2011 Retrospective

So, our internet has sucked big time the last two weeks, so this is a bit late... but, without further ado, I give you 2011 in pictures! (which makes it seem SO much better than it was in real life!)

Snowpocalypse 2011 gave us a chance to hike all over East Atlanta AND a week off of work!

Our friend Rob got tickets to Gaelic Storm for my birthday-- definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to!

On my birthday, I woke up to a beautiful breakfast and flowers from Jeremy

And then almost 20 of my friends came out to dinner with us at the BEST sushi place around-- Nori Nori!

Over spring break, we taught the kids about the original Olympics-- they built their own hoplite armor and had races!

We got to meet Marcus from Storm Chasers and see the TIV! (Tornado Intercept Vehicle)

On our old porch, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had everyone over for DIY raviolis-- they were AMAZING!! 

We went to Stone Summit with John, Paige, Nandan, and Anu and had a great time climbing!

I had the honor of participating in the first Southeastern Chapters Recruitment Workshop! <3 AOII!

Thanks to Yelp, we got to go see a great exhibit on Italian Motorcycles that was right up Jeremy's alley! 

In a rare display of sibling concord, Julian passes off some of his Easter Egg Hunt haul to Violet, who mostly spent the time getting distracted and asking Jeremy to carry her.

Our friend Heather got her MBA! (and we had an excuse for a party!)

Caq and I got to see our long lost middle school bestie, Kendra (far right) who moved out to LA and got herself married! We also may or may not have had a little too much fun watching Lewis figure out whether he likes lemons or not... 

Over Memorial Day Weekend we got to go see Krystal and Charles and the kids-- it was loads of fun and we hope to see them more this year!

We also got to see lots of Ana-- I played outside with her with the sidewalk chalk and badminton racquets, and she loved her new sunglasses!

Then, inside, I taught her how to make miso soup

Before we had to head home, we got a picture with her

And she chased Jeremy around the front yard to keep us from leaving

Jeremy got the camp kids hooked on paper airplanes

And then, of course, all of our great field trips! 

Zoo Atlanta

Stone Mountain

High Museum of Art

Georgia Aquarium

Lake Lanier

City of Decatur Police Talk

Spirit Week!

I got to visit a nearby Monastery with the Young at Heart Sunday school class and the Elder Care Pastor (who is one of my favorite people at the church!) 

Nicole, who is on the AAC with me, and her husband Tom came with us to the Zoo

And we fed the parakeets! One of them even hopped up in Tom's hand!

This fall, we were lucky enough to get to the beach to see my Aunt and Uncle, whom we haven't seen since the wedding-- it was so great being back at the beach! Hardly anything has changed, and I miss it so much there!

Thanksgiving was spent with the Clarks, where we got to see Josh and Sarah

Go to the Oliver Winery

and see Grandma Traylor and the horses and dogs!

We had an anniversary party at our place with lots of delicious food!

And for the first time since we've been married, we got to set up our own Christmas Tree!

Yep, things went alright this year, according to the pictures-- but everything that happened between the pictures was... well, a little suspect to be honest.

Here's to 2012! 

Time flies... even if you're not having fun!

I swear I'm not trying to neglect this poor blog over here, things have just been going a mile a minute in our lives and I don't know how to keep up with everything anymore!

Shortly after we hit up NC, we went to Memphis to see Jeremy's parents and homecoming-- I got to see some of my sisters I haven't seen in a while and sadly reinforced that some of my pledge sisters still hold my illness against me... But, the person who matters most in my swift exit from Rhodes (the girl who unexpectedly got saddled with my rush party) doesn't hold it against me and is still a friend, and that's all I really care about :)

I also got to see Charles and Krystal and the kids for a few minutes, even ran in to Alex and Jay (whom I haven't seen in 4-5 years) and ran in to some of the folks who were seniors and juniors my freshman year and really made my "Rhodes experience" PLUS I got to meet my great great great grand little!!

Andrea, on the left, with HER little Sam and her grand little Maggie! My Alpha family has grown so much and it makes me SO happy. Good job to my little Caroline for keeping up the love!

Since then, there has been more drama at work that I won't go in to, but suffice to say it's wearing me thin... we have an abundance of workers here today and I'm soooo tempted to skate out but I've left a few Fridays in October and I'll be out for two solid weeks in December so here I stay...

