Headed Out!

This will be me in just a few short hours! Sadly, I will not be in a convertible; no one wants to deal with the hair hardship that the wind would cause anyway! This evening I am headed out to my brother's house in KY for our little family vacation. The last couple of years we have all spent time at Holiday World & camped out at Lake Rudolph. This year we decided to go for something a little more economical & different. We chose Andy & Valerie's place b/c they love to have company in their big house, there are lots of fun & inexpensive things to do around there, & it's not too far away. Ta da! They are a winner!

Mom, Dad, Beth, Caleb & Maddie are already there. I couldn't get out of work these last two days b/c my boss is at a national meeting. If he's not here, I gotta be. Boo! Plus Mike can't go with me so I am adjusting my departure/return times so that we spend the least amount of time apart. I know, I know...I'm cheesy & pathetic but I love the guy & I'm gonna miss him!

All I have to do is endure a little more work time (please Lord, let it fly by!), run a couple of errands, finish a couple of chores, pack, eat dinner with my man (zucchini lasagna - yum!), & then hit the road by 5:30 or 6.

My intention is to pack my digital camera, after checking to be sure the batteries are fresh & that there truly is a memory card in it. Then I intend to actually take some pics with said camera. Then hopefully I can have a much more interesting post about the weekend!

I hope you all have a great weekend - enjoy the summer weather, be outside & have fun!

A Few More Goals...

You know that old saying that you gotta shoot for something or you'll be sure to hit nothing? That's why I make goals! Otherwise, yep, I'd be doing a whole lot of nothing!

*Wash dishes more often. I know this sounds gross, but Mike & I don't get to eat at home very often. So our dirty dish collection mainly consists of plastic-ware that we use to take our lunches/dinners. Plus, if I'm not washing dishes that day I make sure they are all rinsed. But having them piled high & counter top full is overwhelming. Gotta tackle them daily when I'm not two-jobbing it.
*Do some laundry through the week. Laundry is a chore that doesn't vex me at all. I appreciate the exercise I get toting it to the basement & back. I enjoy sorting, folding, putting away. Maybe it's b/c I'm drugged by the April Fresh Scent, who knows? But I tend to save all the laundry for Saturday b/c it feels like I need several hours at home to finish a load or two. But that makes for a lotta work on Saturday. Gotta step it up during the week.
*Speaking of stepping it up during the week...I would like to make up some kind of house cleaning schedule that would assign certain tasks to be done during the week. Lately I've saved it all for Saturday (thank God we have a small house!) but as a result, our Saturdays are hardly relaxing. Also, if there is a special occasion on a Saturday the cleaning doesn't get completely done.
*Begin keeping the Sabbath more faithfully. This one is actually a big deal to Mike. I have always been faithful in church attendance, morning & night, but I usually use the afternoon to catch up, do chores, get ready for the week, etc. I used to laughingly say to Mike that my ox was in a ditch. His reply was that my ox was ALWAYS in a ditch. He would prefer that we not shop that day as well. He isn't die hard about it, he just wants us to be conscious of it. I think he's right & I want to begin to conform to that way of thinking myself.

I feel like there's lots of work to do, but we'll just say it's a work in progress!

~Little update - Beth & I went running yesterday & I'm going again today after work. It totally helped combat my fatigue & achey-ness. yay!

It's That Time Again!

I have got to shake off the lazy-girl-vacation-mode! Time to get back to disciplined & organized! Time to simplify & prioritize! Time to morph into Super Woman by being Super Efficient!

I can dream, right? *grin*

Anyway, I have been reflecting the last couple of days on how I have been feeling vaguely off. You know what I mean? I just feel achy, fatigued, guilty for things that aren't getting done or things that I'm eating that I shouldn't or things that I should be eating but I'm not...get the idea?

So ~ time to do my goal-setting, mind-readjusting, attitude-fixing blog post! If you feel like you have read this before it's because you probably have! I'm seriously freaky about having goals & lists; I can't help myself.

1. Continue getting to bed at an earlier time (gotta start off on a positive note - this is one thing I've been better at post 07/11)

2. Implement a regular exercise/running routine. Beth & I have already determined to get together to break a sweat at least once a week. In fact, we are walking this afternoon. Now I need to be faithful with my gettin' up & goin' at least five days a week.

