love in the country

workout mix

2010-03-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

springtime = oh-crap-i-have-to-wear-a-swimsuit-in-3-months (if you live where i live...maybe it's a little sooner for some of you?)

i'm always looking for great workout song suggestions. until i get some new ones [COMMENTS!], here's what i'm playing on my shuffle:

with every heartbeat - robyn
heartless - kanye
good life - kanye
say it right - nelly furtado
maneater - nelly furtado
rise up [radio edit] - yves larock
love is gone - david guetta
whataya want from me - adam lambert
blame it - jamie foxx
empire state of mind - jay z
day n nite - kid cudi
closer - neyo
dead and gone - TI feat J. timberlake
live your life - rihanna

i'm a total pop-rap-BEAT girl. i would definitely recommend any of these songs to get you motivated!

can we skip march & april?

2010-03-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

i gotta be honest...i'm in a huge funk right now.

i'm not even sure i could put it all in words, even if i tried. and i attribute this funk to a number of different factors - the weather SUCKS right now [gray, rainy, cold, icky]. i'm bored with life...i go to work, i go home. that's pretty much it. i feel lonely. i have great friends here, but since i've been in this small town i haven't made the kind of friends that i can call up on a Friday night and ask if they want to go have a drink. Brad is working a lot of late nights at the moment. i just wish i could fast-forward through the nasty, gross months of march and april and just get right to summertime where i can entertain myself outside, and people go out more, and there's generally just more going on.

but in regards to the friends...i've been living in this town for about a year and a half. and don't get me wrong, the girls i've met have been fun, great girls and i really value our friendships. however - i have very few friends who aren't pregnant or moms, and as much as i love my pregnant-and-mothers friends, they just live life in a different way [understandably].

not sure where i'm going with this. just need to get it OUT of me.

does anyone else live in a town where it pretty much skips from winter to summer with about a week of springtime? [meaning, the week of spring is in May??]

heaven help me

2010-03-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

freaking L O V E this song. i can hear it on my iPod workout playlist, hear it in my Jeep with the windows down with the volume cranked up this summer.

the song is 'Runaway', the band is Love and Theft <--- great band name, right?

current faves

2010-03-08T17:14:00.001-08:00

because i just rarely seem to write on my blog - let's face it, living in the middle of nowhere doesn't give you a lot of material - i'm grasping at straws to come up with things to talk about. BUT who can go wrong with talking about their favorite things?

[for the moment] i'm crazy over these things...

1.)Laughing Cow Light cheese

okay. is anyone else trying to get themselves motivated to lose a few pounds?? i know, i know, i'm always trying. however, i just have to say that eating this cheese seriously doesn't feel like you're on a diet at all! it's amazing. Garlic & Herb is the best, but French Onion is pretty darn good, too. and the best part is that each little wedge is only 35 calories!
on a side note, Brad was digging through the fridge the other day to try and find milk and finally he shuts the door and says to me, 'well, we don't have any milk. but we do have 6 bags of shredded cheese.' heaven help me, i <3>

2.) JASON ALDEAN

his name deserves all caps. and he is always a favorite of mine. however, he is especially a favorite of mine now that i'm FINALLY going to see him in concert in May! he's playing with Brooks & Dunn for their farewell tour, and thanks to a sweet bonus from work i'm going to see him. i am not kidding, ladies...his CD, 'Wide Open' is a listen-to-from-start-to-finish, and i'm not even kidding. okay, i totally just wrote that twice and almost deleted it but left it so you would know how EMPHATIC i am about him. go and YouTube these:

'Love Was Easy'
'Back in This Cigarette'
'This I Gotta See'

3.) Anthony Bourdain

Because 2007-2008 was the Year of Seanna's Travels [11 countries, 3 continents], i have fallen in love with travel shows. can't stand Samantha Brown, am grossed out by Andrew Zimmerman...but Anthony Bourdain is my favorite to watch. he's got a dry sense of humor, i would imagine a dirty mouth, and is one of those people that you think you'd be bored by, but end up wanting more of. i will admit that i have a slight gray fox crush on him - Brad always teases me when he's on tv - and that he could probably be my father, but just watch his episode on where he gets stuck in Beirut due to the Lebanon-Israel war crisis. his insight is inspiring, his tan even more so.

5.) L'oreal Sublime Bronze

speaking of tans, we've officially reached the time of year when the weather gets nicer and i start [little by little - remember, people, i live in 'weather hell' as my Georgia dad affectionately calls it] pulling short sleeves out of my closet. and i inevitably always feel gross and ugly in my white, short sleeve shirts and white, pasty arms.
enter Sublime Bronze. i bought this on a whim at a Walgreens a couple years ago, and i have not looked back. i'll be honest, nothing looks better than a real, sun kissed tan. but i'll be 29 this year and i am not trying to look like Rachel Zoe. anyway, this stuff is AMAZING. i only use a little bit - too much and you look like Lindsay Lohan - but it seriously gives you that pretty, first-tan glow. it doesn't streak, but you have to wash your hands! i've had some nasty orange hands from this stuff.

alright, my Carhartt-wearing [and Walgreen's sweatshirt wearing] husband is home and waiting for dinner and just tentatively said, 'i hate to push you...' [aka GET MY DINNER, WOMAN] so that's my cue ;) happy Monday-almost Tuesday!

huh?

2010-02-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Rihanna....WTH happened to your hair?

When ugly happens to pretty

the best gift ever

2010-02-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

this is the bed that my sweet husband built me for Christmas! believe me, this picture does not do it justice. it's made of reclaimed timber, so the wood is beautifully textured and distressed. a few years back, Brad built me an armoire that stands in the corner of the room and matches the bed perfectly. and sleeping in the bed? i feel like i'm at a bed and breakfast every night in that big 'ol king sized bed with the oversized headboard and footboard.

i'm a lucky girl :)

omg

2010-02-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

no, we're not having a baby.

but...if we were -

my dream nursery can be found @ Mrs.Southern Belle

the boards and batten [that was DIY], the cowboy theme, the stars...

i would sleep in that room!

quick randoms

2010-02-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

i'm on my lunch right now, so i've got approx. 7 minutes to write this before i have to run back to the bank...so i'll make it quick.

1 - i had my first 'adult' physical last week and just got my blood test results back and i'm healthy!! not a huge surprise for a 28 year old female, but i was a little anxious to see how it would all turn out. everything's great, PTL! [praise the Lord :)]

2 - Friday Night Lights? favorite show. maybe not EVER, but it's up there. does anyone else watch this?

3 - been cutting my calories, sort of. i'm careful w/ breakfast, lunch and snacks, but dinner is just almost too difficult to watch since i'm just not willing to make 2 separate dinners. as much as my husband loves me and always thanks me for dinner, i'm pretty sure he would not appreciate a chicken breast and vegetables for dinner every night. because that's all i would cook. because i'm not creative with food. i've lost 3 lbs this last week.

4 - i love reading blogs. love reading blogs. however. do you ever get addicted to blogs when the blog writer just annoys the absolute HECK out of you? i tell myself, 'if i don't like it i don't have to read it' but i almost want to read it just for the blogger's sheer ridiculousness! all i have to say is, quit being a brat. be thankful for what you have. you are not too good for anything. and for the love of the Lord, STOP COMPLAINING all the time!

okay, time's up. enjoy your Thursdays, it's almost the weekend! [and the big looove holiday, Valentines Day! tomorrow's our engagement anniversary ;)]

sick.

2010-01-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

Due to a terrible sinus cold, I'm camped out on my couch in my favorite long johns and wrapped up in a soft old quilt and nursing these two drinks:

Completely unrelated, but did anyone else know that it is, in fact, possible to burn something in the crock pot? I put a rump roast in my crock pot last night cause it seemed to be the easiest way to come up with a quick dinner. I put it on high, and this morning I woke up and lifted the lid and oh my word, it was scorched. Very frustrating cause those big roasts aren't cheap, and I seriously believed it was impossible to burn stuff in a crock pot! Looks like Brad is having frozen pizza for dinner tonight. Oops.

question...

2010-01-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

lately I've been thinking about joining Weight Watchers - I laughed when I wrote this because I truly have turned into my mother - because I have these 10 stubborn pounds that I want nothing more than to LOSE by summer time. so, I'm asking Brad if he cares if I pay the $50-some dollars for a 3 month membership on the Weight Watchers website (yes, I ask my husband his opinion about spending larger amts of money and I think more women should probably do the same) and he shrugs and says, "What does the website do?"

I start explaining to him the point system and how I can go on the website to track the points I've ate for every day. He goes, "You need to pay $53 to write down on a website how much you're eating?"

Okay, I think he has a point. And I started thinking, this is Weight Watchers. Surely you can buy a book or go to a website that tells you how many points a banana is. Or a FiberOne bar [my new fave snack!]. So....that leads me to the question:

Does anybody know where to get Weight Watchers but for a lot cheaper than $50+?

and for reference, here are 2 pictures - the top one being LESS 10 annoying pounds (those jeans? yep, they're in my closet collecting dust right now cause they'll barely zip!) and the bottom picture (w/ my sister-in-law, MIL, myself and Brad's aunt) being PLUS 10 annoying lbs!

can i call in sick today?

2010-01-25T04:40:00.000-08:00

Does anybody else ever have days where you would give your left arm [i'm a leftie and that would be an easy sacrifice some days] to just NOT go into work? I like my job, but trying to get myself motivated on a Monday morning - especially after the weekend went way too fast - is just plain hell.

The weekend was good for us. Friday night we had a birthday party for Brad's younger brother at their parent's house, which is always nice. It's fun getting together with his family, considering there's usually 5 rambunctious guys [ages 13-27], Brad's parents and myself. Saturday, Brad worked all day long while I cleaned all day long...and discovered that our dishwasher is broken, which is a serious problem. i.hate.washing.dishes. let's all say a prayer my cheapskate landlord will fix it!

Yesterday I spent $135 on groceries. Still not sure how THAT happened, because I seriously bought the same stuff I always do. I think Wal-Mart is slowly raising their prices. I even got my meal plan figured out for the week in hopes that it would save some money on groceries! I'm hoping that even though I spent about $30-$50 more than I usually do that I won't have to go back to the store 2 and 3 times this week.

We don't have too much coming up in the next couple weeks...however, Brad is skiing the American Birkebeiner, which is a huge cross country ski race. It's like, 50-some kilometers? We've got a few friends coming up from Minneapolis for it, so I'm super excited. The population in town increases by a few thousand people that weekend, so it's a fun place to be.

also...new favorite blog! Peeptoe Pumps and Pearls

Alright...I'm going to have one more cup of coffee and then drag myself into the shower. Have a great Monday!!

on repeat

2010-01-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

"pay your dues and you play for free
and you pray for a honky tonk destiny
you cut your teeth in the smoky bars and live off the tips from a pickle jar
til you find a cool new sound
and you smile when the record man shoots you down"

-jason aldean 'crazy town'

my job seriously wears on my last nerve sometimes. a lot of times. call it my 'game face' or 'poker face' but it's what i'll be wearing for the rest of the week...smiling when they run me down is about all i can do right now.

oh yes he did

2010-01-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

you know you're living in a small town with very limited options when your husband - who previously shopped at Macy's, wore True Religions, Mek and had about a million North Face jackets - comes home with a hooded sweatshirt that he bought at Walgreens.

i am not kidding.

i can handle Carhartt, Lees, Wrangler, etc....even Wal-Mart. But Walgreens? help us, Lord. i think i need to order those clearance sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch for him, pronto.

the first monday

2010-01-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

as far as Mondays go, I would say my first Monday of this decade has been really pretty good. I decided last week - after not taking a single day off in December AND working the Saturday after Christmas - that I deserved a day off. so here I am, sitting on the couch at 2:45pm, flipping through the new Pottery Barn and drinking a soy chai.

Here are my list of achievements for the day:

Woke up before 8am

Made coffee [as opposed to resorting to new favorite, Starbucks Via]

Watched Little House on the Prairie

Unloaded/Reloaded the dishwasher

Took a long bath & finished a book

Got my poorly butchered bangs fixed [seriously, this should be a post in itself]

Dropped off 2 pairs of pants/skirt/4 sweaters at the cleaners

And now I'm home, trying to get the motivation to get the chili I'm making for dinner started. But it's funny, days like these make me really glad I have a job. I won't even lie...while I really my job, I'm pretty tempted to join my number of friends that don't work [save for cleaning jobs and the like] and live life on my own schedule. But today I was driving home and I thought...I would get so bored with this! All I would want to do is shop. So, until we've got some kiddos running around, I'll keep on clocking in and clocking out.

As an added note, Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods' wife? She's been photographed recently at Les Houches, a ski resort in Chamonix, France. I spent some quality time there myself just two years ago. She probably enjoyed it much more than I did :) You can find my rundown of Chamonix here, An American Girl in Stockholm.

2010

2010-01-03T11:49:00.001-08:00

So. I am WAY behind on this thing. I have some aspirations with my blog (number one being to actually write on it), but here's what I envision for the New Year:

1.) Writing what I feel, despite who reads it. I often feel like the only people that read this blog are my family and some friends. Can I tell you how much I censor myself because of this? I have an issue with offending people (I'd seriously rather stand naked in the cold than do it), but the older I get...the more I don't care.

2.) Maybe a blog makeover? So many bloggers have these adorable blogs and the extent of my design is changing the colors with the season (ooh! 4th of July? Red, White and Blue, please) and the fonts. B.O.R.I.N.G

3.) PICTURES, for the love of the Lord. My last blog, An American Girl in Stockholm, pretty much always had pictures with it. Who wants to read a blog unless it has pictures?

