My Sister

Ok, so I know that my sister may or may not murder me for posting this picture for all the world to see (although, I don't understand why... I mean, she got rid of those glasses ages ago), it's absolutely one of my favorites of the two of us, and seeing as how I felt the need to write a little post devoted to her, it seemed only fitting to use this picture :). Wow, was that the longest sentence ever, or what?

Anyway, moving on... She's been on my mind a lot recently, and as such, I feel compelled to write about her in my blog (seeing as how I live vicariously through my blog now). Her name is Diana, Diana Rose, and she's beautiful. Growing up, I was always totally jealous of her, and for one reason or another, she of me. As a result (of that and a couple other things), we were not friends growing up (which is part of why I love this picture. It's one of the few that I have of us as children). In fact, we basically just pretended that the other didn't exist. Anyway, when she got married and moved out, it was like a veil was lifted. Suddenly, I realized that I actually enjoyed spending time with her. She's funny and smart and just plain fun! Now, I'm happy to call her my best friend. She has four fabulous kids (and she's absolutely one of the best moms I know), she's a SAHM, and she has so much to teach me.

And that is what I have to say about my sister :)

Just Another Manic Monday

Ok, well, this weekend was great! A little hectic and some drama, but overall, wonderful. KD's wedding was gorgeous. I don't even have words to describe it (and would you believe it, I'm going to have to try, cause I did not get a single picture. Shame on me). They got married in the garden of a beautiful manor in Mississippi. It was dusk, candles lit the way down the aisle, and each bridesmaid carried a wrought iron and amber-colored glass lantern. It was raining, not like a torrential down-pour, but big plops every so often. Her dress was perfectly her. The whole thing was absolutely magical. I can't think of a better way to describe it.
The reception was in the manor as well as out in the garden. There was a beautiful gazebo with twinkle lights and vintage fabric hangings set up for dancing. It was perfect.
Anyway, KD and Justin went strait from the reception to New Orleans where they hopped a plane for NY where they now reside (YAY, another friend up there :)). And, one of her bridesmaids is moving to DC in a couple weeks, so I'm hoping to get to know her a little better.
So that was the wedding, it made for a long day (the drive was 3.5 hours one-way, and I went there and back on Saturday), but it was oh so worth it. It's kinda funny, I never realize how much I miss KD until I see her, and then I can't imagine why I haven't spoken to her in so long, you know? I'm hoping to change that.
Sunday, a bunch of Josh's (and my) friends came over for BBQ. His friend Daryl is a grill-master, so the food was amazing. Plus, it was the last time that Josh is going to really get to hang out with any of these people, so we really wanted to have a little party.
Daryl and his wife Holly have a puppy named Roxy, so they brought her over to play with the boys. Josh's friends Alison and Fred brought over Titus (their min-pin puppy), so the night was interrupted randomly with puppies playing, running, and barking.
Overall, it was a good weekend :) Long, but good. The end :)



P.S. Thank you all so much for your kind words :) You made me blush! I'm really into gifts, not just getting a good one, but getting a perfect one and making the package itself a part of that. I was really happy with the way this one turned out :)

Because I Know...

Because I know that you need to see it, because I know that you lost sleep last night, wanting to see it, I give you, the final results of my gift log (as I call it in my head) as well as an added bonus of a couple "work in progress" shots :)

Here you see a project just waiting to be started...

Ok seriously, I have some major mod-podge skills. Seriously.

Ok, here's the completed outside...

Here's the completed top (it has rings... like a tree... hahaha... ok, well, I thought it was cute..)

And here's a shot of the inside. I threw together a dish-towel for them so that I could pad the wine a little. Notice the gift card hanging from the neck?

And up close (I swear it says McNamara(s)).

So there you have it. I know that you will now all sleep a little easier knowing how this turned out ;)

Feel Good Friday

For this week's Feel Good Friday, Elizabeth has chosen the theme "Wedded Bliss". I have many happy memories and moments from my wedding, but I'll try to limit myself :) And I'll add pictures (because I'm a rebel)
Ok...

