Barf Songs

Nearly everyone I know as a million Christmas songs that are their favorites. I have just one. One song and that's the only one I like to hear during Christmas time. It's December 9th and I'm already growing tired of the Christmas songs. I tried to force myself to like them by downloading a lot them, and I like them, but I'm already tired of them.

Here's my favorite songs right now with my one Christmas song:

1) Maps- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2) Bad Romance -Lady Gaga (don't judge me. It's a good song.)
3) Heartless -The Fray
4) Ghosts -Laura Marling
5) I Gave You All -Mumford & Sons
6) Awake My Soul -Mumford & Sons
7) Pistol -Dustin Kensure
8) Jesus, Saviour Pilot Me -Robby Seay Band
9) You Hold Me Now -Hillsong
And my favorite Christmas song of all time...
10) Hard Candy Christmas -Dolly Parton

Almost all of those songs are pretty chill. They're mellow and full of hearty lyrics except for the Lady Gaga one which is really upbeat and fun. I love them. I used to get in this mood in the Spring, but I think it's gone backwards and now it's my mood for Winter. It's like this looking-out-of-my-window-and-daydreaming-all-the-time, kind of mood. Nothing is wrong. I just feel like being mellow.

And you may be wondering why in the word is "Hardy Candy Christmas" her favorite Christmas song? I'll tell you why- Because a few Christmases ago it was a very hard season for me spiritually, mentally, and physically. I came across that song by accident and it described everything that I feeling in those months. It said everything that I wanted to say, but couldn't find the words. It's a sappy song, no doubt, but I can't help but sing right along with Dolly when I hear it. I used that song as a reminder of how far I've come and the places that I never want to revisit. Those indescribable feelings have long since passed, and sometimes I put on that song to laugh at myself for being so foolish. I think it's so important to laugh at yourself.
So there you have it.

Cheers.

It's Official!

I can finally say something now! I hate having to keep my mouth shut about things I'm really excited about. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with a baby or a puppy. Although, I would love either! I'm probably better suited to be a puppy's mother right now than a baby's mother.

The big news...

I'm going to repaint! Am I crazy? I wanted to wait until I got the ok from Jared until I broadcasted it. It won't happen for a little bit, but it is going to happen and I could not be more thrilled. I just cannot stand the paint colors we chose. It's unfortunate that I make impulsive decisions. Now, I know what I want. I couldn't put my finger on what exact decorating style I wanted, but now after spending countless hours researching different things I finally know what I like and don't like. It's a hard, ok! And I know that your house is your calling card so that puts a lot of pressure on a person who does not like pressure or expectations!

The three lucky rooms that are getting the makeover are:

The kitchen

The open cabinets are staying. The biggest change in here is going to be the color and walls. The color is a golden squash color, but it will soon be a different color. (I haven't decided on the color yet.) Second change in the kitchen is going to be the paneling on the walls. I'm going to cover over the paneling so it's a flat wall then I'm going to take beadboard and put in on the bottom half of the walls and maybe the lower cabinet doors. And hopefully I'll think of more ideas while I'm in the process.

Now onto the TV Room

The biggest change in this room is going to be the color. I'm planning on using variations of the same color in all the rooms I'm changing. This gray completely clashes with the golden squash in the kitchen and the rooms are right next to each other so it's very noticeable. I'm debating on whether or not to paint the brick around the fireplace. I'd like to do a warm funky color, but I'm not sure yet. I'm so happy to get rid of this gray in here! (This gray is the same in Jared's office, but he likes it so we'll keep it in the office.)

And lastly, our bedroom

The bedroom is also going to get beadboard on the bottom half of the walls. It will be painted a different color as well. The bedroom suite is really nice and real oak, but I may get rid of it. It just looks so heavy, but I am going to see if I can do something with it. It's a king size bed frame and we have a queen size bed so that's why it's sitting on the floor and why it looks awkward. The floors are stained concrete. We'd like to get real wood floors in there, but it will be awhile before that happens. I've been looking for a new bedspread since we're borrowing the one we have!

