My Best Friend's Wedding

Stephanie is getting married this weekend! I'm so much looking forward to it and getting to witness the union with the man of her dreams. I've never been in a wedding before so I'm also super excited to be a Bridesmaid! The weather looks good (There has been so much rain this week but we should get a nice break this weekend) and it's going to be a fabulous day!

We got mani/pedi's last night, Steph giggled during the pedi- she's super ticklish! But all ended well and she (and I!) have some cutesy fingers and toes and are ready for the weekend!

Rehearsal dinner tonight then spending the day with Steph tomorrow!

Of course I'll be paparazzi this weekend and have plenty of pics! Camera batteries are all charged up and ready to go! (both sets!)

Family Time

We had the family over for dinner last night.

I slaved away over a hot stove all day let some pork marinate overnight and threw it in the crockpot so that I wouldn't have to really "cook" anything.

The dinner was delightful and couldn't have been easier.

I'll post about it on PaniniMonday but seriously- you need to check out Rachel right now.

For real. Go over there but make sure to come back... eventually

Birthday Celebration

Since I wasn't home on my birthday night and spent the night hanging out with the girls (my mom, mama, and 2 BFFs) Patrick treated me on Friday night to dinner and a movie. My choice of course and since I was needing a little more happy that day we went to Happy Hour and I decided to torture bring Patrick to the premiere night of The Ugly Truth. It was either that or Harry Potter, which he would rather staple his eyes shut. So The Ugly Truth it was. I enjoyed it. A lighthearted, comical chick flick and of course who doesn't like to look at Gerard Butler? (No, I've not seen PS I love you, I hear he is great, but no I don't want to see a movie that I know will make me cry thankyouverymuch) Since it was still early when we left the movie, we went to a local bar to watch a band and "people watch." The crowd did not dissapoint and we spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out how some people have absolutely no rhythm yet act like they are Beyonce; we totally weren't ready for all that jelly.... gah.

I'm still here!

Apparently 26 for me means a sudden burst of absentmindedness since I completely forgot I had no posts lined up for the rest of last week!

Nothing much to report anyway, this weekend was fairly laid back since we are about to embark on yet another whirlwind of events. Including but not limited to a wedding, a trip to California, a rockin' summer party, and a whole lot of football!

Stay tuned!

26

Well... here it is. My 26th birthday. It's come along quicker than I knew it would and it's pretty much just another day. I don't feel any older, and 26 isn't one of those milestone birthdays.

In my opinion, milestone birthdays include:

1- oh! you're one! you made it a whole year! (this is more a congratulations to your parents)
2- the "terrible" twos... or is it threes now? Either way I was a gem, no chance of being terrible. Maybe a terror... but not terrible.
10- double digits! Welcome to middle school. Get ready to defend yourself.
13- A teenager. Full of angst and rebellion and do what I wantness. (not me, but so I've heard)
16- I can drive! I passed my test on the first time, on my birthday. And then I almost wrecked the car on my first drive solo. But my parents didn't know about that... oops.
18- I can buy cigarettes- big whoop, I don't smoke. and I can Vote! (missed that election. oh yeah) and no matter what you say I am now an adult!
21- No longer drinking underage, not that I ever did that anyway ;)
23- My golden birthday. Turned 23 on the 23rd
25- Quarter of a century! My car insurance went down!
26- zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... I'm 26 now? What is there to look forward to this year?

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not mad about getting older. It's just one of those things you have no control over so might as well not cry about it. In fact, getting older isn't all that bad. (well, yet) So I'm embracing 26 with as much vim and vigor as any birthday and will just hope for the best. I'd say I'm right where I want to be in my life and I have no complaints. I have a wonderful husband, loving family, crazy cat, great friends, a house, a car, a job, I could go on and on. I'm truly blessed to be where I am in my life and it's been a great 25 years. So bring it on 26! I'm ready!

Project Runway

In the words of Tim Gunn- Make it work!