• The invitations... I know it seems odd maybe, but our invitations were probably one of the most special and perfect things about our wedding. They were designed by my friend KD (see post from earlier today: "I Need You!") who also made them all (they were screen printed) by hand for us. After we recieved them, I sealed some of them with a red wax seal with the claddaugh, and some of them I sealed with a feather a la "The Count of Monte Cristo" (movie version). They were perfect, we recieved comments from everybody. (Surprisingly, I don't have a picture of our invites, but don't you worry, I will take one and post it just for you :))
  
• Getting my hair and makeup done with my two best friends and my sister (none of whom had met any of the others until that day)... All three got along great, and it was so fun seeing three people who mean so much to me laughing and talking with each other.









• My dress... it was perfect. There's no other word for it.
  
• The look on Josh's face as I walked down the aisle...
  
• The tears in Josh's eyes throughout the ceremony...
  
• My nieces an nephew in their sweet little dresses and tux
• Our song... While we are both totally horrible dancers, and (I can be honest) our first dance was pretty awkward, our song was perfect. It was Measure of Love by TJ McCloud. It so perfectly embodied our relationship. We were long distance for the first year and a half of our dating relationship (well, we were together for like two weeks, and then long distance, anyway...). One of the lines is "yes I got your letter, and yes it would be better if the ocean was my backyard. Then I could build a sailboat of postcards and envelopes and flow right back to your arms." And then (Josh's favorite), "I can't decide what I miss more your kiss or your smile". (Josh always said he missed my kiss more because when we kissed, I smiled, so he got both out of one).






(Wow, can we say "Terrible Posture"! I don't know why I couldn't seem to stand up strait.)

• Our cake... It was red velvet and fabulous.









• My grandparents being there... They live in Missouri, and only ever visited our family once (we lived in Texas, and would visit them about every other year (we're not a close family in that way)). But they came down just for our wedding. It meant so so much to me.

And this... just because...

Wow, ok, I could go on and on and on, but I'll leave it at that for today. Anyway, Happy Feel Good Friday!

I Need You!

Ok... so here it is... one of my oldest and dearest friends is getting married tomorrow. She (and her hubby-to-be) is a graphic designer (read, has great taste), and she also happens to be the person who designed and hand screen-printed our invites for our wedding (as her gift to us). Anyway, seeing as how she didn't really need me to do anything for the wedding (especially seeing as how I live a state away), I'm giving her a normal wedding present (nice bottle of wine and a gift card).
Moving on... I decided that I wanted to do something fun and different as far as wrapping goes. I didn't want to stick with the normal white and/or silver and/or gold. I just didn't. So I found this really sweet cylinder gift box perfect for a bottle of wine (Hobby Lobby, 50% off). It was white, and intended to be decorated. So I started thinking about all of the things I could do, and suddenly it came to me like a lightening bolt of inspiration...
Ok, maybe I won't tell you what my inspiration was, because I need your unbiased opinons. Anyway, what I need from you is... after looking at the pictures, tell me if it's really as cute as it is in my head. I need you for your honesty here. My feelings will not be hurt. This is one of those situations where honesty is necessary. It's like if you're out with your friend and she has a mondo booger, you got to tell her. It may be awkward, but it's for the greater good. Savvy?
Oh! and one more thing, the wedding is an outdoors, very bohemian, the bridesmaids will be in cute little brown dresses, so it does kinda fit...
Also, it's not finished yet, so ignore the bottom which hasn't been done yet as well as the spots that need to be touched up... Ok... go!











Now, seriously, honest opinions. If you don't want to come across as mean to all everyone else in blogland, email me. Seriously. I will not be offended. I just don't want to look like a tool slapping that down on the gift table, and then getting weird looks. You know?

Simple Pleasures

Today I'm taking a little time to enjoy the everyday things in life that make me smile :) I'll share them with you too...

I like them best when they're like this, sweet and quiet.

I have a special place in my heart for morning glories :) I finally got up and took a picture while they were still mostly open.

Who needs a garden when your yard is a jungle?

I love sunlight. This is one of my many attempts at capturing the way the sun can turn even a simple day into something gorgeous.

