Christmas 2010

This year Marshall and I spent our first Christmas with just us in our new home, which we closed on 12/22/09. The past two years we spent Christmas at his parents' home near Houston.

For Christmas Eve, we made dinner together, had some wine, opened one gift each from my parents, watched It's A Wonderful Life together on the couch and then went to Circle C to look at the Christmas lights. Before we left, we brainstormed what would be the craziest decoration we would see. I said Santa in a sleigh with reindeer on the roof. He predicted a topiary wrapped in lights. We couldn't decide on a clear winner from what we saw. One house had a dancing angel pig (yes, with wings and a halo). The other was a 6-7' tall blow up white mouse in a blue hat and sweater that was inside the house, taking up all of the front window. So, which is crazier: a blow up mouse in a house instead of out in the yard, or an angel pig doing a jig?

I woke up at 6:30 Christmas morning. The medication Marshall takes knocks him out for a long time when he takes it late, so he didn't rise until closer to 11:30! Trust me, I tried waking him up earlier, but it didn't work. We opened out stockings followed by other gifts from Santa. Then we opened the presents for the cats from Santa Cat. Next we opened each other's gifts, then those from our parents. Lastly the gifts from our neighbors Amy and Carlos. Before we started to really clean up, I surprised Marshall with one last gift, well, two actually. He had no idea about them! I had written him a short story that I gave to him along with a rosemary bush. The story explained the meaning behind the plant. He thought they were wonderful and loved them. :)

The rest of Christmas day we relaxed. I started reading one of the books Marshall had given me. Later I went over next door and watched the kids open their presents from us. Their teenager loved the jewelry we got her, and EVERYBODY thought the telescope we got for the other three kids to share was awesome!! We got Amy and Carlos a 12 pc dinnerware set that matched the red theme they have going on in the kitchen. They were completely surprised and loved it!

For dinner I made a huge lasagna with ground turkey, diced up eggplant and chopped green bell peppers. It was amazing!! I think that is how I am going to do them from now on. It came out flavorful and perfect. After dinner we began rewatching our favorite TV series Stargate. We started over with watching the first shows in season 1 (hint, we've seen every episode in SG1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe).

This morning we cleaned up a bit and are continuing to enjoy a relaxing Sunday. It is a crisp, blue sky kind of day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we go to the gym and I do my Cardio Dance Party group class. I think of it like baby Zumba because the moves aren't overly complicated, but it has the same upbeat music. On Tuesday we both go to Yoga at the gym, but this time I get to bring my new purple yoga mat that Marshall got me for Christmas! We are committing ourselves to going to the gym more often. I'd like to participate in at least three classes a week. Hmm...I think I will continue this topic in a new post...

Plant a story

This Christmas I was able to combine numbers 11 and 58 on my 101/1001 list. I wanted to write a short story and start a new family tradition. Every year for Christmas, my friend Michelle writes each of her parents an original Christmas story. Thinking how personal such a gift is, I wanted to do it for Marshall. My story was a little over four pages long, which I think is a good start. At the end of the story, the couple open a gift from their parents and inside are a dozen seed packets with a message, "May you both grow this upcoming year in a dozen different ways, making the world a better place, and your dreams bloom." The couple decides to make it a new family tradition to give a plant to someone each year for Christmas. Along with my story, I gave Marshall a rosemary bush. So each year I am going to write Marshall a story for Christmas, and in the very least, I will give him a plant.

PS. Marshall really liked my writing. :D

Extended Birthday Fun

My birthday was on Monday. I turned 24. We had our work Christmas party at a Brazilian Steakhouse, which was delicious. Then I got out of work around 5:15. My husband's parents had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to my work. It was very sweet and made me feel girly. Here's a picture of the flowers along with all the cards I received. My parents sent me a set of sconces I really wanted along with a set of three wall shelves.

Marshall, Amy, Carlos and myself went to an Italian restaurant called Mendola's at The Triangle for dinner. I had mint chocolate chip gelato for dessert. Then we went bar hopping downtown on 6th Street. I rode a mechanical bull, but it wasn't very impressive. The poor creature didn't even have ears or horns. I think I only had three drinks, so I felt good but was still in control.

Tuesday through Friday I took off from work to use up the last of my PTO. I did some more painting on the house. Now it is Marshall's turn to get the very top section of the gable. I've played a lot of video games thanks to my husband getting me a PS2 for my birthday. We did my birthday cake on Tuesday. Marshall sang to me. :)

On Thursday we went to meet with a financial advisor to discuss life insurance for us. It's something we both need to get and we finally had the time off together to go.

Marshall finished his last tests on Wednesday, and doesn't have to return to school until mid-January. He'll be able to modify his classes starting the 6th. We're hoping he can squeeze into a physics class he needs as a pre-requisite for other courses. He plans on spending his winter break working on his newest engineering project, which is creating decals for his mother's Sypder motorcycle. If he's successful, he's going to sell some to the other riders at the Sypder rally in late April.

Friday night we went out with Amy, Carlos, and Lee again. We went to 6th Street again and spent the most time at a gay bar called Oilcan Harry's. The music was the best, and we also played some pool. I had to keep a close eye on Marshall. If he'd have gone on the dance floor, a whole school of male peronas would have been all over him (he's a hottie)! We left at 2am, and I drove Amy's suburban home because I was sober. We didn't get to bed until 3:30am. I woke up this morning around 11am, which is super late for me. I don't expect Marshall to get up before 2pm because he enjoys his sleep.

Tonight was are meeting up with his parents, who are coming up from Cypress for the evening. We'll do dinner and probably breakfast with them as well Sunday morning. Joy is riding her Sypder up and they are bringing Christmas presents for us. Marshall is going to test fit a decal he was able to get cut out. I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend the rest of my day relaxing and cleaning.

Christmas Picture

Monday night we took our Christmas picture. I was able to complete 75% of our Christmas cards and mailed them out today. I'm finishing up the others tonight. We've received one so far, and hope to see many more in the weeks to come. I always enjoy putting our Christmas cards together with our letter and picture. It's really something reserved for grown-ups. It was one of the first adult things I really took pride in. We hope everyone enjoys our little news from the Reeskes in Austin!

Rolling into December

We had a great Thanksgiving at Marshall's parents' house. My cousin Gabe came over for the afternoon and enjoyed the meal with us. Then he spanked the pants off us in Hearts with his jack of diamonds rule! It was fun though. I don't think I've ever seen my mother-in-law laugh so hard as when Gabe was telling jokes.

The following Saturday Jeff took me on Joy's Spyder for a ride up to Montgomery, Texas. Here are some pictures of us getting prepped.

I haven't been this bundled up in a looooong time.

Don't I look sassy?! This is Jeff getting all of his gear on so we can hit the road!

Yep, this is Spydi-Girl, my mother-in-law's Can-Am Spyder. It's made by the same company that produces snowmobiles if you couldn't tell. This bike is really loud and attracts lots of attention, mostly thumbs ups and waves. Oh, and other bikers stare at it quite a bit. Can you see the spider web design between the front wheel and Jeff's leg? Apparently there are three other spots on the bike for a similar design. Marshall is going to try and make some to sell to all of Joy's Spyder riding buddies at the big rally in April.

