Peace

Last night my mom called. As I wrote on Tuesday, I'm just going through a really stressful time right now, and I don't handle stress well. I hadn't talked to anyone about the way I was feeling. I was just embarrassed to be feeling so fragile, and embarrassed that I had brought a lot of this upon myself. But last night I just spilled everything to my mom through tears over the phone. It felt so good to tell someone else about everything. Of course she encouraged me and made me feel so much better. The problems aren't solved (and some of them are so far from my control, I don't know why I let myself worry about them) but I'm feeling a much deeper peace about everything.



Later last night, Luke revealed that he is going through some hard times at work too, which I had no idea about. He doesn't let much bother him, so I was surprised. But for some reason it felt good to talk to each other about what we're going through..we sort of bonded over it in some weird way. Anyway, it brought about even more peace.

And the this morning I looked up Psalm 91 because this chapter always brings me comfort when I'm worried or scared about anything. Verses 10 - 12 say, "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift up their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." Why should I be worried when God has it all taken care of? I may not know where I'll be or what I'll be doing next fall (which is the root of alllll this stress) but God does, and He has it all planned out.

If you're struggling with fear or worry, you should check out Psalm 91. Trust me, it's been a great comfort to me this morning!

Praise God for His peace, even when things are still so unsure.

2004

Get ready for another long post...

I just want to thank everyone so much for all your prayers today! I was having a moment I guess. But I really did feel God draw me close and give me a peace today. I received some really unexpected encouraging words from co-workers which really helped to get me through the day.

Anyway, I'm writing this post because I'm walking down memory lane tonight. Luke turns 25 on Saturday...what an old man! Ha, just kidding! But every year when his birthday rolls around, it makes me remember that day in 2004. It just so happened to be the first day that we noticed each other, and the day that our love story began :-) I can't believe that was 5 years ago already! Well, 5 years ago Saturday :-)

Well, in honor of this memory, I've decided to share an excerpt from my 2004 diary. It's so cheesy, but melts my heart every time I read it. It's so weird that I knew right from the beginning that we would be together forever :-) So here you have it:

June 14, 2004
Wow, it's been a while since I've written! I'll try to cover everything that's happened in the past few months in a nutshell.

Second semester of this year [freshman year of college] was the hardest time of my life so far. My classes were really hard, and living with Danielle [mean freshman roomie] was getting more and more difficult. But me and Andy [horrible ex-boyfriend] were getting closer and closer. I think we got too serious too fast. March 22 was our 1 year anniversary. Nothing ever felt right after that night...God spoke to me. I realized that I had been really distant from Him all year. And I also realized that I think I was just settling for Andy. We fought all the time, and I never really loved him. It was hard, but I decided to end the relationship. Although it took me a few weeks to actually get up the courage to do it! And then 2 weeks later, I got back together with him. Stupid! Because 5 days after that, he broke up with me because he was still mad that I broke up with him! It was a blessing in disguise.
[Okay, the good stuff starts now!] Something kind of ironic happened Sunday night[which just happened to be May 2...Luke's birthday] after Andy broke up with me, Luke Wallace started helping with the jr. high youth group [I had been helping for about a year already]. I saw him looking at me a few times that night. I don't know what it was, but something about the way he looked at me sent chills up and down my spine.
It was so weird...Luke kept crossing my mind the next week. And at youth group on Sunday we actually talked a little bit. That sounds weird, but I've known Luke my whole life, but I've never really talked to him, because I was so shy until now. It was like I was seeing him for the first time in 19 years.
I've gotten to spend a lot of time with Luke at youth group and stuff since then. Since that night at youth group, he has broken up with Victoria [don't worry, they were never serious!] So he is available! If we got together it would be such a gift from God! He is like my dream guy! He's a Christian and he has been his whole life. Plus he LOVES movies [so did I back then]. He works at Video Safari and he watches them all the time [not sure why this attracted me to him. lol]. He also loves music. He can sing, play guitar, keyboard, and drums. Plus, he's really gentle and caring. It's so adorable how he yells at the jr. high guys all the time for picking on me. It makes me feel like I'm his, so he's protecting me. Even though I'm not...YET ;-)
I told Rachel [best friend/cousin/current neighbor] how I feel tonight, and she says she thinks Luke's interested in me, too! She says she catches him staring at me all the time. I couldn't believe it when she told me. I've known him forever, and I just notice him now. And I don't know if he really does like me or not. But I'm willing to wait on God's timing if this is right. And that is because I have a feeling that if Luke and I got together, it would be forever. Just a gut feeling I have. [Wow, I was RIGHT ON! lol]

