Grass

Before:


After:

On Friday morning, this large truck pulled up in front of our house:


So that this man:


Could unload 5 1/2 of these:


We worked hard all day long, to change our yard from looking like this:


To this:


As you can see, there is still quite a bit of work to do: one of those being cutting those edges. But regardless, the grass is in, and I'm happy to have a back yard!

Happy Birthday to Me

Last week I celebrated my 23rd birthday.

Wow, I'm getting old.

It's kind of interesting to think about where I thought I would be at 23 when I was young.

You know, that 'dream world' that every little girl has.

In my 'dream world,' when I was 23, I was married, living in a huge house, and had a perfect little baby. I always thought I would be a really young mom: I'm not sure why, really, but I always just assumed that.

I didn't realize how fast 23 would creep up on me; however, and I'm not really even close to that part yet.

I've almost got the married part down; I've got the house thing under control (although it's not huge, it's perfect for now), and as for the perfect little baby: well, that will come with time.

Anyway, my birthday this year was somewhat uneventful, but we had a good time.






Friday night, we celebrated by going out to dinner. I am extremely lucky to have so much family close to us to be able to celebrate with!

Sprinklers

I love my house.

I love living in my house.

I love that I don't have to worry about how loud the TV is, because I don't want to wake the people above us.

I love that I have a garage door opener, that opens the door to my very own garage.

I love that we spent 45 minutes talking with our neighbor, and the fact that we even have neighbors that we can talk with about things like yard work.

All of this is what I consider the 'joys of being a homeowner.'

I have discovered; however, one small glitch. It's amazing how the 'to do' list never gets smaller when living in a house.

It only keeps growing.

Lately, that 'to do' list keeps growing when it comes to our back yard. You see, because we bought a new house, the back yard does not come included.

Currently, I like to call it 'my own little pile of dirt.'

We made a vow that we are just going to get it all done and overwith in the beginning. Sure it's going to be spendy, and involve a lot of work, but if we don't get it done now, it probably won't get done for many years to come.

Yes, I'll admit, we aren't super 'project oriented' people. I'm trying to get better, because like I said: that list is only going to get bigger.

So to help achieve this goal, for the last week, Joel and Tommy have been hard at work with the first step of our yard.

They have been working hard, and after numberous trips to Lowes, countless hours digging, and one trench-digger, we rinally have the end result: sprinklers. Right now they just water my pile of dirt, but soon they will water the next step: the grass.

Stay tuned. . .

Mixed Opinions

Sometimes I find it very entertaining to see the way people express their opinions about different things.

Cutting my hair has been one of those situations to see this in its prime. Since I have cut it (which was well over a few months ago) I have, and am still getting, very mixed opinions on the matter.

Generally, the census seems to be that people really like it.

For a while, and even still occasionally, I get comments from random people about how much they like it.

I would get comments at the grocery store.

At work.

And even in the Toyota Center bathroom.

This is in addition to multiple people I do know telling me how they like it.

I appreciate these positive comments.

Then you have the people that respond to the change with, "oh wow, you cut your hair."

What does that really mean, anyway? It's not like they are telling me something I didn't know: afterall, I was there when it happened.

Then there are the people that are obviously not such big fans.

Take the patient at work the other night, for example, who stopped all conversation and started laughing every time I walked into the room.

How do I know she was laughing at my hair, you ask?

Well, the comment made by her significant other of "I really love your hair" seemed about as sarcastic as I've heard them.

Or take the small boy who was walking by with his parents, and screamed "that lady has weird hair!" As his parents were quickly hushing him, I couldn't help but laugh.

Afterall, to a small boy, perhaps I do resemble something like a porcupine.

But regardless, it doesn't really matter to me. I love my hair.

I appreciate the positive comments, and just have to laugh at the negative ones.

Afterall, everyone is going to have their own opinion, right?

