Next To Last

Day 29: 3 Wishes.

2011-08-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

1. I wish that I always knew the right thing to say and when to say it.

2. I wish me and mine would always know the peace and security of the Lord.

3. I wish relationships didn't fall apart.

Day 28: Something that stresses me out.

2011-07-29T13:16:00.000-05:00

I want to get going and finish this up, because I have another one in mind that I really want to do. Maybe I'll make that a WEEKLY thing instead of every day, because I didn't do this very well. Haha.

Something that stresses me out?

Keeping up with blog posts! (I kid, I kid)

Seriously, though? Money. I mean, the majority of marriages end in divorce over financial reasons, you know? I don't blame 'em...

LMAO! I kid again! :)

When I said the words, "For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer" I don't think I fully grasped just exactly what I was saying. I don't think a lot of people do. I think what I meant to say was, "For better, or worse when you won't let me go on my 2nd shopping spree that week, for richer or for poorer if for some random crazy reason our house caught fire and burned down. At least poorer until the insurance gave us a bunch of money and all was right in the world again."

You know, or something like that.

Like, you don't think that the "for poorer" part is going to be the majority of the time. For richer comes first, and then the poorer part is kind of a side note or an afterthought. I'll love you even if it happens, but it probably won't.

Lawls. Expectations fail.

It's such an annoying necessity of life, isn't it? And I struggle to find a balance between what really is necessary and what's just fluff. Hate it.

So there you go. Money stresses me out. Or lack thereof....

Day 27: A Child I Love (J.O.Y.)

2011-07-04T23:22:00.000-05:00

My newest little nephew was born June 30th, 2011 at 6:41pm. When my mom called me to tell me the news she said,

"I have some bad news. Laurie had the baby..."

My mind was already a flurry of emotions. My little sister Emilie just had a her baby boy 3 months ago, who pierced a hole in his left lung with his first big gulp of air. He had a week-long stay in the NICU, but has since been a very happy, healthy (chubby!) baby. I was not prepared for what she said next.

"...He didn't make it."

I was sitting in the car, at the gas station, waiting for Nick to drop Ryan off with me. I shed a few, silent tears as my heart ached for my brother and his family. What happened? Was the question on my mind, because more information was to come later.
My mom called again later in the evening, to tell me about the knot in his cord, and to ask if I would come with her the next day to the funeral home for arrangements.
I was really nervous. I rambled on the phone quite a long time with lame excuses. I don't know, what about Ryan, whatever. The next morning I was pretty certain I wasn't going to make it, but then Nick's mom called me back and was more than willing to watch Ry for me. Everything worked out and I was going.
I wasn't very emotional until the moment we pulled up outside of the funeral home. I saw my brother, hugging my crying sister-in-law with her recently vacated baby bump...my heart jumped into my throat and I stayed in the car for a minute. It hadn't even been 24 hours. She should be in bed. Don't cry...don't cry...
That thought didn't last long. The funeral director, sweet lady, showed us into a room...and Laurie came over to give me a hug. That was the end for me. The floodgates opened and would not be stopped for the next 3 hours.
I watched, sobbing silently on the sidelines as my family picked between angels or teddy bears for the headstone and a small or a "medium" (still very small) casket. In the end offering profuse words of gratefulness for a free burial plot.
The kids out at the house provided some relief. It's amazing how quickly life can go on for them. Their youngest, Molly, greeted me with a, "Hi...mom's baby died." And her and Levi gave me a sad look before changing the subject and then going to play.

I went straight to Ryan's room when we arrived back home, and looked at him snoozing peacefully in his crib. After coming out to thank Nick's parents for watching him, I went and scooped him up and just sat rocking him for a little while. Thanking the Lord that he was still in my care.

On the ride over the next day my chest tightened up the moment we got on the long stretch of road toward the funeral home. I couldn't breathe. I thought I would be okay yesterday and then I had broken down and couldn't stop. What was I going to be like this time?
Deep breaths.
My Aunt Sherry greeted us when we walked in. "Go on and see." she said.
It frightened me. I hadn't even settled in my own mind what I planned to do. It was a viewing, not the funeral. People weren't going to force me into a line, were they?
I didn't want to go up. I couldn't go up. I knew I would be a mess. I couldn't even look at the empty casket the day before...I couldn't do this.
My mom found me lingering in the ladies room after changing Ryan and had words with me. I started to get angry and defensive about my position. "You can't make me go up there." I said before I walked out.
I passed Ryan off to Nick and twiddled my thumbs in the back longer. Stealing glances up front. There were no excuses. Only their youngest son, Levi, stood by the little box. Nobody was pushing me, nobody was holding me back. I stood, took Ryan from Nick again and squeezed him tightly to me and went up.
I felt oddly calm. The closer I got, the closer I wanted to get. I saw his little face and loved him so much more immediately. His wild little head of hair that so much heartburn was endured for. I smiled. What was I afraid of? He was adorable. Ryan looked at him for a moment, too. He's been around babies before, and loves other kids. After the moment he looked back at me, I think expecting me to say, "Look, Ryan. Baby! Be nice."
I walked away with a sad smile on my face. He was so sweet. I didn't get a chance to go back up again, but I would have. I cried after the prayer, but not again for the rest of our time there.

Sitting on the couch back home later that night, I was staring off into space...thinking. Nick sat by me and brushed my hair behind my ear. "What's wrong?"
I automatically answered nothing, because there wasn't any one particularly thing I had been focusing on. Just the general events of the day... But I was curious. "Why do you ask?"
"You look pretty depressed."
I thought for a moment..."It's just, we've been waiting so, so long for him and now it's over. It all happened so fast. They'll bury him on Tuesday and then...then we'll all go back to our lives and just leave him there."
I choked at the end of that sentence. It was just so sad.
Nick hugged me tightly. "Hey, no, it's not like that." he said. "They aren't leaving him. He's not there. He's in Heaven."

That thought, even though everyone had been saying it for the past few days is what finally set my mind at ease. He wasn't there. Nobody was leaving him. We would see him again someday and we'll never forget him.
And we ended up discussing how horrible losing a baby, or any loved one would be for an atheist or unbeliever. But especially the loss of a child. Because you may be able to justify in your mind the loss of an adult life...but if you believe there's nothing? If you believe you live and die and nothing? Then your loss carries only despair. There's no hope in the future, because your future has just ended with death. You really would just lose them and leave them there...how awful.

I can't imagine, seeing how emotional I am and how much love I have for my family and their baby I never even held...how they must feel. I don't know what I would do if it was me...I wouldn't be as strong, I know that for sure. They smiled, they talked about other things, they cried and talked about how cute he was, they looked up verses that carried his initials (J.O.Y.) with promises for a brighter tomorrow. Laurie is talking, eating, smiling, joking, taking care of her kids. Every so often rubbing her belly absentmindedly.

I, and hundreds of others who never knew you, love you, Jack Oliver Young. And we can be happy that you had a cozy womb life for 9 months and then were born straight into the arms of Jesus.

Day 26: My Dream Wedding

2011-07-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

My real wedding was a little under 2 years ago, so I don't have all that many regrets about that day..yet. However, if I could go back and make it my dream wedding, here are the few things I know I would have changed.

1. I would have curled my hair longer, and secured it tighter. That way I wouldn't have flipped out on my mom at the reception when one of my braids came tumbling down and rubberbands were at the opposite end of the building.

2. I would have tied my champagne colored sash around my waist and topped it off with the gorgeous brooch we bought for it. Instead of totally forgetting all about them.

3. I would have trained somebody to secure my dress up for the reception.

4. I would have written down my speech or not given one at all.

5. I would have spent longer searching for the perfect pair of shoes to wear all night...instead of settling for ones that pinched my feet and changing into $2 house slippers for later.

6. I would have applied clinical strength deodorant, and had someone follow me around with a fan.

7. I wouldn't have posed like a weirdo in all of my pictures.

8. I would have worked a little closer with my florist...because apparently we were on totally different pages.

That's all I got. :P

Baby Pictures

2011-06-20T11:02:00.001-05:00

Well I was messing with some of the scanned pictures I have on my computer, and thought it would be funny to do a little....baby comparison of Nick and I's baby pictures with a few of Ryans. :)

His eyes and eyebrows shape are totally mine. But the color is Nick's, and so is his mouth!

Anyhow. Just thought it was funny. :)

Day 25: First 10 songs on your iPod shuffle

2011-06-20T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'm going to cheat and use my Playlist Shuffle. Because my iPod is dead and I never listen to it. :P

#1. Gotta Get Through This - Daniel Bedingfield.
"Give me just a second and I'll be alright. Surely one more moment couldn't break my heart. Give me 'til tomorrow and I'll be okay. Just another day and then I'll hold you tight."

#2 Salt in the Snow - The Classic Crime.
"I took you for granted again. And threw you aside and pretended for one minute that I had control of my life and the direction it seemed to be in. I was wrong again. Are you listening?"

#3. Tonight - FM Static.
"I remember the days we spent together were not enough. And you still feel like dreaming except we always woke up. Never thought not having you here now would hurt so much."

#4. Careless Whisper - Seether.
"Tonight the music seems so loud. I wish that we could lose this crowd. Maybe it's better this way...we'd hurt each other with the things we want to say."

#5. Simple and Clean - Utada Hikaru.
"Wish I could prove I love you, but does that mean I have to walk on water? When we are older you'll understand it's enough when I say so. And maybe some things are that simple."

#6. Monster - Skillet.
"My secret side I keep under lock and key. I keep him caged, but I can't control it. Cause if I let him out...he'll tear me up, bring me down. Why won't somebody come and save me from this?"

#7. The Call - Regina Spektor.
"Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light. You'll come back when it's over. No need to say goodbye. You'll come back when it's over. No need to say...goodbye."

#8. Everything - Michael Buble
"And I can't believe that I'm your man. And I get to kiss you baby just because I can. Oh, whatever comes our way we'll see it through. And you know that's what our love can do."

#9. My Immortal - Evanescense
"I tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone. But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along."

#10. Listen to your Heart - Roxette.
"Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile. The precious moments are all lost in the tide. They're swept away and nothing is what it seems...the feeling of belonging to your dreams."

Probably not the 10 songs I would have picked....but that's what came up on the shuffle!

Day 24: Something you've learned

2011-06-19T14:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I totally thought today was going to be iPod shuffle, and I was all excited and have it here all ready to go. Nooooooooope. It's "something you've learned." Which I am not nearly as excited about. Especially now that I was all hyped up on the music thing. Sheesh.

Something I have recently learned about myself is that I need to calm the heck down before I make a big drama about a situation.
Seriously, I have never thought of myself as being a drama queen. Like an "OMG, I just broke a naaaail WAHH!" type.

I am.

I totally am.

I think I used to be tougher than that, but I've wimped out more and more as life has progressed. I hate getting made fun of. "Can't you take a joke?!" No, actually, I can't. I'll probably go home and cry afterwards.

I just freak out about everything. I freaked out about streaking my hair at home, and then everybody said they liked it. I freaked about doing some girls hair for prom, and then they said they liked it. I freak out about taking horrible pictures and everybody says they like them. I just...get so emotional about everythiiiing.

So last time I went and got my hair dyed at the salon, I didn't know what I thought of it. Then Nick told me he thought the blonde looked like I had gray hair and then the meltdown was about to ensue. I had to go back now and tell her to dye it back over. I was about to run to the store and box dye my whole head to cover them up. I wasn't going to step outside because I looked like a freak of nature. ....And then, I took a deep breath. And made an appointment for a few days later, so I had more time to get used to it and see if I liked them or not. And I did! But I did go back and had them toned.

So I've learned that I can be a tad bit over the top about some pretty petty things. And I get a little bit too emotionally involved in...everything. It will probably be a work in progress for the rest of my life, but it's good to know.

Day 23: Favorite Books

2011-06-18T21:44:00.001-05:00

Ah, this shall be a fun one! :D

Obviously all-time favorite best book in the whole world is...you guessed it, The Bible!

Which I actually wanted to say a quick word about that the husband and I had discussed a day or two ago. It was how often people want to pick 1 verse out of the Bible and try to dissect it without reading the rest of the passage. They go on about their opinion on what such and such might maybe mean, when if they just read the few verses before that, you would see that "such and such" was already explained. Kind of like in a paper, you might abbreviate a word that you were going to use over and over again so as to not type the whole thing out every time. So if somebody started midway through, they might be a tad confused.
Anyway....just thought that was pretty interesting, simple and very true. I found it insightful.

Book #2 is kind of gonna clash with Book #1. Teehee! At least in my mom's opinion (and quite a few others, but her most closely related to me). I am in LURVE with the Harry Potter series! I love, love, loooove every single one of those books! The goblet of fire being my favorite, favorite. And I didn't care for the movies too much until they expanded their budget and started to make them awesome. I cannot WAIT for part II of the Deathly Hallows. EEK!!!! (That was my insane fan girl scream). And I just wanna point out that Edward was Cedric Diggory before he became a vampire. Also, I used to have a massive crush on Oliver Wood. Just sayin'.

I have too many that I love to list them all, so instead of books I'm just going to name the author--Sophie Kinsella. Ahh! Give me anything by her and I will devour it within hours! I love her writing! She's so hilarious and all of the crazy things that happen to the characters are so...like, YES that would totally happen in real-life to ME. It's relatable! I will say a slight con is that a lot of the books are kiiiinda the same story, just with different twists. But that's alright--I love them all!

And the last I shall mention is actually going to be another author. Sandra Boynton! She's a children's book author, and Ryan owns like, 5 of her board books already. I loved her even before I was pregnant with him, so....he will eventually have her entire collection probably. Hehe! The drawings are just so cute and I love her humor! They're so adorable, but not cheesy and really funny. I read Ryan "Night-Night, Little Pookie" every night for bed. And I'll be buying him "Happy Birthday, Little Pookie" in a couple months to finish off his Pookie collection.

Just a few of my top faves! <3

Until tomorrow, my luffs. Which is also a fun one...iPod shuffle! Woot!

Day 22: What's in your purse?

