Inside the Pensieve

I found it on....

You are

What Rejected Crayon Are You?

If you want to laugh, head on over: http://openconversation.blogspot.com/

Blogspot Elves

For all those who blog:
Do you ever checkout your blog even though you have not posted anything in days? Some how I always think that some magical blogspot-elves will have posted something hilarious that I was going to post about but never got around to it...they would include great graphics and pictures from my digital camera that I never take anywhere. Wouldn't that be lovely? Someone writing about your life in your percpective but without the agonizing torture of having to actually do the work yourself?!?!

I think this is the surest sign that I might be laziest person in the world.

Notorious D-A-D

Okay, so I picked this up at Gigglesugar.com and I thought, "oh this is going to be stupid." But let me tell you I was wrong! He reminds me of my dad and my brother-in-law and every middle class-suburban man everywhere. The women in his videos are by far the best.

5 People for Dinner

Y'all know how much I love Popsugar.com. It has great celebrity gossip, fashion stuff, and fitness ideas. Well, they also have a giggle section where they post funny things found on the web. We the GiggleSugar has asked "who are the 5 people you would love to observe having dinner?" She said:
1.) jerry lewis
2.) burt bacharach
3.) bill o'reily
4.) rickey henderson
5.) little richard

But I have to say mine is a bit more devious:
1.) Rachel Ray
2.) Martha Stewart
3.) Colin Cowie
4.) Isaac Mizrahi
5.) My mom

I'd love to see the five of them duke it out over a fancy holiday dinner...See who could out diva who..."Let's use the silver napkin rings," my mom. "How about fashioning a rafia-holly deco for the napkin, it would be nice," Martha. "NO! lets go glitz, lets go GLAM! with Gold lame," Colin. Then a slap fight would ensue with Rachel screaming "yummo" and Isaac squealing under the table.

I want to preface this as showing that my mom could hold her own on the greats of party-throwing...and fist throwing...yeah, she's that cool.

So it has officially started to snow

Now, I know that most people in the midwest were pounded by snow last week so this seems like old news.

But Ann Arbor was spared that big snow storm, and we had one of the prettiest snows I have ever seen. IT was white, IT was fluffy, IT floated softly to the ground just covering the grass completely.

While it is cold out (and I have no objections to cold weather since I love the gloves, hat, scarves of it all), I think I may actually like this snow stuff...

Check back with me in a few months.

Long Days and Short Nights

So, I have been busy and not busy all day long. How is that possible you say? I have been having 13 hour work days because we are doing a board member-phone-a-thon. This means I stay 5-6 hours later than usual to listen to board members call our donors and ask for more money. You would think that I would use this time to be productive, but after working 8-9 hours already, my productivity is low. The real kicker is that I have to come into the office extra early because Ken (who needs the car since I'm staying at the office late) has to take me in with plenty of time to get into class...

okay I just reread what I wrote and it sounds whiney but I'm not meaning to be...I just have had no caffiene...hopefully this will get me to blog more. In any case, this is my desperate plea to the world to entertain me.

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas

So we set up the apartment for Christmas. We couldn't find our christmas oranment box when we home for Thanksgiving, so we just have the six ornaments we got from Bronner's (which I thought that I had already blogged about, but I will definately do that soon) on my 3 foot pre-lit tree from Wal-mart. I also made the wreath! Pretty cool, huh? It was the charlie brown wreath at the store, and it was super-cheap! So I added the cheap ribbon (that just so happens to match my wrapping paper scheme-yeah thats right I have a paper color scheme!) I am getting excited about Christmas (which in case you don't know hasn't really happened before).

Seinfeld Characters

Again, I have been checking up on a new blog-friend, Robin and she found out what Seinfeld character she was (a little controversial right now-thanks Michael Richards)....now I know I am doing two of these today, but mine is pretty accurate (i think) eventhough Robin's is not. Sorry, Robin!
Tell me if you think its accurate!

Which Seinfeld character are you?

You're Elaine!
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

What time of day am I?

I found this over at Shalee's Diner...during my blog travels this morning. She is pretty darn funny.

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Considering I do not like getting up early, this seemed contradictory to me, but the description seems accurate...cause I love making people happy....am I making you happy....oh no! I'm not? Well, maybe this will make you happy






It sure makes me laugh :-)

Lark News

So I was cruising around a great site of my friends, and I stumbled over this website called LarkNews.com. Now she claims it is a site that would be the daily show for chrisitian churches. Skeptically, I clicked the link.