I've been trying to distract myself with my Pinterest blog and trying to put more of a concerted effort in to AEA and getting that off the ground and rolling since one of the other staff members here has been handing out my business card for me! I also coordinated my friends Della and Brent's wedding last weekend to great success, and I'm hoping they'll write a nice little testimonial type piece for me!

Since then, the weather has been fluctuating ever so much and so now I'm back in the fall cycle of trying not to get bronchitis! Which is awesome since I have four weeks until surgery and really can't afford to be sick at the moment...

Other than ALL of that, we're just preparing for Thanksgiving and a trip to Indiana-- we get the whole week off this year! We were really hoping that Ana would still be around to see, but we're not really worth much in the big scheme of things so they vamoosed a while ago. Oh, well, we'll just go up to Memphis and see Charles and Krystal and their kids, and pick up all the baby stuff they're giving us for whenever the heck that happens, and help Marc and Jan out a day or two before we head up to Indiana to see Josh and Sarah!

Then, we get back, and it's a week until surgery... yikes!

Well, that's all I have-- ciao for now!

Holla back internets

Life, as always, has been pretty busy lately-- the transition from summer to after school has almost completed itself and our new checkout system is in place at work so things are going fairly well on that front. We're also getting a chance to relax at home and since after school is on, I get to think about taking a break!

This weekend, we're going to Knoxville thanks to a LivingSocial escape-- I'm DEFINITELY excited for a three day weekend to relax with Jeremy and to see S-K and Chelsea while we're there! The deal lands us two nights in the Presidential Whirlpool Suite, a facial massage at an Aveda salon, and a trip to the movies! I'm very excited, we definitely need a weekend of relaxation. I'll take the computer anyway, but I'm dedicated to not checking work stuff the entire time we're there. Period!

Next month we have a week that we could potentially take off, and we're hoping to go to NC to see my Aunt and Uncle. We'd thought about going up to Memphis, but it looks like Ana won't be there by the time we'll get there. We really hope we get to see her again before they leave the country because we promised we would, but we'll see how long it takes for them to get everything straightened out. We'll also be in Memphis at the end of October for homecoming and then up to Indiana for Thanksgiving. Since all the schools have the entire week off for Thanksgiving, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have enough people to sign up for Thanksgiving break and we'll get the whole week off automatically! What a blessing THAT would be!!

Christmas is here this year with my mom, and she's really excited to have us be at OBC for their services. It's a nice, quiet, peaceful service and even though we won't have a white Christmas like last year I'm sure it'll be beautiful! I need to figure out what we're going to do for our second anniversary, too. I've already decided that I want to have everyone sign the guest book from the wedding at each anniversary. I missed last year, but I can start this year-- there's so much space left in that book, and every year that we're together we have more friends and there's nothing to say that our anniversaries aren't just as special as our wedding!

I'll stop there and see if I can think of anything more interesting to post-- if nothing else, I'll put up pictures from Knoxville when we get back!

Whoops!

I'm so sorry! I got so caught up on updating the Agape Events blog that I've totally neglected this little spit of the internet! Not that things have been slow otherwise-- I've been staffing for summer camp and pushing the registration really hard-- my least favorite phrase at the moment is "Oh, I'm sorry, I just keep forgetting!" Well, guess what? When you show up the first day of camp after forgetting all those weeks, we won't have the staff to take your child! FORETHOUGHT!

We are also already in the throes of 90+ degree weather which, for those of us used to having a spring, is a little bit obnoxious and makes me a little worried about our field trips this summer. It also means we're likely to have a very active summer as far as severe weather goes, so here's to hoping no tornadoes at Six Flags (which I will miss AGAIN this year-- gah!).

My PT is going well, second appointment is tomorrow, and on the first appointment he fixed my foot! It's sore, of course, since all the muscles are getting used to functioning again, but it doesn't feel like there's cement on my foot anymore which is amazing! I think I'm going to ask him to look at my wrist and see if there's a quick fix for that... that way Jeremy can stop feeling bad when he's messing around and grabs the wrong wrist (which usually puts a damper on sneaking up on me and tickling me while I'm in the middle of doing something, just to define "messing around" for y'all).