2011-06-17T15:44:00.000-05:00

Nothing. Because I don't actually USE a purse right now! I had a little mishap where I was leaving my purse in the car every evening after work, because I didn't use any of the contents when I was in the house. It was kind of a hassle to carry with the baby and whatnot, so I just started leaving it on the floor in the passenger side of my car. Weeeeeell, I either forgot to lock it, or somebody broke into it one night and had rifled through all my compartments in the car and had taken the purse.... Waahh! :( I actually ended up getting it back. Whoever took it just dumped it in the alley behind our house (because it didn't have anything useful in it. Dur.) But it's kind of tainted with unease now, so I quit using it. I have other purses, but I just started carrying a wristlet instead. I really enjoy it so much more. I bought this one from my Thirty-One Gifts consultant about 2 months ago...

And I am lovin' it! It has a perfect size pocket on the outside with a velcro strap for my cell phone, and whenever I carry it anywhere, I just slip my key ring over the wristlet. I love the fabric I chose. It's very much my style and the little floral pattern has so many colors that it goes with practically ALL of my outfits!
On the inside there's a little coin pocket that I hardly ever use, but there is currently $1.01 in there right now. It did come in handy the other day to satisfy a Mike's Chill craving! I'd say about 95% of the time there is NO cash in my wallet, and MC doesn't take debit cards! AHH! So I pulled together quite a few quarters from the change pocket and cup holders in my car. Cookie Dough Chiller...I love you.
I have a Target gift card, which I think has about $10? left on it. A O'Charley's gift card that I'm not sure has any money on it...
Something for Nick for Father's day that I can't say just incase he reads this... :)
My Driver's License that expires in less than a month--AHH again! Because I turned 21. Now I get a fancy schmany NORMAL landscape-style license rather than this goofy portrait crap. Haha! (Do you guys even know what I'm talking about? That was confusing.)
Okay, I DO have $46 in cash, but only because I haven't deposited it in the bank yet.
A Mary Kay sales slip, a mail delivery confirmation receipt, Big Lots receipt, 2 Walmart receipts, PoTC movie stub and an Arby's receipt (French Dip. YUM!).
My "business" account debit card and Nick and I's joint account debit card....and that's all! Not exactly the most exciting "purse" dive in the world. And even if I still used a purse, it wouldn't have been exciting either. It was always empty save my wallet, phone and keys. And maybe a tumbleweed or two.

Um, tomorrow is favorite movie again. Does that mean free pass? I shall seek alternative topics and see you then!

Day 21: Favorite picture of yourself of all time

2011-06-15T21:03:00.000-05:00

Of all time? There is no way I am decisive enough to choose a favorite OF ALL TIME! Gimme a break.

Though this is the photo that first came to mind....it's pretty and kinda artsy fartsy. So I'll go with it. :P

Day 20: Nicknames

2011-06-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

Nat
(Family)

Nattikins
(Unknown...Emilie?)

Koosh Muffin
(Emily Becker)

Raschel?
(Mason/"Wolf")

Nats
(Online Friend)

Nattie
(Me, maybe?)

Day 19: Something you miss

2011-06-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know this is going to sound kind of weird and totally opposite to what normal people miss....buuut....

I miss living at home.

Get out of here, right?! Don't get me wrong, I'm lovin' life right here and now, but it always tugs on my heartstrings a little when I go hang out with my little sister Emilie at my parents house, and the time starts to wane and I have to get my stuff and drive back to our apartment. I mean, even after two years my bedroom is right there down the hall. Sure, my decorations are all gone, but the furniture and my bed are there, and I think even all my goofy posters and drawings are stapled to the back of the closet wall still.
I feel like I hardly ever go outside anymore. There's just so much pavement and people...out at my parents house it's completely private, not a car in sight, and just looking at the big stretches of green grass and my favorite shady tree makes me remember the yearning feeling I used to get to just go outside and sit. Or sing. Or run around with our dogs.
Whenever I go to work at the store, and I stay until closing time and my dad turns out the lights...I remember staying late to play Warcraft (we only had dial-up at home) until ridiculous hours of the morning with my online friends and having such a wonderful time.
And it's selfish, but going with my mom and sister shopping and having to buy just the couple things that I can afford at the time makes me miss being able to just buy the things I needed or wanted without thinking, "This $20 shirt, or a box of diapers?" I wasn't frivolous about those things even then, but I really can't be now. I always wish I had been a little bit crazier about the things I bought now, but I'm sure my parents were glad that I wasn't. ;P

I'm a strange one.

Until tomorrow!

Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat

2011-06-11T13:14:00.000-05:00

Somebody just asked me this the other day, actually. And it really depends on a lot of things...How hungry I am, what type of food I'm in the mood for, location or willingness to drive far, time of day. But I would say for the most part, I am up for Olive Garden at just about any given moment! I am in love with their salad, which is kind of strange because I prefer ranch dressing and am not a giant fan of lettuce in general. But I love it just the way it comes with that yummy Italian and some grated cheese. YUM! And it's a rare enough occasion that I get to go there, that I'm never willing to sacrifice eating my favorite to try something different. Fettuccine Alfredo for the win! It's a little sad though, because I am always a little curious what another dish would be like. Not sad enough for me to ever find out though. ;)

Okay, I'm really hungry now and I just ate. >: /

Sorry for the super long break and blah blah blah. To only stick with something for 2 weeks is so typical of me. Ugh. I really need to push the envelope and try to up my consistency.

Day 17: Something you're looking forward to

2011-05-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

Simply...

SUMMER! :)

I know that it's technically here already, but I mean the events that will happen during summer. I can't wait to get Ryan a little baby pool and have fun with him and Keaghan (A little baby boy who lives in the other apartment) playing outside. I can't wait for our landlords to open up the patio section of our house for us and grill out with some friends. I'm so looking forward to all the walks that Ryan and I will take and the beautiful summer flowers. I'm looking forward to the 4th of July and eating popsicles. I'm (cross your fingers) looking forward to losing more weight and feeling more confident steppin' out in some shorts. :)

There are things about summer than I'm not super psyched about. But let's not damper the mood with any of that. :P

<3

Day 16: Dream House

2011-05-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

My dream house would probably not be crazy HUGE, but pretty darn big....at least 4 bedrooms, a master bedroom with a bathroom of its own and a maaaassive jacuzzi tub. But I would like the house to be sweet and homey, and have a big porch with furniture and a porch swing. A patio and a in-ground pool, a grand staircase, ample backyard, stocked with gorgeous light fixtures and stainless steel appliances. A big, but cozy kitchen, non of that sterile minimalistic crap. Super plush furniture, a huge TV and a roaring fireplace to cozy up to in the winter. And french doors. Lots and lots of french doors!

And that is not a dream that I think will ever come true. Which has it's pros, because I can barely keep our apartment tidy, let alone a huge house with multiple bathrooms. Kill me now! :P But I suppose if I lived in such a place I could also afford housekeeping, so yeeeah.

Nick saw a house for sale down the street from us and he really liked it from the outside. I think that this is the first time ever that he's searched the internets for house listings and I've felt like--you're wasting your time, don't bother, too expensive, what's wrong with where we live right now?

And seriously. I love where we live. I am in rare form to be so content and happy. I'm always looking for the bigger and better thing, but right now I am just dandy! For our financial situation, I feel like I already live in the dream house of our current "class". Which doesn't mean I've stopped looking for the better thing to decorate it with. Eep. ;)

Come on. Don't you love it?! I LOVE IT! :)
It's an apartment, but you would barely know, right? The house has so much character compared to the little box-o-partment that we lived in before. It's so pretty and cozy here. I just love it! (Could I say that one more time?) And I also love that we know and are friendly with the other renters. Our landlords are also wonderful. And the rent is crazy awwwesooome.

Anywaaaay. If you want to go see the other post I wrote about moving into this amazing space, you can right here.

Talk at you guys tomorrow. ;)

Day 15: A Bible Verse

2011-05-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

I don't know at what point that I chose this verse as my favorite, and if I went and looked for a verse specifically, I would probably find another that I would like better. But I've always been fond of Jeremiah 29:11.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I always found that verse to be very comforting. I know in the context he's specifically speaking to a group of people, but ah well! I still like it. :)

Day 14: A picture of yourself last year

2011-05-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

"A picture of yourself last year and how you've changed"

1. Well I suppose the most glaringly obvious thing would be that I was about 6 months pregnant at this time last year, and that has changed into being motherhood now.
2. We moved into a new apartment building that I LOVE and that you can read about here.

Those are the two major things that have happened to me. If I think of anything that has changed about myself personally than I will maybe come back and edit that in when I think of it, but really....I'm the same as I was then. :) Which is just fine.

Day 13: My Goals

2011-05-05T23:35:00.000-05:00

Since I am SO far behind on this already (2 days. YIKES!) I decided to copy cat Emily here and post my super old "bucket list" so here goes...

1. ~~Get my ears/cartilage pierced~~.

2. ~~Get my license~~.

3. ~~Finish highschool~~.

4. ~~Meet my soulmate~~.

5. Model at least once.

6. ~~Get married~~.

7. ~~Have a honeymoon~~.

8. ~~Have kids.~~

9. ~~Name one of my children after somebody.~~

10. ~~Own a corset~~.

11. Win a soul to Christ.

12. Hit my goal weight.

13. Design a room (not my own).

14. ~~Train a dog~~.

15. Own a house.

16. ~~Get a surprise Birthday party~~.

17. Be a maid of honor.

18. Own a successful coffee house.

19. Be a role model to someone.

20. Get my eyes checked.

21. ~~Go to the doctor~~.

22. Go to the dentist.

23. Save someone's life.

24. Go to a spa.

25. ~~Get a manicure~~.

26. ~~Get my hair done at a salon~~.

27. Stay in touch with the Square.

28. Take my husband camping.

29. ~~Swim in the ocean~~.

30. ~~Ride a train~~.

31. ~~Fly in an airplane~~.

32. Dye my hair a bright color.

33. Go to New York City.

34. Ride in a taxi.

35. Find buried treasure. Yarr.

36. ~~Get high-speed Internet~~.

37. ~~Hit level 80 in Warcraft~~.

38. Get winked at by a stranger.

39. ~~Get surprised~~ with flowers.

40. Learn to dance.

41. ~~Collect 200 Jones bottles~~.

42. Get a picture put on a Jones bottle.

43. ~~Be the lead role in a play~~.

44. Sing solo without being nervous.

45. ~~Pass TI Regionals with my individual presentation~~.

46. Be on a CD.

47. ~~Be in a band~~.

48. ~~Own more make-up than eye liner and chapstick~~.

49. ~~Learn how to put it on~~.

50. ~~Grow my hair out to my waist~~.

51. Look hot in a swimsuit.

52. Go on a cruise.

53. Be in a movie.

54. Go to Las Vegas.

55. Get a tour of a castle.

56. Own a car.

57. Own a horse.

58. Read the entire Bible.

59. Get kissed under mistletoe.

60. ~~Kiss with Pop Rocks~~.

61. ~~Go to another concert~~.

62. Own designer anything.

63. ~~See Niagra Falls~~.

64. Shoot a real gun.

65. Be good friends with a famous person.

66. Give a speech that changes someone's life.

67. Say something that becomes a famous quote.

68. Be on television.

And so on... :)

Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without

2011-05-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

Simple.

Keys.

Because if I left the house without my keys there would be no way to get back inside. I have to take them with me even on a walk, because we live in an apartment, and the doors automatically lock behind you. The other renters in our place have had to ring the bell a couple times to get back in when the wind decided to close the door for them. And I don't want that to ever happen to me. Especially toting a little one around.

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

2011-05-02T09:33:00.000-05:00

The only TV I ever watched as a child were Saturday morning cartoons, and I watched them with my brother, Nathan. Had I been alone in my choices, I might not have watched a lot of the shows that I did. Definitely saw a lot of TMNT and Power Rangers for being a little girl. One of my favorite cartoons though were the Animaniacs.

We're zany to the max!

We had about 3 channels that we could get with our antenna. 15, 23 & 27. There were a couple others in there, but most of them were too fuzzy to be enjoyable. When I started growing out of cartoons, my mom and dad didn't actually let us watch TV...but I somehow managed to sneak quite a few viewings of "Friends" anyhow.

I'll be there for you!

And finally, WE HAVE TV!!! But we only have a basic cable package, because it's cheaper to have both TV and internet than internet alone. So...we have it, but we don't use it. Ever. We do have Netflix though, and that is where I discovered this little gem...

I am in LOVE with the show, Bones! I love all of the characters and I never get bored of the plots in every episode. I used to really enjoy Law & Order, until I overdosed on the MILLION episodes that are available on Netflix. They just started to get too boring, because each episode of L&O usually stands alone. Not much is going on with the constant characters, you don't ever hear much about them or their story. With Bones there's a developing story with the characters and also very interesting crime cases to solve. :)

There's a whole 'nother season out that I haven't even touched because it's not available yet. I was pretty content to wait, but...it's been forever and I want to see the new episodes so bad! I recruited my friend Mason (Who also loves the show) to help me find it somewhere else available online next time I get a free evening.
I started watching Bones when I was in my third trimester with Ryan. I watched back to back episodes every night, and by the time he was born I had seen all 4 seasons available at the time. About 2-3 months ago season 5 finally was available for instant play. Ryan got up from a nap when I had just started yet another episode up, so I brought him out to nurse him in the living room so I could still watch it. It didn't bother him, he didn't pay any attention to the show...all the way up until the theme music started. He whipped his head around so fast, and STARED at the laptop screen. I really think he recognized the music! Crazy, huh?

First time I've ever been super in-love with a TV show! Bones is definitely my all-time favorite.

Day 10: Something you're afraid of

2011-05-02T08:44:00.001-05:00

Okay, whoa whoa whoa. I must have gone to bed before I hit publish on this, because I totally wrote it yesterday. Argh! I'm not late!!!!

