A Smicket From a Transcript of Old

I don't really know what else to call this sort of post, but I think you'll get a kick out of it. The thing is, for our first anniversary, which is the paper anniversary-oh my gosh, let me back up!
So, for those who don't know, Devlyn and I met at work. When I was in college I worked part time for the same company he did. Sooo, as we started dating and through out our engagement there were, as you can imagine many emails sent back and forth between the two of us while we were at "work," you know "working."
So, as I was saying, for our first anniversary, the paper anniversary, Devlyn took some left over paper that we had printed out our wedding invitations and programs on and printed out almost a year's worth of dialog between the two of us in the form of work emails and bound the pages into a book...awww, I know right. Well hold on, before you close out your browser and throw up, take a look at some of the back and forth-ness. It always makes me laugh.

J: Why is it that when the m&m's get down to just a thin, single layer-barely covering the bottom of the container-there are only red, orange, yellow, blue and brown ones left? Do the green's weigh less therefore they stay at the top and are eaten first or what?

D: Yeah, the greens always stay up.

J: Why do the greens always stay up? Are they bigger and stronger? Do they keep the other colors down? Do they make the other colors go into hiding?

D: That's it precisely doll face. What are we doing tonight?

J: I could never be an m&m.

And another excerpt went like this:

D: You're so weird. I still love you though.

J: Mongeese? Are you trying to say Monkeys?

D: No. I was wondering if a group of mongooses would be called mongeese. Apparently it's mongooses. Spell check told me so.

J: Wouldn't that be cool if we became famous? We could be like Sonny and Cher, what do you think?

D: OK but I get to be Cher.

And yet another excerpt went like this:

D: I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form. "Come in," she said, "I'll give ya, shelter from the storm."

J: My feet don't look like they're my own

D: I'm gonna buy this place and start a fire, Stand here until I fill all your hearts desires

J: You were born too late I was born too soon, every time I look at that ugly moon...it reminds me of you.


I think we were talking in song lyrics...I don't know why, but we probably thought it was hilarious. Those love chemicals should be illegal...

The Anthro Results:

Okay, so the items that I was leaning toward-and that you all seemed to be rooting for as well, were snatched up either in the color I wanted or the size I needed-in a day! So I went into the store to see what I could find. Ironically-no serendipitously-I ended up buying back the original skirt that I had returned (hence the merchandise credit). It was now half off the original price, so that along with not one, but two other tops were inducted into my wardrobe yesterday. It all looks something like this:

Except this is in the moss green color that they were out of online-they had it in the store!

This cream top isn't the exact one I got...I couldn't find a picture of it, so this will have to suffice for visual aid. The one I bought has a big flower protruding (yes protruding) in an offset manner from the stomach region of the shirt and it ties around the waist. Sounds weird I know, and normally I'm not for drawing attention to my stomach region, but it works. I can't explain it-clearly.

And this is the skirt that started everything. My lovely Gramma bought it for me for my birthday. It's called a denim trouser mini skirt-but it's not a really mini, maybe it's because I'm so short, but it comes to my knees. However, I just couldn't bring myself to wear it due to the price so after it sat in the bag in my room for a few weeks, I returned it for in store credit. I'm happy to see it has been redeemed so to speak. I know have the original skirt back plus TWO other tops!

And just for drooling's sake (I know how much you all love to drool) I'm posting this necklace which I fell in love with. The big round crystally beads in the middle are greenish in color-more so than they appear here. Anyway...can't have it all right? (sigh)
But just in case next time you see a shooting star, you can't think of a thing to wish for...remember this necklace.

See it worked for her!
Although she might want to wish for some clothes first next time...

Little Help?

Calling all Fashionistas! I need a little advice here. I have had an Anthropologie gift card burnin' a hole in my purse (so clearly, now I have to get a new purse) for months! This is a tough one. I'm not normally so indecisive, well actually yeah, I am-NO, I'm not! It's just that I love everything in the store, literally. I LOVE it. I want to see, touch, smell and try on everything (it's a genetic disorder) in the store. To make it worse, they not only have clothes, which I love, but they have home decor items, which I also love. Soooo, in an effort to reign myself in, I've decided to post some items I really like and see what you all think. I'm only looking at sale items (for obviou$ rea$on$) but still will probably only be able to pick two items. So of the following, what are your top two favorites?

I love this one. It looks so comfy. I love the length and the ruch detail. But it also came in a moss color that I liked better, but of course, they were out of my size in that color...

This cute little number could work so well year round, especially in the fall with browns and in the spring with white (whites?).

