A little piece of Sunshine

Life Happens...

2011-10-03T14:28:00.000-04:00

Life happens. Man, does it happen! The past year has been full of fun, tears, laughter, weddings, babies, parties, birthday parties, impromptu trips and everything else under the sun that you could think of. And I've been such a slacker about telling you about it all. My sincerist apologies. Swear.

Ah, where to start? I suppose we'll start with a wedding...but not mine (yet)! Last September I had the honor to fly west in order to help with last minute things and be a bridesmaid for my MOH Flo's wedding in Napa Valley (and yes, it was just as gorgeous as it sounds). I met some great new people, took notes on the do's and don'ts for the days leading up to the Big One, and discovered that you could indeed fit a tall driver, a 3 tiered wedding cake, several buckets of roses, a passenger and a groom's cake into a Dodge Charger without performing any Harry Potter magic on the inside (it merely requires the passenger to be short so sitting behind the aforementioned tall driver doesn't cramp their legs and the groom's cake to gingerly ride in the trunk on top of a custom beer pong table). I also discovered that a hotel bathroom makes an awesome makeshift florist shop- I cranked out 18 centerpieces with at least 25 rose heads each in about 3 hours. Did I mention that hotel bathroom was in Flo and Brian's room? Where I spent the night prior on a rollaway bed? Yeah, they love me that much. Night before the wedding and bridesmaid Kentucky is cramping the future bride and groom's style. Eh, they got the rest of their lives together, right? :)

How much more gorgeous can you get than this as the backdrop?

Up to this point, Flo and I had been exchanging millions (ok, maybe just hundreds) of emails and texts a week tossing around ideas and tweaks and reworks for her wedding. And in the midst of all that, she still had the time to help bat a few ideas back and forth about my own...

Out of Nowhere

2010-10-04T12:49:00.001-04:00

I couldn't even begin to tell you the last time I posted on here (if I wasn't so lazy I'd actually look at the last post for the date). But I have been writing- just somewhere else.

Nope, I'm not cheating on my personal blog. I just needed something different to cover a subject that deserved the spotlight all to itself: mine and Justin's wedding :)

If you wanna take a peak at the madness behind the planning, pop on over to www.undertheveilofwhite.blogspot.com. You'll find us there!

Taking a Breather

2010-04-23T09:15:00.003-04:00

It's officially been a week since tax season ended. The fifteenth ended with a wonderful gathering at Malone's and was followed by a much appreciated and enjoyable three day weekend. The boy even got in on the festivities by taking the day off work with me. Such a sweetheart. Granted, it was the first day that he'd seen me before 8pm in literally a few months.

There's always a bit of a transitioning period after April 15th. Getting used to leaving work at 5pm, the traffic at said time, cooking supper after not having touched the stove in about 7 or 8 weeks, staying up past 10:30pm (okay, this last one is a stretch- I still want to go to bed by 11 at night but it's just not happening much to my body's dismay the next morning). But it sure is nice to sit back and take a bit of a breather after working so hard.

Spring is here, flowers are blooming (unfortunately pollen is swirling about as well), the track is open, the list of "to do's" for around the house is being made, and there are a lot of exciting things on the horizon. Spring has to be one of my favorite seasons (and I only have two, lol).

So great being back to normal. Well, as normal as I can get :)

New Music

2010-04-20T08:57:00.003-04:00

So sorry that I seemingly disappeared into the abyss again. Tax season tends to have that effect. While there are posts to be written in the near future, this will have to tide you over til then.

I've fallen for a certain singer named Ryan Star, who I actually watched on a show several years ago called Rockstar Supernova and had completely forgotten about. So glad to see that he's finally getting his name out there.

It's Been A While...

2010-02-22T23:08:00.003-05:00

It's been a bit since I shared some great cover songs that I came across on the wonderful Youtube. But fear not, I am here to redeem myself.

A few weeks ago, Justin and I attended a Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin concert (the sneaky boy got me tickets for Christmas) and Breaking Benjamin did an awesome rendition of Aerosmith's (one of my all time favorite bands) "Dream On." Tonight while cruising through some new to me music, I found Train performing the same song and was blown away. Pat Monahan has a great, great voice.

Working my Imagination

2010-02-22T09:44:00.003-05:00

Last night I got to play in Fort Maxwell for a good bit before a certain little girl had to honor her bedtime (no, not me- although here lately 8pm seems like a good time to snuggle under the covers). I was summoned in by the head honcho herself, and of course remembered to bring the bananas to feed the big and little gorillas that were living inside. Even Uncle Justin got to come in and play for a while (and was successful in convincing Bailey she needed a flashlight), but unfortunately once it was determined that she could not come and go freely out the front door of the fort because he was blocking it, Justin was then asked politely to vacate the premise.

On the way home from a nice night of food and fun with our friends, I was giggling to myself at how Nicole and I sat under that fort for at least an hour playing with Bailey and having girl talk. It was only when Nick announced "Uh, honey it's 8 o'clock" that we really even paid attention to what was going on outside our "walls". Sometimes, a lot of times, it's just the simplest things that relax us the most even when we don't realize it.

Now I want to make a fort with Justin in our living room. Maybe make some s'mores in the microwave to bring in, and of course he'd get to play with his flashlights (it's apparently an obsession I was not aware of until right before Christmas. And Nicole, we're totally getting Bailey one just for her fort). I want to throw up a tent in the backyard this summer and spend the night just talking and snuggling in sleeping bags. We've wanted to go camping the past two summers and just haven't had a chance, so I figure even if we're only 50 feet from the house, it's still a tent and still sleeping under the stars. I want Justin to come home with me one Saturday this summer and us play barefoot in one of the creeks around my house. Watch the minnows as they peck at our ankles and jump when we (okay, I) see the crawdads scurrying away from our feet. I also want to just simply spend more nights sitting on our small front porch with our feet propped up, talking about the day, the future, the funny things we've seen or heard lately. It's those simple things that I miss after a good long while away from home, my country home. The one where when the sun is shining and the weather is warm, I roll down the windows and turn off the radio as soon as I hit the exit ramp because I want to smell the trees, the grass, the hay and I want to hear the sounds that only the country can make.

Hopefully I'll get invited back to Fort Maxwell soon. I promise I'll bring more bananas :)

Piece of my Heart

2010-02-16T16:42:00.005-05:00

Two years and a month ago today, I was blessed to have this man enter into my life. I would say it was coincidence, that it was an accident, but then again I am a romantic and thus a believer in fate :)

Two years ago today, I was blessed yet again for him to say yes to my silly worded request to date exclusively (yes, it may have included the words 'will', 'you' and 'be my boo bear'- in my defense, it was really an homage to my then roomie Meg and her loving relationship with her still-going-strong boyfriend Michael. Swear!).

Since that first year, we've shared in lots more fun times and laughter, and more recently he's been there for me during the hard times of life's losses. We've remodeled parts of our house, updated our cars (he traded in his truck for a Trailblazer SS that has been so the very awesome since day one), taken our first week-long vacation, endured a few tiffs, recently discovered we were going to be an aunt and uncle again, and are currently supporting one another in an attempt to be healthier us'es (it's a word, I promise).

This boy is the reason for lots of my smiles, lots of my laughter, some of my frustrations (it's only natural right?) and every ounce of my excitement in knowing I'll get to make this annual post of another year together time and time again. Thank you Justin, again, for yet another great year together and the hope for all that is to come for us in the future. Happy Anniversary!

My Winter Wonderland

2010-02-16T08:53:00.005-05:00

I've been rockin' this look to work more often this winter than in year's past it seems...

(And let me tell you, those boots are the best $100 I've spent on myself in a good long while!)

Of course, the need for such foot apparel is because of mornings/days/nights that look like this-

And this-

I'm actually kinda excited that we've gotten so much snow so far this winter. It's been far too long since we've had any winter weather of significance (except for ice- I hate ice) and it's safe to say Mother Nature sure has satisfied a lot of wishes for snowfall that stuck around for awhile. Although, on the same note, the snow may have worn out its welcome by this point in the game. I sure know my baby doesn't like it one bit...

Morning Glory I am Not

2010-02-10T09:24:00.002-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with my bed. And with my mornings. I love the fact that my bed is so nice, so warm, so inviting. That the covers keep me at the perfect level of comfort throughout the night (well, aside from those moments I wake up sweating, but I totally blame hot flashes/HVAC for that). And I hate having to leave all that goodness after my alarm clock chimes. Or screams. Or perhaps goes off for the third time because someone keeps hitting the snooze button.

Mornings in general are about the same. I love that I'm alive for another day, thankful for the opportunities that will present themselves because of it. Another day to laugh and love (and fight the any apocalypse that's taking place in my kitchen right now) and make memories and moments. Yet I hate that it's early, and it's cold (outside of my covers) and would rather not have to speak to anyone for a few hours. As with everything, some mornings are worse than others. On those mornings it's pretty easy to send me over the edge with just a simple question. Justin's learned the hard way. Thankfully during the worst of the early mornings (ie, tax season), he's still sound asleep as I sneak out my door and thus is safe. My co-workers however, are not. Although I admittedly try very hard to be cordial before 9am just because it promotes a good work environment :)

As I catch myself sometimes wondering what turn my future children will have in this area, I remember that aside from just not wanting to get out of bed (I mean, who else has noticed that the comfiness of your bed increases, like, ten-fold once it's time to get up), I was never a grump in the mornings when I was young. Nighttime perhaps (and still am), but not the mornings. I'll throw it into the category of "the older I get, the more like my daddy I am" category. And hope that the kids that are but a glimmer in my eye right now will take after their daddy, who has an annoyingly inherent ability to hear his alarm, jump out of bed, and be ready to start the day in oh, about 30 seconds.

Showoff.

Snowy Spirits

2010-01-31T17:36:00.002-05:00

I'll confess that I love snow. I'm not a lover of the cold or the winter, but I do feel that if I'm made to suffer through those that my reward should be snow. At least it's pretty when it falls (the fluffy, 'romantic' snow is my favorite), it's pretty in the newness of the day and if you have the right toys (alas last night we did not), it can be pretty fun.

I've also come to learn that snow days aren't as fun as an adult as they are when you're still a child. Or teenager. Or some age at which you're attending school of some sort. I still wake up in anticipation of seeing snow on the ground mornings after the possibility has been thrown out there, but really it comes down to just being able to look at it. Not because work is going to be canceled. I mean, technically I can't get to work sometimes in my own car because of things like snow (a story in which I hang my head while telling) but for some reason beyond me it doesn't get me out of still having to find a way there.

And the snowstorm we got Friday night? I was so worried that we weren't going to end up with anything since Lexington seems to be surrounded by a protective bubble when it comes to any winter weather other than ice. But instead, it granted me a beautiful white scene Saturday morning and aside from not getting to head home to see the parents, an otherwise content weekend of being lazy in the house. And really wanting to find a sled.

No really, next time we get snow and if you've got a sled, hit me up. I'll make ya a good deal.

Got Lists?

2010-01-30T09:11:00.003-05:00

I'll confess, I'm a lists kind of girl. Written lists. I love to write and I love to fill pieces of paper with grocery lists, to-do lists, ideas for different projects, guest lists, and well, the list just goes on and on. Maybe it has something to do with my inherent need to plan. Maybe I'm just a dork. Either way, I love to make lists and I'm not ashamed to say it.

I've noticed that others have a liking for lists as well. Bucket lists, wish lists, weekly/monthly/yearly goals. This year, I decided to finally start making a list that I ran across a while back: my 101 in 1001. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a listing of 101 things you want to accomplish in the next 1001 days.

Unfortunately after weeks have passed since starting this newest list, I've only got around 30 of the 101 spots filled. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that I want to do in the next 2 years and 9 months, but some things just seem a bit too arbitrary to write down on this particular list. I feel that it should be completed with goals of substance. But, then again, it's my list. And my personal wants to accomplish ideas. Here is just a sampling so far:

*Get married
*Take my mom to see the ocean for the first time
*Run a 5k
*Drive the boy's Camaro
*Get my CPA license
*Throw a themed dinner party

I keep reminding myself that everything doesn't have to be an above and beyond kind of goal that I want to accomplish, just things that I've thought about for awhile and just never made the first step toward checking it off my mental list. Now I have a written list to stare me in the face and motivate me. And can put a physical checkmark next to each item as I take the opportunity to fulfill it. And for this girl who loves lists, that makes my heart happy.

A New Year

2010-01-18T22:08:00.002-05:00

I've never been one for resolutions. Sure, if someone were to ask me in the past what mine was after sharing theirs, I may spout something pretty cliche off, and I may have even thought about following through with it, but it was never a 100% serious statement.

Can't say that much has changed this year. There were no empty promises said aloud at the stroke of midnight on January 1st of this year. No thoughts going through my head in planning what my contribution to the pot of mostly broken by February goals. But I can say that changes have taken place. They just started a bit before the new year and in no way were contingent upon it beginning.

The boy and I haven't been truly active in an exercise format since last May. Because of reasons neither here nor there, we both decided to move away from our Krav Maga class despite our love for it. I started getting itsy around the end of the fall about becoming sendentary, and decided to start taking short runs around the neighborhood at night. The boy wasn't a fan of me running by my lonesome as there isn't a lot of artificial light out there after dark, so he joined me after the first few days. Although his skill level in running was beyond mine, it was nice to have him as a pacer in front (oh, who am I kidding...waaaay up front) to motivate me to keep running, to keep pumping my legs when they were just about to fall off (true story).

Truthfully though, I am nowhere near a natural runner. In high school I envied (in passing) the cross country runners who looked just as natural as deer romping through the woods. Because of this, I decided it was in my best interest to join up at a gym that would give me access to all sorts of fun machines to get my ass in shape. Literally. Enter the YMCA. Which happens to be right next door to my work. Thank goodness. It's because of that 50 yards that I have no excuses to not go at least 3 days a week. And the boy comes too :)

For going on two months now we've been hitting up the gym 3-4 times a week, sweating it out and eating healthy at home, at work and at play. Somedays it's not fun thinking that McDonald's isn't in the calorie budget plan, but then others it's a treat that you get to go and something you don't take for granted like you did before. It's a conscious decision that we both made in order to begin a healthier lifestyle together, a lifestyle that would continue over time not just be pushed to the wayside after a month exclaiming "Yay, we accomplished our resolution!" To date, I've lost at least a half inch around my stomach, hips and thighs and the boy is down about 7 or so pounds. There's something so immensely satisfying in typing and re-reading that statement.