And blah, blah, blah. There's actually more, if you can believe it. But it gets boring. I was even long-winded back then. lol. But I just love reading that journal entry. Probably my favorite one of all time :-)

I'm thinking about printing this out on nice paper or something, and giving it to Luke on our 1 year anniversary. He's never read it before, and I think he would be surprised how right-on I was about everything. I've told him before that I knew I was going to marry him before we were even dating, but I don't know if he believes me. But my journal would prove it! lol.

Anyway, Thanks again for your prayers! God is so faithful to answer them :-)

Honesty

I'm at work right now, but decided to whip out a quick, honest post. I've been struggling a lot lately with worry and stress. A lot of stressful things are going on right now that I have avoided posting about because I simply don't like to think about them. But the stress is getting a little overwhelming today. I woke up with my mind racing and my heart pounding, and it's been like that pretty much ever since. In the past 5 minutes I've even started feeling a little dizzy and light-headed from all the stress. I'm trying not to lose my cool in front of everybody at work, but I'm having a hard time today.

I guess I'm just writing this to vent a little bit, and say that I would be very thankful for prayer - I just need to know that God is in control and that I'm freaking out over nothing. And by worrying I'm not acknowledging his power.

Thanks for listening! I love my blog because I can admit things here that I can't even admit to the people closest to me. That's why I haven't told anyone I know about my blog. So thank you!

Heat Wave

Gabby's trying to stay cool - she could feel the breeze coming in the kitchen window. (Please excuse the disgustingness of the window...we hope to eventually replace all of them).

Ever since Friday, it has felt like we've just jumped right into the middle of June here! And these 80+ degree temperatures aren't going to end until Tuesday.

The entire weekend has felt like summer. It's kind of a shock to realize that I in fact DO have work tomorrow, and for the next five weeks after that :-P But this weather has been so amazing while it's lasted!

So what did I do on this summery weekend? Lots of summery stuff :-) After my mom and I went garage saleing, I came home and laid out and read. Unfortunately, I spent more time on my stomach than my back, and ended up with a very strange sunburn on the back of my legs only. Serves me right, I guess.

After that, Luke and his friend JC were finishing up a few projects in our third floor room. We have no air conditioning, and heat rises, so it was 93 degrees in that room while they were working! I know, they're crazy. I decided to make them a little peach tea to cool them down. And yum...it was good and refreshing if I do say so myself! I just made 3 cups of hot peach tea, added lots of sugar, and chilled it in the freezer for about 15 minutes and added lots of ice.

Yum...that picture makes my mouth water for some more!

Speaking of refreshments, I discovered a new addiction this weekend:
Just like goldfish, but cheesier! Yum! And no trans fat, which I've been told is a good thing. Other than that, they're not exactly healthy. But definitely a tasty snack!

Anyway, late last night Luke and I decided we just could not let the day end without going out for some ice cream. So we went to Baskin Robbins at about 9:00. I got this:
Simply delicious! Luke got some fruity drink...in hindsight, I think we both wish we would have gotten actual ICE CREAM, but it was fun none the less :-)

And since it seems like every Saturday night has becoming movie-renting night for us, we stopped by Family Video and rented "Lakeview Terrace." It was a pretty decent movie, and I can honestly say it's the first one I haven't fallen aspleep during in MONTHS. So that says something!

Today we had church, and then we grilled burgers and fried up some homemade french fries for lunch. After that we didn't do much - it was too hot inside and outside to do much of anything.

We even decided it was too hot to cook, so we had dinner at the great Golden Arches :-P Classy, right? And on the way home, we had a very serious conversation about our future, which was awesome.

Luke's not much of a talker, and definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of guy. So he definitely doesn't like to talk much about the future. But tonight he seemed into it, so I took full advantage. We kind of mapped out a five-year plan.