There ya have it.

lately

2009-11-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

last weekend I went to Minneapolis for the weekend to spend some time with some of my best girls, and also to see New Moon...which did not disappoint :) I finally finished the whole Twilight saga last night, and overall, I was pleased. I suppose there was pretty good resolution, but did anyone else feel like she left it open to maybe do another separate series one day??

I would also like to add that these books were so, so far beyond anything I would normally get into. And yet, I loved them. I think the movies helped me get into the books a little more - or at least, put some very handsome faces with names :)

anyway, while I was in Minneapolis I took some photos of some girlfriends' babies, and I was so pleased with them...thought I might do a little braggin' :) the first little boy is Cole, who belongs to my good friends Amy and Peter. the second two are Lacey and Miles, and Brad and I are really close to their parents, Mike and Annie. You can check out Annie's blog here, Little Running Feet.

aren't they cute? seeing these pictures afterwards always makes me realize just how much I love photography.

i have turned into a 15 year old girl. sadly.

2009-11-18T04:52:00.000-08:00

this Friday, i'm leaving work at 4 to drive 2.5hrs to Minneapolis so i can the movie that every teenage girl in America is dying to see....

yes.

okay, i'm not so embarrassed about how excited i am to see the movie as much as i'm surprised by how much the books have sucked.me.in. and i can assure you, i was the person that watched all my friends get into it and thought, "what in the world do they see in a book about a vampire?" but then i read Twilight....and i liked it. a lot. and now i'm reading New Moon, and i LOVE it. i'll admit, i still don't get into the vampire/werewolves thing - i tend to skim over those action parts - but the love story is so sweet.

and speaking on a more "gossip-y" note regarding the movie, this is what i would like to say to Kristen Stewart:

Robert Pattinson over Taylor Lautner? honey....have you looked at Taylor? all i gotta say is, it's just not right for an 18 year old boy (or however old he is - under 20) to be so dang cute. Taylor Swift is gettin' it right :)

because I'm 28

2009-10-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

this week I turned 28, and it's funny because I always knew that I wouldn't be married until I was "27 or 28". Even when I was seriously dating a guy back in college when I was in my early 20's, I knew I wouldn't be married until I was older (although I will admit I always hoped it would be earlier!) but alas, here I am...married 2 months before I turned 28. I can't imagine being married at any other time in my life than now, but I've gotta say....I'm the girl that really wants kids NOW. and is constantly envisioning my ovaries shriveling up and wilting away with each passing day.

HOWEVER - my husband does not want kids right now. in fact, Brad doesn't want kids until we've been married for at least two years. do the simple math, folks...in two years, I will be THIRTY. 3-0. If I have my first baby when I'm 30, I'll have friends who will be raising kids that are in their pre-teen years! It's so weird to me. And I'll be honest, I struggle with the thought of being an "old mom". But one of the things I've learned about marriage is that it's more important to be unified in your goals and dreams - even when it's a huge self-struggle - than to have the things that only YOU desire for that time.

BUT ANYWAY....point of this post -

I told Brad last night that, if we're not going to have kids til we're 30, then dang it....we better live like we don't have kids!! When you live in a small town, I cannot tell you how easy it is to fall into that domestic-ness of life. Most of the young people in this town are married and settled with kids, and it's easy to see why cause it's not like there's this bustling city life to keep you occupied.

So, I want to travel. and I want to go out on the weekends and stay out late (sometimes!) and do things on a whim...be spontaneous! and for the time being, I will just have to be content with holding my friend's babies, and reminding myself that my time will come. Just not for a while. And while I'm waiting, I intend to make every moment count.

omg

2009-10-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

1.) it is my 28th birthday, and I'm at home. sick. woke up terribly nauseous to my sweet husband making me a breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs and microwaved (bless his heart) Monkey Bread. it was too sweet, but help me Jesus, my stomach was rolling...[and no. if you're thinking what i already thought this morning, i can guarantee you a negative on that one].

2.) i am L O V I N G this blog - My Blonde Reality. she wears expensive clothes, carries expensive handbags, is bleached to the hilt and i think might take advantage of the perks of working in a dermatology office...but the girl is nothin' but real. it's super rare to come across someone that lives the way she does and is yet so down to earth and just plain funny!

and, um...i guess that's it. i'm all out of thoughts. hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday :)

time to get serious

2009-10-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

just so you know, i drank the last drop of my wine as i posted on Facebook, "just bought Jillian Michael's '30 Day Shred'! so excited to try it out!' AND i'm getting ready to go cook steak and cheesy biscuits for dinner. for my husband. i'll be eating a little piece of steak with spinach casserole. (see, i did find some casserole recipes!)

but really, i did buy '30 Day Shred' because i'm in this workout class that meets once a week and our instructor, Nicole, is apparently always doing moves from The Biggest Loser, and can i just say that every class of hers i think, "it HAS to be easier this week! i almost died last week!" and it never is? after Nicole's classes, i'm seriously sore.for.days. this last week, my BUTT was even super sore! i really don't have that happen often.

so i'm really excited to get on the fitness bandwagon. so is everyone else at my gym cause i showed up tonight and there wasn't a single treadmill or elliptical machine available. talk about annoyed...i'm very much into routines and i was halfway tempted to either a) leave or b) sit until one opened up, but i decided to save face and halfheartedly do the machines. and while this is a little off subject....more and more i'm starting to realize that IN MY OPINION, light, skinny people were made for running. people like my friends Annie and Mike over at Little Running Feet. it just looks painful when large people do it.

note - i know it seems as though i've been on the food-and-fitness kick lately, but really? birth control did not do me any good and i'm happy to say i'm no longer on it. which is why i'm on a renewed mission to LOSE THE 10 POUNDS IT MADE ME GAIN. all in my butt and hips. thankyouverymuch.

us.

2009-10-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

1. What are your middle names?

Brad's - Paul/Mine - Nicole

2. How long have you been together?

We've been together since May of 2006...on and off until February of 2008.

3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?

Brad was actually probably my best guy friend for about two years before we started dating. Definitely the way I would recommend doing it.

4. Who asked who out?

I don't think anybody "asked" anybody out. Basically, he kissed me one night in May '06 and the rest is history :)

5. How old are each of you?

Brad just turned 27, I'm 27 - but turning 28 on Wednesday. Sounds so old!

6. Did you go to the same school?

We went to the same college in Minneapolis.

7. Are you from the same home town?

Not at all. I'm from a college town in Illinois, and Brad grew up in the small town that we currently live in.

8. Who is the smartest?

This is a hard question...the answer might depend on the day :) Nah, I would say we each have our strengths in intelligence - Brad is super street smart, and sometimes I feel like he just knows a lot of things that I am clueless about. But as far as book-smart, student-wise, probably me.

9. Who majored in what?

Brad majored in Business Administration, and I majored in Cross Cultural Studies with a minor in Leadership Development. Brad's currently doing construction and I work at a bank...proof that you don't always need a degree.

10. Who is the most sensitive?

Oh, Lord. Me, easily. You should've heard our conversation last night. I was so out-of-sorts with life that Brad ended up laughing at me cause I covered about 76 different things that are currently bothering me.

11. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

When I lived in Stockholm last year we visited Sicily and Malaga, Spain together.

12. Who has the worst temper?

That would be me. Brad has the most laid-back personality ever.

13. How many children do you want?

My answer has always been - and still is - as many as the good Lord will give me. I would love to be a foster parent and adopt children, but also want to have my own. Brad's answer is around 4 kids. And he's quick to let you know, NOT FOR TWO YEARS. I always say, "We'll see" with a smile :)

14. Who does the cooking?

Brad's cooking abilities end at putting a frozen pizza in the oven. Does that answer the question?

15. Who is more social?

I think we're pretty even with this one. But in a crowd of strangers, Brad will be the one to make friends before I do.

16. Who is the neat freak?

Yeah, right. I'm actually pretty impressed with the way things are kept up in our home, it wasn't what I expected out of the two of us :)

17. Who is the most stubborn?

Brad. I'm always the first to cave.

18. Who wakes up earlier?

I do. And that's usually after going to bed later. My husband LOVES to sleep.

19. Where was your first date?

Probably to a Minnesota Twins game. I don't think we ever had a "first date" but we had gone to plenty of Twins games by the time we were official.

20. Who has the bigger family?

Brad. He's 1 of 8 kids.

21. Do you get flowers often?

Nope. I actually think the only time he did give me flowers was the night he proposed. They're not my thing, really.

22. How do you spend the holidays?

I'm thinking we'll spend more with his family than mine, since we're right in town with his.

23. Who is more jealous?

Me.

24. How long did it take to get serious?

This should be a blog post in itself! We weren't serious until February 2008.

25. Who eats more?

Brad does...but only because I restrain :) He's not a huge eater, but I always give him big portions.

26. What do you do for a living?

Brad is a self-employed sub-contractor, and he works for his Dad's construction company. I work at a bank as a banker.

27. Who does the laundry?

Me...

28. Who drives when you are together?

Brad always drives when we're together.

29. What is your song?

You know...we don't really have one! I have a million songs that remind me of him, of us...but none that are "our" songs. We danced to "Shelter" by Ray LaMontagne for our first dance...so maybe that one?

Alright...I'd love to see some of my blog friends post this with their answers!!

dilemma

2009-10-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday, and that means bill paying and menu planning in our household. And I'm sure you can all make the correct assumption of who's doing the paying and planning ;)

anyway, my dilemma: planning meals for two people who prefer (and need) completely different foods. case in point:

Brad - tall, thin, endlessly burning metabolism.
Seanna - none of the above. (granted, i'm not heavy, but that is only because i have to eat and exercise to avoid the weight gain)

On top of it, I was raised eating incredible Southern foods...fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rich casseroles...YUM. Brad? He grew up eating rice with vegetables, healthy soups...AKA light, healthy food. Therefore, Brad doesn't have much taste for the foods that I love, and the same is true vice versa. The problem here is that the foods I love to cook and eat are the foods I shouldn't be eating, but the foods that I should be eating and Brad prefers are the foods that I HATE cooking. I attempted to find recipes on the Cooking Light website, but talk about pretty foods that you need sixty million ingredients to make, not to mention that their servings are like, ONE CUP. so where did I end up? On Recipe Zaar. Searching for casseroles.

Sigh.

for the love

2009-10-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

it has been WAY too long since i've posted! to all 12 of you that occasionally read my blog, i'm sorry :) i don't really have a good reason, so i'll just jump right into sharing what's been going on it our lives lately!

1.) MARRIAGE - [AKA getting to finally live together but Seanna cleaning/cooking/working a million times more than before]
i kid, i kid....sort of! married life is absolutely fantastic, and i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Brad and i didn't live together until we were married, so it's been an adjustment having to get used to cleaning up for two people, doing laundry for two people, paying bills for two people...it's a lot of work. but it's getting easier for me to manage. can't even begin to imagine how much kids add to the workload - and LORD KNOWS i will never be able to handle being a working mom! i seriously don't know how some women do it...work all day, go home and work at home..i give working moms a ton of credit! - but that's why we're waiting two years before we start trying for kids.

2.) WORK
i could seriously go on forever about work, cause i've had tons of drama with my job! but it's finally all settled down. first, Brad - he's still subcontracting for his dad and doing a lot of building on the side. for those of you that don't know, his dad owns a log home construction company [he builds THESE kind of homes - beautiful, million dollar homes that are usually on a lake somewhere] and on the side, Brad builds furniture using either logs or reclaimed timber [which is unbelieveably gorgeous, i love my reclaimed timber side table!!]. i cannot say enough how BLESSED we are, because so, so many contractors [home builders] in this area are out of work right now, because who can afford to build a first home, much less a second home? [the market in this area is primarily second homes...lake cabins/homes] but Brad's dad has had an abundance of work, and so has Brad. we're very, very thankful.
as for me...i work at a bank, and until [literally] the day i got back from my honeymoon, i was a teller supervisor at said bank. unfortunately, the whole time i was in the position i wasn't happy with it. i don't really care for management, and i think i talked myself into it because 1) the paycheck was amazing, 2) the benefits were amazing and 3) i think i really believed i wanted to be in management. BUT, i sure did not want to be. i know i didn't do a good job, but all i have to say is...that position has had SEVEN supervisors in 5 years, and i know there's a reason why people don't stay in it. and i don't necessarily think it's all to be blamed on the supervisor. but that's neither here nor there...
so the day after we got back from our honeymoon, i found out some HUGE drama occurred while i was gone with the tellers and myself, and so i flat out told my boss i wasn't happy in the job, and i knew i couldn't stay in it. that afternoon, they offered me a position as a banker, and i accepted that same day. and i haven't looked back once. i love my new job so, so much. i spend my days opening and closing accounts, starting to do IRA's, will do loans beginning next month. it's a great fit for me, and i couldn't be happier with my decision. it was a pretty big paycut, but i didn't even care about that since you just can't put a pricetag on your happiness.

3.) EVERYTHING ELSE
yes, life these days consists of work and marriage :) but it's good. Brad and i are really, truly living the sweet, simple life i've dreamed of for years. we sometimes make it down to Minneapolis to visit friends, or we go up north to Duluth, a port city on Lake Superior. i'm in a workout class that meets once a week and focuses on your core - it's a tough workout, but i love the instructor and how good i feel afterwards! i've got a few good girlfriends here and i'm slowly meeting new people. we spend a lot of time with Brad's family, and Brad's brothers come over once a week to watch "Sons of Anarchy" [which is a violent show that i am slowly getting sucked into...] i took photos last week with my photographer, Kelly, in my wedding dress. kind of a "Trash the Dress" session. they turned out beautifully, maybe i'll put some up on here next time :)

well, that's our life these days! now i feel like i can jump right in with things when i post. hope everyone enjoys their Thursday...it's almost Friday, which means it's almost the weekend!!

