090

This evening, Josh and I went on the General Jackson! AH it was awesome. They served a yummy meal, put on a good Country Music tribute-esque show, and we got to hang out on a boat all night :) it was really cool! That propeller in the picture above weighs 38 tons. Can you believe that?

One of the ship's crew, er... cast? He was in the band, so I guess technically he's part of the cast...? Anyway, the bassist was pacing the deck as a part of his pre-show ritual, and he passed by us like four times. Finally, Josh made a friendly joke about it, so he started talking to us and he offered to take our picture. I'm really impressed/happy with how it turned out! He was very sweet - he took his time to compose the shot, even waiting for the lights in the background to be in a good spot - he said his wife's a photographer, so he was better than your average stranger pointing your camera at you. So that was a cool interaction, and we got a great picture out of it! :) Too bad we didn't catch his name.

I'm glad we got to go. I was bummed out when I woke up with a bad headache this morning, because we'd been looking forward to this evening for a while! But Josh took care of me, I took half a dose of excedrin, and spent most of the day in bed, reading my Shirley Temple book (which is really interesting so far, by the way!). Those three things worked pretty well and my headache was all gone in time to leave for the excursion.

Three Things:

• They ended the tribute part of the show on Taylor Swift. There is no reason for that. Unless they were trying to insinuate that she is the end of good country music hahahahahahahaha 
• My Dad is borrowing my camera again this weekend, so SADLY I will not have it back until Sunday night = you guys will get lesser quality photos :(  
• We sat at a table this evening with a couple who'd been married for 45 years! One of the men at our table asked them for the secret to a long, happy marriage. The husband looked at his wife tenderly, then looked back up and said, "forgiveness." I thought that was so cool! :) :)

089

Picked up some new reading material at the library. (Where I was reminded yet again that I do not have a Davidson County library card. And once again I didn't have my ID or anything with me. Josh has one, though, so I guess I don't really need one as long as I only go to the library when Josh goes to the library. Honestly, that's not too difficult.) As you can see, I was intrigued by Shirley Temple's Autobiography, while Josh grabbed Monica's Story. We also got a couple film documentaries - one about high school politics and one about the kidnapping of Patty Hearst - and a biography of Thomas Edison, known as "the father of invention" = super interesting for a patent artist like my husband! So I'm looking forward to all the learning we'll do this week :) In the words of Andrew Brewer, "Library ftw."

We also drove over to the ghost of Opry Mills to pick up our General Jackson tickets for tomorrow! On the way home, we broke our no--eating-out-til-April rule and had an early dinner at Uncle Bud's... which we both ended up regretting haha. Fried foods are not our friends. But it was yummy at the time? :/ After that, we went into Southern Thrift to look for an old fashioned lacey tablecloth, and left with a cute summer dress and two Carmen San Diego computer games :P All for under ten bucks! Still looking for an uber cheap lace tablecloth. It's for an art project I've got in my head.. So if anyone knows of a good place to get them, let me in on the secret. I'll probably end up going to Hobby Lobby and buying just some lace fabric... We'll see.

Anyway, I feel like today's post was a little all over the place, and I apologize for that. I hope that everyone had a good Wednesday!

088

Today marked our seventh month of marriage, so we celebrated by eating pizza and pineapples for dinner outside :P (today was GORGEOUS, was it not?). It doesn't feel like it's been so long, but at the same time, it feels like it's been an eternity since life changed so much. The way life is now feels normal. In a good way! It feels right :) I'm so glad that we made the commitment we did 7 months ago. He's my best friend, my confidant, my selfless lover, my favorite comedian, my patient partner, and the only person who truly gets me. Sorry if that's too sappy for anyone, but it's all true and I've been thinking about it a lot lately :) I'm just so thankful for the match I have in Josh. God is good!

Not much really went on today. Josh had a lot of work today and I chilled.. He did take a break to go for a bike ride again today. He seemed refreshed and invigorated after that!