Rainy Days

Normally, I'm not a big fan of rainy days. I enjoy cloudy days, but when I have things to do and errands to run, the rain seems to just be in the way.

When I have a day when I need to sleep; however, I couldn't ask for anything more perfect than this.

You see, the one (and really only) downfall I have found to working at night is having to sleep through a beautiful, sunny day. With the days starting to get nicer and nicer, I am finding it harder and harder to sleep through them. I want to be awake: to be doing things that are productive and fun. As a result, I have been finding myself sleeping less and less, and I end up being more tired in the long run.

But when I come across a day like this, where all I want to do is curl up in bed anyway, it is perfect.

So today, I will actually enjoy this dreary, rainy day.

Afterall, a little rain is good for everyone, right?

Let The Party Begin!

June is going to be a busy month in our house. Spring is quickly blooming, and so are all of the activities that come with it.

Many of my friends seem to be getting married or having babies this year: it must be a good year for change.

Because of this, I've found myself in quite the 'planning' mode the last couple of weeks.

You see, I love throwing parties for people. I haven't thrown many: mainly because there wasn't much room in our apartment for more than 5 or 6 people to sit comfortably. Now that we have a house; however, I have much more space to be able to throw all sorts of parties: something I was quite excited about when we moved in. I plan to take full advantage of this, and vowed to make a point of having people over as frequently as possible.

It only makes sense to start now. I currently am planning for a wedding shower, a baby shower, and a housewarming party. Not to mention my own wedding that keeps managing to get closer and closer.

So during the past few weeks I have found myself in the world of making invitations, choosing menus, buying decorations, and getting my house ready for the events to come.

Sure I have a ton left to do: the list never seems to get any smaller. But I am loving every single minute of it. I don't mind feeling stressed if it is, what I consider, 'fun' stress. I like to stay busy.

And this is about as fun as it gets.

So for the next however many weeks, you will find me cutting and pasting, attempting to cook, and trying to get rid of the boxes I still have left. And yes, I will be enjoying every minute of it.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

The top 10 reasons why I have the best mom in the world:

1. The mere fact that she was able to give birth to me. From the very beginning, I was apparently a handful: as a 10 pound baby who, let's just say, didn't really want to come out. She definately deserves some credit for even going through that delivery. Working where I do now, I respect that even more.

2. She works her butt off. Growing up, she was always there for anything my sister and I were doing, whether it was a dance recital or to volunteer in our elementary school classrooms. Today, she works countless hours, but still manages to be there on a daily basis. She is wonder-woman!

3. The many times we have gone shopping together. The fact that she is honest enough to tell me how ugly something is, and laughs at me for even considering looking at it. I also love the fact that I can come back at her with the exact same critique, and she will immediately move on.

4. She makes me laugh. Literally, all the time.

5. She listens to me. Whether I'm upset about something little that really doesn't matter in the long run, or trying to make a serious decision, she is always there to listen. She always has something wise to say, but doesn't get offended when I don't take her suggestions.

6. The fact that after almost any meal, we can just look at each other and know how desperately we both are in need of some chocolate.

7. The way she worked as hard as she could to give us, essentially, everything we could ever ask for growing up. Vacations to numerous places, any piece of clothing we ever wanted. . . we were incredibly lucky growing up. As I probably didn't realize how lucky I was at the time, I now know a lot of it was because of her hard work.

8. The fact that she has a facebook, and updates me on who said what, and what was posted where.

9. How many things she has taught me over the years. Life lessons . . . life goals . . . how to be a good person overall . . . who I am today has come from her.

10. The kind, loving, and wonderful person that she is.

The list could go on forever.

As I sit and plan the day I will be married, we are definately entering a new phase of life. I can only hope that in this new phase, I will be just half of the wonderful mom she was to me.

That I have made her proud, and that she knows I always have, and will forever love and appreciate her.

I really do have the best mom in the entire world.

I love you mom, and happy mother's day!

