Bullets!

Good morning!

Bullet points today, since I'm short on time and I've got a lot of things buzzing around in my head...

-Good half-day at work yesterday. It was nice. I needed a good day.

-Sushi again last night with Mark. Super crunch, how I love thee!

-I really really really wish it would warm up and get sunny again. I feel like winter will never end.

-Traveling to Chattanooga today - excited to see my family and Colton!

-Thus begins my 2-week-long birthday extravaganza :) (Mark makes fun of me all the time for having "four birthdays" ... I can't help it that I grew up in a family that likes to celebrate things, and also that my birthday always fell on spring break in school/college - I always got to do a lot of fun things.)

-My actual birthday is March 23. I will be 25 years old. Ugh. That feels old to me... time passes so fast.

-Elissa is coming to visit me next week!!! That makes me so happy I want to dance :)

-My mom is making poppyseed chicken for dinner tonight, and my early birthday cake will be white cake with strawberry buttercream icing. YUMMMMM.

-I will post pictures of the (small) Par-Tay we will have soon.

-I have a new follower! I love new followers :)

-Blogging is so, so much fun. I love it. My husband doesn't understand it. I feel that a lot of you are in the same situation :)

-Time to shower! Gotta finish packing and get on the road.

Monday Update

First on today's agenda: I'm entering a GIVEAWAY!!! To find it, and enter it yourself, and read Chelsea's cute cute blog, go HERE!


I am excited about this week! I'm headed home to celebrate my birthday with my family, and I get to see my sister (and her cute boyfriend!) TWICE!! I get lots of Kelly in my life lately, and it makes me happy :) Here is Kelly and her boyfriend, Colton. They are precious!

This morning I need to get my butt out of the bed (does anybody else blog in bed, or am I the laziest person ever?) - I'm working this evening (well ... the last half of a shift, anyway) - for a girl so she can take her boys to the doctor. So I need to do some laundry and get some stuff packed this morning, so we can leave early tomorrow morning!

Hope you all have a great week!

Reasons Why I Love My Husband

There are a lot of reasons why I fell in love with Mark in the first place, and continue to love him more and more the longer we're together.

Here are a few of them, in no particular order:


1. He likes to play with me. Whether it involves trying to toss me in the lake, or making futile attempts to put me in the bathroom (our favorite game - I always win, cause I'm squirmy and persistent), he's never above acting like a little kid (when it's appropriate, anyway). I think that's good. It will keep us young as we get older :)




2. He likes to sing to me. Mark doesn't quite have the voice of Josh Groban, and I don't think you should expect to see him on American Idol anytime soon. But when he sings, it's silly, and it comes from his heart. And even though he probably will never get a recording contract (and I doubt he wants one...), when he sings, it makes my day happy. Especially when he sings halfway in his sleep, which he did the other morning...


3. He's cute. Put him in a pair of jeans and a button-down and roll up the sleeves to his forearms... and I sort of turn into a puddle.




4. He goes along with all my crazy ideas, including a Tacky Sweater Christmas Party two years ago. And the family portrait that I insisted on afterward....




5. He's silly. He likes to make people laugh. Whether that means fighting Suzie with some sort of firecracker-y sticks...


...playing Edward Scissorhands with our new set of knives right after we got married...


...or never making a serious face in pictures... (seriously, never. Ever.) ... he's always trying to find some way to make me smile or laugh. Especially if I'm having a bad day. That's one of the things that I appreciate the most about him :)




6. He goes on all-day-long dates with me, like we did yesterday. Those are my favorite :)



7. He's my best friend. He's my absolute favorite person to do anything with: travel, play, eat, drink, shop, whatever - I just like it when he's there. I can talk to him about anything. I am myself around him. It's the most comfortable feeling in the world.



8. He likes Elissa :) And agrees to do stuff with us. Because we're essentially Lucy and Ethel - we like to plot and plan and get in trouble.


(He even accompanies us to formal events, with dancing!)



9. This one's really important to me - he loves my family. And likes to make them laugh too. My parents both really like him too, which makes things nice :)


He even joins in the Shannon crazy-ness at Christmas - we get a little exuberantly festive sometimes (festive is NOT a word I would use to describe Mark), and he is patient and plays right along. Because he loves me :)




10. He likes watching movies with me. Mark is actually the one who got me into movies - I liked them before, but in college, we would watch them all the time together. (And I'd get in trouble with my mom, because we'd always rent movies on my Blockbuster card, and Mark was TERRIBLE about turning them in on time, and my parents' account would be charged for them...) Thankfully, we have Netflix now, and don't have that problem :)



11. He's very handy with outdoors-y things. He's an Eagle Scout. And he builds a good tent :)





12. He honestly thinks I'm the most beautiful woman in the world. Honestly.



13. He's never been above helping me with any and every household chore. He washes the dishes...


...and sweeps the floor... and a lot of other great things too :)




14. He has a tattoo on the back of his right shoulder. He's not the type of guy you would think would have a tattoo either - I always thought it was sort of sexy :)



15. He likes to dance with me. And he's good at it, too!






16. He loves animals, and is really sweet to them...


...most of the time.