Things That Are Annoying to Me Today

2009-08-31T14:17:00.001-07:00

1 - the fact that i probably capitalized/didn't capitalize the right words in my blog title

2 - people whose Facebook statuses CONSTANTLY HAVE CAPS and are 12 sentences long. remember when you could only ever write "Seanna is ___________" sometimes i miss those days.

3 - people whose Facebook statuses are always - always - about going to the gym. every.single.day. that's great that you work out! so do most of the rest of us...plus, you really don't look like you're at the gym every.single.day so cut it out.

i'm actually in a really great mood and it probably sounds like i'm not...i was just on Facebook and literally every day there's a few people who drive me nuts with these kind of updates. almost to the point where i want to delete them, cause they're not really close friends - or any kind of friends, really - of mine. occasionally i am easily annoyed, and this is apparently one of those times.

i got my name all changed today! my driver's license now bears Brad's last name, and i couldn't be more tickled. i remember one day back when we were dating he and i were talking about how a girl we knew was considering keeping her maiden name and Brad said, "that's fine for some people, but the girl that i marry better be proud to take my name!" well, i was that girl, and i am beyond proud to carry his name!

yeah, so?

2009-08-30T12:24:00.001-07:00

because it's the weekend and i'm off tomorrow AND have brownies in the oven, i feel like i can bare my soul a little bit here and share some of my guilty pleasures. granted, these aren't that guilty, but i have some friends that i'm not too sure i'd readily admit to loving, loving these things.

the rachel zoe project

i find rachel to be way too skinny, and i feel for her husband! he's always off in the shadows, and she says he's her "business partner" but....really? he's probably just her investor. you can tell he'd totally be fine living in the city and having a baby and drinking Starbucks. anyway. i love this show! it always makes me wish that i had millions of dollars on hand to wear beautiful, vintage Armani and Chanel and also that i had someone to constantly put my hair in those adorable waves rachel's always sporting. i think brad is the cutest thing ever [omg, who wears bowties and looks that cute in them?!?] and even though taylor is constantly in a bad mood, i still like her snark.

real housewives of atlanta

none of them work - like any of the housewives do- and most of them live in dream worlds [namely, Sheree - i have never seen anyone love themselves as much as she does], but for some reason, i could watch this show all night! i think kim is my favorite just cause i like her shiny wig hair and the fact that nobody likes her this season except for Kandi [who i'm still trying to figure out what drama she'll contribute, she seems genuinely nice]. sometimes i wonder where women like these find any value in their lives; all they do is go out to eat and drink wine and gossip about each other. sad, but their lives sure are entertaining...

perez hilton

oh man, i love this website. i seriously can't stand him - i find him to be extremely biased and hypocritical - and have tried numerous times to delete him out of my history, but i can't help it. i love his simple, scrolling celebrity updates. i love how he picks certain celebs and makes fun of them. and i love how he updates a million times a day!

christian fiction

i have an extreme addiction to reading christian fictional novels [which is probably how i justify reading perez hilton; it's all about balance, right?] and brad loves - loves - to tease me about it. my favorite kinds are historical love stories, such as the series above by Cathy Marie Hake. one of the best ones i've ever read is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, i would recommend it to every girl out there. but anyway, i love these books and they're always best-read in the bath with a glass of wine or right before bed :)

white t-shirts

most of you are probably wondering, 'what kind of guilty pleasure are white t-shirts??' but let me tell you...i own way.too.many of them. my favorite kind are the super soft, brushed cotton tees - j.crew makes some great v-neck tees - but i'm pretty impartial to the brand. the great thing about these t-shirts is that they can be worn with ripped jeans and flip flops, as seen in my engagement photos, or worn under a vest, or worn to bed, or to work with casual pants. these things are a staple in my wardrobe.

well, my brownies are out of the oven and brad just got home, so we're going to take the motorcycle on a Sunday drive. should be fun, the weather is gorgeous. enjoy the last of your weekends!

MX + WI

2009-08-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

i've been terrible about posting pictures this last year...I have a great camera that takes good pictures, but is a pain in the butt to lug around everywhere cause it's pretty big. because of this, i rarely take it places with me, hence why i never have pictures of things. however, we took the giant camera on our honeymoon, and while we don't have a thousand pictures like most couples would, we have some. and also a few from this summer in WI...

our second night at the resort, eating at the lobster restaurant [that dress was what i wore to the rehearsal dinner, and oh.my.word...i love it. i found it for super cheap, too!]

the pool @ the resort...we stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya in Playa del Carmen, it was amazing.

the lobby was so, so beautiful...very traditional Mexican. also the coldest place we could find. most of the resort was outdoors and the a/c in our room didn't exist...

me in downtown Playa del Carmen...cute city, but i'm so glad we stayed at a secluded resort rather than in the town. btw, love those shorts! they're a j.crew factory store find...

my sweet husband carrying my purse :) i wasn't feeling too great that day, so he carried it like a champ. and yes, i was carrying a brown bag with a black outfit. you can believe it drove me crazy all day.

on the beach @the resort

back in Wisconsin! we went blackberry picking last weekend and took Bo with us

and our first family photo :) the camera was balanced on a rock and on a timer, so we took about 5 photos before we got one that worked!

the big day - a sneak peek!

2009-08-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

i haven't yet received all of our photos, i imagine that will take a few weeks? but here's a few from what we've gotten so far [many of you have already seen these on facebook!] and i have to apologize for the random order of the photos, Blogger was being ridiculous...

getting ready...Christina's a great friend of mine who's done my hair for a number of events over the years...let's just say she's improved greatly since our freshman year of college! love ya, Christina ;)

pre-ceremony shots with the bridesmaids...

my stepdad made homemade chocolate chip cookies as favors for the guests

the lemons in the hurricane vases were on our round tables, the table numbers were DIY

the bouquet toss! i had all the girls doing the dance from "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"

our first dance. we danced to "Shelter" by Ray LaMontagne. it was a sweet moment.

making our "grand entrance" - can you tell i was excited??

after the ceremony. i couldn't stop looking at my ring!

annie and i used to spend hours looking at e-rings (pre-husbands)...then we got our own and had to take a picture with them!

my maid-ly matron of honor and very best friend, Stephanie :)

praying together after communion...my favorite part of the ceremony.

during the ceremony, about to take communion.

the ceremony took place at Brad's parents house...i loved, loved the view from where we stood.

i made my entrance to the ceremony on a horse-drawn carriage...making my way to get on.

the wedding party doing it country-style! the white truck was simply a way to get people out to the back 40 to take pictures...ended up being a perfect shot!

waiting to see my groom for the first time...i was a little grouchy in this shot cause i arrived before him and wanted it the other way around. this was the only hectic time during the day, thank God!

my bouquet was too pretty, and i loved the navy/white striped grosgrain ribbon.

Hopefully i'll have some new pictures to show you guys pretty soon! but for now these will have to do...honestly, it was a truly perfect day and i'd be lying if i didn't say i wasn't waiting for the other shoe to drop. you hear so many stories of how things just don't work out on some people's wedding day, and that you just have to roll with the punches and deal with what you get...we didn't have anything like that happen! everything was exactly as i had planned for it to be. i think as our pictures come out i'll probably do a post about each aspect of the day - the ceremony, reception, etc. i'm pretty proud of all the DIY stuff i did for the wedding, and i aim to share it!

overall, marriage so far has been so great. i remember going through all the planning and the stress of getting everything ready, and i would think to myself, "really?? all this just to be married?? we should've eloped!" but in the end, it was all so worth it, and every part of the day made the joy behind actually married that much sweeter.

we're off to church in a bit, so i hope everyone's having a great weekend!

a sneak peek...

2009-08-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

august 8, 2009

our wedding day was perfect. i cannot express how much it was everything i ever dreamed it would be, and how absolutely ecstatic i am to be married to brad. i have found that marriage is the most incredible relationship ever, and i want to say to every single un-married woman out there...there is nothing - nothing - like waiting to give yourself to your husband. it was beyond worth it.

more pictures coming soon! sorry i was a terrible blogger for a while, life was just a little busy :)

keeping it in perspective

2009-07-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

this morning before church i was doing some browsing on the Internet (for wedding stuff, of course) and decided that i would really love to have these custom napkins for our 'social hour' at the wedding:

so when Brad picked me up for church this morning i shared my idea with him on the way there, and told him how much money we've been saving on everything by doing things ourselves and how i really, really wanted this one little splurge for the wedding. he wasn't sold on the idea and we walked into church with me being a big grouch because we couldn't have napkins with our initials on them.

we get inside and sit down and i'm browsing through the program and notice that there's a baby shower for a woman in our church...but it's not just any woman. Her name is Candace, and in February her 32-year-old husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer - and they had just found out they were pregnant with twins. Through his illness, their commitment to the Lord and their firm belief that God is always good was such an encouragement to our community. Sadly, he passed away in April, and her baby girls were born in June. Candace is now the sole provider for her family of 4, and needless to say, she's in dire, dire need of all the support she can get. And that's the job of the church....which is me.

In that moment, I didn't care about having my custom napkins. It was absolutely worth it to give her the money we would spend on those things that would be thrown out 10 minutes after they were used.

This isn't at all about how we 'did a good deed', but rather, about how easy it is to lose sight of the important things when our lives are consumed by things like a wedding. And I never want to get so sucked into something that the superficial overcomes the meaningful....and the lasting.

yes. yes. yes.

2009-07-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

the new Keith Urban song, "Only You Can Love Me" brings tears to my eyes....it seems that when you genuinely find the person your heart was meant for, nothing is more true than the words of this song: "Only you can love me this way."

i think we found a new first dance song :)

not feeling it

2009-07-02T04:13:00.000-07:00

ever have mornings where it just hurts to be awake? that is so how i feel right now...and i'm supposed to be at the coffee shop in 30 minutes to meet my two girlfriends for our weekly coffee get-together. however, i'm still sitting on the couch in my bathrobe and pajamas, i have no clue what i'm going to wear, and my hair is.a.disaster. ugghhhh.

on the upside, Brad's taking me shopping this weekend in the Cities cause he feels for the fact that i don't have any new clothes. which i don't...i seem to have bought a new wardrobe in Sweden last year that is either a)not at ALL in style in the US, or b) more suitable for being on the beach all day. definitely not having that here, considering it's 58 degrees outside. and no, i am not kidding.

these are framers

2009-06-29T10:56:00.001-07:00

here's some new photos from our latest engagement session - we love them! [okay, i love them...Brad hasn't seen them yet]. we took these out at Brad's parents house, where we'll be having the wedding. fits perfectly with the theme of this blog, eh? ;) by the way, the cabin in the background in the first picture is where we got engaged!

friday!

2009-06-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

GOSH, i love the weekend. so happy it's here! we don't really have big plans for it, it's supposed to rain tomorrow so that rules out going out on the lake. this weekend is Musky Fest (a Musky is a fish, FYI - the world record size Musky was caught in Hayward in the 20's or 30's and they've really capitalized on it...) but it's a fun festival on Main street, and on Friday and Saturday night they have street dances going on. I really want to go check it out, I just picture that cute dance in "Sweet Home Alabama"! Brad, however, is not so excited...when you grow up here things just aren't that exciting.

ANYWAY. i thought i'd post a couple of proofs from our engagement session this week! our photographer, Kelly, was a brave girl and strapped on a pair of Brad's waders and took some pictures of us on the river. they turned out really well, however....note to self 1.) a white shirt when you're not tan may not be the best idea and 2.) bring a brush cause the humidity just doesn't do anything for you....

so. there they are! and please check out Kelly's website, she's just getting started in wedding photography and i seriously think you would all keel over and die if you knew the deal we were getting :)

2nd item of business - i'm starting the ACV diet. anybody heard of that? it's the Apple Cider Vinegar diet. you have to buy this particular kind of ACV - Bragg's - that's organic and raw. you mix a tablespoon of ACV with 8 oz of water in the morning and at night before your meals. in about a month it's said that you'll definitely see a difference in your weight - not like you just drop all these pounds, but it seems to get red of the excess water weight, bloating, and just generally helps you slim down. it's also supposed to stop any cravings you have. given that our wedding is in a month, i'm up for trying anything quick at this point to lose the little love handles i developed over the winter ;)

thank you!

2009-06-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

so....i'm not sure why i never thought of this, but in my last post i asked where i could find the jars in the picture below. well, duh! all they are are these big jars, sans the lid:

i went to Wal-Mart last night (my least favorite store in the world and my one option for shopping in this town) and found a whole slew of HUGE glass jars for $13! so, thanks for the good advice, denim and pearls!

it's a beautiful weekend in Hayward, but unfortunately i'm taking off for Green Bay to meet some of Brad's family that i haven't met yet. the best part is that i'm off work on Monday and i'll be taking care of lots and lots of wedding details - first item on the list? my first dress alterations!

have a great weekend...

almost friday

2009-06-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

and i am thankin' the Lord...i decided tonight that weekdays in the summer are terrible because all i think about is a) the weekend b) laying out and c) going out on the lake. none of those things occur Monday-Friday. thus why i am always happy to see Saturday.

anyway, i'm still trucking along with the wedding, and i cannot even express how much goes into it! i think what makes it so tricky for us is that we're having the reception at Brad's parents house, rather than at a venue, so we're having to think of all the little details like, who's going to serve our alcohol? who's going to clean up? where will people go to the bathroom? (it was suggested that we just let the guest use the house bathrooms. i quickly - quickly - shut that idea down. i will not have my wedding be responsible for breaking the toilets in my future in-laws home!)

here's the big question spinning in my head (and i'll give you my left arm if you can tell me!):

where can i find these big jars??

would be perfect for some lemonade and Georgia sweet tea, no?