And Boy howdy was I in for a laugh. There are funny articles and whatnot similar to the Daily Show, but my favorite is the t-shirts. Here are some of the best:

It says: You Suck, which is why you need Jesus

Jesus Loves You, Then Again he loves everybody.

Cartoon Time

As you know, I am a collector of all cartoons political and funny. So here are some in my inbox, I thought I'd share:

False Products

If you ever want to know what annoys me, on the list with badly smelling people, people who suck air/spit through their teeth, and shrinking my clothes in the wash is products that lie about what they are. Some of you know that I am an infomerical FREAK! You know that these products are not built to last or going to solve the worlds problems but they WILL do as advertised (help you grab food while whisking, fold your laundry evenly, or chop up food without messing up your hands). Now I'm not saying that they work out 100%, but you take what you can for the low low price of $19.99.
I have recently fallen in love with dried fruit (i don't know why), so on my recent and many grocery trips I thought I'd try this:

The package says "MANGO FLAVORED PINAPPLE." Now to me that suggests that their are dried chucks of pinapple that are flavored to tast like mango....but I look at the fruit...and its not chucks, its weird oblong slices (AH! like a mango would be sliced)...and it tastes like pinapple but my tastebuds maybe tricked out by the MANGO FLAVORED PINAPPLE lable. do you think they actually meant to say Mango: flavored pinapple?

Now I know you are asking, "Alex, why are you freaking out about whether the shrivled up piece of fruit leather is pinapple flavored like mango or mango flavored to be pinapple?" The answer is that I like it but I AM COMPLETELY WEIRDED OUT that I CAN'T TELL!

so this annoys me, can you tell?

My Husband is the Best!

My superhero husband: Why is he so great?
because he wears a silly mustache in the middle of the airport
And dances like this for my entertainment
He also cleaned the entire apartment to suprise me...Man, He is way to good to me!

I almost Peed my pants!

OH My goodness! The folks over at PopSugar have delivered me a gem. This is the scariest and funniest thing I have seen in a long time. If you have ability to laugh out loud (which I really didn't when I saw this), then by all means watch it. If not, be forewarned that you will make some awful noises trying to keep the laughter contained.

Here is the link: http://gigglesugar.com/68442
(I can't remember to hyperlink with no Mac, this switching back from Mac to PC is killin' me, y'all!)

If you like celebrity gossip, fashions that you can't afford, and fitness tips, you should really keep up with this webiste.

Transfering Inspiration from Myspace

Because I have been lacking some inspiration about what to post about recently (and the time)...I am taking a questionarre from Mysapce and using it here. So if you have seen this before, I am sorry....share your quirks with me!
70 QUIRKS ABOUT ME -

1. Initials:
AEW (it used to be ALE I wanted to marry a guy with the last name X so my initials would spell my name...I was sure Mr. Xylophone was out there!)

2. Name someone with the same birthday as you:
Hulk Hogan (OOOH Yeah!)

3. Last thing you ate?
Organic Reduced Fat Ruffles (better than baked and uber tasty!)

4. For or against same sex marriage?
as a policy, I'm not really for it, but as a matter of public interest I do want people to be happy....and denying people that happiness is not for me to decide.

6. Last person you hugged?
well, I am going to just guess it was Ken :-)

7. Are you single.
not for awhile now

8. How many U.S states have you been to?
Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Alabama, NC, SC, Virginia, DC, Lousiana, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho,

9. How many of the U.S states have you lived in:
Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Michigan

10. Ever lived outside of the US:
Nope, just roaming around the US

11. Name something you like physically about yourself:
My eyes and on good days my hair

13. Who is your best friend?
Ken is the ultimate best friend, but EB, Steph, and Pearce are the best friends with no Y chromosome. Crouton is definatey the oldest bestest friend.

14. Why are you still up?
Helping Ken study

15. Who made you angry today?
Well, there is some people at the crowded grocery store that aren't on my most loved day. But there is a girl at work that is on my hit list

16. Favorite type of Food?
French Fried

17. Favorite holiday:
Christmas: and its getting close!!!!

18. Do you download music:
Just a little, but I really love downloading audiobooks

19. Do you think Elvis is still alive?:
No, but it would be funny if he was still around like Kenneth Lay

20. Have you ever lied about being in love with someone?
No, but I've only been in love once.

21. First Song on your iPod?
Brother John by Blues Traveler

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
Ugh, some cheesy guys or people looking for tips.