______________________________________

I like taking pictures. I like taking pictures of people. I like to capture a moment in someones life that they can hold onto forever, and be proud of the image they really, they have produced. It's the most simple way that I know to boost someones confidence and make them feel beautiful. I know that's always when I want to take a picture. When my self-esteem has somehow clambered its way out of the gutter, I go for the camera. I suppose that may sound conceited, in a way, but you're misunderstanding me. Just like nobody wants to take a picture on the day their dog dies. You want pictures of special events, fun and smiles. That's how I think of it.

Much more than my love for taking a photo, I don't know much. I have the lowest end "fancy" camera you can buy, the zoom lens that came along with it, and I just got a 2nd simple lens in the mail. Most of the time, my dial is stuck on the auto-mode, just like I'm still using my mom's point and shoot.
In theory, I'm slowly coming to understand what the other dials on my camera mean but I'm still not quite sure how to use them to my advantage. Especially when I can just sit in auto and the smart little camera will do it for me.

I suppose there's something to say about having an "eye" for photography. I wouldn't say mine is spectacular, (I wouldn't say anything about myself is spectacular) but I will say that other people have said that mine is pretty good. And I'll admit that sometimes...I tend to think so, too.

I can only find minor things that set me apart from the average joe taking a snapshot. And I can find little to nothing that makes me any better than a person also interested in photography, and I can find countless things that make me a million times worse than the people who can call themselves pros.

All that to say...

My biggest fear is failure/rejection. I'm the same way with my Mary Kay business. I love the products, I think the company is wonderful, but I'm just so afraid of 'bothering' someone with it. I don't want to fail, but I don't want to be rejected.
I would love to make some sort of living from Photography, but I tie myself up by prefacing anyone's interest with, like I just did: okay...but I'm terrible, I know nothing, don't pay me because I'm not worth it.

I'm really trying to work on the self-deprecation, and here's a quote that most of you have probably read before and I really love.

My favorite line, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?!

So yeah, again...it's something I'm working on. It's tough though.

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

2011-04-30T17:08:00.000-05:00

My sister and my best friend.

It's strange how time can change relationships so much. The people you thought would be next to you forever are distant. The loves you thought you would never die out are gone.

And then sometimes the people you never even considered are there for you and stronger than all the bonds you had put your confidence in.

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my sister, Emilie. I love that crazy happy face of hers. =)

Day 8: A place you've traveled to

2011-04-29T08:47:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't traveled to all that many places of significant distance. I'd say probably just New York, Florida, and Omaha, Nebraska. I think I'll tell you a few tidbits about Omaha today, because it's the first place that I thought of when I read the topic for today.

It was a 2 week long mission's trip with the Calvary Youth Group in 2003. I remember being pretty excited and a lot of nervous. We had been planning, learning, rehearsing to go for weeks and it was finally time! I remember I packed a huge suitcase and also brought a carry-on bag for the bus. Thinking I would be one smart cookie, I thoughtfully packed one of those little fleece blankets in my bag because you know how those long, long car rides can get. It's warm outside, but with the A/C going and you getting sleepy, sometimes things get a little chilly in there!
Yeah, well, laugh it up. Because the air conditioning didn't work in the bus. It didn't work ever. Our entire trip. Needless to say I never used the blanket.

Here's a few of us sitting on the side of the road because the bus overheated. Again.

I remember when we got there they grilled us yet again not to stare at anyone, and to give them a once-over was pretty much a death wish. Also, we're staying in some kind of facility with criminals, and they're under you. Don't walk anywhere without a group of like, 20. Scaaarryyyy.
We also played an ice breaker where you stated your name, plus something about yourself using the first letter. I was "Nice Natalie"...how original, amiright?

This was the first church we hosted our Vacation Bible School at. That little girl up in the corner's name was Genesis. We were friends. :) This is all of them playing some relay game in the parking lot. Woohoo!

Skit.

This little dude LOVED Nic.

Kelsey, Nic and I doing the skit for all the chillins. I remember knowing all my lines perfectly plus everybody elses. I also feel like I may have rubbed that in to the point of annoyance. Sorry! In my defense, I was 13. Pretty much everybody was at least a little annoying at 13.

By the end of our time at this VBS, we had all made some pretty good friends with the kids and it was sad to leave. But they did send us off with a yummy feast of Mexican food...that left everyone constantly in the restroom for the remainder of the trip. Just sayin'.

PARKOUR!


Keeley wanted to run on the wall too.

A lot of our good times happened in these huge, empty common rooms. My brother Nate and our friend, Daniel, practiced this...fight routine a lot. Don't exactly remember what the point of it was, but it was very entertaining to watch. I'm sure they could tell you.
Also I watched a lot of Dutch Blitz being played, but at the time I had no idea what the game was or how to play it, so I could never join in.
Also...Wanda's Workout. :)
Now that I think of it, I did not join in any of the activities just mentioned. Kind of sad, but I'm shy. I still have a lot of good memories from just people watching.

I remember a few things about this 1-day basketball camp we hosted...
1. We had all lost about 10lbs at this point of the trip, because the cafeteria where we ate reeked to high Heaven of I don't even know what, and immediately destroyed your appetite. I'm thinking it was this time that after the kitchen people had packed us a lunch of bread, cheese and graham crackers (again) that our youth leaders went out and bought us all Bic Macs. :) Sadly, I hate Big Macs. But it was still exciting.
2. Nobody showed up.
3. Daniel isn't pictured above because he was being driven to the hospital to have the gash in his leg from a cinder block stitched up. (Gag.)

I'm not sure at what point of the trip this was, but we did all go to the zoo while we were there! That was fuuun. :)

Daniel, submitting to the torture of getting his hair braided.

Nathan & Daniel in our "Stuck in Sin" skit.


Nate, Allison & Faith.

We laughed, we cried (and all dressed in black and made everyone who wasn't part of our youth group feel really awkward) we shared the gospel with a bunch of children and adults, we got locked out of our building and feared for our lives, we sweated and sweated and sweated some more, we bonded, we sang, we ate frosted animal crackers (yum!), we shared treasure, we found treasure (Shoutout to Emily and the Barbie game!!), we prayed, we learned, we loved, we had fun.

It really wasn't about the destination at all. It was about all of us being friends and having an adventure together. If you're with people that you love then it doesn't matter where you go...awesome memories will be made.

Day 7: Favorite movies

2011-04-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

I'm just gonna ignore the S on that title, just like I ignored the lack of the S on the previous post. Because my favorite movie encompasses ALL movies into one.

Is this a kissing movie?

This movie has everything. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles! I always said, it was an amazing compilation of my favorite types of movies. Action, romance & comedy.


Friendless, brainless, helpless, HOPELESS!

I love all of the characters of this movie SO much, that I don't think it's possible for me to just pick 1. But I think my top 3 would be Westley, Inigo and Miracle Max. Okay, I guess Westley might be my favorite favorite. After all, he IS the brave and charming hero. How could you not love him? :)

I do not think it means what you think it means.

I can preeetty much quote this entire movie. From the little bleep bloop sounds from the baseball game in the beginning to the As you wish at the end. Faaavorite movie of all time. We cannot be friends if you haven't seen and LOVE this movie. It's pretty much top priority on my list of friend requirements. Or at least it would be if such a list existed...

We'll never survive! Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has.

*Sigh* I think may have to watch this after work today.

Wuv. Twu Wuv.

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy

2011-04-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

Easy peasy. :)

Can you believe he was born mere hours before this photo? He is adorable.

This little guy...makes me happier than words can even express. He has changed my whole life for the better. I loved pregnancy (Up until 9 months and 1 day...then I started to get a little annoyed), and feeling his little flutters and kicks was just awesome. Before I'd ever felt him move around in there I used to Google it practically every day searching for information on what to look for so I would know when I felt it. I found a lot of people who said that they weren't sure whether they had just felt their baby move or they were a little gassy. This is totally TMI, but now that I know what it feels like, gas really does feel like a baby kick sometimes! Who ever knew that that could elicit such beautiful memories? ;)

Awe! I love you, too!

I want to go on and make this a birth story post, buuuut...I feel like that epic event needs its own blog title and post, not just a day in a 30 day challenge! Psh! He deserves better than that.
I know I was probably only supposed to choose 1 picture, but...how can I possibly resist? How can you? Look at this cuteness!!

Hewwo. :)

He's so independent. It makes me a little sad sometimes, but for the most part I love it. He lays down for naps if he's sleepy with no problem at all, he prefers to feed himself his own bottle and finger foods, he's generally in a constant good mood, he loves to meet people and smiles at strangers (Flirt!), he loves to play, loves to eat, loves me and his daddy.....he's such a good boy.

So there. A few pictures of something or someone I should say, that makes me SO happy!

Day 5: Siblings

2011-04-26T21:47:00.002-05:00

I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I have (for what feels like the millionth time) 6 brothers and sisters. 4 brothers, 2 sisters. My oldest brothers are twins, Matt & Dave. I always say them in that order, too...Matt & Dave, even though technically, Dave came first. Everyone always asks me if they look alike, but they're fraternal. They have totally different personalities, too. Whenever I think of Dave, I think of cleaning...hehe! He's a neat freak. Plus hospitality. I loved going over to his and Laurie's (his wifey) house as a kid. And whenever I think of Matt I think of encouragement and inspiration to do what you love.
Next is my sister, Amy. The story I always remember when I think of her is one that Matt tells about asking her why she had so many pillows on her bed. And she had a purpose for all of them, including one to lay her hand on. Hehe! She's a great listener. I can always count on her for a fun chat, a rant, and some good feedback.
My next brother, Aaron, was the coolest brother. (No offense, you guys) I was always excited to see all of them, but Aaron especially. ...Probably because I knew I'd make an easy $5 for a back rub. ;) Whenever I think of Aaron I think easy-going and funny. Two of my favorite traits!
Nathan is brilliant. Brilliant to the point of overwhelming (me, anyway. Since I don't know much at all) He knows so much stuff about everything, and always has. My favorite memories of him are playing spies and Power Rangers, watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles movies over and over and ooovveerrr, rewinding funny parts of cartoons 10x and laughing more hysterically every time and playing the egg scooping game on Diddy Kong Racing. He is awesomeness.
When I was a kid I used to be the closest to Nathan, and my little sister Emilie was kind of a drag. We fought a TON, she was a major copycat and always wanted to hang around when friends came over. Typical little sister annoyance stuff. About the time she got in to the teen group is when we finally started bonding the most. We did more activities together and leaned on each other more. Our groups of friends finally meshed so it wasn't her little friends and my friends, we were all together. She is now my closest sibling and my bestest friend. Emilie is spunky, hilarious, caring and also a great listener.

I love you guys! :)

My WHOLE family at my wedding in 2009.

Day 4: Your Parents

2011-04-25T21:31:00.001-05:00

*For family who may read this and see all of the facts I got horribly, horribly wrong...forgive my memory. I'm on a deadline.*

This is the 5th time I've tried to write the intro for this post. "Your parents" is just too vague for me, too broad a topic. They both just need to start their own blog! I guess I'll just haphazardly write bits and pieces of what comes to my mind.

My dad grew up in government housing. He told me it was actually bigger and nicer than the house they lived in before that, because you were only allowed to 2 kids per room. His dad wasn't much of a role model, but he liked to hug his mama as long as his other brothers weren't around to see.
My mom lived in a small house with all of her J-named brothers and sisters. Her dad was hardworking, and her mama made and sold drapes.

I don't know too much about their highschool experience. I feel like all the stories my dad has told about school was middleschool or younger. I know my mom was kind of popular and was really good at dance and tap. I don't know much about how they started dating or for how long either, but I know they got married when my mom had just turned 18, and my dad was 19. They fit all of their belongings into a car and drove on their wedding day to live in a pre-furnished house in Michigan, where my dad worked in his Uncle's grocery store.

Through the years, they moved back to live here again, and from all of my Great-Uncle's teachings, my dad went on to become a very successful business owner of a meat packing shop. Him and my mom lived in a nice house and my mom had a tubal ligation after their fourth child.

Obviously you know from my previous posts that there are 7 of us, not 4.

After listening to the teachings of (insert some dude's name I can't remember here), they pulled the 4 kids out of school to homeschool, cleared all their cabinets of any kind of junk food, went governmentally MIA, and had my mom's operation reversed. They moved out to the country and 10 years or so after their 4th child--5th, 6th (me) and 7th arrived.

I thank my parents for their strong relationship with God, or I wouldn't be here today. After growing up in the Methodist church and believing that Jesus was a miniature person that automatically lived inside of your heart, my mom ventured on her own to open up her Bible and find the real meaning of salvation. My dad was converted by a friend.

My dad is kind, opinionated, traditional, a provider and a leader.
My mom is sharing, loving, nurturing, strong and righteous.

There are things about my life and being raised by those two people that I could be unhappy about. But at the end of the day, I love them both very much, and I don't mind the way I turned out.

I liked the card that they gave me for my Birthday a week or so ago. It said, "To have a terrific daughter like you takes one of two things: 1. Perfect parents OR 2. Parents who really lucked out! -- Hey, you believe what you want, and we'll do the same!"

Day 3: Your first love

2011-04-24T09:03:00.002-05:00

After scanning through the list of topics for these 30 days, I sighed to see this one so close to the top. I've had a pretty weird so-called "love life" that included a 'boyfriend' at the age of 9, an online mess for about 2 years and then only 1 dating experience which led to my being married.

I can certainly remember feeling and acting in-love when I was 9. But obviously I had no idea what that really meant. I just knew that you hung out together and held hands and maybe -gasp- kissed them....(No, I never did). But that little fling didn't work out, and I would share an excerpt from a distraught 10 year-old perspective, but I threw that diary out a long time ago.

Next we have the messiest (probably most embarrassing) period of my life where I found myself, at the tender age of 13, completely wrapped in the grip of an online relationship. The relationship itself was already a thing to frown upon, and when it turned out to be nothing but a scam, the "I told you so's" were just added weight to my already crushed 15 year-old self. Would I consider that my first love? I really don't want to...but depending on what your idea of "love" is, it may or may not have been. If I was to go back and ask myself, I'm 100% sure that, caught up in my euphoric obsession my answer would be a firm I am in-love. But when your love was for someone who never existed...what then?