3. Start taking my vitamins.

4. Begin weekly meal planning. This really needs to be done so that I can avoid 'snack meals'. My dad says I am a progressive eater (& he is so right!) b/c when there isn't a meal prepared I graze from item to item in the pantry & in the fridge. A little bit of this & a little bit of that doesn't seem bad until you add them all together. Then it equals a whole lot of NOT GOOD!

5. Reevaluate existing To Do Project Lists for the house. Pick a starting point, grab Mike's hand, jump in!

6. Start reading again. Even if it's just five minutes a day. I have some seriously good material sitting around the house just waiting for me to grab it & dive in.

7. Continue researching greener ways to clean & live. Continue recycling at home & as much as possible at work.

8. Create a perpetual birthday calendar for friends & family therefore avoiding guilt that occurs when they remember my b-day & I haven't the faintest clue when theirs is. *blush*

Oh, I think that's enough for today! Anybody out there have any goals to suggest or goals that they are reaching for?

Should I? Or should I Not?

A magazine I was reading recently had information about an essay contest they were sponsoring. Immediately I got kind of excited. I love to write; I love words. I could be considered a very verbal person (heehee!). That means I really like to talk. And writing is just talking in another form. At least to me it is.

The theme for the essay is to describe the moment when you first felt like a grown-up. This topic is extremely fascinating to me, just having become a wife. In my early 30's, no less. So I should feel like a grown up. But I'm telling you, I still feel like that moment of true grown-up-ness has eluded me! Perhaps I am incurably immature or co-dependent upon my family. I'm sure I would be interesting to psycho-analyze, but then who wouldn't be?

Anyway, I have begun to ponder when that moment may have occurred for me. Maybe I just don't pay attention & it has been happening for a good long time. Yesterday & today when I have had my head in the hood drawing up doses I've pondered moments of potential grown-up-ness.

*leaving to go to college out of state (but this one doesn't really count b/c I was a certifiable mess of mushy tears & throat lumps)

*interviewing for jobs/composing a resume

*moving out on my own

*most recently, getting married *sigh* what a wonderful thing!

*when my parents consult me about things rather than me seeking their counsel - this one shows up most in the arena of medication, it makes me kinda nervous b/c I am not a pharmacist; I really just know enough about drugs to be dangerous

*making huge purchases all on my own - new car, house

*traveling in another country all by myself

That's as far as I've gotten in my pondering & I'm not sure that there is something enough in that list to write a really good essay. Plus it scares me to death to submit something for someone else to critique.

Therefore, I await your opinions. Should I write the essay & enter the contest? Or should I not write the essay & enter the contest?

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yep, today is my birthday - 32 years old! Funny thing is, my birthdays don't freak me out anymore. It's my parent's birthdays that freak me out. I don't like the age they are getting to be...

I have had a super good day (even though it's a two job day; you are allowed to feel sorry for me - lol). I was greeted at work with donuts (oh my!) & then pizza for lunch. It makes me laugh that the guys like to feed me so much on my birthday. They are hilarious.

I've had tons of birthday greetings on facebook. I'm so glad it send notifications to my email. I am such a facebook faker. I can't even remember the last time I signed in...

And the best b-day present - Carmen brought me the picture disc today! I have over 500 wedding pics to go through. We looked at most of them already. I love, love, love them! I can't wait to share them with you guys (well, some of them; probably won't post 500 on here 'cause I don't think blogger would like it much!).

We celebrated our birthdays with Mike's family the Sunday a week ago & with my family yesterday. We have been very well fed, folks. In fact, so well fed that I may just abstain from eating until my next birthday! heehee!

I hope you all are having as great of a Monday as I am!

The Name Game

Now that I am a Mrs., I have thought a lot about how I want to change my name. Don't worry, I am not one of those hyphenating types. Hyphenated names just leave too many questions...alphabetize by the first last name or the second last name? what name do the kids get? how many letters are there in her name, it's so long!?
You get my point. So you ask, why don't I just adopt Mike's last name & be done with it? Why make it complicated?

And here is where the story begins...
My grandma's name is Mary Louise.
My mom's name is Mary Lee.
My name is Mary Ann.

I also have a great Aunt Mary Margaret, a cousin Mary Elizabeth, & a second cousin named Mary Dale.

The really funny fact about it all is that none of us go by 'Mary'. We all use our middle names instead of or with the 'Mary'. In fact, you only call us Mary if you want to receive the Look of Death.