To those of you out there who do make yearly resolutions- I'm not discouraging nor slamming you (I just know myself too well). To you I say good luck, and please keep it up. Whatever it may have been that you promised yourself you would accomplish this year, put your mind to it and get it done. If it's a long term thing, keep your chin up and keep that motivation going. You'll feel so good about yourself in the end!

Loco Moco, How You Blew My Mind

2009-09-24T16:10:00.004-04:00

I won't say that I never try anything different. Cause I do. It's just really hard for me to move out of my comfort element in restaurants, though I do blame most of that on my frugalness. I just hate the idea of ordering something new, not liking it and still having to pay for it although I leave hungry. But I digress.

The boy and I like to watch a little show on the Travel channel called Man vs. Food. The host, Adam Richmond, runs around to different places in the US with one major goal: to attempt to win a food challenge in a restaurant in the town of the week. Now people, I have seen this man attempt to eat a 7 pound breakfast burrito, 6 "nuclear" chicken wings, a 72 ounce steak, and just last night a 5 pound cheesesteak sandwich (to make it relevant, there was enough meat on that thing to make SIX regular sized cheesesteak sandwiches). Granted, a perk to his job is he gets to visit other great eateries around the city while he's there and share some of their awesomeness with us (to tempt us. To eat food late at night. I'm just sayin').

A few weeks ago Mr. Richmond visited Hawaii and introduced us to a local dish called Loco Moco. We'll just say that Justin was drooling and I was a bit hesitant, but nonetheless, when he asked if we could try and make it at some point I agreed. And last night was the innagural taste test. I introduce you to:

Loco Moco

(unfortunately not my picture, but I had to show you!)

And no, your eyes don't deceive. This dish is made with a bed of white rice, a hamburger patty topped with a fried egg and covered with brown gravy. Kinda gross you say? I thought it would be too. And even as I topped my plate with gravy last night, I was still having second thoughts. But after the first bite, both Justin and I were sold. This is one of the best comfort food dishes I've eaten in a long time. All the flavors and textures blend so well together. And I only made one change to how we saw it made- the egg is usually cooked as over easy or over medium, but we went with over well so there wouldn't be any runny yolk. And surprisingly enough, as I was describing the dish to my boss this morning, she said that she used to eat rice and brown gravy all the time. Huh, who would have thought?

Now I'm hungry again...

Feels Like Home

2009-07-22T09:17:00.005-04:00

I've been living about an hour north of home for right around 7 years now. Granted, four of those years were college days, so for the summer and extended holidays I packed back up and headed south. Upon graduating though, I made one of the first big decisions in my new "big girl" life and chose to stay in Georgetown in order to get an apartment and start my career in Lex. Two apartments in Gtown and one house in Lex later, I'm still an hour north and always dreaming of a future home with a few acres that will make me feel more in the country.

This past weekend though, after my first overnight stay with my mom and dad since maybe Christmas, I felt a homesickness I haven't felt since probably those first months out on my own. That Saturday morning when I woke up, the day wasn't dreary but it definitely felt more like fall than summer. Overcast and cool, I pulled on my shoes and made my way out to my mamaw and pap's house at the other end of the road to visit for a while and enjoyed the silence and calmness of it all with the windows down. There's nothing more peaceful than a backwoods early morning. The dew lays still on the grass, the trees sway silently in the breeze, everything is still sleepy and only beginning to yawn and stretch its way awake.

After talking for a while, Mamaw and I headed out to the garden to pick some fresh goodies for me to take back home. At first I stayed out, thinking the ground was too wet from the prior day's rain and would muddy my shoes. Then I took a few steps in, only to be told by my Pap that I'd get my shoes dirty and then "put them all over that nice clean car." I laughed and said "Well, that can be remedied now can't it?" and came back to the edge of the grass to take my shoes and socks off and roll up my jean legs. I then spent a bit playing in the garden barefoot while picking beans and tomatoes. It'd been so long since I'd done that. Mamaw started talking about a picture she has of me from when I was younger, standing barefoot in the garden with my hoe, helping with the upkeep. I used to help plant vegetables every summer- I still remember the way corn stains your hands pink.

I want so badly to have all that again one day. To own a home that sits on a piece of land large enough that it pushes the rest of the world away, if only for a mile or two. To be surrounded by trees that I, and my future children, can go exploring in and make up adventures along the way. To have backroad long enough to teach my children how to drive long before they ever hit 16. To be able to head to the backyard and have target practice without having to think twice. To have a small garden to provide homegrown nurishment to my family. Hopefully Justin and I will be able to find a haven such as that, be able to afford it and build our lives on it. That way I can grow old in the same way I grew up.

Kindness Gives me Hope

2009-07-12T09:34:00.002-04:00

Friday morning I woke up a little too dreary and draggy and decided that I'd make it one of my "treat" days and grab a coffee at Starbucks. I'm not really a coffee drinker (unless there's a good amount of other flavors to cover the taste up) but I love the white chocolate mocha there.

I pulled into the drive thru and put in my order. I barely noticed that the lady in front of me was having a bit longer conversation with the barista than normal. She was probably just asking for a napkin or extra whip cream or something. When I pulled up to the window to hand the man my change (yes, I was paying with change cause sometimes it piles up and you need to lighten your purse) he made the following statement: "That lady that was in front of you? Her name is Leslie and she just paid for your coffee." I was shocked. All I could spit out was "What? Really? Wow." Profound, I know.

Of course I've never had anything quite like that happen to me before. But I was immediately wrapped in the thought of how it's the people like Leslie, who perform random acts of kindness for strangers, that really give me hope that the world isn't an entirely demoralized and bad place. That there are more people out there than I usually think that care about others at least as much as they care about themselves and sometimes just take a notion to make a perfect stranger smile.

Granted, I can't say that I've ever done such a thing as Leslie did for me that day, but I can say that I try to show my appreciation and kindness for others in the tiny, mundane things throughout the day. A door held open, thank you and please spoken to the person at the restaurant that takes my order, allowing people to pull into a lane of traffic during rush hour. All things that most folks don't really think twice about, but things that those that pay attention appreciate and reciprocate.

I've always enjoyed the stories of how just one smile at a perfect stranger you pass on the street can turn into a whole string of smiles going out to strangers who may have just really needed it right at that moment. Or the thought that if only one person sees you lend a hand to another, they'll be inspired enough to do one thing for someone else that day and so on and so forth. Hope is a powerful thing. And sometimes it's all you have to get through the day.

So thank you Leslie, whoever and wherever you are. Thank you for your kind gesture, for making me stop a moment to mull things over and put a few more ounces of myself into the part of my soul that holds hope for everything going on in life. I'll definitely not forget this.

It's Just a Little Crush

2009-07-09T10:28:00.002-04:00

After hearing the name Halestorm being tossed around for upcoming concerts, I decided to take a gander at the band. And now I'm crushing :) They're first single "I Get Off" is an awesome summer anthem (in a voyeuristic kind of way) but this is the performance I'm totally in love with.

Here's Halestorm's acoustic cover of Heart's classic "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You"

The Whole Shebang

2009-07-06T11:44:00.002-04:00

I looked forward to this past weekend so much. It was a special one, three days, and I was sooo ready for that Friday spent sleeping in instead of dragging my butt to work. And then I remembered the list. You know, that mental list you keep of all the things happening on any particular day? Yeah, that one was pretty full for this weekend.

Friday afternoon found me at home visiting my family and that night attending my cousin's 6th birthday party. Good food, cute kids and three hours later I was headed back to Lex to hit the bed and start all over the next day.

Saturday morning found Justin washing my GTO to prepare her for polishing (I have pictures of her sitting in the garage cause I"m pretty sure it'll be the first and only time for, well, ever). I was starting on laundry and digging a small trench out along the sunroom to bury our cable and telephone lines that have been laying on top of the ground for forever. After lunch Justin started digging the holes for our fire bushes we bought a few weeks ago and we were successful at planting three before the rain started. Yep, rain on the 4th of July. Two years running now.

Saturday evening we headed over to Gtown to spend time with The Maxwells and The Thomai (and yes, that is the new plural for Thomas'). Unfortunately the rain never let up and poor Nick had to grill in the wet. After a great meal and some fun playtime with Bailey, we all headed over to the park for their fireworks display. Timing apparently isn't the forte of many people setting off firework displays as it was supposed to start at 9pm (and the rain had stopped). Instead, it was sometime after 9 and the rain had started again. Figures. But the show was pretty and I'm glad that Justin and I were there to see it.

The night took a turn for the worse however upon arriving home a little after 11. Our neighbors were throwing a party, and as a result there were cars parked on both sides of the street. You would think it common knowledge (and math skills) that if you park vehicles on both sides of a subdivision street it's going to make it nearly impossible for those not at the party to squeeze through in order to make it home. Or not. After some griping on that front, Justin and I settled down on the couch for a bit to wind down before bed. We were going to have to get up early Sunday morning to head to God's country for his family reunion. Had we really wanted to go to bed by oh, say midnight thirty though, it would have been impossible. Said neighbors decided to celebrate the 5th of July by starting (not continuing, just starting) their fireworks at 12:15am. And not end them until after 1am. This girl was not a happy camper (and I'm not usually the nicest of people past 11:30 anyway). To make matters worse, we walked out the next morning to firework residue all over Justin's car and truck. Round two of not happy campers. Have people really lost all respect? Wait, don't answer that.

Sunday was spent hanging out with Justin's family, eating tons of awesome (and totally bad for you) food and doing a few odds and ends around the house before hitting the bed last night to prepare for work this morning. And I don't care how busy you were on the weekend, having to go back to work on Monday morning is always the hardest part.

Not Enough Time in the Day

2009-07-02T12:46:00.005-04:00

It seems like we've been going non-stop over the past month with projects, social outings and such. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have asked to do it differently, I just can't figure out where the month of June went to amongst it all!

Our Project:Revamp Kitchen has been going very well. My dad was able to lay all the tile and grout one room in 3 days, while Justin's dad came up the final day and helped grout the other room (since Dad wouldn't take any money from us, we figured we'd save him one trip). We couldn't be happier with how things have turned out!

the sunroom

the kitchen

We're still in the process of getting the trim around the bottom down, the door and window framed back up and trimmed around and probably a new ceiling fan put in, but we're taking it one little piece a day at a time.

Justin was able to get the garage cleaned back up and put back in one piece a few days ago, thanks to some help from the newest addition to his garage organizing shelves. I bought him a cabinet for his birthday last year and he bought a floor cabinet the other day to put underneath it. I'm pretty sure his Camaro was happy to be back in her home after being parked in the driveway for so many days in a row (and now I won't set her security alarm off every morning when I start the GTO).

I've been spending time building up some inventory in my second attempt at a shop on Etsy.com. The first time around I really didn't know what I wanted to do and after a few months of selling random handmade things, I cleared it out and was just a buyer for a while (I bought most of my Christmas gifts from there). When I found the pattern for fabric flowers, I knew they were going to be my new direction. And I've recently expanded from the full sized flowers to include miniatures that can be used for brooches, magnets, embellishments or hairclips.

And this weekend is a 3 day long holiday one, which I'm very excited about! I didn't realize until this morning though everything that we'll be doing. Tonight is a birthday celebration for our friend Brian, then I'm having the Krav girls (we're like a gang, lol) over while the boys are out doing they're thing. Tomorrow I'm heading home to visit the family and attend my cousin's 6th birthday party. Saturday we'll be planting the fire bushes we bought last week and then heading over to Nick and Nicole's for a 4th of July cookout. And Sunday is Justin's family reunion. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it, lol. But it's going to be so much fun packed into every day that it's entirely worth the needing to take Monday off to rest up :)

Not Me Monday

2009-06-22T14:07:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. Never seen a Not Me! Monday! post, not sure what it's all about...here's what MckMama has to say... "Are you feeling guilty for pretending not to notice your toddler playing with the dogfood? Feel like a slouch for staying in your jammies all day? We'll don't! Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget. You may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing!"

I did *not* leave Justin and my dad, on Father's Day nonetheless, to work hard at laying tile in the kitchen in order to help my friend Nicole shop for pretty flowers.

I also did *not* leave the leftover pizza from lunch out on the table overnight because its easier to heat up from room temp than out of the fridge.

Lastly, I did *not* compare my boyfriend to Jacob Black (after becoming a wolf in the second Twilight book) because he's always warm like Jacob is. I also did *not* continue on to explain the difference between a werewolf and shape-shifter, citing the Animagi from the Harry Potter series as examples.

Becoming Part of the Herd

2009-05-21T16:07:00.006-04:00

On April 21, 2007, I purchased my first car. My first new car. My first owned only by me car. It was almost exactly a year after graduating college and finding a big girl job. And was a goal that I'd had set to accomplish by that time. A year of saving and about a month of looking bought me a silver 2007 Toyota Rav 4. And she was beautiful.

This past Monday I passed my Rav's keys over to the nice dealer man at the Toyota lot and in exchange was given a set to a 2005 Pontiac GTO. A pretty 2005 Pontiac GTO.

Admittedly, I was a bit emotional. There were several instances of Justin and I standing outside on the lot talking about the trade when I'd have to stop in order to keep myself from shedding a few tears. Because my Rav was a great car. But as much as I loved her, there were other interests at play in my mind.

For a few months now I've been set on finding a vehicle a bit more on the sporty side. Blame it on Justin, blame it on watching Fast and the Furious too much, say what you will. The bottom line was that I wanted something with a little more ass and rumble to it. And Justin happened to find it for me last weekend.

Painted in Impluse Blue Metallic, my new Goat drives and rides beautifully. She's pretty much everything that I was wanting in my toy yet serves well as a daily driver. Although my Rav was nowhere near being old (nor was I anywhere near really needing a new car), I felt that this was the point in life to have a few more liberties with things such as cars as later on in the future practicality would reign supreme. I don't feel that I gave a lot up in trading the Rav (albeit slightly odd to be back on the ground again in a car). And I've definitely garnered several compliments from Justin's car buddies over the choice of machine and color.

Just a few little things over the next little bit to add to her (tinted windows and an exhaust) and she'll be perfect. Oh, and did I mention she's also getting a personalized license plate? I won't spoil the suprise, but it was one of Justin's more creative moments in coming up with the idea :)

Bringing out the Crafter in Me

2009-05-19T10:29:00.007-04:00

I'm a crafter at heart. Well, really I'm an old lady at heart. Give me a blanket to cover up with and something to sew and I'm golden. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I take several pieces of regular fabric and turn it into something beautiful like a baby quilt or my newest hobby, fabric flowers.