Are You Ready For Some. . . Soccer?!

For Joel's birthday back in April, I bought him tickets to the Seattle Sounders game.

For those that don't know, Joel loves soccer. Most of his soccer time is spent as a referee, although he doesn't get a chance to spend as much time on it as he'd like. For the last few birthdays, Christmas', etc., he has gotten numerous Sounders sweatshirts, jackets, and t-shirts, but we haven't had a chance to make it to a game until last Saturday.

We weren't in Seattle for even 24 hours, but we had a great time. Early Saturday morning we loaded the car, make a quick Starbucks run, and were on our way.


We made it to Seattle around noon, so had some time for some shopping at my new favorite store, Crate and Barrel, and lunch at the Cheesecake Factory before the game.

After checking into our hotel and loading up in Sounders 'gear,' we made our way over to Qwest Field.


I am not a huge soccer fan, and honestly don't know a lot of people that are, so I was personally suprised to see how many people were there; the stadium was completly full.


I have to admit, after watching the game, I have a new respect for soccer. Like I say, I'm really not a soccer fan, but I was pleasantly suprised at how entertaining the game was. It was exciting, and even intense at times. I would definately go back any time to watch it all again.

A Typical Wednesday Night

Time To Get Those Running Shoes On!

So yesterday I did something I thought I would never do.

I signed up to run a half marathon.

That's 13 miles.

Now, some would say 'oh, not a big deal.' But to me, this is a big deal. HUGE in fact.

You see, I am not a runner. In all reality, I am probably the farthest thing from a runner you've ever met. I can't run a mile, and don't know that I've ever been able to. I honestly hate running. I always said if you want to find a way to competly torture me, make me run.

Today, I went for my first 'run.' My lovely cousin Sarah and I stepped outside, and started with some walking. We eneded up running probably a half mile total, with some running and walking mixed together. While I kept questioning myself the entire time, now that I'm sitting here and not panting anymore, I feel really good. I think the first day is the hardest, and I got through it.

You're probably confused at this point, wondering why the heck I'm wasting my time doing something I hate. The answer: because I want to prove to myself that I can. This is something that I've never dreamed I would be able to do, so for me to be able to say 'I'm working to run a half marathon' is a big thing. A few people I've told about this have looked at me like I'm crazy. Some have even flat out told me I won't be able to. That motivation alone is pushing me to be able to say 'I can do this.'

I won't lie: the fact that I will be wearing a wedding dress in front of 250+ people in 7 months is also pushing me a little bit too.

So, I'm going to get my running shoes on, and work as hard as I can to get this done. It's going to be tough, and I will probably be questioning my decision on a daily basis, but I'm determined. If I can do this, anyone can.

Day 6: Epcot

So on the final day, we really didn't have any set plans. We decided to try out Magic Kingdom again and finish the things we didn't get done due to the rain, but when we got there and found out it looked like this:

We quickly changed our plans. In the picture it is kind of hard to see, and doesn't really do it justice, but they ended up closing the park a couple of hours later because there were too many people in it.

So we hopped onto the Monorail and jumped over to Epcot.


Epcot, like I mentioned before, is one of those parks that we normally don't spend a lot of time at. They have a few rides, but most of it is split up to be themed into different countries that you can walk through. We have done it before, and it is one of those things that once you see it, you've seen it. But because we had a couple people that had never been there before, we decided to walk through them. I was skeptical at first. . . I would normally much rather be riding the rides, but it ended up being a lot of fun!



















During the entire trip, those that hadn't been there before were eager to see Mickey Mouse. The characters didn't seem to be out as much as they used to be, which is unfortunate. By the last day, Tommy and Joel were almost depressed at the fact that they most likely wouldn't be seeing Mickey Mouse this trip.

But what did we find first thing that morning?

A spot where you could wait in line and see all 5 characters. . . you can imagine how excited they were! So we waited for an hour:

And this was the result: