Wendy the Sister.

Wendy is my eldest sister who acts like she's about 20 years younger than I am.

She took a lot of crap from her younger siblings me growing up but somehow managed to still like me after all was said and done.

So, to reward her loyalty, she shall be in my wedding.

Ode to Wendy

She may be pretty nice,

and she looks really sweet,

But if you mess with her family,

You'll get your butt beat.

She's past the age of thirty,

but she loves Mickey Mouse.

She's super duper purty

and she has a big ol' house.

The commercials on TV

often make her cry,

She's a big old baby,

but, really, so am I.

She's a crazy, super-fan,

From Twilight to Harry Potter.

If a sexy vampire is involved,

you know you surely got her.

She's the greatest Aunt Dede

and one of my favorite sibs.

She'll only outdo herself

when she has her own kids.

I hope she knows that through the mess

are where God's best plans are laid.

She's gonna be the best,

biggest boobied bridesmaid.

WOOHOO!!!

Love you, sista.

Maid of Honor.

And so begins the story of Whitney.

I mean, we've known each other forever seeing as we are 'step-cousins,' but I used to think she was a brat.

Then we hit middle school, began obsessing over the Backstreet Boys, and realized that we both happened to be the best dancers ever.

The rest is history, folks.

Whitney is one of those friends that I can completely disagree with (and she can disagree with me) but we love each other just the same.

It's a match made in heaven.

We've certainly had our fair share of arguments, but then we became grown ups and realized it's okay to disagree with each other and even voice that disagreement.

In fact, I think it's what makes her my BFF.

Ode to Whitney

My B to the FF, 

My Backstreet lady, 

I love you so much cuz you ain't not shady.

 

You tell me how it is 

and I tell you too,

and that's alright 

because it's really nothing new.

We think "Friends" is funny,

We laugh until we pee.

It's one of the few things in this world

funnier than you and me.

We LOVE eating good food,

and we like to drink some vino.

I prefer the White, 

but you prefer the Pinot.

We are the queens of dancing,

no one can deny.

They try to hate on us, 

but they even know they lie.

 We're country girls all the way,

We sing it loud and proud.

We fest at CMA,

and scream super loud.

You're the peanut butter to my jelly,

the Frick to my Frack.

I love you like the food in my belly,

there's nothing that you lack.

I'm getting all married and committed,

 but that doesn't make me a gonner.

Nothing makes me happier

than you being my Maid of Honor.

I LOVE YOU!

and I'm fairly confident you laughed a lot during this.  

wedding.

You may or may not have heard that I'm getting married.

May or may not.

But I am.

On July 27, 2013.

And here is another casual picture of my beaut of a ring:

If it seems as though I am showing off the fact that I'm getting married, it's because I am.

I've been waiting for this bad boy for a long time, so let me have it!

Since I've been planning my wedding since I was 5, I basically have the details worked out.

I considered doing something like 'Wedding Wednesdays,' but opted against it because it's kind of demanding. 

I mean, what if I don't feel like talking about my wedding every Wednesday?

So, you'll get little tidbits when I feel like it.

Luuccccccccckyyyyyyyyyyy!

My MOH, Whitney, so loved my Ode to Steven that I thought it would be nice to make public all of our embarrassing habits, obessions, and moments over the last 20+ years of friendship.

And so begins the introduction to the Maid Brigade (you love it).

Tomorrow.

I'll do them one at a time, which will take forever because there are a bunch of them:

Whitney (MOH/Cousin/BFF 20+ years)
Wendy (Sister)
Helen (Sister)
Rachel (Sister)

Kelly (Sister-in-law)
Brittany (Sister-in-law)

Janelle (Sister-in-law)

Amanda O. (BFF 18+ years)

Christy (BFF 12+ years)

Amanda Z. (BFF 12+ years)

If you've been around a while, you've heard about Whitney, the Amandas, and Christy before here.

Isn't this exciting?!?!

how to be happy.

In regards to this gem of a photo, my galfriend said, "I swear you have THE happiest kid of anyone I know. Parental reflection ? :)"

He is happy.  And I am a generally happy lady, so I want to say yes.  Of course it is parental reflection, right?

Give me your million dollars now for I am about to reveal the secret to happiness.

Tea?  Maybe it's tea.  I drink a lot of tea and that sure makes me happy.

I walked in this morning to a brand spankin' new computer at work.

I feel like a new woman today!

Fast programs, fast emails; I don't know what to do with myself.

Morning Diet Coke?

I say, "WHY NOT?!?!"

I am wild.

Diet Coke makes me really happy.  If you are a Diet Coke enthusiast like myself, you get it.

If you don't like Diet Coke, you are strange and you don't get it.

Another great way to be happy is to enlist a goofy child and a sexy man.

That will surely do the trick.

And this, my friends is the secret to happines:

Tea, new computers, Diet Coke, hot men, and silly children.

Uno secreto...

I am lying my butt off.

I giggled at my friend's comment on my picture.

While I tend to be a pretty happy indivdual, I also tend to showcase the pictures of my little guy when he is not throwing food at the dog and/or chasing her with golf clubs.

As proof, view this sweet little post.

Now, sweet Samantha was right in that we encourage happiness, silliness, and playfulness in our house.

But if you really knew me about 4 years ago, you knew that my heart was cold, mean, and hateful.

My little secret to happiness is God.