Anyways, I finally figured out 95% of staffing last night, so that's a huge load off my plate, and I'm hoping that I can wrap up some other pesky things this week. At the end of the month, we plan to go up and visit Marc and Jan since we haven't been in a while and I might actually be able to finagle a four day weekend out of Memorial Day!

More later, off to work for the day!

And thus start the updates...

A LOT has happened since the last time I really had a chance to update, a lot of it having to do with more injuries... we've been blessed with good health up until recently, so I suppose it was just about time!!

Anyway, be prepared-- lots of updates and lots of pictures!

What a week!

We've been out of work/school all week now! Amazing! The snow came late on Sunday and was ruhl purdy until the temperature dropped and BAM! Snice!

Day one, Jeremy and Michael went for a run and later we walked down to McGowan's with John and Paige and I learned how to play Euchre (which honestly still confuses me). Then we walked to Nandan and Anu's in Candler Park, then came back around midnight. At College and Rock Springs, there was a couple who had taken the realty sign off the house next door and were using it to sled, so we each took a turn! Soooo much fun to slide out in to what's normally a fairly well traveled road! We made it the rest of the way back (I walked in the middle of the road where the fire and police vehicle's chains had broken up the ice a bit) and discovered College had actually been shut down over the bridge!

Day two, we stayed in and I made brisket which we shared with John and Paige. It was pretty darn good if I say so myself!

Day three, we stayed in a while, then walked down to see Michael and the kids-- I made some pretty good spaghetti (Classico spicy tomato sauce + chicken sausage = awesome!) and we took some down and watched Inception with Michael. LOVE that movie.

Day four, we went in to work in the afternoon-- even Jeremy agreed the roads were still questionable! Inventoried a bunch of stuff at work, which was nice since we never get to do that, and then came home. Walked down to The Matador for our meal out for the week and came back home and kinda crashed-- doing not a whole lot is surprisingly exhausting!

Day five, we've exhausted most of the decent food supplies, but the ice! It is melting! I'm headed in to work for a little while to hand out paychecks, then back here to watch the kids while Jeremy and Michael go for a run. Tonight, we'll try making pizza with them! I do have a few more pictures to toss up later, but for now I'm out!

Ciao!

Our life in pictures-- what else?

Things have been busy lately, so here are a few shots from our recent escapades!

Chris and Daniel hit the pool tables at our staff party

Ben, Willow, and Jimmy chill out upstairs

Chris throws some darts-- action shot!

Hunter, Jimmy, Willow, and Stephen

Jon, Octavia, and Jillian upstairs

AOII Dinner Club with Selena, Darice, me, and Ashley

Vivi plays with Uncle Jeremy and the rain maker

What do you mean I can't throw my food on the floor?!

Lots of time with the kids, and a party for my staff-- they work so hard all year, they deserve a little fun!

Let's Get Funky

I've been in a funk this week-- we're so busy with our lives that it's hard to have a night to ourselves. Every time I think it might happen, we're so exhausted it turns in to falling asleep on the couch. Right now I'm in the midst of a bout of insomnia, no doubt bolstered by accidentally sleeping for four hours this afternoon... my mind just won't turn off!

I'm also really stressed about work since the end of this year pretty much sets next year for me. Under $40k a year combined is hard to live on (that's after taxes) and we'd like to get to a place where we can be settled and be there for a while-- not a cruddy one room apartment in a duplex! I realize patience is key, that we've only been married a year, but things have been tough and it would be nice for us to get a little break.

On the upside, we're actually done with all our Christmas shopping! We're not doing a lot this year, small things for a few people, but it's always nice to realize that something you weren't even trying to get done is done!

We have two weeks left of after school, then holiday camp; somewhere in there we'll go to Indiana to see the Clark side for Christmas. We're excited to see Josh and Sarah as we haven't seen them since the wedding, and of course it's always nice to see Marc and Jan, plus a few days away will be nice for both of us.

The main problem on my plate now is assigning shifts for holiday camp; we don't have monster enrollment so I can't fill the shifts as heavily as I'd like, but I know everyone needs a little extra cash. Plus, the family from Hell (no, really, I'm fairly certain that's where they're actually from) is breathing down my neck again. This is the family that was soooooo unhappy with our program and pulled their kids out (because when the kids bully the campers and counselors, really what's happening is that THEY are being bullied by US) and swore they'd never come again and now they're acting like they own the place and want back in. I told them enrollment was closed (because I don't WANT them there, nobody does) and he blew me off and said that my boss would let them in. WHAT A JERK! The dad just loves setting a bad example for his kids, "See, son, if a woman talks back and doesn't give you what you want, just go to her boss so she can be put in her place and we get what we want." That's his general mantra.