My next and final love experience was about a half a year or so after the disintegration of the former. Also formed mostly online (But definitely 100% sure he was real), I met Nick through an online Instant Messaging box. We talked for about 4-5 months before meeting each other "in real life" and was asked about a month later, on September 26th 2005, (Through said IM box) to be his girlfriend.

And here we are, six years later.

So, who, do you ask...was my first love?
Well, I think I actually left out the most important love experience of them all. Back in 1995, head bowed and eyes closed, I gave my heart and life to Jesus. And sadly, while I may have forgotten Him by the wayside a few times down the road, He is and always will be my first love.
And I never really loved anyone until I loved them second. Which I vowed, 4 years after meeting Nick...to do just that.

And now every day, through His grace I am able to show love to him and to our precious son. Though I still fail miserably at times, luckily Nick vowed to love me back second, too.

Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name.

2011-04-23T14:30:00.000-05:00

Well, today's post is looking like it's going to be infinitely shorter than yesterday. Today's topic is, "The meaning behind your blog name."

Well, I already talk about it in my side description, cause I felt like it is something that would need a little explaining, but....I'll ramble a little on the subject to give it a little more length.
I have a pretty big family. Of my mom and dad, brothers and sisters and our kids, there are 22 of us (almost 23! Shoutout to my SIL Laurie and her baby bump at athomemama-livinthegoodlife.blogspot.com). Of all of my dad's brothers and sisters and their children, we just passed the 100 mark. Obviously we make up a pretty large portion of that figure!
My family is super important to me, and I'm always proud of how many of us there are. So my blog is simply just a statement of my position in that line-up. I am the "Next to Last" child in a family of 7 children. I was the "Next to Last" person when arranged in an alphabetical line-up (Young!). And I suppose I've always felt like I was the "Next to Last" person to get chosen for a sport, or something like that. Not the best, not the worst, just kind of...stuck in the middle. I suppose the majority of people feel that way, don't they?

30 day Copycat.

2011-04-22T23:59:00.002-05:00

Well, I suppose I'm not exactly copycatting, since Emily did invite me to join her in this fun little blog challenge. I gotta say, I'm a little bit nervous about it. Blog EVERY day for a month? I suppose since the topic is already out there for you, then that makes it a little easier than just coming up with your own little diddle to talk about. Still....I'm already betting against my self that I miss a few days. But oh, well! As Nick would say...

Challenge ACCEPTED.

Day 1: A picture of yourself with 15 fun facts.

Fact One:
I pretty much only ever listen to music on the radio in the car. I used to try reeeeally hard to learn band people and the names of all the tracks on the album and be totally in love with "so-and-so" group. Nope. Couldn't do it. I could tell you some bands that I like, and a couple of their hit songs. And I have a lot of music that I like, but most of it I get tired of pretty fast. I haven't used it in awhile, but I have a Playlist called, "Catchy" and I'd add songs I particularly enjoyed onto there, and then when I got tired of them I'd delete them and it doesn't bother me one bit that I never listen to that song anymore.

Fact Two:
Keeping a little bit with the music subject (Sorry, I'm never going to come up with 15 facts if I don't use every little thing that comes to my mind) I apply music to people and situations. Here are a few examples:
My friend, Keeley, she and I used to listen to Avril Lavinge a LOT when she first came out. Now whenever I hear and Avril song, I think of her.
My friend, Josh, once told me on a car ride to take me home that he liked the song, "What hurts the most" by Rascal Flatts. ...Alwaaays think of him when I hear that song.
Whenever I hear oldies songs I think of #1...my dad and having mixed feelings of annoyance with childhood memories. Saying how much I hated it and begging him to change the station, but then being lulled to sleep on long car rides by them. And #2...feelings of being left out when all my friends went through a big oldies kick and they always knew all the songs and the words and I knew nothing.
Hoobastank reminds me of a book series I was reading, Linkin Park reminds me of my friend Anjie, Broken by Lifehouse reminds me of a friend I didn't talk to for a long time...I could go on forever.

Fact Three:
I have no talent that I am 100% confident in. Everything I can do...somebody else can do better. I can cook, scrapbook, take pictures, crochet, sing, decorate, web design, play piano, play guitar, whatever. I feel like I can do these things moderately well, but that I am not great or amazing at...anything.

Fact Four:
I spend way too much time on the computer. Even though what I'm doing online has majorly changed over the years, there is always something that I can and want to be doing on the computer.

Fact Five:
Again, on the computer note...I Google absolutely e v e r y t h i n g. Gone are the days where I've said, "Hm, I wonder why that is..." And totally forgotten about it. Now I make a mental note to go and check it out on my Google machine. The best part? There's pretty much always an answer. Because somebody else has totally already googled it before you.

Fact Six:
I have a husband. It's almost still a weird word to say. "My husband"....wow. It always gives me the chills when Nick is telling me a story from work where he's mentioned me, and he'll say, "I said to them, Yeah, my wife is like that." Totally weird!
We can definitely rub each other the wrong way sometimes. We have personalities that sometimes mesh perfectly, and sometimes clash super bad. I tend to get hurt and stay that way until somebody gives me a band-aid to make it all better. Like, totally unnecessary, I just wanted the attention. But Nick can fight and forget it in the next five minutes. So it's weird to him that I still remember X thing he said 3 days ago, and it's weird to me that he doesn't remember it! But at the end of it all, he's for me.

Fact Seven:
I hate to pray in a group. I've never had that amazing of a vocabulary, and I always get super nervous listening to everyone else come up with all of these eloquent ways to ask God to bless your Bible study time. "In your infinite wisdom, guide us in our lives as a beacon of light and hope bringing us into your abode of everlasting comfort..."
Wow, seriously...? SERIOUSLY? I mean, I probably would have just said, "Thanks for letting us all be here together," or something, so I'm glad you prayed because that beacon stuff sounded way cooler.
"The fluffier the prayer, the faster it gets there!"

Fact Eight:
Bears. Beats. Battlestar Galactica.

Fact Nine:
I definitely have my days where I do NOT want to go to work. (Um, like 4 out of 5...) but after I haven't been for a super long time, I actually start getting antsy doing only home things. Even though the majority of the time I don't really like it, I do always feel a little more accomplished at the end of the day for it. Kind of like doing the dishes. I loathe the idea with a burning fiery passion until I finally break down and start doing the it. Then it's not so bad.

Fact Ten:
I have birthed and am responsible for the life of a child. It's an amazing feeling to be the one that this little person loves the most. He picks me, out of everyone...I'm his favorite. He's only been here with us for 8 super fast months, but it's already hard to imagine life without his little sunshine.
I could definitely have another baby. I wouldn't want to right now, because I can't even believe he's getting close to a year-old. He's still my little baby...but in the future, I'd say it's a pretty for sure thing. =)

Fact Eleven:
I am currently on Weight Watchers. Diets aren't usually something I like to share with the world, but...I'm running out of facts here. I'm not going to tell you the weight I started at until I'm some huge success story (Teehee) but I have lost 15lbs so far! I was about to go up another pant size, and now I fit comfortably back into what I was before. Hooray! Honestly I'm already getting a little slack in recording all my foods and everything. The scale has been almost too friendly to me these past few weeks! It's been a loss every weigh-in, even when I've gone off-plan a few times for events. But I have been adding in a lot of exercise, so my guess is that that is what is helping me so tremendously.

Fact Twelve:
I have to be one of the most ticklish people you will ever meet. You can just look at me with a tickle twinkle in your eye and I will seize up and start laughing. Obviously Nick loooves to, and it's so bad that now even when he just simply goes to hold my hand or give me a hug I flinch! Sad!

Fact Thirteen:
I love, love, love to read and I never have any books! I always say I need to go to the library or something I just never do...All the books I do have I've read multiple times, and anytime I get a new book I devour it within a day or two. The Harry Potter series are my absolute faaaavorite!

Fact Fourteen:
My dad's side of the family is very close, and even though we don't have nearly as many as we used to, they all get together for a family reunion at least twice a year still. That tradition has definitely been integrated into my immediate family. My mom's side is totally opposite. They almost never see each other and I barely know any of them but just in passing. Since my brothers and sisters and I get together so often I can't imagine there being a point where we hardly saw each other and our children didn't know that the other even...existed! I am so glad that staying closely connected is such an important part in our family.

Fact Fifteen:
This was so difficult coming up with all of these facts!! And it's 11:59 and I want this posted TODAY! So...that's my last fact. This was HARD! Goodbye!!!!

Skip the heat...try socks!

2011-03-24T21:38:00.001-05:00

I went perusing the interwebs for some no-heat hairstyling tips and found a lot of the ones I already use (Side braid, bun, sides up). But I was looking for something where I don't have to hide my hair because it isn't styled. I'd already seen a variation of this, but it was done with strips of paper (which I don't think is even possible with my super-thick hair) and the result at the end wasn't all that impressive. However, this one was quite outstanding to me and the girl who was showing it had my length of hair (though obviously much thinner...go figure). So I tried it out last night and took some pictures this morning to show you the results.

The day before:
I had washed my hair that morning and put it up in a bun for work. It doesn't dry until I take it out, so that night I removed the bun and waited for it to dry naturally up to about 85%. In the video I watched, the girl only uses 3 socks, but I used 7. I rolled the top layer of my hair in 1, just like a hot roller, then tied the sock together. Then I split the leftover hair into 2 parts, and then split the two parts into 3 parts and rolled those (1+3+3=7. Yay.) Then I went to bed!
I have always been curious about trying out foam rollers overnight. I probably couldn't have done this before, but I've gotten used to sleeping with my hair in a ponytail, etc. So the socks were a little odd, obviously, but not uncomfortable for me.

The next morning...

I used knee socks because it was the only type I had that would work. But it wouldn't look as totally crazy as it does on me if you used some black dress socks? Or maybe even those $0.25 per pair of pantyhose in the little plastic ball? Just some ideas... :)

You can ignore those massive dark circles and my odd outfit. (Odd outfit? Girl, you got socks in your hair!)

Check out that curl! :D

Aren't I just stunning in the morning?

I separated the curled strands into more pieces and fluffed it out with my hands a little and this was the end result:

If/When I do this again I would probably add a product to my damp hair for enhancing curl, be a little more precise about rolling up the hair (I was sloppy), possibly use 2 socks on the top layer and hairspray the done deal.

You can just mist your hair with water the night before! It doesn't have to be after a shower like I did.

Try it out!

It's a Boy!

2011-01-07T22:48:00.000-06:00

I hosted a baby shower for my sweet sixteen year-old sister last night. The night before the big day, going down the list of things I still needed to run to the store and get, counting guests, sending out a reminder, reminded ME why I do not like hosting parties. I have this thing...this thing where I OVER-STRESS about every little detail. (Remind me again why apparently I *wasn't* a Bridezilla?)

I am always freaking out about decorations and having enough food, those kindsa things. But my #1 freakout is about the PEOPLE.

First off, I'm a bit of a grudge holder for no-shows. Even at other peoples parties! Unless you had a pretty stinkin' darn good reason for not coming and I knew in advance, I get really disappointed. That's one of the many reasons I'm not the go-getter type in my Mary Kay business. You get a LOT of no shows. And I know...life happens. But I can't stop myself from feeling bad.

Secondly, I need everyone to be having a good time. I am always horribly stressed about keeping everyone doing something and it being a pleasant and fun activity. Which, surprise surprise...is another thing that is pretty much out of my control. I can provide as many forms of entertainment as possible, but if somebody is in a bad mood or just isn't interested, there's nothing I can do about that.

I prefer parties hosted in the home rather than at a church, or restaurant or anyplace like that. I find it to be much more comfortable and intimate. It decreases my need for a lot of people to fill the void, because in a home even one extra person feels like something special.

So, anyway...the day came. The bell signaling that the first guest had arrived made me jump. Nervously I go through the rough draft of a schedule of events in my head for the trillionth time while I snatched my hair out of a messy ponytail and throw on the shirt I waited until the last minute to put on because I didn't want to be sweating nervous bullets wearing it until I had to.

And then, amazingly, somehow...it all came together. One by one, close friends and family arrived and we had so much fun talking, laughing and celebrating the joy of a new, special person coming in to all of our lives.

My first experience with fondant. I made homemade marshmallow fondant the week before and sealed it up to use. I had a back up box of cake mix to whip up some cupcakes if it didn't go so great, but I think the cake turned out pretty cute, don't you?

Adelaide was running around handing out balloons to everyone for...no reason except to be precious. ;)

Playing a baby shower game. ABC's! 1 word that has something to do with baby for every letter of the alphabet. But you only got 5 minutes! Congratulations to Karel who had 16!!!!

We also played the, "Don't say baby" game. Everyone got 3 clothes pins when they walked in the door, and the taboo word for the night was "baby"! Anytime somebody caught you saying it, they got to steal one of your clothes pins. Brittany and Abby tied for first! I lost all of mine fairly quick...haha. Though it was almost a relief not to have to worry about it anymore!

Nick and RyRy. The boys had to stick together. ;)

While I was explaining the ABC game rules, my niece Adelaide ran up all worried because, "I don't have a paper!!" Luckily I had some extras, so she was playing right along with everyone. ;)

Everybody was so amazing and so generous. Emilie received some much needed (and TOO CUTE!!) goodies for baby Jay.

So, to all of my lovely guests....

THANK YOU!

for being the super amazing people that you are. At the beginning of every party planning it's a great idea, in the middle, not so much....days before the set date, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! and when it's all over...it rolls back to being such a great idea.

So, the thing that stresses me out the most about parties is the people. But, you know what? They're always the best part, too.

And I will dwell in the kitchen of my house forever.

2010-12-17T22:24:00.001-06:00

For me, dieting has always been a huge hassle, and here are a few reasons why.

#1. As mentioned in the previous post, self-discipline is one of my largest downfalls. I wasn't exactly the best homeschooler, because I never had enough desire to do it myself without being nagged to death to do it. And really not even then...dieting takes a MASSIVE amount of self control when you've just let yourself do yo thang pretty much every day and not suffered any immediate consequence. The pounds usually pack on so slowly over time it seems barely noticeable until one day you wake up and wonder what happened. Hah.