This is why I love blogging. I can write my plan now, and in 5 years I can see if we made it or not :-)

So here it is (probably boring to everyone but me :-P):

1. Pay off all debt, other than the house (this one should be able to be done in the next few months! Hooray!)

2. Make a large part of our budget dedicated to our future down payment on a forever house. (If you don't know our house story, we were lucky to be able to buy a tri-plex for a very low price from my uncle last fall. We live in the top apartment and rent out the other two, so we are basically living here for free with the rent money. We obviously would eventually like to buy a house just for us, and rent out the top apartment too, which just so happens to also be the biggest and nicest apartment. Which means this one would bring in more money than the other two).

3. Save up money in our "forever house" budget like CRAZY for the next 5 years.

4. Ideally, in 5 years we would like to buy some land to build our dream house on, but if not, we'd just like to buy a dream house. We will be about 30 by this time, so I think it's doable!

5. Rent out top apartent, the one that we're living in now.

6. Start having babies!!! This step may very well happen before we buy the forever house. If that happens we will turn our office into a nursery. But we probably can't have more than one baby in the little apartment we live in now, so we gotta get moving on the plan!

And there you have it. I'm going to have to bookmark this post, so I can check up on my progress! Ha!

Thanks for tuning in for another unneccesarily long post. Enjoy your last week of April!!

Garage Sale Finds

I didn't find a whole lot this morning at garage sales. But here are a few fun things:

Friends Trivia Game - $1
I thought this would be fun because Luke and I watch Friends reruns like it's our job. And we love board games.

Tiki soap - $.25
This is a joke. If you watch Scrubs, you know that in a recent episode, all the main characters went to the Bahamas for the janitor's wedding. Turk and JD bought very expensive Tikis that were supposed to be replicas of the Tiki from the Brady Bunch. Here's a quick video, and it's hilarious if you didn't get the chance to see it :-)

Anyway, our group of close friends always say that we are exactly like characters from Scrubs. Luke and a really close friend (JC) who is like JD, and Luke is like Turk. I'm Carla, in case you were wondering, and my sister is Elliot :-) Anyway, I thought it would be funny for Luke to give this to JC as a joke on his birthday or something :-)

And finally:
Little shelf - $2
I've decided it's going above our stove to hold all of my tea, and my cute little cafe candles (the brown mugs are miniature scented candles)

For a grand total of $3.25, I got all this loot! Not too bad, I guess. I hope to go out again next Saturday as well. This is a major bonding time for me and my mom :-)

I am going to go outside and find something to do now. At 11:30, it is already 80 degrees! I can't stay inside on a day like today. Spring is in full force now, and flowers are just exploding out everywhere. I bet there will be leaves on the trees at this time next week since we're supposed to get lots of warm weather in the next week. I just love watching everything wake up after it's long winter's nap :-)

Check out my mom's beautiful tulips
Praise God for the beauties of springtime!

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday. Today contained many highlights...some were strange, some embarrassing, and some just funny. Let me share a few with you:

- I went to put gas in my car today, and realized I had pulled up to the wrong side of the pump. I quickly turned my car around so that I could sufficiently fill it with gas. I swear, EVERYONE was staring at me. So embarrassing. Did I mention I've had the car for almost 4 years?! Yeah, apparently I was having a very day-dreamy moment or something!

- I did some laundry when I got home from work. As I reached into the hamper to grab a towel, I grabbed this instead:

Apparently she was very comfortable, and refused to get out.

Eventually, I tipped the hamper over, thinking she'd just run right out.
Nope, not interested.
I bribed her with a toy...success!!
- Later, Gabby saw a bug on the window on the landing of our steps going up to the attic. She sat in this general area for about 2 hours. Mind you, if she had fallen off the left side, she would have fallen straight down the steps. And it wouldn't have been the first time. She's a daredevil, that one!

-Once it got dark out, and cooled down enough to build a fire, (it got up to 83 today!!!) Luke and I brought out all the fixins to make our pizzas with the pie irons.

There it is, cookin' away
Yum!
We wanted to make seconds, but apparently left the pie iron in the fire for just a tad bit too long.
If you can't tell, it totally melted and shriveled from the heat of the flame! I've used many a pie iron in my day, and I've never seen this happen! How hot was that fire?! lol...and P.S: Luke looks silly and cross-eyed in this picture. It made me laugh :-)

-Luke and I ended the evening by hanging out downstairs at my grandma's apartment. My parents and my aunt were visiting her, so we just chatted while the Cavs won another playoff game :-)

-Now Luke and I are searching for a movie to watch, which I will most definitely fall asleep within the first fifteen minutes. It's what I do.