We returned home on Sunday the 28th. The rest of the week flew by pretty quickly. Marshall pulled our Christmas boxes from the attic and we started decorating. Here's our tree!

Normally this is the Cat Corner where the papasan chair, scratch post, toy box and other cat business necessities are stationed. Now the tree is there and the cats cannot get to their window as easily. I think they are ok with giving up rights to the window in exchange for the close proximity to dangly entertaining pieces on the tree. Sometimes we hear them playing ornament soccer.

Here are our stockings. I bet you can guess whose is whose. ;D

A Spa for Your Toes

Ok, so not the most exciting post, but I checked off another task on my 101/1001 list. On Sunday, my neighbor Amy and I went to get a manicure and pedicure (respectively), then we went grocery shopping at Costco. I had never gotten a pedicure before. I liked playing with the jets with my toes. I chose a dark purple for my nail color only because nobody but Marshall will see my toes-zies.

Fish bowl

Earlier this month went to Mongolian Grille at 2nd and San Jacinto with my new co-worker Emily. Our neighbor Carlos recommended it, and it was so delicious. I'm counting it as my 2 of 5 Austinite restaurants for my 101/1001 list. When we entered, I noticed a fish bowl with some business cards in it. Put your business card in the fish bowl and enter to win a free lunch for 10 people. Sounded like a good deal to me, so I contributed.

About 10 days later I get a call letting me know that I won the free lunch! It was for Thursday November 18th at 12:30. I brought 7 co-workers, and everyone had a good time. Apparently the free lunch is put on by a financial company, and we just had to listen to a brief presentation about long term financial planning. The guy talked about permanent life insurance, which sounded very interesting. I'd like for Marshall and I to talk more about it with the representative.

In the end--free lunch and about 90 minutes being away from my computer at work. Good deal!

Signs all over the place!

Today I got to complete 2 tasks from my 101 and make progress in a third. Today we went to the Renaissance Festival! We were on the road by 8am and arrived at 10:50-ish. It was a little chilly, but the weather warmed up in the afternoon. While we were there, we watched the jousting, listened to some awesome Scottish music (it really made me want to dance), had lunch, watched a wench get drenched, saw dozens of visiters dressed up in costumes, got henna tattoos of our zodiac signs, oodled at jewelry, did lots of walking and got a couple's reading with tarot cards.











I had never had a tarot card reading. Apparently Marshall's mom use to do them too, so he had been exposed to them before. We opted for a couple's reading, and our reader even read our palms. He was very accurate when describing our characters based off our hands; I was impressed. For the cards, he divided the deck into three piles. Marshall and I each chose one, and the remaining stack was for our relationship. According to the cards, we are have a solid foundation in our relationship and 2011 will be very good to us. It's amazing how Marshall's cards representing September through December 2011 were emphasizing "nesting," and I ended up getting the Empress card, which can represent a lot of different things related to pregnancy and fertility. A year from now we'll be much closer to being ready to having children, but probably not starting in 2011. I was given a warning to stop internalizing so much. Also, that next summer I am going to have to face a tough decision that although painful, it must be done...very intriguing.

So, while I was at the Ren Fest, I knew I had to get a picture taken of me with someone with a great costume. I met a centaur and swore it was my lucky day! The title of this entry refers to how Marshall and I chose our zodiac signs for tattoos, I get a picture with the symbol of my Sagitarius sign, and it is exactly one month until my birthday. I'm thinking the rest of the year is going to go pretty well!

What is in our future?

Anyone who knows us will completely agree that we are planner people. My mom says that she passed down her "make a list" gene to me (and now Rachael is showing signs of exhibiting the same trait!). I'm a firm believer that you can shape your future with positive thought projections, sort of like if you think about it so much, it will take form and come true.

We planned to come to Austin after I graduated college (wow! a year and a half ago) and Marshall was medically retired from the Navy. We made our plan come true. Marshall got into Austin Community College, and I found a job I really enjoy. We began planning for a wedding, and it turned out exactly as we had hoped it would.

We hadn't planned on buying a house in 2009, but once we realized that we could afford it, we started looking. We closed on our current house 2 months after we began our search. December 22 will be our 1 year anniversary on 7912 Marble Ridge Drive. :D

Our current plan is through December 2012, which will be the three year mark of owning our house, I'll turn 26, and the semester when Marshall can potentially graduate for TSU. By this time we want to have 20% of our house paid off, and have a nice cushion in our savings account thanks to the GI Bill.

We definitely want to take some trips. We'd be interested in taking a trip to the New Mexico Intl Balloon Festival if we could manage to get on a balloon. That would be a 5 day trip the first weekend in October 2011. Perhaps in mid-late August of 2011 we could meet up with Marshall's family in Utah and plan a trip to the Dawson family cabin in Wyoming. We'd really like to go to Washington DC together, but haven't put a realistic time frame on it. I'd also like to do Thanksgiving at my parents house within the next couple of years.

Marshall's stopped at ports along the Med Sea in southern Europe while on his two deployments, but he's really interested in seeing more of the continent. We're kicking the idea around of taking a short trip (maybe 10 days?) and focusing on three cities--Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin. The only time Marshall has a two week window of no school is between the spring and summer semesters, between summer and fall semesters, and Christmas break. Well, we wouldn't want to go during the winter... Maybe August 2012 will work out. If we wait until after he's graduated (cross your fingers for December 2012!), he may not be able to take that much time off from the job we hope he gets. Right now 2013 is reserved for expanding our family and how that will affect my job and our lifestyle.

After being in Austin for 10 years or so, we're going to reevaluate whether it's best for us to stay here, or move to somewhere new.

Make-up Muffins

Marshall's still sleeping, but I'm up. Santa Ana, our orange cat, continues to poke at me to throw his toy mice or favorite string for him. I just saw Misti chasing Santa Ana, so I know she's up now. I'm making a tripple batch of banana chocolate chip muffins, which are absolutely amazing. Last weekend I bought a brown paper bag full of bananas that were in the last few days of ripeness from the grocery store for $2.99. I gave about 15 bananas to my neighbor Amy, which left me with 23 or so. I used 2 bananas in a pretzel/jello dessert, and another 12 for banana chocolate chip muffins, which I brought into work. I got rave reviews!

Now I had 9 left, so I decided to just make some more muffins since the first ones were so delicious. Undoubtedly Marshall and I will eat a few, but the rest I'll bring into work again.

Marshall wasn't feeling well on Wednesday, so he missed his speed reading class that evening. He's going to a make-up session today, which starts at 2pm. He'll be gone for at least 5 hours today. I'm sure tonight he'll work on homework, so I pretty much have the day to myself.

I still need to make my To Do List, but I'd like to do more painting on the outside of our house. On Thursday I did about a quarter of the triangular part above the garage. I need to generate a few more Christmas present ideas too. I'll do some chores, work on a little writing project, and do some exercise like take a long walk through the neighborhood or do my pilates DVD. We did our yoga DVD on Friday night, and whew, it was pretty obvious we hadn't done it in awhile. It was a challenge for both of us.

