Catching up...

Sorry I have been out of pocket for so long. I now feel guilty for all the nasty things I have said to my not-so-up-to-date blogging friends. I have finally seen what it is like to have a life outside of the blog world. My apologies...

I am proud to announce that my baby sister, Jodie, has earned an internship with the Big Ten Network. This was no easy feat to accomplish and we are so proud of her! Way to go, Sister! Show those Big Ten guys how it's done! Go Buckeyes!Also, I designed a blog for Rachael Hamilton. Rachael is best friends with my friends Cortney and Jessa. They sent her to me and I appreciate them so much! Rachael just had a baby boy, Jackson a couple of months ago. He is precious....check out photos on her blog!


Now, I may be called a bragger, but if I am seriously going to catch you up on my life, I cannot sign off without telling you about my newest joy - my washer and dryer! We had been running on a decades old set since we got married. A set that was very generously donated to us by Camron and Martina and was very much appreciated! But unfortunately the washer died a couple of weeks ago and had to be replaced. We decided that since we were going to have to purchase a replacement, we might as well invest in a set that would last us another couple of decades. After much deliberation between brands and ratings and A WHOLE LOT of price comparing - we finally settled on a set and now I can't stop doing laundry! I have even washed clean clothes when I ran out of dirty clothes! I never would have thought I would be so excited about laundry!

My Favorite Things

**Please forgive the absence of photos.

1. Iced Mochas. Recently I have been getting BK's Mocha Iced Coffee, but I have a feeling I won't be meeting an iced coffee I don't like anytime soon.

2. Divine Design. Candice Olsen is the god of Design. I want to BE her. Check her out on HGTV (due to being spoiled by the DVR I am unable to tell you the time or day it comes on) but I am sure you can find it on your local listing.

3. Long weekends. Is there anything like a long weekend? It seems like "normal" weekends fly by. By the time you spend Saturday cleaning, going to the grocery, and running errands you wake up early Sunday morning to head to church, out to eat with your favorite members, home to let your husband study his stack of accounting books and then out again for some awesome fellowship with the best CORE Group in the world. Next thing you know - the weekend is over. Sigh. When were we supposed to relax? Long weekends afford you that much needed extra day to just catch your breath.

4. A clean house. It has been said that I am OCD, I am fine with that. It is true that I get my kicks out of knowing that every can in my pantry is lined up and facing the same direction. This weekend my excellent husband helped me to clean all those hard-to-reach-areas. Cabinets emptied and wiped out? Check. Drapes took down and vacuumed? Check. Baseboards scrubbed? Check. Well you get the picture. My Dad said I might have taken to title Labor Day a bit to literally. Nah.

5. Blurb.com. It is an extension of Google's many useful websites. You can take your blogs and make books out of them. Or just do like I did and insert your own photos and captions to make a lazy person's version of a scrapbook. I made a book of our wedding day for our First Anniversary (it is the paper anniversary, after all) and have been meaning to blog about it for months now. Check out their website for some ideas of your own.

6. Buckle jeans. For some reason, I had never shopped in this store. Even after my sister worked there for several summer and Christmas holidays during college. Just never felt like it was my style. But this weekend my super preppy husband decided to take a peak at some of their shoes and t-shirts (he kept waiting to hear them say, "Are you shopping for your grandson, Grandpa?") and we ended up shopping in there for like 2 hours (their sales people are obviously commission based and kept tossing additional items over or dressing room doors to try on). I digress. My point is that their jeans are amazing! I think I tried on a pair of Big Stars (or something like that) and Ben tried on several pair. The best part is that they do free alterations! Who knew?!

7. Ultra-slim flocked hangers. They give you so much more room in your closet, don't tangle up with one another and everything stays on them! Changed my life.

8. Alabama wins. Beating a top 10 team is always a great way to start (or end) my week!

9. Night Light by Dr. & Mrs. James Dobson. A devotional for couples that contains six months of daily devotions about communication, money, forgiveness, conflict resolution, etc. Scripture, probing questions, and short anecdotes encourage intimacy between couples in an attempt to ward off stagnation and habitual laziness in spiritual growth. We have enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to our time of prayer and discussion every night. This was a wedding gift from my sweet friend, Sylvia. Thanks, Sylvia Grace. We love it!

10. Date night. Fridays nights are date nights for us. We usually just go out to eat and come home to a movie. It's just nice hang out and talk and relax together. With our busy schedules (and by our's, I mean Ben's) it is nice to know that we always have a set time for us to reconnect. Tonight we have company for date night - Jon Kelley. He is one of my most favorite kids in the world and one of the only people I would let crash our date. Can't wait!