23. Do you love anyone?
Of course

24. Do you like Bush?
There are things I like very much about him.

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
No way, I do not want to support my local chiropractor

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting:?
YES! The Snake and the French Broad (about 13 times: every summer at camp)

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
Some years ago, in a land far far away called Greenville, SC there is a local dive karaoke bar where a 60 year old man uttered the phrase while I was eating a tootsie roll pop, "can I have lick of your lollipop, don't worry I didn't brush my teeth but I don't have them in." NICE!

28. How much money ya got?
I have got a few crinkled dollars from my laundry

29. Have you met a real redneck?
um, I'm from Georgia!

30. How is the weather right now?
Getting ready to snow!!! I'm not sure if I"m excited or nervous

31. What are you listening to right now:
Shallow Hal on FX

32. What is your current favorite song?
Too many songs to love....but I have been getting into Country and Christmas music recently

33. What is the last movie you watched:
uh, Shallow Hal...but I just finished Something's Gotta Give...its such a great movie!

34. Do you wear contacts:
No, but I always wanted glasses

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
Krogers...on a Saturday....craziness

36. What are you afraid of?:
PIGEONS, birds in general, and bad people out to get me!

37. How many piercings and tattoo's do you have?:
One in each ear that I barely use

38. How many pets do you have:
none, but I want a puppy so bad I can't see straight

39. What's one thing you've learned?
Don't let people bring you down, stand up for yourself

41. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
a plain coffee, or a non-fat Vanilla latte

42. Have you ever fired a gun?
Yeah, but not in awhile. My mom is going to take me to the shooting range when i go home.

43. Are you missing someone?
my friends, definately

44. Fav. TV show?
Gilmore Girls, Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

45. Do you have an iPod?
Yeah, I never thought that would happen.

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
Drew Barrymore (when I was little)...other than that Ken has some crazy ideas, but I won't share them

47. Do you like ponytails on men?
ew no...its just a glorified mullet

48. Who would you like to see right now?
My brother, Bo, Steph, EB

49. Favorite movie of all time?
Best in Show, Bride and Prejudice

50. Do you find yourself loved?
(this is kinda a stupid question) Very much

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to?
ummm yeah...there is a story about a car, a boyfriend, and a cop...but its really silly

52. Favorite flower:
daisies and peach roses

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
Salted...mmmm..salt

54. What Magazines are you reading:
I read alot of online magazines but nothing on paper anymore.

55. Have you ever ridden in a limo:
sure, a few times

56. Has anyone you were really close to passed away?
yes, my grandfather when i was 11

57. Do you love David Hasselhoff?:
I love to laugh at him

58. What's something that really bugs you?:
snotty people and people driving while talking on cell phones

59. Favorite 80s song?
The Next to Be With You, Mister Big

60. Do you like Michael Jackson?
Never really got into MJ

61. Whats your favorite smell?
Dryer Sheets

62. Favorite basketball team:
I guess Pistons, but Ken is the big NBA fan

63. Favorite cereal:
I hate cereal other than Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Rice Krispies (in treat form), and Life (with no milk)

64. Do you drive:
Yes...alot more than I did in DC

65. What's the longest time you've gone without sleep?
I always fall asleep, but I have gone with only an hour or so when I was writing papers.

66. Last time you went bowling?:
Its been awhile, but I am ready to go soon!!

67. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
In front of the Bi-Lo center waiting for tickets for Dave Matthews Band (that I didn't even want to see! Thanks Steph!)

68. Who was your last phone call?
my mother in law

69. Last time you were at work?
Left yesterday at 1pm...I had a 12 hour work day the day before

70. Whats your favorite state to be in?
The republic-of-next-to-Ken....or georgia!

Disappointing Halloween

After being in a high-rise apartment building full of singles, couples with no kids, and old people, I was looking foward to having trick-or-treaters this year. I was going to wear something silly and throw candy at children...really is there a better way to spend the evening?

I rushed home after work (this was the night before my first event for A2-Alz. Assoc, so I was freaking), picked up Ken from school, forgot I had no candy, rushed to the store, grabbed the only candy that wasn't that gross black-and-orange silly-putty-taffy candy, and turned my porch light on and waited. And waited...and waited. Nothing happened...no kids prancing around as a Telletubie or punk rocker. I am very dissapointed and very sick of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups--Ken likes them so I got alot to give him the extra, but not we are way too chockful of peanuty "goodness."

Tuffet

Even though I enjoy a good campout every now and then, and loved camping out on the floor with my brothers growing up, I do not love waking up stiff and sore. When I was little and sleeping on the floor, my mom would make what she calls a pallette for us to sleep on. Pallettes consist of lots of blankets and pillows that will swallow a person on a cold morning. Some how Ken and I have transformed that word into tuffet (Ken really loves to take our Embryisms and morph them into something else)...we have started making a tuffet infront of the fireplace (yeah, thats right we have a gas fire place, baby!) instead of sleeping in our bed.

....I'm not really sure where I was going with this. I started this post ages ago, and I'm not really sure what the point was. Since I have been so super busy lately and (as you have noticed) not been able to post anything really interesting. Oh well, I hope this makes some sense

What I am into this month!

I was blog walking around my great friend, granola girl, and found Adventures in Babywearing

And she asked:
What Are You Into This Month?


The Book I Am Really Into (or one you want to get into!): I have been into Jane Austen alot recently, especially Pride and Prejudice...but right now I am reading Sense and Sensibility. I am loving it. I just feel so DignifAHD and REEfAHnd (use your best Ernest P. Worrell voice here)

Magazine I Really Liked: I don't subscribe to any magazine in particular, but I love celebrity gossip magazine (I know, stupid!) but I also love Southern Living, Real Simple, and Martha. I love to dream about a great house and all the organizing I could do.

TV Show Worth Watching: I love Heroes right now, and I am really sad if Studio 60 on the sunset strip gets canceled. But if you know me...you know my favorite all time show is Gilmore Girls.
Movie I’ve Seen (In or Out of a theater): We just rented The Weatherman from the Library. It was good but a bit weird

The CD I Can’t Stop Listening To: I don't have alot of CDs but I am loving my new iPod

The Candle I'm Loving: my mom always uses Yankee Candle's Clean Cotton candles and air freshners

Blog I Am Always Visiting: the Butcher and Huckaby Fam, Pink is the New Blog, Popsugar, and The Cools Kitchen

What I'm Most Looking Forward To Next Month: Seeing my family at Thanksgiving

I'd love to hear what you are into this month- especially my real life friends P, Kel, Dave, Lisa, etc.

Story of our Past: The Rings

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't had much inspiration to blog. Someone said to me, "use the blog as a place to record your memories." So if you have heard this before, I'm sorry. If not then you will find out something new about us.



We picked our rings from the same guy that KW got my engagement ring. The funny part of our story comes from our engravers. The woman helping us get our engravings asked KW, "what do you want to put in her ring?" He said "By Your Side 01-10-04." She asked what that meant, and he said it was the title to our first dance (Sade's By Your Side). That definately illicated an "ohhh." He went into a long explanation and spelling each word properly.

She then turned to me and said, "what about his ring?' And I said quickly, "Mine." She blinked and said, "Excuse me?" and I said again, "Mine, M-I-N-E" she laughed and said, "can I ask, "why?""

The story behind Mine is two-fold:
1.) one of our readings for our wedding mass said, "I am my beloved and he is MINE."

2.) since we started to dating, I would always hug him and say "Not yours, MINE!" It seems very possesive but when you find out that I started saying this because my dog, Jake, would come up and hump Ken's leg. So I would push him away and say, "No Jake, not yours, Mine."

We laugh about it now, and MINE has become our catch phrase.
Yeah, we're dorks.

Friends

So, I have been in Ann Arbor for a couple of months, and I have joined a couple of different groups and met a bunch of people. Because I have missed my friends in DC, I am really happy to report that I have made some new friends here!

They mainly fall into 2 of 3 categories:

1.) Ave Maria

2.) Married Women (or just about)

3.) women with Children

One of my favorite combos is Mrs. L, who just had a bunch of gals (whose husbands were feverishly working on their mid-term memos) to watch Pride & Prejudice (one of my favorite books). I also babysit for her beautifully wonderful boy, Rey-Rey every Thursday afternoon. She is wonderful enough to let me get "my baby on" for an hour a week.

Another gal is Mrs. Cools thats right she is cool. Her husband is in KW's section of law school, and she is one of the few that I know, that lives in my complex, and does not have children. We have recently taken to exchanging recipes and walking around the neighborhood gushing about our husbands, and sharing our frustrations of not seeing them all the time. She has her own blog about recipes, which I love: http://thecoolskitchen.blogspot.com

And the one I see the most (and therefore, has to deal with my craziness teh most) is Jessica, who i would with at Alzheimers, is engaged and getting ready to buy her first house with her fiance. SO EXCITING! She is a hoot and is showing me the ropes of the organization.

I am excited about all of these new people in my life and to have a great time with some fun girls!

Who's Leslie?

KW and I were taking our nightly trip to the grocery store (we usually go once a day to the store to pick out dinner and lunch for the next day--I am not a great planner of weekly meals), and the song Groovin' by the Young Rascals came on to the loud speaker. Half way down the baking aisle, KW stops and says, "who is Leslie?" I tried to figure out what the heck he was refering to ...and he says you know, "Life could be ecstasy, you and me AND LESLIE." I almost died with laughter near the powder sugar.

Just in case you don't know the lyrics are:
We'll keep on spending sunny days this way
We're gonna talk and laugh our time away
I feel it coming closer day by day
Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly [YOU COULD SEE HOW THIS COULD BE LESLIE]

Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon
Really couldn't get away to soon
No, No, No, No
Groovin'
Groovin'


oh he makes me laugh

Working 9 to 5

I have to say this is spooky. I blog about all of my internships and not having a full time job and then came the phone call:

Last Thursday, the president of the Alzheimer's Association, where I have been interning, called to ask me to take a full time position. I was very unsure about this because KW will most likely need to move to another city for his summer internship. I was not looking foward to having a great job for my career and a 3 months without my husband. I most likely would have picked not having a job over not seeing KW for the summer because its "the big girl thing to do," as my dad says. He was really pushing me to be responsible and accept the fact that adults need to make tough decisions. I was FREAKING out about making this decision. So I went to talk to my president on Friday, and she offered me the job with the ability to take the summers off. OH YEAH, you heard me. I will be paid to work until the Summer, and then she will get a temp for the summer until I came back in late August. Is that not amazing?!?! God is totally providing for me and Ken and our marriage. It makes me want to cry with happiness that God is taking care of us. Not that it was a doubt. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes for me finding a job, yall. I really appreciate it.


Where I will be working starting NOVEMBER 1:

So busy

So, remember that time that I was bored to tears and was always able to blog....yeah...that was great (for my blog). Now I have 4-plus jobs to contend with bloggin'. "4 jobs!?!" you say? I know it sounds like a lot, but it is a lot of half jobs and internships. Let me break it down for you:

Job #1: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning--Alzheimers Assoc.
Job #2: Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday afternoon--Ave Maria Law School
Job #3: Thursday evening: Nannying for the Landrinaus
Job #4: Database entry in the evenings when Ken is studying
Job #5: Taking care of Ken and the apartment

The good thing with all of these jobs is that I have plenty free time to work around Ken's schedule.
So I am going to try to keep up with my blogging.

My thoughts

So my parents are coming into town Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday...and I'm a bit nervous. I want to make sure that my apartment looks okay and that we don't look like we don't have our stuff together. I also am not really sure what to do with them. My parents are very easy going about doing stuff, but they don't know or care about what we do and that can be almost worse than people who are very particular. Hopefully, they will have a good time and be happy with how we are doing things around here. So keep positive thoughts for this week.

Works for Me Wednesday: Repeat edition

So we have been asked to link back to a previous works-for-me-wednesday so here is my old link:
Check it out here.

I will probably do another post soon, because I know that this doesn't really count.

Treasure Tuesday

My treause this tuesday is a bank that was passed on by my grandfather. My grandfather died of lung cancer when I was young, but every time we went to see him...he would give me a handful of coins and his Uncle Sam bank to play with. I know it doesn't seem like it would be an afternoon of fun but somehow my imagination would take over...the evil scarey lord would terrorize the peasants of the carpet for their hard earned money slamming the goods in his magical and inpenatrable carpet bag until the peasants would ban together while the lord would sleep and find the secret latch to unlock the money pit...Okay I know looking back on it, my loving conservative parents probably thought they were raising a facist revoluntionary toddler...but it was cute. Anyways, the bank now sits on my bookshelves at home next to all of the gifts my grandfather gave me from the Gone with the Wind Catalog (he thought I really liked it, even though I had no idea who Scarlett O'Hara was until I asked my mom why the woman on my teapot was surrounded by lots of different men (and she looked like she liked it! yuck!). I love looking at it and remembering my papa and how much he loved to see my imagination at work.

For more people and their treasures head over to Faith's.

Update: I meant a revolutionary of a facist regime when I said facist revolutionary

Oh oh ooh oh...for the longest time

I know I know I haven't updated the old blog in a long time! Between the two internships, taking care of Ken, blogger issues, and the lack of things on my mind...I haven't been up to my usual bloggity goodness. As I sit now in front of Ken's favorite machine (although our new Bowflex is giving it a run for the money), I realize how glorious it feels when one reaches the right amount of FULLY CAFFINATED diet coke, chocalate chip chewy bars, the whitty banter of the Gilmore Girls, and the sound of clicking keys. It's something about the sticky honey on my fingers clashing perfectly with the stunty white keys of the Mac. To update you on my life for the past week and a half, I have been trying to stike the right cord of timing between my two jobs and not break the bank with gas! I also have started a new women's bible study group that is full of married women from KW's law school. It's nice to be around women who are going through the same "supporting-your-husband" thang that I am going through.

On a side note: I know that I am supposed to want to get a full time job that pays and all (which would be nice), but I have really enjoyed spending time with KW and taking care of him. It's really nice to support him and laugh with him at all of the silly things in our lives.

Back to the bible study...I am a little intimidated by the women in the group. They are all very Catholic, and I am used to being the most Catholic in the room. They are also very spiritually aware, all have kids, and all are very in touch with the goings on at the law school. Needless to say that I am feeling a bit in awe. Lots of other things to report, but I will let that come in future blogs. Here is a question for you: What should I make for dinner?

A Dixie Haiku

The Devil in my state
Makes me Feel like I am HOME
Boy Lemme Tell you What

When it Rains, it Pours

Most of you know that I have been looking for a job for awhile now, to have something to do with my time I have started volunteering for the Alzheimer's Association. NOW i've been asked to volunteer for KW's law school's development office. The great part is both heads of the departments glowed about my resume and how accomplished I am, which is a nice change of pace from being told its horrible (which the people of UofM have said). Both of these will hopefully lead to jobs either there or somewhere affiliated. So I will hopefully be volunteering mornings with AAssoc. and afternoons with Ave Maria. Now I only need is someone to offer me a job then I will be in a glorious pickle. My blogging will proabably suffer or be contained till the evening. Hope all is well out in the blogosphere.