Oh'p, and we just watched Freakanomics on Netflix - It was interesting! It's based on the book of the same name, which explains different aspects of pop culture through economics and statistics. There were four or five segments filmed by different documentary directors, each based on a chapter from the book. They talked about cheating (particularly within the world of Sumo wrestling), the influence that your name has on your life, the concept of bribery, and even abortion. Those are the stories I remember from the film, at least. It was very interesting.

Now I think I'm gonna go for some of that leftover pie :D

087

I should have posted this afternoon before people came over for game night. I already had the picture on the computer and everything... I don't know why I didn't do that, haha. We have bikes now! So Josh went for a ride today... I'm going to have to go with him one of these days now since I've got one too. Thank you, Taylor family, for letting us borrow your bikes indefinitely :D

We busted out the ol' Loaded Questions tonight for game night! First time in months that we played it. Good times with good friends :)

Yeah man I'm pretty tired haha. I've gotta stop staying up past midnight... This is like the fourth for fifth night in a row. Not good! G'night everyone :)

086

I wonder how many posts I start off with "TODAY WAS AWESOME." Shrug. It was! First, my photogenic family came over for lunch ♥ I love getting to hang out with them. Getting all of them in the same room is a rarity these days.. It's always so good to have the whole family together! :)

THEN Josh and I made this incredible Apple Berry Mix pie from scratch. It was really good. And it barely has any sugar in it = a huge win for both Josh and I. Only 1/4 c in the whole thing! Plus, no gluten :) The crust is made of cashews, almonds, coconut, and pineapple juice! It was time-consuming (and expensive.. fresh berries cost so stinkin' much!) But the whole experience was worth it. We had a blast :)

Shortly after the initial taste-test, Josh got a phone call from our buddy Barry. He and Emily got a brand new couch today (foh' free!) and they needed Josh's manly strength to help them get it in the house. Emily and I were there to help them make sure they didn't scuff up her newly painted walls ;) And then we just got to chill for a while! It was good. We hadn't gotten to hang out just the four of us in a while, so it was refreshing. We ♥ them.

And THENNN we surprised the Taylor family at their house. We'd already planned to stop by this evening to grab a couple bikes and give Mrs. Laurie a piece of our pie (she let me borrow her food processor so I could make the crust, so the deal was that we'd bring her a slice!).

We're both proud of our pie, and we had a really goofy fun time making it together. Also we got to hang out with all three of our favorite families! So yeah. Today was great. :D

Goodnight, friends! I hope your Sundays were just as good as ours was :)

P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_48OKZqYzHM You'll thank me later.

085

BONFIRE. :) Isn't this picture of Josh awesome? I know that with the campfire-as-lighting and the half grin, it's a little creepy. But it reminds me of Star Wars, and therefore I love it. Those little embers floating away in the background are sweet.

We thought we were going to be rained out tonight! It rained all afternoon. Emily and I went shopping/had delicious Greek food for lunch in said rain... it was not pretty.

Anyway so since we thought it might be too wet for the bonfire, we played a really long game of Things, but it turns out that Barry and Nyk got the fire going even while it was sprinkling! So the end of the evening was spent enjoying the fire.

Dude I'm ready for the weather to stop teasing us and just STAY WARM.

084

The lighting at the Taylor's house is the bane of my photographic existence. 

Happy Birthday Party to Amy! <3 Such fun. We played Apples to Apples (as you can see) and Mafia (represented by the "Wild" card Natalie is holding... we used Uno cards to determine who was what in the game). I hadn't played Mafia in YEARS. I'm not very good at it, but it was fun! These people are hilarious. Lots of laughing :)

THEN when Josh and I got home, we were startled by a bird flying away as we approached the porch.. where we found this on our wreath:

Is that not seriously adorable?! Neither of us had noticed it before tonight! That bird must've been working on this nest all day. We didn't leave til about five, so it's entirely possible that the little Momma didn't know that the door would open! So now we're going to be extra careful when we open and close the door. I hope these little guys make it.. But we'll see. Peace out. :D

083

I got my hair chopped off!! So you all get these mugshot-esque before and after pictures. :)

I love it. It feels so light and fresh and I welcome the change :) I was thinking I wanted go shorter than what it ended up being, but I like this too. And I'm sure it'll keep growing on me. HA - Literally! That pun was not intended.. I crack myself up!