FINALLY!

2009-06-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

we booked our honeymoon! you would not believe the ridiculous amount of research i did for this trip...i think i was starting to drive Brad crazy.

we will be staying at an all-inclusive resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico (and yes, the travel ban has been lifted) for 6 nights. the reason we booked this particular resort is based on the fact that for about every one negative review i read about the resort, there were about 40 FANTASTIC reviews. the rooms look amazing and the food is supposed to be top-notch, which most people know that all-inclusive resorts are not typically known for their food. however, this resort is! their drinks are made using top shelf liquor (which really doesn't mean that much to me, but it's nice, right?) i think the only downside i've read about this place is that the beach can be slightly windy and isn't great for swimming. but really, even when you love the beach (like i do) how much do you love it for swimming?? i rarely swim for extended periods of time in the ocean.

and the best part? the price that i had found on one website (www.bookit.com) was knocked down $500 on Orbitz.com. part of that is due to Googling "Orbitz travel coupons" and finding a $200 off coupon! i wasn't expecting it to work, but it took $200 off the total cost, amazingly. so, we're going to Riviera Maya for a steal.

here's a few pictures:

Sunday randoms

2009-06-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

1.) Was up at 5am this morning because of a stupid bird that kept repeating the same little whistle over and over and over again...does stuff like this make anybody else freak out? i hate repetitive background noises, for some reason.

2.) Began downloading music for the wedding. we decided to brave it and not have an official DJ. instead, we're having an iPod and a very funny and outgoing Mexican (Brad's brother in law) handle the playlists and announcements, and i really need suggestions! i'm also looking for the bridesmaids processional. what did any of the other brides out there use? i'm going to walk down the aisle to "Love" by Sugarland.

3.) so...the shoes i bought to wear with my dress? the heels are 4.5 inches, which i stupidly did not check before buying. that makes me 6', which makes me as tall as Brad. and it makes my dress look short. i might have to reconsider these, even though they are really cute.

4.) speaking of my dress...i tried it on yesterday, and i had doubts about it! it makes me look kind of large in the middle, and i'm not sure it's something the seamstress can fix :( let's all pray it is, okay?

5.) still no honeymoon decision. i've given up and am probably just going to let Brad pick it out. i'm way too overwhelmed.

6.) invites are done and going out on Monday!

home and thank the Lord for the weekend

2009-05-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

seriously...i am way too happy to be home right now. i've got the Travel channel on (something about a UFO sighting over Illinois, why i'm watching this i don't know) and a glass of wine for company, and life.is.good.

so, i realize that everything i've posted on here lately has been wedding-related, and for that i feel guilty, but really, there hasn't been much else going on in my life lately. those of you that are married are probably aware of the consuming nature a wedding can be. and those of you that aren't...well, all i have to say is START PLANNING NOW. i mean it. today. start soon, cause no matter how long your engagement is, i guarantee you will come up to the lastminute on everything and then be that much more stressed out. (okay, maybe don't start today cause that could probably freak some commitment-phobe men out. and then you might have to go to a random country in Europe somewhere and be a nanny for a year).

but this is what i have to say: why are honeymoons so freaking expensive? i mean, we're not made of money, and we're definitely helping to pay for this wedding. so i post on facebook today that i'm looking at all-inclusive resorts in MX (YES, Mexico, and if you don't want to go cause you're afraid of swine flu then fine, but i'm trying to save a dollar, okay) and i get like, 17 people writing me back saying, 'hey, check out _________, we loved it!' or 'we went to ______ on our honeymoon and had the best time!' so i then Expedia these recommended resorts, and they're like, 1500 per person! Lordy, we are not rich and don't have 3000 dollars to throw around....so we're back to looking at the $500/pp resorts, which basically make you sleep on moldy matresses and eat hot dogs for dinner. dang.

something blue

2009-05-23T04:37:00.000-07:00

my shoes...all I knew was that I wanted something strappy and sexy. I think I got what I wanted, although my feet will probably be hurtin' by the end of the night! I'm hoping I won't even notice :)

need some input

2009-05-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

my hair/makeup trial is next month on the 13th, and I've been planning to wear a flower in my hair ever since I tried on my dress. I like the look of fascinators (the small veil that goes over one eye, and usually includes a flower) but know that it's not really me. I've been following the Budget Savvy Bride's wedding planning, and she found her fascinator and flower at Kasia Fink. I went to her website, and here's the two I'm deciding between:

the top flower is obviously more simple and classic, and it appears to be white, which is what I would need. the second flower has a small piece of tulle and wispy feathers attached. I like that the second one has a little bit more flair to it...but on the hand worry that it's too much.

any opinions??

the decs

2009-05-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

table decorations

my vision for tables and centerpieces has always been to have something fresh and pretty. Back in the fall I bought some fake lemons at Wal-Mart and put them in a hurricane vases, and loved the way it looked. so when I decided that I wanted navy and yellow to be my wedding colors, I knew that I wanted lemons!

so - we'll be doing hurricane vases filled with lemons and lemon leaves. this is a picture of something kind of similar, except that ours vase will be tall and cylindrical (and there will be no ribbons tied around the lemons...)

we're doing long, banquet style tables, and will be alternating the lemons in the vases with short, square vases filled with white poufy carnations (or something similar...). I also LOVE this look! who knew carnations could be elegant and pretty?

and for my favorite part, we'll be sitting these pretty centerpieces right on these navy/white stripe runners. I found the fabric at www.onlinefabricstore.com and am planning to do long runners down the banquet tables, and then lay them width-wise (not long down the table but across, make sense?) on our pie table (we're having pies instead of cake) and I'm playing around with the idea of getting our name intials monogrammed on those in bright yellow letters.

i like.

2009-05-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

from TMZ

Now....he may not be my favorite president. I definitely did not vote for him, that's for sure. But I will respect any man who shows up at his daughter's soccer game and cheers like crazy.

crossing things off!

2009-05-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

SUCH a good feeling! here's a few wedding updates:

1.) we booked our stay at a local B&B for our wedding night! it's a gorgeous inn that once belonged to one of the logger bigwigs back in the 1800's...it sat vacant for years and a few years back two men from Britain came and renovated it. It's unbelievably beautiful.

2.) I ordered the flower girl's dress! it's from J.Crew's crewcuts line, and I think it's going to be perfect for the casual feel we're going for. our flower girl (Brad's niece) is half Mexican, so she's got this gorgeous tan skin. She's going to look adorable in it!

3.) I order our envelopes (navy) and our invitations are being printed this week! They look amazing.

On a side note (non wedding!), Brad and I went to a sportsman banquet last night. It was my first...basically it's sponsored by a hunting organization, and they auction and raffle off guns and hunting stuff. But one of my girlfriend's dad was there, and he totally won a hunting safari trip to Africa for $680 in the silent raffle! Isn't that crazy?? They also had another African safari that won for $685. That was about the only interesting point of the evening ;) But it was fun to hang out with friends.

Alright...I have to work this morning so I should get rolling. Have a great weekend!

the good and the this-could-cause-a-freak-out

2009-05-11T06:12:00.001-07:00

alright - so i have to make this quick cause i'm supposed to be leaving in an hour for Racine to attend some training for work this week. it's a 6 hour drive and 1) i'm not packed, 2) i'm still in my pajamas, and 3) i need to run like, 4 errands before i go. how you like that for being prepared??

just wanted to share a few things w/ you guys today! i have a list....

THE GOOD

1) we registered! we're now signed up at Crate and Barrel and Target. Brad was a trooper through Target, but when it came to Crate and Barrel he let me and Bobbie (one of my bridesmaids) handle that one. i will not tell you how many 'looks' we got. or how many times Bobbie loudly announced, "DO YOU THINK BRAD WILL LIKE THIS?" pictures coming soon of some of my favorite things.

2.) i visited a florist that we're going to use for my boquet. they're 2 super nice women who have the cutest little outdoor greenhouse in the country. they weren't huge fans of my all-white boquet picture that i had brought for an example...so we're working on incorporating some natural greens into it. i told them i'm pretty easy to please, but that i want large, full blooms. think ranunculas, dahlias, mums, lisianthus....oooh, i'm excited.

3.) we picked out our groomsmen clothes! the men will be wearing khakis (FLAT FRONT...there will be no pleats allowed), chambray shirts (these are all the rage right now...go to Banana or J.Crew and they have millions. they're a denim colored shirt with the texture/appearance of linen. they're dressier than denim, i promise), and they're going to wear navy knit ties. have you seen those? Brad loves them cause they're different; they're not you're typical, satin tie. Brad will wear his navy sportcoat.

THE THIS-COULD-CAUSE-A-FREAK-OUT

1.) both ministers at our church? gone. the weekend of our wedding, they're out of town. um....anyone feel like marrying us?

2.) the two biggest, nicest hotels in town? fully booked. there's not many other options, so i'm thinking a lot of people are going to be staying at the little lodges in the area....they were all booked up in FEBRUARY. this town has less than 5k people, i still don't get how entire hotels are all booked up.

3.) this won't cause a freak out...but we found out recently that Brad's oldest brother who was going to be his best man, is being deployed to Iraq for a year at the end of June. we're super disappointed (not to mention heartbroken for his wife and two little boys). we're so proud of him, but will definitely miss him and his family at the wedding. Brad's not planning to replace him, and instead will keep his space open as 'in honor of'....plus all the guys are going to wear red/white/blue ribbons behind their bouts. i think.

okay...i suppose i should get moving. have a great Monday!

am i crazy?

2009-05-05T04:51:00.000-07:00

i'm going to attempt it - address my own envelopes! i searched online for a reasonable calligrapher, but in the end decided that there's a lot more i would rather do with a few hundred dollars than have our invites professionally addressed. so, i've been doing some research on a couple wedding blogs (with this ring has the best tutorial on it) and i think it's totally possible. i'm going to buy a calligraphy pen this weekend and start practicing!

there's not much going on these days, besides wedding planning. brad and i are going to Minneapolis this weekend to do our registering - anybody have any tips for us?? i've been told to register for "anything and everything" because it's apparently the only time in your life that you'll get as many gifts as you do, and from people you're not very close to. sounds alright to me ;)

spring!

2009-04-30T10:51:00.001-07:00

yes...spring is finally here up in the Northwoods! it's been a long, long time coming, that's for sure. it's rainy and dreary today, but the temp has finally consistently warmed up to over 50 degrees during the day. we won't talk about the fact that the trees are just now starting to bud :)

so it's funny that spring feels like it's finally here, cause in my mind, summertime is May! and summertime, well - all i think when i think of the summer is WEDDING! let me just say...there is so much planning that goes into, it's a wonder i haven't lost my mind yet! i go to websites like Budget Savvy Bride (who's getting married in 3 days!) and i'm constantly like, 'oh yeah...i need to do that, too' or 'i haven't even thought about that!' i gotta be honest and say that i don't even peruse the bridal magazines cause i have all the wedding blogs a girl could ever want at my fingertips. they're lifesavers to me! but, speaking of the wedding, here's our menu that we decided on:

- pig roast (so country!)
- red, white and blue potato salad (red potatoes w/bacon in a blue cheese dressing. AMAZING)
- mediterranean salad (penne, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, peppers (i think?) tossed in a light italian dressing)
- tortellini pasta (cold, mixed w/ sundried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, tossed in pesto sauce)
- fresh corn on the cob (an essential in August)
- GIANT fresh, seasonal fruit plate (also an essential on a hot, summer day)

plus we're serving pies for dessert, rather than cake.

so...that's our newest development. ordered a sample of navy/white striped fabric today for our table runners, and also ordered a sample navy envelope to check on paper quality/color. slowly but surely....

check out this cute website, makes me long for my white house with a porch in the country! Sugar Pie Farmhouse

have a great Thursday - it's almost the weekend!

oh my word

2009-04-27T05:17:00.001-07:00

i am so clueless about this wedding stuff! first question of the day -

do i really need direction cards in my wedding invites? totally just thought of this...and i've already sent my designs to the printer! so if i do need them, then i not only need to figure out how to make direction cards, i actually have to design them and get them to the printer before they start printing! lordy.

reason no. 34o09384 why i need a wedding planner.

check it out

2009-04-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

my new obsession?

www.gigisgoneshopping.blogspot.com

guarantee you'll have a hankering to shop for some pretty, girly clothes after you visit. she's got me dying to visit Forever21, which i can't say happens often.

annoyed

2009-04-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

people are entitled to their opinions, right? after all this controversy with Miss California stating that she doesn't believe in gay marriage, i seriously cannot stand Perez Hilton. i really wanted to make this my facebook status but realized how silly it would look, cause who cares? but i had to vent, so here it is.

i've been a faithful reader of Perez's for about 3 years now. But over the last year or so, his website has seem to become nothing but a platform for him to proclaim his homosexuality loudly and proudly, and how he champions the cause for gay marriage rights all the time. on his website today, about 75% of his posts are about Miss California, and have NOTHING to do with celebrities! he even stooped as low to quote Abraham Lincoln....what? write your stupid celebrity gossip and be done with it. we all have our causes, and just because one girl doesn't believe in yours (and yes, she was set up, you were obviously looking for one perfect answer) doesn't mean that you need to take to your website with millions of views a day to blast her out of the water.

i realize this is totally unrelated, but i had to let it out!

back in the game

2009-04-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

i think! i've been traveling, without a computer, and just plain busy the last couple weeks. but i figure since i've had some of my close friends emailing me to ask about the details of my wedding that it's time for me to get share the important stuff on here....