My mom & I are continually getting confused - mailings, medical records, credit history, etc. I know that if I take Mike's name a lot of that will clear up. But, that doesn't solve the problem of people wanting to call me 'Mary' all the time. This is especially an issue for me with my work b/c all of the corporate people just see my first name. Even when I refer to myself as Mary Ann in writing or even in answering the phone, they just don't get it.

Therefore, I came up with a brilliant plan. I would change my name to be:
First Name = MaryAnn
Middle Name = my maiden name
Last Name = Mike's last name

Voila! All problems solved!

Except for one tiny little thing - THE COST!

I went to the county clerk's office to request my name change fully prepared for it to have a price tag attached. What I was not prepared for was the size of the said price tag. The county charges $136 in court fees. I would have to appear before the Circuit Court (kinda scary, huh?). Then I would also have to pay the local newspaper $123 to run the name change announcement in the paper for three consecutive weeks.

grand total = $259! = TOO MUCH!

Yesterday I went to the Social Security Administration's Office to request a regular old I just got married and I need to change my name kind of name change (you know, the FREE kind!). I told the clerk my story as she was working on things just as chit chat & she told me about another free option. I can make my maiden name part of my middle name. So, now you can call me:

First Name = Mary
Middle Name = Ann + maiden name
Last Name = Mike's last name

I think that sometime in the future I will still do the legal name change. Just not right now when we are still recovering from the wedding expenses, the honeymoon expenses, & so on. Also, Mike is hearing lots of rumbles at his work regarding another layoff. If you feel so led, please pray that his company gets many orders & that his job will be protected by the Lord Himself.

***I promise that wedding pics are on their way!

The Mrs. Is In!

We had the wedding (yay!), we had the honeymoon (yay!), and now we are back to reality (boo!). Mike & I are just finishing up our first week back at work & it has been really fun this week establishing new routines together. I am happy to say that neither one of us has overslept b/c we are totally tag teaming the alarm clock. He makes sure I get up & then I make sure he gets up - it's a fabulous deal! And of course it's wonderful to have someone to come home to & not have to be shoving him out the door at night. It's way sweeter to say good night than to say good bye :-)

I'm sure you're not really interested (heehee!) but I'll fill you in on some details from the actual wedding!

On the Friday before, I met Beth, Maddie, Steph, & Becky at a nail salon & we all indulged in manicures & pedicures. It was so lovely! While we were there Roxi got to town & joined us. Then we went to Panera Bread for lunch. YUM! After that we all kind of went our separate ways to run errands, etc.

The rehearsal dinner was at the church. We just ordered a bunch of pizza, had some salad & homemade cookies. We fed forty-some people. I have never been so nervous & keyed up in my life! I was surprised at my reaction to it all. Usually I am very at ease with people, but I have discovered that I take things WAY too seriously. I was totally fretting about if everyone was comfortable, was there enough food, should we have ordered different toppings, on & on. I also got nervous about talking to everyone as a group. But I persevered!

We had a fairly uncomplicated rehearsal. I think everyone had a good time & it was great b/c there weren't all kinds of opinions & ideas floating around. I have to say that Mike & I have the best families & friends. They are just not the type of people to throw their judgments & opinions around. The highlight of the whole thing was my nephew Aidan, my brother's son. He is four years old & I knew when I asked him to be a ring bearer that he would provide some major comic relief. He was throwing his pillow & pulling the ribbons. It was so funny! We decided that we would have to put both rings on Caleb's pillow (none of us realized that of course Aidan would realize he didn't have any rings on his pillow! More on that later...).

After the rehearsal I told Mike goodbye & us girls went to Dairy Queen. We were joined by Sandy & Sonia at this point & we had so much fun catching up & visiting. They all came over to the house to check it out. We had a bit of a slumber party with Beth, Steph, Becky, & Roxi camping out with me. I was so happy to have the company & spend even more time with my super great friends.