So, this is our Sunday. I'm glad it doesn't involve raking leaves. Our two trees still have plenty of leaves on them yet, so there's no point in raking the few crunchy ones that have already littered our lawn. :)

Awkward Wind Chimes

Saturday night we went to a new restaurant downtown, a recommendation from our neighbors Amy and Carlos, with my new co-worker Emily. We went to Mongolian Grille at San Jacinto and 2nd Street. The food was great. You put all sorts of veggies and meets in a bowl, then pile it on with noodles and sauces. The cooks put it on a large flat wok of sorts, and with giant knives, they move your food around to cook it. It started out with just one cook, then another showed up because a line was starting to form. Emily was beside me, and I made a comment that the sound of the two metla knives on the cooking surface reminded me of an awkward wind chime. She agreed.

Marshall said that he wanted one of those flat woks where the meals were being cooked. "Where would you put it?" I asked. He said, "We'd take out the island," referring to the island in our kitchen. My response was, "Maybe if they have a show called Pimp My House, then we could do it." Marshall being the jokester that he is replied, "Would that be on the Martha Stewart channel?" I laughed.

We were there for 2 hours and left because we noticed that they were closing. It was a nice night out. We came to the conclusion that we should go to downtown more often, even if just to explore. I'm counting the Mongolian Grille as my 2 of 5 Austinite restaurants for my 101/1001 list. Also downtown we saw a little restaurant called Le Cafe Crepe. I think we'll try that one next. :)

Austin Places

This week we went to Hill's Cafe on South Congress Blvd for dinner. I had seen the place a week or so prior when I donated food at the food bank on the same street. A sign read that it had been in Austin since 1947, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, I bet this would classify as an Austinite restaurant." The sign on the door read something like this, "If you have too high of expectations for where you dine, lower them before entering." Hill's Cafe is just one of those places where you relax, listen to music, and try to figure out who all the people in the pictures on the walls are.

Afterwards we went to Target to get Euro pillows because our new comforter set came with shams for two. Then we went to Amy's Ice Cream for dessert. I tried chocolate macadamia nut ice cream with peanut butter cups. How could that not be delicious?!

You Smell Like a Flower

Ban thom nhu hoa is Vietnamese for "you smell like a flower." A guy I work with named Du is expecting his son to be born in about 2 weeks. We talked about names. His daughter's middle name is Nhu, and I asked him what it means. He told me flower. The next day I came to him and asked, "Du, how do you say 'you smell like a flower' in Vietnamese?" I wrote it down on a sticky note and went to find Mr. Ngan, Du's father, who's in his fifties. He's an old skinny guy, but has a good sense of humor. I couldn't stop laughing to myself that I was going to tell him that he smells like a flower, but I finally got it out. I'm sure my accent leaves much to be desired, but he understood, repeated in English, and smiled at me before we both started laughing together. Since it is the only Vietnamese phrase I know so far, it's all I say, and the guys think it is hilarious!

Pumpkin Man

Pumpkin Man, summoned from the scariest of Halloween pumpkin patches, will be watching over the candy rations tonight as trick-or-treaters come in their costumes and ring our door bell. You can tell how frightening Pumpkin Man is by the look on the other pumpkin's face.

This our first Halloween in our own home, which we've had for 10 months now. Last year we were at the in-laws' house in Houston, and the year before that we lived in an apartment in Jacksonville; no little kids came to visit us there.
Marshall wanted purple lights, so...we got purple lights. He strung them up between the ballisters of our (remodeled) porch, then stretched spiderwebs across the front. Our 6 young neighbor kids next door that it was awesome!

#1 Two Months in a Row

I fulfilled my #1 task of donating food to a local food bank for October. I brought a couple boxes of cereal and two giant jars of peanut butter. I dropped them off in a large "drop off" crate on the side of the building. I like to give food that is out of the normal. I saw a lot of green bean cans in there when I peeked in. I really want to find a shelter where I can help prepare meals for the homeless, or better yet, bring in some baking.

We're up to 39 notes so far for Marshall. He still enjoys finding them and especially loves the sappy lovey-dovey ones. I need to see if Marshall is going to dress up for Halloween; it's right around the corner. I actually don't have any creative ideas for this year, so I'm going to be a "scholar" and wear my cap and gown from my graduation at UNF.

Sleep Speed and Family

I woke from a dream and started sneezing. I went to bed an hour early because I needed to get up at 5:30 instead of 6:15 to take my neighbor to the airport. When I woke up and saw that it was 3:40am, I thought, "Sweet, another 2 hours to go," but for some reason my body is up. Not my eyes mind you; they still feel a bit droopy.

I'm up so I might as well blog. The most recent activity in the Reeske household is that Marshall signed up for a speed reading course at TSU. It is for three hours on Wednesday nights for four weeks. Marshall came home yesterday after his first class and was stoked. He was very impressed with this comprehension level score of 85% and by the end of class, he clocked himself at reading 838 words per minute. This all started last week when he went to a free intro seminar for the course and was quite intrigued. He wanted to do this all on his own, and he's really excited.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on painting our porch, which includes the ceiling, door, door frame and trim. It's looking great. I finished up the blue trim last night, so today after work I am going to remove the tape, which has been protecting the areas I don't want painted. I really wanted the porch completed before Marshall's dad Jeff arrives on Saturday to spend part of the weekend with us.

I talked to Bermuda, Marshall's grandmother, on the phone last night as I was cooking dinner and waiting for Marshall to return from school. I wanted to know what she thought about her grandson Jacob and his wife being pregnant with their third child due in May. She hadn't heard about it yet, so it was news to her. I told her she'll have to poke at him and ask, "So, when are you going to give me another great-grandchild?" just to see what he says. I found out in his wife's blog.

Bermuda also shared with me that Marshall's cousin Lindsay, who is studying nursing at BYU-Idaho, is engaged and has a wedding date of 12-21-10. Apparently her fiance is a fantastic fellow, especially in Lindsay's brother Shawn's eyes. They are getting married at the Logan Temple then doing a very small reception nearby. Bermuda was excited because she will be able to attend this wedding, where she couldn't come to ours due to the distance.

Our new customer service rep Emily starts today. I'm excited, and I hope I get to train her, which I probably will. This makes two of us now besides the office manager. More importantly, my chances of getting the day after Thanksgiving off just shot up significantly. Once approved, we'll be spending a 4 day weekend in Cypress with Marshall's parents, whom we haven't seen since the wedding in July.

Update on 101 Tasks

I'm 30 days into my 1001 days to complete 101 tasks of my choosing. On Thursday, September 30th I made pizza dough from scratch. I made it at 10:30pm, but oh did we enjoy our pesto chicken pizza!

Last week I went to Capital City Food Bank and donated my $25 worth of non-perishable food items. I couldn't believe how packed that parking lot was! It always catches me off guard when I'm hit with the realization that even though I live in a great city and have a wonderful job that allows us to live comfortably, there are hundreds of people and families that need assistance just to put food on their table. I really think that this task is going to be one of my most rewarding on a personal level for me.