-I'm waking up bright and early tomorrow to hit up some garage sales with my mom. It takes dedication to be a true bargain hunter like we are!

Enjoy your Friday night, and thank you for putting up with insane amounts of pictures of the lovely Gabby :-)

Hallelujah!

I am rejoicing because the Ohio Achievement Tests are over!!!

I only had to test students on Monday and Tuesday, but the rest of the week I had nothing to do! All the teachers were giving extra recess and showing movies, so the aides (like me) had bunches of free time. Our classroom is completely organized and immaculate, now, because I had nothing to do but organize it. I spent lots of time making to-do lists, looking up new recipes, and snacking on popcorn, pretzels, and Cherry Pepsi. It may not sound bad, but I'd rather be doing my normal job! It's exhausting being bored and looking for things to do all day! I'm ready for things to go back to normal next week :-)

Well, since this week was oddly exhausting due to all the boredom, I'm rewarding myself with a fun weekend! Friday night Luke and I are building a fire and using our pizza pie irons
If you've never used one, you just take 2 slices of bread and basically make a pizza sandwich with your favorite toppings. Then you put it inside the pie iron, and hold it over the fire for a few minutes. They are delicious! Perfect for camping, but Luke and I decided they would be just as good at home :-) After our delicious dinner, we're going to watch the Cavs dominate! (knock on wood!)

Saturday I'm getting up bright and early to go garage-saleing with my mom! There are 7 or 8 places in the paper that we want to hit up. Crossing my fingers that I find some good stuff!

Saturday afternoon I'm going to try to spend some quality time out in the sun with a good book. It's supposed to be 80! Then I'm hoping to go to the drive-in theater with Luke Saturday night. We go at least once every year.

Sunday is going to be super warm again! After church we will probably just relax and enjoy a lazy Sunday.

Well I'm going to go enjoy the pizza we ordered now. I was experimenting with some new recipes in the kitchen last night (none turned out too super great). After that we had to teach our preschool KBC class, and then we went over to grandma's to help her with a few things. By the time we got home, it was 10:30 and I went straight to bed! I didn't have time to do the dishes or clean up the kitchen. So I decided to order a pizza tonight to avoid the mess, and then Luke and I have a date later, cleaning the kitchen. Romantic, I know!

I hope everyone is having a great week, and hopefully you are enjoying some sunshine wherever you are :-)

Last Year...

I can't help but think about last year at this time: crunch time for the wedding. My wedding was in July, so April/May was the time when the stress reached a pretty high level. One of my favorite things about planning the wedding was picking out the music. I've always been really into music, and spent many hours choosing the right songs with the right lyrics and the right sound for the wedding.

I wanted the unity candle song to be extra meaningful and special. I had spent a long time finding the right music for this part of the ceremony, when I first discovered "The Prayer" performed by Charlotte Church and Josh Groban.

This song continues to be one of my very favorite songs. I don't think there was a dry eye in the audience while my cousins Laura and Marc sang this song. It was absolutely beautiful. Probably my favorite part of my entire ceremony. Mostly because it perfectly expresses what Luke and my prayer for our lives really was and is.

I like to listen to that song often to remind me of our prayer that day. That Luke and I are together in everything, and that we need to bring everything to God in prayer. My cousin Stacey is getting married this fall, and she has asked permission to use this song as her unity candle song too, with the same people performing it! I guess I started a trend :-)

Here are the English lyrics to the song...I think we might have changed a couple just so it was absolutely perfect for our special day. We printed them on the back of our programs:

I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
As we go our way

Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When stars go out each night
Remind us where you are

Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

A love where pain and sorrow will be ended
And when our hearts are broken they'll be mended
And we'll remember we are all Your children
Reaching out to touch You
Reaching for the sky

We ask that life be kind
And watch us from above
We hope each soul will find
Another soul to love

Let this be our prayer
As we go our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe.

Still makes me cry every time! Josh Groban does that to me, though! lol...well thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me! I really wish I had been blogging back then, so I could document all of my thoughts and ideas for the wedding! But since I don't, I'll just have to write about it in hindsight.