The next morning ~ THE WEDDING DAY ~ I had this super crazy idea that we should all go to the track for a run/walk. Yeah, no way that was going to happen with a 7:30 appointment at the salon for all of our hair. So we skipped the exercise. I was pretty tired, too. The week leading up to the wedding was just so jam packed. And I wasn't sleeping well - I hate to admit it, but sleeping in my house alone always left me a little too restless in my sleep, like I had to keep one ear open all the time. I am happy to report that having Mike with me at home has allowed me to relax & sleep much better.
Anyway, we had fun at The Parlor where my sweet friend DeAnn fixed all of our hair into gorgeous un-everyday updo styles. I gotta tell you, between getting my nails done & getting my hair done, I was feeling very, very, very spoiled. And I was loving every second of it! While I was getting my fabulous updo, it started to storm & pour down rain. I was looking out the window thinking how in the world am I ever gonna get from the salon to the church without getting drowned??? But thanks to the Lord's goodness, the rain cleared up just minutes before we left The Parlor & it just sprinkled off & on a little bit the rest of the day. The sun came out & it was warm & beautiful.
We did all of our pictures before the ceremony (thank goodness because it is a long process!). Carmen, a sweet friend of mine, was our photographer. She is going to give us all the shots on a disc & not copyright any of them. Shortly I will have a ton of pics that I will be able to share with you all (yippee!). I know the pics are really what you want to see anyway :-) We all posed & smiled & adored the flowers. My friends Abby arranged the flowers & they were breathtaking. I tried to describe to her what I liked & what I wanted & I have to admit that my description was woefully inadequate (partial names of flowers, generic color terms like lavendar-ish, & photos ripped out of bridal magazines). Somehow Abby took all that disjointed information & created EXACTLY what I had envisioned. The flowers were so beautiful; they really thrilled my heart! I know that sounds corny, but I just couldn't stop looking at my bouquet. Truthfully, it's still in a vase on my dining room table b/c the roses still look pretty from a distance. If you get close they still smell sweet but you can see the browning edges. So I take a deep breath up close with my eyes closed & then back up & look at the roses & enjoy the fragrance. Yes, I am a total nerd.
After the pics were fairly well done we had some time to kill before the ceremony. A couple of ladies from my church, Janet & Virginia, fixed a very non-messy lunch for us all. We enjoyed cheese cubes, wraps with turkey, ham, cheese, & lettuce, grapes, crackers, carrots, apple slices, & pretzels along with some leftover homemade cookies. We all stayed very clean & no one fainted from hunger.
All this time I kept thinking to myself, "goodness! this dress is tighter than I thought it would be - my ribs ache! and my nerves are making me so breathless! I can't hardly get across the room without panting like I just ran a mile!" yeah, more on that later...

The ceremony was perfect. The families went in, the bridesmaids & groomsmen went in, ring bearers went in, flower girls went in & then...

The Bride came in - escorted by her Momma!

I agonized over what to do since my dad decided not to be a part of our wedding. And then it just became clear to me that my Momma was who I wanted to be there with me. I told her no tears just smiles & giggles all the way down the aisle b/c I totally did NOT want an emotional wedding. I wanted a happy one!

We had a fabulous little ceremony that only lasted about 28 minutes. Aidan came through with his comic relief - including realizing that there was no ring on his pillow about 2 minutes before the ceremony. I hastily gave him my thumb ring which is actually a thin wedding band. He had it off that pillow & was playing with it in no time. So funny!

The reception was great, the cake was so yummy, & we got sent off in a cloud of bubbles. Stew let us borrow his fun sporty Tiberon & we were off with a trail of balloons!

At this point it was only about 4:30 or 5ish. We got outta there quick! We had to get Stew's car back to him & pick up the rest of Mike's things from his parents house. So we went home, changed clothes, opened all of our cards (holy cow, are people ever generous!) & then went over to Mike's mom & dad's. Then we went to my mom & dad's to pick up leftover cake. Then we went back to Mike's mom & dad's so that we could share cake with them. By this time, I'm feeling kinda funny still. Except now I'm not nervous so I had nothing to blame it on. We went home, I put a few clothes in a bag for our honeymoon, took some Tylenol, & went to bed. Isn't that sad? I knew something was wrong & the next morning I knew exactly what it was - Strep Throat. So Mike took me to an after hours/weekend clinic where they gave me a shot & an additional prescription for an antibiotic & then we went home. I went back to bed while Mike continued to get us ready for our trip. We decided we would go ahead & leave that day just like we planned b/c our honeymoon was a super laid back plan. We went to Brown County where we had a cabin rented until Thursday. I'm so glad we went ahead with our plans. I was almost totally back to normal by Monday afternoon. I just had a pesky cough & got tired easily. We ended up having a wonderful time!

And now it's back to the real world & I have to say that being married so far has been great! God has given me a wonderful, thoughtful, hard-working husband & I love him!