puppy fever

Lately, I've been having puppy fever bad! Yeah, there are definitely times I have baby fever, but then I give myself a reality check. I'll just enjoy my nephew and friends' babies for now.  Our landlord basically made it impossible for us to have a dog. He said we could and then gave us a list of things that would have to happen first. No thanks. We will wait until we move.  The next place we move, we will make sure we are allowed to have a sweet puppy. We would love an English Bulldog, but I heard they are expensive because they have lots of issues that need to be taken care of. We already talk about our dog like we have one.  His name will be Karl. Scott chose it. I told him we can name our dog that, but not our child. Nothing against that name for a person if that's your name:)  Dogs are great for a lot of reasons. Most of the time they have so much personality, you can take them on walks, they are snuggly, they sit by you when you are sad, they can be your vacuum cleaner, and they love you no matter what. Karl, we will pick you up soon!

our first Christmas tree!

Yesterday, Scott and I went to the tree farm in Greenville and picked out our first, real Christmas tree!  It was a lot of fun.  We didn't realize how expensive they would be, but we found the perfect tree for us that was reasonable:)

We thought about how awesome it would be to get this fat buddy, but realized it was about as big as our apartment.

We baked cookies, drank hot coco, watched Christmas Vacation, and decorated our tree's lovely branches.  It met all my expectations of putting up our first Christmas tree together:) The first year of marriage is so much fun! I just bought the star for the top today, so the tree in these pictures doesn't have a tree topper yet.

We decided every year until we begin having kids, we will buy each other an ornament for each other. Scott began that tradition two years ago with an "Our First Christmas" ornament.  I actually laughed a little when he gave it to me because I thought that was what you get for your first Christmas being married.  It's on our tree now! He says he knew he was going to  marry me, so he wanted to give it early...haha...whatever.  I look forward to having kids someday and beginning fun traditions with them.  Merry Christmas is in 26 days!!!

crazy einstein woman

Yesterday I went to the dermatologist...finally.  I have sunspots on my face and I've been meaning to get them checked out for awhile now. I went to a doctor in Carlyle, Dr. DuComb. First the nurse came in and asked me a bunch of questions.  I thought she was Dr. DuComb. Nope! In comes Dr. DuComb singing my last name along with some other lyrics I couldn't understand. She had crazy, curly hair that looked like Einstein's and she talked about a thousand miles/hour. I had to have her repeat herself several times. After she stopped singing, she gave me a mirror to hold, turned off the lights, and held up a light to my face. Welp, my sunspots were a lot nastier in that lighting than they are in regular lighting...thankfully.  I found out it wasn't just from the sun.  It's a combination of 3 different things: being a female (hormones), genetics, and UVA rays. She told me everything I needed to do and said goodbye.  It would've been nice if she talked a little slower, but thankfully when she left the room the nurse re-explained everything she said and wrote down what I needed. I was happy I can use skin lightner, until I found out it would cost $240 for the skin lightening cream!!! That's just sick. That will have to wait. She did give me some good recommendations while I was there:
1. a bar of soap is the best thing to use on your face and body (specific kinds are best)
2. lotion is just water. body cream is best for face and body.

If  you think about it, that's what was used back in the day and it worked well. It will save us money too!  Anyways, I did purchase what she recommended and I also have to wear sunscreen on my face everyday. I guess it's time to start taking care of my skin so I don't get skin cancer.  I don't want to look like this lady:

a bowl of soup

I stayed home from work twice last week due to a nasty, nasty cold.  It's that time of the year in the midwest when the weather can't make up it's mind, so we all get sick. Not fun. Staying home from work is nice, but not really when you are sick. I haven't laid on the couch for a full day straight since I was probably in high school.  My body needed it.  Monday morning I woke up with a stuffy nose.  I still went to work and even worked out afterward. When I got home, I knew it was coming on strong.  I decided to make some good 'ol homemade chicken noodle soup...well, not from a can at least:)  My mom used to take care of me all the time when I was sick.  I do admit, I can be a baby when I'm sick.  This was the first time since we've been married that I've been sick.  I guess I expected Scott would be just like my mom when I'm sick...I should never assume.  He didn't know I was a big baby either, so it took him by surprise when I wanted him to, somewhat, wait on me hand and foot (I try not to ask him to do much for me usually:)  I am thankful I made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup on Monday that was able to last us all week!  So all Scott had to do was warm that up...and attempt to make grilled cheese for the first time.  He did great, though his specialty is Hamburger Helper.  Now he knows next time I get sick he will have to turn into my mom:)  A bowl of soup a day took my pain away...well, I like to think so.

Lulus and Toms

Most times before I actually begin working in the mornings, I like to do a little leisure shopping online...more browsing than actually purchasing:)  Today I was looking at one of my favorite online apparel stores called Lulus (www.lulus.com). I automatically fell in love with several of their shoes. This brought me to finally making my Christmas list my mother-in-law has been asking from me for months.  What do you think of some of these shoes?