I've started to write a short story that I'm going to have done by Christmas. I can't say anything more until December 26th. Oh, and I've asked my mom to look for my old clarinet and to send it to me if she finds it. I really hope she does because I'd really like to start playing again.

My Ring!

I tried numerous times with my camera to get a good shot of my new wedding ring. I used the camera at work that has really good macro settings, and got this shot on the first try.

My original engagement was a 1 ct princess cut solitaire. Instead of doing a wedding band, I wanted to just add stones to my engagement ring. I've fallen in love with tanzanites, with are the purple stones in the picture.

Unfortunately my ring design did not turn out as planned by the jeweler who did Marshall's ring. It looked horrific. The Thursday before we left for Idaho and the wedding, we told the jeweler we wanted our stones back and he could keep the metal. We weren't going to pay for anything else. Of course I'm trying to hold back tears in the store because I've been waiting for my dream ring for a long time and this dude messes it up.

When we get home, Marshall and I discuss a back up ring. I have my great-great grandmother's wedding ring, which was a gift to me for me graduating high school from my great aunt Joyce. This ring would have been her maternal grandmother's. We decide to use it. It came from Denmark, is 14 ct gold, and very delicate. I'm very proud to have it by my wedding ring as well; however, I do want to keep it in the best condition possible. So, I'm wearing my "decoy" ring, which is actually my "other" wedding ring. We had it made in Jacksonville when we were back there in August. Allen's Jewelers did a fantastic job; I couldn't be happier!

So, here it is. I love wearing this ring everyday! That and I love how different it is from everyone else's rings. :P

Glue Puts It Back Together

This past weekend Marshall worked on fixing the horrible squeaking noise my car made when it went over bumps in the road. Turns out the struts are fine, but the rubber bushings were worn to dust. He did a great job getting my car working again. He's so awesome!

While he was finishing up in the garage today, I began preparing the ceiling of our front porch to be painted. I had never dealt with primer paint before, but it reminded me of glue--a bucket of white Elmer's glue. I taped off the areas I didn't need painted and went to town. I had to move the ladder a feet feet this way and a few feet that way, but within 3 hours, it was done. Should I feel up to it tomorrow, I'm going to finish priming some of the edges on the ceiling as well as the door trim. Then I'm going to apply the real paint (Alabaster from Sherwin Williams). Once I get all of the Alabaster completed, I'm going to do the door and "little trim" in blue (St. Bart's).

We are going to repaint the double car garage door and the triangle area above it up to the roof, but I don't know how we are going to get up that high. I'm really considering hiring someone who can do those areas for us otherwise I'm afraid it may take too long for us to do it.

I'm going to post pictures as soon as the front area is all painted!

3 Tasks in One Weekend

I'm quite excited to announce that I started three tasks this weekend and finished two of them! On Friday night, Marshall and I went to dinner at Texas Land and Cattle, where I had a Cowgirl Cosmo. I had never had a Cosmo martini before, and I don't remember what was put in it to earn its name of Cowgirl Cosmo, but I really enjoyed it. It was either that one or the Berry-Berry Martini.

On Saturday we went to the River Walk in San Antonio, which is one of my tasks. We went because our planned day of being at the horse race track completely flopped. We found our way to the River Walk, and was surprised that it was a bit cooler down there than above (thank goodness). We started walking, and decided to have lunch. We ate at the Iron Cactus (if that isn't Texan enough for you). Marshall had fish tacos, and I a crazy dish of pork enchiladas under a tostada with melted cheese and fried egg on top. It was so filling. We sat and talked for awhile. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the River Walk. It's a complete trap to get you to spend money. You can't go to the River Walk and jog with friends or walk your dog like you can do around places in Austin. There are too many people walking around, chatting it up. At least the river didn't have trash in it, but I still couldn't see through it. So, hmmm, walking on crowded sidewalks, trying not to spend money, and looking at a river that isn't all that appealing. Let's just say I'm glad this task is over and out of the way.

On our way back to Austin, we stopped by a furniture store that was have a close out sale. We have a few pieces of furniture on our wish list, so we went in to see if they had any good deals. We ended up buying a king size bed, something we've always wanted, but were probably going to look into next year after we received our tax return. We got it for 57% off the retail price. It's an 8" Dormia bed that doesn't leave body grooves. It comes with a 25 year warranty, so we feel covered. It's firmer than the queen bed we have, so Marshall fell in love with it right away. I'm glad we got it. King beds are so luxurious to me.

Last night I went online to look at bedding for this new addition, and we found this one. Unfortunately it is back ordered until mid-November, but really it works in our favor. All we need right now are sheets and individual blankets. The comforter set will arrive right when the weather starts getting a bit chillier. This morning I went to JCPenney's and bought Ivory sheets for the time being. I think they will go well with the comforter set. I'm looking forward to our first night on our new bed. Oh, for the time being, we've moved our queen bed into one of our spare bedrooms. :)

Saving the Day at Work

I was on my lunch break when my computer froze up. It wouldn't respond when I clicked on any icons. I rebooted it, and it wouldn't let me log in. Then I found out it was happening to everyone else in the facility!

I called Erik our head IT guy at our Portland site. When we opened up the tiny closet that holds all of our computer hardware & server stuff, it smelt like sparklers on the fourth of July. The switch had fried. Erik found a replacement at Fry's Electronics, so I went to go buy it. Mean time, everything but the production line at work is non-functional.

I pick up the switch box, bring it back, hook it up, and see that it's working. However, when we test to see if that solves our problem of not being able to log in, it doesn't. No luck. Back to the server room I go while talking with Erik on my cell phone. We found out the our site's server hard drive thing doesn't have a green light like the other hard drives. A little over a hour later, we get the server to work, and the computers are good to go! Hurray!!

What made this so challenging is that both my office manager and director where out of the office that day. When we hire another customer service person, which will hopfully be soon, I will begin taking on some IT duties. When IT issues arise, I'll be the one communicating with Erik about them while the new CSR will be taking care of customers.

Any way, I'm really proud of myself for learning on the spot and getting the shop up and going with only a 4 hour down time. :)

#64 Best Idea Ever!

Number 64 on my 101/1001 list is to write Marshall 1001 little love notes over the space of 1001 days. So far, I'm up to 17, and Marshall is loving this little scavenger hunt. He tells me when he finds them and how he reacted. I love it when they make him laugh! Before I made some more tonight, he had shown me all the ones he had found. I then confided that no more remained inside the house. Marshall said he spent 30 minutes searching for this missing love note, even being creative enough to lift the lid off of the grill on the back deck. It wasn't there, but it did give me an idea!!!

Gonna Have Abs!

Tonight I was browsing through the channels on TV, and I came across the HSN channel. It's the constant, "You need this; buy it now!" one. I'm sure you've seen it or another similar program. Well, the product they were featuring was really interesting to me. It was the Ab Circle Mini, which looked like a lot of fun. Moreover, it appeared to me that the user's body weight and momentum really contributes to the movements. It's a full body work-out that really focuses on the core and lower body. I asked Marshall to come see it to get his opinion. He thought it looked like a good product, which to me meant that he would use it too. I listened to a testimonial from a woman who sounded just like me, meaning that all of her "trouble" areas we'll call them were the same as mine. After using this Ab Circle Mini, they are disappearing.

