Oh, Happy Day!!

Indeed, it is :)

Mark flip-flopped his normal schedule, and hung out with me and got suit-fitted this morning, and went into his internship this afternoon. A nice change from the norm :)

Why this day is so happy:

Exhibit A: laying in my uber-amazing-comfy bed forever this morning :)

Exhibit B: leftover Thai food for lunch!! This is Chicken Panang, also known as heaven:

Exhibit C: My CSA box!!!!!!

I do think we might be upgrading to the bigger box next month, but we'll make do with this for now I guess..... :) This makes me so, so, so, so happy for so many reasons. I am more thankful for this food than other food - I guess I shouldn't be, but I just feel a stronger connection. I've read about the farmers that grew this food. I trust the company. I believe in their methods. This food is organic, and it's local, and beautiful. This will become our food for this week: bruschetta for lunch tomorrow, eggplant parmesan (maybe a small eggplant parm) for Thursday's dinner with a green salad, and peaches for our snacks. Oh, how happy this box makes me!!

And finally, Exhibit D: Wonderful shopping trip to Jo-Anne Fabric and Crafts!

I got quite the spread of scrapbooking supplies, and Lord knows I sorely needed them (and oh, they are pretty! Paper! Prismacolors! Metallic gold pen! Oh my!), but this little gem was my favorite buy of today :) I desperately want a house to decorate. It's hard to decorate for holidays and such 1) when you've never really done it and don't really know how, and 2) when your place of residence is not permanent. But I've decided to try and turn over a new leaf this year, and this is a great place to start! (And it looks so pretty on my red door!) Come Christmas, I hope to have garland running along our little banister between the dining room and living room, but this is a lovely start for fall. Once October comes, I'll add a few real pumpkins, and our entrance will be lovely :)

I think I'm gonna go break into some of that new scrapbooking stuff now ... hope everyone has an equally lovely day as I did!!

Lots of little things

I have lots of little random things to talk about this morning, so I feel that a list is in order..

1) I finally joined the Twitter bandwagon, due to encouragement from my Nashville friends. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this - I have a facebook, a blog, and now a Twitter. What does this say about me as a person?

2) Mark and I had a really awesome date night last night. We went to Surin 280 to eat - the Surin restaurants are these amazing Thai restaurants in Birmingham. Probably my favorite places to eat in the city. (And, coincidentally, all owned by the uncle of one of my college suitemates...) I ate some fantastic sushi, and had some yummy yummy curry that I get to reprise for lunch again today! Then we went to Target and walked around wishing for things we shouldn't buy. And then we came home and watched The Informant, which was a really good movie. I love Netflix. And my husband :)

3) Today I get my first CSA box, and I am so excited!! This month, we're doing the smallest share that Grow Alabama has, but I anticipate needing more veggies than we're going to get, so we might have to upgrade to the middle share. If we do that - lots of veggies!! We'll see. It's going to be quite the culinary adventure, but I am so, so excited about it :)

4) I'm trying again with the read through the Bible plan - but this time, Elissa and I are doing it together, and I'm hoping that it will last. It'll help to have an accountability partner. Pray for me in this endeavor...

5) Mark's suit came in! So we're going to Jos. A Bank to get him fitted this afternoon - can't wait to see my sweetie looking all grown-up and professional. :)

That's all for now ... but I may be back this afternoon with pictures of our lovely veggies!

This week's happenings

My week so far in pictures!

Bismarck, the sweet German Shepherd mix of Dave's. He likes to show his puppy off - Bismarck is like his child :) It's cute.

Yesterday, while Elissa was at work, I did a little bit of scrapbooking. Kelly at The Startup Wife (who scrapbooked professionally for a while) wanted to see pictures, so I took some.

Here's my invasion of Elissa and Tab's kitchen table:

I look like I've moved in with them :) (Actually, I think Lissa would be okay with that.)

The work in progress:

Finished first page (which I am so incredibly thrilled with!)

First spread - I'm not sure why it turned sideways like that.

Unfortunately, that's all I got to do, because I'm out of some of my supplies. Depending on what's happening today (I may hang out with some of Elissa's friends) I might make a Hobby Lobby run and stock up.

Several of you have also asked about the cat. He is so special. His name is Crumb, and he is a sphinx cat. (The hairless kind, like Mr. Bigglesworth in Austin Powers, but not nearly as evil.) Elissa got him maybe a year ago or so from a sphinx rescue group - his foster mom got him from his original owners, who didn't like him so much apparently. (Interesting and sort-of depressing fact: his original name was Legion. Poor kitty!) Elissa loves interesting and unusual pets (she has a hedgehog as well as Crumb), and she wanted a pet who would love her and be a bit more relational than the hedgehog is, so she got Crumb. Sphinx cats are very curious, and more like toddlers than cats. He talks to you with inflection, he hugs Lissa and knows that she is his Mommy, he gives kisses (both by licking, and by bumping your finger with his nose when you hold it out - it's so cute!) He is very sweet, despite his frightening appearance (and I actually think he's really cute now that I'm used to him.) He also isn't very photogenic. Some photos of him cuddled up with Lissa's uber-soft blanket this morning:

Hello from Nashville!