So there you have it! It will probably be after the New Year until I can start these projects, but I am just so so excited! I hate that we wasted hundreds of dollars on paint and that I'm going to have 30+ people over here on Saturday to show the house for the housewarming party and then make so many changes.
C'est la vie!

Jared's been asking me what I wanted for Christmas and this is what I told him I wanted. I never thought I'd ask for paint & beadboard for Christmas! :)

Cheers.

Turkey-less Thanksgiving

2 posts in one night? My heart is heavy, I cannot sleep and I just feel blah. And Jared has already gone to bed so I'm in no rush to get in bed.

Thanksgiving... oh Thanksgiving, you are a great holiday. Thanksgiving is probably a bigger favorite of mine than Christmas. This year was our first Thanksgiving with our families. Last year we were on our Honeymoon. I was determined to see both sides of our families for Thanksgiving. I don't like to split up holidays. So we started out in Saginaw with my Dad then drove to Denton to see my Mom and then finally we made our way to Aledo to see Jared's parents. I planned out the time perfectly so that each parent(s) would get the same amount of time with us. We ate THREE TIMES that day... I don't mean like we just nibbled here and there -we ate three full meals, but good thing that Jared & I like to eat! :) I ate everything, but Turkey. I went the entire day without eating a single piece of Turkey. Lately, I've become more and more of a no-meat-eater. It's not that I think it's wrong, I just think it's gross. Ever since Jared & I got married I cannot stand the sight of meat, especially raw meat. It's mostly chicken, pork and turkey- I can stomach fish easily and beef is becoming easier. Now, this would not be a problem if I hadn't married who I married. Jared is a meat kind of guy. He doesn't do salads for dinner. So I haven't been making dinner lately. I just can't stand the sight of it and my gag reflex is super sensitive. I'll try to eat chicken and I'll start gagging. It's ridiculous, I know, but it's the way it is.

So all that to say I ate everything else but meat on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was really sweet this year. I have so many things to be thankful for and I just feel so overwhelmed. God is so good and His love never fails.

This post is kind of scrambled, but it's past midnight and I started feeling tired once I started blogging.

Cheers.

Call to Prayer

Matt Chandler, Pastor of The Village Church in Texas has a tumor on his frontal lobe.

Here is what was written on the Facebook page:

Matt will undergo surgery Friday afternoon

Pastor Matt Chandler will have surgery Friday afternoon to remove a tumor located in the frontal lobe of his brain. The surgery will be performed by Dr. David Barnett.

Dr. Barnett told Matt that he was positive about recovery but won’t know the full results until the surgery is performed. The doctor was uncertain about the malignancy of the tumor, and a biopsy will be performed as part of the surgery.

The outpouring of support and prayers from all over the world has been overwhelming to Matt and Lauren. Continue to pray and fast on behalf of the family. The church’s monthly prayer service will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Highland Village, Denton and Dallas Northway worship centers. We encourage you to fast throughout that day and join us to pray that evening. If you cannot join us, pray wherever you are.

We continue to rest in the knowledge that Matt is in the sovereign hand of our heavenly Father who loves him immensely more than we can comprehend, and He alone understands the reasons for this trial. Along with your prayers, continue to give Matt and Lauren and their family time and space for their continued rest.


I think I may have met Matt once. I feel like I've known him for years. He's just that kind of guy. Real, genuine, honest, loving, to the point, hilarious, but most importantly he is a servant of our Gracious Savior. I  know that we serve a great God who is capable of miraculous miracles. I ask that you join me and literally hundreds of others in prayer for Matt & his family. 

1. Jesus, Savior, pilot me,
   Over life’s tempestuous sea;
   Unknown waves before me roll,
   Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal;
   Chart and compass came from Thee:
   Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
2. As a mother stills her child,
   Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
   Boist’rous waves obey Thy will
   When Thou say’st to them, “Be still!”
   Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea,
   Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
3. When at last I near the shore,
   And the fearful breakers roar
   ’Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
   Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
   May I hear Thee say to me,
   “Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

To check for updates on Matt Chandler you can go to: 

Matt's Twitter

The Village's Twitter

The Village Church

Momma said there will be days like this...

