Life Happens...

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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!