I could rant about that family for a while, so I'll leave it at that, but if they don't take no from my boss (who will, as I told them, just tell the dad to talk to me) and disappear like good little jerks then I'm going to have to give them a big long talk about how they are poisonous and I don't want or need them in our camp. Not to mention he's already hounding me about summer and I'm sorry, but I haven't even thought about that yet. But I am going to stop now...

Anyway, I'm going to go watch some more Psych and try some breathing exercises. And consider the fact that, in spite of my excellent grammar and superb spelling, I still have to use spell check for the word "exercise" because I just can't spell it!

Ciao for now, a cheerier post and some pictures soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's your list of things I'm thankful for this year-- how about you?

* My wonderful husband-- for doing the dishes and putting out a lot of heat since our heat is broken!

* A home-- it may not be a great apartment, but we do have our own place this year which is infinitely better than where we were a year ago!

* Wonderful neighbors-- John and Paige are so much fun and so nice to us, definitely an improvement over Jimmy... they even took us bouldering last weekend!

* A team worth rooting for-- keep up the good work, Thrashers!

* My staff-- they really do make my job easy. Yes, sometimes they're not perfect, but if they weren't so great then my stressful job would be even worse!

* A job-- I may hate my job, but I have one and that's worth a lot these days!

* Our godchildren-- Julian and Violet are crazy off the wall, but they're wonderful children who love us dearly and we love them, too!

* All of our amazing friends and family who have made our (almost) first year of marriage so fantastic.

Until later this week when I pull the pictures off the camera, I wish you all a wonderful rest of Thanksgiving and a joyous start to the holiday season!

A real update?

I know, it's shocking! An update that isn't entirely comprised of pictures!

Three hasn't been too much interesting going on lately, just the usual days dragging on, getting slammed at work, and keeping our fingers crossed that things will work out! Jeremy's yard sale thing seems to be panning out a little better than we'd originally thought, which is nice, and I keep finding more piles of things to work on. I tell you, being a child care provider is a thankless and painful job. There are brief moments when the parents tell me how awesome I am that it seems worth it, but there are days I just want to walk out the door and never look back! I've also decided, as I'm working at a church, that I'm sick and tired of hearing the phrase "non-Christian" used as a derogatory term. There are lots of "non-Christians" in my program, that's the POINT of my program, and that doesn't mean they aren't perfectly awesome kids who deserve the same amount of love, caring, and kindness. I can tell the parents who say this to me don't realize that I'm a "non-Christian" and that they're being terribly offensive, but I also have seen the reactions of my quite Christian seminary friends when they hear people say these things. Since when is being exclusive and looking down on people who don't share your views Christian?

I'll stop my rant there now, but it's probably the most irritating thing I deal with. Kids are kids, let them be.

Anyway, I've been getting myself together, did a lot of laundry and have been trying to get back in to the habit of cooking. It was so hot all summer that we didn't cook much and now that it's a reasonable temperature, I have to get back in the habit of shopping properly and cooking!

We've watched a lot on Netflix's instant play server, it's probably the best thing I've paid for in quite some time-- Jeremy can watch cheesy movies and I can watch Anthony Bourdain and Futurama!

Jeremy's birthday is next week, so I'm still trying to figure out what to get him, and though I'm fuzzy on the date I know Ana's is as well-- I totally messed up on that one and forgot to mail her present to Marc and Jan to be included, but no worries, it'll be on its way soon!

I'm basically rambling at this point, so I'm going to have a snack and hit the hay! More when I'm coherent/actually have something to say :)

Ciao for now!

This Week...

This week is...

The leaky faucet and picking out paint for the bedroom

The last of physical therapy (!!!)

Staff meeting and Taco Mac

Laundry getting done

Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner with the neighbors

Sussing out insurance stuff

Getting back on track with Weight Watchers in preparation to start dance again

Watching a bunch of Law and Order, trying to get work done so I can sleep at night!

Quick update

It feels like it's been longer than a week since I last updated! I guess that's what happens when you work every day straight through!