Our Housewarming party is this Saturday so Jared & I are trying to tie up all the loose ends with the house. This weekend we started painting the trim and got sick of it quickly and stopped. So today I really needed to finish it. It started out great until I got to the bathroom... I was truckin' along until I realized some spots on the bathroom door that needed to be touched up. That bathroom hadn't been painted in years! I started dabbing on the door and figured what the heck, I might as well paint the door. Good idea, right? Nope!

I took off all of the hardware on the door (I have no idea how I'm going to get it back on there) and this black dust stuff came pouring out of the door hole. It looks a lot like gun powder. I figured that I could just paint over the black dust stuff and the paint would cover it. Well the paint didn't cover it. It made it worse. My white paint turned gray. I grabbed a paper towel and started to rub off the grayish color and it came off nicely. Then I started on the backside of the door and it needed to be a different color than the front side. I rinsed off my paint brushes and grabbed some new ones and started to paint the backside of the door with the different paint color. Once I finished I thought... How am I going to get out of the bathroom? I had painted over everything on the door and I couldn't touch any of it.  I had to stick my fingers through the door hole and gently pull the door toward me. It was a lot funnier then than it is now. Now, it just sounds like a pointless story, but to me it was funny.

Point of it all- The bathroom is finished for now. There's still a lot I want to do, but for a while I'm done with it. Jared & I decided yesterday that anymore painting projects were going to be done professionally.

We're almost Housewarming party ready!!

Take me back to Cabo!

A year ago Jared & I were in Cabo... and now I'm sitting on the couch with a sinus infection/cold. Man, I'd love to be back on the beach! Even though our honeymoon was a disaster, I'd still love to be back there now.

We were on a shuttle from our hotel to get onto the plane to Cabo.
The most awkward morning of our lives.

 

This was banana milk... It was amazingness in a glass.
We drank this every morning! I tried to make it at
 home and it was a major fail.

  

This was some famous spot in Los Cabos. I don't remember

why it's famous. I remember there were sea

 lions all over the shallow parts though.

Even though Jared & I could not stand each other on our honeymoon, I'd love to back there right now with him. We're already planning honeymoon #2. Who says you can only have one? Not us! Alaska has been thrown in there along The Virgin Islands and maybe (hopefully) going around Europe galavanting like fools. I'm pulling hard for the Europe one!

Now, I'm back to stuffing Kleenexes up my nose and watching reruns.
Cabo, thank you for the memories. I'm sure you would have been much more enjoyable if I liked my husband back then like I do now. :)

One Year Anniversary!!

Jared and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Saturday and it was soooo fun!!!

I had it perfectly planned out in my head how the day would go:

• Sleep in late and then have a huge breakfast
• Go for a drive in East Texas and find some cute little lunch place
• Get some yummy food at Central Market
• Come home and cook the yummy food and have James Taylor in the background while wearing my cute anniversary black dress.
• Eat the wedding cake and have a glass of the same champagne that we had at the wedding

Here's what really happened:

• Slept in too late and all the breakfast places were packed so we settled for Whataburger's breakfast which was pretty good!
• A 2 hour drive one way to find a cool spot turned into us eating at Carl's Jr. (nasty) because we couldn't find anywhere cool to eat and turned around and drove back to Fort Worth.
• We get to Central Market and we're picking out foods then Jared walks over the meat section and says, "Go away, seeing this meat will make you nauseous." I think No, it wont! I'm past that... I definitely was not past that. I saw the raw, bloody, nasty meat and began to gag!!!
• We came home to cook the food and got into an argument because we forgot things at the store and it was already 8:30pm and we were starving! There was no James Taylor because my iTunes wouldn't work. I didn't put on the little back anniversary dress because I was too cold! The food did come out amazing though!
• Jared sliced up the cake, but by that point I was already stuffed and I really don't like icing... so I ate one bite of the cake and that was that.