The end :)

When a Good Rant Goes Bad

I'm a ranter. I just am. Sometimes I try to get away from it, but I just always come back. There are days when I just need to vent in the form of a nice little rant. Tuesdays are often those days. At work, my only real female interaction comes with Brooke, my fabulous co-worker. We both work for the safety department, and she is wonderful. Anyway, she works (generally) Tuesday through Friday. Therefore, when I come to work on Tuesday, I have had three full days to build up a nice little summarized rant for her (and she does the same, it's a nice symbiotic relationship).
Anyway, as a ranter, I have grown rather adept at going over each detail of whatever it is that I'm going on about, and then moving on with life. For the most part, I am able to vent and release. It's healthy. Were I not to have such sessions, everything would remain bottled, and then I would explode, cliche, cliche, cliche... So, as I was saying, on a normal day, we are both able to share, we are able to get everything out there, and we're good. Brooke is often my safe place (that sounds awkward). What I mean by that is... if I'm frustrated with work, she totally knows what I'm talking about because she works here too; if I'm frustrated with the puppies, she understands... Well, you get the idea. She's able to let me rant without internalizing it. It's good :)
Moving on, the point of this is... today is Tuesday. So I went to her office this morning, and I began my rant. Now, among other things, this particular morning, I was talking about something that Josh had done. It wasn't anything serious, and it was really a little more funny and exasperating than anything. The thing is, though, as I was talking, all of my fears about moving (my fears that Josh isn't going to adjust, that he's not going to like it, etc... he's lived in small city Louisiana his whole life. He thinks he knows exactly what DC is going to be like, but I'm nervous that he's going to get there and it's not going to be how he thinks at all, and he's going to feel out of place, and, well, anyway, you get the idea) suddenly started colliding with my rant. Immediately, I began to get annoyed. Though Josh has not yet done anything for me to seriously get hot and bothered by, he has mentioned a couple things that he's thinking of doing before and/or after we move. Things which (I think) aren't really helpful or practical. Sometimes Josh throws around ideas of things to get that I don't think will be nearly as important or realistic once we move as they would be here where we have a good sized house, a two-car car-port, lots of land to mow, etc... ANYWAY, today, as I was venting, all of these highly unlikely scenarios came flooding into my head. I know that though Josh may talk about doing things, he really is pretty realistic, so I know we won't go through with most things that he talks about, but that did not help me.
Suddenly, I was pretty annoyed with him, for things that he hasn't even done yet. Am I the only one who does this? I was frustrated with him for making bad decisions that he hasn't made yet. I got so worked up by the possibility of him doing something that would frustrate me if he actually did it, that I finally had to stop myself, and come back to reality.
All that to say, am I the only one who does this? Does anybody else ever get annoyed by something that hasn't yet happened but could happen, and just thinking about how you would feel if it did happen is enough to get you all riled up? Maybe I'm the only one...

So I woke up this morning, came to work, and realized something. After that long, tragic post, I've done nothing. And then I hung my head a little. I mean, I'll be honest, I spent the first day waiting for people to comment on what I felt deep within me was an extremely commentable post. And then, nothing.
I would like to blame my silence on Josh. I find that he is often my scapegoat, and I can almost always justify it ;). Anyway, he was off this weekend (which is great, as it means he's a much happier boy to be around). Now, you may think to yourself, "so what if he was off?" "what does that have to do with your abandonment of blogland?". Well, here's how it is... our tv doubles as our computer moniter (I swear I'll post a picture and a full explanation soon (just as soon as Josh goes back to work)). I'd like to say that we're a family that views the tv more as a giant dust magnet than as a piece of necessary furniture, but in all honesty, that's not really us. Anyway, because of Josh's working schedule, he often has a hard time getting on a "normal" day-time schedule when he's off. Also, he likes to, umm..., relax for a good chunk of his time when he's off. To do this, he'll watch tv, watch a movie, or try to convince the computer to do whatever it is that he's decided it should do and isn't. Otherwise, he wants us to go out to a movie (this weekend we went to the matinee showing of Batman (seriously, $5 for both of us to see it, how could we not?); I pretty much loved it. I'm kinda a superhero junkie. That and our first date was to see Batman Begins, so... anyway) or he'll come with me when I go grocery shopping, or some other such errand that takes both of us out of the house. Do you see where I'm going with this? Mostly, it means that when Josh is off, I'd better find things to do around the house that don't involve tv or a computer (most of the time this involves laundry and a book (by the way, for everybody who cares, I finished Harry Potter 5 yesterday. I'll start on 6 today... I know what's going to happen, but I still can't help getting totally into it and eager to start the next one)).
All of this to say, I'm sorry to have abandoned all of you for the weekend. It's Josh's fault.

