Thanksgiving Fun

Well, who doesn't have fun at Thanksgiving?! Well, I'm sure plenty of people don't, but, luckily, we could! I went to my parent's house on Tuesday morning, to go wedding dress shopping with Leslie and my mom and William's mom. We had a blast, and she found the dress! Yay! So I stayed the night, and Derrick joined on Wednesday night. Family was in town, and we had fun doing all the cooking! We saw Blindside on Thursday afternoon, and it was wonderful!

On Friday, we had plans to leave the house at 3:30, to get to Wal-Mart for the deals we were after! Well, we overslept, and didn't wake up till a little after 4! We rushed and made it out by 4:30. We got to Wal-Mart, split up, and were on the mad dash for our items! We were both going after different things first, but were on the lookout for all the things we wanted. Well turns out, all the things we wanted were on my side of the store! So here I am, no cart in hand, with a Kitchen Aid mixer, a Blu Ray player, a mini chopper, and still on the lookout for the item I wanted. That's right.... I wish I had a picture to share with you all. Lucky for me, people clearly saw my hands were full, and let me in and out of their cart contraption they had going on. I made it to the opposite side of the store, just in time to get the item I wanted. This item is someone's present, which is why I can't name it! After that, we went to the Buford area, and then ventured to the mall. Bath and Body Works got lots of our business too! But we had a good time! We met Derrick's mom, and shopped till about 5! Count it.... 13 hours of shopping! That may be a record for me. I slept till almost 1 today! And I am so sore! Derrick did better than me! Here are some Thanksgiving pics to enjoy!

And how could I forget?! We finally purchased the flat screen TV we said would be our wedding gift to one another instead f big gifts that day! We went into Best Buy last Sunday to let Derrick look at some video game he wanted and we came out with a 46' TV! Now, because my car is too small for that size TV, my left side passenger door is broken, because we crammed it in. The awesome deal we got on it will be made up for in the Honda bill :) But at least we have a TV!

This year, I am thankful for:
-being able to celebrate our first married Thanksgiving
-Weight Watchers for helping me not gain 10 pounds after Thanksgiving
- My wonderful, expanding family
- The life I have been given and the places it is taking me
- My sister's journey of wedding planning and being a part of it
- My sweet brother's baptism
- The opportunity to celebrate with 2 families
- There are many more!

Here are some Thanksgiving pics to enjoy:

Wedding Dress Shopping!

Having fun!

Tis' the Season....

TO GO BROKE! Goodness! No one ever tells you that you have to buy EVERYTHING you need to decorate with your first year being married. But, alas, I did. Hobby Lobby now owns my soul. I spent hours in there trying to find the perfect decorations! It's a hard choice picking out what your tree will look like! My mom always had the ornaments we made. Luckily, we're kid-free, and I want a pretty tree! I'm already slightly stressing out that, when we do have kids, I'm gonna have to hang their "adorable" ornaments. I love kids and I love crafts, but I love a pretty tree! I'm already contemplating having 2 trees, so one can be pretty and one can have their crafts. Derrick and I have also decided to have a tradition of getting an ornament wherever we travel to together. Our first one was an ornament from Jamaica. It was a bride and groom one too, which was perfect! But I can sneak that one on the tree this year!

I have yet to put up the decorations, as I am getting the tree from my parents house today. Tomorrow they will ALL be up! I want it to look like a winter wonderland. I tried to justify all my spending by choosing snowmen, which I love more than any other, telling Derrick, because they are snowmen, they can stay up longer than the month of December. I don't think he's entirely convinced :) He didn't go along on the journey with me. He would have found some garland and hung himself, probably :) I also picked out our stockings, but accidentally told Derrick, in hopes he would deny, that if he didn't like he could pick one out. Well, I should have known he would want to do that! I'm torn, though. I bought the plane, red/white, matching ones, so we can embroider our names. 20 bucks says he is going to want one from Bass Pro Shops. I just know it! I may have to give in on that one... it is Christmas, after all!