This looks comfy and warm. Nice n' heavy for cold days, but a little tailored so I wouldn't have to feel like a total blob just to be warm...I could wear this pretty much anytime, even to the park and not feel like it would surely get ruined with little kid grime since it's not made of the pretty, fragile, delicate, dry clean only fabrics that scream out to the little kids' grime "Please get on me!" It's a washable fabric, it would fool the kids' grime.

I don't actually love this one, I just love the thought of wearing this around my mom as the asymmetrical-ness would drive her batty! She would shake her head and cover her eyes. Then she'd peek out and twitch and then she'd try to fix it and when she'd realize that it was in fact on "right" she'd lose it. She'd scream and banish me from her sight.

Now this is sweet. It could also work year round, good for layering under cardigans as well as ala carte in the summer (not totally ala carte, I'd wear pants or a skirt or something).


Okay, so I cheated on this one. It's not on sale...it would eat up my entire gift card...but look how pretty! I'm in love with the color...not too yellow, not too orange, not too burnt...not too chimney, not too arugula...

Again...full price, but...

And this baby looks oh so sweet...feminine, soft spoken, modest-you know, like me!

Now this one's "off the hook" for lack of a better term. The problem is, I think this sweater thing is 5'8" and I"m like 5'3" so...unless I want to have a train behind me or dress up as the witch from Snow White...it's not gonna fly, though it kinda looks like it could make you fly...

Then there are boots...let's be honest, I'm dreamin'. My gift card would barley make a dent in the price of these babies, but these red ones give me a physical reaction that I thought my readers might enjoy also. Hey it doesn't hurt to look, right?

But these boots, these are my chosen ones. You know how sometimes you'll be reading a magazine (okay, flipping through, looking at pictures) and you'll see several different makeover options, even though you're not about to makeover your bathroom, you choose your favorite anyway? This is like that. These boots are the ones I choose.


These last three are rugs...beautiful, thick, wool rugs. We have a rounded, espresso color, leather sectional that I think any of these would look gorgeous with. No more playing it safe. The rug doesn't have to be neutral, it can be an art piece, the focal point.

So talk to me already! I'm dyin' here! What do you think?

A Yummy, Painful, Holiday, Decision Story

There are several ways to tell this story, depending on what kind of spin you want to put on it. I've decided to go with the "brutally honest" route. Yes, it's true I can be brutally honest when I put my mind to it. It's just that sometimes in life we contemplate, we make a pros and cons list before we make a decision, and then sometimes we just impulsively make a decision and analyze it later. We sway the pros and cons list in our favor, "Please, in the name of all that is heaven on earth, let this have been the right decision!"
Well, recently I came across just such a decision moment. I would say that my decision fell on the contemplative-impulsive side. Now before you say, "that's cheating," hear me out. It's just that I've been faced with this decision before many times and I've done the hemming and hawing and it always results in the same outcome. So while it would have appeared to the average passer-by-er that I totally did this impulsively, I would argue that I've done the contemplating so many times before, year after year, that I can sort of fast forward through the process in my mind to get to my conclusion. Here, in slow motion, I'll walk you through the many contemplative thoughts that took place in my mind.

Cruising down the dairy aisle at the grocery store, I saw...

And then in my MIND, I heard bells. Jingle bells...

And...

And then I wondered why the Angels I heard singing were black...my subconscious must've known that they had Whitney Houston as their choir director.

That Whitney Houston sure can sing!

Then in my MIND I saw...

The egg nog of my childhood...but then I realized that's pretty old egg nog and I wanted some fresh stuff. So in my MIND I prepared some fresh holiday egg nog and saw...

Mmmmm....and then I remembered that this last year we purchased a...

(Ours isn't red and overly retro like this one is, but I wish it were and since this is all taking place in my MIND...why not?) Which translates into...

And then there were more Whitney Houston-like angels singing. And then, still in my MIND, I thought of how an egg nog latte would be just the thing to take along on those evening sleigh rides...

Then I remembered we don't take sleigh rides around our neighborhood...but we do have children who do this...

For the love! For the children! "I believe that children are our future!"-Stop it Whitney, this is my blog, just because your angel choir gets a shout out doesn't mean you can take over! Cheesh, celebs, you give 'em an inch and they take a mile!

Then reality came back, flooding my MIND with these thoughts and images...


It's still fall...you haven't even carved your pumpkins yet!

And what about Thanksgiving?!

I am not a fan of mixing holidays! I want to be clear on this. I like to fully enjoy and celebrate each holiday before moving onto the next one. I don't like "having Christmas early" and I don't like "having Thanksgiving late" I'm a traditionalist! Don't tell anyone, it will ruin my easy-going-flexible-fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants reputation!
So far these thoughts have been controversial to the egg nog, not contradictory. Until now. Here's where my thoughts get really dark.