Overall, we had a wonderful anniversary! I just loved being with him. We sat out by the fire and talked for probably 2 hours about life and where we are now. It was so awesome and I know that God has richly blessed us! I cannot wait to see what year 2 brings!

Quick Update!

Well, lately Jared & I have been up to our elbows in house projects and getting things just the way we want them. So many people have told me that you are never really finished with a house, and while that's true, I still want to get as much done as I can before Jared cuts off of my funding and before I lose the ideas. And no, I'm not going to write down my ideas on a piece of paper because I'll lose the piece of paper!!

Not a lot is too new around these parts. Jared & I will celebrate our anniversary on the 21st and I am just beaming with excitement! And I just watched our wedding video for the first time today and I could not stop crying. It was so sweet and, ah... I just love being married to the man I'm married to!

I just finished the last major house project for awhile. I've redone just about every room in the house and I love the way they have all turned out. Jared & I definitely picked some daring colors that probably don't go together, but we love them. This sweet little (big) house has been such a blessing to me. Jared & I have already made some wonderful memories here and I cannot wait to make more!

Cheers.

We're Home Owners!!

We bought a house!! :) I just can't begin to tell you how happy I am that we own a house!... And not just any house, but a wonderful house! A quick rundown of the house: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 living areas, dining room, big kitchen, & plenty of green grass to play in! Jared's beloved grandfather lived in this home before he unexpectedly passed away in December '08. This home means a lot to us not only because it was Papa Kesler's but also but it's now ours.

There was a lot to be done in the house when we got here. Not anything too major, just mostly cosmetic changes (i.e. LOTS of paint). We've already made a lot of changes like taking the top cabinet doors in the kitchen, replacing the chandelier in the living room/formal dining room, and painted just about every room. It may not sound like we've done a lot, but trust me it's been a very l-o-n-g process.

One of the days that I was painting the master bedroom I spilt a little bit of the paint on the door and I had no rag or anything to wipe it up with. All the shades were up and the windows were open so I looked around to see if any neighbors were around and I didn't see any so I just took off my shirt really quick to wipe of the paint. About the time I have the paint wiped up I looked over and saw our neighbor pulling in his driveway!!!! He could probably see right in our bedroom!!! I dropped to the floor and quickly put my shirt back on and stayed on the floor until I heard his garage door shut! I thought it was funny, but Jared didn't.

Right now I'm in the process of putting our things away and getting organized. I seriously didn't know we had this much stuff! I finish up in a room then find more boxes that need to be put away in the room I thought I had just finished! Hopefully this week I can get everything put away and start hanging things and get to the fun stuff!

8 to 5

I recently started back to a "real" job. I really like it a lot! It definitely kicks my rear but it's a good kicking. I think about work even when I leave work! That's a first! :) I've worked at this place for almost 6 days... and it has been very interesting. The first day I hung up on several people because I wasn't sure about the hold button and the transfer button. Two pairs of heels have literally broken in the middle of my day after my lunch break. So I was out of luck (not like I ever have any!) for going home to grab a different pair. I even went and bought new heels that I really liked and the next day it was raining as I was walking into the building and all of a sudden it's like I'm wearing no shoes!! They wouldn't stay on my feet! I felt like a little girl who was wearing Mommy's shoes. It was humiliating. Then one time I was going on the elevator to my car and some guy FARTED IN THE ELEVATOR and pretended like he didn't just invade my airspace with his poop particles. I just looked at him while trying to hold my breath. It was awful.

So on the upside we should be closing on our house at the end of next week! We thought we were going to close on the 15th but it didn't happen. This weekend we will be packing like crazy. And if you know me, you know I'm a lousy packer. I go through everything and swoon over every little trinket that I have. I need to: pick paint colors, buy paint, pack up everything, buy 2 chandeliers, buy kitchen hardware, and then officially move and unpack everything and bring more chaos into my life.

Also, what's with all this rain lately? I cannot stand it anymore! I'm a sunshine person! I need sunshine like I need air. I don't function well without either. Hopefully the moving weekend won't be raining and nasty like it is now.