Part of my 101/1001 is to lower my BMI, so if I can burn fat and build muscle by using this machine for just minutes at a time throughout the entire day, why not? It even had free shipping. I hope it is here by next weekend!

#30 Painting with a Twist

My boss at work told me about this small organization called Painting with a Twist. The instructor teaches you step by step how to complete the evening's painting. They all come out very, very similar, just with variances due to each painter being different.

On Tuesday, my neighbor and I went for a girl's night. We didn't bring any wine like some of the other ladies, but still had a great time. I wanted to do this hibiscus picture for our Hawaii bathroom.

So, this painting checks off #30 on my 101/1001 list and sets my #77 in motion with my first of 50 pictures taken of me at different times. Amy is on the far left and I'm next to her in the back; we're both doing the Vanna White pose.

#5 Teach the neighbor girls how to make friendship bracelets

My neighbors next door are a foster family and currently have 7 kids in their home. Sometimes I ask if I can borrow the oldest girls for a fun activity away from the same-'ol-same. It also relieves the parents for just a bit. Today I invited over the 8 year old, 7 year old and 5 year old so I could teach them how to make friendship bracelets.

This morning I went to Michaels and bought a package of embroidery floss for this little adventure. They each picked out three colors they wanted in their bracelet, then I cut the string to length for them. I had the strands tied at the top, which formed a loop that went around their big toe.

They thought the activity was really fun and each of them made it about three fourths of the way through their bracelet before their attention span started to wane. I encouraged them to keep going be telling them what a great job they were doing and how beautiful their new anklets were going to be.

While I was finishing up my demo, the girls organized all the floss colors into "boy" and "girl" colors. Everything was, "Oh, this would be cute!" They liked it when I took the photo below. :)

Turkey Surprise

So far it's been a great Labor Day weekend, and we will have one more day to go--hurray! Jenn and her boyfriend Joel came up from Corpus Cristi to spend some time with us. While they were on their way from San Antonio to Austin, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things including a bouqet of sunflowers for their room because they are Jenn's favorite. They arrive, and this is the first time we are meeting Joel. We're chatting in the kitchen as I'm preparing ingredients for fajitas for lunch. All of a sudden Jenn blurts out that she and Joel went down to the courthouse on July 9th and got married. Marshall and I were stunned! Then I noticed that she had rings on her left hand, which I had to inspect. I believe they said they were just temporary and that custom ones were in the works. Both are in the Navy, which is why they live so close to us, but there is a good chance that they will be moving to San Diego within six months. Frown-y face.

My surprise for them was that I was going to be cooking a turkey and that the four of us were going over to our neighbor's house for a Thanksgiving style meal. Both Jenn and Joel love to eat good food (which is why Jenn likes to frequent our house), so I knew they would be all for this idea. Dinner went well although I over cooked the turkey and it came out dry. Now I won't mess it up for Thanksgiving in November though. We really enjoy spending time with Amy and Carlos next door, and the first time we had dinner at someone else's house while living in Austin. :D

Sunday morning we went to Waffle House for breakfast because we didn't have any more clean dishes in the house after cooking on Saturday, plus I didn't have anything prepared. Afterwards, Jenn, Joel, and I went to the outlet mall in San Marcos. We spent 2 1/2 hours walking around the plaza style set-up, and that was only half of it! Overall it primarily had clothing stores, which doesn't do me any good because I dispise clothes shopping. None of us had been there before, so now it's nice to finally say, "yes, I've been there." We said our good-byes; they drove off to hang out in San Antonio, and I drove home to see Marshall. I spent the rest of the day taking it easy and finishing up my book I'd started a couple of days ago.

While we were eating our salads for dinner, we were making a 101/1001 list for our lover boy cat Santa Ana. Some of his tasks are:

1. Meow so much that the humans throw mice.
2. Meow so much that the humans give me tuna.
3. Meow so much that both of them want to pet me.
4. Take 10 naps in a single day.
5. Play fight with Misti at least once a day.
6. Meow so much that the humans open a window.
7. Spend 15 hours on blankets.
8. Rinse and repeat until they equal 101!

Needless to say we were busting up laughing!!

Monday is going to be my first non-working Labor Day that I'm getting paid for. I kinda like it. :)

Day Zero Project 101/1001

I've decided to my own Day Zero Project. It is a challenge to complete 101 pre-set tasks in 1001 days, which is roughly 2.75 years. My 1001th day is June 2, 2013. Below are my 101 tasks, and I'll be blogging about when I complete each one.

1. Donate $25 worth of non-perishable food items to a food pantry once a month for a year. (12/12)
2. Visit DC for at least four days. September 2011
3. Spend a long weekend at hubby's family cabin in Wyoming.
4. Complete 100 logic puzzles.
5. Teach my neighbor girls how to make friendship bracelets. (9/6/10)
6. Create awesome bookmarks for every family member for either their birthday or Christmas.
7. Open up an account with kiva.org.
8. Donate $200 to donorschoose.org.
9. Donate $150 to Heifer Int'l.
10. Go camping for a weekend.
11. Write a short story. (12/25/10)
12. Donate blood.
13. Leave an inspirational note in a book for someone to find.
14. Send out 50 letters to anonymous people, one in each state.
15. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
16. Help with a Girl Scout troop. 12/11
17. Influence someone to make a 101/1001 list.
18. Read Cien Anos de Solidad in Spanish.
19. Take a cake decorating class.
20. Try Zumba once a week for two months.
21. Use my 5 passes to work out with a trainer at the gym.
22. Run a 7:30 mile on the elliptical at the gym. (2/6/11)
23. Write a short story. (12/25/10)
24. Try 10 different flavors of ice cream at Amy's. (4/10)
25. Get a pedicure. (12/11/10)
26. Drive a jetski.
27. Drink a beer.
28. Write a letter to myself to be opened on my 40th birthday.
29. Take a parenting class.
30. Do a painting. (9/7/10)
31. Go to a wine tasting event. (8/11)
32. Play a board game or cards with a senior at a residence community.
33. Design and make 10 cards instead of buying them.  Christmas 2011
34. Sing karaoke at a bar.
35. Go up in the sky in something other than an airplane.
36. Try 10 different martinis. (1/10)
37. Visit an art, history, and science museum.
38. Spend a day at the River Walk in San Antonio. (9/25/10)
39. Go to a Renaissance Festival (11/13/10)
40. Learn three new recipes that include artichoke hearts.
41. Bake 100 cookies and deliver them to a fire station.
42. Lower my BMI to 26.8.
43. Make a collage of our cats in all their silly poses.
44. Buy a bicycle. (2/11)
45. Bike inside of McKinney State Falls Park.
46. Owe $100,000 on our house by December 2012.
47. Take a picture of Marshall and me every year on our anniversary.
48. Have a card game party at our house.
49. Go horseback riding. 12/10/11
50. Have Thanksgiving at my parents' house. (8/13/11)
51. Learn 30 phrases in Vietnamese. (1/30)
52. Make my own pizza dough. (9/30)
53. Go to the Austin zoo.
54. Go to a zoo in a different city. 9/12/11
55. Go to a local high school play.
56. Go to a local high school band concert.
57. Update my passport with married name.
58. Start a new family tradition.
59. Make a piece of artwork incorporating our family motto.
60. Expand my vocabulary by 100 words. (3/100)
61. Make genealogy charts for each of my siblings.
62. Give money to a street musician.
63. Volunteer at the library.
64. Leave 1001 love notes for my husband to find. (49/1001)
65. Own a clarinet and start playing again.
66. Read the Freakonomics books.
67. Sketch a drawing and have it framed.
68. Write blog entries about 101 moments in time that I wish I could have been present at.
69. Update Thiele family album.
70. Choose 3 guys and 3 gals from Facebook and read their favorite book.
71. Stay in a B&B.
72. Buy a king size bed. (9/25/10)
73. Do all kitchen clean up for two weeks.
74. Buy flowers for someone just because. (9/4/10)
75. Make a birthday cake for someone.
76. Earn another raise at work.
77. Have someone take 50 pictures of me at different times. (4/50)
78. Throw a college graduation party for husband.
79. Take prenatal pills.
80. Sing Christmas carols in a group.
81. Plant native Texas plants in yard.
82. Build a complete first aid kit for the house.
83. Get my car washed by a youth organized fund raising group.
84. Write a letter in Spanish to myself to be opened in 10 years.
85. Update my resume.
86. Own new pajamas.
87. Take a train somewhere out of state.
88. Visit 5 Austinite restaurants.
89. Babysit for free. (9/18/10)
90. Create or go on a scavenger hunt.
91. Do pilates every day for two weeks.
92. Read a book on the couch while under a blanket when it is raining outside.
93. Get a fake tattoo. (11/13/10)
94. Play fetch with the cats for 50 consecutive throws.
95. Surprise my husband by putting gas in his car when he doesn't expect it. November 2011
96. Create a living will.
97. Participate in a 5K. (5/1/11)
98. Write a letter to myself to be read on my 100th birthday.
99. Do 100 push-ups in one day.
100. Visit the Austin capital building.
101. Take a glass blowing class. (8/21/11)