Anyway, I went to a salon in Hermitage called Michelle's, and Shannon took such good care of me. Best experience I've ever had with a hairdresser! She gave me a bunch of tips for working with my hair at home, and they were all supa easy (which is so good for me - she said the magic words "shower and go" and I smiled so big :P)

Josh spent the day with the Powell family, making a funny video and having a good time. Not sure when it'll be online, but I'll link to it here when it shows up!

Mmk, we has gots to do some serious grocery shopping. Peace.

P.S. This post broke my record for the most viewed blogpost in 24 hours! The previous record holder was from the beginning of January! :O

082

YES, that's right. Today, we worked through our fear of putting holes in the walls and put up FOUR pictures. Well, one was a painting and one was a clock.. but there are now four walls that are no longer so bare! I like it :) I've still got a bunch of plans for these walls, but for now... baby steps :) I'm still a little intimidated by the super blank wall behind our dining room table. I think I'll need something more creative (read: something huge) for that space. I haven't come up with any solid ideas yet... Toying with the idea of removable wall decals.. But I don't know! We'll see. I'm not completely sold on any one idea yet.

Alright, Top Model time! You guys have a good Wednesday evening :)

081

HAPPY BIRDAY AYHMEE. :) She turned 21 today, so we went over to the Taylor's for ICE CREAM CAKE and PRESENTS! <3 Good choice, Ayhmee. Look at how pretty she is!!

It was a good time. We love you, Amy!

Ok sorry this is short but i'm TIREDsogoodnight.

080

Jen's a cutieface!

What a good day! Josh had the day off so we played some video games and watched Catfish - it blew our minds..  Hooolllyyyy cow........... Then Jen came over and we all went to Murfreesboro, and we stopped by Fulin's to see our buddy Alex Taylor (also to get their freaking ah-mazing crab rangoon aka heaven). It was fun! It was good to see Alex.

Then we surprised Seth for his 21st birthday! We played a hilarious round of Argue, then a hilarious round of The Game of Things. It was really fun! It's always nice seeing Seth and Alex. We don't make it out to Murfreesboro that often, so. Happy Birthday, Seth! :)

I love you boys! <3

Alrighty. Goodnight, world of wide web.

079

First off, my Dad asked me to tell everyone how jealous he is of our new coffee table for being today's photo. He really wanted to be featured again, which is understandable - he is the (self-proclaimed) best lookin' Daddy in the world ;) ;)

Second, YES we finally got a coffee table! It's a little beat up, but I think it adds character :p (plus it was only $20 for it and two matching side tables at Goodwill... winning!)

Next on the living room to-do list... Maybe get a cute rug and pillows to match. Definitely get a lamp for the other side of the couch to balance the room out. Figure out the Record player situation. Actually hang some wall art instead of talking about it all the time (gotta get over that fear of putting holes in the walls!) But today's find has inspired me! I want to spruce the place up a bit!

Dinner with my parents at Greek Cuisine was really fun :) I love love love getting to hang out with my family! They let us borrow the van so we could schlepp the tables home, then we met them back at their house for smoothies and District 9.. good movie, but the language is terrible! Anyway, the point is that I had a good day. I ♥ Momma and Daddy :D

078

d'aawwwwwwwww :)

Today was so much fun! We hung out with Joe and Anna, Barry and Emily, and the NEW couple Jared and Anna! Let me tell you, I have never seen my husband so excited about two people getting together as he is about Jared and Anna (well, except maybe him and me :P) It's been years in the making. And it's awesome.. it's easy to see how happy both of them are. It was really fun to watch!