Now, I must get away from a computer screen.

Cooking Gone Wrong

We've been so busy these past couple of weeks that I've barely had time to cook. It's been some Chipolte here and (gross) Chik-Fil-A there. And I admit, I'm afraid to cook. I'm so scared of screwing something up, which has always been a regular occurrence by the way.

Tonight I decided to cook Red Beans & Rice with cornbread. I was still in the New Orleans mode. I've got the rice, beans, and seasoning in the pot cooking away and then I began to make the cornbread... I read the instructions probably 5 times to make sure I got it down completely and I thought to myself that I'd be the biggest moron in the world if I screwed this up because all I had to do was add milk! Easy, right? NOPE! The recipe called for 2/3 cup of milk and I added 2 & 2/3 cups of milk... Smooth move. Once I poured the milk into the mixing bowl I thought it looked really soupy then it clicked.. I added TWO EXTRA CUPS OF MILK! I tried to get out some of the milk by straining it, but that didn't work. So for my next genius move I added some flour to the mix. Yeah, that didn't help either. I thought, well I've already screwed it up so I might as well throw it into the oven and see what happens.. 21 minutes later... DING! I pull out my cornbread/flour concoction and it was definitely soupy cornbread that was burnt around the edges.

Eh, maybe one day I'll get it right.

Goodness All Around

Jared is watching the OU vs BYU game right now so I figured since I'm bored to death with the football game that I'd do a post! :) (Just because I married an ex-football stud doesn't mean I have to like football!) Also, we don't have TV at our apartment so Jared is trying to soak up as much football as possible.

Pretty exciting things have been going on in the Kesler household lately. Yesterday we got the appraisal for the new house and it came back in the perfect price range. So it looks like we'll officially be in the house by the end of September!!! I also bought a sample color of paint today for our cabinets. It's called "Dove White" or "White Dove" something like that by Benjamin Moore Paints. I'm excited about trying it out on a piece of wood that I can hopefully find around here somewhere.

Today I had my first online buying experience! I went to www.urbanoutfitters.com to look for some ideas and ended up finding two awesome steals! Excuse my lack of description skills as I try to explain what I bought... Item #1 is a birdcage key hanger. It looks antique and has a cute little bird on it. And item #2 is the letter "k" and it's going to be my new apron hanger! It looks like it was made out of recycled paper or something. I got both of those for under 30 bucks including tax & shipping! I'll post pics once I get them in. My pitiful description doesn't do them justice.

That's all I've got for now.

New Orleans Trip

New Orleans, I think I love you, but only for an occasional weekend.

Jared & I decided at the beginning of August to go see our friends in New Orleans. We wanted to get away from Fort Worth and just have some fun! We needed to leave the house by 2:15pm to make it to our 5:00pm flight. We exit off of 30 to get onto 121 and there's traffic which is just grrrrrreat. So we sat in traffic for 45 minutes. Not a good way to start off a much anticipated trip. We finally made it to the airport and got our boarding pass and it said "FIRST CLASS" that's a major score when you're flying standby!!!

My favorite words to hear on the plane were, "Ladies and gentlemen we are 10 minutes away from New Orleans. Flight Attendants please prepare for landing." I really do NOT like to fly!!

Richard was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and he wanted to show us around the city. I had been to New Orleans once before when I was a little girl, but I don't remember anything about the city.

That evening we ate at this place called the Butcher. It was a REAL butcher shop! I didn't even think those were around anymore. I wasn't feeling very exotic so I ordered just a turkey sandwich and let me tell you it was the BEST turkey sandwich I've ever had. The meat tasted so fresh and full of goodness. I'm a pretty picky eater especially when it comes to meat.

The next morning we ate at this hole in the wall called Slim Goodies, and it was nothing but goodness all around. I ordered just plain Jane eggs and toast. Crazy, I know. The rest of the day we walked around the French Quarter, along the Mississippi River, then I took a 3 hour nap! As we were walking through the French Quarter there were some homeless people on the sitting of the street. As we got closer to them one of them said, "Hey you're on a TV Reality Show it's called Give Me A Dollar." We all busted out laughing. That was one of the most clever ways of asking for a dollar that I've ever heard. I wanted to give them a dollar just for making me laugh!