Last year I experimented a little with the website Etsy. I had been an avid reader of the Weddingbee blog and many of the brides to be would brag about their finds on Etsy. In case you're not familiar with it, Etsy is basically like an internet shopping mall full of items that are handcrafted by each store owner. You can find pretty much anything and everything that you could think of there, and have the satisfaction of knowing that someone put their heart and passion for creating such things into each item in their shop.

After taking some time away from the site (as a seller, but definitely not a buyer lol), I came back a few weeks ago to revamp my spot and take a gander at selling something a little different than before: my fabric flowers

These are two of my girls, all named, all different personalities and all waiting to find that perfect home with someone. They look great as embellishments on pillows or purses, hung on walls for your very own flower garden, or attached to a dowel rod wrapped in green to create a bouquet for any room that never dies :)

Because I'd pretty much taken over the kitchen table as my own for the past few months, I was finally convinced by the boy that a good use for my birthday money was purchasing a craft table. He had seemingly gotten tired of having to move the sewing machine every time we sat down for a meal. After being kind enough to help me put the thing together, we moved it into our sunroom which has now been dubbed "The Shana Cave"

It's got great natural lighting through the two huge windows and in about a month, I'll be rockin' some brand new tile on the floor as part of a general house renovation project. It's exciting times.

So if you want to see a few more of my creations (and more awesome handcrafted items on the website) check out http://justshana16.etsy.com/ and then browse around to your heart's content. And while you're around, check out christiecottage's BNS in the Promotions Forum. I've been involved for only a little less than a week but can vouch that there's great stuff in each of those shops listed and they're all great people :)

Quarter Century Club

2009-04-21T13:51:00.005-04:00

It's been a week today since I turned 25 and it's still a little unbelieveable to me that I've made it to this marker. As I've said before, it feels like I should still be sitting at around 19, enjoying college and everything that comes with it. Yet here I am- 25, playing house with my boyfriend, getting ready to celebrate my 3 year anniversary at work, my 3 year anniversary of not living at home, 7 year anniversary of having graduated high school and 3 years of having graduated college. It just doesn't seem possible.

My 25th year has definitely started out on a good note. My birthday was a busy one here at the office, as it always is. They make up for it by throwing me a big party on the 15th though, so it's all good :) A friend of mine suggested that I either find a new job or a new birthday but I really wouldn't want to leave either one behind. I like being a diamond baby and I can't imagine there'd be too many other small firms like this one that I'd feel as comfortable in.

It is funny to go back and think about the things I had planned to happen around this time in my life though. My vision at 18 was to have been married for a few years at this point and being ready to start a family. More than likely living close to my hometown and in turn, my family. I wasn't set on a specific career at that point though, so I had no idea about what job I would be working. And although all that would have been well and good, I'm perfectly happy with the way things have gone instead. Some odd years with relationships that just weren't what I was looking for in the overall that lead me to Justin. A lucked upon interview with an accounting firm that I'll probably be with for years to come. No marriage in the extreme near future (nor children for that matter), but content to know that it'll come along when the time is right. An hour drive from home, but able to make the trip every other weekend to see the family. A slightly different outcome from what was expected but one that I imagine I am much happier with than what could have been.

So here's to the coming months and what they may bring. Happiness, laughter, philosophical conversations, maybe a few disagreements, good food, good friends/family and love. All the things that make my world go round.

*and you can find that rockin' hat at zazzle.com

No Words Needed

2009-04-10T19:16:00.002-04:00

Trace Adkins' performance on the ACM awards this past weekend. All proceeds from downloads of this performance will go to the Wounded Warrior Project. God Bless our Soldiers!

Kitty That Goes Mew

2009-04-10T16:31:00.002-04:00

Isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen? As I remind Justin every time (and that's no exaggeration) we see a tiger, cheetah, lion, lynx, wildcat, enter any other catlike animal type here, they're all just cute kitties that go mew. Of course he tries to tell me that they're really not cuddly and would nom my face off in about two seconds, but I swear people- these animals would love me.

For some reason, I've always had one of those silly daydreams where one day I'd be gifted with an adorable little Tiger cub and would get to raise it in my home and be its "mom". I'd get to bottle feed it at first, and as it got bigger wrestle with it in the living room floor like you would a puppy. I'm pretty sure it would quickly outgrow being able to sleep in the bed with me (if Justin wanted to sleep in the same bed anyway), but it'd make a great foot warmer in the winter while watching tv. Plus, it'd purr. A lot. My tiger would be the best behaved and most loveable tiger ever. EVER.

Of course, everytime I see this video I get a little choked up inside. Partly because I'm an animal lover (they're a part of the family) and partly because they proved the naysayers wrong (And although it's a great song by itself, please don't let the cheesiness of the song with the video ruin things).

Sigh. Well, you know, it is almost my birthday. Maybe there's still time to hint around at what I really want...

Rev It Up!

2009-04-06T11:27:00.002-04:00

I want a fast car. Not that this is a new revelation, just one that usually sits on the back burner until I've either a) spent the day at the track with Justin and friends or b) watched The Fast and the Furious for the thousandth time. Yesterday I happened to do both. Thus my overwhelming yearning for a hot, fast, six-speed car. In any color but white or yellow.

I really don't know much about cars. I ask Justin questions all the time but there are so many parts and such involved in the answers that they make sense as I'm listening but I couldn't repeat back any of the information and it sound relatively sane. Off the top of my head, I can say these few things though- I know when a car has NOS, I know when it's got a turbo and I definitely know what the sound of a broken rear end and/or drive shaft is. I also know that the low rumble of a beast of a car makes me smile. And want to drive it. Quickly. Preferably without running into any cops.

As we were walking around the track yesterday, I told Brittany that one day I'd have a car to bring to race. She asked jokingly if I wanted to take the Rav down a time or two and I laughed. I told her that being the kind of person I am, I'd have to have a car just as good, if not better than the boys. Cause I would not be that girl. The "oh, you're just a girl" girl. Blame it on my tomboy-ishness, blame it on my sheer stubborness, but I've never been one to take the implications of "you're just a girl" well. Yes, I appreciate doors being opened for me, and yes I appreciate when someone gets something off the high shelf for me, but I'll be damned if you think I have to depend on you for things. I am and have never been ashamed to climb shelves and scoot heavy things with my feet just to prove the point that I can do it my own self. *Breath* But I digress.

I told Justin after we'd been home for a while that after I'd built him his nice working garage, I wanted said fast car. And although I wouldn't be the first choice at being put to work as a mechanic, any modifications that were done to it I wanted to be involved in. Even though most of them would be a "put the wrench there and turn". Of course his response was pretty much "I'm not gonna tell you no". Cause for him, it's one more toy to play with :)

Time of My Life

2009-04-02T15:24:00.002-04:00

For the past year, I've felt like life finally fell into place. Between me being happy with myself, happy in my relationships, and happy in my workplace, I knew that it was that point where all my nights of worry about this, that and the other were over. I also knew, however, that my nights of staying up late and hanging with the roomies was going by the wayside as well. And at that point I wasn't aware of just how much I was gonna miss it.

Last Friday I attended a concert here in town with my Meggie, Michael and a few of their friends. Halfway through singing my heart out to Papa Roach, I turned to Meg and said "I miss living in the apartment with you guys." She immediately responded "Me too! I found a 3 bedroom house in Gtown and told Michael that me and him, you and Justin and Dre and Cedric could all live together and it'd be great." It made my heart hurt and be happy at the same time that she too felt my sentiments.

I started staying at Justin's pretty much full time by the end of April of last year. I didn't officially move out of the apartment though until August, which was when our lease was up. Depsite the fact that I wasn't there very often in the end, it was still my apartment and my little family. They didn't call me Mom for nothing. The thoughts of missing the apartment/roommate life didn't really hit me hard until a few weeks ago when I twittered "I think I need to make my bedtime 1030. Go back to my apt days when I was in bed by 10 and back up at 1 asking the roomies to be quiet." Who would have ever thought I'd miss Meg saying "All she needs is a little love!" while I was angrily staring them down. But some of my fondest memories come from the random conversations that happened amongst the three (actually five) of us who lived in that apartment. Even the shadiness we all shared at some point or another, lol. There's just nothing like it in the world.

One day I hope that I live somewhere where my neighbors are my friends, our kids can play together, and we all sit around and laugh about the sordid affairs of yesteryear while grilling hamburgers, watching tv or just hanging out for the hell of it. But for now, I just want the good times to keep a rollin'.

You're Only as Old as You Feel

2009-03-31T13:20:00.003-04:00

So the saying goes anyway. And if that's the case, then throw me some dentures and remind me what my name is, cause this girl is feeling far too old for her years.

I'm drawing ever closer to the quarter-century mark, which really is only about 1/4 of the lifetime I hope I have. And although I'm still in my prime of life (I haven't even had children to wear me down yet), I'm starting to feel the world slow down a little. Okay, maybe the world is actually going faster and I'm slowing down, but whatever the case there are a few things pointed out to me this weekend that I'm just too old to do anymore.

Staying up late multiple nights in a row. Sadly enough, even when younger this wasn't the greatest idea for me. Having never really been a morning person (and what little bit I was ever so quickly fading away with each passing day), getting up when I've had less than the desired 8 hours of shut eye is never good. Granted, in college I could go to bed in the middle of the AM and drag myself to class the next morning (well, my 9 or 10's at least). These days, however, I'm good to have both eyes open by the time I'm walking to the car to drive to work.

Sleeping in the bathroom floor as a side effect of alcohol. Starting around my senior year of college, I found out very quickly that my bed of choice after a night of hanging out with friends was the bathroom floor. Offering it's cool, hard exterior to lay on, I couldn't say no after finally getting what was left of my stomach lining to stay put. Nowadays, I have a few things working against me in the department. The biggest being lack of experience in oh, the past year, lol. When you mix low tolerance with tendency for everything to hit at once, you once again have the perfect recipe for waking up the next morning with towels as blankets and pillows and a possible cramp in your leg from not having stretched it in more than four hours.

But my, do I look back at those days fondly. Plenty of memories to go along with 3am bedtimes and being hit with the bathroom door cause someone didn't know you were asleep in the floor :)

Playing Catch Up

2009-03-26T08:07:00.002-04:00

Back in the day, I wrote almost every day in my livejournal. Not that my life was any more exciting then than it is now, it was just a vehicle to pass the time, prevent boredom, procrastinate from homework, vent and share similar life experiences with the few friends that I had met through the site. I then decided to start this blog. And admittedly, I've been very bad about keeping up with it.

Ironically enough, I never intended to share the most personal side of myself on this particular page. Because of situations far, far in the past I've always been a little eh about just putting any and everything out there for people to read. And because of this fact, I never seem to have much in the way of stories to share because most of them I find too near and dear to blurt out to the whole world. Silly of me right?

So let it be known that it's on my list of things to do after tax season to start putting a little effort into sharing the ongoings of life once again. The little things, the funny moments, the pains and disappointments that come along every now and again. Just gotta bear with me though. Cause this office owns my soul until after the 15th :)

Celebrating

2009-02-16T16:45:00.022-05:00

A year ago today, I asked a wonderful man if he would like to dive into a relationship with me. Okay, I really asked if he'd like to be my "boo bear." But the sentiment was true and heartfelt and after having worked up to it for six weeks, he agreed with a smile. That's the smile I've gotten to wake up to every morning (literally- the boy is a freakin' ray of sunshine in the mornings compared to me) for so many days of the last year, I wouldn't know where to start counting.

The transition from the getting to know you into the getting to love you was seamless. In less than a month, I was completely enamoured and willing to start placing bets that this was the one I'd be with when I was 90 and senile (at least I'd think it was him). Turned out he was feeling much the same and here we are- a year into what will be a lifetime together :)

I told him recently that he completely uncomplicated my life. Although he doesn't quite understand how that's even possible (let alone how big of a deal in my world that is), he knows that means he's special. And damn right he is. I never second guess, hold back, question or ponder the other possibilities with him. He told me the other night I was a bad liar and I said that it was because I was always joking around when I tried, although he had no worries for the real thing cause there was nothing for me to hide from him. So far from what other relationships have been. So many things and feelings that I felt I had to tuck away with others aren't even present now. Ah, the joys of a soulmate.

Here's to the amazing first year we've had together and all the others that are yet to come. I truly am blessed to have met him and become a part of his life. Happy one year sweetheart!

Why I Love My Man

2009-01-30T22:07:00.002-05:00

As tagged per Nicole, here's some answers to questions about why I'm in love with one Mr. Justin :)

1. Where we met - Justin and I met on a cold, January day at a mutual friends house. Kent and Emily were my best friends from college and Justin worked with Kent, and long story short a group of us had decided to start running a few days a week after work and the first day there he was. He had on a Georgetown hoodie (as did I) and after making a comment about us matching, I met up with him for a few moments after the run to ask a few questions. I then stalked him on facebook and myspace for a day before sending a simple message that was sure to get a good response from him.

2. Our first date - Technically our first date wasn't planned. We had intended for me to come over to his house to run after work, but it turned too cold and we went to Johnny Carrino's and a movie instead.

3. How long did we date before we were married? - Haha, well we're still in the dating process, but I've got my money on a few years :)

4. How long have been hitched? - Not yet, but I promise that there'll be at least 65 years of us bugging one another

5. Favorite feature - His eyes and long, long eyelashes

6. Favorite quality - In all honesty, everything. Justin turned out to be everything that I had ever put on my list of qualities I wanted in a future husband. But I suppose my favorite is something I just told him last night- his ability to uncomplicate my life. Since he and I have been together, my uncanny ability to overcomplicate any situation has decreased immensely.

7. His nickname for me - Although we call each other Babe, I'm pretty sure mine is usually one of two: punkass or short stack

8. His favorite color - I think he's a fan of blue

9. His favorite sport - I don't know that there's one that trumps the rest of them completely, but I'd say college football is on the top of the list. He does enjoy Nascar and shooting matches too though :)

10. Who said I love you first - Although he told me first that he was falling in love, I was able to show him an email I'd sent to Emily two days earlier confessing that I felt a little silly for feeling that I was already falling in love with him. I'll call it even though :)

11. Our first kiss, when and where - He got a small peck after our dinner together Valentine's Day. Our first real kiss was two days later at Saddle Ridge after I asked him if he "wanted to be my boo" lol

12. Favorite couple thing to do - Since it's been cold, hanging out at the house and watching tv. But this summer I'm sure it'll include going to the shooting range together.

13. His hidden talent - I don't think he really has one. Unless you count the fact that he can name cars just from hearing them (and usually their price tag) and guns from just taking a quick look at them.

14. His favorite music - Metallica and the like. He likes hard rock, the stuff that just screams at you through the speakers.