Hawaii Bathroom Almost Done

Tah-dah!! The winter bathroom has been retired for a Hawaii theme that adds a lot more color. do you recognize the framed picture on the right? Do you like the shower curtain? I made the shower curtain hooks myself. :D

Here is what the sink area looks like so far. I have a candle snuggled in the sand along side a shell that my grandmother gave me from the New Heberdies. The beautiful sea turtle was another wedding present from my Aunt Teanna, who recently moved back to the mainland after living in Hawaii for many years. Although you can't seem them in these pictures, the bath mats are a sand color (aren't I creative). I've just ordered some "bright mango" and "exotic pink" hand towels and wash clothes that will go in this bathroom as well. I hope they get here by Friday because we are having guests staying over. :)

House Projects

Our house projects are coming along quite nicely. On Sunday we bought the remaining materials we needed to finish off remodeling the front porch, plus three light fixtures. On Monday, Marshall finished staining the rest of the porch in the 100+ heat. I don't know how he does it. The next step is to cut the railing boards to length. Afterwards we will stain them and put the black balisters in. It shouldn't take long after that to have everything complete. :D

With Marshall's guidance, I installed a light fixture in our living room, the one above the coat closet. I had been pining for this beautiful piece for months now, and it looks great. Marshall took down the halogen lights in the kitchen and replaced them with two branch-looking fixtures that have moveable arms and rotating lights. The kitchen looks so much more cozy with the warm yellow light instead of the ghostly-pale light from before.

We are still continuing with the other indoor project of solar filming the windows on the west and south sides of the house. Marshall starts his fall semester tomorrow, so I don't know of a realistic time frame when all of these will be completed, but we are close to the end--hurray!!

My Bridesmaids

Look at these amazing ladies!! Meet Katelyn, Heather, and Jenn--my bridesmaids.

Katelyn is my sister-in-law. She and my brother will celebrate their third wedding anniversary this October. They have a wonderful house in Omaha with two little dogs. Katelyn loves art, especially painting. With her husband, they do a lot of photography for fun. Both love to travel. If Katelyn were a Disney princess, I think she would be Jasmine because to me she has a thirst for adventure.

Jenn is Marshall's cousin (but mine now too), the daughter of his father's sister. She lives here in Texas, and she comes to visit us once every three months or so. I do my best to cook the most delicious meals possibe when she's here. Whenever Jenn and I plan for her to come up, I tell Marshall and he shouts, "Hurray!!" He knows I will take up most of her time with us being girls, but he loves all the cooking I do. If Jenn was a Disney princess, she'd definitely be Ariel. No, not because of the hair; she loves the water. Jenn's a great scuba diver and has a huge fascination with underwater photography.

Heather is my best friend. We met in our first Honors course our freshman year at UNF in Coastal Forts. We've been close friends ever since. She is a kindergarten teacher and loves it so much. Heather is an even bigger over-achiever than I am *gasp. She finished her degree in three years, married the love of her life, became a teacher, bought a house, and is doing her Masters degree online. Oh, and she has an adorable 70 pound puppy! I don't know where I would be without Heather in my life. She's some I cherish very much. If Heather were a Disney princess, she would be Belle because of her love for learning, but more importantly her compassionate heart.

I call this picture "Manly Zen." This is Marshall after being surprised with a table saw in July. He's currently using it with our front porch remodeling project.

Dan's Cats

We went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit friends and family who were unable to attend our wedding. We arrived late on Thursday August 12th, and left early on Monday the 16th. We stayed with Dan, who is Marshall's best friend of the Navy and was a groomsman. Dan has three cats. I'd like to introduce you to them: Stamos, Dinah and Potter.

Jessie aka Stamos

When Dan first got Stamos, a four year old Siamese, his name was Jessie. One night Dan could think of nothing else but Uncle Jessie from Full House when calling for his cat. Uncle Jessie lead to John Stamos, which has been shortened to Stamos. When we lived with Dan from Feb-May '09, our cats were best buddies with Stamos.

Dinah

Dinah (Dine-ah) is so sweet. She's half Absydian and half alley cat. Compared to her big brother Potter, she is ultra feminine. Her favorite hobby (besides napping) is playing with either a toy mouse or laser pointer.

Potter

I didn't get a good picture of Potter, but you can tell that he is much bigger than Stamos. He's a brute and loves to play. Dan's had Dinah and Potter since the end of May 2009 when they were tiny kittens. Now they are humguous!

Another vacation

Marshall and I are taking an extended weekend trip to Jacksonville, Florida, where we lived for four years before moving to Austin. It's been about 14 months since we've been here. We wanted to spend time with friends and family who were unable to come to the wedding, and hang out with our best pal Dan.