I have the whole next week off for Thanksgiving and boy am I excited. I also have a packed week! Tomorrow, I am taking my first sewing class, PJ pants! It ended up being more expensive than I thought. I should have known! But it's paid for, so I'm going. And then to decorate. On Tuesday, we are going wedding dress shopping for my sister! I am way excited. And on Wednesday, I am going to help my mom begin getting desserts ready, and Thursday, wake up early to help cook, and then eat! Due to some unfortunate circumstances, we get to celebrate with families. That's not unfortunate, but we had planned to celebrate in Alabama with Derrick's family. But, at least we get to see both families now!


Now it is time to go wake up sleeping beauty. And no, not me. Not in this house :) It is off to church with my family. My sweet baby brother, who is not such a baby now, is getting baptized today, and I could not be any more proud!

Engagements

Well, it's been the usual for Derrick and I, except for one small detail.... MY SISTER IS ENGAGED! I obviously love weddings, and everything that goes along with them, so I'm ecstatic. She, however, isn't as into it all. But regardless, she's engaged and we're all very happy and excited! More details as it progresses!

That's really the only exciting thing going on right now for us. Besides the fact that Thanksgiving is very soon and I have the whole week off! I just love this time of the year!

Dr. Holmes

No, neither Derrick nor I have our Doctorate degree but one of us in the family thinks we might.... keep reading to figure out who :)

On Wednesday afternoon, I started feeling a little under the weather. My throat was hurting and I just felt like the commercial where the head is a balloon and is floating away from the body. Anyways, I felt bad. Well, apparently Derrick was a doctor in another life, because his favorite thing to do seems to be to get the brightest flashlight he can find and inspect whatever it is that is hurting me. This did not go over so well with me. First of all, I hate bright lights. They give me headaches, literally. Second of all, I don't like to be bothered when I don't feel good. It may sound bratty, but I can't help it. And third of all, all I can think about is how he has not a clue what he is looking for. So here I stand, mouth open wide, bright lights in my eyes, a concerned look on my husband's face, all for him to say, "ohh... I can't tell." WELL DUH! Needless to say, I was hoping my sore throat would go away quickly or I was scheming on slipping some Benadryl into either my food or his, so I could quickly fall asleep or have him sleep through the night, without bothering me :) Luckily, I didn't have to do either. Good thing we're still newlyweds and I like him being awake, otherwise that might now have been the case :) However, I hate to say this did happen a couple other times. But I don't know why he was so tired later on that night ;)

Then, I stayed home on Thursday, with plans to schedule a doctor's appt for the next day, cause I hate going when they might not find anything, and say come back. So my persistent husband came in, not to check on me, but to see if I had called the doctor yet. I kept putting it off and finally, I started to have daytime nightmares about the flashlights in my eyes, and quickly dialed. Luckily I did, cause they could only fit me in on that day. Otherwise, I would have had to wait till Monday, or later! Let's just say it's much better when a doctor shines lights all over your face and gives you prescription drugs when he's done. Much unlike the "doctor" in our house!

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch with my sister and her bf. We got our pumpkin! yay! Although, I must admit, with such a huge selection, I find it very difficult to pick the "right" one. It's a lot like picking the right man. But we won't get into details :) But now the Auburn game is on so no telling when we will carve it. We had plans to today but grocery shopping had to be done first!

Speaking of football season, I find myself being much more productive while College Game Day and a different assortment of games on. There is a lot more time to clean and get organized, and more importantly, BLOG! Although, I am finding myself more and more interested in these Auburn games.

More updates coming, keep reading :)

Fairy Tale vs. Reality

So lately, I have really been contemplating "marriage". What it means, what I thought it would be like, and what it actually is.

I knew that I always wanted to be married young. I also knew I wanted to be a younger mom (not yet!), so in order for that to happen, I wanted a few quality years in with my husband before kids came into the picture, so in turn, I wanted to be married young. Now, I didn't always think my plan would be God's plan, but luckily, it was :) So with that being my case, marriage for me is a bit different. I find it very interesting how we just take on things and make decisions. I know it doesn't sound interesting, it's normal!, but to me, it's odd sometimes! I think a lot of that is because I never had to make those kinds of decisions, because I was still in school and was being financially supported by my parents. So I'm not sure if this is a marriage thing or real world thing. Anyways, it's still very fun! I even find myself sometimes with a smirk on my face after a "real" decision has been made. It's quite empowering if I do say so myself!