After I woke up from my nap I realized that my phone alarm went off for me to take my birth control pill and sinus meds and I went to get my purse and realized I left my purse in the car which is parked in Dallas. Somehow I managed to grab my wallet but left my purse!

That evening we rode the trolly car and went to an awesome restaurant called HerbSaint's for dinner. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing this food was! It was like tasting Heaven. I was pretty nervous about trying something new because of my sensitive gag reflex to certain foods. (If a food has a funny taste or texture to me I gag. I can't help it!!!!) But to mine & Jared's surprise I didn't gag a single time! I actually had to pull myself away from the food. I ordered Sausage & DUCK Gumbo, Chicken & Mushroom Ravioli, and Dirty Rice. I wasn't sure about eating the Duck so I thought I had scooped it aside. Later Jessica told that it was actually the Sausage I was scooping away and the Duck was what I was eating. Jared ordered Grits & Shrimp, sounds gross, but quite the contrary! The shrimp was the best shrimp I've ever had! Richard ordered some sort of veal wrap and I had a bite of that too! So I tried Duck and Veal! Go me!!

(Dirty Rice)

Chicken & Mushroom Ravioli

Duck & Sausage Gumbo

(See Susan, you're not the only one who takes photos of their food!)

After dinner Jessica & Richard took us to Bourbon Street (which smelled like puke). I thought I was a cultured person, well after seeing Bourbon Street I'd like to think not. Bourbon Street is one l-o-n-g street and the setup goes like this: bar, bar, bar, strip club, strip club, gay bar, gay bar, tobacco shop, bar, bar, bar, strip club, strip club, etc.. I saw plenty of drunk people and girls with barely anything on to last a lifetime. We were walking by what we thought was just a regular bar, however it was a gay bar! The bartender was wearing, get this, a bow tie around his neck and a g-string and I'm not talking the kind of thong(s) you can wear on your feet! I wanted to throw up my expensive dinner!!

Over all the trip was awesome. We loved New Orleans! When we got home we took another 5hr nap to catch up on some sleep that we definitely lost while we were there! But the lost sleep was well worth all the fun!!

"When I play pretend, I'm an ambitious person..."

I get inspired from just about about anything positive. I see people helping people and I know that I should help more people. I hear friends encouraging other friends and I know I should to be more encouraging. I know I should do more especially when it comes to things that I care deeply about. I should use what God has given to me to help other people. My problem has always been follow through. I get so caught up in the emotion and extravaganza of it all and that's all I pull away or give to it. And I go along with my life as if those moments never touched me. How sad that I am wasting my life. A quote I just read: “You have to believe that your life has meaning and purpose BEFORE you see that it does. If you believe it then you will be doing the right things, and saying the right things, and putting yourself in the right situations to see that your life has meaning and purpose but if you HAVE to believe it before you SEE it.” Sometimes I believe my life has a great purpose but maybe that's only because I hear my Momma's voice in my head other times when I fail or I disappoint myself I don't believe my life has purpose, but I want so badly to believe it. Don't start with Jeremiah 29:11 please. So we've gone from things that ought to be done and purpose and where's my point..?

My point is that my purpose is being slammed into the ground because of my lack of follow through. It sucks. I.hate.it.with.everything.inside.of.me. So now how do I turn it around? Well I got the title of this post from a Atlanta based Photographer (who is amazing) that I have been following for a few months. He posted this call to action on his blog about serving in your community with what you have. I have two things that I can use: a passion for helping people and my outdated camera. Those are good enough. I'm going to stop sitting here and thinking about what all I could do and I'm going do it. I'm 21 years old and for the first time I know what I want to do with my life and it's time I start doing it. The only person stopping me is me. I suck as a person, but I'm taking the first step to getting out of this rut that I put myself in. I hope in 20 years I look back on this moment and realize that's when started living out my purpose and dreams.

www.zarias.com is the blog where I got the inspiration from. Read it.

