I Forget...

I've done So. Much. the last few weeks that my time line is all screwy.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but I was elected in July to be the Committee Chair for the Young Republicans Formal. Luckily, I was saved from doing this task alone because Andy quickly assumed the role of Co-Chair and I probably owe him my life, or first born, or something. Because there is no way I would have been able to do it without him.

On top of that, we had a GREAT bunch of people that helped us with the planning and decorations (Shout-out to Kelly Brown - who is amazing and totally should have been an honorable mention during the event, and Justin Dutra who put forth a ton of effort in selling tickets and being there through pretty much, every step of the way.)

It was especially nice because my "vision" was something that Kelly saw very clearly, and together we worked out the kinks. I explained what I was going for and she made it happen - all on a budget. It was suuuh-weet.

The event was held at Jack Stones Barn, we had a great turn out and I heard so many good things about it. I think it is definitely going to grow over the next five years to be one of the biggest Young Republican events, whether I am a part of it or not.





The tables came out perfectly. It was a great night all around and I can't WAIT for next years!!

My FAVORITE Neice... (for now, anyways)

I really don't even want to be typing this right now. I don't want to acknowledge, again, that its true.

My Emmers has turned 5 years old this year. WOW. Time has just whipped by. Crazy how it does that. Sometimes I can't believe how old I am, how old my friends are, that my sisters are married, that one of my sisters already has two kids, and another precious one of the way. Then Kari and Adam will add to their family, and Alison's kids will have cousins. COUSINS. That is just insane to me. But its also normal. I guess it'll always feel weird because I still see my sisters as they were when we were young. Heck, I still flip out when I look at the mirror. I remember wanting to be older, to be in love, to have long hair and be able to wear make-up. I wanted to be a grown up so badly. Now that I am, I'm like... Whooooa. No way, I'm still just a kid, until I look in the mirror and find that even though I look very similar to 8-year-old me, I have grown and matured. Which is the weirdest thing. Ever.

I digress. Emma wanted to get her ears pierced, badly. She was ready. Alison and Mark told her that for her birthday, if she still wanted to get it done, then that would be her present. Well, if you know anything about Emma, you know that she has a mind like her Mom. As soon as she gets something in her head, she follows through.

So, all of her aunts and her nana (Grandma was out of town that weekend) joined Alison and Emma to watch her experience the right-of-passage of getting her ears pierced at Claires in the local mall.

It was HIGHlarious. Emma was so nervous, but was acting so brave. Then, they marked her ears, and Alison checked, and double checked, and triple checked that they weren't lopsided. The two girls lined up and as soon as they did it, Emma SCREAMED and then burst into tears. She was over it pretty quickly, and she just wanted a mirror to look at her pretty new earrings.

Kari has a video of it, and once I get my hands on it I'll post for your viewing pleasure. (That's right Claires - We took video. So HA to you and your stinking rules.)

Enjoy the photos!

Haha, a classic Emma smile while for the chicks as Claires to come over.


All of us were talking to both Alie and Em to ease their nerves.


Emma hugged that bear so tight, she would have killed it if it had been real.


Getting her ears marked so that they were just right!


Alison encouraged her the entire time.

Emma's tears made her Momma cry!

Both Mom and Daughter survived the piercing!

Emma, cheesing it with her brand new accessories! :)

Many years ago...

A few weeks ago, my Mom and I went searching for the venue for the impending wedding. We went up to Orange Blossom Junction, and although it was quaint, it wasn't "right."

We got all nostalgic on the way there though, because we used to travel that way to church many years ago, when our family was still just the 5 of us. We decided to take the rest of the drive, since it had been years, so we could see what became of our little church nestled in the foothills.

This is what we saw:

This is the front of the church and the main entrance.

This is where the babies and toddlers would go to Sunday School.


Inside this door is where the elementary school children would learn about Jesus and color - cause the two things really go hand in hand at that age.


This is the side view of the main room in the little chapel, and of a bench I remember sitting on after church. It was "the spot" for me and my two friends.

It was a really crazy experience to go back after all these years. My Mom and I were kind of thrown back in time while we reminisced over the old days.

A Simple Mistake

Soo... I went to Applebees for lunch about a month and a half ago and I ordered their yummy Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bowl (which is one of the very, very few items I like at Applebees) and couldn't finish it, as usual.

I took the rest home, so that I could take it to work. However, the bowl in which to heat it up in was forgotten. Knowing that if I microwaved Styrofoam I'd have a mess on my hands, I went with this:



Seemed like an A-OK thing to do at the time. Until I pulled this out of our dinosaur of a microwave:

. . . Oops. Luckily, no one saw my disaster, and I was able to slip it into another bowl without detection. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die 5 years early for eating melted plastic though. :)

A Lot to Catch Up On

So, planning a wedding in five weeks took up much more time than I thought, so I am radically behind on my postings.

As of right now, I've had a headache for 4 days - tomorrow will make it 5. I'm praying that when I wake up tomorrow, I won't have a headache. Saturday night it peaked to a migraine, but since then, I've been just living will this severe pain that at sometimes, I can work with... Other times, I wince from how much pain.

This has to be bad, right? I mean - A brain can only take so much.

Oh well, enjoy a few of the posts that I should have posted years ago. Hopefully this will make up for my absence.