15. What I admire most about him - His drive in life. Justin is an intelligent man who works hard and tries to educate himself in everything that he does, whether it be a one time repair on something or a full blown hobby. He's literally full of interesting knowledge that just comes out at all times and I love hearing.

16. His favorite pastime - Cars and guns.

17. Will he read this - I seriously doubt it :)

Update to my Cast

2009-01-08T09:33:00.002-05:00

So, yesterday was the magical day that I got my partial cast off. Now, before getting into the details I must clarify that I was under the impression that since I was only wearing it for two weeks that my hand would be good to go after yesterday. Wrong.

Upon pulling my hand from the splint, my fingers were so happy to be able to bend again. But the pain that was there in the beginning was still there, and just as bad. I spent a good five minutes poking around, pushing the pad of my pinky, placing my hand on the seat and putting some pressure on it, only to wince each time. I was a bit confused. When the doctor asked me how I felt and I expressed "basically the same as before" he looked at me and said "Well, it's still broke." All he needed was a "Duh!" after it to make me feel any more stupid. I assume that because the bone isn't displaced and it's in the area that it is that I don't need to wear a splint or cast to allow it to heal. And he also didn't want my hand to get stiff. So I've got 6-8 more weeks before the bone is completely healed. Wonderful.

Although the cast was annoying, I'd rather have it back on at this point. Yesterday being the first day out, I was getting used to doing the little things again with my left hand and found very quickly that even picking a sheet of paper up to flip it over tweaks the hand. And how many times during the day do you just automatically do something with your hands without really thinking about it first? I was so pissed off last night when I got home from work just because nothing had really changed. And I was even more pissed off because I felt like I was being a baby about it when I really wasn't. Such a little thing to make things so complicated. But i guess that's the way life works sometimes.

I'd been going back and forth about what to do concerning my Krav class. I'm no good for partnering cause I can't use that hand (instructions were to not do anything to hit it or have it hit, or put pressure on it) so no holding bags, no drills, no punches and the like with the left hand, no pushups or other warm ups that involve being on my hands. But Justin talked to Curt after class who said that I needed to keep coming and they'd find stuff for me to do. And that he thought I had what was known as a 'boxer's fracture' which is apparently cause because of the force you put on that part of your hand and takes a long time to fully recover from. I was a little less disheartened to hear that, so next week I'll be starting back to class ready to perfect my kicks, knees and elbows, lol.

7 Little Secrets

2009-01-08T09:11:00.003-05:00

Ah, the dreaded 7 little secrets ( I can't keep Post Secret or All American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret" out of my head). A few may not actually be secrets, but here ya go:

1) I rewrite moments from everyday life into movie scense in my head, complete with background music and all. Sometimes music can make an ordinary moment extraordinary and an extraordinary moment feel just like a dream.

2) At the age of almost 25, I am still a bit iffy about the dark. Or what's in it rather. I can't say that I'm scared of it like I used to be (when I was younger I would carry my clarinet case in my right hand while walking past the barn to the bus stop in case someone were to jump out at me and I needed to hit them), but my overactive imagination definitely causes some anxiety from time to time. And yes, that includes not being able to hang my feet off the side of the bed sometimes.

3) It took me almost 24 years to find the man I would someday marry. Upon meeting though, it only took me six weeks to know :)

4) When people ask me where I live and I say Lexington, I immediately follow it with "but I'm originally from Rockcastle County." Although there is nothing wrong with being a city person, I'm a farm raised country girl who is proud of her accent and upbringing. It's my hope to go back to live in the country one day so my kids can learn to drive on backroads, go four wheeling on weekends and gain an appreciation for a clear summer night's sky full of stars like I got to.

5) I've only just recently broken my first bone, which is really a miracle in itself. I've been terribly accident prone for most of my life and I stopped counting how many sprained ankles and wrists I had once I hit middle school. But of all the things I've done (including popping several ligaments in my left ankle a few years back so badly that my then boyfriend and i were placing bets in the ER as to whether it was broken or not), it took one hammerfist to a tombstone pad in my Krav Maga class to put a fracture in my left hand. The reactions that I get from people when I tell them how it happened is usually funny, cause I"m sure they're looking at me thinking "This little girl is trying to be all badass?" but at least I can feel better whining about it considering I was punching something, lol.

6) I am probably the pickiest consumer of ice cream in the world, lol. I prefer a vanilla based mix, and hate slivers, flakes, chunks or swirls of chocolate anywhere in there. A lot of my favorites though include the chunks, so I eat the ice cream and spit the chocolate back out. Not pretty, but I can't help it. Now this is not to say that I don't like chocolate, I just prefer it to be in the form of chocolate milk, hot chocolate or a candy coating. And definitely not the dark kind.

7) Although it's a little early in the game to be talking children, I hope with all hope that our first time out we get fraternal twins of a boy and a girl. Obviously I'll be happy with whatever the real outcome is, but in my girlish fantansy, the twins are it :) I've got my fingers crossed that with twins on both my maternal grandmother's side (she had twin brothers) and paternal grandfather's side (he had twin brothers) that I've got a good shot at it.

Now to tag a few more people...

Flo (and have Brian do it to, even if it's just for me to read :) )
John

All I wanted for Christmas...

2008-12-30T09:43:00.005-05:00

was a left handed cast? Wait, I don't remember putting that on my list.

Turns out, although the holidays were wonderful this year (spent some great time with family and it was the first for me and Justin), I got a little surprise. A few weeks ago, I tweaked my hand during my Krav Maga class. I thought that my left pinky knuckle had popped when I hit the pad, but it hurt for me to grasp anything the rest of class. One of my instructors and I thought that it was just bruised muscles or strained ligaments. No big deal.

Two weeks later, I was still unable to put full pressure on that side of my hand. Otherwise I could really do whatever I wanted so long as I didn't turn my hand at a certain angle. I was convinced however that a trip to the doctor was necessary.

I received a call Christmas Eve morning from my dr's office saying that I did indeed have a fractur in my hand and that he wanted a small cast put on it to restrict use and ensure proper healing. I had to laugh a little because of all the bad accidents I've had, it just took one bad hit on the tombstone pad to give me my first broken bone, lol. I ended up with just a partial cast on my left hand that took me from pretty much all use of the hand to having three usable fingers and showering with a plastic bag over it, haha. I told someone that evening that it was cool for the first ten minutes, then it just got annoying. It looks worse than it really is and since I'd already gone two weeks, I only have to wear this for two weeks before doing follow up xrays.

It definitely makes for some fun conversation. I've told several people it was from trying to keep Justin in line, and since my mom's finger was still all wrapped up from her surgery a few weeks ago, we got to have fun with the family Christmas pics.

Melts. My. Heart.

2008-12-08T14:26:00.002-05:00

Justin with Miss Bailey Grace

In Rememberance

2008-11-25T09:37:00.003-05:00

As the animals that we choose (or that choose us) to be pets often become a part of the family as much as any human, it's only natural to mourn the loss of a cherished friend when their time comes.

Sage was the first dog that lived inside our house since I was just a toddler. After Mom and Dad had to put their Dobermans to rest, there was no real emotional attachment to future pets for my Dad, and it was understandable. It's hard to lose someone that has a large presence in your every day life, whether it be human or pet. But then Sage came along, a little Mountain Cur puppy with gorgeous topaz fur and eyes to match, and stole all our hearts. Although Ginger would be added a few months later, and Storm a little over a year later, Sage was always Daddy's baby boy. He was a hunting dog, a companion, a cuddle buddy and as a lot of pets are, spoiled rotten.

I accidentally lost Sage a few years back while I was home for Christmas. One morning when leaving the house, I didn't get the door completely shut and by the time Dad woke up the door was wide open and Sage had disappeared. Dad spent three days trying to keep himself busy around the house while taking time every few hours to drive around the countryside to see if he could find him. And I felt so guilty for being responsible. Dad had printed fliers to put up in the small country store a few miles from our house in case someone were to see him, and thankfully a lady called not too long after to say that Sage had been sleeping under their car and must have gotten hungry enough to finally climb onto their porch for the food she had left out. And I know that as sad as my dad was in those three days that he thought his buddy was gone, I can't imagine what he must feel right now to know that he's not coming back.

It was pretty short notice with all of this, something that has probably just come to light in the past few months. One of those deals where when you finally realize there's something wrong it's really already too late. I'm just glad that we got the pleasure of spending three and a half loving years with Sage and that he's in a better place. Rest in peace Bubby. We'll miss you.

Under the Covers- Part 2

2008-11-17T21:17:00.002-05:00

A second post dedicated to cover songs. I don't think the first one really came up to its full potential and since I'm in youtube mode, here ya go :)

First up is Miss Leona Lewis, this performance being pointed out to me by my lovely Flo. Seriously, she and I share youtube music like it's going out of style. This is Leona's version of Snow Patrol's "Run"

Nastasha Bedingfield is one that although I can't stand to hear "Unwritten" any more (thanks to The Hills), she has so many other songs that I love. Here is her version of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know"

There are few people left out there who haven't heard Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl". This is McFly's version of the hit.

I've always had a soft spot for (most) of Eminem's stuff, the movie 8 Mile included. For some reason, I've always been drawn to the song "Lose Yourself" from that. And here's an interesting version of it from The Script

And no post concerning cover songs would ever be complete without an obligatory Me First and the Gimme Gimme's version of something- this one in particular, The Jackson 5's (or Mariah if you prefer) "I'll Be There"

A Little Bit of Life

2008-11-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

Not that life is boring, but it's just been a little slow going recently. Which is perfect considering the summer was so fast paced, it flew by before I had a chance to turn my head and watch it go. Being lazy has become one of my more favorite past times, after my initial gumption with my etsy store wore off. Not that I don't love being creative and such, it's just that I have a habit of diving head first back into my hobbies and then getting burned out. It's okay though. I've still got two quilts that are in the works and cornwarmers to help make for Christmas presents.

Justin and I got to have our first Halloween together and our first time handing out candy at this residence. He didn't move into the house until November last year, so this was his first year too (happy anniversary to buying the house!). We had a handful of kids that stopped by, so we definitely have quite a bit of candy leftover which isn't going so well for my previously snack controlled evenings. I'd just started feeling changes in my body since being active in the Krav Maga classes for about two months now and here I am shoving chocolate into my mouth every time I walk into the kitchen. It's all about portion control, lol.

We've got to figure out when a good time is to go grocery shopping on the weekends. We started out by going on Sunday evenings and after that proved trying, started going right after noon. Were both starting to grow weary of the masses yet again, and today I said we were going to have to give midnights on Saturdays a try just to see. Should we attempt this experiment in the near future, I'll be sure to let you all in on the results. Anything to help my fellow man.

Nineteen (almost 18) more days til Twilight comes out in theaters! I can't help but feel like a 15 year old for my internal obsession with the series, and more specifically Edward Cullen, but as I re-read Twilight this past week to gear up for the movie, I found myself yet again wishing that Justin would somehow become a vampire. Sad, yes. But I do have a big imagination. And he does dazzle me, so it'd be fitting. I'm excited for my date opening night with Emmy so we can wear the bracelets she bought us (fashioned after Jacob's gift to Bella) and I'm seriously considering buying a shirt I found that quotes Edward: "You are exactly my brand of herion." I wasn't this bad about Harry Potter people, and I preordered the last four books.

Sigh. Seven o'clock and it's already been dark for an hour. Although, it does play pretty well into my being lazy past time...

How About a Cover?

2008-10-14T15:17:00.003-04:00

As much as I love originals of songs, I also enjoy the occassional well performed cover song. I generally enjoy when the cover is a complete 180 from the original, yet still sounds awesome. The following are a few that I would recommend.

Where did these guys ever go?

Slowing things down

Karate Kid anyone?

Some classic Don Henley action

And although all performances on shows like American Idol and The X Factor would be considered covers, I have to give this one special mention because it's the only covered version of the song that I've ever heard to be just as good as the original

My New Toy

2008-09-23T11:10:00.005-04:00

I've been an avid sewer all my life. Okay, well avid in the sense that I get on kicks that last for months and then take a few months off while daydreaming up all the hundreds of projects I wished I had time to do. When I was younger, I would thread as many needles as my great-grandmother had on a pincushion so that she could hand piece for awhile without having to worry about her poor eyesight keeping her from something she loved to do. My mamaw and I used to make clothes for my Barbie dolls, and to this day I have a simple, yet unfinshed "quilt" that I had started for them goodness only knows how long ago.

Although I prefer to hand piece all my quilts, a sewing machine would be nice for some of the quicker projects I'd like to accomplish over time and someday it'd be a great resource for new curtains, sheets or whatever else I decided to throw together. Although I'd been contemplating the idea of buying one for a bit, it was mine and Justin's decision to start building and making cornhole boards and bags that solidified my decision in buying a machine for myself.

My new toy:

Isn't she a beauty? Lol. Kenmore's were what my mom and mamaw have sewn on for years, so I knew because of that and after reading lots and lots of customer reviews that they were a pretty reliable brand. I found this one on sale at Sears and after our dinner date, Justin and I headed over to the mall to purchase one. Turns out she was the last one in the store. Lucky me!

I put her together that night and filled a bobbin. The next morning, I threw together a few pillowtops that are to be a Christmas present for a friend once I get a backing on them and stuffed.

A detail shot:

And this is my new sewing area: the kitchen :)

After talking about sewing cornhole bags, Justin decided we could turn the area into a sweatshop- turn the a/c off, turn the lights down, turn the oven on and just let me have at it. We'll see how it goes.

My Country Cookin'

2008-09-15T16:14:00.004-04:00

I love to cook and I love even more to find new recipes to try. So far, so good with everything I've experimented with thanks to http://www.allrecipes.com/ . I decided to go a little off the page and give my absolute favorite dish a try this weekend: chicken and dumplings. My mamaw fixes them at every family dinner because she knows she'll have a twenty something pouty granddaughter if she doesn't :)

I'm so excited (and proud) to say that they turned out wonderfully!

And here's Justin enjoying his warm meal

Later on this week- chicken pot pie. I'll keep you posted.

From the Lost and Found

2008-09-15T15:40:00.002-04:00

I go through random spells when I listen to youtube throughout the day. For the past two weeks, Pink has been on a constant rotation as well as Hoobastank, whom I rediscovered after hearing "The Reason" on the radio. One memory of a live Hoobastank performance came from an MTV awards show years back that they sang that song and bombed big time. It was only later after watching it again that I figured out the lead singer seemed slightly intoxicated and maybe that's why he was so off pitch. It was only a few weeks later that i saw them on another television show and he totally killed the song that I realized that had to have been it, cause he was seemingly sober this time around and was great.