I worked 8am-12pm, came home, gave Marshall a haircut, cleaned up then packed. Our wonderful neighbor Amy gave us a ride to the airport. We flew from Austin to Memphis to Jacksonville, finally arriving at 10:30pm. We got our rental car, and finally made it to Dan's place around 11:30. He gave us a tour of his new condo, then we went to Denny's for a late night meal. After that, we went to Walmart to get some travel-sized necessities (like conditioner) and a blanket. I think we finally crashed around 2am.

Everyone is still sleeping but me and the three kitties--Stamos, Potter, and Dinah. They are definitely interested in the new blanket, hahaha.

Today's agenda is for Marshall and I go to Allen's Jewelers, who made my original engagement ring, and see if they can recreate it with the stones I had bought for my wedding ring, which the jeweler in Austin failed on. Perhaps Marshall and I will go to Mimi's Cafe and surprise my dear friend Heather Kim, who works there, by eating brunch. She's invited us over to her apartment on Saturday night for dinner.

On Saturday I'd like to meet up with my friend Johnny Rolfes from UNF. We went to Peru together two years ago. On Sunday, we are going to meet up with our Austin transplant friends Adriana and Josh Silva. We are also going to go see my grandparents, younger sister, and their neighbor Ana, who I'm very close with. I'm going to try to see my friends Pandora and John while here too!

We drove by UNF last night and starting cooing to myself about it being my osprey home. *dreamy sigh

Might have to retire the Winter Bathroom

We absolutely love this Hawaiian picture we received as a wedding gift from my Aunt Teanna. It is so beautiful, we do not know exactly where to put it. Then it came to me; maybe I should redo the winter bathroom into a tropical Hawaiian theme and use this picture as the focal point? Marshall likes the idea, so I think we're going to do it!

A Romantic Dinner for Two

I spent three hours running errands and grocery shopping on Saturday. While I was out, I thought about making Marshall a really delicious meal experiment. He loves when I experiment because he so open to new things.

We started out with an Italian caprese salad. Thick roma tomato slices with fresh mozzerella cheese finished off with an olive oil, balsamic vinagarette and seasoning drizzle.

I bought a bottle of wine. I've learned that I like Malbec wines. I picked up one from Argentina that was very good. Marshall was looking at the bottle, "Year 2007; wasn't that when we met?" Awe!

For dinner we had whole wheat rigatoni, spaghetti sauce, shrimp, peas and broccoli. The dish was dusted in parmasean cheese and garnished with two crisp bell pepper rings. We are certainly going to enjoy the left overs today!

An Osprey and a Bobcat

When we returned from Idaho, we learned that Marshall had been accepted into Texas State University in San Marcos, a growing town halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Of course we were excited! Marshall has already picked out his classes, but has to wait to register until the 17th. I hope he gets them all. There is a bus route specifically for taking TSU students who live in Austin to the university, and the pick up area is only about 7 minutes away. We will know in a couple of weeks what Marshall's fall schedule will be. :)

Rehearsal and Dinner

Friday was the ceremony rehearsal. It went well. We will have to get the CD player set up outside yet. The reception/hanger turned out lovely and is spacious enough for everything. The catering company did an excellent job, were super friendly, and handled everything magnificently. I received so many compliments on my choice of using them, and in my head I passed along the compliments to Google, lol. My Uncle Jet took the crew flying along with at least half of the guests, which scored him some major cool points. I'm sure there will be more today.

I got to meet the majority of the Reeske clan. Two more will arrive today, and then I'll only need to meet three more in total. Not bad! Today my friends from North Dakota and their husbands arrive, and I get to meet my mom's aunt for the first time too. My step-dad Rich should have arrived late last night. Perhaps I will see him at today's breakfast.

I didn't quite know what to do in regards to taking direction with the dinner. I'm normally one who likes to stay on schedule, but people were fully engaged in conversations and enjoying themselves, so I just let it go. Marshall and Jenn took charge while I stole a few minutes alone with Heather.

For the most part, everyone left between 9-9:30 last night, which means we were able to get to sleep at a decent hour. More updates soon to come.

Dawn of THE DAY

Good morning!

I'm watching the first rays of light illuminate the clouds in the east as the day is beginning. This is no ordinary day mind you. Today is a day of joy, of family, and of memories. I couldn't sleep anymore, so I figured I could get somethings done in the morning while everyone is asleep. Right now I'm listening to the spa music CD we are going to use for our ceremony.

It rained during the night (that was good luck, right?). The trees and bushes are swaying in the wind. The forecast calls for rain today, and I'm trying not to shake my fist at the clouds. Maybe I can bribe the clouds into going away??

I haven't seen any deer yet; perhaps they are sleeping in this morning and trying to stay dry.

Packing

Remember when you were a little kid on a long car ride, whether you were excited to go or not, and asked, "How much longer before we're there?" My parents' response was, "if you go to sleep, we'll be closer when you wake up," or something to that sentiment. That is how I feel right now. It is too early to go to bed yet, but I want tomorrow to come soooo much. Tomorrow we fly to our destination wedding in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Our flight out of Austin leaves at 2:35, then we'll have a layover in Oakland before arriving in Spokane around 10pm local time.

I made my packing list; Marshall still has to do his. All the things I will use tonight I will pack in the morning and be done! My dress, veil, and petty coat take up my biggest suitcase. My medium one has the bridal party presents and my clothes. I'm sure Marshall will only have to bring one suitcase. I don't even think I'll need a carry-on. We are bringing both our cameras, and I've been threatened within an inch of my life to make sure I take lots of pictures.

6 days left!

Look at What the Stork Dropped Off

He looks just like Marshall!!

The other day we received a wedding gift from our friends Ben & Nikki Allen. It was a cookware set, and we were surprised that it was inside this giant blue bag. I was excited over the pots and pans; Marshall was elated over the bag and instantly started getting into mischief. Thank you Ben & Nikki for the laughs!

Just a Saturday

Today I got a hair cut. It's a tad bit shorter than I planned, but on the plus side my long hair had been contributing to my headaches; hopefully that will go away now. I decided against getting highlights and am considering just coloring my hair (with Marshall's help). It's 8pm now, so it doesn't look that great, but this is it.

Shortly there after, I had to go try on my wedding dress post-alterations. Um...it didn't look good. The seamstress/manager is going to redo it, and I'll go back on Wednesday evening. If everything is fixed, then I'll be able to take it home a little earlier than planned (originally it was suppose to be the 24th).

It was 2:15 when I got home and guess who was still wrapped up in the bed sheets (hint: it wasn't the cats). When he got up, he pulled my car into the garage and took a look at the brakes. Thankfully they are okay and still in good shape. I love my mech!

Only one more week left in Austin before we go to Idaho for our wedding. It's going to be busy, and I have to remember not to stress. I'll have to plan something fun to do this week. Maybe I can arrange a ladies' bowling party, hmmm...