Last weekend I did tons of training, and it was ridiculous. I don't understand why you would put the home address and phone number, or any identifying information, in plain view on a child. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but... I think it's much better to teach a child that information and teach them how to find someone who can help them should they get separated from a group. Then again, I expect people to be able to fend for themselves and that's what my parents taught me to do when I was little. Ridiculosity.

After school is in full swing, which has been fantastic because I've actually gotten some work done. Jeremy's not getting as many hours, but I'm trying to scrape together what I can to keep us afloat. Plus the 60 clock hours from my training will help!

Nothing too exciting has happened, though. We do have some awesome new neighbors who like all the things we do-- wine, movies, food --and are really fun! I sat out on the porch with them and had a glass of wine while we waited for Jeremy to get done with his running group, tonight we're all having dinner with them and at some point we'll probably hit up the Movie Tavern. "Those are my two favorite words in one title! Movie and Tavern!" -John

We also had a small victory in our potted garden-- I'm sure you noticed a lack of pictures, it's because the heat killed them dead! We were watering them three times a day and they were still wilting from the heat. It's cooled off SLIGHTLY so now the basil has bounced back, another jalapeno grew, and they seem to be flourishing again-- I even have a tiny tomatillo that's growing!

Well, off to work, gotta make them dollaz! More later!

All crazy on the Eastern front

Well, folks, it has been anything but quiet here in the life of JeremyandMeg. Last time I actually updated (instead of just throwing more pictures at you) was Spirit Week. Lock In Week followed, and it was a lot of fun-- way better than last year's! We took the little kids to Cici's Pizza on Tuesday and put them to sleep with WALL-E, then the big kids went to Golden Corral (totally awesome) and eventually fell asleep to City of Ember. We were pretty beat after that, and spent the weekend of the 4th trying to relax and recuperate.

Last week was Lake Lanier, which was one hell of a week since we were short staffed. Wednesday went smoothly (except for the fact that we were surprised with 101 degree temps!) and all the parents who came with us had a lot of fun. I'm most proud of having a camp where the parents feel as comfortable as the kids tagging along on field trips! The kids were completely whooped for the rest of the week so even though we were desperate at the end of the week, it wasn't too bad.

This coming week is Movie Week-- so awesome. Monday, the kids will have the option between Avatar: The Last Airbender and Toy Story 3. Tuesday, we're watching the entire Mighty Ducks Trilogy. Wednesday we're all going to the Movie Tavern to have lunch and see Despicable Me. I'm pretty stoked. Friday, the older kids are going to see Sorcerer's Apprentice, which I actually really want to see.

After that... VACATION!!! We're leaving Saturday morning for Memphis to meet up with Josh and Sarah, then heading over to Paris to see Grandma and Grandpa Traylor, then just chilling out for a while. CAN'T WAIT.

Cuidado! Piso Mojado!

Those three words, be they in a different language or not, could have saved me a lot of pain and suffering!

I was at the end of my shift today, and ran upstairs to grab some stuff off the printer (as someone messed with mine and it now doesn't want to work)-- I stepped off the elevator on the first floor at First School and started sliding. Someone had spilled a whole lot of water right there and hadn't bothered to clean it up or find a janitor to do it, so I hit the floor and bruised my ankle, knee, and hip. Imagine my chagrin as tomorrow is our trip to Six Flags!!

I went up and filed an incident report with the finance/HR office and they sent me over to Urgent Care at DeKalb Medical where I saw a doctor we used to see all the time when we went there as kids (it's the neighborhood doc in the box as well, it's not too bad for a walk in clinic). They took a million x-rays and everything looked ok, wrapped my ankle, and told me to stay off it for the rest of the week. They would have released me from work, but I need to be there so things run smoothly, unfortunately it means I can't go to Six Flags. I'm minorly irritated to say the least.

All this could have been avoided had someone just taken responsibility!

I do have more pictures of the garden, and I'm slowly getting pictures from the wedding up on Facebook. We've had them for a while, I've just been so busy!

Now we're keeping Michael company and watching "The Book of Eli" since it came out today-- I think it's a good movie, though I'm still torn on the very ending. This weekend, we'll head up to Southaven to see Jan and Marc for father's day, and hopefully see Suzy and a couple others as well. Until then, join with us and encourage the rain to come! We had our first rain in almost two weeks today and if it doesn't keep up we'll suffocate!