Happy Birthday Embry!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. I wanted to do a long post in tribute to him, but I ran out of time. Because my dad is turning 49, I am going to give 49 reasons why my dad is so great.
1.) No one calls my dad by his first name. They (even my mom and baby cousins) call him by his last name, Embry.
2.) My dad can talk to anyone about anything
3.) Growing up, my dad came home every day by 5pm and played with me and my brothers.
4.) We were the envy of all of the neighborhood kids cause our dad would pitch our pick up baseball games. He also could throw the ball so high into the air that it seemed to disappear.
5.) He always organized family game nights (Sorry was a family favorite).
6.) Between 1st and 4th grade, I would fall down the stairs all the time. Whether I knocked myself out or just my breath, dad would come over pick me up, put me on the couch, and make sure I was okay.
7.) When I had my First Communion rehearsal, dad took me to get my first "big girl" bike and to see the movie "American Tale" with Fivel.
8.) Ever since I was little, my dad would grab my hand when we were walking in a parking lot, down the street, or on the beach and skip with me.
9.) He has 100 nicknames for everything and everyone.
10.) Is a great example of what a Christian man, husband, and dad should be to my brothers and me.
11.) He takes amazing care of everyone he knows and meets.
12.) I think he believes the best in everyone.
13.) He's really smart
14.) He and my mom have fun together. They are very silly
15.) When I was little, he never went away on work trips. I never realized how great it is to never wonder where your dad is.
16.) My mom once told me she thought my dad's best quality is to forgive and forget...like Jesus. I think so too.
17.) Some people might have thought that my dad was overprotective, but I'm glad he was protective.
18.) A few years ago my dad started a new business that has a Christ based mission. Here is the website
19.) He provides a local pastor to his employees throughout the south. Not only is this good for the employees, but also good for the business.
20.) He's been asked to speak about this program by several different groups. The most impressive to me is Yale Divinity. This is an article about my dad's talk
21.) Dad is loyal to a fault
22.) Dad's best friend (besides my mom) has been his friend since he was a kid. They still act like they are 12.
23.) My dad was a perfect example of what a father-son relationship should be when his dad was sick with cancer.
24.) He gushed over how beautiful my mom was at my wedding.
25.) When I was about ready to go to my first homecoming dance, my dad said I couldn't go because I looked too pretty.
26.) He would make our breakfasts before school every other day...his breakfasts were always the best because they were the least nutritional.
27.) When he would make Eggos, he would say, "You want strips or pieces?" and he would cut the Eggos as we specified. He still remembers how we like them.
28.) Our pediatritian, a small Peruvian woman named Dr. Steves, was my dad's pediatrition. She loves him. If he was sick with us, she would take a look at him as well.
29.) When he is sick, he says his "nose air is hot."
30.) The adult onesie
31.) When we got sick, we would sometimes get to go to Steves with dad and then go to his office which was next door.
32.) He would always call home when we were sick and ask what drink we wanted him to bring us from the store.
33.) When we went on vacation, dad always forgot to bring sunglasses (he doesn't really wear them much) and would get a pair of ugly, plastic sunglasses from a gas station.
34.) He is the grill master, but also a closet gourmet cook. We always liked watching the TV show, "Great Chefs" before Food network
35.) The one solid rule growing up was "Do not drink the last Coke, that's Dad's."
36.) My brothers both think he is the greatest and always have.
37.) I have made a red velvet cake for my dad's birthday twice, both times they were leaning and crazy looking.
38.) My dad gave me his pretty eyelashes
39.) and straight hair!
40.) Dad had a crazy, Animal house type college experience.
41.) When I was born, he stopped drinking. He said he never liked it. But it made such an impact on me, because it showed me that having fun doesn't have to be connected to drinking.
42.) When the power went out one Saturday when we were younger, dad fashioned his own board game with a posterboard, magic marker, and crazy stunts. I specifically remember watching him do somersaults to get past a challenge.
43.) When mom would go out of town, dad would come home with a pack of Cokes and a package of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls.
44.) For his 40th birthday, my mom had a party at a fancy restaurant with a Swiss Cake Roll stack for a birthday cake.
45.) When dad and I went to DC before the wedding to look for apartments for me and KW, I got sick at breakfast and dad took me back upstairs to lie down, got me a diet coke, and watched Harry Potter with me on HBO till I fell asleep. He even asked me to explain the movie to him so I could focus on something nice.
46.) My dad treats KW wonderfully. He makes fun of him like one of the kids, worries about what's going on with him, and talks to him about religion and politics (because KW can't talk Georgia football like my brothers).
47.) KW likes my dad, respects his opinions, and wants to be like him.
48.) Dad always knew how to comfort me: To make me laugh until I stopped crying for sadness and started crying from his silliness.
49.) My dad is not like anyone else, Thank GOD!

Happy Birthday Doggy Daddy.

Tour of My Home

So here, as promised, are TONS of pictures of our apartment. It is for the most part pretty clean and organized. Some places I couldn't take great pictures because of KW's papers and such being around. So lets start the tour:

This is the view of the kitchen from the door. Its alot smaller than my old one, so my appliances are everywhere!
This is full on view of the kitchen...its definately a one person kitchen. KW likes to help, but I shove him out so I don't spill "hot" all over him.
The dining room is right next to the kitchen...we mainly use it to hold stuff like ironing, dry cleaning, bills, etc.
Another view of the dining room.
Here is the den with my big red hand me down couch. Yes, that is the Mac that Ken gave me to use for blogging, and I have established the couch as my official blogging spot.
This is the other side of the den, aka. what I am looking at now! But you know that the TV cabinet is open and on now.

Here is KW's bathroom. He uses it most of the time, but he also picked out shower curtain, towel colors, and picture. I think he did a great job!
This is the guest bedroom of our catchall room. These have all of the pillows and pictures I have been working on this past week.
And this is Ken's office space. Subtle tribute to his home state!


This is the bedroom...can't show you too much more because thats where KW's school stuff and some laundry is hiding!
This is my dresser where I use the tree to hang my Target jewelry so I can see it!
This is just a picture of the bookshelf we made from a CD rack
This is the only picture I could get of our bathroom...you can't see all of the cute accessories.

Nevermind! I got this one, you can kind of see more of it from this angle.

Whew! I did it. I got the apartment mostly ready now! YEAH! Well, let me know what you think!