Remember spring swaps snow for leaves, you'll be happy and wholesome again, when the city clears and sun ascends...

Today is my hodgepodge update. I've been told by a few different people that I need to get on the blogging ball...so this is me..on the ball!

It's been pretty quiet here at work, which I am so grateful for. I know this is just the calm before the storm, since my boss is out for two weeks, and I know once she gets back it will be high stress all the way. We have our Annual Board of Trustee Meeting in June, and that one is always more stressful than the Quarterly ones. It's a big song and dance of putting on events and meetings and it is seriously the most stressful thing I have ever done. This will be my third one. I worked through my first one while passing a kidney stone. I had been in the ER that weekend and I still hadn't passed it by Monday morning, but I had to come in because the meetings were that week. Can we say miserable? For the record...taking Vicoden while working isn't the best idea in the world. Anyways! I am really grateful for this time where I can get as much of my stuff done as possible, so when it's gets insane around here, hopefully I won't be as stressed.

Heather and I started up a recipe blog - Don't Forget to Lick the Spoon! We have been talking about doing one for a while, and we finally did. Check it out!! It will be lots of fun to start documenting the things we love to make and to be able to share those things with you!

Bon appetit y'all!

So, I don't have kids yet, but I do have an adorable puppy, so....I'm going to talk about him for a minute :)

Bowser is adorable as ever and getting bigger every day! He has eaten a random assortment of things no dog should ever eat. The list includes: a bottle of prenatal vitamins, earwax remover, shampoo, toilet paper, make up removing face wipes, and lots of cardboard. He really loves to play outside, but not if we aren't out there with him, which can be a pain. Jacob has started teaching him how to catch a Frisbee, and he's getting pretty dang good at that. He's started trying to catch bees and other bugs that fly around. Apparently the other day he caught one, and then he opened his mouth back up and the bee flew out! HA! He's also getting more protective. Usually when people come over he goes up to them and wants them to pet him and all, but when the AC guy came the other day, Bowser didn't go up to him. He hung back and stayed near me most of the time. He would go see where the guy went and when the guy would come back, Bowser would be near me again. I won't lie - I kinda love that. This first picture is my favorite!! That's the grumpiest face I have ever seen!

I know this is pretty behind the times, but it snowed in Atlanta a few times this winter, and I love the way our house looks covered in snow! Bowser also loved the snow, but got neutered the day before the big snow hit, so he didn't get to enjoy it as much as he would have liked..

...Crusin' and playin' the radio, with no particular place to go.

I have been struggling for things to blog about, mainly because I don't have pictures to go with any interesting things we do. But one thing that has been on my mind lately is cell phone usage while driving. I am the first to admit, I have texted while driving. I use my phone while driving. I also commute to Midtown Atlanta every day on 75 and I see tons of people swerving around and as I pass them I see that they are messing with their cell phones. 80 mph is not a safe speed to be multitasking at. It's dangerous, and I have heard way to many tragic stories that stem from cell phone usage while driving.

I have a story about cell phone usage while driving. It was my 23rd birthday and I was a nanny for two awesome girls, ages 14 and 10. (Let me interject here and say if I ever have daughters, I hope they are as awesome as those two girls.) I had just picked up the oldest one from a sleepover and we were going to pick up some lunch. I had the right of way, a green arrow, and there were about 4 cars in front of me. They all went through just fine. My car sort of hesitated before I went, which was weird, but it turned out to be a blessing! A guy who was talking on his cell phone totally blew through his red light. If my car hadn't hesitated, he would have smashed into me right where I was sitting! My car was totaled and his was in bad shape too. Overall, the girls were just fine and so was I. It was a terrifying experience being in an accident like that with other peoples children in my car. The family knew it wasn't my fault and they knew me very well and trusted me (I was their nanny for about 4 summers). I won't go into the details about the rest of the drama (and oh boy, what the guy who hit me FULL of drama!) but he hadn't seen the light because he was distracted by his phone call. I was really good about not using my phone while driving after that, but I got lax about it as the years passed. But now that texting while driving has become a big problem as well, I started to think about the issue more and more.

I decided that I needed to do something. I felt like complaining about it wasn't enough (shocking, huh?!) That's when I heard about Oprah's No Phone Zone Pledge. I thought it was kind of a silly thing to do at first, so I didn't think about it much. I didn't want to sign something just because Oprah said we should (I have never even seen an episode of her show!) But then I really started paying attention while I was driving and so many people are not paying attention to the roads. It is especially scary when you see teenagers doing it. I'm not saying they are bad drivers, but they have less experience on the road and don't need even more things to distract them. I don't want something to happen to me or my loved ones because someone was checking Facebook or sending a text instead of watching the traffic signal and missing the fact that it turned red.

I know that I thought this wasn't as important when I first read about it, and I also thought, I'm a safe driver this wouldn't happen to me (which is ridiculous because it already has!)....Then I remembered it just takes one moment of not paying attention to cause a wreck. So, I decided that I would pledge to make my car a little safer.

That being said...here is my pledge!

I pledge that I will not text while driving and will use only handsfree calling if I need to speak on the phone while I am driving.

I know I'm a cheeseball.....but at least I'm trying to be a safe cheeseball :)

If you ask me plainly, I would gladly say I'd like to have you round just for them rainy days...

Happy New Year!