Right after the wedding, I was so relieved that the stress was over, and so excited that we were finally married! But now, I would give anything to relive that day. It was perfect, and I'm kinda sad it's all over! So if you're getting married anytime soon, remember to cherish every second. It's over in the blink of an eye!

Since this post is about my wedding, here's a preview of my professional wedding photos. My photographer is finally getting her act together, and told me today that I should have at least a CD of the images in the next week. then my album will be here in the next month. The only reason I have 5 or 6 pictures from her is because I found her blog, where she had posted about our wedding! So glad I finally discovered blogland a few months ago :-)
Okay, now I'm going to go reminisce for the rest of the evening :-P Have a great night!

Randomness

Too much on my mind today...it's time for a random post.

Let's begin with the venting, shall we??

1. OAT week is officially the week from the devil. Just kidding. But it has not been fun so far.
2. The stress in the air at work is so thick it's hard to breathe.
3. I accidentally locked myself and my student out of our testing room (although it was more like a closet). The test, answer booklets and test supplies were still in the room.
4. Why do all the doors to the classrooms automatically lock from the outside every time they're closed? Is that REALLY necessary?
5. It took my student from 9:00 - 1:30 (special ed. get extended time) to take her test. I felt bad for her because I wasn't allowed to help, and I swear my brain was numb at the end of it all.
6. I got a letter in the mail today telling me that the school district where I work would like me to come on again next year in the same position. No, thank you. I'd rather gouge my own eyes out. Sorry for being so graphic, but I'm only kidding :-P
7. Gabby has decided it's a good idea to hang from the top of the curtains by her claws. I don't want to get her declawed, but just don't know what to do with her.
8. Now the beautiful curtains that my mom got me for my birthday (we moved in 3 days after my b'day) are all snagged, and they have tiny holes in them. I'm not happy.
9. My house is a MESS, and it's one of those days that I just don't feel like caring. But I DO care, so I'll have to grumpily clean the house later.
10. Can you tell I'm in a bad mood today? Hopefully I can pull myself out if it :-P

Okay, so I guess there are a few good things going on too

1. It's supposed to be in the 80s this weekend! And sunny! Luke and I might go to the drive-in Saturday night... I didn't realize it was open already.
2. We went to our high school's production of "Footloose" last night, and it was adorable. I definitely need to watch the movie now.
3. Visited with Grandma and my mom for about an hour today. Thank goodness for a blessing on this rainy, not fun day.
4. I was asked yesterday to pet-sit my friend's Maltese, Max. I've watched him two other times while the family's been on vacation, and I LOVE HIM! No word yet on whether I will have a puppy of my own or not this summer. But I'm glad I get to spend a week with Max. Isn't he the cutest?!

That's all...

Snaps for Weekends!

This weekend has been great! Yesterday it was 74 degrees and sunny! I just could not stay inside during that wonderful weather, so I went for a long walk around Damascus. Of COURSE I had to take my camera with me and play photographer.

Just a quiet walk down a country road

Here's the old schoolhouse that's right down the road from our house:
Complete with outhouses
I walked past my parent's house - the house where I spent most of my life so far!
And when I got home, I relaxed with Gabby for a few minutes...I couldn't get her to look at the camera!

After my walk, it was time to make the hour-long drive to Barberton for my cousin Brian's 18th birthday party. We had wonderful food: lasagna, rigatoni, salad, and of course, cake and ice cream! We all ate outside and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine! It was a great time, and I may post some pictures sometime if I feel like it. We got some good pictures of all the cousins :-)

Today church was amazing. We had 30 people give their cardboard testimonies. A cardboard testimony is when someone writes their story on the front and back of a big piece of cardboard in just a few words. They write the problem on the front, then flip it over and show how God solved it on the back. For example, Luke's aunt and uncle did one this morning. The front of their carboard said "5 miscarriages and 1 stillborn daughter - 2 broken hearts" and then they flipped it over and on the back, it said "3 healthy miracle children - 2 restored hearts." It was so powerful to read all of the testimonys while a powerful song played in the background. It was just so eye opening the miracles that God has done, even in the lives of people so close to me! You can youtube "Cardboard Testimonies" if you don't know what I'm talking about, and you'll find a bunch of videos. I think it's a great thing for any church to do, and it really touched me today.