I'd say she does :)

Whirlwind Part 5

Last weekend we went to Oak Hill WV for White Water Rafting. It was a soggy wet camping trip but that made for an amazing rafting trip. The white water was terrific and our guide Chaz was fabulous. Of course there were some casualties that got bumped from the raft (myself included... 3 times I think?) but that is just the beginning of the fun! We will definitely be going again in the future. Great times with wonderful friends just can't be passed up! I hope that is a tradition that we keep running for many years to come!

Mmmm Cappucino

So remember when I mentioned that we were staining the deck? *I should clarify, "we" does not mean me. But like I was saying "we" powerwashed the house and deck and it was time for some delicious cappucino. We are super thrilled at the end result and it was a surprise when we got home from Vegas! P's father stayed and stained the whole deck for us while we were on vacation and we came home to this:

Isn't it lovely?

How about a sidebyside transformation?

I think it will look even more delightful with lights and people and food and fun times at Pagefest 2009!

Whirlwind Part 4

We took the next weekend (July 4th) to detox and take some time to ourselves. We were thisclose to heading to Columbus for Red White and Boom but at the last minute decided we really needed some calm time. We instead made it a movie weekend. It was nice to have some husband wife time and not have to run here and there and everywhere.


Thursday night we saw The Hangover. It. was. hilarious. We both thouroughly en joyed ourselves and it was great to laugh uncontrollably for a little while after everything that had happened the last 2 weeks.


Friday night we rented Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'll let you guess who picked that out. Yep, and I ended up watching the last half by myself and struggled to stay awake. I was really dissapointed considering how much I enjoyed reading the books. But I've come to figure out that most movies (with the exception of a few) are MUCH better as books. Since I started reading again last year I've really fallen in love with the written word. But only certain genres. I'm still struggling to enjoy the "classics" but I'm hoping that some day it all clicks. For now I'll stick with my chick lit and mysteries. Hey, at least I'm reading. (my reading list is embarrassingly short compared to last year but at least I still have one so I'm not complaining)


Saturday afternoon we saw Transformers at the IMAX theater. It was good but not nearly as great as the first one. It was almost too long and there was almost too much action and not enough story line. We still enjoyed ourselves and I'm glad we saw it at IMAX. The details and action scenes were just unreal.


Saturday night we finally got to see Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I actually liked this one too. I'm usually not that big of a fan of those movies that get rave reviews and win tons of awards. They tend to be a little too out there for me. But we both watched the whole thing start to finish and I think we agree that it was a good movie. P's only complaint was that he started out as an old man but he was still a baby and then he ended as a baby. So to him that didn't make sense. haha So living your life in reverse DOES make sense? Either way, 2 thumbs up.


Then we wrapped up Sunday with Taken. This movie was engaging from start to finish. I really like it. High intensity and drama and I just love Liam Neeson. Great movie and I was on edge throughout the whole thing.


To wrap up the movie watching we saw The Kite Runner on Wednesday. Despite the amount of subtitles we both watched the whole thing. It was gripping and tragic and I'm surprised that I liked it considering it didn't have the chick flick/mystery/easy to follow plot line/in english stuff that I usually require in order to watch and enjoy a movie. P claimed that if a subtitle came on he would not watch it but he also got sucked in and postponed doing other things so that he could watch.

I think we filled our movie quota for a while so who know's what we are going to see next.


I'm game for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!!!

2Buckeyes- 1 Year Later

Wow, it's been a whole year since this little piece of the internetz got started.

A lot has happened in a year and it's been documented in the last 70 posts. Not terribly shabby considering I was lacking with posting a lot in some months. Averaging about 1-2 posts/week (or in some cases per month), I think I've finally got the hang of this.

Too bad it took a year for that to happen.

It's been a great year. We've gone on vacations, celebrated holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, lost dear family members, and much much more. Who knows what will happen from here? All I know is I'll be ready... with my camera :)

Happy Anniversary!