This song was off their most recent album. I remember always wanting to dance along to it when I heard it in the car.

"Inside of You"

Pink's got a catchy new song out called "So What" which covers her recent divorce from now ex-husband Carey Hart. The kicker of the video? Carey makes an appearance. When questioned, Pink said something to the effect of "Carey knows I'm crazy but loves me and would do anything for me." I think she's got another hit on her hands :)

"So What"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdb-ydzFNlE

And of course, for the teenager still living inside me, I have to include some Jesse McCartney, both old school and new.

"Just So You Know"

"Buy You a Drank"

I've Just Experienced a Medical Mystery

2008-09-10T19:09:00.002-04:00

About a week ago, I discovered halfway through my workday that there was something poking my left foot right underneath my next to last toe. I remember pulling my shoe off while talking to my boss at one point just to run my hand across my foot in order to brush off whatever may have gotten picked up while I was barefoot earlier in my office. After getting home that evening, my foot was still irritated, so I decided to take a gander. In the questionable area, I found a visable dark line, of which both Justin and I thought it was probably a small cut seeings how the shoes I had been wearing that day were a little worse for wear. We laughed about how just a week before he had been telling me of an article concerning hairdressers finding strands of hair embedded in their feet, apparently the longest of which was 5 inches long!

As the week passed on, I noticed that the discomfort was still there, although on Monday after another inspection, the dark line wasn't there anymore. After having a few "ow" moments during the evening, I took a closer look and found that the line had moved down a bit, and now instead of being horizontal, it was vertical. There was definitely something under my skin, it was irritating and there was no way I could get it out on my own.

Finally, last night I caved. I contemplated tweezers and fingernail clippers to get through the skin, but decided that I would probably make an infected mess out of things in the end and should just make an appointment with the foot doctor for today. As much as I hated to on the offchance that it turned out to be not much of anything, the little line had dropped a little further down to where it now rested in the middle of the ball of my foot and was more noticeable when I walked than before.

At the doctor's office, she decided to take an xray of my foot just to check and see if it was a hard material, like glass or something of the sort. Of course, nothing showed up, but she stated several times that there was something definitely underneath there. She asked if I wanted her to see if she could find it, and I responded "I kinda hoped you would cause I'm pretty sure it'd be more sanitary for you to do it than for me to." After a few minutes of light scalpel work, she informed me that although it wasn't incredibly deep in there, it was a little more than she originally thought and I was going to have to be numbed up. I do thank her for using that cold spray in conjunction with giving me the shot, although it still hurt like the dickens. A bit later, the cutting went much more smoothly (pun intended) and turns out that it was just what Justin and I had joked about- a hair. A little, quarter of an inch piece of hair that had somehow worked it's way underneath my skin and become an irritating little bastard that had to be cut out. How crazy is that? For a little piece of hair to feel like something poking at you whenever you were to bunch your foot up in a certain way.

I've already warned Justin that there will be no more discussions in this house of odd medical happenings and/or rare diseases as I don't intend to be an example of any more.

When The Lights Go Down In the City

2008-09-08T11:20:00.002-04:00

So yesterday I made the trek up to Riverbend in Cincinnati with my boss, her husband and two of their friends to see Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick in concert. Now, it must be said that I am a huge 80's music fan. I'd already seen Journey before with Def Leppard, along with Motley Crue and Aerosmith and the only reason I missed last year's Poison concert was because no one would go with me. And although I was excited to see Journey again, Heart was my obsession for the night.

Cheap Trick was actually really good although I only knew two of their songs well enough to sing along. I don't know how many years these guys have been doing it, but his voice was still spot on.

When Heart came out, I was ready to rock. Ann and Nancy Wilson are two majorly talented artists and have been rockin' since the 70's. From the first note out of Ann's mouth, there was no doubt that this lady is just as good now as she was all those years ago. Over and over, she literally just blew us away with her vocals. And I was so happy that they played a lot of the songs that the crowd wanted to hear: Barracuda, Alone, These Dreams and they encored with Crazy on You. I wish they would have played all night.

Journey hit the stage with force and put on just as good of a show as I remembered from the last time. Their lead singer, Arnel Pineda (who is from the Phillipines and they found through Youtube), sounds dead on Steve Perry which is just awesome. They played all the songs I wanted to hear except for one. When they walked off the stage the first time, I turned to Carrie and said "Aw, I was really hoping to hear 'Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin'. When they came back for their encore, they started out with a bluesy type deal with the guitar and a harmonica, and I kept telling myself that the beat sounded like it, but not to get my hopes up. Sure enough, that's what they ended the whole shebang with, and I couldn't have been happier, lol.

Next time Poison comes around, I'm totally in. CC Deville is the man :)

You Know You're an Accounting Dork When...

2008-09-04T15:52:00.002-04:00

...you spend your downtime at work scheming an elaborate plan as to how you can more quickly pay off your car loan all the while being able to maximize savings over the course of time it originally should have taken you to pay it off. Yep. *raises hand* That'd be me, the nerdy girl sitting at her desk with a newly calculated amortization schedule, excel spreadsheet and hand on the ten-key. I still can't be sure of where I got these tendencies, but I keep promising Justin they'll pay off in the long run.

I'm not really concerned about paying off my car in the sense of money being tight. I originally financed it for a period of five years (as most do) because there's no penalty in an early payoff and why stretch yourself thin when you don't have to? My goal, nay-obsession, at this point in time in paying it off early is in the sense of saving money by knocking off interest. I had originally planned to have the balance to zero by around June of 2010, two years ahead of time. Then today, an epiphany hit and I've spent the last hour coming up with different figures as to how money would balance out should I move that date up to December 2009. So far, so good.

Of course, this sudden inspiration came from a little game I like to play against myself called "See How Much Under the Budget You Can Get in the Month", or as I'm sure Justin would term it "How Big of a Jew Can I Be?". I always want to be covered in case something unexpected were to happen. And of course I want to be covered when the expected shows up all too quickly (don't you hate it when those days and weeks fly right past you?). So my main concern in accelerating payments would be having the money put back for the future things I know I'll need it for. Future vacations, maybe my masters, a wedding somewhere off in the distance, a house that maybe we'll get to build in the next decade, starting my nest egg for retirement. And of course once the first set of worries are taken care of, the second round will start: future children, said future childrens' first cars, college educations, food expenses and general well being. And still piling on to that nest egg for retirement. All things that I worry way too much about to only be where I am right now in life. *shrugs* Eh, well. I'll just be well prepared.

If anyone ever needs a budget in a pinch, just let me know- I'll do it just for fun :)

Cause Sometimes You're Just In the Mood

2008-09-01T20:17:00.002-04:00

Although Justin would surely protest, I think that this would be an incredibly sweet wedding song.

Sometimes it's just nice to go back through memory lane and revisit the songs you used to love and play over and over and over again in your cd player. I proudly state that I'm the owner of all the *NSync albums, including the Christmas one, and every once in a while still like to go back and listen to them. They were my favorite boy band and I always thought they were the most talented (they always sounded the best singing and dancing at the same time, lol). So in honor of this nostalgia, I thought I'd share some of my favorites with everyone.

My favorite off their Christmas album- love most anything accapella, especially this since you can so plainly hear all the harmonies.

One of my favorites off their second album. Granted, I prefer the music video in getting the crotch shot from Justin rather than this one of Lance, but hey, it's all about showcasing their impecible live singing skills here, lol.

And of course, one of the songs that started it all out

I have to say that I rather enjoy music, and sharing it for that matter. I feel a spinoff coming from this one...

Why Can't People Just Let Fiction Be?

2008-09-01T18:33:00.003-04:00

Reading used to be an every day event for me, always searching for the next story that I just couldn't put down. After college though my time for recreational reading seemed to dwindle as there was always something else needing to be done. The last series of books that I started and finished was the Harry Potter series, usually the newest book being delivered on the release day and me not emerging from my room until I was finished reading it in the entirety that night. Fiction has always been my favorite, as I've always had a very active imagination that I like to feed.

Just this morning, I finished the fourth and final book in the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. It's popularity has picked up over the past year, the fourth book came out a few months ago and the movie based on the first book, Twilight, will be out in November. I bought the first book to read on the plane rides to and from Vegas, and was not able to really set it aside until it was finished. The evening we got back, I bought the second book, ordered the fourth from Amazon, and was back to Target two days later to buy the third. My mind has been wrapped around Bella Swan and Edward Cullen for over a week now, and I really can't say that I would have had it any other way.

A co worker of mine had mentioned to me last week that she was disappointed in the fourth book. And that quite a lot of people that had written reviews on Amazon.com and websites of the same caliber with the same opinion. After finishing what I thought was an amazing series, and book by itself, I decided to take a gander at what the naysayers were sharing. And of course, was shocked.

Fiction is fiction in my opinion. Stephanie Meyer wrote the first book of the series based on a dream she had one night. She took the pretense of the conversation the two people in her dream were having and wove an intricate tale that has allowed so many to immerse themselves in the fairy tale world that took place in a small town in Washington state. Yet a lot of readers have taken from it so much more. Drawing conclusions of what morals, or lack thereof, the author speaks of, what ideals she is supposedly supporting through the characters actions in the last book. It's a work of fiction folks, a fairy tale, people that don't exist and a story that all came from a dream. The great thing about fiction is that it's not real- it doesn't have to follow what rules the general public or even the author would follow in their every day lives. It's not written as a self help book or a guide for young readers to take to heart in influencing the decisions they make as they begin their adult lives. It's simply a fun way to let your imagination have it's way and spend a few moments outside of the real world to get away from it all. Let you curl up and imagine all the fantasy "what ifs" that you used to when you were young and got a thrill out of watching Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and every other fictional fairy tale that was out there. All the movies that were ever made about unrequited love and the girl or guy always ending up with the one they pined over. Overcoming all obstacles to get what they wanted. I just don't know how else to say it. Just like with the uproar over the Harry Potter series, your child will not rebuke God and be destined for hell just because he or she reads a series about witches and wizards. Who, mind you, are usually moral and always trying to do the right thing. Sheesh.

The one thing I do know is that I won't let my imaginative high be destroyed by anyone who can't seem to just enjoy a simple tale. A story with no moral, no fable with a lesson at the end. Just a pure, entertaining, absolutely well written tale that I'll re-read for years and years to come.

Back to Reality

2008-08-27T09:37:00.008-04:00

Our little jaunt to Vegas was a fun one. The morning we left started out pretty good, I decided that Southwest airlines were my now number one when it came to flying (mainly because you can seat wherever you want) and although it was about 105 degrees the entire time we were there, I might actually take that over humidity. No frizzy hair when there's no humidity!
Circus Circus was a nice hotel, and of course my first experience in walking through the maze of casinos to get anywhere-your room, a restaurant, to the outside world. Whoever came up with the idea of casinos totally got the floorplan right when they decided to make it to where you had a hard time finding your way out. I'm sure that they knew people would eventually throw up their hands and sit back down to play :)
The first evening there did start out a little less than happy as my cheapness turned to catastrophe. I had packed a bubble wrapped bottle of vodka in my checked bag for the plane, and the plastic cap subsequently busted, allowing the alcohol to spill all inside my luggage and on my clothes. Justin and I spent the first few hours of our vacation finding the laundry facilities at the nearby KOA campground to wash all my clothes. I definitely used up my quota of profanities for the week in about two minutes.

We toured the strip several times throughout the days, walking the first night and taking a co-workers advice by purchasing an all day bus pass for the double decker buses that run up and down each side all day long. It amazed me to see all these huge, intricate buildings in the daylight, but at night it was even more spectacular. The insides of the Bellagio and Ceasar's Palace were so ornate and rich, I definitely felt out of place the first time we walked through them as we were in shorts and tshirts. I did find a cute scene on the inside of the Bellagio that was made up of lots of moss, flowers and model trains :) Of course, I was most enarmored with the sunflowers.

Fun time was spent at M&M World, Coke World, Gameworks, Coyote Ugly, a performance of Ka by Cirque du Soliel, and the Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati Museum I'm pretty sure that Justin got his $200,000+ car thirst quelched the first night there, although it never ceased to amaze me when he would continually point out cars driving down the strip that were an easy half million. Craziness. I'm so glad that I was able to take another trip out west, this time just a little short of the coast. It was a short enough trip to get away for a few days, and a long enough one to wear us out. It was the first vacation for Justin and I together and we can't wait to do it again. And as promised, no one came back married.

Hey baby let's go to Vegas...

2008-08-19T11:38:00.003-04:00

So Thursday is the big day...Las Vegas! I've always been curious about Sin City and all the fun (and trouble) it had to offer and now I'll finally get the chance to see it all firsthand. Of course, no trip to Vegas would be complete without the best partners in crime, so we're making this mini vacation a group effort :)

I initally came up with the idea of heading west when it was announced that Cher would be starting performances at Ceasar's Palace this fall. I've always loved Cher and it would be the perfect oppportunity to see her amazing stage show as well as get to see the city that never sleeps. In the beginning, my fellow travelers seemed to be all right with the idea of taking in the show, but as time wore on I think it became apparent they just wanted to go to Las Vegas in general, not necessarily to see Cher. As sad as it makes me to think that I'll be there for enough time to actually see her perform twice, I don't want to sift through that large of a crowd by myself so in the end decided I'll have to just try and catch clips on youtube. However, I do retain the right to whine at least once a day while there about how I was swindled into the trip under false pretenses, lol.

We'll be taking up residence in Circus Circus for a few days. Justin and some friends stayed here a few years back on a spring break trip so I trusted his judgement on sleeping arrangements. He did make the good point that you don't need much from a hotel room when you won't be getting much sleep anyway. We'll be just a bit away from the hustle and bustle of the main strip though, which I'm sure will benefit us at some point during our stay.

With so much to see and do and four days just not being enough time to even make a dent in it, we had to narrow down our options as far as the shows were concerned. Any Cirque du Soliel performance was an option and Justin mentioned possibly seeing Penn & Teller. We're still on the fence as to what our final decision will be, but will probably decide by tomorrow night before we leave so we can order tickets a few days ahead of time. I've only ever seen Cirque performances on tv, but from that alone I know that I'd be in awe of everything on the stage.

I'm also hoping to be able to make an appearance in a few of the bars/clubs around town. I've always wanted to see Flare bartenders and I hear that there are quite a few places like New York New York that have bars just for them to put on a show. I told the boys that I'd like for us all to go to Coyote Ugly and of course they were all agreeable to that one :) The one thing that I can assure we won't be partaking in though is this:

There will be no midnight marriages officiated by Elvis. Cross my heart.