I am sitting on Lissa's bed with her crazy cat nestled under the covers. He likes to burrow.

 Silly Crumb...

Activities so far: met Bismarck the German Shepherd. Hung out with the group last night. Made pancakes this morning and ate them with Lissa. 

Three more days with my best friend! More fun activities to come! Yay!

Hello, my pretties...

I've been fighting a headache all the livelong day. I hope it goes away soon ... headaches make my motivation go away. (And you know what's ridiculous? I think that my headache might have started because of my HAIR. It's getting long, and on days when I just don't care, I like to put it in a bun straight from the shower. I think that it's getting so long and thick that it's just too heavy (esp. when wet) to have all in one spot on my head. INSANITY.)

Now that my rant is over...

Exciting things!
I signed up for my CSA yesterday!!! I got the little share, and I figure I can always upgrade as need be. Wahoo for local produce!! I pick my first box up next Tuesday, and oh man, am I excited.

Also exciting: quiche for lunch today! (Well, if my head stops hurting long enough for me to make it. I should probably get on that soon, actually...)

And! I like to give the people what they want to see, and several people have asked to see my new boots. :)

We'll start with a cute new outfit that my Mommy bought me when she was here.

I love the leggings, and I love the tunic, but I'm not sure about the tunic WITH the leggings. What do you guys think?

The tunic again, with jeans and my lovely lovely boots! (I am making a very weird face in this picture. Don't ask me why...) I can't wait for it to be fall so I can wear these things!

I really, really, really love these boots. I love them a lot. I plan to wear them with probably everything I own.

And a close-up of the boots themselves! I love the strap details on the back of them, and they zip, so it's super easy to get in and out of them.

Oh fall, please come quickly.

Confused...

I am confused, can anyone help?

I know that there is a way to reply to comments through email. I myself have set up this option with my blog. But I can't figure out how to reply to other people's comments on my blog - anybody know?

Monday Monday

Oh Monday, how I missed you.

Since working my weekend schedule, I LOVE Mondays! (I know, that's weird when the rest of the population hates them, but whatev.) The week is new, I have five days to do whatever, and I always wake up super-early and get to see the sunrise coming through our bedroom windows. (Cause I always blog in bed. Where do you guys blog?)

Happy thing:
A really FANTASTIC giveaway is being held at mucho mucho bueno bueno!! You should check it out, because it's really really great, and it introduced me to a really cool website with lots of pretty dresses :)

Other happy thing:
I got my boots!! Mark and I had a date day on Friday because he wasn't working, and we went to see Iron Man 2 at the Dollar Theater (am I the only one who wasn't all that impressed? The first one was way better...), and out to eat for a late lunch. Then he was like "Hey, let's go to the Clarks store!" So we did, and I am SO IN LOVE with these boots, and they said people were already buying them like crazy, so I'm glad I bought them when I did or they might have run out! And then we bought him some new jeans (for $30 at Banana! What a steal!) And we were both happy :) And now we can't buy anything else for quite a while...

And now, what I hope to accomplish this week:
-Scrapbook my cruise! (Or at least start on it)
-Sign up for a CSA! (OMG I'm SO EXCITED. See this website for the awesome organization I'm going through...)
-clean my house. no exclamation point there.
-Go to Nashville and visit Elissa! She's having a rough time right now, and she needs me. And I miss her. So that's that.

Hope all you gals (and guys? are there any guys besides Mark who read this?) have a great week!!

Lazy Day

Today, we are being lazy. I'm still hangin' out in the bed (aren't laptops the best? You can tote them anywhere!), and Mark is still fast asleep beside me. It's rainy this morning, so all the more reason to lounge and not be in a hurry.

He's off from his internship today, and we have a whole day off together - something that never happens anymore unless we're traveling. We're planning on tidying up the apartment, and maybe seeing a movie at the dollar theater, depending on what's playing.

Exciting news: I got my pictures developed from when my mom came to visit! We didn't make a ton while we were out (or in) doing things, but we made a point to go make some cute ones right before she left. I'm so thankful for a mom who will come and just hang out with me :) I always have the best time with her, and I think it was a nice break from reality for her as well. My grandma lives with my parents, and while she can take care of herself fairly well, it's still a bit taxing on my mom. She handles things better than I ever could, but she needs a break once in a while :)

There are also some pictures from back when we went to Chattanooga to visit - we went to our favorite local BBQ place to eat. Yum yum!