Whirlwind Part 3

Along with all this medical motorcycle drama I lost my first grandparent on 6/26.

My beloved Papa passed away at 5:05pm Friday 6/26. Of course it's terribly cliche but words just can't describe the heart breaking pain that goes through you. I miss him so much already and yet I feel terribly blessed to have had 25 years with him. My mama and papa had 57 glorious years together and were a true example of a successful marriage. I swear he loved her just as much if not infinitely more 57 years later. I

worked on putting together a memory board for his services and found my absolute favorite picture in the entire world. And I never knew it existed until that weekend. I asked mama if I could keep it afterwards and she said of course. It's now in my kitchen but I need to find a frame/mat to do it justice. It brings tears to my eyes and I'm not sure why. But the emotion that exudes all the way from the tips of my toes is so powerful when I look at the picture that there is no way that I could ever part with it or be able to display it in a way that would do it all the justice it deserves.

I printed out this picture and wrote a small note on it. I asked the caretakers at the funeral home to leave it with him. They tucked it under his Bible and it's with him forever.

On the back it said:

"The end of the Rainbow.

I'll always know where to find you.

I'll love you forever Papa.

Love Precious"

When I was little he called me Precious (well, he called me that every day for 25 years) and he used to sing a song to me (well, come to think of it- he never stopped singing it to me either), and anywhere I was- when he started singing it I ran to find him. He always spoke of dancing with me on my wedding day to that song ever since I can remember and I'm so thankful that we got to fulfill that wish. I think about that moment all the time. It's one of the few times during that day where everything stood still and was absolutely perfect.

"You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold,

You're [Papa's Precious baby] girl to have and hold

A precious gem is what you are,You're [Papa's] bright and shining star

You're the spirit of Christmas, my star on the tree,

You're the Easter bunny to Mama and me

You're sugar you're spice, you're everything nice,

And you're [Papa's Precious] little girl"

-Daddy's Little Girl - Jeff Carson

Whirlwind Part 2

We returned to Cinci on Monday to the terrible news that my aunt's husband had been in a horrific motorcycle accident that Saturday and was in the hospital basically in a coma. (induced) He suffered 5 broken ribs, 2 broken vertabrae, a broken neck, a broken arm, lost a finger, some teeth, and has the dreaded road rash.

He was life flighted to UC Med Center to be put back together. Luckily he was able to have surgery on his arm and his breaks were clean so recovery is not so fun but in the works. My aunt had just come out of the hospital on 6/19 (she had caught CDif) so this was even worse on her considering she was recovering herself from that. He was doing very well until 7/1 when he came down with a 104* fever and had to be taken back to the hospital where they determined he had caught the CDif as well. Not to mention had a nasty infection in his arm. Once they got him under wraps and taken home my aunt had caught CDif again. They pretty much passed it back and forth. But both are doing well and we are looking on the up for both of them.

And believe it or not it only gets worse before it gets better.

Up next... Whirlwind Part 3

Whirlwind Part 1

Well, considering the last 3 weeks have been a total whirlwind and we haven't stopped for even a minute, I don't even know where to begin. I last left you with the news we were going to Vegas. And we did. And it was wonderful. Hot days spent at the pool, nights spent in the casinos in the warmth and comfort of great friends and lots of laughs. If only every day could be like that. Sadly we didn't bring down the house but we had a great time trying! I swear I get better and better at craps every single trip and I've now graduated to playing something other than the pass line and actually helping someone else understand what the hey is going on since it moves so quick!

Katie and I in front of our Hotel- Monte Carlo :)

2Buckeyes wastin' away in Margaritaville

K-Risten, me, KT enjoying some girl time at the Piano Bar

While T-Rav, P, and Robbbbb enjoyed their bromance

2Buckeyes at the Bellagio

Thanks for a great time Vegas! We will see you next year!

Up next... Whirlwind Part 2