Nearing week one...

After my last post, I decided to suck it up and start Weight Watchers. I feel better this week, but I haven't noticed a distinct change in weight or measurements. To be fair, I didn't take my measurements last week, so there's no way I can tell if that's changed. I've cut out most sugar, started eating Greek yogurts for breakfast (and Publix has conveniently had them on sale this week!) and bought stock in Lean Cuisine for lunch. I went extra one day on my points, but it was for Michael's 40th so I feel OK about it. :)

This week's been crazy and a little bit stressful-- full time summer camp starts Monday and while the enrollment is much better and there are lots of irritating last minute drop ins filling in the spots (so I shouldn't complain, but really? You wait until the Friday before camp starts to enroll your child for the ENTIRE SUMMER?), but I'm still a little bit antsy about things going well. The staff is all set, and I think they're down for the way I have things set up, but you never know until something happens how it's going to do!

I've had a little taste of my afternoons off and I'm pretty excited. Next week's going to be weird since Hunter's not in, but after that I'm totally pumped for getting home at 3:30p and getting stuff done, watching my Hulu, doing some dishes, and grilling dinner!

That's about all for this week-- I know I'm late on pictures of the garden again, but this week's been so busy! Tomorrow we're with the kids and Michael all day, then Sunday we may head out for a pool party, and I have to go in to work for a while on Monday and try to get some stuff done with nobody around. Hopefully I'll have some time for them tomorrow, though!

Sooo, it's been a while

There are a few reasons for my prolonged disappearance... the most of which is my smashed computer screen. Which didn't get fixed because Sony f'd up and couldn't actually sell me the warranty I bought. And they still haven't given me back my money. STILL. The're getting on my nerves juuuust a little.

Anyway, I'm pretty solidly in to my director's position at after school and I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to split up my job so that I could have an AD and possibly an office manager for the summer. The other good news is that Jeremy and I are FINALLY in a place where we can look at an apartment of our own!! Squee!

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/apa/1596256463.html

That's the apartment we're looking at and this is what the owner has to say:

"Meg, the apartment is a turn of the century Victorian house with huge porch, large living room with 10' ceilings, antique fire place, original china cabinet, laundry, pocket doors, new kitchen, c/h/a (included in rent) new bath with vintage b&w tile floor, pedestal sink, huge double headed shower with glass block, walk in closet. $850 includes utilities. The apartment is in perfect shape & it's a great neighborhood. You can walk to downtown Decatur & Oakhurst."

We think c/h/a means central heating and air, but we'll see. She sent a few pictures that look pretty nice, and it's in a decent area so hopefully it'll work out. I think I was actually the first person to respond, so I'm going to look at it tomorrow morning. If it looks good, we're probably going to jump on it! Between the two of us we can definitely afford $855/mo and we're DYING for a place of our own!

Plus, the built in china cabinet doesn't hurt ;) We have to have somewhere to display wedding china and the ENTIRE SET of cobalt glasses Jay Yau got us!!

Brief interlude: Ellen DeGeneres is still as cute as she's always been. LOVE her.

What else has happened? A lot, I'm sure, but I can't even remember!

Let's see-- the last time I updated we were in MS visiting family... we saw "When in Rome" with Joanna for my birthday, and hit up The Matador for dinner. We went to Tybee for a marathon, which was loads of fun! I MISS COASTAL GEORGIA!!!

I left my camera in MS, so there aren't a lot of pictures from the last month, but I'll post some soon from Christmas on!

ciao for now!

Day of Killing (and eating) Turkeys

This Thanksgiving is out of the norm. Which is saying something since last Thanksgiving we had Taco Mac with Emily, the year before turkey with Suzy, and the year before that (the first year Jeremy and I knew each other) I served slightly overcooked chicken breast in a semi-debacled Amy and Meg hosted Thanksgiving. I guess I'm used to Thanksgiving with Family (in caps) being a little more formal. We bust out the good china and put on our best-- if you don't use your good stuff for holidays, when will you ever use it?!

Right now I'm in Indiana with Jeremy's family, and it tugs at my heartstrings because I was so looking forward to finally spending a Thanksgiving with my mom, but Jeremy hadn't been up here in over a year so I told him we'd come. Plus, we're kind of hoping that one of us will land something that will prohibit travel in the days after the wedding. You know, like a job!