After the park (pictured), we went to Joe and Anna's place for pizza and this sweet game called Last Word that we'd never played before. It was, indeed, a good time!

077

Today was soooo beautiful. We had planned to do a lot more than we ended up doing today, but I felt pretty lethargic for some reason... PLUS - it was just too pretty outside! Nothing else really to report. Happy Friday, everyone :)

P.S. Give Rebecca Black some slack, kids... she's just a thirteen year old girl. Who cares if her song sucks.

076

Three Things:

• Josh DJ'd the NLA Father/Daughter Dance tonight and it was fuuuuun. The girls loved him - coming up every two or three songs with requests. And I swear, he played almost the whole "My World 2.0" CD for them. So funny :)
• Lightroom isn't working for me. I wanted to tweak these a little to make them pop... But alas. You guys will have to make do with the originals :P HOPEFULLY the Adobe people will email us back really quickly.. I like to think that I don't lean too heavily on photo-editing, but I do appreciate what I can do with it, and I miss it!
• We freaking left Chuck season 2 in the Taylor's van last weekend. BOOO. 

"Can you play Justin Bieber?"

This little girl and her dad were so cute. 

075

Today's photo is merely a preview of things to come - Josh and I made a goofy video today with the blender! It was so fun :) Other than that, today was pretty uneventful.

We just watched ANTM and it's getting much more interesting as it goes along :) Still not a clear favorite for either of us. But at least it's holding our attention a little better than the first few weeks :P Now we're about to watch this evening's Survivor -Yes, Wednesday is totally our reality TV indulgence night! Or really our TV in general indulgence................... Oh no... it looks like the episode wasn't recorded :/ I guess we'll have to wait til tomorrow for our Survivor fix. :/ BUMMER. It's been so interesting so far! I've never been into Survivor, but Josh talked me into watching it this season and it's definitely been entertaining.

Alright, that's enough TV talk. Yay for making it to day 075 without missing a day! What a beast. 

*edit, 10:50pm: the video is now up! "HEALTHY KID FREAK OUT"

074

Josh and I went over to my family's house today to hang out with my Momma and give her the plate I painted for her! She loved it! :D :D It says, "The greatest of these is LOVE." I'm so happy that she loved it :):):)

It was so nice to get to hang out with her. We watched the documentary BABIES - soooo freakin' cute - and a few episodes of The Cosby Show. It was just a nice chill day! Mom is on day 15 of her new healthy diet - high raw and lots of vegetables.. She looks great! And she seems to be feeling so much better.. I'm so proud of her! I know how hard it is to stick to the Dr Rawdon plan. 

Dad showed up a few hours into it and it was reeeally nice to get to see him too. I love just sitting around chatting with them. It's always so good to spend time with them. <3 

"Best Looking Daddy in the World"

073

Wow. Today has been awesome. My friends at Chick-fil-A made me feel special all day long! They even took me to O'Charley's after the lunch rush so we could all hang out and reminisce, and they gave me farewell gifts. Hannah gave me the most awesome frame filled with goofy pictures from CFA over the years... it's so cool. I love it. And Randy and Joy gave me an herb garden! Now the kitchen smells like fresh mint and basil!

It hasn't really kicked in that I'm not going back. I've grown up a lot through that place, you guys. Leaving is a really big deal, haha. I feel like I should be more sad or something.. But I'm not! It's been a wonderful [almost] six years, and I'm excited about moving on. On to what exactly will be determined in time. We've got a few good ideas :)

Tonight is GAME NIGHT and I'm going to make waffles for everyone :D What a good monday!

072

I’m writing this on the way home from Georgia, or rather, Josh is writing what I tell him to. I’m so tired. I’m ready to be home.

That's Jordan in the front, leading his pack!