Kelly and Mark, pre-haircut. Oh, it was long.

Me and Ninny

Me and Daddy

My parents back at home, playing a card game

Me and Mommy in Birmingham. We're shopping, and squinty-eyed in the morning sun!

The next day, at lunch. I really love this picture - my mom is so pretty!

In my backyard

Acting like a kid on the playground behind our apartment

Mommy releases her inner child

I love her.

So there they are! We had a great time, and I was very sorry she couldn't stay all week. She's an excellent houseguest - so easy to please :)

Also, update on the boots: Mark said I could get them as an early Christmas present! I said okay by me :) I went and tried on several different (cheaper) pairs at DSW the other day, and none of them compared to MY boots at Clarks. So, I figure I'm destined to have them :) The only ones that I've seen that I like as much are at Anthro, and those cost even more $$, so I think I'll get the ones I love so much. YAY! (Now fall needs to get here, along with some fall weather, so I can actually buy them and wear them.)

My Fall Must-Have

My Mommy has to leave this afternoon :( It makes me sad.

We have had a grand old time though :)

On Monday, we did some grocery shopping, and Mark gave us the tour of the Special Collection at Samford. Then Andy and Suzie came over, and we all had dinner together.

Yesterday was our shopping day. We spent a small fortune on some clothes for Mark, which he needed badly. He got 2 pairs of jeans, and we had this really great coupon for Jos. A. Bank. We bought him a suit (and got 70 PERCENT OFF ... it was around $700 or so, and we got it for $250. AMAZING.) We also got him a couple polo shirts and two ties. He racked up pretty well :)
And my mom got some shoes from Clarks.

While we were in Clarks, I fell in love. This is my fall must-have. They are expensive. But I am SO in love.

Oh my gracious, it is beautiful. But expensive. I've wanted a pair of riding-type boots for, oh, about 2 years now. And I feel like I would wear them All. The. Time. The only thing is that they have a heel, and I was thinking more of a flat boot, but I love the way these look. I need opinions.

What do you guys think?

If you wore flats most of the time, but loved the (low) heeled boots ... would you buy them? Even though they're a lot of money, and you just blew through quite a bit on your sweet hubby?

Hooray!

After a rather long and lonely weekend, Mark is back, and my Mommy is coming to visit me!!

Hooray!!

We are planning to do all sorts of fun things, like eat at snobby French cafes and potentially make cheese. (I'm still a little iffy about that... we'll see.) It will be nice to show her our life in Birmingham :)

Pictures will come soon!

You're So Vain

(Disclaimer: I am bored, and by myself. This post is worthless garbage, but it might make you laugh. You've been warned.)

When I'm by myself, I like to look at pictures.

A lot of my pictures are housed on my computer.

I found these gems in the Photobooth section of my computer. They were from when Kelly was left by herself in my apartment. Apparently she got a little bored.

I laughed until I cried...

(This one has got to by my favorite.)

And so, I was inspired. Put me in an empty house, alone, missing my husband and my sister, with nothing to do, and add a willing audience (Thanks, interwebs!), and this is what you get.

It started out innocently enough...

This one is even pretty

I also like this one.

And then we get to page 2 of the Effects, and things just get weird.

But amusing?

I'm hoping that Mark will check my blog, and laugh, and miss my hilarity, and come home to me.

Maybe this wasn't the best way to do that, though...

Hum.

Now that I've made myself look like a total freak...

What do I do now?

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

This week's topic: Birthdays!! (Which I love!)

As always, if you want to play along, go visit Lauren at the little things we do.

1. Birthdays are:       not often enough! I love love love birthdays.

2.  My favorite birthday memory was      honestly, I think this year's. They're getting better as I get older. I got to see my family, I watched my sister play in a really awesome concert, I got a new set of china, and Elissa came to visit me after we came home from my parents' house. I'm not sure how a birthday can get much better than that :)   .

3.  A birthday tradition I (or my family) has is       well, I've sort of declared a birthday month, which is sort of vain and selfish, I guess... My mom always always bakes and decorates a cake for everybody's birthday. I've never in my life had a store-bought cake for my birthday, and I'd like to keep it that way (unless said cake was from Pastry Art Bake Shoppe. I'd take one of those.) I'm keeping with that tradition in my own family as well  .

4.  If I had to choose one birthday meal to eat for the rest of my birthdays hence forward, I would choose       Mmmm... that's a tough decision. I'm going to say one of the Surin restaurants around here - they're Thai, and AMAZING  .