Zucchini

My little garden of one basil plant, three surviving zucchini plants and a few sugar pea plants has produced one giant zucchini. Today I peeled and shredded it so I could make zucchini muffins. This organic monster produced five cups of delightful flesh for me to bake with. I have already made three dozen zucchini muffins, and tomorrow I hope I can accomplish the chocolate zucchini cake I have in mind for the remaining two cups I have left. I'm going to share the muffins with the neighbors because we don't need to eat them all. That, and I'm trying to build a reputation of being a good cook! :D

First serious remodeling project

When we bought our house in December, we knew the front porch railings were going to need to be replaced. Well, now that the Audi is fixed, Marshall is ready to move onto another project, and he's chosen the front porch. When he started his destruction spree, he found that everything besides the wooden posts that hold the roof up was made of some sort of compressed paper product (yuck!). We're going to replace everything with real wood.

At first I bawked at us needing a table saw, but I know that tools do last a long time and over time, they are worth the investment because Marshall is enthusiastic about house projects. So, without him knowing, I went out to Lowe's to get him the table saw. Afterwards I went to the grocery store, which was original place I was suppose to go. When I got home, I accepted Marshall's help to bring bags in. I told him I'd get the ones in the trunk (from the grocery store) if he'd take care of the back seat (where the table saw box was). He was quite speechless, and it turns out that is the one he had been pining for. Looks like I did a good job.

After dinner, I urged Marshall to go back to Lowe's and get some lumber, so we can start our contruction tomorrow. It didn't take much to convince him. ;D Marshall only has one more week of his political science class, so his mornings will free up for the rest of the summer. We aren't expecting this front porch project to take us very long, but knowing that he has extra time calms me.

After this, I hope I can get the bookshelves I've been wanting for our second living room. :D

Wacky Wedding Weekend

Saturday was a great day! Marshall's cousin Jenn, who is one of my bridesmaids, came up from Corpus Christi to Austin. I had a dress fitting planned and she said she wasn't going to miss it. She arrived, and after hugs I put a plate of southwest quiche in front of her for breakfast. Then...I showed her her dress that I was able to pick up for her on Thursday. Within 15 minutes we were on the road heading up to Round Rock for my dress appointment.

It was a complete surprise to me that my favorite lady who worked there, Janet, was no longer there. I was really bummed because she had been a huge help during this whole process. Jenn would have liked her too. Well, Jenn tries on her dress and sparkling diamond jewelry. She looked so amazing and comfortable. She loves the wine color and it looks really good on her.

After here, I went in the little dressing room to put on my wedding gear. At my last fitting on May 1st, my veil hadn't arrived, but it was there yesterday! I got to wear the complete sha-bang! Jenn starts rattling off compliments right and left. The seamstress really liked my jewelry. I'm getting an American bustle put in and the bust taken in about an inch. They are going to call me when the alterations are done, and I will try it on one more time before I pick everything up on July 24th. :D

After wearing our pretty dresses, we went to have salads at Jason's Deli. We chatted and chatted and gossiped some more before going to Amy's Ice Cream. Amy's is an Austin icon. They have the most outrageous of flavors. I got chocolate + orange + almond ice cream with Reeses peanut butter cups and Jenn had fuzzy navel ice cream with peanut butter cups and gummy bears. She said it was so wacky yet delicious. I replied, "That's how we do it in Austin." That was a cool experience for her, and she really liked it.

Marshall was so sweet to have gone to the grocery store and picked up everything on the short list I had made for him. The ingredients were for lasagna, which is one of his favorites, so I didn't really expect him to put up a fight, hehehe. We unwound a little bit, then Jenn and I discussed some more wedding details, specifically the much anticipated wedding favors. She came up with some good ideas about using a karaoke machine to solve our music issue during the ceremony. It would have a CD player, speakers, and a microphone. See what a genius she is?!

I made two dinners last night. One was lasagna, and the other was chicken & biscuits, which I really wanted Jenn to try. I'm sending her home with some along with 3 jars of plum freezer jam that I made a few weekends ago. She can't stay for long today, but I'll make everyone a delicious breakfast to start the day off right.

Gutter balls and high fives

Last night Marshall and I went bowling. We've bowled before, but I don't think together. We got our shoes. After trying on three different sizes, Marshall learned he's an 11. I actually wore a size 9, which is smaller than my normal sneakers at 9.5. One of my shoe laces was super long and I made a big bow out of it. The other had a tiny bow. :)

We had to find the bowling balls that fit us from their selection. The only one I could handle was an 8 pound ball with smaller holes than I would have prefered. Marshall picked out a 14 pounder with a swirly green design on it.

I learned that Marshall and I have different bowling styles. During the first game, he had the most gutter balls and I earned the most high fives. He speeds up to the alley line and releases the ball in a spin. One lane over was a professional hobbiest and gave Marshall some pointers. After that, the tables turned. I started making more gutter balls and he got the high fives (and hugs). When I bowl, I slowly walk up to the alley line, step to the left a little bit, bring my right arm back and try to release it in a straight line down the middle. It's not a rocket shooting down the runway like other players seem capable of doing. I had a few spares and a few strikes, so I was happy. I was so nervous about the small holes on the ball. I didn't want my fingers to get stuck in them as I released it.

I won the first game 122-73, and we only made it through another half game before our time was up. Marshall was in the lead by 10 points or so, and probably would have won. Both of our hands were hurting after playing for 30 minutes, so we were content to call it a fun adventure and move on to something else, which ended up watching Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace.

I'm hoping that the second Sunday in July I can convince some of the neighbor ladies to get up early with me and go bowling. The alley has a $7 special for unlimited bowling for 2.5 hours and free shoe rental on Sunday mornings. That's cheaper than a lunch date! I'll see what I can do about drumming up interest. :)

Tennis

Marshall use to play tennis in high school, and from what I hear was really talented. When we were living in Jacksonville with our friend Dan, we got two tennis rackets and a tube of tennis balls. Tonight was the first time (in over a year) that we've dusted off the rackets to go play.

I loved making Marshall zip across his side of the night--left, right, forward, backwards and across--with my unpredictable returns. We both enjoyed the exercise, which is a nice switch from the pilates and yoga DVDs we normally use. We went to the tennis courts on Marshall's college campus. Now that we know it doesn't take long to get there, I do hope we'll go more often. I'm especially curious to see if I get any better with more practice.

Day after the bbq

I once heard from some source that we tend to have dozens of online friends, yet do not know our neighbors. I found that message to be very powerful, and I told myself that when we have a really neighborhood, I am going to get to know the neighbors.

Last night I organized a bbq for the few neighbors/families we've chatted with or know of. Marshall gives me all the credit, but he was a huge help and was very supportive with my wish. We had shrimp and chicken kabobs, chicken wings, chips with both salsa and queso (<--both were super delicious), deviled egg salad, pasta salad, watermelon, hot dogs, beer, martinis and a sinful dessert from Ludy that we've all dubbed "4 sugar" dessert because it's ingredients are um, quite sugary.

We had 10 kids plus a little baby and 9 adults come over. Everyone got along really well, which pleases me greatly because I like down-to-earth people. Everyone now has each other's contact information, so we can plan the next shin-dig or girls' night or guys' night. By the end of the summer, I'd like to see a party happen that includes the 20 houses or so on our section of the street. Wouldn't that be fun?