I got to go to Jordan’s race today! It was a little bit longer than yesterday (Yesterday’s was 48 miles, and today’s was a longer stretch and 55 miles total). He did great. He was frustrated with some of the circumstances during the race, but I think it was a good learning experience for him, and he’ll be winning those B class races in no time. He ended up getting in 12^th place of 40ish bikers anyway, which is respectable even if it wasn’t your first week of college races. And he was once again the first placed Cumberland B class racer! So there were a lot of positives from this weekend for him.

Jordan and his racing buddies (Alejandro and Jackson)

I apologize for the continued use of the fish eye lens, but I guess if I really meant it, I would just stop using it so much. In all honesty, I love it. Sorry guys.

DUDE tomorrow is my last ever day at Chick-fil-A. I cannot believe how excited I am.

071

I wasn't feeling well today, so unfortunately I missed Jordan's races :/ Josh was very sweet and offered to take pictures for me... I realize that is technically cheating, but I justify it in my head by realizing that any pictures he took at the race are infinitely more interesting than the pictures I would have taken sitting in a hotel room, sick. Ha. This was taken after the race...  Isn't it great? I was way impressed with Josh's timing when I looked through the CF card. It's kinda tricky shooting such a fast-paced subject, and he did very well. This was, by far, my favorite picture from the day! (Even though it's a little out-of focus... That adds to the charm! It's such a great moment.. I love it)

The official report was that Jordan did awesome! He got either 6th or 8th out of like 30 (we'll know which for sure tomorrow). And they told me that he was the only "B" class cycler from Cumberland to make it 'til the end! I'm so proud of him! I wish I hadn't missed it. But I'll def be there tomorrow. And I'm pumped. :D

I forgot to mention the 8.9 earthquake that happened in Japan yesterday - and something like six nuclear reactors failed today... which is really not good. We're praying for them.

Peace.

070

We're in Georgia! Safe in our very own hotel room :D Neither of us has ever had our own before, so it's kinda cool :P We mostly just rode in the car today. Not a super long drive, but you know. Long trips always wear me out a little bit.  

Tonight we're going to have dinner with some of Laurie and Ray's friends from back in the day. Should be fun! The races start tomorrow morning.. Pretty exciting :)

069

This evening, we went out with the with beautiful duo that is Josh Feener and Hannah Bates. :D They're fun. I'm glad Hannah is taking good care of my little brother like she is ;)

They both had new tattoos!! Josh's says, "Son I Am Always With You" on his arm, and Hannah's is Romans 10:14 - "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" on her ribs. So cool! Hannah didn't show us hers (for obvious reasons... we were in the middle of a restaurant.. that would've been kind of awkward :P) But I'm sure it's awesome too! Here's a very "Joshie" picture of his freakin' sweet tattoo:

Ballin'

All in all, it was a really good evening :) :) 

Three Things:

• The Adjustment Bureau was good! I missed a really important part of the movie when I got up to go to the bathroom, though, so I'll probably have to get Josh to take me again :P 
• We're driving to Georgia tomorrow for Jordan's first college races! SO EXCITED! Looking forward to getting some epic pictures. You know how I do. 
• Gas prices are getting ridiculous:

This is the face of a man who is about to pay 50 bucks for 14 gallons. 

068

Duuuuuuuuuude. Today I learned that the time it takes to try different angles and seek different subjects is well worth it. I am so proud of capturing that drip when I did. I do kinda wish it were in focus instead of just-beyond, but I'm still really pleased with how this turned out! And I love the texture in the next photo: 

I took both pictures literally moments after I took this one. It felt like it was only sunny for like five minutes total today.. But I enjoyed the rain!

So today was my second-to-last day at Chick-fil-A. I keep wanting to take my camera and get some cool pictures of my old stomping grounds and the people I've worked with for so long, but I feel really awkward about bringing my camera into work. I don't know. I wouldn't want to get in anyone's way / make anyone feel awkward (especially me). I keep telling myself that it would be a good learning experience to get in the middle of the action - learn to blend into the background so I can steal moments that wouldn't happen in a studio or a slow-paced environment. But it just feels so awkward to me. Maybe it's because everyone there knows me. Or at least, part of me.