The end of an era

2008-08-18T11:34:00.006-04:00

This weekend marked the end of an era that began what seems like forever ago. Meg and I, with the help of my mom and Justin, cleaned, packed and transported the last of our things from Apt 7 to begin the next phase in our lives- living with boys :)

After I graduated from college in 2006, Meg moved into my first apartment with me for the summer. Thus began the late weekend nights of neighbor stalking on our second floor balcony, Meg crawling into bed with me after getting in late from work to talk for a few minutes before heading off to her own room, weekly supper menus and alcohol friendly nights. She had to head back to campus (which was all of five minutes away) in the fall to finish her last year of school but we reunited a year later, along with our other friend Dre, to move into an awesome three bedroom place on the other side of town. My dad made the comment that our new place was like a train station with people coming in and out all hours of the day and night, but I really don't think we would have had it any other way.

We started out just the three of us, me assuming the role of "mom" pretty soon into the endeavor. It wasn't too long before we had the addition of Cedric, Dre's boyfriend, and then our little family fell into place. On Halloween, Michael came for a visit after work and never left. Literally. I can probably count the number of nights that he didn't stay with us on one hand, lol. I have to say that after a while you get to used to a full house, and when one or two of your "kids" are gone, things seem so empty.

After the first of the year, a lot of things changed. I met Justin and started staying more often with him than in my own room. Cedric moved into his own place in Lexington so Dre started visiting him there more often as well. In May, Dre graduated from college and moved back home for the summer, leaving Meg and Michael to their own devices as most of my clothes and such were already taking up space in Justin's extra closet. After some discussion, it was decided that at the end of the lease we'd pack our things and go our separate ways, albeit sadly. Meg brought me close to tears several times in these past few weeks by saying "it feels like we just moved in" as we piled belongings into boxes.

It's a rite of passage I suppose, at some point having to leave behind late nights, crazy escapades, collective bad decisions and those inevitable awkward moments that seemed to follow us in order to move into the next phase of things. Meg made the comment yesterday about how we swore last August that we'd be content with living in Apartment 7 for at least five years and I laughed and said "Funny how boys can change a person's mind." It's definitely a time in my life that I'm blessed to have been in the company of my girls and their guys, becoming "mom" and of course being Cedric's 'baby mama' (we all had our respective titles). But I look forward to what's yet to come. Beginning a more permanent part of life with Justin, watching Meg and Michael grow in their relationship, learning to schedule the time out to spend with everyone even if we live twenty minutes apart now instead of right there together. I've already told Meg that I'm planning ahead for the scary movie nights she loves so much that will fill the month of October. It's just another step into the adult life that you want so badly as a teen yet wish could hold off a few more years after college. Ah, that crazy cycle of life.

My Daily Dose of Romance

2008-07-25T10:21:00.002-04:00

I knew I loved you before I knew you

The hand of time would lead me to you

An evening star was from afar

It guided me, it knew you'd be here

Now wrapped in moonlight, at last together

Here in the incandescent glow we are all we need to know

As we softly please each other til the stars and shadows glow

And we sleep with our dreams around us

It guided me, it knew you'd be here

I knew I loved you before I found you

I knew I'd build my world around you

Now all my days and all my nights

And my tomorrows will all begin and end with you

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2008-07-23T09:06:00.005-04:00

for grilling!

Justin's parent's bought him a wonderful grill for his early birthday present and after a few mosquito infested hours Monday night and yesterday evening, we (okay, well mostly Justin but I held a flashlight for him dangit) finally got this baby put together and cooked our first meal.

Cooking is something that I can always remember helping out with around the house when I was little. If it involved chopping things like for homemade pizza, or pre-cooking ingrediants like hambuger for chili, I was there. Although my enthusiasm for making full blown meals lacked in high school, once I moved into my first apartment after graduating college I was thrown into being "mom" and feeding myself and Megan every night. I think I did an all right job.

Nowadays I get to cook for Justin and I, so I'm always looking for new recipes in order to keep our rotation of favorites from becoming monotonous too quickly. I love cookbooks and I've also found that I get most of my new ideas from http://www.allrecipes.com/. I think I like the site so much simply because you can rate the recipe after trying it and leave a review. Those reviews come in handy since most people make suggestions for extra/less/substitute ingrediants and if some part of the recipe didn't work, they'll usually tell you how to prevent it from happening to you. I'm also trying to show Justin a few tricks here and there as we go about our time together, and I have to say that he successfully made himself pancakes while I was gone to California to visit Flo and Brian. He says that they each turned out to be as big as his head, but I was still proud nonetheless.

So here's to the rest of the year full of hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, steaks and veggies. I can't wait to throw some skewers filled to the ends with zuchinni, squash, mushrooms and tomatoes for kabobs!

Feeling grown up

2008-07-16T11:20:00.002-04:00

This weekend seemed to bring about a lot of thoughts concerning maturity and growing up into my mind. I guess a combination of cleaning the old clutter from your room and declaring a huge step in life to family members will do that for a person.

For the first time in a long time, I went home Saturday to spend the night with my parents. I used to do this fairly often, but it seems that every since Justin and i started dating, there's just been a lot of events happening on weekends that aren't conducive to spending more than just the afternoon and part of the evening at home. Mom and I spent a few hours at Mamaw and Pap's that afternoon, doing the usual. Talking gardens, flowers, quilts, the latest family news. It was also this day that I had decided to tell them that I was moving in with Justin at the end of my lease term. I forewarned my mom the week before saying "We're going to tell Mamaw next weekend about me moving" to which she responded "We?" It actually went better than I had thought, but only because Mamaw had been expecting as much and seemed to have prepared herself. THere wasn't a lot of discussion, as she doesn't like the notion one bit, but it felt so good to have that off my chest. Mom and Dad have known for a few months now, so it's just been a waiting game with her.

Saturday night I holed up in my room to start cleaning out what had come to be a nine year collection of stuff in my room. A clutterbug/hoarder by genetics, I've started making myself go through my belongings with less tolerance for emotional attachments as of late, because really, who needs to hold onto class notes from that Business Calculus class you took your junior year of college? But over the course of three trash bags full of things to throw away, I found letters from friends, from old boyfriends, from people that I used to have such a good time with and somehow messed things up with along the way. Such is life I suppose, but it really made me stop and think about how bad of a friend/girlfriend I had been in past situations. And those thoughts then lead me to where I stand today.

I finally feel that it's the point in life where I'm a real, mature adult now. Despite the fact that I've stayed at his house for more than three months now, in exactly a month from today I'll be taking the first step to a more permanent relationship with Justin by officially moving in. No more backup plan of an apartment I'm paying rent on that I can run to just in case, just me and him in what will be my new home. I've never lived with a boy before. It had been contemplated at one point in time, but that was purely out of finanical concerns. And I'm glad that it didn't happen that way. It just wasn't meant to. And to add greater joy and meaning to the occasion, after the last bits of carpet have been cleaned and furniture moved into what will then be "our" humble abode, I will be able to open a great bottle of wine to share with Justin to mark our six month anniversary. To me, the stars couldn't be better aligned.

There was a moment last fall that everything changed. That as I look back, I can see where I transformed from an unsure, always indecisive, constantly questioning pre-adult, stuck in between the carefree days I had in college and the wanting so badly to feel like a respected grown up, to a live for today but think about tomorrow, place myself first on the priority list, be nothing but happy in all the decisions I make kind of woman. I finally put my foot down, said "No more" and stepped it up. And after living in my new perspective for a few months, everything started dropping into place like I had always hoped it would. And that leaves me here: staring at the horizon of a full life I'm going to live. The mistakes and naive decisions from the past will always be with me, but they merely remind me of how far I've come and where to not go back. My heart and mind are finally content.

Shana goes Acoustic

2008-07-01T11:34:00.005-04:00

I have always been a fan of stripped down, acoustic music. Granted, I'm also one that normally gravitates toward more "breakup" and "I'm in love" music than just regular every day stuff in general, so of course anything put into acoustic mode usually makes me happy. What makes me even happier is when the biggest badasses of rock can take it down a few notches and show off their chops with just some vocals and guitar. Here are a few of my favorite acoustic versions of songs, not in any particular order.

First off, I'm a huge, beyond huge, Papa Roach fan. Their latest cd, "The Paramour Sessions" was incredible and they put on one of the highest energy shows I've seen yet. And of course, I may have a small celebrity crush on Jacoby :) Here's two songs of theirs that they've done live acoustic performances of in recent years, and as Jacoby says in the first, they don't do many stripped down performances. It's during songs like these two that it's reaffirmed the man can sing :)

(For the actual song, skip ahead to 3:22)

I fell in love with Paramore the first time I ever heard "Misery Business" on the radio. I immediately hit youtube and listened to everything they had available and had the band in constant rotation on my phone within days. I think Hayley is really talented and she shows it well here.

Crossfade has several songs that I really enjoy. This particular one is awesome in it's full, high energy version, but I've always had a greater liking for this recording of the acoustic version specifically.

And of course those are only a few of many. But I just thought I'd share some entertainment for the day. Enjoy!

The kindness of others

2008-06-29T14:06:00.005-04:00

I'll be the first to admit how awesome Justin's parents are. They're laid back, have a great relationship with one another as well with Justin and just genuinely care about others. They went on vacation last week and when they came back, they brought with them a few gifts for Justin and I. I can't speak for Justin, but as for myself I was super excited about what my bag was stuffed with.

A lovely garden stake that I've named Crazy George for some reason that will look adorable in front of the porch with my flowers. A cute little tote bag that included 2 bottles of Virginia cider and roasted peanuts. And then, my two favorites of the batch.

I can't remember if I told Mama Scarberry that my mom collected pigs or if she just thought that this looked cute, but we'll just say that I'm super excited to make these cookies in order to share them with my mom who will love them. I actually don't own any cookie cutters, so this is my first and I don't think that there could have been a cuter or more appropriate innagural one.

And my absolute favorite, a new cookbook. I am a sucker for new recipes and this one not only has some great ones (that don't require a lot of ingredients), but there's also little cleaning and cooking tidbits at the bottom of every page. Justin's mom called the night we got the gifts and apparently asked if I was offended by the cookbook, and Justin laughed and said "No, she's actually sitting here reading it right now." We'll be dining on the first recipe out of the book sometime this week and I haven't even looked at the dessert section yet :) Mama Scarberry was just so incredibly thoughtful with these things, and I appreciate them very much.

Oh the celebrations!

2008-06-27T14:51:00.005-04:00

In the coming months, I'm going to be getting the chance in sharing in the celebration of so many different things. Celebrating yet another year of life during birthdays, this country's independence, the joining of two people in marriage, the many fun times that were had at Apt 7, half a year of love with Justin and of course the celebration of just pure fun and debauchery in Vegas :)

I feel blessed in the sense that I have a handful of close friends around here, and around the US for that matter, that I can share in their lives, their pain, their laughter. Blessed for the opportunities given to me to share a phone call, an email, dinner or a cross country trip just to be able to give them a real hug for once. I'm also so appreciative of the fact that Justin's friends were so accepting of me from the very beginning. The girls are wonderful (as are the guys) and remind me so much of my own longtime friends that there's never a moment of unease with them. I can only hope that Justin feels the same about mine.

To some it seems odd that a few of the people that know more about me than anyone live on opposite coasts and I've never met them (well, only one now). When you forge friendships through similar situations and emotions like I did with Flo, and over years and years of being pen pals like I did with Kelly, there are bonds there that run deeper than just some superficial "oh, you're my internet pal". Kelly and I lost touch for a few years when she was transitioning into college, but somehow down the road we picked right back up where we left off and I've been with her since she moved to New England and started her worldly travels. Flo and I have been through a few boyfriends, tours of duty, shady situations and lots of funny happenings together. And I'm so glad that I now have pictures of us to put on the wall.

So here's to celebrations of life, love and friendships- three things I could definitely not live without :)

What's in a Gift?

2008-06-19T09:12:00.003-04:00

So Justin's friends Mike and Brittany (of course they're my friends too now :) ) are getting married in about a month and this weekend is Brittany's bridal shower. The "theme", or general idea for gifts is of the household persuasion, and I have no idea what I want to give.

First I considered wine glasses, but I don't think that they drink much wine so I don't want to get them something that won't be used. Then I thought about a crockpot, but felt like it was too older ladyish of me (despite the fact that I was thrilled to get mine for Christmas a few years ago). I want to find something hip, modern, something that not everyone else is going to be getting a similar version of (no toasters or pots and pans from this girl).

I enlisted Emily for some ideas on the matter, and she shot back an email chock full of possibilities. I think that the two of us are going to make a shopping date for Saturday and hit up Hamburg for Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linen's n Things. Maybe even Bath and Body Works depending on what I decide to theme my gift as.

I love putting gifts together for people, especially on these occassions because it's a special time in that person's life and they're going to appreciate and remember everything that they get commemorating it. Hopefully my warm wishes of a long marriage will be conveyed and I'll get a smile and a thank you for it. But really, the payoff is when you actually see your gift in use :)

Introducing Miss Pouty Butt

2008-06-14T20:42:00.003-04:00

I hate being disappointed. For me, getting my hopes let down means a few days of pouting (mostly internally), questioning the person who seemingly let me down, the justifications of the let down and just the overall situation as a whole. It also includes me not being as nice as I should be to the other person involved, meaning no enthusiasm for normal things and definitely no random kisses and hugs.

I guess I can just simply state that because of things that have happened in the past, I sometimes blow things out of proportion in my mind. And then can't function properly until I've allowed things to run their course, finally say my last (and maybe deal breaking piece) and then apologize for being a pouty, ugly bitch.

Today was a small family reunion at home, and because of legitimate reasons (i.e. class this morning and leaving at 5 to take his dad to a race for father's day) Justin ended up deciding not to come with me because of time contraints. Not because he didn't want to go, but because I'm pretty sure he just wanted me to be able to spend as much time with my family as i wanted to instead of having to leave early to have him back in time to leave for the race. Deep down I knew that this was what he was getting at, but I couldn't help but be a little sad that he wasn't going to be with me. And I held out with the pouty attitude right up until he left for class this morning, and even cried when he shut the door behind him. After a few minutes, I sent him a text of what I was really thinking, then clarified that it wasn't being said meanly or trying to guilt trip. And then I called three different times on my way home until he called me back in order to apologize. He laughed and said that it wasn't necessary but he appreciated it. The boy is too good to me :)

Anyway, we all have our quicks and faults and it's just a part of life. I'm just glad that mine are generally docile in nature and that it just takes a small amount of patience to get through my "spells." Anyone else have those little quirks about you that probably just won't ever change?