5.  My birthday is on     March 23rd. I'm a spring baby :) .

6.  If I could take a birthday trip I would go       to Italy! And stay for my entire birthday month :)  .

7.  The best gift I've ever received for my birthday was       this is also tough, as I've received quite a few nice gifts. My china this last year was pretty amazing. I got a trip one year, when I was in high school. It was a school trip, but it was a pretty amazing school trip, so I still count it as a good present :) And Mark gave me a Tiffany necklace a couple years ago - that was pretty nice :)     .

 

 

And now an update on me ... this week has been crazy. I can't believe it's already Friday! My car should be fixed this morning. I miss it so. I love that little Jetta... 

Also, I was going to go to Nashville on an impromptu visit with Lissa, but since my car wasn't fixed, that plan changed. Back and forth and back and forth my week has been, it seems like.

I do get to see Kelly today - we're going to lunch somewhere before she goes home to Chattanooga.

And Mark, after he gets back from the library, is going to Griffin today to visit poor Thomas. I'll be by myself this weekend - wish I had some company :(

And then on Monday, my momma's coming to visit! I'm so excited - we will have such fun :)

And that's about it. 

Happy Friday!

Stolen from Chelsea:

I was going to do a bullet point post about all the random things I've done today. But instead, I'm going to copy one of sweet Chelsea's old posts and do... Reverse Letters!! (If you click on the link, it'll take you back to her original reverse letter post.) Hope you're okay with me being a total copy-cat, Chelsea!

Dear April,

Thanks for taking me to get fixed today.

It took you long enough.

However, I will dearly miss you while we're separated.

Your love on wheels,

The Jetta

Dear April,

I know you want to come and get me.

I am so full of sugary goodness.

But I am terrible for you. 

It's a good thing The Jetta's in the shop, and you're without a car.

Saving your blood sugar fifty points at a time,

the Doughnuts at Publix

Dear April,

WHY THE HECK DID IT TAKE YOU THREE DAYS

TO CLEAN ME?!?!

But hey, thanks for doing it anyway :)

Love,

The Shower

Dear April,

This obsession has got to stop.

Any more, and I'll ask CTU to prepare an interrogation room for you.

Seriously, stop it.

-Jack Bauer

Dear April, 

WASH US!!

Signed,

Your Laundry

 

 

Dear April,

Kindly send us back those Gettysburg DVDs.

You've had them for a month,

And you didn't even watch them!

Sincerely, 

Netflix

 

 

Dear April,

You make a terrible plant mother.

Better luck next time,

the dead basil in the backyard

 

 

Dear April,

It's high time we had a better relationship.

And by that, I mean it's time that we HAVE a relationship.

Love,

Your nonexistent workout routine

Hope everybody's having a great Hump Day!

Surprise!

Yesterday, I got a phone call from Kelly, and Surprise! I'm getting a visit from her today! She and her friend Kait are going with their boyfriends to the Arcade Fire concert in Georgia, but Colton and Bryce (the boyfriends) will be at the lake today. So Kelly and Kait are coming here to hang with me while they wait for the boys to get back. Yay!!

That also means that I really need to get out of my bed and clean my house. Because it's a disaster, and I've never met Kait before, and while Kelly can handle my messiness, I'm not sure if that's the kind of first impression I want to put out there to Kelly's friends. Motivation? I've got some.

Time to get a move on!

It is nice to remember (and see) that sometimes, miracles do indeed happen. Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are very very huge and sometimes they are short-lived and sometimes not, but the most important thing is that they happen.

Now, and update on me. And us:


The summer is winding to a close. It's been a great summer, and I can't believe how fast time has flown. How is it the 9th of August already?!? 
I'll have a full week this week - I'm working a bit extra this afternoon, and then lots of cleaning of the house, and I'm meeting some friends for lunch on Thursday and possibly doing lunch with another friend another day this week. Then next week, my mom is coming to visit!! I'm so excited - it'll be the first time that she's come to Birmingham for more than a day trip. I'm planning to take her to Chez LuLu, and we'll probably cook some, and do all sorts of fun stuff :) I love being friends with my mom!

  
What I also can't believe is that Mark starts school next week as well. It's crazy to think that we have less than a year before another major life change. I love it here in Birmingham, but I am ready to settle. I'd love to stay here, or go somewhere else, or whatever we need to do, but wherever we end up, I want to plan on being there for a while. 

Kelly also starts back to school very soon, and I'm excited, because it'll be easier (I think) for me to come and visit her! She and the girls are moving into these apartment-style dorms that are new on her campus, so she'll get to be in sort of a suite-type-room for her senior year! (Oh my gosh, my sister is a senior. When did I get so old??) So I'm planning to visit, and cook for the girls, and all of that fun stuff. 

I'm excited about the potential for fall, but I feel like we won't be having any fall weather anytime soon. Hopefully it'll cool off enough so that Mark and I can go camping, at least. We've never even used our tent! 

I need to get up and get moving, but I hope everybody has a lovely day. It's sunny where I am :)