After church, I made some fettuccine alfredo, one of our favorites! And I've just been loungin' around here since then. In a few minutes, Luke, JC and I are going to my old high school's performance of "Footloose." My cousin Marcus is in one of the lead roles (the reverend, I think). He has an amazing voice...he played the role of Jean Valjean last year in Les Mis at the school, and I was absolutely blown away. He and his sister actually sang at my wedding. I'm so excited to see him today, as this is his last production (he's a senior).

Here's the cute cast picture that I found in the local newspaper...unfortunately Marcus isn't in it! Oh well, I thought it was cute anyway.I hope everyone is enjoying the rest of this lovely weekend. I know I am! Unfortunately I'll be walking into a very stressful environment tomorrow at work because it's OAT week (Ohio Achievement Test week). The students and teachers are all sooo nervous. I'll be happy on Friday when it's all over!

Keeping Up with the...Bradys

This is just a Saturday morning post dedicated to a special family I have come to know and love throughout the past 24 years of my life:That's right...The Bradys!

I was eating breakfast alone in the living room since Luke is playing drums at a men's retreat this morning. I flipped on the TV and was browsing through the DirecTV digital guide on my screen when I saw it: 2 straight hours of "The Brady Bunch!"

Am I the only 90s child who grew up watching reruns of this show on TBS? I remember it was on every day at 4:00 and 4:30. My little sister and I would get off the bus, grab a quick snack, and run to the living room to catch the Bradys. We probably watched every episode at least 4 times.You see, my parents were ultra strict. We were allowed to watch Nickelodeon, Family Matters, Home Improvement, Full House, and SOME of the other TGIF shows. I remember Step by Step had too much questionable material, and we weren't allowed to watch that! And Saved by the Bell? Forget about it. Now that I'm older and have watched that one a few times, I still have no idea why we weren't allowed to watch it.Anyway, since we weren't allowed to watch too many shows, we resorted to watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie (although with Jeannie's scandalous outfit, I'm surprised!) , Gilligan's Island, and my two all-time favorites: The Brady Bunch and I Love Lucy.
So now every time I see that The Brady Bunch is on TV Land, I just can't help but watch it. It just makes you feel better about life. It's so sweet it almost makes you sick. If only life were really that pleasant, and all our problems could be solved in 30 minutes - minus a few for commercials!

I like the early episodes the best...the ones where Carol had this rockin' hairdo...and she always had the cutest little dresses on - if only I could get away with dressing like that now:
My favorite of the three girls was always Jan. I thought Marcia was just too perfect. And having a little sister or my own, I knew that Cindy was probably not as sweet as she seemed!
I remember being so jealous of her long, blond STRAIGHT hair. I had dark curly hair, and hated it when I was little. I also felt a close connection to Jan because of her constant insecurities. I had crazy freckles when I was young (still do if I spend too long in the sun!) and I felt for her when she tried to get rid of hers!

And Peter was always my favorite of the brothers. Greg and Bobby seemed whiny and annoying. Plus Peter was the cutest! Too bad Christopher Knight actually turned out to be such a creeper after all these years, married to someone half his age with a really dysfunctional relationship (No...I never watched "My Fair Brady" on VH1, I promise!! Okay, so maybe I caught an episode or two. It was like a train wreck that you couldn't turn away from).
And who in their right mind didn't like Alice?! If only I had my own Alice. An omnipresent maid who could solve any problem...I'd have my own counselor, and my house would always look perfect! Not to mention, she's in love with a butcher. For some reason I love that about her. And I love her little blue dress with the white apron...so chic :-)
I loved spending an hour of my weekdays with these people. From the kids' crazy antics to the love that Mike and Carol showed to each other and their children, I loved every minute of it. I loved going on trips to Hawaii or The Grand Canyon with these people. I loved going to their school plays and activities, I love spending Halloween with them, loved the fact that the kids had their own bathroom, and that the girls' bedroom was pink with pink and blue flowers on the wall. Oh, and I loved Tiger.

Basically, I wished the Bradys would have adopted me. But then they wouldn't have had the perfect balance of 3 girls and 3 boys. It was not meant to be.