Music of the Week

2008-06-10T15:37:00.003-04:00

I've been crushing on a few different songs for the past few weeks, and I happened to run across a few new ones today so I thought I would share.

"Last Name" by Carrie Underwood. I've pretty much liked everything Carrie Underwood since I heard her sing Heart's "Alone" during her stint on American Idol. There were several favorites off her first cd, but this fun song definitely one upped "Before He Cheats" for me. (Another song from Carnival Ride, "I Know You Won't" is also on my list of favs).

"18 Days" by Saving Abel. A new band from Mississppi with their debut album has really made their mark on me. Their single "Addicted" has been playing up the rock stations here at home for a few months now, and being the Youtube addict that I am, I had to see what else they offered. Remiscent of a combination of Hinder and Three Doors Down, the band definitely offers great melodies and some harder drums as well.

"Forever May You Run" by Gavin Rossdale. I actually looked this song up this afternoon after reading about his new cd release in last week's People. There's a live performance from the AOL sessions of him singing this particular song, and as I was a fan of Bush, of course I'm a fan of Gavin's. Of course I"m also a sucker for melancholy songs, so it's all a perfect fit :). (Also check out "The Trouble I'm In" which features Shirley Manson)

"Gunpowder and Lead" by Miranda Lambert. Miss Miranda can really do no wrong with me as far as her songs are concerned. The first time I heard "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" on an awards show last year, I was immediately on the internet trying to find the song. "Gunpowder" is definitely an anthem for the ladies out there who finally find the courage to say no more when it comes to being mistreated. And although one doesn't have to take it literally in order to get the point, it's still fun to pretend :)

"Better As a Memory" by Kenny Chesney. As previously stated, I am a sucker for melancholy, sappy songs, and Mr. Kenny Chesney does such a good job at providing me those to sing along with. This song came at the appropriate time of the end of mine and Kent's relationship and the last lines say exactly how I felt about the situation ("But one day you're gonna find someone, right away you'll know it's true, that all of your seekin's done it's just a part of the passing through. Right there in that moment you'll finally understand that I was better as your memory...").

"Your Arms Feel Like Home" by Three Doors Down. I've been waiting patiently for a new TDD cd, and I was not disappointed when it happened back in May. I was instantly drawn to this song and felt like the first verse was telling the story of Justin and I. I have to say that it's gone around in my head a few times that with a little editing for time, this song could definitely come into play during my hypothetical wedding :)

Thank you Ky

2008-06-06T09:16:00.002-04:00

So my visit in California was beyond amazing and of course all too short of a time to spend with the wonderful Flo and Brian and their little family. I got to tour some nice wineries in Napa (and bring a few souveniers back with me), eat some kickass food (the Rutherford Grill on St. Helena Highway has some awesome, awesome ostrich medallions), survive the cold and windy downtown San Francisco, help Brian beat the last boss on Guitar Hero and giggle as Flo covered her eyes with a piece of paper while we were driving up the road to Mt. Diablo's summit. Bruno was my cuddle buddy again the night before I came back home and I've since been trying to convince Justin we should get a clone of him.

So many memories, great conversations and silly moments will be remembered from this trip. I even got to meet a few of their friends, whom I loved :) My trip home wasn't as eventful as my arrival (although I did get bumped from my original flight to another that left at the same time, just connected through a different city). And of course Justin was waiting patiently at the house with a huge hug when I walked through the door. After we'd said our hello's and "I missed you's", he went to grab his shoes to help carry in my stuff and I said "You totally slept in the middle of the bed the whole time I was gone didn't you?" and he smiled and said "Yes." Silly boy.

Back on the homefront, I've been trying to get back into the groove of work although it's really hard sometimes. I have things that need to be done, but other things that I want to do more. I've started my list of what belongings are going where when I move and last night I drove up to the apartment to start packing some things. My plan is to do this steadily over the next three months that way it won't be all down to the wire the weekend before we go to Vegas. I got most of my closet cleaned out and now have a decent amount of things that will be going to the Mission at home that Mamaw volunteers at every month. It feels good to clean out your closet sometimes.

Justin is also a very happy boy right now because as of last night, Miss Z, his camaro, is back in comission! We took her for a short ride down to the gas station as she was below E, and he drove her to work today. I'm happy that the other woman is back in our lives now and can only imagine the fun that we're going to have with her :)

No Humping!

2008-05-29T10:29:00.002-04:00

So yesterday I boarded a plane in Louisville that would eventually, through a connection, lead me to the great San Francisco, where Flo and her Brian would be waiting to whisk me away on a mini vacation that I was so excited for. I have to say that the travel went well (I even saw the guy who played Ethan on Lost at the Louisville Airport) and it was so good to finally get to hug Flo for real instead of over google chat :)

The adventure officially started though when I couldn't find my luggage. I had Brian pick up a bag that i thought was mine (identified by the one broken peg) but when we turned it around, the front was torn all to pieces and I said "No, that's definitely not it." After all the baggage had come through and the carosel stopped, I started getting worried. As we were standing in line at the baggage claims office, I ventured over to the collection of unclaimed luggage to look at the tag on that beat up bag and was completely surprised dto find that it was indeed mine. Not only was the front torn all to hell, the zipper was broken all the way around. Fortunately for me (and the airline) nothing had been lost out of the baggage, including the gift I'd brought for my gracious hosts- some good ol' Ky made Makers Mark Whisky.

A lady that worked there immediately asked if that was my luggage, and then said "Hang on, let me get you a replacement." Out comes this awesome piece of luggage with technology I'd never seen before- wheels that roll sideways :) Flo said that she'd been admiring the smaller version of this particular kind, so I told them they could buy it from me and I'd mail it back to them, lol. I filled out some paperwork, was told I might receive a call in a few days and then we were on our way. Brian and I were starving, so Flo placed an order for pizza with a restaurant called Roundtable Pizza, and I'm telling you it was right up there with La Rosas in NKy and Ohio.

I got to meet the doggles, plus one- Mr. Howie Tucker, a four month old beagle whom Flo and Brian are dogsitting for a few days for a friend. He was my cuddle buddy last night, and a cute one at that. Granted, no one can beat Justin, but Howie will be placed in a close second :) If he'd just stop humping Bruno.

The First Week

2008-04-21T15:47:00.019-04:00

My first week of being twenty four went fabulously. Monday, my actual birthday, I was surprised by this lovely bouquet at lunchtime and with an ice cream cake later on that night. Of course Monday and Tuesday both were a bit hectic with last minute tax returns and extensions to help with, but I did a happy dance at 5pm Tuesday evening when I headed out to my car. I picked Justin up at the house and we drove back downtown to meet my coworkers for our annual tax party, which I consider my day late birthday present, complete with an open bar. The food was divine (our whole table ordered tenderloin medallions that came with the best mashed potatoes I've ever eaten and my cheesecake for dessert was simply heaven), the paid entertainment soft in the background and the real entertainment (Carrie's husband Johnathon) hilarious. He's never met a stranger and I think everything that comes out of that man's mouth makes me laugh.

Wednesday night I met up with one of Justin's friends for supper in Georgetown. It'd been a while since I'd given in to half price appetizers at Applebees and she and I both like to eat cheap, so it was the best choice. Her fiance had been out of town for almost two weeks and I wanted to help get her out of the house. We talked about a lot of random things, enjoyed food that was so not healthy for us and parted in time for me to get home to Justin a little early and be lazy with him on our two month anniversary :)

Thursday night, Justin took me out to Hibachi for my birthday dinner just the two of us. The food was wonderful (the chef made a 'volcano' out of rings of onions for us) and of course getting dressed up to go somewhere with the boy is always fun. I'd also gotten my hair cut the day before and was super excited to show off the new do (better pictures to come below)

I took a vacation day on Friday as my birthday gift and to get away from the office I'd spent so much time in the past three months. I got to laze around that morning and play with my new hair style, eat lunch with Justin and then run some errands in the afternoon. We met up with several of the friends around 7 at a quaint little Mexican restaurant in downtown and had kinda meh service, but great food.

After dinner (and Cassie's 44 ounce maragarita), we headed back to Justin's house for some drinks and conversation. The night went well, everyone had a good time and of course the boys broke out Guitar Hero :)

It was all good fun and I'm so thankful for everyone that came out to celebrate! Here's to another year of love, friends and fun!

Too Young to Be This Gray

2008-04-14T13:30:00.004-04:00

Today marks the beginning of my 24th year of life. I went to bed last night not really thinking about the fact that I would indeed be turning another year older at the strike of 7:04am. But when I woke up with my alarm at 7, I couldn't help but be excited for my day.

Apparently though when I was sorting through careers that interested me, I failed to make the connection that in accounting, I would spend the rest of my pre-retirement days not only working on my birthday, but working late and be surrounded by stress levels through the roof co-workers. The joys of Tax Day.

So far, my day has been a decent one. I've been busy at work, but nothing too stressful. I was surprised at lunchtime of a delivery of a dozen roses from my Justin. They were completely unexpected and so very beautiful and have turned into aroma therapy :) He really shouldn't have, but I won't deny the appreciation and smiles that I have for him for doing so.

The week is goign to be a busy one though. Saturday night kicked the festivities off with a great Hibachi dinner wtih Justin's friends to celebrate the group's April birthdays. Good food, good fun, good company. Tuesday night will be the annual office Tax Party, which offers an enjoyable evening to start winding down from the four months of stress, a free meal that's usually amazing and an open bar. Happy Birthday to me! I consider it my birthday gift from the owners :) Wednesday night I'm meeting Justin's friends Brittany in Georgetown for cheap appetizers at Applebee's. Her fiance is out of town for another week and I want to help get her out of their apartment for one night. Thursday night Justin and I are having our couple birthday dinner for me. And Friday we are gathering with my friends for food and drinks at Justin's house afterwards. Sunday will be birthday dinner at my mamaw's for me, my dad and uncle. There's goign to be so much food in the next seven days- ten pounds will be added to my ever expanding thighs :)

It's odd for me to think that I've already been here for 24 years. It's already been six years since I finished high school, two since I finished college. I've been at my "big girl" job for two years this June, my Rav will be a year old on the 21st. Two years since I completely moved away from home. My how time goes so quickly.

Pictures from the busy week to come- I promise :)

It's a Date Night, Baby!

2008-04-04T08:08:00.002-04:00

Although Justin and I spend almost every night together (and by almost I mean I may go to see the girls after work then come back to his house to sleep), I still get excited when we decide to have a date night for just the two of us. Most of our activities revolve around the company of our friends, which is a wonderful thing to me. It's an almost amazing feeling that we do so much with his close friends and mine considering the last chap hardly ever made the effort. Still, knowing that I'm going to have Justin all to myself tonight, sharing longing looks across the table and maybe a bottle of wine later makes my heart happy.

We veered off on every tangent imaginable last night trying to come up with a plan of what to do. We discussed wanted to try something different in the way of food, and since I asked to be taken to a Hibachi place for my birthday, Justin suggested BD's Mongolian Grill. He and the guys from work go there sometimes for lunch and apparently it's very tasty.

I had orginally wanted to something outdoors since the weather has been spring-like temperature wise, but in true spring fashion, it's been raining the past two days. I take credit though in being a good enough Muse that Justin came up with the idea of checking out Comedy Off Broadway, a small comedy club nestled in Lexington Green out by the mall here in Lexington. I've been there once, on the eve of what was the initial decline in mine and Kent's relationship (and it was for Cassie's douchebag of an ex-bf's birthday so of course it was a recipe for disaster). Tonight though, I know will prove to be a much better time from the start. We watched a clip of the comedian that's going to be performing, and he's true to his "good 'ol Southern boy" description. It should be loads of laughs.

The night will wind down with us at the house, probably lazing on the couch or playing Guitar Hero while sharing a bottle of wine. I'll wear my jeans a little longer than I normally do in order to fully get my fill of being cute for the night. I asked him last night what he was wearing and he laughed when he said "I don't think that far ahead" whereas I had just spent part of my work day pondering upon which shirt to wear. I settled on a new retro-ish style shirt I bought a few weeks back and my trusty jeans. It was the reaction to me saying I was going to wear my heels for him that really made my night though: "Well, I think I might really like that." Pictures to come later :)

Wedding Wonderings

2008-04-01T21:54:00.002-04:00

I could tell story after story about how I've dreamed of a gorgeous wedding all my life. And though I have to admit there have been a few people in the past to fill the groom's role in my make believe world, I also have to say in the same breath that I now realize it was more about the actual wedding than what would come after. However, I say with conviction (and pure love) that every moment during my day that I dream of when I'll wear white, it's because of the fact that I want to hurry up and get to that happily ever after with my love :)

With that being said, there are far too many bridal gowns, bridesmaids dresses, flower options, colors and themes to ponder than there are hours in a day, month or year but I have so much fun finding new treasures between my own stumblings and some well placed links in the emails from Flo :) That billing code that I need for not doing actual work at my job really should be for wedding research.

I like the idea of an outdoor ceremony, late spring or early fall so the wonderful Kentucky humidity doesn't cause any of the guests to pass out or sweat off ten pounds during the vows. I hope that I would be blessed with a very subtle, cool breeze as well as a blue sky. Bridesmaids in flowy dresses with small bouquets. The little flower girls standing pretty in their ribbons. A reception designed around our favorite things and a cake that is to die for. So many intricacies that are going to be perfect for us. I cannot wait :)

Well, I suppose an engagement at some point would be a good first step in the process though, lol.

Finding a New Home

2008-03-25T10:33:00.006-04:00

I am that person that considers a pet a part of the family. And no matter how rotten they can be sometimes, it's emotional when the realization comes that your lifestyle doesn't fit the kind that they need and you have to start looking for your baby a new home.

Tessie came into my life late last summer when friends from North Dakota had to move early and couldn't take their cat they had adopted upon arriving in Kentucky with them. Kent and I were still together at the time and had been contemplating the options for pets, and we felt that it was the right thing to do in order to help my friends out, plus fulfill the desire for a pet. Formerly known as Kit-Kat, Tessie took up residence at Kent's apartment and after the first day, really came into her own as the Queen of the Castle.

In November, Kent and I separated and the agreement was made that Tessie would make her home with him most of the time, and I would get her for a week or so out of the month. Because of my roommates' allergies and the fact I would have to pay rent for her, I wasn't able to take her to live with me permanently. As time went by, it became a little more apparent that Kent wasn't completely happy with the "custody" situation, and a couple weeks into January after I'd kept her for a few weeks, a conversation was held within the context of she reminded him too much of us and he didn't want to deal with that. Two months later, I finally arrange for him to keep her for a few weeks and we agreed to start looking for her a new home. With my work schedule and my after work activities, I'm away from the apartment longer than I would like to be concerning Tess. Because of the rampant allergies, she can't chill outside my room that often and being cooped up in one space all day every day isn't exactly conducive for an animal that needs to play every once in a while.