#2. Which way to choose? Should I leave out meat? Should I leave out dairy? Should I avoid butter and oil like the plague? Do I exercise in the morning? Afternoon? Night? Before I eat or after I eat? All in one 45 minute to 1 hour go, or spread out throughout the day? Is walking enough? How much should I run? How far? What do I do if I'm stuck inside because it's FRIGID outside and can't afford a gym membership? Yoga/Weight Training/Cardio? All of the above? Everyone says different things!!

#3. It's gotta be all or nothing. For some reason, I have this mentality that once I start some kind of diet, and restrict myself at all...once I break the rules I've set up for myself, that's pretty much the end of it. It's ruined, oh well, I'll try next monday. Next month. Next...whenever.

#4. I don't want to so much, that I make it so circumstances have to be perfect before anything happens. Well, I really want to, but the day is halfway through and I forgot, so I'll start tomorrow. Well...it's too cold outside/too hot outside/too wet outside/to what the heck ever to do anything...so today is shot. Maybe tomorrow. I don't have the right shoes. I don't have a good outfit. I don't have a place to set up a DVD without people watching me. We have too many sweets in the house and I WANT THEM IN MAH BELLEH.

I've pretty much always been down on my figure. I've been slightly overweight probably since I was 10. People are always telling me I look fine, and even though I vehemently disagree with them...I've always been able to suck it in just right and pose just so in front of the mirror than I'm like, "Pssshaw. It ain't so bad." Lately, that's not happening. Lol. The sucking in doesn't improve things much if any. And for my sake, for marital sake, for health's sake...I'm going on a little diet of my own.

I have set no standards or goals that I MUST reach, therefore, I cannot feel a failure and quit. However, if I lose X amount, I'm going to reward myself with a trip to get my nails done. (Anybody wanna go?) I didn't want to choose food as a reward, because I haven't set up any certain restrictions. I'm allowed to eat anything, but I have it constantly in my head to make a healthier choice. I'm not putting olive oil on my spinach and romaine salad....It's iceberg lettuce, with lots of cheese and I'm dousing it in ranch dressing (I hate salad...) but isn't that STILL better than slices of pizza I would have gotten? Once I get used to making somewhat healthier choices, perhaps I shall move up to adding more/making them more intense. But right now, I'm used to nomming away at cookies with no inhibitions, so...we're improving. =) I run up or down the stairs instead of sending someone else to do it. I fly Ryan like an airplane and work out my arms a little. I go Christmas shopping and drop dead from exhaustion when I return.

It's something and it's nothing at the same time. If I lose some weight, great. I'm excited. If I don't? That's okay too. You'll probably still see me enjoyin' some take out every once in awhile. Don't hesitate to ask me to go out to Monical's, and if there's a Birthday party I will definitely be eating some cake.

Yea, though I drive through the valley of the shadow of death every single flippin' day...

Train up a child in the way he should go...

2010-12-02T23:13:00.000-06:00

While pregnant with Ryan, I read a book borrowed from my mother called, "To Train Up a Child" in preparation for the inevitable rough spots where I don't know what to do.
You know what ol' saying, "don't believe everything you read"? I tend to struggle with that. I have a hard time forming my own opinion from the things I've heard, and am easily influenced by others words and attitudes. I happened across some bad reviews online while looking up the website for the book the other day. I could feel myself being pulled in by their negative comments, my attitude turning more sour with every critical word I read. I had to pull myself up from drowning in their opinions and focus on what I know to be true based on God's Word.
I enjoyed the book then, and I enjoy it still...as I am currently rereading it. Some of the things in the book I wholeheartedly agree with, and intent to implement them into my child training. Others, I have decided to do without. (Potty training my infant? Not even gonna think about it.)
I think of all the things that I pray will stick with me is the teaching about being consistent. That's another thing I've always struggled with. Self-discipline is probably my most common downfall.
But one section talks about how parents will discipline their children in anger because they've let themselves get upset with telling their children something over and over again. That if you consistently expect them to behave the 1st, (Or maybe the 2nd) time they're told, eventually they will, and you can calmly discipline them when they've misbehaved because you've only told them once before a spanking was in order. I'm sure you've experienced this yourself or watched it happen. "Baby, don't do that. Did you hear me? Baby, I told you not to do that! BABY! STOP! Don't do that or I'm going to have to give you a spanking! OKAY, THAT'S IT!" Children (I know I did) learn how you operate, and know that they don't have to obey until the 7th time they're told, because that's when it finally gets serious.
Another thing I liked was that you train for behavior, but you discipline for attitudes. Never to let yourself get upset because the child was clumsy, had an accident or something like that. Rather watch out for a mean and rebellious heart.
Another, that spanking purges the child of guilt, and they can resume having a cheerful attitude and heart immediately, instead of sitting in a corner or a room to brew and dwell upon being in trouble and hurt feelings. I remember when my mom used to have to spank me...she'd hug me after and tell me that she hadn't wanted to do it, but she did because she loved me and wanted me to grow up to be a good girl. At one point she stopped doing this because she thought I was too old, but I remember telling her that I missed it and still wanted to be hugged after being in trouble, because I know it helped me release any bitterness I was holding against her. I didn't like feeling that way.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share some of the thoughts about child rearing that have been going through my mind lately. I definitely don't have all the answers, and I'm sure it's way harder than it sounds! But it's all in my head at this point, haven't really had to try any of it so far. =)

I hope that YOU are having a wonderful day.

The happiest 3 months ever!

2010-11-10T21:14:00.001-06:00

Happy 3 months, sweet pea!

It's the dawning of the age of mobility!

2010-11-09T19:25:00.000-06:00

Ryan is an all or nothing kinda guy. Which I suppose my pregnancy could be considered the initial sign of that. No cramping, contractions, zip zilch nada! And 5 days (Wait, was it only days? Felt like weeks to me...) overdue as well! Then--surprise! Water's broken.
I almost felt bad for the little dude during month 1 and 2. I mean...he just lays there. He can't move, he can't hold things. Vegging around doesn't sound too bad to me, but for a kid I thought it must be pretty boring, you know?
Then, in the car a few days ago, I had attached a rattle toy to a chain of those linky-doos on his carseat for him to...stare at...and outta nowhere I hear it shaking around back there! He was grabbing at it!
During his 2 month checkup at the doctor's office he was lagging behind somewhat in the mobility department. 100% on everything else, but..."Does he lay his head down softly and not drop it when put on his stomach?" and a few others like that got a "Sometimes" check mark instead of the "Yes" they were looking for. Tummy Time was not a very happy time and I didn't care much for leaving him screaming on the floor for it's sake. If you had asked me 3 days ago I would have told you with complete confidence, "He HATES being on his stomach." And yet, yesterday...

Little stinkpot! You told me you hated that! And he surprised me with a roll from tummy to back. Twice! One to the left, and the other to the right for good measure. He probably knew I would be skeptical.

I'm very proud and excited for his little achievements and also a little nervous. You mean I can't just lay him down anywhere now? Fiddlesticks.

He is my daily lesson in patience. =)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T15:29:00.002-05:00

Halloween was awesome! Nick and I have dressed up in couples costumes every year we've been together. More often than not rather reluctantly, but Nick's a pretty good sport about it. Let's see...we've done

1. Angel & Demon
2. Bunny & Magician
3. Black Eyed Peas.
4. SnS Chef & Waitress/painter & canvas

And I had a little trouble this year because I really wanted to keep doing the couples thing, but there's 3 of us! So this is what I came up with, kind of at the last second too!

Circus Performers!

I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

For my costume I had to buy a little black dress. I've dressed like a mom pretty much forever...at least that's what Emilie always says, but isn't that supposed to be like, a wardrobe staple? Apparently I'm farther gone than I realized. The little number is way too small on me. Says on the tag it's supposed to be "just above the knee" and it barely covers my rear! But I was wearing my leggings, so that's all I needed it to do. It was all I could find for a decent $15 at Forever 21. I almost dropped $20 on a red cardigan at Target, but I just couldn't bring myself to it. And I ended up borrowing this red blouse from my mom and just tying up the ends. Turned out pretty cute! I guess I must have pitched Nick's magician hat from 3 years ago, cause I had to buy a new one. Then I made my whip out of a piece of thin dowel rod ($2) with black and red electrical tape wrapped around it for decoration and to hold on the braided black yarn. I looked for a more substantial lion, but...I couldn't find one and Nick said it would be funny to bring the teensy crocheted one. All in all? $26.

While shopping at Target, Ryan was being kind of a butt. So I was looking through the baby clothes, but not very thoroughly. I was kind of distracted trying to keep HIM distracted until we got out to the car so he could eat. Just as I was giving up and walking away, Emily B pulled this cutie polka dot outfit off a mixed rack. "How about this?" Um, PERFECT!? The little monkey on it is even fine, and obviously it's something he can wear again. Then she picked me up some pom poms from Hobby Lobby and I safety pinned them on for easy removal when the holiday is over. Dab of lipstick on the nose, and this cutie clown only cost $10.

This was SO cute and SO frustrating! All he needed was a thicker dowel rod ($3), some foam balls and back spray paint for a huge weight, and some suspenders for a little flair. We went to Wally World to pick up the paint ($0.77) and over into the crafty section to pick up the foam balls. Um, $10 EACH. I just thought that was absolutely ridiculous for a piece of FOAM! Give me a break. So we wandered around looking for a cheaper alternative and picked up 2 bouncy balls for $1 each. That's more like it. But in the end, I should have sucked it up and paid the $20...the spray paint would. not. dry. even though it was supposed to in 10 minutes and we gave it almost 2 DAYS. We glued them, we taped them, we glued them and taped them! the balls would not stick onto the end of that rod for anything. So that just didn't work out. Even though the weight was the main prop, with his flexing poses and stuffed sock biceps, you can tell what he's supposed to be. But that was a real bummer. $15 for a big disappointment.

So we accomplished all of our outfits for $51! I thought that wasn't too bad for how cute we all look. =)

We had a really good time at Emily B's Halloween Party! Had to miss Dave & Laurie's annual Harvest Party because Nick worked until 6 on the 30th, but it worked out that Em had her party the same night, so we still got to party it up!!

Our gorgeous hostess dressed up in a totally unique peacock costume! Thought that was just too cool. Admittedly, I was a little skeptical of how she was going to pull it off, but WOW! Did she ever. You looked super awesome, Em!

Ryan hanging out with Anna.

Pictured: Andrew as Thing 1, Emilie as an Angel holding RyRy the clown, Alyssa as Queen Amidala in her fighter outfit, Scotty the blue lego and Daniel as Carlos the Chilean miner!!!

My angel costume 5 years ago was probably my ALL TIME favorite! Emilie said she felt very unoriginal in hers, but she sure was pretty! I think that's why it was my favorite. I loved wearing the wings, the halo was major cute, I wore my hair all curly and gold super high heels with a white dress. I just felt SUPER pretty, and I can remember kids at The Switch pointing me out to their parents. "Look, mommy, an aaaangel!" Loved it. =)

Actual Halloween day wasn't super busy. Day went by pretty slow. Nick had to work an awkward shift that made us not be able to go to church, so we pretty much wasted the day away until around 7:30pm. Dressed up in our outfits and snapped those pictures up there, then went out to Nick's mom & dads to watch the season premiere of "The Walking Dead" on AMC. I hate horror movies and all that junk, but I gotta say, it was really good and I'm excited to watch next weeks episode!

All in all, a very Happy Halloween!

It's hard work being a sister.

2010-10-22T00:31:00.000-05:00

I love talking to my sister.

I told Nick how we'd get by with me working and having a baby was that I'd just condense my 20-25 work week into 2-3 days instead of 5. I also said I'd return to work in 2 weeks instead of the recommended 6...neither of those things happened. I assist my mom in the mundane everyday bookwork that comes hand in hand with owning a business, so 9 out of 10 I get to stay out at the house instead of going to the store. The only downside? I can't stop myself from chit-chatting, reminiscing and gossip swapping with Em every single day that I am there!


On our way to eat out with the family.

I was at "work" from 11:00am to 4:30pm today and I think I only got to write 3 hours on my sheet. We did a little looking back today, and we laughed about...

How making "suicides" with soda was way cool.

Asking Nathan if we could come into his room at night because we were chickens.

How we fought nonstop.

How we hangout all the time now, but she used to be the annoying little sister.

Letting her play the "I never" game with my friends and I and keeping it PG until we kicked her out.

The super stupid things we did for boys we had major crushes on.

Wanting to know if anybody ever liked us that way. (I'd say probably not on my part)

How just plain awkward we used to be. And sometimes still are...

It was a good day. I love my job. ;)

1 year down.

2010-09-27T00:13:00.001-05:00

Today was Nick and I's 1st wedding anniversary and 5th year together in total! :) We didn't end up doing much. We're going to drive over to Champaign tomorrow and eat out at the Olive Garden (My fav!) because I really wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and they're closed on Sundays. Hah! So we just had some Steak n Shake tonight. We talked about going to Subway, but they were closed. We went to Subway the evening of our wedding day. You're jealous of how romantic we are, I just know it...Livin' the dream, baby.

I put these on Nick's desk this morning while I was up with Ryan and getting ready for church.

The traditional 1st Anniversary gift is paper, so I learned how to make these online and whipped up a dozen out of red post-it notes. 12 because that's 1 for every month, and red because that's the "I love you" color.

Spring Formal 2006

Thought I'd pop in a little comparison picture. This was us 5 years ago at our first Spring Formal! We would have been together for about 6 months here. I'm...16? Not sure what date formal was that year. And he's 19.

Promise Rings

He gave me my promise ring on my 16th Birthday. We'd only been dating about 7 months, but he was supposed to be going away to college and it was to promise me he wouldn't forget about me while he was gone. Not a marriage promise. Though it did become that. I gave him his first one on our 1st dating anniversary, but he lost it. So I bought him the one pictured for Valentines. Which we finally traded in last year for these.