Am I the only one who has a childish obsession with this perfect family?! Even though I didn't grow up during the 70s?

And by the way, I'm only being halfway serious here ;-)

And Just for your viewing pleasure...and for nostalgia's sake:

(Watch out, world! I have discovered how to add videos to my blog!!!)

Under the Weather

My cold has taken a turn for the worst, and I am miserable! You know that feeling when your eyes are watery and itchy and your sinuses are burning and your head is pounding and you just want to sleep but you can't because you can't BREATHE? Yeah, that's me right now.

And Luke is busy setting up at a nearby church because his band is playing for their men's retreat tomorrow morning. So I'm stuck here alone until about 10. But that's okay...I'm using this as an excuse to rest and indulge in some comforts. For example, I plan on changing into my pj's very soon. But maybe taking a relaxing, hot bubble bath first. I'm about to eat some delicious, hot tomato garden soup courtesy of Campbell's Select Harvest. I'm sure that will make me feel better. I'm also planning on possibly having a small bowl of ice cream later... you know, to soothe the sore throat :-P And probably enjoying a cup of hot tea before bedtime.

I took "Definitely, Maybe" - the DVD - out from the library today. Plus 2 of my favorite shows: Wife Swap and Supernanny are on tonight. And I have either "New Moon" or "A Voice in the Wind" to read, depending on my mood.

So all this to say I guess it's not too bad to be sick on a lazy Friday evening. Having a cold is bad for the body, good for the soul :-P it's good to slow down and relax every now and then.

So have a great Friday night. Sorry for another pictureless post. Be expecting some if I have time to write tomorrow!

Anticipation

Now that the weather is warming up and I'm a mere 7 weeks away from summer vacation, there are a lot of fun things coming up in my life! I'm looking forward to them with great anticipation!

- Saturday my cousin Brian is having his 18th birthday party. Yay for spending some time in the sun (it's supposed to be 70 degrees!) eating pizza and spending time with family. And afterward, Luke and I are going to a late movie.

- May 2 Luke turns 25...I'm planning on having a bonfire with friends on Saturday night with cupcakes and s'mores to celebrate :-)

- May 9 is Faith Night at Progressive Field (Indian's game) Jamie Carroll (sp?) is giving his testimony before the game, and there is a Thousand Foot Krutch concert in the ballpark after the game! Our church is taking a charter bus up that night.

- May 10 - Mother's Day! Luke and I are having a picnic lunch for our moms (and dads, sisters, and brother-in-law :-P). Oh, and my grandma since she lives right below us now :-) I'm so excited to plan our first barbecue at the new house!

- Friday of Memorial Day weekend I am going to another Indians game with Luke, JC, and whatever date JC decides to bring. The best part is that it's fireworks night!!

- Luke and I are going to try to take a day off of work in May to go to Cedar Point! Plus there will hopefully be multiple other Cedar Point trips throughout the summer.

- 4th of July festivities...this will include lots of illegal fireworks at my aunt and uncle's house

- July 12 Luke and I will celebrate our one year anniversary! We will probably just go out for a romantic dinner. We wanted to go on an anniversary trip, but Luke won't have any vacation time until 2 weeks after the 12th. Oh well! Maybe we'll go later.

- We're going on a mini trip to New Jersey to visit Six Flags Great Adventure. And maybe to stay at a cute little bed and breakfast while we're there.

- I'm hoping to talk SOMEONE into taking a road trip to my aunt and uncle's new house in VA. They live very close to the beach, and supposedly their new house is unbelievable. So I really want to visit this summer sometime!

Well that's a lot of fun events coming up, and I'm sure more will pop up as the summer gets going.

Well I need to go take a nap before Thursday Taco Night! I'm still feeling really miserable and like my sinuses are on fire :-/

Happy Thursday! :-D

My Very Own Homemade Fondant

So let me tell you about a recent passion of mine...

Cupcake decorating! I haven't done much yet, but I'm absolutely interested in learning more. Here's my most recent cupcake creation (and to be honest, I made this one in a cupcake decorating class at my church...hey, ya gotta start somewhere, right?)
I thought it was okay for a beginner! But I really want to make some special cupcakes for Luke's 25th birthday party that I'm planning, and for the Mother's Day cookout that I want to have. I want to make some like these from Martha Stewart's website:
Those look pretty simple, and I'm not too worried about making them. However, on my quest for these cupcakes I found LOTS of other cute ones online. A lot of them used fondant.

