. And one more from Tim, my groomsman.

Em and Andrew at the wedding. Looking good bro and sis.

Papa Jones looking awesome as usual.


Me and my dad.

Me after the wedding. Look how cute my little bouquet is.

Yay for bridesmaids! And champagne...

Em and Nick cutting their cake. Courtesy of Tim.

And then our friend Kevin came to back to town with us...

And this happened.

And this classic shot. This is the fun that happens while I'm at work. Look at those pointed toes.

Kevin having so much fun in the gulf.

Clearly can't read.

Not sure what's happening here. I didn't get to go to the Lex with them either.

Me and Kevin with Selena.

Izzy and Bean LOVE Kevin.

Me and Kevey on the river walk in San Antonio.

Me and Nate at the Alamo.

heading for the hills

Last week Nate and I evacuated from CC for the first time. It looked like Ike was headed strait for us so we packed up and headed to Austin to stay with Rachel for a few days. Fortunately, the storm took a sharp turn North and we didn't get any of the bad weather down here...I'm not even sure that it rained. We feel pretty lucky though. I just got an email from an acquaintance in the Houston area who's house didn't make it through the storm. Pretty sad.

The pups took the trip with us also. :) No way would we leave them to fend for themselves during the storm!! They LOVE Rachel. And even though they're glad to be home, I think they miss her...especially Bean. Someday we'll be closer. Nate and I love the Austin area. We visited the bakery Rachel's working at. They have some delicious food, and the desserts are pretty amazing. I took some pictures. Check out the rose cupcake things. Holy cow. The pictures are all from my new and AWESOME phone. I don't have a flash, so some of them are pretty dark. But they'll do.

This is where Rachel makes delicious cookies and such. Mmm.

Yeah. That's all frosting. And so pretty. 

Some cookies Rachel made. So cute! :) And yummy. I ate a ghost. Shh.

Mmm some tall cakes.

Nate and Rachel downtown.

Evacuation buddies.

The view from on top of a hill where some super nice apartments are.

These are them.

The driveway of the apartments. LOVE this area of town.

Some boats and a cute tiny cafe on lake Austin.

Our apt all boarded up. A lot of the city looks like this.

DACHSHUND PICS OF LAST WEEK (whops, didn't have internet in Austin)

Izzy and Bean taking a nap together. Well, they were asleep until I got off the couch.

Me and Izzy getting ready for some zzzzzz's.

Cutest dog ever.

club in the car, cont.

I know I already uploaded some pics from The One Kick Off party, but we just got the professional pictures back last week so I wanted to post some of them too. HUGE thank you to New Wave Photography (thanks Rob and Amanda!) for these pictures. If you're in the coastal bend and need a photographer check them out. Nicest people ever.

There are a couple of other pictures from last week. Nate painted our sunroom...and the dogs and I watched.. :) 

Yeah, the title of this one's pretty uncreative. Forgive me. I'm tired...

Me and Nate. Thanks Rob for the first decent pic of us in a long while. :)

The best looking design/sales/PR team in town! 

Yes. We arrived in a limo.  And it was awesome. This is the beautiful Karina's paparazzi shot.

Our fabulous boss, Monica, back from Europe in style.

I swear I really do have 2 legs...the other one is just still in limo ha.

"Club in the car" Catherine. She's pretty fantastic. Buy an ad from her. Do it. 

Havana Club provided some cigar guys. Love the white suits. 

All of us arriving at the party.

A delicious cake by Simply Elegant. Coconut frosting with pineapple filling. Mmmm.

Some beautiful centerpieces by the Blossom Shop. 

Nate painted our sunroom a lovely red color. And they put our fan up! Yay for cool air!

Bean babe. 

Izzy and her favorite bone.

we got the club in the car

The One Bride Guide has officially been celebrated! Congrats to Monica and everyone involved in making this magazine a HUGE success! We had our kick off party this week and it was fantastic. This great little venue, "The Courtyard at Gaslight Square," hosted it and we had some wonderful wedding vendors from around the area donate their time and services to help decorate the reception area in a Havana theme. It was really lovely, and a TON of fun. The crew of "The One" arrived at the party in a limo, and Monica had gotten champagne for us to start the celebration. Pretty classy stuff. Now it's time to get to work though...we've got the next issue to get out!

Well, Nate and I are heading to Austin to spend some of the long weekend with Rachel. SO glad she moved down here. We love having her so close!! Much better than 20 hours away... 

Nate and I in the courtyard.

Monica classing up the joint.

They got the club in the car for sure.

Me and two of the best co-workers ever, Catherine and Karina.

Monica at the party with a large format print of the first issue's cover. Photo courtesy of Third Coast Photo, thirdcoastphoto.com

Our boys cleaning up after the party. Love this picture.

Karina and Nate finishing up the party at Havana Club.

The cover models (and two very cool people) for our next issue. Karina and Jason.

Karina and I found this while driving around one day...a car dragging a huge chunk of a tree. Welcome to Texas.

Dachshund photo of the week: Thanks mom Rippke for the bday present! I'll put it next to my dachshund dressed as corn. Now I have an Iowa dachshund and a TX dachshund. Haha.

pup pics of the week

I've decided that in an attempt to get back into blogging more frequently, and because we take a ridiculous amount of pics of the dogs, Fridays are going to be "puppy picture of the week day." They're mostly Izzy this week...Bean's going to have to try harder next week I guess.

She made a little cave out of the pillows.

So mean looking. This is what they do all day if they aren't asleep.

Izzy sleeping on Bean sleeping on Nate. :)

a fake wedding and a birthday later...

This month has been full of things to celebrate. To start out, we took The One Bride Guide to it's first wedding fair. We've gotten a really good response from the city and are looking forward to the next issue, which will come out October 1st. We just had the photo shoot for the next cover. I took some behind the scenes pictures of the "couple," but I'm way more excited to see the edited pictures that New Wave Photography took.

McLeod Creative was also named Corpus Christi's outstanding downtown business. An award more than deserved by Monica and all the hard work she has done in the last year. Pretty exciting for us and our newly expanded staff. 

Karina, our newest McLeod member, graduated from TAMUCC and had the best party Nate and I have been to in a long time. Her family was awesome, and made some of the best food and drinks. Mmm, I'm still craving it. We're so glad she decided to stick around Corpus...for a while at least. :)

And, it happened, I got older. 24 in fact. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts. I miss you all and wish you could've been here to celebrate...and by celebrate I mean lay on the couch and watch Spongebob Squarepants with me all day. Yes, that's what I did. And it was perfect. Next year...the big 25. Ew.

Strawberry margaritas. Mmm. Karina, me, her mom, and Sarah at her graduation party. Clearly I don't get outside enough. Look at that glow in the dark pale skin. I'm working on it...

My delicious birthday cake Karina made me. Thanks!! :)

McLeod Creative's Outstanding Downtown business award. Yay!

Our booth at the bridal fair.

Karina sewing her "wedding dress" while getting her hair done for the photo shoot.

The two photographers and both models during the shoot.

Aw, such a pretty couple.