I'm really excited for the new year, and the things that it may have in store for us! (I hope it involves a cruise!!) Looking ahead is great, but 2009 was a good year for us! Here are my 10 favorite moments of last year, complete with pictures. Most of these are stolen, as I am terrible at remembering to take pictures. Or else they are taken with my iPhone. Meh.

In no particular order:

1) We got married! Best. Day. Ever.

2) St. Johns. Twice. Most amazing place ever. I hope to live there one day. Seriously.

3) Painted our kitchen! I'm so in love with it now :)

4) Learning to sew. I made my first pair of pajama pants! I'm grateful I have so many talented ladies in my life who can teach me! (Not only did I learn to sew, I learned to sew on my mom's first sewing machine. I had Heather take some pics of it so I could frame them and give it to her, since she has given me the machine now. I love the shots Heather took!)

5) My Jizninifer came home! She was serving a mission for our church in Mongolia, and I know that she didn't really want to come home...but I sure missed her while she was gone! She did so much for the people there. I love hearing her stories about the people and the things she did there. Most of all, I love her and her testimony and the example she set by going to share it with others. I love her!

6) Labor Day Weekend beach trip. I love the weekend trips that we take. I do seriously have some of the best friends in the world, and I love that we go and do all kinds of things together. Beach trips are some of my favorite types of trips. (I stole this picture from Heather...)

7) Speaking of awesome friends, I took a trip to see Mary. It was long overdue and so much fun! I definitely don't get to see her enough, so here's to another trip in 2010! Hopefully more than one...

8) Bowser. I know I just posted on him...but he is a totally one of our highlights of 2009!

9) Trying a fried oreo. I have always wanted too, but I never have. It. Was. Amazing. So good! Also, I love going to the Apple Festival and Pumpkin Patch, but eating a friend oreo sounds cooler than going to see pumpkins... :)

10) Brittany bought us concert tickets for my birthday!! We went to see No Doubt and Paramore. Oh my goodness....Gwen Stefani is so amazing. I love her!!! They played tons of old songs and sounded awesome. What an awesome friend! I'm lucky she has put up with me for so long :)

The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!

So, my Christmas came a little early this year and I couldn't be more excited! Guess what I got...

A PUPPY!!!

His name is Bowser (yes, we named him after the character from the Nintendo games!) and he's 9 weeks old. Look at his adorable wrinkles and his big old paws! He's going to be a big guy when he's full grown. He's seriously adorable...I'm not even exaggerating! He won over Jacob - that says a lot right there! (Yes, Bowser enjoys to watch TV...)

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!! I have a bit of guilt that I have a puppy and Nelson, my dog who lives with my mom, can't live with us, but the circumstances don't really allow for that to be a feasible option. Nelson will always be my number one, but this little guy is a really close second!

Jacob and some awesome friends/family built a fabulous fence for the house, and it's almost finished! Once it is, Bowser will have a great yard to run around and get a lot of his energy out. I will post some pictures of the fence when I post about all the work we have been doing on the house. It's been a busy last month or two.

Bowser's personality comes out more and more every day. He's such a great dog. He loves to play, but he also love to cuddle. It's rather adorable. He sleeps through the night, and has from the first night we brought him home. He doesn't make a mess at night...during the day is a different story though. We are crate training him, but since he's in there while we are at work, we let him sleep in our room and that's worked out great. He still has a lot to learn though, but we are (well, at least I am) super happy and excited to have him! He came at the perfect time, and we definitely got a wonderful little guy.

I had a dog and his name was King, I told the dog about everything...

So, life has been busy and somewhat crazy, but it's good as usual. I don't have much time to update now, but I did want to mention that I have recently started volunteering with the Atlanta Boxer Rescue and that this Saturday, September 19, is the big fundraiser - Boxerstock!

ABR works with local animal shelters to identify Boxer dogs that need to be rescued, move those Boxers to foster homes for care and rehabilitation, spay/neuter and vaccinate the Boxers as needed, and seek qualified adopters to give those Boxers new, loving homes. (I stole that from the website!) Recently, a lot of the dogs they have rescued have heartworms, and the treatment can get costly. So, if you want to help out this organization, come out to Boxerstock! The money earned will help cover the costs of the health care for these adorable little guys! I'm really excited about being a volunteer with this organization, and want to spread the word.

I am a huge fan of boxers in general, but in particular, Nelson. He's not from ABR, he's my puppy, who is now nearing the age of 13. We have had him since he was 6 weeks old, and he's been one amazing puppy. (Yes, I am fully aware he's not technically a puppy anymore, but he will always be one to me.) I would write more about the amazingness of Nelson, how much he means to me and how much I love him, but that will be saved for another day. He deserves his own post :)

Boooooring

Are you interested in unbelievably dry analysis of the iPhone? Well, great! Then you're in good company, because I've written some.

Oh wait, you aren't? Oh. Well, then here's some pictures of our garden. I'm thinking I'll write a "What I learned in my first year of gardening" post in the next month or so.

I can't see the stars anymore living here, let's go to the hills where the outlines are clear...

I am absolutely ready to explode with excitement!!!

I get to see my BEAUTIFUL Jiznin in less than two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so proud of her and her service to the Lord and the people of Mongolia. She's amazing!! I have missed her so much, and I can't even believe it's already time for her to come home. I'm so blessed to have her in my life, and I'm so grateful for all that she has done for me and taught me through her amazing example. I can't wait to hear her stories and tell her mine. OH MY GOSH I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER!

I LOVE YOU JIZNIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Can you tell I'm a little excited?!

:)