Besides these shoes, I love me some Toms Shoes!  Here are two pairs that I can't decided which ones I want.  They are a bit similar...the top ones are wool and the ones below are not and the color is a little different.

a simple prayer

Today I woke up and performed my normal, daily routine of getting ready for work. Once again, I shut my alarm off a few times dreading opening my eyes. Everyday I try to spend time in prayer and in the Word.  The days I treasure sleep over my time in the Word are the days I notice a negative change in my attitude.  I'm not as joyful and I am not as mindful of Christ throughout the day.  This morning, I spent a little time in prayer asking God to help me be mindful of him throughout the day and to give me strength to honor Him in all I do. I read a great devotional on faith and then headed out the door for another day at work.  The first step I took onto my porch I praised God for the beautiful weather.  That was the first of many short praises and prayers I have had today.  Keeping Christ mindful throughout the day makes a worlds difference in my attitude, my thoughts, the way I love others, and the way I go about my day. He calls us to pray without ceasing.  That doesn't mean we have to be praying every moment of the day, but to keep him mindful and saying simple prayers is to pray without ceasing.  Simple prayers throughout the day is a great way to keep a relationship with our Maker.

gerber baby

My sweet baby nephew, Elijah David, is in the running to become the next Gerber Baby. He has 41 votes thus far, but we have until the end of the month to vote.  He is a beautiful, 9 month old baby. I call him my little Valentine because he was born the day before Valentine's Day....that's close enough:)  Elijah, Josh and Chrissy live in Austin, TX.  They just moved there a few months ago. We were all happy Josh got a job as an associate pastor and youth pastor at a great church, but we were NOT happy we wouldn't get to see Elijah more (and of course Josh and Chrissy). He is the most popular little buddy in our family right now. Why? Because he is so stinkin cute and sweet and he is the first baby in the family. Well, I just found out about a week ago that Chrissy and Elijah are coming in town for a week before Thanksgiving!  They are coming back for Christmas too and for Elijah's first birthday in February!!!  I can't wait to see them.  If you think about it, vote for sweet Elijah at this website everyday until the end of the month!!
http://www.gerber.com/photo/#/vote/

Look how adorable he is...

This is my favorite picture of Elijah and Josh.  The perfect father/son picture.

thank you shutterfly

I've been working on putting together our wedding book for a few months now.  I received a groupon in my email that had a good deal through shutterfly, so I went with it.  It is harder than I thought it would be.  I have so many wedding pictures to choose from!  I love them all!  I think the most annoying part is uploading more pictures.  Scott's computer is slow to do that.  It's finally coming together in the past two days. Even though it's been frustrating, putting it together has been constantly reminding me of how wonderful our wedding day was, but even more so, how blessed I am that God put such an amazing man in my life. Thank you shutterfly for allowing me to reminisce on our wedding day over and over and over again.  Soon I will be able to sit and enjoy looking through it...Lord willing it turns out well:)  This is the picture I chose for our front cover...our photographer did amazing.

24, fat, and happy

I just celebrated my 24th birthday on Halloween. Crazy. One more year and I will be able to officially rent my own car. I think 25 is the year when you are finally legal to do anything. Cool, I guess. Anyways, it was a lovely birthday. For about 2 months now I have been reminding Scott that my birthday is coming up. I also didn't fail to remind him I just wanted some sort of surprise. I'm sure he got sick of me bringing it up constantly but I tried to always make sure i said it in a different way so it didn't seem as nagging.  I know, it's manipulative. He decided he was going to take me out to dinner on Saturday night. He asked me where I wanted to go. "Scott, you're supposed to surprise me, not ask me," I would say. Maybe that was a little too much pressure on the sweet guy. I knew going into marriage he was not a planner, but I also knew he could get creative if he wanted to (ex. engagement). He decided to make reservations at the melting pot on Saturday mid afternoon for Saturday evening. He learned quickly that won't work for the future and that if he wanted to take me to an upscale restaurant he would have to make reservations earlier than that day. He told me Saturday wouldn't work, but that he made reservations for Monday night instead. I was so excited, but a part of me was a little sad because I would have liked for it to be a surprise. Saturday my lovely mother came and pampered me:) She gave me a mani and pedi, highlighted my hair, and gave me the cutest bomber jacket. I love spending time with mom.  Sunday morning my dad and step mom and Scott's parents came to church with us.  Afterward, they came to our apartment along with Jered and Jordan and had a birthday lunch for me. Alan walked in the door last with a beautiful, fall bouquet of flowers in his hand. Fall flowers are my favorite and they look perfect on our kitchen table!
For lunch we had pizza, Trina made delicious funfetti cupcakes (my favorite), Lynn made a homemade Pasta House salad and then I opened presents from everyone. I loved everything.  Scott proceeded to open the closet and pull a gift off of the top shelf. It was in a shiny, silver box with a perfectly placed bow on top. I was already impressed with that (even though he didn't have to wrap it)!  Everyone sat around me while I slowly opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful pearl necklace!  It was one of the best gifts I've ever received. I would tell Scott every-so-often that I would love a piece of jewelry from him that I could wear often. He would always reply, "I bought you a diamond ring!"

To top off a wonderful birthday, Scott and I took the day off of work on Monday, hung out all day and then ended with an amazing experience at the melting pot. What a great birthday. I apologized for Scott for not trusting he could pull this all off...he did perfect. I left the melting pot feeling extremely fat and happy. Here is a little bit of our experience at the Melting Pot:

Scott felt a bit sick afterward...I of course felt wonderful!

Thank you husband for giving me a great birthday. I love you Scott.