SO. here we go:

date - august 8, 2009. that means we have less than 4 months. omg.

location - the ceremony and reception will be held at Brad's parent's house. they have a ton of land out in the country, and seriously, i've dreamed of getting married there since before Brad and I were even inklings in each other's mind...isn't that ironic?? but the ceremony will be outside, the dinner under a tent, and the 'dance' on their basketball court - minus the hoops! we're taking those down and using them to string up lights :)

theme - i'm following the "3 C's": country. casual. classy.

colors - navy blue with lemon yellow accents

my dress - i did buy my dress about a month ago, and it's actually supposed to be in next week! it's beautiful. strapless, draped fabric, mermaid fit. i'm not wearing a veil (i don't think) and am instead putting a sweet white flower in my hair. if i do wear a veil it would only be one of those birdcage types.

bridesmaid's dresses - they're navy+white patterned dresses from j.crew. they weren't in their bridesmaid collection, they were only sold in the store. but they're embossed cotton, knee-length, and adorable. we found little yellow wedges at Payless that they'll wear with them, and i'd also like for them to wear yellow ribbons/belts around their waist. we'll see.

flowers - brad's mom is going to grow these...i definitely trust her, but it's still a little scary to hand that over! at this point, i know i want yellow and white dahlias, and i would loooove ranuculas, but those might be too difficult to grow. i love big, soft blossoms.

photography - i recently booked our photographer, and we got a steal of a deal. she's a great portrait photographer who is getting into wedding photos, and since her portfolio isn't built up she's going to use us mainly for that purpose, so she's barely charging us anything! i trust her eye and the work that i've seen, so i'm super excited.

invites - my super talented friend ashley designed them, and i have to say, she could make a killing with her skills! they're super simple and fashioned after a wedding i saw on Martha's website. i'll try to get a screen print up of them soon. however, i'll say that the only 'designs' on them are pretty flourish/scrolls on the top and bottom and little rooster right in the middle, keeping with the country theme.

So....that covers most of it! we still haven't decided on where to do a honeymoon yet. we're considering staying at a relative's condo in Florida for a few days and then doing a real honeymoon somewhere in the winter. cause after all, the summertime is so short up in these parts that we'd hate to miss it! Last night Brad mentioned that when he gets back from Montana (he's going there for 2 weeks for work) it'll be 3 months until we're married! Kinda freaks me out, considering how much still needs to be done...but all i can say is, i can't wait to be married :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a wonderful Easter!

can i quit my day job?

2009-03-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

photos of lacey and miles at my other blog, focus+snap photography. who knew 'baby bunching' could be so sweet (if not tons of work)?

i'm in love

2009-03-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

beautiful, no? i asked her momma this weekend, "do you ever just thank God that you genuinely have a beautiful child?" i knew about this little pumpkin the day her mommy found out she was having her (which makes her very special to me) and i met her for the first time two weeks ago. i can't wait to spend more time with her and her new baby brother! and her mommy...but that's a given ;)

i don't get it

2009-03-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

maybe it's cause i'm not truly Southern, even though i claim it since i was born there (and we all know you ain't truly Southern unless you were born there...) but can someone tell me what the big deal is with Lilly Pulitzer? i seriously get a headache when i look at her clothes! from what i can tell, she has a cult following consisting mainly of girls that wear big pearl earrings and don't wear white after Labor Day. now...if you love Lilly and your pearls, then go on, girl. but i would much rather stick to the solid, classic pieces from my favorite store.

by the way...wedding details coming SOON. we got her all nailed down now :)

i'm still around

2009-03-12T04:51:00.001-07:00

i have lots to fill everyone in on about the weather. i'll do it very soon :) i just wanted to take the time to write this blog and tell you all: DO NOT MOVE TO WISCONSIN. Northern Wisconsin, at least. believe me, i love it here. i love, love, love this little town. but seriously, i cannot handle this weather anymore. it is NEGATIVE 14 this morning! March 12 and we have sub-zero temperatures. there's people on the beach right now in Florida! i have to say, though, the worst part of all this weather rubbishness is getting up every morning and standing and just staring into my closet like, what on earth am i going to wear? i've been wearing the.same.clothes for 6 months. meaning, sweaters, warm pants, heavy boots....i'm so ready for my skinny cords and flats! and seersucker! and flip flops! and t-shirts! and a tan....oh, how i cannot wait to get a dang tan.
alright. done complaining...off to the coffee shop for my thursday morning Bible study :)

life these days

2009-03-03T05:20:00.001-08:00

i haven't been so great at updating my blog lately, huh? well, in short, here's what's happening:

1 - i bought my dress! it is beautiful, simple and as soon as i saw myself in it, i knew. pictures coming soon cause brad never reads this :)

2 - who knew that wedding plan would be so incredibly stressful and difficult? i'm not going into details, but i've yet to experience that "yay, i'm having a wedding!" excitement. maybe simply telling you that we don't have a date or a place yet explains it all. i pretty much tell Brad daily that i'm ready to elope when he is :)

3 - i'm going to Virginia/DC next month for my uncle's wedding. i'm pretty excited about it, it's been a long time since i've been out there and lately, i can't wait to get a break from work! which leads me to #4....

4 - i'm over work. just plain over it. i'm guessing that by the time i'm a 'Mrs' i'll be a little more enthusiastic about it. but right now, my mind is consumed with the wedding.

5 - one of my good friends just moved back to Minneapolis with her two babies that i've NEVER met, and i can't wait to see them! they moved to Seattle last year right after I went to Sweden, so we've not seen each other since 2007. crazy!

okay...it's 7:30, i'm supposed to be at work at 8 and i'm still in my bathrobe. i wasn't kidding about #4!

just one more!

2009-02-21T20:01:00.001-08:00

i've never been a big fan of colored sashes or ribbons on a wedding gown, but i would absolutely love - loooove - wearing a dress like this! even without the ribbon. i love its classic, simple shape and yet the sheer girliness of it. you see the whole wedding at The Bride's Cafe here.

it's been quite the boring weekend. i'm starting to recover from a nasty cold just as brad's starting to come down with it. we drove out about 20 minutes into the boonies last night to go to a little resort's fish fry (that is the big thing around here - friday night 'all-you-can-eat fish fry' at the lake resorts), and by 9pm, i was ready to be at home and in bed. i tell ya, i'm not a fan of getting sick.

wish us luck - tomorrow we're hoping to nail down a place to have the wedding. i was reading a magazine today that said you need to have your 'Save the Dates' mailed out by now! i think that means we better get.on.the.ball.....

gorgeous

2009-02-21T15:22:00.001-08:00

from twigs & honey

the deciding begins

2009-02-16T06:10:00.000-08:00

i only have a couple minutes to get this posted, but thought i would show you 3 of the dresses i'm considering. yes, they're all from j.crew, and yes, i plan to look elsewhere....maybe. but i love their dresses! and i definitely - definitely - am not spending the requisite $3000 dollars on a wedding dress! here's my thoughts on each:

1.) the Goddess
i like this dress, but out of the 3, i think it's my least favorite. now - i am not your typical bride who doesn't tell the groom anything about the dress. i love Brad's opinions, especially on fashion! so while in the end i won't tell him the actual dress that i pick, i will get his opinions on the ones that i like. and out of these 3 he liked this one the best, surprisingly. it's very reasonably priced, and i like flowy-ness of it. however, it's so casual that i'm not sure what my bridesmaids would wear?

2.) the Sabine
i go back and forth about this dress. some days i look at it and love it, and other days i'm hesitant cause it's so simple. but i also know that i want to have really pretty accessories on the wedding day, whether it's a pretty necklace/earrings, or a flower in my hair...out of these 3 dresses, this one seems like the most wedding-y.

3.) the Whitney
can i just say, i love this dress? i love it. however, it seems more suitable for a beach wedding, and again, what would my bridesmaids wear if i'm so casual? my best friend says that this dress reminds her most of me. again, also very reasonably priced.

so, there you go! i still want to go wedding dress shopping, and there's a bridal store in St.Paul, MN that's having a sample gown sale this weekend. so who knows??

by the way - the date that Brad and i are looking at this first or second weekend in August (this year!) it's a little contingent on the availability of churches, though, so we'll see!

have a great Monday! :)

how it happened

2009-02-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU for all the congratulations! it always makes your own excitement that much sweeter when you've got lots of people excited for you. so, thank you :)

alright - how it happened. i have to tell those of you that don't really know me or my history with Brad, please know that this is a VICTORY in our relationship! we've been through a lot of up and downs, and my whole reason for moving to Europe last year was because i couldn't handle the direction that we were (or weren't, actually) going in. it was only a year to the week that Brad came to Sweden and told me he wanted to marry me. the 3 years before that...well, he was your typical "i'll be single til i'm 35" kind of man.

but i loved him more than i even know what love is, so i stayed patient and persistent and it finally came around!

obviously, everyone knows that i was expecting a ring at Christmas. and everyone knows i didn't get one :) i had been waiting and waiting and waiting since then, and about a month ago we went ring shopping together cause i suddenly changed my mind from the ring that i thought i had always wanted. we went and looked, and after that day, i seriously thought every.single.day. "is today the day??" you never know! but Brad kept waiting, and waiting...and finally a week ago i told him that i didn't want him to propose to me on Valentine's Day. it's a sweet holiday, but (in my opinion) a little cliche and predictable for an engagement.

so come Friday, there had been no new developments and no special plans that i thought he might use. and he hadn't said a WORD about Valentine's Day plans, which wasn't like him. on Friday morning i planned to meet for drinks after work with one of my girlfriend's, and during the day talked to Brad who told me that his parents wanted to have us over for dinner that night. nothing unusual...

i go have a drink with my friend Dawn, and practically the whole time i'm talking about how i can't wait anymore, it's killing me, and doesn't he realize that people have to make travel arrangements to come up for a wedding? Dawn sat there and listened to me moan and groan, the whole time knowing what was about to transpire :) finally i leave to go to Brad's parents house for dinner, and the whole way there i'm giving myself a pep talk, like, "don't get your hopes up" and "it's not about a ring, and don't be bratty about it if it doesn't happen."

so i get there and his parents and brothers are sitting in the living room...no dinner anywhere. His parents get up and come over and his dad says to me, "Brad wants you to meet him in the cabin." and that's when i knew what was going on :) i drove his Jeep down to the quaint little cabin on his parents land, and through the woods i can see candles everywhere. i pull up and there's candles lit, music playing, and wooden signs leading up to the doorway. the signs each say something different, but they make out "To me you are my friend, my comfort, my everything." i go inside and he's got one of my favorite Faith Hill songs playing, "Wild Frontier", and he comes up to me and says, "I can't think of any better place to ask you to be my wife" and then drops down and proposes :)
(by the way, the cabin has special meaning for us...it's the first place that i saw him as more than just a friend, and the first place we ever hung out alone and knew that we liked each other).

then we shared a GREAT dinner from my favorite restaurant in town, and talked and talked and talked...and started planning! but that's the story of how it happened, and to my great saddness, we only have ONE picture of it all, and it's from when we saw his parents afterwards. oh well, leave it up to the man to forget the camera on a day like that! :)

here's a picture of the ring - it's simple, and just what i wanted. the diamond is BEYOND beautiful!

the details of the wedding are still a little unclear - we're planning to have the reception at his parent's house, but the ceremony is up in the air. i'm checking out a few churches this week. i love our church, but it's the one thing that i don't want to compromise on: i want a pretty little church, or an outdoor ceremony.

and i have to say...prepare yourself for lots of wedding talk! i'll need some good opinions on things as they come about. first thing, though: the dress! that's for later this week....

he put a ring on it

2009-02-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!

details to come :)

trying to get a good one

2009-02-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

first comes biting - probably going for the big shiny earrings

now i'm not looking

he completely loses interest - as if he had any to begin with

this one's the keeper - the puppy AND the photo

my 4-month-old hell raiser is getting big fast...but he's so dang cute!

i love my life

2009-02-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

i really, really do.

i have an amazing boyfriend who might be a bit slow at doing the important things, yet never fails to tell me every night that he loves me "tons and tons".

i have two great girlfriends who are constant sources of information when it comes to planning certain events and love to drink wine and eat all the wrong foods with me.

i have a family who i don't belong to by blood but yet know that i could go to them for absolutely anything at any time, and they would be there to take care of me.

i have a job - just having a job is enough these days! - that is challenging and equally rewarding, pays very well and is very secure.

i have a puppy who loves nothing more than chewing my bras and good shoes and digging in the trash, but is beyond excited when i come home at night.

it was a big, big risk moving here...but i thank the Lord - every day - that i did.

caving in...

2009-02-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

anyone else get tagged a million times on facebook to do this? here you go - 25 things about me.

1.) every morning without fail, i make a pot of coffee and i always - always - drink it with flavored creamer. my 'old faithful' is french vanilla, but i like to try the random ones, too.

2.) i love, love, love j.crew. i love it so much that while on a conference call yesterday at work, i ordered a sweater online(from the sale!) cause i had.to.have.it.

3.) i totally have a love/hate relationship with the gym. if i'm in a 'good stretch' i'll go about 4 times a week. if not...then the idea of going is seriously like going to the dentist for a filling. don't wanna do it.