Premium Egg Nog Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/2 cup (120ml)
Servings Per Container 8
Ingredients: Cream, sugar, corn syrup, whey powder, egg yolks, nonfat milk solids, high fructose corn syrup, rum and other artificial flavors, nutmeg, carrageenan, guar gum, mono-and diglycerides, and annatto-turmeric (for color).
Comments:
Amount Per Serving
Calories 230			Calories from Fat 110
			% Daily Value
Total Fat 12g			18%
Saturated Fat 7g			36%

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Then I saw in my MIND Carrie, my Jazzercise instructor! (Who by the way is going to kill me if she ever sees this picture of herself!)

Double AAAAHHHHHH!

Then I came to my final conclusion, as I always do, which is that I was definitely going to need some egg nog to cope with all the stress these thoughts were producing!

So, in closing I don't regret my decision to start buying egg nog in October, but I would sincerely like to say to my stomach, hips and rear end, "Good luck! I'll be pulling for ya, we'll talk in January!"

(Please see above for the answer to this question.)

Devlyn, Devlyn, Devlyn...33!!!

Devlyn turned 33 yesterday, so in honor of his birthday I am posting-not 33 pictures of him, because I doubt that's what most of you really want to see-but 33 pictures of things he loves! Don't worry, I don't think there's quite 33 pictures (uploading takes awhile and I was getting impatient).

He loves to watch baseball, especially live games like this Mariner's game (I can't remember nor can I tell who they are playing, nor do I recall ever knowing who they were playing though I was there with him).

He loves chickens. I'm serious. I don't know what else to say about this one.

He loves dressing Charley up like an Eskimo baby and taking her sledding.

He loves his friends and his truck. He loves it when his truck brings his friends together.
(Scroll down a few posts to learn more about this incident.)

He loves it when Matt Brein wears his footed, sleeper jammies and rolls around on the ground with babies. Really, it brings him great, disturbing, joy-his favorite kind.

He loves it when he gets salt water in his eyes.

And...when he gets sand in his eyes!

He loves to show off large structures that he's "built"

And even larger structures or bridges, or gates, or damns...all right, you're onto me...I'm not sure what this is!

This is my sister, Boo (with Charley) he loves Boo!
Sidenote: My sister came over to "help" me with my new infant-notice which one is sleeping and which one is red in the face from screaming.

This is my brother Gabe on the left, Devlyn loves Gabe. My "other brother" Jeremiah is the one on the right. I'm not sure why Devlyn doesn't love him, I'll have to ask him.

See, Devlyn loves Gabe so much, here's another picture of him. In this picture, Gabe's saying, "What's not to love?"

He loves dirt biking in the Mohave Desert. He wishes I'd let him get a dirt bike or a motorcycle, but in the meantime he'll just have to rely on my dad who's historically provided all the dangerous things for his kids to do.

Devlyn loves the psychadelic murals that McMenamins has on their walls in their freaky old buildings. This particular one was his screen saver for months.

Speaking of freaky...where there's licorice ice cream, there are gross looking tongues.

Jet skiing (also provided by my dad) makes for great father-son matching hair!

Here Devlyn's playing "king of the mountain" with Ryan Sprunger and Aaron McNelly- the floating, water trampoline version. This particular incident prevented us from having kids for awhile.

Devlyn likes acupuncture and to be weird...here he is doing both.

This is a good one, because it capturers several things Devlyn loves. 1. our puppy, Daisy 2. Daisy's boy, Chase 3. His old Mazda RX7 (He had to sell it, don't bring it up, it's a sore subject)

Dune buggies. Dune buggying? Also provided by my dad.

Home Improvement projects! Devlyn can't get enough of these!

Church!

Coffee. Seriously, here he is hugging a coffee bean plant...bush? tree?...whatever, he's hugging it!

Diet Coke. Notice his grip of death on the can. Diet Coke has also prevented us from having kids for awhile. It's a long story.

Dance baby dance! He won't admit it, but he loves to dance! When he thinks no one is watching, he'll bust a move! Me catching it on camera is like getting a picture of big foot!

He loves his guitar. Need I say more?

Eggs, bacon and grits. Yes, grits. It's a strange phenomenon that he's passed onto our daughter.

Shooting guns. Also provided by my dad. Don't worry, he's teaching Chase gun safety 101 here-I'm sure!

And, drum roll please....ME! He loves me, really. I know you can't tell from this picture, but he especially loves to close his eyes and pretend he doesn't think I'm funny. He strums his guitar strings with all his might and tries desperately to escape to his happy place, but deep down he knows...I'm there too!