17. I think he will be an amazing dad. (Just not yet. No kids yet, please...) I can't wait to parent with him (in a couple of years...)



18. He likes to travel with me! I love to travel, and go all different places, and he's my favorite traveling buddy :) We've been to Charleston (in the picture below), Gatlinburg a couple times...


...and Orlando, for our honeymoon :)


Seriously, how many guys would agree to spend their Honeymoon in Disney World? He's a keeper :)




19. He's so, so, so easy to live with. It makes life nice, knowing I'm always coming home to someone easy-going and not picky about things.



20. He is so loyal, and so faithful, and such a good person in general. I'm lucky to be married to a guy like him. There's no one I'd rather spend the rest of my life with...



...why do you love your spouse/significant other?

Lovely Day

Today was PERFECT.

First I went to Bible Study, which is always an extremely refreshing part of my week. It was a really small group this week, and we had some great discussion and prayer time.

Then I came home, and the weather was PHENOMENAL. I changed clothes, and Mark and I went to get some BBQ :) Yum, yum!

After lunch, we went for a nice stroll on the walking trail across the street from our old college :) We walked probably 2.5 miles. The sun was shining, there was an awesome breeze, and it was WONDERFUL.

Then we went to the bakery, and they had STRAWBERRY baby bites, my FAVORITE! We stocked up on some yummy (and sooo bad for you) snacks :)

And then we went and saw

source

It was beautiful (I saw it in 2D, would love to see it in 3D) as most Tim Burton movies are, I loved the colors, and I LOVED Johnny Depp (as always.)

I feel so alive and so happy today. The first spring days (and really all sunny and warm days) really drive the winter-grumps away for me. Everything is beautiful and bright. I get to do the things I love with my favorite person ever. Going on walks with Mark is one of my very favorite things to do - we get to talk, and catch up, and there's no one I'd rather be with when it's warm and sunny and bright than him :) My moods are so in tune with the seasons, it's ridiculous. Spring for me means reawakening, and on days like today I want to literally go frolic in a green field with wildflowers somewhere. Summer is happy too - a bit slower than spring. Spring makes me feel neon. Summer isn't quite so ... bright, I guess. Summer means some lazy days, summer makes me think of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gatsby. (Thanks, Mrs. Ireland.) Fall makes me sleepy. Nostalgic. I drift. It's a hard feeling to describe - it makes me think of homecoming and friends and family, and I want to be with people. I long for community in the fall. And winter is long for me. Winter means grumpy, tired, irritable, sad. Snow makes it worse. Winter makes me want to stay in bed forever.

But it's spring now, and I can get out of my bed and go play and try my hardest to overdose on the sun's Vitamin D. And trust me, I will do so as much as I possibly can :)

Spring is here!!!!!!

Okay, so it's a little bit cloudy right now ... but on the way home from Bible study this morning, my car thermometer was reading 72 degrees!!!!!

Today is my first day of the season to wear flip flops, and my first day in short sleeves with no sweater. This is wonderful news :) (Except for that Mark is telling me it's going to get cold and snow again. I think he's just being really mean.)

So, so, SO excited for spring!!!!

Also: 58 days till we set sail for Jamaica and Grand Cayman! I can't wait!!

I'm Still Here!!

Good morning, dear bloggy friends! I have not, as you are all probably thinking, fallen off of the face of the earth...

Saturday and Sunday I worked (as always). And then early Monday morning I headed out to visit my sister, who is on spring break. We've been so busy shopping and eating (what my family does best, at least the girls in it) that I haven't had a chance to even look at Blogger until late last night, and then it took me about an hour to get caught up on all the blogs I follow!

I leave today to go back to my (sick) hubby (who I left, sick, on Monday to come here. I'm so mean.) He has a little bit of a cold, pretty much cured by Dayquill and sleep, but as soon as the Dayquill wears off, he feels bad again.
(Confession: when he first was sick on Sunday, and called me to tell me, I did not believe him. His complaints? "My nose is stuffy, and I'm tiiiired...." said in a pitiful voice. Sunday was a bad day at work, and I was going and going nonstop, and I was thinking in my head - did NOT say - "MY nose is stuffy year-round from allergies, and what the heck do you think I feel like today? Pampered? I'M TIRED TOO." But I didn't say that. I said, "I'm sorry." And told him to go get some medicine.)