4.) as of may 2007, i had never been out of the country (other than Tijuana). by july of 2008, i had been to uganda, tanzania, kenya, sweden, france (3 times), spain (2 times), sicily, denmark, thailand, and indonesia.

5.) i am obsessed with reality shows...Real Housewives, Real World (as long as i get into at the beginning of the season), 17 Kids, Little People Big World (think that's my favorite), Amazing Race. however, i've never gotten into the Bachelor or matchmaking shows.

6.) i hate my car. it runs perfectly fine, it's not an old beater, and really, there's nothing wrong with it. i just bought it in a moment of panic cause the car i had was breaking down all the time. now i wish i had thought more about it. (it's a Pontiac Grand Am, btw).

7.) i religiously use Aveda hair products and Dove body wash, solely because i love the smells of them. plus, dove makes your skin super soft.

8.) i won a trip through CMT.com back in 2005 to go to Nashville and meet Trent Willmon...an obscure country singer. however, they put us up at the Opryland Hotel and it was fabulous.

9.) Nashville is my favorite non-coastal city in the US. I couldn't tell you what my favorite coastal city is...I've been to practically every "tourist-y" one in Florida, and Key West would be the one I'd go back to before the others.

10.) i'm currently living the biggest dream that i ever had in my heart - to live in this little small town with brad. i never, ever thought it would happen cause up until last year, brad was captivated by the big city living. thankfully, he came to his senses :)

11.) i've never sprained or broken anything, or had to have stitches. the biggest surgery i've ever had was getting my wisdom teeth out. knock on wood....

12.) i rarely buy new makeup - i'm still wearing the same eyeshadow from 2 years ago. i think it's probably expired by now??

13.) i went to a christian university in Minneapolis, where i majored in Intercultural Studies and minored in Leadership Development.

14.) i have a huge, huge passion for traveling. i've done a wide variety of it, from staying in dingy hotels in Europe to wooden huts in Africa to luxury resorts in Asia. take your pick at which one i didn't pay for :)

15.) i love to read. i'll read almost anything, just not anything sci-fi or smutty romance novels. i love historial fiction, though.

16.) my 'style' is typically very basic, very light, very clean (although you'd probably disagree if you saw my room). my couches are light colored, my curtains white, my walls are a putty color. it's a challenge for me to incorporate colors - i recently added orange sofa pillows.

17.) i tear up every single time i watch a military procession or ceremony. i have a deep, fierce love for America and her service people.

18.) i was born in the South, which i proclaim loud and proud. i was raised in Illinois, but since a large majority of my immediate family live in Georgia i will always consider myself half-southern.

19.) i love, love, love photography. i started a photo blog but i haven't done such a great job keeping it up. i think to have my own photography business would be my career goal.

20.) i lived in Stockholm, Sweden last year where i worked as an au pair. i kept a blog during my whole time there, and you can check it out here.

21.) my mom passed away in 2001 when i was 19. it was an awful, difficult time in my life, but it so firmly confirmed to me that God can always take the bad and use it for good if you allow Him. i can say with no hesitation that i wouldn't be where i am today - with Brad, having the best friends i have - if i hadn't gone through that.

22.) i absolutely do NOT wear socks in the summer. only if i'm wearing my gym shoes. and because of that i'm always buying socks in the fall cause i seem to lose them all...

23.) i love bluegrass music! i'm determined to have one play at my wedding in between the ceremony and reception.

24.) i hate olives. i'm the least picky eater you'll ever encounter, but i cannot handle olives. ick.

25.) the region i'm currently living in is described as "the northwoods" - and it is. it's a beautiful, woodsy area full of pines everywhere.

country music and coffee

2009-01-31T07:24:00.000-08:00

the last couple weeks or so, i've been getting up really early - like, 5:30am early - and have gotten into the routine of making my coffee and watching the morning news before work. but on saturday mornings, it's county music. seems very fitting for my small town life :)

speaking of, i really need to tell you guys how funny it is to live in a place where everything is "the ____". being in a small town with a small population (less than 3k in the winters), there's pretty much only one place of each category. for instance: the steakhouse, the store, the chinese restaurant (we actually have one), the wesleyan church, the catholic church, the gym, the hospital. so funny! but i love it :)

also, since i live in "the northwoods", it was imperative that i purchase a flannel. now, most people wear these cause they're good workshirts and keep you warm. brad has a bunch of them (and i love every one of them - he might live in a small town, but he's got a good sense of style and even picks out really cool flannels) and i always wanted to snag one from him and pull off the Lauren Conrad look (but maybe buttoned up a little more, haha) --

so, yesterday i went to this little, itty bitty store called Glik's that is literally the only place in town that sells clothes are slightly fashionable and young. and even then, 98% of the store is hoodies and skater wear. but i was able to find a flannel that looks like this:

except mine is a brighter red. best part: i got it for $8! it's a boy cut one, but it's got that cute, fitted-but-a-little-loose look to it. it's the little things in life, right? :)

and, in one more piece of exciting news, i finally - FINALLY - got the matching chair to my couch!

thank the Lord for tax refunds! but seriously, it was getting ridiculous. the only place to sit in my whole house was either 1) my couch or 2) my bed. so, i was in dire need for another chair. i'm still getting used to its large-ness in my small room, but am endlessly thankful to have it.

alright...i've got a girlfriend coming up from the Cities - hallelujah! i'm literally the only girl in the group that i hang out with - so i've got to get some cleaning done before she gets here. have a happy weekend!

whole bunch of nothin'

2009-01-28T04:19:00.000-08:00

i'm really not full of things to talk about specifically, but i have thoughts all the time like, "i should write about this on my blog" and then i go to write about them and it's just boring. so i thought i would share all of these random little topics with you :)

1.) at the gym yesterday - which in itself is an annoying thing, simply because i'm in my "i hate working out" mindset right now - and what's on all the TV's? the FOOD NETWORK. specifically, Paula Deen. now...come on. who's brilliant idea was this to have us watching the Queen of Butter herself while we're bustin' butt to lose the repercussions of said butter??

2.) i know i probably talk about this a million times more than anybody cares to hear, but i'll tell you what....it is freaking cold here. every morning going out to my car is painful, and i always feel so awful for my little puppy who has to go out there and walk around in it. however, nothing is worse than going to bed when it's freezing cold (even in my house - did i mention it's probably insulated with something akin to Saran Wrap?) so, every time i go to bed, i follow the same routine:

lotion, lotion, lotion. dry skin is icky and even can be painful if it starts to split under your nails. i found a lotion by J.R Watkins - lemon cream - and its heavenly and thick and only $8.
leggings. i sleep in these every single night. i have a pair of soft wooly ones, and they keep you so, so warm.
a 'corn pillow', as i call it. you know, one of those little pillows you put in the microwave for 45 seconds? i put mine in for 3 minutes.

3.) i wish i could have a blog that commented on other's peoples blogs. sometimes i read some stuff that i'm like, "WHAT??" and want to tell someone about it. i'm too nice, though.

4.) beau - my puppy - cannot jump on things. this is probably a good thing cause i think i would have a heart attack if he was ever to jump on my couch or anything. but sometimes i let him lay on my bed while i'm reading, and he literally cannot jump up on anything. i don't think he's put 2 and 2 together that you have to move your legs to get where you want...it's kind of a pitiful thing to watch.

alright, that's all i got for ya's....hope everyone's weekend is coming quickly!

baby Harper

2009-01-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

some of you may have heard about little Harper, but if you haven't, i strongly encourage you to go and read about her incredible journey into the world. what's even more remarkable is the unshakable faith in God that her mommy and daddy have. i tear up everytime i read the blog. you can check it out here.

what?!?

2009-01-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

see this product here? i got it today. for free. there was apparently some big lawsuit against cosmetic companies, and since they lost they were ordered to GIVE AWAY free products! so me and two other girls stopped by the mall today (thankfully we were in 'the city' - a town of 8000 - for training) and we each grabbed our free product of our choice. now, granted...it was a small-town mall, so the cosmetics were limited to Estee Lauder, Clinique and Lancome. but still! i was pleased :)

winter

2009-01-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

my favorite things about winter

snow. i love snow, especially when it's falling lightly and you're doing something cozy, like reading a good book and drinking coffee
drinking warm drinks. i love coffee year round, but there is just something about taking my little Starbucks thermos to work every morning in the winter. it literally warms your insides.
cute hats+coats. i love my winter coat - a black/white buffalo plaid peacoat.
fireplaces. i don't have one myself, but brad's parents have one and they use a wood stove to heat their house, and ohmygosh...something about that kind of heat gets in your bones and makes you so drowsy. after eating a thanksgiving meal=amazing. 10pm on a weeknight=painful.
soups. i love soups in the winter. chilis and stews are my favorite things in the world to make on a cold day.

things i really don't like about winter

being cold. i hate, hate, hate being cold. walking in snow makes your toes freeze, your hands are always cold, and going from a warm house in the morning to the cold outdoors can be tortuous.
owning a vehicle. believe me, there is absolutely nothing fun about driving a car in the winter. i really only think i wouldn't mind this if i had either A) 4x4 drive B)heated seats/steering wheel C) automatic start or D) all of the above. or to make things even better, a garage. because you can have all 3 of those things and it still doesn't change the fact that you have to go out and brush/scrape the snow off.
heat bills. after last month's bill i gave up eating so i could pay for it. after this month's, with an average temp of probably 5 degrees, i told brad that i'm planning to sell my eggs. he didn't think it was funny.
the winter "uglies". i don't know what else to call this...but let's just say that winter doesn't do anything to make you look good. you're usually eating more and doing less, which means weight gain. the dry and cold air makes your skin flaky and scaly, your hair static-y, you're totally pale from the lack of sun, and in my opinion, winter clothes are nowhere near as cute as summer ones. and why do the big, thick warm sweaters have to be so $$$??

so, there's my list. i tell you girls...if you live in a warm climate, STAY THERE. and if you don't...just think. we only have 4 more months of this!

for real?

2009-01-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

it is -17 below outside right now, at 6:45am. all you southern girls, thank the sweet Lord you live in a nice, warm, mild climate! my southern kin would probably freeze and die in this weather.

so maybe i am

2009-01-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

planning, that is...

i picture the lucinda j.crew wedding dress. bakers twine. grosgrain stripes. mason jars. white bouquet tied with a red ribbon. red-on-white wedding invites. short, pretty navy bridesmaid dresses. cherry pies. coke in the bottles, served out of a metal tub. fudge for favors in vintage red and white boxes.

here's some 'red' inspiration boards from snippet + ink.

after christmas...

2009-01-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

i find the weeks after christmas to be slightly annoying. here's my list why:

1.) taking the christmas tree down. i hate doing this...and it's a necessary evil. this year, because i actually invested in nice ornaments and decorations and not the $5 Wal-Mart bulbs, i have to wrap the ornaments before i stash them. not to mention drag the tree - which hasn't been watered since the day after christmas - outside.

2.) getting finances back in order. i'll admit, they tend to go a bit awry during the holidays due to traveling, parties, GIFTS, and those other miscellaneous purchases that you don't account for (i.e, $18 christmas tree stand, checked luggage fees, $70 kennel for puppy).

3.) putting discipline back into my health habits. i was beginning to get a little too comfortable drinking limitless Cokes and eating whatever my little heart desired. and this girl hasn't seen a treadmill in oh...two months? small saving grace: the j. crew outlet store where i somehow fit into size 4 (!!!) pants. these days, i'm lucky to squeeze into a 6.

4.) back to the long, endless workweeks with no days off in sight. i like my job. but i like having days off...and i don't think we have any until february (President's Day?), and even then, that day is our big profit sharing shindig.

i could probably continue, but those 4 alone are enough to make me want to go grab the Milk Duds and a Coke and sink into hours of Desperate Housewives of Orange County.

introducing

2009-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

focus+snap photography

georgia

2009-01-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

made it down to the South this past Sunday to visit my family for a week. i hadn't seen them since August of 2007, so it was long overdue. we flew into Atlanta this past Sunday and drove to Augusta and visited my uncle and his family, and then drove down to Warner Robins and have spent the last 3 days with my dad and his family. it's been fun - we went over to Columbus, GA and visited a Civil War museum (definitely more for the benefit of Brad and my brother, me and my stepmom talked the whole time) - and then on Tuesday night, i started feeling a little nauseous. by the middle of the night, i was hugging the toilet. Brad also was sick, so the two of us literally slept all day on Wednesday, and were passed out when the ball dropped.

But, today's a better day! we're both feeling better and getting ready to head up to Atlanta to visit my best friend and her family. she just had her first baby in August and i can't wait to meet her, although i'm bummed that i won't be able to hold her much - don't want to get her sick. i would also like to point out that the weather down here has been a full 70 degrees warmer than its been in Wisconsin. i could get used to it....

christmas.

2008-12-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

still ring-less. but i did get a fly fishing rod and a j. crew gift card. while both of those things were very nice gifts, they were definitely not what i wanted...needless to say, i did a lot of crying (although i tried SO hard not to) and i know brad felt awful. we had a good talk about it that night - he said that sometimes he's stubborn without knowing he's stubborn, and he really had it in his mind the way things would go financially before he bought a ring. i'm pretty sure he even teared up when i saw how heartbroken i was. at the end of the night, he asked me to not lose my excitement over getting engaged (i never thought it would be after Christmas that it would happen), and told me that it was coming, and coming very soon. and i'll tell you what - brad is not a man of empty promises. he won't say NOTHIN' if he doesn't mean it.

so...i guess we'll keep waiting, right?

...what?