Kent and I have agreed that we won't give her back to the Humane Society. Instead, we'd like to find her a wonderful new adoptive home somewhere around the area. A house that she can run freely about, where the owners are home pretty much every night after work and there are no dogs or small children around to torture Tessie. Since she's declawed, the only thing she'll destroy is a roll of paper towels or toilet paper, and since she's fixed no one woudl have to worry about little kitties running around at any point in time. It breaks my heart to think about her not being around to sleep with me at night, or nuzzle my face when she's being sweet. But I know that I can't fulfill her needs right now either. Such a horrible feeling. But here's hoping I find that perfect person/family for her soon.

My Bucket List

2008-03-06T11:56:00.003-05:00

For those of you who have seen the movie "The Bucket List", then you know what I'm talking about. If not, it's a list of things that you want to do/accomplish/witness/say before you kick the bucket. Although it may be a little premature for me to really be calling my list a true bucket list, it's definitely a list of events and actions that I want to accomplish in life. I have to admit that aside from the movie, I was also inspired by Flo's friend Corrine's blog "101 Goals in 1001 Days." I myself don't have a set number of goals, nor do I have a specific timeframe in which to complete my list since I figure I'll be adding to it as time goes by. But so far, this is what I have:

1-Mail one package a month to deployed soldiers
2-See the sunrise on a different continent
3-Fly across the ocean
4-Take my mom to see the ocean
5-Make a scrapbook of an important event
6-Talk the family into an updated family portrait
7-Make a quilt for a loved one
8-Build a sandcastle
9-Make a baby smile
10-Get my conceal and carry license
11-Watch all the movies on my 'want to see' list
12-Meet someone famous
13-See a live performance of Phantom of the Opera
14-Attend a Broadway show
15-See New York City during Christmas-time
16-Read all the books on my 'want to read' list
17-Take a donkey/horse ride into the Grand Canyon
18-See the Aurora Borealis
19-Make a family tree
20-Hold a koala cub
21-Visit at least 2 of the 7 new wonders of the world
22-Kiss in the rain
23-Go on a cruise
24-Give my future husband a stack of letters written to him during our courtship
25-Snorkel off an island
26-Go parasailing
27-Write a thank you note to someone who greatly influenced/helped me in life

I've been thinking of at least one more thing to add every few days. Hopefully I'll be able to start marking some off very soon. It's always the little things in life that give me hope :)

Silly girl

2008-03-05T09:42:00.002-05:00

While reading through blogs of others and just letting my mind wander, I finally realized that I am a self-torturer. Admittedly, that sounds a little masichistic, but it really has nothing to do with physical harm. I simply have a habit of teasing myself with things that I know can't or probably won't ever happen, can't or won't ever have, or just flat out say "I want that but sorry about my own luck." And the more I've thought about it, the more silly it seems to me, lol.

I'll purposely walk down the holiday candy aisle at Walmart to peruse the colorful wrappers and packaging, pointing out my favorites. But with each chocolate bar, jelly bean, cadberry egg, fruit filled candy that makes my mouth water, I remind myself that I don't need it and walk on with a little drool on my chin.

Knowing one day I'll want a dog to accompany me in a new home, I seek out websites of dog rescue organizations and read the profiles of all these wonderful animals that are looking for forever homes. I pick out the ones I myself would adopt, read through the adoption procedure and policies list. Take a gander at the application. Ponder what the possibility of becoming a foster parent for the organization would be, and then sigh as I click the X in the corner of the screen.

I don't go shopping very often. Well, let me clarify- I don't actually buy things like clothes, books, cds, movies, etc., very often. But I window shop constantly. There are always those shirts or dresses that you woudl love to have but when not on sale I cringe at the price I woudl pay. Hell, I'm such a tightwad that most of the time they are on sale I still won't pay what they're asking for. Still, I can't resist the dressing room, finding that perfect, figure flattering article of clothing and then shaking my head as I put it back on the rack.

In my life, it's usually all about saying no to myself and yes to other people. Items that I refuse to pay a certain amount for myself I wouldn't think twice about paying if it were a gift to someone else. I say in my head "You shouldn't buy that because you need to save money" but if there's a person in my life that's a little down on their luck, I'll do whatever possible in my being to help them. I guess in one way that's looked at as selflessness. One of the most important qualities to have in a relationship of any kind. Then again, when you're by yourself I guess I need to learn it's all right to be a little selfish from time to time. Maybe I will get some Cadberrys :)

When you least expect them...

2008-03-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

I normally don't blog publicly about my personal life in specific terms, or relationships within, because I still have some reoccurring trust issues from the past. However, there are just some things that are best said in a proclaimation-esque style :)

I've recently found myself a part of a new relationship. After my last one ended, I had no intentions of seriously dating for a good long while. Partly because of why things ended, and partly because of where my feelings still were at that time. I was the one who made the decision to initiate the break, then the weeks of soul searching and mind wandering, and then the final statement of that I was happy where I was being with just myself and probably would be for a long time. It was never because I didn't love him anymore, I'll always have love for him. There was just something not right in my head and heart about us staying together in sickness and health 'til death did we part.

A few months later, I found myself in a peculiar situation. Despite the fact that I was deeply rooted in the feeling of wanting to be alone for quite a long time, fate seemingly had stepped in. After learning that a few of Kent's (my friend Emily's husband) friends from work were going to start running after work twice a week, Emily and I decided we would do the same. And thus the story began. I was first introduced to Justin while wearing sweats and a long sleeved tshirt, soon to be joined by a hoodie and a tobogan. He looked familiar to me, and was actually wearing a Georgetown hoodie himself. Turns out he had graduated two years ahead of me in college.

We spoke a little that night, and the next day I asked Kent for his last name and "researched" his facebook and myspace. A one line note sent through myspace turned into a few weeks of long emails passed between us and eventually an impromptu dinner and movie outing. He knew of the Kent situation, and one night we talked about how he was interested in me but wanted me to know that it was on my own time. Valentine's Day came around and to my surprise I got a package that contained these

It was the first time I'd ever been sent flowers by someone, let alone someone that I wasn't officially dating yet. We had dinner later that night t a locally owned restaurant and it was the most simple, yet happiest Valentine's Day I've ever had.

So now here we are at the beginning of March. Justin and I made things official on February 16th, with my friend Cassie there to give us her blessings.

It already seems as if we've known each other for so much longer than we actually have. And although I've been very happy in past relationships, I have never been this happy this quickly. I'm hoping it's a good sign for what's to come between the two of us. He was met with open arms by my family this past weekend, had good conversation with my dad, and my mom whispered her approval in my ear as she was hugging me goodbye at the end of the night. I do hope that we continue to travel down the same path as we have so far cause my oh my how the boy makes me smile :)

Welcome to my little world of dorkiness

2008-02-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

Admittedly, it's usually the small things in life that make me smile, excite me and make me happy. Sequels to movies, finding a quarter on the ground, a musician coming out with a new cd after a long hiatus, a warm towel just out of the dryer. However, it's only a handful of those things that truly make me a dork. And here would be a few for the list.

Financial planning. When someone starts talking about wanting to be able to save money or how to budget their bills and expenses, I automatically start making mental notes in my head of ways they could do just that. In fact, most times I jokingly say that I'd be more than willing to help set up a budget, but really I'm not joking. I love to sit down with a set amount of money and figure out a way that a person can pay off what they need to each month, have enough to buy the things that maybe they just want for the sake of wanting, and can sock away some money into their savings account each month as well.

Reunion tours. I love music of all ages. And I love it when the classics who have parted ways or just grown out of their genre (boy bands for example) decide to come back for one last hoorah. I'm glad to see that the Backstreet Boys put out another album last year (and can only hope that maybe one day NSync will do just one more together). But nothing can top the one definite and one rumored announcement that have come out in the news in the past two weeks. The first: it's being rumored that the New Kids on the Block are going to be doing a reunion tour this year. Their website is up and running again, albeit nothing more at this point than their Hangin' Tough video and a teaser video set to a sample of a song they recorded back in November. But I am so excited at the prospect. Don't think I won't be buying tickets the day they go on sale for a show close to home. And secondly, Cher will begin a three year stint at Caesar's in Las Vegas beginning in May. I've always wanted to visit Vegas in the first place, but to know that I can go see Cher live in concert makes me that much more motivated to do it soon. I love that woman. And Jack's impressions of her on Will and Grace.

English papers. At one point while growing up, I wanted to be several variations of an english major- novelist, journalist, editor. And although none of those quite came to fruition, I still enjoy editing a good paper for a college class when I get the chance. Kent has had me enlisted as his queen of revision for some time now, and I recently got the chance to help Dre compose a letter that will hopefully be her saving grace for graduating in May. There's just always been something special to me abotu sitting down with a pencil and a fresh printout of a project and just seeing how much I could elaborate on something. Even if it wasn't my own work. And of course point out all those "then/than, your/you're, its/it's" mistakes :)

And of course, there's always the little things that you only think about when someone mentions them. The fact that I now punch in phone number incorrectly because the keypad is arranged differently than a 10 key calculator, or that when I offered to go to the grocery store with Emily I got excited when I said "I have a great little calculator I got for Christmas that you can use." The fact that i could spend hours just looking at different kinds of material for all the quilts I want to make in my mind, how I like to arrange my movies and cd's in alphabetical order, and how I always look forward to stuff like Rock Band and DDR. I heart being a dork sometimes :)

Love and the marriage

2008-02-06T11:42:00.001-05:00

For as long as I can remember, I've always had the big plans of getting married one day. Of course the first draft of that plan would have put me being called by a new last name for about a year now, and obviously that thought was thwarted somewhere along the way.

Even up until the last four or five months, I still had that vision of the perfect man, wedding, house, animals, and kids in my head, but something suddenly changed. I think it may have been my biological clock being kicked out of the driver's seat by my subconscious saying that I haven't yet lived all I should independently. Soley independent, to be more specific.

It's not that I don't feel like I can achieve goals that I set long ago, or even just yesterday if there's a significant other in my life with some sort of permanancy. Or that I won't be able to travel and see the places and friends I've been planning for so long. Or that I'll somehow lose my ability to be spontaneous and just go with the wind when the moments are right. But I do know that there comes a certain point in life when dealing with that special someone you have to start making decisions based on the two of you collectively and not just yourself anymore. No waking up on Friday mornings to say to yourself "I think I'll book a ticket out to Seattle for two weeks from today to go visit John" without having to consult anyone to see if there are other plans or hesitations. No staying out until all hours of the night at your friends' houses without calling someone to say where you are so that they don't worry. Or blow up your phone all night.

As I was explaining to someone the other night, I wonder at this point if my independence is going to hinder me from allowing someone else to have 100 percent of me. If I'm goign to be forever gunshy of making that final lasting commitment for the fact that it's no longer just about me, it's about us. I don't say that in a selfish manner, as if I don't want to share my life with someone else. I say it in a control manner. I don't ask permission. I don't like being restricted in who my friends can be. I want to know how much money is being spent where and what's set aside for various expenses/savings/disposable income. I just don't like not knowing what's going on in any given situation. Which ultimately means I hate being vulnerable.

I know that with time, my heart will be healed and more keen on letting people in. That my insecurities about myself and my future will be gone. And that all the issues I come up with inside my head to just make life so much more complicated than it should be will subside. Until then, I suppose I'll just ask for some patience of others, and to not give up on me. Independent lady or not :)

Ah, those Mannings

2008-02-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

I preface this post by saying that I am a Bengals fan first and foremost. Carson Palmer and TJ Houshmandzadeh will always be my top picks. However, I cannot deny Peyton Manning the fact that he's one of the best quarterbacks out there, in my opinion. With this said, i would have rather seen him and the Colts in last night's matchup, however I'm happy that it was his brother Eli that was able to kick Tom Brady's ass. Granted, it's not like it was a blowout by any means, but I'll call a win an ass kicking if I so please, three points up or not.

I admit that I didn't watch a lot of the game due to a combination of peopel standing in my line of sight and just conversation with meg, Dre and Michael. I didn't even see a lot of the commercials actually. And I think this is partially because there weren't really that many that caught my eye long enough to keep me watching. The Dalmation training the horse, Justin Timberlake, and the Dortios commercial are about the only three (well besides the Cashews one that was just disturbing to me) that I fully remember. Budweiser definitely did not have an equal to last years "Rock, Paper, Scissor for the last Bud Light" and then the guy gets hit over the head with a rock.

It really comes down to the fact that Super Bowl Sunday gives friends a chance to get together and spend quality time bonding over football, food, beer pong, pool, whatever. Although Meg and I are convinced that it shoudl be Super Bowl Saturday that way so many people don't have to call in to work on Monday because they've got a hangover :)

My Own Reality

2008-01-31T10:02:00.000-05:00

Although there are only a few shows that I watch religiously, I am a self-admitted addict to reality shows. I think that it all started back in the day with rerun marathons of the earlier seasons of MTV's "The Real World" (which I have to say were probably the better ones), and has just progressed as new writers and producers have went above and beyond trying to outdo one another. The Real World and Road Rules turned into Laguna Beach and The Hills. Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, Tila Tequila, The Surreal Life, America's Next Top Model, Miami Ink, Deadliest Catch, So You Think You Can Dance- they've all been on my must see list at some point in time. Reasons behind viewing these reality shows vary from person to person, and from show to show. I watch programs such as So You Think You Can Dance to sit in awe of the contestants talents, their abilities and passion, whereas The Real World and The Hills fills my weekly quote for drama and just pure guilty pleasure. As I watch seven complete strangers fight for three straight months over who can be the bitchiest, the laziest, the most sexual, the most shocking, I remind myself of how normal my life is compared to so many others. How I really do work through my problems in an adult manner and don't have to resort to yelling obscenities until I'm blue in the face to make the other party feel so beneath themselves.

With this said, I think that we (as in Apt 7) need our own reality show :) Three girls, two college graduates with big girl jobs, one graduating in May, living in a three bedroom apartment with 2 boyfriends and occassional male visitors for the non-attached roomie. Plus the various friends of all who wander in and out throughout the week. Granted, we're not entertaining 24/7 but surely to goodness we could provide at least one season of drama and hilarity. We have what I like to call an "open communication" system in the apartment in which every person that lives there knows what's going on with the others, and we talk about it. Bathroom habits, sex lives, family issues, menstrual cycles, whatever. One roomie is the queen of living in awkward moments, another in a familial taboo relationship. I think that we would be popular :)