A Letter

Dear Happy Bloglanders (what is a bloglander? sounds like space ship...ok, ok...) Bloggie Friends,
Though you may not know it yet (but that's ok, because I'm about to inform you), I owe you an apology. It's like this...
After thinking about and agonizing over my WWWAT post for the last week (you think I jest, but it seems that as my real life is somewhat unexciting, I have found that my blog is now the most exciting thing in my world more often than not), finally, it was Wednesday, and I could post my fabulously perfect images (not so much the smoothies... but I was pretty proud of that sushi and my beloved books). So I posted as soon as I got to work this morning (don't judge me that I use my work computer to maintain my blog-life). Oh, I just knew that I would get some comments. I mean, let's be honest, I kinda live for comments. And WWWAT day is one day that I can pretty much always count on at least some really sweet notes written just for me.
So I waited an hour (I am ashamed, but I feel that I can be honest with you. I am a compulsive blog-checker at work (especially on WWWAT day and It's Real Life days). And I checked my blog. Nothing. Not a single comment. "Well, that's ok, I mean... it's only 8:30... maybe nobody's up yet..." And yet, no matter how long I waited, it seemed that nobody wanted to comment. "Is it because my summertime post isn't as exciting as I think?!" "Am I the only bloggie who loves Harry Potter enough to be completely content re-reading them so often?" I was in the depths of despair. Then, I hang my head and say it, I was sad, and I blamed all of you. I thought, "Fine, they have neglected me in my time of need. Clearly, they feel no need to return the happy thoughts that I try so hard to grace them with. It's ok. I don't need them." Now, of course I knew within my heart that this last bit is untrue. I do need you. As much as this blog is for me, I have recently become a real-life blog comment junkie. I need a support group. Anyway, back to my tale... So I was sad, and feeling a little un-loved, and wondering why none of you wanted to be my friend.
So I left work, went home, made Josh dinner, and sent him off to work. I sat down to watch Emma. I turned the computer on (we use our tv as our computer monitor and the dvd drive on the computer is our dvd player.... it's actually a really cool setup. I'll share it with you sometime.), and lo and behold, I had a new mail message, from Jessica over at Farm Fresh. It went a little something like this...

"I found I couldn't comment on your post. I love how you associate books w/ certain smells/ times.-I do a little of that too--like I read several of the Left Behind books the summer I went to San Fransisco, so I always think of that summer.
I'm a re-reader too, but only certain books--like The Mitford series or Lonesome Dove.
And I love a good smoothie!"

Oh, I was ashamed. I immediately went to my blog, clicked on the comments button, and... nothing. Somehow between the html and the blogger draft, and my obsessive need for comments, my comment link had stopped working. It was then that I realized, it's not that nobody loves me, it's that my blog wasn't working properly. So I thought to myself, "I sure do owe them all an apology". Because I know, deep within me, that you would not all have decided to neglect me in my time of need (well... it's kinda a need). I am sorry fellow bloggies that I doubted you.
The End.

Wordless Wednesday with a Twist

Yay! It's Wordless Wednesday again :) This week's theme is Summertime/July.

I give you... SMOOTHIES! A good CherryPeach smoothie always screams summer to me.

***Please forgive the rather messy pile of recipes and cookbooks


This picture is terrible, but I couldn't resist showing off my super fun smoothie glasses.

Next up... Sushi! It's just such a summer food (I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll definitely eat it in the winter, but it's just so good on warm summer evening)

Next... it may not make sense to anyone but me, but Harry Potter needs to be included here. You see, I am a book re-reader. I understand that there are many people in the world who are not, but I am. Also, I associate books with seasons, smells, foods, emotions, etc... For instance, Little Women is a Christmas book for me, and I like to burn a cinnamon candle while reading The Hobbit. Anyway, I started reading them the summer the second book came out (just before the release date), and since then, I've read them every summer that a new one comes out (and sometimes a summer inbetween just because).

So there you have it, it's not terribly exciting, but there it is... Although, it is worth noting that I had a picture of the temperature display in my car reading 101*. If nothing else, to me, summer means 100+ temperatures. I cannot imagine a summer with anything less. Alas, my photo is not wishing to appear at the moment. Perhaps I will need to make an addendum later...

Happy summer to you all!