2008-12-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

he has to be kidding?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/14/mccain.senate/index.html

sweet thing

2008-12-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

this puppy makes my mornings come really early - he sleeps in my room and is up at 4am for his first bathroom break of the day - but he's so dang adorable that i don't even mind.

my favorite part? his blue eyes that are positively illuminated when he's outside in the snow. the baby soft hair on top of his head is a close second, though :)

well...i'm supposed to be cleaning my house up right now but i'm slightly sidetracked by blogging right now. i've been listening to "Sweet Thing" by Keith Urban all morning and it's easily my new favorite song. i've been working a lot this week, but had a good time last night with our friends, Dawn and Mike. we went to a local bar/restaurant and me and Dawn had "hot toddies" - hot drinks with schnapps in them. i had a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and whipped cream, and she had a hot apple cider with cinnamon schnapps and whipped cream. it was gooood, and believe, those hot drinks were a necessity! it's been freezing up in these parts lately. we're due to get an ice storm/rain tonight, and i'm pretty certain i heard that the high on Monday is 10 degrees. Georgia, come quickly....

a heart like His

2008-12-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

every monday morning at 6:45 i meet with two of my girlfriends at the coffee shop and we have a Bible study, and we're currently going through the book "David: 90 Days With A Heart Like His" by Beth Moore. while i can't say its the best book i've ever read, it is definitely a great devotional book. she has you read from the Bible about David's life, and then you do a short little study on what you read and how it applies to your life. the one i read for today was about how your husband shows his love to you. well, i had to improvise on that one a bit...but it was still good :)

hope everyone has a great Friday!

the problem

2008-12-11T15:56:00.001-08:00

okay, so here's the problem with advertising your blog on your facebook - everyone you know reads it! i don't do it anymore for this purpose because seriously, you get so tired of censoring everything. it's bad enough that my whole family reads it (haha...kind of) and they just carried over from my blog from Stockholm, but i hate the feeling that i can't really share what i'm feeling or thinking.

so, given that disclaimer, here's my ambiguous rant of the day about a certain person i work with.

do you ever feel like there's some people in your life that, even if you were wearing the cutest outfit you've ever owned in your life, had a great hairday and the perfect handbag, despite of all this, standing next to them you just feel ugly? and stupid? i know this is a little extreme, but i can't shake this! i work with this girl who, really, i think we'd be good friends if there wasn't this constant sense of "i feel like an idiot around her."

she's the kind of girl that has it all together, a great career at a young age, dresses nicely, is only into name brands, probably has never had a messy car in her life, makes lots of money...i could go on and on. now, i have NO PROBLEM with people like this. in fact, i know people like this who are my friends. the thing about this girl is that she's just got this air about her. like an 'i'm better than you' air. i know that brad thinks i read into things too much, but come on! i'm a girl. we can sense this in other girls. this person i'm talking about, she has these kind of shifty eyes that will look you from head to toe while you're talking, and i immediately feel just....less than.

and, well...that's it. i do like her, and would even say i look up to her, career-wise. but i just feel like such a fool around her...and i know it's unbecoming. i'm working through it. giving myself pep talks all Stuart-Smalley style..

by the way, my purse turned up at Walmart. turns out it was just 'in their safe' the whole time. definitely the weirdest thing that's happened to me this year, but i don't feel like rambling off the long story. let's just say that my purse was NOWHERE to be found on sunday night, and on tuesday afternoon, it shows up 100% intact, nothing gone...and my $18 tree stand with it.

the good news

2008-12-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

- is that i got my christmas tree.

the bad? it came at the cost of getting my freaking PURSE stolen at Wal-Mart. in all the bustle of getting the tree quickly into the back of Brad's Jeep - it was about 15 degrees and snowing like crazy - i jumped in the car, not realizing that i left my purse in the cart at the front of the store. right next to the doors. so we drive off and as i live seriously 2 minutes from Wal-Mart, we pulled into my drive and i remembered that i left it in the cart. we go right back to Wal-Mart...and the purse - along with the Christmas lights and $18 tree stand (is that a rip off or what?!?) i had bought is gone.

wallet, cell phone, credit cards, checkbook, PASSPORT (i stupidly didn't take it out of my purse after applying for my new driver's license last week)....all gone. in the period of maybe four, five minutes. i sobbed all the way home.

but my sweet boyfriend told me to take a bath while he went back to the store, talked to the manager, bought me a new tree stand and lights and came back and put the tree up for me. sweet, huh?

randoms.

2008-12-03T19:40:00.001-08:00

1.) i got a papercut at work UNDER my nail today. i was reaching into my little trashcan full of confidential items and somehow sliced myself on a piece of paper. it hurts so, so badly. and did you even think something like that was possible?!? i did not.

2.) i watched the Britney Spears documentary. basically, i just feel really bad for her. everything she does is gold, and she's literally got the world in her hand...and all she wants to do is walk through the mall and eat ice cream without hundreds of people staring at her, or trying to take her picture. oh, and while i give her LOTS of credit for turning her life around, she's really just not the same performer she used to be. her dancing is sloppy...it's almost painful to watch.

3.) i think the dog definitely likes brad more than me. this is okay, and probably better, since i bought him for brad, but still. it hurts a little.

4.) i freaking LOVE the 100-calorie-pack Mister Salty chocolate-covered pretzels. they're an amazingly good, small little snack that doesn't ruin your diet and still lets you feel like you're eating chocolate.

alright...that's all i got for ya's. anybody else happy tomorrow's Thursday, which means it's almost Friday, which means it's almost the weekend??

the best part of Christmas

2008-11-30T12:29:00.001-08:00

i've noticed that the older i get, the more i love decorating my home. if i had my way, my home would look like it came right out of a Pottery Barn catalog. but since i don't make Pottery Barn money, my home looks more like something out of Target.

anyway, in the process of all the moving i've done over the last seven years (7 times in 7 years), i've pretty much lost/given away all of my Christmas decorations. that being the case, i needed

to get some new ones this year. so yesterday, me and a girlfriend drove an hour to the next town over to go shopping at the cutest home decor store. best part? all their Christmas decs were 40% off.

here's the colors i'm doing on my tree this year:

from top to bottom, it's chartreuse, burgundy and gold. the gold will be the main color - i have these little gold balls that go over every other christmas light - and bought some small gold snowflakes and gold "bell garland" (skinny strands of jingle bells). i'll also use the brushed gold bulbs. the burgundy is actually a light, rusty pink color; i got some glittery little ornament wreaths in that color, and some large-size bulbs in the burgundy color that are accented with gold and chartreuse. as for the chartreuse, i bought these gorgeous glass bulbs that have a marbled look to them. i also got some random pinecone and leaf ornaments in the burgundy and chartreuse.

but the best purchase i made yesterday were the black and white peacock feathers to put in the tree! it's almost going to be borderline tacky, so i'll have to make sure it doesn't end up looking gaudy. i was inspired by the trees at the store: they were all tall and skinny so the ornaments and decorations were all bunched close together and it looked beautiful.

i'm so excited to get decorating! next step: buying the perfect tree :)

is this a joke?

2008-11-29T05:52:00.000-08:00

so, regarding my previous post....

brad and i went to a friend's house last night to eat dinner and play games, which i might add is not my thing whatsoever, but we're friends and i'll roll, so it's fine. anyway, there's a big group of us playing this game called "Imagine If" and it goes along the lines of, "imagine if ____ (your name) were a car, what kind of car would she be?" and then everyone has to pick from a list of different cars, and you want to choose the one that you think everyone else will pick, and the first one to have the most "majority rules" picks wins. kinda confusing, but nevermind that.

here's the two cards that got chosen for me during the night:

"imagine if seanna were a piece of jewelry. what would she be?"

"imagine if seanna were to be something that you wear on your hand. what would she be?"

and i'm sure you can all imagine the slight awkwardness as both times, all my friends responded with "a diamond ring."

i made sure to tell Brad last night that it must be the Lord :)

christmas.

2008-11-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

what i've asked for --

what i want --

this you-live-here-and-i-live-there-and-we're-together-all-the-time deal is so, so old. i'm trying to be patient, but i'm struggling. i want to marry him not because i want a wedding, or a ring (although both of those things will be nice in themselves), but because i'm tired of living two lives, tired of him going home at night, tired of him not coming home to me at the end of the day, tired of feeling like we're still two and not one.

let's all say a prayer, okay? :)

i must be crazy

2008-11-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

i braved Black Friday shopping...at WAL-MART. after reading the ads in the paper i discovered that they had a microwave on sale for $25, and a vacuum cleaner for $28, and i have been in desperate need for both items (it seems that going without a microwave would be easy, but believe me, you never realize how much you use it until you don't have one).

so...i rolled out of bed at 4:40am, threw on a pair of jeans, my coat and walked out the door and drove half a block to Wal-Mart. and it was CHAOS inside. they had all their Black Friday deals lining the big center aisles, and they were all wrapped up until 5am. people were standing guard over their $130 Kitchen Aid mixers, $300 computers, and $600 flat screen tv's, just waiting to snatch up their big deals.

it was funny, as i was walking out of the store (which had turned into madness, you couldn't even walk through the aisles cause it was so crowded...keeping in mind this town has less than 5000 people) i realized that i felt so grown up (which i ought to, considering i'm 27...) i had woken up at 5am to get a good deal on a microwave and a vacuum! how domestic of me.

grrr

2008-11-22T06:03:00.000-08:00

FYI - since i'm using a Mac, i have no clue how to copy/paste these pictures, so they're all in the wrong order. but here's the puppy with Brad! and the one below, the two brothers :)

it's 8:12am on a Saturday morning - the first one i've had in weeks where i've got nothing going on - and i'm wide awake. why, you ask? because this weekend i told Brad's brother that i would watch his puppy while he went hunting.

now, let me say this: Beau, our puppy, is amazing. he really is. you hear all these horror stories of puppies tearing up the house, peeing and pooping everywhere, and the little saying that "God must've made puppies so cute so you wouldn't kill them." i've not had any of that to deal with when it comes to Beau. he's genuinely calm, well behaved, understands what "NO" means, and apart from a few accidents (in a whole week), he goes to the bathroom outside.

Brad's brother's dog, Boon, on the other hand...HE is the kind of puppy you have horror stories about. he's stinking adorable, but he's so rotten! he freaks out so easily, does his bathroom business in the house EVEN after you've just taken him out, and does nothing but run and run and run. Having the two of them together is even worse. all they do is wrestle and play-fight the whole time. there's no down-time, there's no breaks. it's non-stop. and unfortunately my only solution is to put Boon in his little kennel and Beau in my bedroom.

but they're so cute, it's hard to stay angry at them...

i'm a hunting widow...

2008-11-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

ever heard the expression "hunting widow"? it's what a woman is during hunting season...and what i'm soon to be this weekend. this Saturday morning marks "opener," as everyone calls it - the first weekend that you can hunt for deers with rifles. folks, this might as well be a national holiday in northern Wisconsin.

i've got two tellers off on Friday and Monday since they'll be out hunting for the weekend - mind you, they're girls. we filled the ATM with extra money since the weekend brings so many people to town. i've seen men (and women) around town all this past week in their hunter's orange gear (blinding, i tell you). most hunters have been out scouting for deer for over a month, and the local butcher just put an ad in the paper for an additional butcher due to "venison season." and Brad? yep, i'll see him tonight for dinner at his parent's house, and then not again until Sunday night. he's mighty stoked for the weekend, and it's a big deal in his family - all the men (and boys - brad's youngest brother can FINALLY hunt this year - have to be 12 or 13 - and he's SO EXCITED) are staying in a cabin in the woods and hunting together.

as for me, im still working on saying "deer" in the plural and not "deers"....and asking if they "caught anything" when they come in from hunting :)

in BIGGER news, we finally got our puppy!! okay, i so, so wish i could put pictures up, but my computer is freaking out these days, and for some reason my photos won't transfer onto Brad's Mac?? so i don't have pictures, but trust me when i say, he is a gorgeous puppy. he's a little "snow lab" - ivory, not yellow - has a little pinkish-tan nose and beautiful blue eyes. have you ever seen a blue-eyed lab?? i didn't even know they existed. anyway, his name is Beau, and he's the sweetest, most laid-back puppy. he's definitely a chewer, but for the most part he's already house-broken and just loves to be near you. by the way, this was Brad's Christmas gift -- got him so he could take him hunting next year.

not much else going on these days. just working a lot, still working on the dining room - the room is actually one big room, half is the dining room part, and the other half is the laundry room. weird, i know. but i painted the dining room the burnt orange-y, pumpkin color, and the laundry room a deep mustard yellow and did all the trim white. it looks good, but there's still some finishing touches to put on it. right now it just has a bunch of paint cans, window blinds, and other miscellaneous junk in it, and i'm SO TIRED of looking at it. i'm off this weekend so i have big plans to get it wrapped up.

well, i should get going with the rest of my day. hope everyone has a great almost-Friday!

freakin' ridiculous.