I'm a little under the weather tonight, and hubby was out picking up dinner poor little sick me didn't have to cook (what a sweetheart he can be sometimes!), and I was bored. I wanted to create something. With cupcakes on the brain, I remember a lady at our cupcake seminar telling us that she made her own fondant-like-substance out of powdered sugar and marshmallows melted in the microwave. I had both of those things in my cabinets, so I decided to pass the time by making my own fondant-substitute. Since I'm so into cakes and cupcakes these days.

So I tried. It didn't come out completely perfectly. A little lumpy, and not quite as stretchy as fondant. I'll have to try it again sometime, I'm sure if I spent more than 3 minutes working with it I can make a better texture!

I had to sculpt SOMETHING with my sub-par fondant-substitute. I just had to try it out, even if it didn't turn out as great as I had wanted it to. So I used some food coloring and whipped up this less-than-lovely rose. This picture looks nothing like the actual rose I made, because my camera sucks :-P You get the idea, though.
Ehh, it's okay, I guess. I'm going to have to perfect this stuff before I try to use it on any actual cupcakes, though, that's for sure! I must say, it did TASTE a lot better than fondant. How could marshmallow and powdered sugar taste bad?!

If you have heard of this fondant-substitute, or have any suggestions on how I could perfect it, please share! I would love for this to work out, and then I could make incredible creations to place atop my cupcakes, without paying for real fondant!

Playing House

Two posts in one day?! Yep, that's whatcha get when I'm home all day. Just wait until this summer! Just kidding, I'll try not to post more than once a day or every other day.

Well today was absolutely fabulous. And I was home alone all day except for the 5 minutes it took me to go to the post office and get our mail. I love days like today when I'm off work. It gives me a taste of what being a housewife would be like.

I've shared before that my absolute dream is to be a stay-at-home mom someday. There is nothing I want more. I feel like right now is my time to practice, I guess. Get organized and ready before we have kids. I know you're never truly ready for kids, but I think it's better to prepare than go blindly into it.

Now, Luke and I aren't planning on having children for a few more years. We want to enjoy this stage of our life while it lasts. We only got married 9 months ago, for goodness sakes. But some days I can't help but dream about what my future HOPEFULLY holds.

So today I got to practice being a stay at home...wife, for now I guess :-) I woke up at 10! Which I do NOT plan on doing if I ever actually get my dream "job" someday. After a tasty bowl of Cheerios, I was ready to get started.

I tackled the bathroom first. I wiped down, cleansed, swept, and disinfected every surface in that little room. boy, did it feel good!

Next was the laundry. I am proud to say that I have one load of laundry in the dryer now, but the rest is neatly folded and put away. Yay for empty laundry baskets! We don't see those too often around these parts :-)

The kitchen was also a big job. I washed dishes, organized, swept, etc, every area of this room too. Again, it felt good!

By this time it was getting later. I ran out to the post office, and surface cleaned the rest of the apartment quickly.

Then I decided to straighten my hair and apply some make-up since I hadn't yet today. I wanted to look nice when Luke got home, just like the 50's wives! lol...

I lit candles in every room, and threw some more of my white chocolate macadamia nut cookie dough in the oven, timed just right so that they came out a few minutes before hubby came home. The house smelled of cinnamon and cookies!
And when Luke got home, he came straight to the kitchen where I kissed him "hello." He ate a few cookies, and we chatted about our day. He stayed in there and played with Gabby (cat) for awhile. This is significantly different than his normal day...he usually runs straight upstairs to turn the TV on and take a nap after work. So it was a nice change.

And then I made some tasty Easter leftovers for dinner. I will spend the evening with Luke since the house is clean, the laundry is done, and the dishes are washed. We are planning a trip to Canton this weekend (just a day trip) simply because I am craving some Don Pablos, and Canton is where the closest one is found. We will plan out those details tonight, and I will sleep soundly knowing that today was wonderful. Too bad I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I will be daydreaming about my future life...the one where I can serve here at home EVERY DAY. And the one where I'll have little rascals running around all day to take care of. I know I shouldn't wish life away, but sometimes it's fun to dream, right?