The point being that I took my camera to work this morning and only took 3 pictures, all similar to this:

See, Brad's not going to be working on my last last day, so I had to get a quick pic with him before I went home for my break. (I didn't bring my camera back with me. I regret that a little, but we were so busy today it would have been impossible to try.) I'm going to miss Brad! Brad the jokester.  He always has a witty comeback and/or insult, making everybody laugh. And I think he's everybody's favorite to pick on. But that's just because we all like him so much! I've always appreciated Brad's sense of humor. I'll miss you, man! Promise I'll continue to take good care of your BFF Josh after I'm gone. ;)

067

You just don't cross the Bowling Ball Gang.

Hermitage Bowling has a super sweet deal on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays - $6 for three hours (from 10-1). I got some good pics.. It was fun :)

After bowling, Josh took me to Sakura for lunch and good conversation. He's my best friend! I love getting to talk about anything and everything in depth with him. My husband is such a wise and caring man. <3 

Tomorrow is my last opening shift at theChickfohlay! INSANE. 

066

Game night tonight was good - He's just out of frame in the picture, but tonight my brother Alex showed up!!! :D It was good to see him. We all played Argue again and I'll say it a million times - that game is SO MUCH FUN. As I write this, Amy is playing with my camera and having a blast with the fisheye :P It's amusing. Here are a couple of her shots that were just too good to pass up:

CUTE.

NOT CUTE.

065

Most of today was one of those marriage-is-really-hard days. After talking through fears and tears and such, we worked through it. And I've just gotta say that I'm incredibly blessed that Josh loves me the way he does. There are no words.

So this evening we went on a marriage-is-fun date :D :D to Fulin's :D :D and it was lovely. Josh is my very best friend! At the end of the meal, I opened my fortune cookie to find the above fortune. SO FUNNY - Next Monday is my very last day at Chick-fil-A... We laughed. I also stumbled upon this Photography book at home that my uncle gave me for Christmas years ago, and I never really looked through it. I started it today, and I don't want to make any promises or predictions, but I'm hoping that I'll learn a lot from it. And I hope you guys will be able to see a difference in the photos I'm posting on the ol' blogazaurus.

Alright, enough internet. I'm going to watch Chuck with my wonderful husband.

064

Isn't she cute? Even when she's tired, haha. 

EMILY IS HOME! <3 She's been home since Tuesday, but we haven't gotten a chance to hang out until today. We went to Fired Up and had a blast, as always, painting pottery. Then we met the boys back at the house and played Argue! and it was awesoooome.

I'm very happy that she's home. And I can't wait to get my plate back. :) Good day!

063

The first half of today sucked. It got a better as it went along, though.. Man, it's been a long week. I'm exhausted. Looking forward to tomorrow. 

Yeah, I'm going to bed now. Hah. I'm so boring... My poor husband. :/

062

Jen and Josh have this Love-Hate relationship. Pictured: Hate. 

We got to hang out with our good friend Jen this afternoon after I got off work. It was seriously, refreshingly, wonderfully enjoyable. We updated each other on our lives. We goofed off and lauged a lot. It was really, really fun. And I'm very excited for Jen! Se seems happier and more than she has in a long time. At least from my perspective :p

We love you, Jen!

Isn't she adorable? :)

061

Miracle/Puppy, ruling her domain.

Yay for being halfway through the week! I'm ready for the weekend, dude.

Hannah Woody is incredibly patient and helpful. I wasn't feeling well at work and she worked some magic and let me go home early. Shrug. I didn't sleep well, I got sick, and I needed to take it easy. So, thanks, Hannah!

I WANT THIS COFFEE MUG.

And here's another animal picture for the heck of it - Bambi is adorable, is she not?! (he..?)

Bambi ruling his domain (the air vent).