So, a few high points of our little mini-week:
-I went shopping with my mom and sister on Monday. My mom is on a mission to find some spring clothes, and she's done really well - I'm so proud! I also got this sweet little cardigan to wear this spring!

-Yesterday was my Kelly day while Mommy and Ninny were at the dentist. It started out a little crazy - I had dropped my car off the day before at our family's tried and true service station to get my oil changed and a burned-out headlight replaced. Mommy dropped us off on Tuesday morning to pick it up, but when I went to start the car, all the lights on the dash made this horrible clicky noise and blinked a lot, and the car wouldn't even begin to turn over. Lucky I was already at the station... The guy said that the battery was the original, and since the car was 4 years old, that's about as long as a battery can last. He showed me a lot of icky corosion-y looking stuff, and said something about the battery boiling to stay charged, or something. So they tested everything, and sure enough, it was dead dead. At least the alternator is fine... And I'm glad that it stopped there rather than at a gas station on I-59 in the middle of nowhere today.

-After that, I took Kelly out to lunch at Rain, which is this little Thai place sort-of near the mall, where we got to sit in the Rain room and eat yummy yummy Thai curry :) Then we went to Target. Kelly had a gift card, and got a cute little crocheted hat. I was looking for a floppy beach hat to wear on our cruise, and Mark requested pictures. So here we go...

This was the first one I tried. Maybe a bit large...


This one was ADORABLE. I nearly bought it. But my swimsuits are black and turquoise (and hopefully navy, if I can find a navy top...) and it just wouldn't go...


Umm .... less than stellar...



But this one was perfect! It lays properly, it's easy to wad up (for packing) and still holds its shape, it's a good color... I found my floppy hat :) I cannot WAIT for our cruise!



-After Target, we made a short WalMart run to get Kelly a phone charger (cause she left hers at school), then went to Francesca's collections where I got nothing but tried on rather a lot, went to Fresh Market to get bread for dinner and a snack, and then came home. Busy day!

-Kelly's BFF Cassie came for dinner, and after dinner we played with the "adult" Mad Libs book we found at Francesca's (actually, I did buy something there. I lied.)

-And today, I'll be driving back to Birmingham.

Thus far, it is a successful and lovely birthday month. The weather is cooperating (or has until today - it is dark and cloudy. Boo) and I've gotten to see Kelly! Yay!

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday, and an update :)

I'm copying Lauren over at The Little Things We Do, and presenting my first Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

1. One thing I MUST do before I die is: Go to Europe!

2. I would rather _scrub the toilet_ than _do the dishes_ any day

3. If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be: Don't have a crush on a boy who doesn't like you for four years. Complete. Waste. Of. Time. Also - you're prettier than you think you are.

4. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd: Go to Europe! And then come home and buy a house and quit my job so that I can be a Mommy. And buy Elissa a house next door to us :)

5. The best surprise ever was: when Mark asked me to marry him!

6. My biggest fault is: I sometimes have a really short fuse, and get really frustrated when things don't go the way I thought they would. I guess that means I'm spoiled. Sometimes I'm not very patient...

7. My biggest strength is: I feel like I have a lot of grace for people. I forgive easily, I trust easily. Sometimes that can switch and turn not-so-great though, when I start making excuses for people when I shouldn't....



Quick update:
Yesterday was so busy! But such a good day!
I started out with Bible Study, which was wonderful as usual, then went to one of the girls' houses for lunch. Then I headed over to the consignment place, consigned some clothes, and headed to the Summit. (Bad, bad bad....) Went to Victoria's Secret and picked up a lingerie shower gift for tonight (and something for me too ... Have you guys tried the new Body by Victoria push-up bra? It's AMAZING.) Then headed over to J. Crew and tried some stuff on to give hubby a better idea of what I want for my bday - and I was really good, I only bought a headband and some nail polish. I have so much self control :)
And then I went to the grocery store.
After all that, I was tired when I got home, so Mark and I went to Surin (SO YUMMY) and got some sushi, and I had some delish curry :) My tummy was happy.
And THEN we came home and watched Transformers 2 (which was an extremely bad movie, but sort of amusing to watch... Megan Fox looks like a porn star.)

So today, I'm going to try to get some chores done around the house, and tonight's the lingerie shower. It'll be so much fun - it's at this awesome Mexican place, so there will be margaritas...

And then the weekend hits, and my uber-short work-week will start again :) This week has been fabulous!