It's been nice seeing Josh and Sarah, though, they're so sweet, and they're in the middle of renovating this house they just moved in to. They're renting it, but it was Sarah's grandmother's house and needs a LOT of work! After failed attempts at peeling layer after layer after layer (and possibly more) of wallpaper off the walls (of which I had no part because I was in the middle of wedding details and I was scarred by the process when we lived on Westchester), we all decided it would be best to do some creative renovating and skip the pain and suffering of having to use dark magic to remove this wall paper. That cuts out a lot of the work for tomorrow, which means we will get to see Swiggett since she's just over in Bloomington!!!

I'm so very very close to finishing these bridesmaids bags, and now I just have to find a few things to put in them. Emily's helping me out, and I'm going to get a couple of other travel-sized things, plus I've been looking at all these awesome vintage brooches on eBay that are going for like $1 each! If the price stays under $1.50, I'm going to get each of them a brooch and they can keep it, pin it on their bag, or put it in their hair (which is what I'm doing with mine). I found this bracelet which matches an old necklace of my Granny's that mom has now, so that's going to be mom's present, and then this pin which might be an interesting addition to the fascinator I'm conning Meg in to helping me with, and these earrings which are very similar to the 1928 earrings I wanted! It would be really great if I could get them at or under my max bid of $7, because that would mean I'd saved something like $60 for very similar earrings! I'm bidding on a couple of other things right now (not that I super need to spend the money, but it's all told under $25) that will either go for the wedding or to the brooch collection that I am TOTALLY starting-- thank you for the inspiration Madeleine Albright! (side note: I'm totally hoping that I can talk Jeremy in to Moto GP tickets next fall for when the exhibit is in Indianapolis since apparently we don't get it in Atlanta-- que ridiculo!)

Plus, if I have some luck getting $1 brooches off of eBay, I can use them to decorate little bags, which I can totally sew with ease and put up on my etsy store (in spite of the fact that it's not doing a whole lot for me at the moment...) for sale. I need to start looking in to sewing laptop cases like I've seen in boutiques-- they sell them for like $50 and they would totally only take like $10 to make!

I've gotten a lot of my food budgeting done for the wedding, and thankfully Vicki is saving me big time by donating three trays (!) of Chick Fil A nuggets! I'm going to do the sushi still, it's the one thing I'm dying to have and I won't cut it out, I even cut the beer out of the budget just so I could have it.

We did get bad news, though. Valerie and Matt's court date got changed, so they won't even be bringing Ana over and going to Ethiopia without her. Jeremy's very sad about it, he misses her so much, and I'm sad because we'd made it in December so they could be there. :\ Such is life, I suppose. Pictures will be a little more difficult with Violet as flower girl, but they do have the absolute perfect dress, and with Julian as our ring bearer, Michael as a groomsman, and Meg an honorary bridesmaid... it's really quite fitting that Violet should join the party!

PS, our wedding has gotten quite out of hand! Apparently we have too much family!

I'll close this super long post now with my little Thanksgiving peace:

I am thankful for my friends and my family. This year has been extremely hard and there's no way I could have made it without them! Let me introduce you:

My mom, my brother Casey, and (of course) Jeremy

Vivi! Violet (9mos) Kavanaugh, our flower girl!

Michael, Violet and Julian's dad, and a groomsman

Meg, Nan, Violet, Della, and Iggy-- they're actually related, but have taken us in anyway!

Meg is an honorary bridesmaid of sorts

Meg, we are both goofy. She is also Julian and Violet's mother.

Sarah and Caq

Julian, our ring bearer, at his 3rd birthday last spring

These people are our family, though we may not all be related, and I am SO thankful for them!

I am also thankful for Jeremy, he is such an amazing friend and fiance, and I'm so thrilled I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him. We push each other and try each other every day, and I'm so glad we're together.

I'm also thankful for what I have. It may not be much, but it is something. I have a roof over my head, I have an awesome family (there are STILL a ton of people I'm missing in that family thing above!), I'm not going hungry, and I have some semblance of employment. Things could definitely be worse.

Here's to the coming year, to more things for which to be thankful, and finishing up this wedding majigger!

ciao for now folks,

M