Bittersweet Road

Jared & I are a almost a week shy of celebrating our 9 month old marriage. Through this time we have experienced many joyful highs and very devastating lows. It didn't help that the first 2 months that we were married we fought nearly every moment we were around each other. Thankfully our relationship has gone gotten much, much, better since those days. Sometimes I just sit and think about the wonderful man I married. I still can't get over it. It brings me to tears when I think about Jared. He's the most wonderful, compassionate, loyal, genuine, thoughtful, loving person that I've ever met. I still get floored when I think that God chose ME to cherish this gift (Jared) He's given me. I cannot imagine why God chose me for Jared, but I am incredibly thankful that He did. I know I married out of my league.

I have this raging force inside of me to protect him and our marriage. I get violently mad when someone hurts him or brushes him off. Right after Jared & I got married a few friends that were the absolute closest to us left us. There was no falling out, argument, or anything to insight discord- they just disappeared. It's like all of a sudden we weren't cool. Before we were married we were out every weekend just blowing and going like we always did then BAM no one is around and it's just the two of us. We couldn't figure it out. Our friends were still hanging out with our other friends and life seemed to be rocking right along for them. And we were left completely out of the picture. Jared & I tried to contact these people every way possible by technology known to man and we never got a single response. (There's a happy ending I promise!)....

So at the time we were going through this dry and lonely season the most beautiful thing came out of it. Jared & I started to grow so much closer to each other and became really good friends. And we started hanging out with our families more and became so much closer with them. So it was like we felt completely abandoned and God led us into a deeper relationship with Him and with each other. It amazes me that God knew who and what to get out of the picture so that we could grow closer together. I wouldn't trade those bittersweet days for anything. God allowed all of that to happen for a purpose and as long as there is some sort of positive purpose I'm ok with going through some crap.

If Jared & I had not been stretched I don't think I could ever written how wonderful he is like I did above. God grew my love for Jared and Jared's love for me. I am head over heels in love with my husband and I would go through a thousand years of struggle if only to get a little closer to him.

Petey, My Kitchen Inspiration

The other day Jared & I were walking around Lowes to get some inspiration for our new home that we hope to have soon. I was pretty focused on the kitchen during our excursion. We picked out a chandelier (I love, love, love chandeliers!) that we couldn't live without and as we were walking back over to the area where they keep all the kitchen hardware & appliances I saw Petey. He was nudged in a corner and his price was $4! I immediately fell in love with the little guy and decided that he was going to be my kitchen inspiration. He reminded me of something that would sell at Anthropolgie for $40. After I saw Petey Jared & I went to the paint department and then I picked out paint colors for our comfy kitchen. The idea I have in my head for our kitchen is exactly what I want and I'm hoping I can pull it all together. In my mind I can adjust any house to fit the idea of what I want our kitchen to look like. The colors and how it's decorated is the most important part to me. I'm pretty picky on how I want our house to look. Make sense? Petey just brings it all together for me. It's kind of like when I went to do our wedding registry at Bed Bath & Beyond and I was picking out towels with my sweet mother-in-law. I picked out some different colored towels and Dorenda looked at me like I was crazy, but once I pulled it all together she liked it. I have a feeling that's how the kitchen and pretty much the rest of the house will go. I just get an idea and run with it. My taste is definitely not the norm, and I'm cool with that.

His name is Petey because of the bird off of Dumb & Dumber. Our all time favorite movie!

I'd really like for our house to be like walking into a James Taylor, Eric Clapton, or John Mayer song. Nice, easy and comfortable. A place where you could just sit back and let the atmosphere rock you to sleep. That's what I'm going for overall.

For now, we need to close on a house and start packing!