Advanced Warning

As you may (or may not) have noticed, here lately, my blog has changed clothes on an increasingly frequent basis. Though I would love to say that I was simply searching for my perfect template, I believe that that would be false. You see, I am an extremely antsy person. I crave diversity and cannot stand monotony. I am the girl who changes her ringtone and phone theme at least every two weeks (which is fine seeing as how I make my own ringtones, so it's not like I'm spending money. I simply decide what I would like my new tone to be, find the cd with that song, and make the tone. BAM! new ringtone). When I was living at Southwestern, I was in a dorm, and so I would simply rearrange my furniture approximately every other month. Also, my walls were so covered in random objects (read: pizza box tops, napkins, quotes, candy wrappers, anything that I saw and was entertained by) that I could easily rearrange and replace those on a whim. Since being in our house, we don't have the freedom to often rearrange our furniture. Our living room is pretty small, as is our bedroom, so realistically, there are only about 1.5 variations available for our furniture. So I've been getting a little restless, in need of shaking things up.
Thus enters my blog. One of the wonderful things about blogging (to me) is that you can truly express yourself through not only your writing, but also through the overall look and feel of your blog. I have recently gotten fairly adept at playing with the html codes to create different effects (and I'm also an awesome googler, so I find how-tos for pretty much everything html related), so I've been playing more and more with various blog templates. Also, American in Norway tipped me off to the awesome site scrapblog.com. So, with that, plus my handy-dandy Photoshop, I've begun delving into more advanced templates and html (as opposed to finding free templates online and tweaking them for my own purposes).
Anyway, all of that to say, if you love and need a blog which is quickly identifiable by its template, if you don't like change, then you will probably not enjoy my blog :( I can't promise anything, but I would be very surprised if I did not go through multiple templates for the next month or so as I search for the one which I might want to keep for a while.
Thus endeth my spiel on blog templates.

YAY!!!

I'm so excited!!!

Josh's recruiter just called him, they're all ready to swear him in!

We've been waiting the last three or four months for them to get everything in order. Basically, we've been stting around waiting for this. It's been kinda frustrating. We know that we're supposed to be moving this fall, that Josh is supposed to leave at the end of August for COT, all of these things that are looming in the near future, but we've been unable to really plan for any of it. Since he wasn't officially "in", we couldn't contact Andrews AFB in Maryland, we couldn't get details about anything because he wasn't in the system. Now he will be!

I'm so happy. This is the next step on an adventure that I'm more than excited about.

Anyway, back to my list of things to do today... I just needed to share.

YAY!

***EDIT*** Josh is now officially an Air Force Lieutenant! (did I spell that correctly? Oh dear... I'm going to need to learn a whole new vocabulary... YAY!)

Determination

Today I will...

Complete the finishing touches on the Training Matrix for work
Fight the urge to buy and inhale a pack of Oreo Snacksters from the vending machine
Catch up on the dishes
Enjoy Josh's night off
Be productive

Is it wrong that I completely %100 purchased this particular bottle of wine merely because of its name (and that I fully intend on trying the version with the green spot next time)? I don't think that it is. I mean, %95 of the time I'm pretty good at choosing good wine (and I'm adamantly against screw-top lids), but for this particular bottle, I was more than willing to make an exception. That is all.

A Momentous Occasion

Yay, it's Thursday! That means it's time for Real Life again. This weeks theme was "Momentous Occasion". We were asked to look back in our photo archives and find pictures of a moment in our lives that was truly, well, momentous. Now, because I'm a rebel, I chose two (well, really kinda three, but two of them go hand in hand, so I like to think of them as one).
The first (and second) involve Rome. Though it was not a single occasion, I feel that that time in my life has had a huge impact on who I am. So, without further ado (I just really love the word "ado"), I give you, my first look at the Roman Forum on my very first day in Rome...



And... our last gelato on our last day...

Now... My second (err... third?), of course, my wedding day. First, my dad walking me down the aisle...

... and Josh and me taking communion...

... and our first kiss as man and wife...

So there you have it! My Real Life and a couple moments which have defined it :)

Man Eater Update

So... two things... first... I never realize how long-winded I am until I write a post like that last one. Two... an update on the Man Eater...
If you recall, three months ago (pre-blooming) it looked like this...



Today it looks like this...



Sad, I know. It has indeed shrunk (well, according to Josh, technically it hasn't shrunk so much as it hasn't maintained its size. Whatever).

AND, as if shrinking weren't enough... It's now majorly leaning...



I swear the camera was perfectly perpendicular to the ground for this shot. So... due to the obvious pain that the poor thing was in (as well as the threat that it posed to our carport (and my car)), Josh put it out of its misery today...



The End.