Wedding Rings

It's already been quite the adventure, but I'm lovin' every second. He was the best boyfriend, and now he's the best husband! Can't believe it's already been a year! But time flies when you're having fun, am I right?

9/26/09-9/26/10. 1 year. (Except that this is posting a little after midnight. Shucks...)

Out of the old and into the new.

2010-09-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

We're kind of last minute people. Or the "Next to Last" minute, if you will! (Ahaha!...Okay, done.) But we waited up until about 1 month before the wedding to actually go apartment shopping. Actually, I have to pause here and say that I really don't know how you would get a place any sooner when both of you still live at home? It's not like we could say, "Hey, can you hold this apartment for us until September?" It's more of a first come, first serve thing. So we stopped in and had a tour of an apartment complex, and the landlady said she didn't have any 1-bedrooms open right now (Gasp!) BUT...there was a lease coming up, and she'd give us a call. That kind of settled it for us...we didn't even look anywhere else! Just waited to see if she would call and say it opened up. Luckily it did.

This is what our space looked like.


Box-o-living room.

Giant white walls (of course), beige carpet, a balcony that overlooked a scenic parking lot...

The kitchen, where I belong.

It was nice. Fairly new, cute, cozy. Don't know why I didn't bother to try and give the illusion that I'm a good housekeeper. Look at that mess...goodness.


Tiny bathroom.

Do you have favorite decorating space? In this old place, I loved the kitchen and the bedroom. I felt good about them when I walked into the room. Satisfied with the colors and amount of stuff. The bathroom started to get that way too toward the end of the year there, but no matter what I did the living room always eluded me. That space NEVER looked complete.

Then, on my way to a doctor's appointment about 1 month before our year lease was up in this space, (at the very last minute, just like the year before!) I spotted a small sign in a front yard of a huge pretty white house that read,

"2 Bedroom Apartment FOR RENT"

Long story short, we got a tour of the place, filled out an application and crossed our fingers and toes that we would get it. Lucky again! We paid duel rents so we could get in before Ryan was born. I waddled around packing boxes while Nick and his awesome friend Adam did the majority of the moving. Shout out to Nick's mom, too. And Nate and Jeff who came to help with the heavy lifting.

It's a dream come true, really. The space is awesome and the pictures to follow just won't do it justice. The best part? It has got to be at least 3x the space we had for only $30 more than we were paying!! Now that we have this, I can't imagine having cramped ourselves into that cookie-cutter sardine can with a crib in the corner and a rocking chair shoved awkwardly into the tiny living room for a whole 'nother YEAR!


Living Room

There's a mirror ($60 mirror for $12!!!) hanging out in the closet waiting to be put up above that fireplace. (Which doesn't work, by the way, but it makes the space way more awesome anyhow). And I could probably make a list a million miles long of all the furniture and decorations I would love to buy. That winning the lottery joke from yesterday is looking more and more like a necessity every day.

Kitchen

The only thing that isn't my favorite about the kitchen is that it's sorta "servanty"? Cause it's stuck in the back corner of the house and I'm more used to being in a place where the food and hangout spaces are linked together. But the negative has actually turned itself into a positive! Nick and I have probably had dinner at the table more times in this place than we ever did for a whole year at the other. Since it's forever away from the living room = forever away from computers and TV.

Bathroom

Checkit, the bathroom is so much bigger it can't fit into 1 shot like the other space! The pot and much nicer tub are around the corner.

Bedroom


Ryan's Room

You could easily get lost in this place the first time here. I did. There are doors that lead to doors and a massive closet in each room. Also? Ryan's room is just an extra little sun room...that's not even the other bedroom!! It's full of storage, so I'm not gonna bother picturing it. But it's just downright cool too. There's an apartment above us a lady rents out for storage, and we know the people in the other apartment downstairs because Nick works with her. They also just had a baby boy a week or two before us. Awesome, right?

It's amazing the way God has provided for us. I feel like the woman in the Bible who has that tiny bit of oil left but it pours enough to fill tons of jars? So often I feel like we're calling it so close. That we just managed to get it together this month and I don't know what's gonna happen next. How, on our 2 part time salaries are we here? How do we have the luxury of running our air when we please, enjoying the internet, plenty of food and this massive space? We have been so blessed.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. It's even better in person, and we love company! =)

I left a girl and have returned a woman!

2010-09-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe that my last post on here was 2 years ago. And it's certainly not for lack of things to blog about...rather that I had too many! I've been a busy bee. Let's see, in the past two years I have....

1. Planned and followed through on a marriage.
2. Moved into a space with partner from #1.
3. Got knocked up 2 months later.
4. Moved into another, much LARGER space.
5. Birthed a little bundle of joy.

And, you know, all the typical lifey stuff inbetween. But those were the major events. Certainly don't know how I'm gonna top that this year! Win the lottery, maybe? (I wish.)

I guess a hello is all I can leave you with for now. (Hello!) Because this is what I'm dealing with at the moment...

He's in a tiny phase today where mom is the only cure for the fussies. Perfectly content until I try to pry the little leech off and then the meltdown ensues. But I still need to eat and poop too, so...he just has to deal sometimes. And for all that crap (literally) through the day, it's worth it for this little moment.

You'll note that these are taken at the exact same place. Little man moods swings worse than I did while pregnant with him. Zero to 60 in no time flat, I tell ya.

Anyhow. I'm going to give you a little tour of our place next time, so stick around.

Until then, wish me luck on putting this punk monkey to bed. Night!

My boyf--I mean Fiance!

2008-09-08T18:57:00.007-05:00

So here's the story. These two goofballs got on a plane and went to Florida for Vacation! Oh yes, and they dragged along his Mom, Dad, Brother and his Brother's Fiance.
Whilst all the other people had been on a plane before, this was my first time flying. That you can get from Illinois to Florida in two hours is awesome, the being on the plane for two hours part? Not so awesome. ;(
We rented a car, all squished inside and drove (I, making much fun of all the "Florida Pink" & Teal buildings) to this supa sweet hotel....rode the elevator to the 7th floor and stayed in the biggest hotel room I'd ever been in. Twas like a small apartment.

There, we swam in the pool, we swam in the gulf, and we swam...in the pool again. And in the gulf, and then we sw---You get the picture. ;) By the 2nd-3rd day my poor cutie-face up there was quite sunburnt, while I hung on his arm and whined I wanted to go back out into the blazing heat and reflective white sand to go play and find shells. He's quite pasty, see. And I tan fairly well. He said we'd go that night when the sun wasn't out to hurt him.

He fibs quite well! Actually, he didn't fib at all. He just-so-happened to decide that this could possibly be a good time to pop a question, and stuck this fancy white box with some expensive bling in his pocket "just incase." Apparently he decided the moment was as good as any, and when he finally got me to stop writing "FLORIDA ROCKS" in the sand for a moment, he told me how all aflutter he was for me, got down on his knee and offered up the bling. I said no. Just kidding, obviously! ;]

This all happened on Sunday night, July 13th...pretty late in the evening. I only have one or two super awful photos of the hot and sunburnt us and his mom has a pretty good one of us she snapped (against my will, again..obviously) when we came back up from the beach into the hotel room to make our announcement.
I made him dress up with me and we went out again the following morning to take some good 'ol we just got engaged photos, because I knew people would murder me in my sleep if I didn't. I take that back, they wouldn't even wait for the sleep. Prolly just shank me right out there in the open...
I found the exact spot he proposed because he remembered the rough area and then I found my FLORIDA ROCKS drawing in the sand.

Those are our feet (just incase)...in the heart of proposey looove. :)

We went on to have us some amazing Florida time. Ate at some fishy restaurants, Disney World, fishy restaurant, swimming, walking around a boardwalk, pizza (YAY!), shopping, fishy restaurant, swimming...shopping...yeah. But don't be fooled. It was a jolly good time. So good his Mum said we should make it a regular and come back every year. I agreed. :D

Anyway, so that's how it all went down. I'm working on designing a wedding webpage for us (progress is slow, but hey..I have a year!) where you'll be able to read this story again, check out some details on my plans, how stuff is going, who's in my bridal party, where I'm registered, etc. etc. Doesn't that sound cool?! ^_^ Oh. But the wedding date is September 26th, 2009. Guess you can know that!

Okay, I think I'm gonna go to my boyf--I mean Fiance's house right now. So I'll talk to you guys later!! Go me for actually following through and posting again like I said I would. -Does a happy dance.-

PYC Out. :P

Serious?

2008-09-02T18:41:00.002-05:00

Wow, seriously? My last post was 2 MONTHS ago? Omg.

I am so sorry...

Have you heard?

2008-09-02T17:56:00.002-05:00

Hey! I'm still alive! :)
This is a blog Nick (Fiance) spent quite a few hours on last night and posted it on his Myspace. Well it was sooo good I just had to share it with you guys. I would have posted a link to his 'Space, but it's on Private. So here goes...

!!NOTE!! Befoooore you start reading, this could be a little..uh, kid innappropriate as it talks about abortion, and thus the act you got into for wanting an abortion. So "Viewer discretion is advised". Or whatever.

Have you heard the new 'Dead Baby' Joke?

"The Election. The time of the year when the only piece of news worth reporting on is which candidate did what or said what or slung mud at who. Boring, really, because if you think about it, each candidate is completely capable of filling the position. Have you ever heard a candidate say, "Hey, don't vote for me, because I have absolutely no idea how to run an entire nation and will most likely raise taxes while running the economy into the ground." Didn't think so. Well this blog isn't going to be about which candidate I'm endorsing (I haven't really decided one way or the other. McCain looks like the living dead and I'm a little weary of Obama's "America needs change, and we can take America back! How're we going to take it back, you say? Through change. What change? The change of taking back America!"). No, this is going to be a blog about a much larger issue.
You see, I happened to be watching (or rather it was playing in the background and I zoned in every now and then) FOX news the other day and heard that the majority of women found McCain unappealing as a candidate because of his Pro-Life stance ..ion. This shocked me a little bit. Let's back up. The majority of women found McCain unappealing because of his Pro-Life stance ..ion. I'll get back to this later in the blog. Now I've long been a Pro-Life advocate myself, but never really thought about it or gave it much thought, probably like most of you. But on my way to Clinton a few days ago, I saw a license plate banner that read, "If it's not a baby, then you aren't pregnant." Isn't it funny how crazy good wisdom and logic can be found in the strangest of places? I thought so, too. The following rant/blog/sermon/seminar erupted into my brain and now I've decided to put into bloggishness.
Well, what is abortion? Abortion is the act of terminating a fetus (here on out referred to as a baby. Since…ya know, that's what is) before birth at pretty much any stage of pregnancy. Seems pretty awful, but most people, and apparently the majority of women, are totally down and cool with this, but a lot of people, as well, are not. This breaks the camps into two groups: Pro-Choice favoring Abortion and Pro-Life favoring, well, not killing babies. But this got me reeeeally thinking: Is there ever a good reason or good time that Abortion is right/moral? I racked my brain and tried to think of every possible reason where one might consider abortion and came up with these conclusions, which will comprise the rest of my blog.
Most doctors and Pro-Choice advocates (here on out referred to as PC) will tell you that aborting the baby at the most earliest of stages is pretty much nothing at all. Kind of like a get out of jail free card for the woman. That the baby is so underdeveloped that there isn't any way it could feel pain or such like that. The problem of abortion is the complete and utter trivializing of human life. By reducing the baby to a 'fetus' it becomes something less than human, which in turn justifies murder or infanticide, as I like to see it. To be honest, a baby and a fetus are not two separate entities.
Dr. Greg Bahnsen, a Christian Apologetic and amazing philosopher, stated that, "After conception, there is no denying that you have all the biological make up of a human being." Strange. It's almost as if he's saying that after conception (hanky panky or however you like to refer to it), the woman is carrying all the genetic and biological beginnings of a HUMAN BEING inside her. That when a woman becomes pregnant, she isn't carrying around some unknown, inhuman creature. She's pregnant with a human being; a baby.
This got me thinking back to the License Plate of Divine Wisdom (+43 Logic, +38 Genius. Requires Common Sense level 70. Most likely an epic drop). If what the PC advocates say is true, then a woman is not pregnant with a baby after conception, but with a fetus. So if a fetus isn't a baby, then the woman isn't pregnant. Because, by definition and common sense, when a woman says she's pregnant, do you actually think of a fetus first? Some weird not quite human…thing inside of her? Uh-uh. You think of a baby. But a fetus isn't a baby. Well then that woman is lying, because then she's not pregnant. So why do we need abortions? From what I know (which isn't much, I'll tell ya right now), if left unchecked and undisturbed, that mess of gooey, disgusting, mush inside the woman magically turns into a baby…Isn't modern science and medicine amazing!
But now I've confused myself. If a fetus, by means of magical intervention, becomes a baby if left alone, does that mean the fetus was actually a baby all along? Or do you start out with a fetus, then….something unknown to modern age man happens and turns the fetus into a baby? Going by what Dr. Bahnsen says, that fetus was a human all along. A fetus doesn't become a baby at some random point; it's a baby the entire time: from conception to birth.
If I were to show you a pregnant dog and ask what was inside of her, what would you say? Puppies. And what is a puppy? A baby dog. But according to our friends, the PC, that dog, depending on how far along the mother dog is, is ACTUALLY carrying K-9 fetuses. Not dogs or puppies. Ok…and what is a K-9 fetus? Why, it's an undeveloped baby dog. Oh. So it's still a baby dog, just a baby dog at an early stage. So if it's not a baby to start with, then the woman isn't pregnant, and I demand to know what the h*ll, exactly, is inside of her.
See? This is the problem I have with abortion. It's nothing more than reducing human life to nothing so it's easier for society to kill babies. Think about it: is it easier to say, "That's only a fetus, it's perfectly fine to terminate it now because it's so undeveloped," or, "That's just a baby, it's perfectly fine to kill it now because it's so defenseless and small,"? I'll let you decide. But what's even more ghastly is that the majority of women in America find this appealing and acceptable. Not just the majority of Americans…the majority of women! Women. The caregivers, the nurturer, the one person you can go to to make all the bad and evil in the world go away; that same motherly figure (if you can even think of her as that anymore) are the people that want to kill our country's babies the most. How awful…
But there are reasons for why abortion is useful, didn't you know?! Let's go through them and examine them:

A woman should be allowed to abort a baby if it was a mistake or an accident

Um…why? People, this is the 21st century…we know in this day and age just how exactly a baby is made. A woman knows that if she enters into unprotected intercourse with a man there is a very high chance the woman will become pregnant. PEOPLE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME HAVE KNOWN THAT THIS PROCESS CREATES BABIES. There is no 'accident' involved. So a woman should not be allowed to kill a baby because she was stupid and didn't use some kind of protection if she didn't want the pregnancy. Stupidity and recklessness do not justify the murder of babies.