The other thing is what I expected marriage to be like. I think I really thought the world stopped revolving for a little while! After all the planning, and finally the day, and then the honeymoon, I guess I thought the rest of the world was in on it too! I mean, it's all I did! Well, me and my mom :) But after the honeymoon, reality set back in for Derrick as he returned to work, but not for me! Being unemployed, I was able to go and spend all the money we got and re-decorate! It was awesome! I think Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Belk know me by name. That could be good or bad! So once I was finally employed (praise Jesus!) I realized that the world was still revolving! However, I feel very lucky to have been able to get our place organized. For those of you who know me, I'm pretty OCD when it comes to cleanliness and organization. So it was really great. Even more so once I realized how little time I would have when I started working.

And the last part.... we haven't been married for years. I guess I expected marriage to be like my parents'. Or other people who have been married for x-amount of years. I guess it never occurred to me that once we got married, it would take some time for the normalcy to come! It sounds ridiculous, but it's so true! I assumed we would automatically know exactly what to do in every situation. Either my parents put on a really good show, or they really do know exactly what to do! Maybe it's both. I just find it interesting that my parents, your parents, whomever parents, all started off as newlyweds too. I knew this, but a different light has been shed on it, being a newlywed.

Needless to say, marriage has been a lot different than I expected. Not necessarily in a bad way. It's very refreshing. For me, it was the next, normal step. It never felt out of the ordinary really. I was ready for it. But that doesn't mean it's not different than what I thought! For a long time Derrick and I would talk about how it didn't feel very different! We were waiting for one of those euphoric moments when we look at the other and think, " WHAT?! We're married?!" That didn't happen..... I was waiting for it too! But now, I realize it's more than that. It's 2 people, still living life, still in a revolving world, enjoying each other along the way. And I like that :)

Weekend Celebrations

Goodness, it has been a while! Needless to say, we have been busy!

Derrick has been extremely busy with work and I've just been busy with work! He has been having to work a lot of nights lately, so usually we hang out for a while until he has to go back and then I get caught up on the things that are driving me insane! Like organizing and cleaning, mostly :) I can't imagine what it will be like when we have a bigger place!

This weekend we celebrated my birthday and Gold Rush! On Friday night, Derrick and I went out, a little shopping, a little Kani house, and that's about it! It was very enjoyable to just spend some quality time together. On Saturday, we walked around at Gold Rush, and Derrick's parents and sister visited. It was freezing this year! But we warmed up with some homemade beef stew. Yum! And today we met my family for lunch! I got lots of great gifts, thanks everyone!

It's been entirely too long since I last posted but I will work on it. I can't even begin to try and catch you up. I'll do better :)

Catching Up

Whew... what a whirlwind it has been these past couple weeks! I am glad, in one way, cause it means I am doing something besides sitting around and blogging, but sad in another, because I don't get to sit around and blog :) I'd much rather be busy! School is still going great. Finally into my schedule and am loving it. Work is going well for Derrick, so we have been good!

Last weekend, we went to my parents house to celebrate my brothers birthday! Played a little rockband, Derrick took a little nap, and then we came home! That was on Sunday. On Saturday, I took the MAT, which I could barely decipher, ugh, and Derrick had to work an event. So to relieve my frustration with the MAT, I went shopping :) I quickly forgot about it!

Last night, Derrick and I went out to dinner, which was nice! Today, we tried to sleep it, but our bodies don't realize it's Saturday, so we woke up about 8:30. Not happy! Derrick cooked us breakfast, which was also wonderful, and then we took a nap. ha! Which was better than sleeping in. Anyways, we got up, I started cleaning, since it's practically impossible now that I have a job, and Derrick joined a while after. We got everything cleaned very well, and then took our cars to wash and vacuum! I have never used one of the Do-It-Yourself ones, until today! It was quite interesting. I enjoyed it, but I felt like I had to go so fast! I wanted to have a water fight, but it wasn't worth $5! So now our apartment and our cars are clean! I love that! If only I could make Derrick love that :)

I think that's about it. Nothing very interesting going on here recently! Maybe soon :)