He's not such a big secret and you might be throwing things at your computer and vowing never to read my blog again.

But my heart  has been changed in a way that I could never really do on my own.

Even in the last two short weeks that I've been going to church and praying for God to come in and change me, I've felt huge changes.

Changes I've tried to make, unsuccessfully, on my own in the past.

The proof is in the punch, people.

I also admit that I have NO IDEA what that saying actually means/refers to.

Pretty sure it works  here, though.

There are no 'catches' with turning your life over to God.

But to have allllllllllllll this good stuff (and I mean a LOT of good stuff), you have to accept it from Him.

If you're not sure how to do that, ask me.

Now, go have a Diet Coke.  It won't cause total happiness, but it will make things (like traffic) a little easier to deal with.

twenties.

Happy birthday to the love of my life,

the father of my child,

the provider of our family,

the cuddler of Bella,

the hottest of hot,

the silliest of silly,

the moodiest of moody,

the super sexiest,

the hardest working,

the do-it-himselfer,

the good ol' boy,

the guy that gets along with everyone,

the super griller,

the 'i just ran 10 miles for fun' er,

and my future husband!

I adore you and look forward to watching your eyebrows turn gray.



Live it up, old man.

It's the last year of your twenties.

how i weekend.

I was chatting with a girlfriend about weekends and had to giggle at how much my weekends have changed in the last few years.

At first, I tried to resist being lame.

It took me about a year of motherhood to accept that I will no longer be going out on the town Fridays and Saturdays, but I have finally embraced it.



This is what my Friday night looked like.

I got in a great workout during the day, so I capped my night off with a power mile, a shower, a huge cup of sleepy time green tea and 'Say Yes to the Dress.'

All of this before 9pm.

Hecks yes.

Saturday was St. Patricks Day (incase you live under a rock or are without a calendar).

The boys and I packed up the car with ingredients to make Shepherd's Pie and some Oreo Truffles and headed over to my brother's house.

Familial Highlights:



I tasted an 'Irish Car Bomb' that my brother-in-law swore tasted like Dr. Pepper.

Lies.  All lies.

I proceeded to gag and gave it to my fiance who happily downed it.

He also woke up with a nice giant headache Sunday morning, which I suggest is a sign he can no longer 'keep up,' but he insists that's not the case.

Big Steven missed what was to be his first day of church (shame!), but Little Stevie and I proceeded.

The babe enjoyed himself and God spoke straight to my heart, so I'll call it a win.

We capped our night off with a Herman Sunday Dinner to celebrate the birth of my favorite fiance.

We ate my mama-in-law's famous baked ziti (MY FAV!!!), ice cream cake, some delicious GiGi cupcakes, and played outside.

Stevie thought it was his birthday again, which was just adorable.

Big Steven looked handsome as ever - even at the ripe old age of almost 29.

We went home, I folded laundry, and we hit the hay as early as possible.

Sure.  Sometimes I miss my 'do-whatever-I-want' days.

But definitely not this weekend.

stewardship.

Personal shout out to Starbucks for furnishing my post-traffic smile.

Tall Mocha Frappucinno Lite.

110 not-too-naughty calories of pure delicious.

It's been stinkin' 80 degrees!

We took a little family walk to the park yesterday and Big & Little both had fun.

Big Steve got to play basketball with some fellas and Little Steve raced down slides.

I personally loved the 3 mile jog/walk to and from the park in the gorgeous weather.

So, who cares that my allergies are in full effect?

I am so lucky.

On Sunday, I went to church and the sermon was about stewardship.

How we are all called to take care of and manage the 'things' we've been blessed with.

I needed to hear it for so many reasons!

I've been blessed with a healthy body.

I'm hard on myself and my body; I put myself down for not looking a certain way.

I'm learning that the most important thing is that I take care of the body I've been given.

I regularly work out and, for someone who loves food, I generally have pretty good self control in regards to what I put in my body.

I've been blessed with a hard working man.

He drives me crazy and is SO oblivious to mess.

He eats like a cow.

But he is incredible.

He works his butt off, he's generous, and he loves his family.

I'm learning instead of nagging him to death about leaving coffee grounds all over the place ("What?  I cleaned it up."), I am pretty lucky that I get to take care of him.

When all else fails, I just take a good, long look at him and appreciate his hotness.

I've been blessed with a well-behaved, polite child.

I often wonder how the heck he got to be such a good kid, but I'm sure not complaining about that.

Sometimes he drives me nuts, too.

He gave me nice little stretch marks across my belly and gave me the appetite of a 300 lb woman for 9 months.

He's messy (like his dad), runs away from me because he thinks it's a game when I use the phrase "come here," and he wants me to hold him when my hands are full.

I'm learning that there are many people out there who are praying for children and would LOVE to clean up after a little boy.

I am so, so lucky that way.

The sermon from Sunday challenged me to appreciate the things that God is letting me 'manage' and to do so in the best way possible.

None of this belongs to me.

I have been given so much to look after and have gotten so busy trying to make things 'perfect' that I've forgotten to appreciate everything.

My greatest challenge is money.

It's not that I have a problem giving, but that I don't feel like I have much to give.

So, in the next few months, I am focusing hard core on my financial responsibilities and will likely share what I learn.

Deep, right?  Well, right now I am going to relish in the fact that it's Thursday and the last day of my work week.  HOORAY!

To be continued...