If a woman was raped and becomes pregnant, she should be allowed an abortion to destroy the unwanted pregnancy

Most people seem to be on board with this one. It seems logical, but is it really? A woman is raped, forced into sex (most of the time) against her will and, as a product of that, becomes pregnant. Most would say, "Abort it, you didn't want it and you didn't have a choice. It's ok if you do." I fail to see how just because the woman's choice of pregnancy was forcefully taken away from her, that it justifies taking the choice of life away from a baby. In essence what this is really saying is: You can justify one wrong turn of events by committing your OWN wrong turn of events. WRONG! Adoption does exist. Instead of murdering a baby, why not let him live with a family that will actually love him? Just because your choice of pregnancy was taken away does not justify the murder of babies. Doing wrong yourself does not justify wrong done to you.

It's ok to abort a baby that may have mental or physical handicaps

Again, why? If you don't feel like you can handle the demanding needs of a handicapped child, again, adoption does exist. Just because the baby is born handicapped doesn't mean he can't live some resemblance of a fulfilling life. Why take that away from him or her? Mental or physical handicaps are not justification for the murder of babies.

An abortion is acceptable if the birth of the baby will lead to the death of the mother
This one is kind of tricky. It would be hard to lose both your child and your wife to a fatal pregnancy. Personally I would see if there were other means to deliver the baby or what exactly will cause the death of the mother? The only thing I can think of is that people from thousands of years past have gone through the pain and loss of losing the mother and child to child birth. It's a traumatic and awful thing to happen. But somehow we managed to make it, in light of that, all the way to 2008. Bad things do happen to good people, pregnancies do go wrong. It would also depend on whether the baby would live, but kill the mother. Would it be better to let one person die to save another? An enigma. I have no reprimand for this one, because it doesn't involve suspending reason or common sense. It's based solely on the parties involved.
In closing, is abortion actually a moral and acceptable procedure? I would have to say absolutely not. In most of these cases, rational thinking and logic have been suspending for ridiculous reasons. Are we saying as long as the baby was an accident and unplanned, it's ok to murder it? Are we saying that because you were raped and became pregnant, you now are allowed to kill a baby because of it?
I listened to a Jewish lawyer (he was an atheist, but had relatives murdered at Auschwitz) say, "Abortions are fine since the human is undeveloped in their mental capacities." ORLY? FO REALZ? J/K? I'm sorry, I'll just let Dr. Bahnsen sum it all up (from his debate with the same lawyer):
"A child does not become a human being when his mental capacities are fully developed. I can't believe a man who had relatives killed under that kind of thinking would now apply it to innocent, unborn children. Because, you see, if you start saying that those who you deem not fully developed can be executed, then we're right back to Hitler and the genocide of people that you don't think are fully developed."
And he's right. It's a scary age we're moving into when our society can trivialize human life into something less than human, so we can feel better about executing it. It's not a matter about varying stages, or undeveloped mental capacities…it's simply a matter of taking human life, thinking, "I'll just pretend you're not really human yet," and then murdering it. Disgusting. And it disgusts me that there are so many monstrous women out there that condone this very act; call it 'Women's rights,' even.
I fail to see where somewhere in the past women were given the supreme decision of murdering life. We have laws and judicial people that pretty much frown on people murdering other people. But, if we change people to baby and baby to fetus and fetus to undeveloped embryo with little to no mental capacities, then murder becomes a woman's right and is perfectly reasonable. Pardon my French, but that is the biggest load of sh*t I have EVER heard.
I feel truly sad for our nation if candidate acceptance is based on whether he thinks murdering babies is cool or not. And if he does, women like him even more. It's really sad that women in our country would rather murder a baby, than take responsibility for their actions. So…have you heard the latest dead baby joke? It's called Abortion. Peace and God bless."

Well, whatcha think? His smartness astounds me. Haha. Even stuff I already knew it was just nice to have a refresh on the subject and put down so good and bluntly. Anyway, I swear I'll post again within the next few days, okay? Missed you! <3

Little Laidey

2008-06-21T14:41:00.008-05:00

Emilie is babysitting our niece Adelaide today.
I swear, all I ever do with this child is hug, kiss, and take pictures of her! Nick was like, "She's a baby. That's what you're supposed to do with her."

This is her checkin' out the kitty cat, Cal. Who, PS...had 5 kittens a few days ago! Anybody want a cat? :P I love them all though, and I'll prolly post about them later maybe when they have open eyes and aren't quite so...um, pathetic. Lol. Think Pixar's Monsters INC. here. "Kitty!"

Also, I think Emilie has started to rub off on her.

She's a little texting queen! Lol. Bright, colorful toys that spin, rattle and crinkle? Not for this chickidee. She's pretty into the electronics. Phone, camera, iPod. I wonder how many people have had to get new phones because of baby drool. Hah!

This little sugarbee holds her own bottles now just fine. For awhile there she wouldn't do it because the ladies that had been babysitting her held her and fed her every time. So she kinda un-learned doing it herself. Now she's got the hang of it again. Also, there's no crawling yet...-sigh.- BUT she does scoot herself across the floor with her hands and spins around on her belly to get where she wants to go. Lazy bum! :PCutest baby contest winner RIGHT here. Look at those dark, gorgeous eyes. And the pretty eyelashes! She's such a beautiful baby.

Anyway, that's all. Just thought I'd share a little bit of the cuteness we have with us today.
Hope you're having a good Saturday!

She's my Priestess, I'm your Priest. Yeeeeah...

2008-06-18T00:30:00.006-05:00

Thought it was about time for a real gamey post! I've been playing my Priest alot..because I love her, and because I downloaded this thing called Quest Helper that shows me where to go (without having to look it up on thottbot.com) for all my Quests! It's been a GIANT help, because I could not play her without it.

Here's she is. Looking all epic and wonderful. -Sigh.- I love it. I'm level 69!!!!!!!! Only 1 more level to go until I'm freakin' finished with leveling and it's time to get money, money, money and fight, fight, fight for all my EPIC gear! I am so excited (if you couldn't tell). There's this gorgeous cowl that I want for her that puts a glowy halo circle around your head when you have it on. -Droolz.-

Isn't she perty? ugh, and so matchy. I ran Durnholde with some people a few days ago, and it has this thing where it disguises your character into a human? OMG. I am sooo glad I'm a Night Elf! I look so freakin' awesome the way I am. But when it turned me into some pasty red-head I looked like such a loser. Gag me.

Beloooow are pictures of my EPIC MOUNT!!! Yeah, I finally bought one. I was working on getting Exalted reputation with Stormwind (The human city), so I could buy an epic horse instead...
I'm sorry, but personally I think the gear on the frostsabers/nightsabers make them look beyond stoopid. Anyway, it was taking too long...and I just know I was getting all this crazy looks in-game like, "Dubya tee eff is a lvl 68 doing on a lvl 40 mount?! Reeeetard!" So i bought one. That's my first purple. <33>
Rawwrrr, kitty!
Here I am hanging out with my hottie quest-giver and his flying mount. Hey there, handsome...;D

Hmmm. What to say about this below picture. Hopefully you can read what I pasted on there, but....this is me getting raped by some Horde players who popped up while I was questing and snapping pictures for my blog (and your viewing pleasure. See Night Elf above. Hehe.) Needless to say they killed poor little innocent me. And you know what? Freakin' KUDOS to them. Like it's totally hard to kill a Holy-spec priest decked out in pure holy GEAR. Yay...heal bonus FTW in Player vs. Player. I think not!

Ummmm....This is me killing a spider. I just thought it was a neat-o action pic. Oooh, blasted with Holy Fire for 807!!! Take that, you creepy crawler. ;P And burn damage afterward for 10 seconds. Pow, pow.

Okay, that's all. Sorry if you didn't understand a word of this post...but just know that I am wasting my life away on it a bunch again...and having a great time!!
Look, see? Didn't I tell you to check back? I forgot how much I like blogging.....hehe.

Night, peeps!

Gradamation. Er, wait..

2008-06-17T09:32:00.007-05:00

Yeah, yeah. It was forever ago. But who cares! I finally have the time to post, so I'm gonna. Time not spent playing WoW anyway.

Finally got my computer in the shop, and it turns out the reason it was running so slow was that when I had to system restore it the last time--I installed Windows...over Windows. So it was totally bogged down.

Now let's try this whole picture thing again. Cross your fingers! -Clicks.-

Ah yes....walking down the aisle. I was last, of course. Darned last name!

My pastor...giving a little graduation sermon/charge thing. I dunno!

My parents and I!

Me and Nick. Gorgeous couple, as always. Our children will be models. ;P

We're sisters. Could you tell? Yeah, me neither. Hah!

Okay, okay. I guess I can't bring myself to take ALL of the glory. It was Emilie's 8th grade graduation too. She went IN to her 4 years of ~~torture~~ good ol' education just as I got out! Close call, eh? :P

Here are the parents with 'Milie dear.

Friends are awesome. :)
I love Emily for being there. She got me flowers and a Princess Bride themed Grad card (Inconcievable!)
None of my bestests (Square) were there. Britt had to work, Emily's sister got married, Keeley had to work.
(Inconcievable!)
But Nick's parents came too (Thank you!!!) and that was really sweet.

Awwwwwe. Graduated togeeeether. How cute.

If my computer didn't suck, I could show you my graduation speech video. Hahaha...Nathan recorded it. I received looots of compliments on it. The 3 other people who graduated with me either cried, talked forever or both. And mine was short, comedic and matter-o-fact. No sob-fest here. My youth pastor's wife, Jessica, was the first to say something. "Natalie, I loved your speech! You're a woman after my own heart. I swear, if you had got all mushy up there I would have been very disappointed." (Many to follow)
Anyway, it was a good day. Good time. Good Graduation. I'm glad to be out!

P.S.
The pictures uploaded 1 at a time when I shrunk them to practically nothing in MS Paint first. So sorry if they're kinda dingy, but...thas all I got for ya. Since I know the way to get around Blogger constantly giving me picture upload errors, there will be more posts VERY soon. Check back! And thanks for reading. <33

A short story.

2008-05-27T15:01:00.005-05:00

"Each of her fingers made a small protest of impatience in turn. A steady and constant drum upon the wooden desk. Tap, tap, tap...no, not click. Not long enough fingernails. But a subtle pat as she rolled her knuckles to tap, tap tap again and again! Words that were picked up from nowhere decent rolled through her brain, but by some grace never escaped her lips. She released a long, bored sigh....And finally closed the program."

Like it? That's just a tiny piece of the NOVEL I wrote while waiting for Blogger to upload my pictures!!! Never happened. I waited for flippin' ever, man.... nothing! So I'm sorry again...and I'll try it again. But it was making me annngry. >;( Grr..

"Well, yes, we could read your blog...or you could just tell us about your school day."

Tuesday Maitenance.

2008-05-20T11:20:00.003-05:00

First and foremost, a sincere apology for my blogging lag, dear readers! I've been thinking about you often, I swear, and even though I know you don't want to hear it, (or read it, I suppose) here's my excuse.

#1. Just cause I'm lame.
I've been kinda busy with...nothing, and just kinda didn't feel like it. Don't hurt meee!!

#2. I stole the Vader from the store.
So, my computer at home is totally busted concerning World of Warcraft, and even though $15 a month has been flushed down the crapper, none of that paid for playing time is coming in handy. I NEED to get it taken in and fixed buuuut... In the meantime I nabbed a computer from the store (Vader. Nate named it). Mom called this morning before I came to work like, "Natalie, you need to bring that back!" So maybe I'll get some blogging done. I miss my videogames. ::Sigh::

#3. That computer didn't have my picture programs.
I guess this could fit into the #2 catagory of bringing the vader home, but I didn't want to make that section any longer. Haha! So yes. Computer with pictures was unavailable. ('Cause I was playin' WoW. ::Snickers::)

That's about it. So here's a picture-less post because I'm making this one at the store while Mammy gets me my work set up. Teehee! Don't tell!

Things soon to come:
I got my photos from my friend, and i'll be showing you some of those silly scavenger pictures.
AND I totally graduated highschool like...last Friday! Details + pictures = soon to come!

Spring Banquet '08

2008-05-10T10:51:00.005-05:00

Last week was our youth group's "prom". I'm pretty sure most churches don't do this, but I my guess is that it originated out of so many of our teens being home schooled. And thus "Spring Formal", "268 Dinner", and this time, "Spring Banquet" was made!

Last year my friends and I put on the show, so to speak and themed our night "Old Hollywood". We painted 3 giant canvas things to make a big picture of Hollywood long ago, and set it all up with greenery and a red carpet for pictures in our newly remodeled Fellowship Hall.

As a surprise a Hummer Limo pulled up when it was time to go, and it made 2 trips to take everybody Downtown to a restaurant called "Anthony's." Nobody had ever been there before, because it was a more members only place, I think. You had your choice of chicken alfredo, steak, or halibut...and it was wonderful! The limo dropped us off back at the church and we listened to a message, watched a senior video I made, and sent everyone off with a gold-painted Barbie doll or golden globe for the guys. It was a ton of fun.

This year, however, being one of the seniors myself...our new youth pastor's wife, Jessica, did most of the planning. Our theme this year was, "A Night of Mystery." Some ladies from our church made the meal, which was pretty good, and during dinner the adults that work with us teens put on a show themed with Clue. You know, the game? So there was Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, Col. Mustard...etc. And at the end everybody guessed the killer, weapon and room. I don't think anybody got the whole thing right, but I got the killer! Mrs. White you rascal, you. ;P

Here's Nick and I. I wore a really pretty periwinkle colored dress, and white/silver accessories.