2008-11-08T11:10:00.001-08:00

i'm on my FOURTH dining room color. why can't i just pick one???

so, i first chose a light green color, and then got it on the wall and it was, like, pistachio green. no thank you. i took it back and had it darkened, and only then realized, who puts a light green, cool-toned color in their dining room?

then i played around with the idea of having an orange dining room. loved the idea, but once i got to the hardware store, i just couldn't do it. it was too bold for me. so i decided on a yellow-gold color. paid $44 dollars for it - Benjamin Moore, believe me, i won't do that again - brought it home, painted the walls, and loved it. for two days. over the past week i keep staring at it like...i just don't like it. it's too bright gold.

today after work i go to the hardware store and ask them to darken it for me. the guy looks at the paint color ingredients and says that all he can do is add an orange gold color to it. he does, and in the end, it looks maybe a little shade darker than the original color. and then out of complete frustration, i march over to the cheap paint, rip an orange color off the wall - Summer Solstice, it's called - hand it to the guy and say, "i should've done this a long time ago. i'll take this one in the CHEAP paint."

my project this afternoon? painting my dining room for the third time, in the pretty, rustic orange color i thought from the beginning i wanted. we'll see how it works out.

tonight

2008-11-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

i'm going to the Scandinavian (or Lutefisk) dinner at the local Lutheran church! can't say i'm going cause i just miss Swedish food so badly, but more because one of my tellers is going and she dreams of going to Scandinavia, so i thought it would be a good way to get to know her some more. i'm always looking for ways that i can get out and be in the community, and food is always a perfect opportunity :) you can bet i'm wearing my JCrew light blue tissue tee and chunky yellow necklace!

this week was pretty interesting with the election. i was very disappointed in the outcome, but it's all said and done with and can't be changed. there's many reasons why i was supporting mccain, but one of the big reasons was because i felt like he truly loves America and wants to serve it. in my opinion, obama just has a plan to change everything. change, change, change. i agree that there are things that need to change in America, but basing your whole presidency on it is scary. and that's the end of my soapbox.

alrighty...i should get going. it takes 5 minutes to get to the church, so i need to make time for travel!

add that to reason no. 4094 i love living in a small town :)

he hung my moon...

2008-11-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

...and my life is better every day because of him.

changes

2008-10-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

this time last year, i was in Paris celebrating my 26th birthday, and it was very, very amazing.

this year, i was in an itty bitty town in the USA and it was very, very wonderful. but it was different. it was the first birthday of my life when i've woken up alone - although my dad called me at 6am to wish me happy birthday - and last night, Brad came over, we had dinner and fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours! on my birthday. we managed to go out for an after-dinner drink at my favorite restaurant/bar, then stopped at Wal-mart so i could pick up some trouser socks. i know, i know. sometimes i can't believe my life, either.

i think what was so different for me was that it was such a quiet, reserved day. i'm used to having all my girlfriends around to take me out for it, to decorate our apartment, throw me a party...and this year was on the absolute other end of the spectrum. i was telling that to Brad and he gets this little smile on his face and says, "Well, you are 27 now." birthdays were never a big deal for him :) don't get me wrong - the day was not bad by any stretch. i got a huge cake at work, went to lunch with Brad's momma, and spent the evening with my favorite person in the world.

but i got some great stuff this past weekend in the Cities (Mpls/St Paul). my birthday gift from Brad, i got it in black -

and i picked up these incredible, life-changing jeans from my favorite store -

and got to see my Minneapolis best friend, Bobbie :)

in my mind....being with your best friend and boyfriend beats out being in Paris any day.

thank GOD it's Friday

2008-10-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

it's been a good week here in good 'ol small town USA. the talk of the town is gas going down .10 cents, and opening of Wal-Greens :)

work has been good. i'm still getting to know all of the different employees, and and am having to learn a whole new set of customers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - cause now when i'm out and about in town, i see customers who recognize me and greet me, and i love that! makes me feel welcome, and it is true what Miranda Lambert says...everyone truly is "famous in a small town."

i've been getting back into working out, although it's about a billion times harder to make myself go to the gym since my iPod broke. i'm going to the Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) this weekend and am planning to get one. it's a big purchase but i've about reached my threshold of working outs sans music. it's AWFUL.

in other news, i'm going to a wedding next weekend and have NO IDEA what to wear to it! i'm wearing my cute sassy new heels, but am clueless about a dress.

well...sorry this isn't more entertaining! my life isn't very entertaining these days...it's mainly work, eat, hang out with brad, and sleep. i've got friends i hang out with, and i do go to the gym, but it's very mundane lately. i'm totally okay with that :)

i'm off to (the usual) Wal-Mart. i need to pick up some groceries, and i think they have their white pumpkins on sale! i love those...not much longer you can have them out, huh? hard to believe Thanksgiving is a month away!!

my new beauties

2008-10-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

i love these! i found them at a Macy's - they're Anne Klein - this past week and fell head over heels for their patent leather prettiness and rich red color. i've got a wedding to go to next Saturday night with Brad and i want to wear them, but i have no idea what to wear it with. i really want one of those shorter shirt/sheath style dresses, but i have no idea where to find one.

think they sell them at Wal-Mart? :)

2008-10-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

i think this is probably the earliest i've ever written a blog - 6:30am. geez...that's remarkable :) i actually have to be at work at 8, but i'm having breakfast with a co-worker at 7:15. it's crazy, but that's seriously how much i LOVE going to breakfast.

anyway. we all know i'm new to the 'small town living', right? i'm loving it more and more everyday and can't even express how wonderful this little town is. but i'm learning bit by bit that there are a few things about it that i just don't like. or rather, things that are just so different to me that i'm not sure what to do with them. and the first (and only) one i'll share today is this:

girls my age seem to have a very hard time being sociable to people who are "outsiders".

i noticed then when i first started coming up here to visit brad and his family, and it drove me crazy. i would sit and try to talk to them at campfires and i just felt like they didn't care. eventually it got to where i would come up and wouldn't even want to hang out with his friends, and that was a sore subject to get on, obviously. brad would always tell me, "they're just not used to new people and they're not good at getting 'outside' of themselves." yeah, no kidding.

well, i recently switched positions, which brought me to the bank's other office. and there are a few girls there that are my age, seem to be very talkative and friendly (with each other and everyone else) but just won't seem to give me the time of day! and i wonder if it's me, but then, i don't have a hard time at all making friends with anyone else - just the younger girls. i think i could tell you their background stories from the few times i've talked to them and made an effort to get to know them, but i'm not even sure they know anything about me, other than what i've volunteered because they never have asked.

it's all just odd to me. maybe it's cause i've done a lot of traveling, and have moved around a bit, and most of these girls have stayed in this town their whole lives. there's one girl who grew up with brad that i had a hard time with at first, and she's now become one of my closest friends here - she's wonderful. but it took (seriously) five years to get here!

maybe it's just one of those things. anyway - i've gotta get dressed for work. have a great weekend!

2008-10-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

life has been busy for this girl lately. i found out this week that i received the promotion at the bank i had been going for - GREAT news to hear! it was a little unsure if it would happen so i wasn't telling many people that i was going for it, but once they received corporate approval (i've only been in my current job for a month and a half...supposed to be there a year before 'posting out') i was able to apply and thankfully, i got the job. it's much better pay, better hours, and THREE weeks of vacation! i couldn't believe how good everything turned out. i fully believe it's a testimony to God's faithfulness when we tithe.

i've made some girlfriends! it's been wonderful beyond words to sit with other women and just be in the company of females. and on top of it, they're really amazingly great girls. so, i'm also feeling really happy about that accomplishment :)

so far, living in a small town has been great. i love seeing people all over town that i recognize, and 'name-dropping' to Brad - i get a kick out of knowing the people he's known his whole life, and knowing things about them that even he doesn't! believe me - you wanna know the local gossip? go to the nearest bank. seriously, i hear it all there.

the hardest thing at being in a tiny town? no selection of stores or restaurants. brad and i usually go out to eat on friday nights, and it sounds like this:

brad: 'so where do you feel like?'
me: 'well...i don't know. the steakhouse sounds good, i could go for one of their salads.'
brad: 'yeah, but we ate there last week. what about anglers? i love their burgers.'
me: 'oh, okay. i had that for lunch a couple days ago, but that sounds good.'

SERIOUSLY. there's about 4 quality restaurants in town to choose from. definitely a change from a big city, with an endless list of new restaurants to try. maybe i just need to try cooking one of the ducks that brad brings home from hunting? ;)

here's some pictures from a walk we took (at his parent's house - their land is that big) this past weekend. the weather's been beautiful in the Northwoods lately!

the debate

2008-10-02T21:24:00.001-07:00

okay, i know, i know...this is all everybody's talking about, so i'm going to, also.

bottom line - i LOVE sarah palin. love her, love her, love her. i love her cute face and adorable glasses and shiny hair and am jealous of the fact that she probably has a better body than i do and she's delivered five children.

but what i love most about her is that, again, bottom line - she's not qualified to be the VP. not at all. but i can tell you what: after watching the debates tonight, she MORE than confirmed that she knows how i feel as an American, as a middle class, hardworking young woman. i loved it that i could listen to her and actually understand what she was saying and that i didn't have to filter everything she said into 'laymen's' terms (simple vocabulary).

and brad put it best when he said this tonight: "Sarah Palin made me proud to be an American again."

by the way, i would fully be in support of a Biden/Palin ticket! why didn't they think of that??

random.

2008-10-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

just got home from work.

watching Paula Deen make a dessert called Chocolate Delight. choc. angel food cake, whip cream, chocolate syrup, pecans. repeat. it's all stuffed in a trifle dish and looks incredible.

where is MY trifle dish? wish i would have written down who had borrowed what when i moved.

VP debates tomorrow night! MCCAIN/PALIN 2008.

need to go to the gym. also need to quit thinking about Paula Deen and pumpkin soup with cinnamon sugar croutons....

2008-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

since i work on saturday i've got today off, and i just woke up! (well, an hour ago, at noon). sometimes i am so thankful for the days that i can sleep in because they really don't come too often, but then i always hate it that i waste half the day sleeping....especially when i feel like there's things i need to get done. which there's always a list, isn't there?

anyway, i had to post pictures of the side table that brad built me this past week - i cannot say enough how much i love his carpentry skills! to date, he's built me a coffee table, tv armoire, headboard and now this table. the really neat thing about this table is that he made it using reclaimed barn wood, so it's got a beautiful, weathered look.

i love the slats for the shelf on the bottom

you can see the weathered texture on the top of the table

so, i love, love, love this table. it's got a fantastic white, blue-ish tint to it, and it looks so good with the other furniture he's built.

alright, i should probably get up and out of my bathrobe! it's going to be tough, i'm getting sucked into the Real Housewives of Orange County...one of the women's husband just bought her a 40k Rolex for her birthday. sounds nice, but i think i'd rather have a homemade table any day :)

sunday, sunday

2008-09-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today was a gorgeous fall day...crisp air, bright orange and red trees and warm sunshine. We stayed at his parent's house last night cause we had a late night bonfire, and early in the morning brad went out hunting with his brothers and i slept in. haven't done that in a while, and it was nice. but we went to church and afterwards went to a bar to watch the Packers game and eat lunch - i didn't stay long, just enough to eat :) i just have a hard time getting into football, especially when i'm watching it with 3 guys.

brad's at his parent's right now, finishing up a table that he's building for me, and i've been around my house cleaning it up and doing some more decorating. i've got a chicken in the crock pot, and it smells amazing...can't wait to see how it tastes :)

it was so funny, though - brad and i went to the 11am service at church, and there was nobody there. seriously, it was eerie...normally every chair in the place is filled. i must have been looking around the room with a confused expression on my face, cause brad leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Packers play at noon." oh, right.

bliss

2008-09-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

this past week has been so draining on me, and i don't even know why. i think driving an hour each way to my training course, and then sitting for 8 hours for the past 5 days really took its course on me. and then i had to work all day today, which was a 7.5 hour shift with no breaks - doesn't sound bad, but Saturdays can be our busiest days. so, needless to say, i was ready for break.

that being said, i came home from work today and had the whole afternoon and evening to simply wind down. brad's out duck hunting with the guys and won't be back until later tonight, so i'm spending my time watching TV - DirtySexyMoney marathon! i love this show - and checking out some design options for the dining room. oh, and painting my poor little nails that haven't seen a bit of attention in months!

my favorite nail color - bubble bath

and a few wallpaper options - i'm exploring all the possibilities....

i don't know! i'm so, so confused about what to do. i like the idea of wallpaper, but i wouldn't do the entire wall, it would just be the lower half. but then i'd have to get paint for the top half (or vice versa), and then i probably wouldn't like the look of wallpaper meeting the paint, so i'd want to put in chair railing. grrr....i need an interior decorator who will just do this for me!

alright, my dinner is done and i'm a hungry girl, so i'm out -- have a great weekend!

best time of year

2008-09-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

as i've said many, many times, i love fall! it's my birthday season, i love the weather, i love the colors, i love everything about it. i've been wanting to do some fall decorating outside lately but wasn't sure what i wanted to do, and definitely didn't want to spend a lot of money. the good thing about being in a small town is that there's always a really cheap option: WAL MART. now, i really don't love this store like i love Target. i looooove me some Target like nothing else. but you take what you get, right?

so i went to Wal Mart tonight and spent $20 on my outdoor fall decs. here they are --

1.) indian corn + rope twine + ribbons = door decoration

this was super easy - all i did was bundle up 3 ears of the indian corn with the rope twine and tied a ribbon around it. total cost? $9. (for some reason that rope twine was pretty expensive, it was five dollars! this project would've been a lot cheaper without it...)

2.) indian corn + rope twine = fall garland

i strung up the indian corn on the rope twine by wrapping the rope around the tusks of corn, and then simply tying it onto the railing. i also bought a big pumpkin at Wal Mart for $4.

3.) coffee beans + apple cider scented candles + mason jars = rustic luminaries

i saw this idea in some country decorating magazine, except the woman whose home they were showcasing used these to line her driveway on Halloween night while children were trick or treating. well, i love all things mason jars, so sign me up. i got the mason jars from brad's momma and paid around $8 for the coffee beans and candles. also both at Wal Mart :)

...and the big picture! it's simple, it's cheap...and i love it.