Kennedy Piper & Grace Kathleen

My nieces are seriously too gorgeous for words. Kennedy is a ball of energy and completely stubborn. Gracie is the sweetest baby I've ever been around. She loves to cuddle so she's my kind of girl. Kennedy will scream if you try to cuddle with her. I love seeing them and I try to see them anytime I can. They grow so fast and every time I see them they change. I remember when Kennedy was an infant.. she was the most difficult child. She always (still does) need attention. Gracie is content with playing with her toys and simply being held. The girls are polar opposites. I cannot imagine life without them. I love them completely and I hope one day I'll be the cool Aunt that they'll want to come hangout with. :)

Wasted Time

I got home from work at 2ish.. it's now about to be 4 and I've sat behind computer trying to update this sad, sad, blog. 2 HOURS I've been trying to figure all of this out and I think I've finally got it! Go me! I'm sure my husband would be so happy to know that I spent 2 wasted hours on this when there are so many things I should be doing. Between Facebook, email, MySpace, Twitter, and now Blogger I'll be quite the little social-butterfly-time-waster.

Earlier today I had to stop and get gas on my way home from work. I figured that driving to work with the gas light on was a bad enough idea and driving home with the light on would be a "I'm out of gas. Jared please come help me!" phone call that I did not want to make. So I stop to get gas and I put my debit card in the little slot and put "pay outside debit" and it says "please see cashier." I don't want to see the cashier, I want to do it here. So finally after shoving my card in the pump numerous times I give in and begin to walk into the gas station. I take about 5 steps away from my car and some sleazy guy with missing teeth & wearing an Earnhart cap says to me, "hey baby, nice tails." I paused for a second then just walk into the gas station pretty puzzled. I started thinking about what he said as I was waiting inline to pay for gas along with a lot of other people who were apparently hitting up QT's special on hot dogs... I kept saying in my mind, tails, tails, tails.. What was he talking about? My first thought was that he was referencing my rear end, but why did he say "tails" because I only have one, singular, tail end- maybe? Then I look down and I have my hair in pig TAILS! (During the summer I refuse to fix my hair unless it's absolutely necessary. It's way too long and it's too hot to use a blow dryer! So I always put it in braided pig tails.) I was glad to know he wasn't talking about anything other my braided pig tails. :)

That's all for today! I've got to get some things done!

I'm a bad blogger...

I'm not very good blogger.. I think my one and only post was from January, that's pretty sad. I think I mostly wanted to start a blog was because honestly, I love reading other people's blogs and I thought someone might like to read mine. And regrettably, I haven't been the best at choosing my words carefully with past blogs.

So this is my past mid-year resolution: blog more often. As I type that I realize that will be much easier said than done. I'll try! :)

Jared and I are in the process of house hunting.. Using those words "house hunting" kinda makes me think we should be carrying a gun in the Tahoe as we are looking around. Words give so much imagery. Anyway, we're house hunting and it's a pain, but also pretty fun. I really enjoy the long drives and talking with Jared about so many different things. We talk best when we're driving or walking. I love that we have found one of our things. We've been looking for a house for awhile, but we're getting pretty serious about it now. The biggest let down is when we find a house then look at the surrounding areas and there's nothing around or there are shady areas close by. We found a perfect house and it had everything that we wanted and more until we looked at the areas around the house and it was in really poor shape and there wasn't a grocery store for miles unless we wanted to go to the local Fiesta!

Hmm... what other random things can I write...

I think my favorite part of the day is when Jared comes home. I intentionally lock both locks so I'll have to get up and unlock the door and I love just seeing him standing there. He has his briefcase (man purse) in one hand and the biggest smile on his face. He comes in the door sets his briefcase down and immediately turns to me for a hug and a kiss. I know it doesn't sound like much but to me it's everything.

Our First Blog

Well, I'm eating my words. I said I'd never, ever, ever sign up... but I have. So here goes...

Jared and I got married on November 21, 2008. And I'm realizing now in '09 how quickly life changes. Within one year we met, dated, got engaged, and are now married! I just cannot believe how quickly it all happens. Even the wedding day flew by quicker than I can blink! It's so awesome to see God's hand in the beginning and not knowing what the end would look like and now at the end looking at a new beginning... It's just exciting!