We found Nick a shirt that matched just about perfect and white tie. Doesn't he look smashing?

Here's Emilie in her pretty, pretty green dress, posing with our adorable friend Mariah.

Here's a group photo of some of our friends.
Kelsey and I. Can you tell I was a little top-concious? Haha! My dress was rather low-cut.
They had a really gorgeous picture area set up, but we had a photographer (Well, another guy in our church that's pretty nifty with a camera...I dunno if he really is or not..) so we posed for pictures just standing around. The whole room was super pretty, and everyone had a really good time.

Afterward me and Nick ditched to go back to his house to show off for his mother and change clothes, then headed back to the church for the ALL-NIGHTER! :D

Nick didn't get to stay the whole time, he worked the next day and didn't think staying up all night would really be the best thing for him. Haha. The evening was pretty awesome. Someone donated a Wii for the evening, and so there was a lot of bowling and golfing as well as Halo on the Xbox and football on the PS2. Not that we just played video games all night...there were card games, board games, ultimate frisbee and dodgeball as well.

After everyone was thoroughly worn out from running around and tired of games we started to wind down and just chat...which led to falling asleep. I konked out on the floor in the hall around 4:00am...woke up a couple hours later to munch a donut and find a cozier spot in a chair in the foyer. Mom picked Em and I up around 7:30 and we both slept until 2:00. Hehe. Good times!

Well, today is Mother's Day, and I don't have really any pictures of my mammy to put up here or anything....but Happy Mother's Day nonetheless to her (Love you!), and every other mommy dearest out there!

Our power went out for a little bit last night, and we usually leave for church at 8:30. Well, I had my cell phone alarm set for 7:30, and when I got up to come out and finish up my lunch packing (Lunch for my mom is a joined effort from me and Matt. We're going to Champaign today to eat lunch at his house) nobody was up. That was totally weird, because my dad gets up at an ungodly hour every day and really...complete silence. I finally saw him emerge their bedroom around 8:00 and asked if we were going to church. He said, "As far as I know." I was like, "Oh, okay...(Kinda laughed) well it's getting late." Mom came down a minute later and said their alarm never went off and they thought it was 6:00am! Hah! Needless to say we're not going to Sunday School, and I don't know if we'll make church or not.

I better stop rambling now or I'll never have anything to post for another 2 weeks.

Have a super day!

Accident!

2008-04-26T09:29:00.003-05:00

So...as you've seen from Laurie's blog (Livin' the Good Life) me and Nick went to go visit her, Dave and the kids last Sunday & Monday, 'cause Nick finally had some time off where he wasn't already doing something with it.
While we were there, Nick had a cut from work in the middle of his hand that started a red trail down to his wrist, and it hurt late Sunday night. So Monday morning we headed out and went to PromptMed...the walk-in part in the hospital near by.
Now, I've never really been to the hospital before...not like that anyway. I mean, usually when something has been wrong with any of us kids, we just walk up to Mom and go, "Mom..I feel (sick/achey/bad). Can you test me?" It takes like 2 minutes and she's told us what's wrong with us, two more minutes and she has our medicine perscribed. I think we waited there 3+ hours. It was a NIGHTMARE. It made me appreciate what my mom does like...to a whole new level. Thankfully, he didn't have to get a shot or anything, and really it only took the doctor about 10 minutes to see him anyway...(it was the waiting for the 10 minutes that sucked) and just gave him a perscription for **Keflex**.

Now, you get a twofer with this blog title...because I HAD pictures of the entire event. Waiting in the waiting area, his hospital bracelet, the drugs we picked up, dumb pictures of me pretending to take the drugs, his wounded hand, etc. Now wouldn't that have been exciting?! I thought so too. Sadly, my photo party I told you about was YESTERDAY and I gave the boys team my camera, and the girls used my friends. So I erased the pictures thinking I'd saved them all except some cute kitten ones onto the computer...tooootally forgetting I had those. AHH! I feel awful! Those pics were hilarious. So lame.

Anyway, that's all I got. I can't post pics of the event last night 'cause I only have the boys pictures...(Have to wait for my friend Em to give me the ones from her camera) but it was good! And two of my friends spent the night. They're still out on the bed as I type this.
I'm sick, and I breathe better sitting/standing. So I couldn't sleep any longer...blah.

Toodles!

**P.S.**
Kind of a funny tidbit. Nick has been lending me this book series by Stephen King called "The Dark Tower" series, and the main character is a gunslinger named Roland. Well, in the 2nd book he gets 2 of his fingers bit off by some lobster creature (Yeah, gross) and it gets infected..and it's trailing up his arm, lol. Well somehow he gets into "our world" and in it, he takes Keflex! Haha! Roland's home town was called Gilead..and on our way to the hospital because of Nick's trailing infection and to get a perscription for Keflex (lmao) we passed a church called, "Mt. Gilead". I swear. It was the most hilarious thing...

Another Birthday Blog.

2008-04-19T14:21:00.002-05:00

I was given a little family party on the 17th, because I hung out with Nick all day on the 16th. Mom asked what I'd like to eat and I asked for take-out from Green Jade chinese. (The BEST chinese in town). No work and enough food (with snacks) to feed all 8 people for $30. I think that's a pretty sweet deal, personally. ;D

This is my cake.. The baker lady looked at my Mom and goes, "You know this feeds 30-40 people, right?" My mom was like, "Yup! That's fine." xD Not surprisingly, today it is 2/3 gone. She got double the cake for $6.00 more bucks.

Meeeeeeeeeee. <3 Birthdays!
We all had a pretty good time, and Emilie was gracious enough to go around snapping shots for me. She got this one of my Dad that I think is just super. Good photo.
You HAVE to have a shot of blowing out the candles, no? :D I was almost positive I'd gotten all 18, but when I went up to blow out the top set I guess one at the bottom hadn't quite exstinguished. Thank goodness my hair or shirt didn't catch fire. Haha!
I think Matt must have told the joke because he's laughing the hardest.
Lookit that faaaaaaaaaaace!!!! :D

Anyway, that's about it. Check back soon! There's quite a few photo-worthy events coming up and I'll prolly blog about them. Toodles!

Level 18!!

2008-04-17T00:17:00.002-05:00

That's right folks, you never thought it would happen...but today (well, twenty minutes ago...) was my 18th Birthday!! Go me. Whoever thought I would get old enough to buy lottery tickets and cancer sticks?! Not that I'm going to or anything. -Grins.- But I'm officially an "adult". Do I feel different? Not one bit. I wonder if anyone has actually answered yes to that question....hm.

Anyway, that was a ramble. I'm sure I'll have pictures to post of my party next weekend. It is, after all...a photo scavenger hunt. Hehe! <3

I didn't really have any photos to post of today, so I chose this one of my puppy-dog Oliver giving me pre-Birthday kisses. (This was taken on the 15th. ;P)

That's all I got. Over and out!

Whatever.

2008-04-09T11:51:00.002-05:00

You guys stink. :P

I came up with my own ideas, thank you very much..and you'll be lucky if I post pictures of the event! Psh!

Brain lag.

2008-04-01T14:14:00.002-05:00

This is less of a blog and more of a plea for HELP! I need some super crazy awesome ideas for....

1. My 18th Birthday.
Holy moley, it is coming around the corner and I haven't a cluuue what to do about it. Last year Nick and my BFF Keeley threw me a SURPRISE party. Which was supa.
And my 16th was...well, awful. I went all out with one of those like, teenage parties sans the alcohol? Music and TONS of people I barely even know? Yeah, k, long story short the people who showed up were like, "...So where's the pin the tail on the donkey?" O_o; "Are we gonna play charades...?" Come on, people! We're grown-up now!!! We can sit on couches, drinking fizzy beverages in unmarked plastic cups, being cool.. without kiddie games, can't we?! Apparently not. DISASTER.

2. My other BFF's return from HONDURAS.
Chyeah. My coolest of the cool friend Emily went to Honduras as an exchange student...and her much died for return is this Sunday!!! I have spoken to her madre (who is my piano teacher), and she figured her friends would throw her a party. Poor thing said in an e-mail that she'd throw herself one if she had to..but I'm not gonna let that happen.

So...ideas, ideas!! Get those brains a-goin', because mine is stuck in a rut!

LOVE!

The Other Half.

2008-04-01T13:37:00.003-05:00

This is suuuper late, 'cause I meant to post it the 26th...and just never got around to it. But here it is now. :)

September 26th, 2005 - March 26th 2008

2 1/2 Years together. <3

(After the Georgetown fair)
(Spring Formal, 'o7)
(Trying on hats in Ohio)
(Cuddling at my house)

Dedicated to my super awesome boyfriend, Nick!

Wishing on every 11:11 for many more years together. =)

Congratulations, you've reached level 14!

2008-03-03T21:22:00.004-06:00

HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY, EMILIE!

I took this lovely photo of the Birthday girl as her candles were lit by my dear friend, Brittany. (Wow, finally...somebody else did it!)

We decided to go without singing, because it is oh-so-embarrassing...but they wouldn't have any of it. And even without any help the group started up a joyous and extremely off-key 'Happy Birthday'. (Ain't that always the case?)
And this side was gracious enough to pose for a picture!

We also had vanilla cupcakes. <3

The boys started a few rounds of Twister...(with random people shouting limbs and colors, because our spinner was nowhere to be found) I still haven't decided if prohibiting co-ed Twister was actually any better than an all-male game...

Here is some of the reaction to the Twister...
(This would make a good bachelorette party game)

We ate pizza rolls, veggie pizza and chips because the party started at 7:00. Most people seemed ravenous anyway, and Mom had to go on a emergency food run!! (PS, it was Em's idea not to have that much...not mine!)
We played Guitar Hero, snacked around and watched the good ol' movie "That Thing You Do". Emilie wouldn't let me theme her party, but I eventually worked out a rockerish idea to it and bought spray-in hair coloring and glow bracelets and necklaces. We actually planned on watching School of Rock, but more people hadn't seen That Thing You Do, and Mother thought SoR was too questionable. Anyway, it was a pretty good time.

We had awesome plans for her Birthday today, but they were canceled on account of her being deathly ill. Poor thing. She's been in bed all day. Pray she gets better soon! We're planning a little family party tomorrow assuming she'll be walking around by then. Walking like a zombie, maybe...but at least moving.

Thanks Will, Ethan and Melanie for the well-wishes over the phone! Even though it was me who heard it and not her, I'm sure she'll be happy to know you didn't forget her.

Later alligators. <3

I got my Stylin' Skill up to 250!

2008-03-02T12:49:00.001-06:00

Subject:
Emilie. The little sister.

Reason for makeover:
Hair color was faded, she was bored.

This....is my baby sister. -Ahem.- And on Thursday, February 28th, she asked me for the 348957934875th time to please color her hair...for the 9857125879th time.

Me, in a cruddy tee and stylin' apron. Woot!

Emmy says this is her least favorite part, because you always get so wet rinsing out the color from your hair. This is her waiting a couple minutes for that little tube of conditioner to work its magic.

And after hours of smelly coloring, waiting, washing out, and me getting very scissor happy...this is what the result was.

Through much protesting I cut her cheek-length bangs into the hated forehead bangs like Rory in the 6th season of Gilmore Girls...and the more I snipped, the more she loved it!! Just in time for her 14th Birthday Bash last night! Of which I will post pictures of on her actual Birthday...tomorrow.

I pwn MS Paint.

2008-02-26T11:28:00.004-06:00

Just thought I'd toss in a little background for those of you who are curious about my URL.

This is my immediate family, and as you can see...I am the next to last child out of a family of 7 (8 including my super awesome sis-in-law)

Now you see why I like videogames so much. Y

Nah. They're a great bunch!! ^_^

Admitting it is the first step.

2008-02-24T23:24:00.006-06:00

Now that I've gotten myself pretty situated here, let's make my very first actual post be about something completely retarded!

This, my dears...is a Night Elf. And she is my pride and joy of the massive online game by Blizzard called, "World of Warcaft."
Class: Holy Priest.
Level 64 out of 70 possible levels (Used to be only 60 levels...then there was The Burning Crusade expansion, which added new playing places and 10 more levels)
Geared fairly decent to kick some Horde tush!
I have spent an entire MONTH straight of my life playing this character. Sad, but oh so terribly true!
Her name is a horribly botched version of my middle name. "Raschel" -Cringes.- *Rachelle* It used to be Nienna, which is the online-generated elvish name some random site gave me for my own name, and I love it! But my brother Nathan's friend transferred her to a different server, and some nerd had that name already, so he CHANGED it. And misspelled it! Want to know something even more crazy than all of this mumbo-jumbo you don't understand?
I cried. Real horrible angry tears over the loss of something beloved. And I'll never get rid of her, but she's just not the same anymore. So she sticks around for some bragging rights, and that's about all. Moving on.

THIS is my most recent character. Her name is Nattie, and she's a level 36 arms warrior. Lotta my soul being sucked away for the sake of this videogame, but I LOVE IT! -Crazed eyes.- She's only 4 levels from being able to ride around on a horse. 60% faster...I cannot begin to express to you how awesome that will be...

It may seem like you just wasted five minutes of your life reading this, but you might be glad you did, for I'm sure to mention them and this game again in future posts.

If you made it this far, find yourself a cookie and eat it--it is well deserved!

Next time I swear to post something slightly humorous or relevent....well, at least I swear I'll TRY! :P

Um...my name is Natalie...and I'm addicted to WoW..

I'm #1.

2008-02-24T22:26:00.000-06:00

Hello, hello!

My name's Natalie, I'm (almost!!) 18 years old and I pretty much only created this because I wasn't allowed to leave anonymous comments on my Sister-in-Law and her kids blogs! -Deep breath.- Well, okay....anditsortakindalookedlikefun. >_>; But you didn't hear that from me.

Viola! First post EVAR!
Hope you enjoyed that.