October Fun!

Well, this has just been a very fun month! Last Saturday, 10/20, Rachel and I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer. We have participated the past 3 years now in celebration of a few Friends of ours who have survived breast cancer. Rachel and I only do did the 1-mile walk, but we had friends who participated in the 5K walk; so, we may join them next year in the 5K. Sorry I don't have any pics available from the race.....

This past Friday night, Danny and I went to a Halloween Party at a friend's house. It's always fun getting to hang out with friends.....and you know it's not a good party until the cops show up!!! hahaha! Apparently it's against the law to build a bonfire in Goose Creek! ah well...no harm done! I could have done without all the smoking, though ..... I was coughing all day yesterday from all the smoke I inhaled and I felt like I had licked an ash tray! Yuck!

Top Pic from left: Rainbow Brite (can't remember her name), me as Alice in Wonderland (thanks for the costume Kim!), Laura as a nurse, and Dana as a German girl.

Right: Danny and Dana. Danny dressed as Scooby, the Redsox fan. Go SOX!!!!

(speaking of the RedSox, they are 3-0 in the World Series; just 1 more win and we'll be the World Series champs for the 2nd time in 4 years!)

Yesterday, We went to Kristi and Stephen's house to celebrate my nephew, Michael's, 2nd birthday. He just gets bigger and more adorable by the minute. I promise you, there has never been a cuter 2-year old wearing Crocs! haha!

Jacquelyn and Nicole helped Michael open his presents. They are such great big sisters....and also growing up so fast!!!

Here is me and Rachel with one of our best friends, Heidi. We have been best friends with Heidi for about 20 years now, almost since as long as we have been in SC. We have missed her so much since she moved to Mississippi 2 years ago with her husband and 2 children. They come back to visit/work about every 2 months because Tim is still in the Air Force Reserves here, but we don't always get to visit when they are in town. We didn't even know they were in town this weekend, so it was a great surprise to be able to spend so time with Heidi at the birthday party.

Hobo the Snail (hardly the pace of my weekend!)

Well, as some of you know, I have a perpetual work schedule, which means my schedule rarely changes - I work 10 days in a row - then I'm off for 4 days every other weekend. It seems that I always have a lot going on those off weekends and this past weekend was no exception. After an early doctor's appointment on Thursday morning, I met a friend for coffee. This is one of my new favorite things to do - I'm sure I could have filled this time doing things that needed to be done like laundry or washing dishes or cleaning my office. But at this stage in my like, cultivating my friendships is very important....and what better way than chatting about anything and everything over spinach stratta and hot white chocolate (with no coffee in it PLEASE).


Thursday afternoon Danny got off work early, so we took a gift card we received to a local movie theater and went to see a movie - Feast of Love featuring Morgan Freemana nd Greg Kinear. It was an interesting movie...but way too much nudity for my taste - which is pretty much no nudity please. I mean, it's pretty much a given that there is going to be sex in a movie about love, and it stands to reason that people will get naked when they have sex....so let's just leave the rest to the imagination shall we - I don't need to see all that. But anyways - they just don't make good, clean movies anymore...sigh!


Friday morning I forced myself to sleep in because I knew that Friday night my sisters and I were going to sing Karaoke at Cisco's which didn't start until 9:30 pm (and I am usually in bed at this time!) For lunch on Friday, Rachel treated me to lunch at our favorite tea room. We didn't have much comversation here because we just at and eves-dropped on the table next to us dish on some summerville gossip which involved a person that we all knew - small world. Oh and we watched 2 small snails climb all over the window by our table....which leads me to a few pondering questions....get ready people, because this is how my mind works. Are snails always wandering, never to visit the same part of the garden twice, put down roots so to speak? Being as they carry their homes on their backs, does this mean that they never really know the feeling of home? Are they loners, or do they have families and meet back at the north side of the big oak tree for family gatherings?




Anyways! It's Friday night and off to Cisco's for some Karaoke with my sisters. Kristi's solo was "No News" by LoneStar.







Evanesence seems to be my karaoke band of choice, so tonight I rocked out on "Call Me When You're Sober."







Rachel sang JoDee Messina's "Stands Beside Me" - then I helped her on the harmonies for Martina's "Safe in the Arms of Love."

Rachel and I brought out those smooth sister harmonies on a classic Judds hit, "I Know Where I'm Going."

Kristi joined us for some more sister harmonizing on Blackhawk's "Goodbye Says it All," Shania Twain's "If You're Not in it for Love," Mr. Mister's "Kyrie," and "Zombie" by the Cranberries.

To end the night (almost) Rachel and I helped the DJ sing "Loveshack" byt the B52's - that song is so FUN!

There was plenty of other talent to enjoy, too. Ron knew the words to every single song. He was hilarious! One girl sang "Midnight Train to Georgia" and the entire crowd there was her backup singers... "All aboard!" Big John was there - as always - "God love ya!" This one chick sang "Three is the Magic Number" - a SchoolHouse Rock song by Blind Melon. Too funny! We stayed till it was over, almost 2 a.m. What a night! Oh, and there was a guy there that looked like Morgan Freeman! haha!

I spent the night with Rachel since I was out so late and the next morning we were off to mom's house to scrapbook all day! What fun! I love to scrapbook! I try to do a little bit each week (though it doesn't always work out that way).

Saturday evening Danny and I went to a friends house to hang out, watch some football, organize some halloween decor, eat some amazing mac & cheese (gotta have the recipe Laura!), and watch a guy do some tattoos. That was pretty interesting actually. I'm not a big fan of those people who have several tattoos - or are covered from head to toe - but 1 or 2 small ones in some place tasteful is not out of the question...Hmmmmm.... Anyways, we left there a little before 10 because I was getting tired from my late night on Friday. Also, I had taken some medicine that I knew was gonna knock me out, and boy was I right....I didn't get up on Sunday until after 11 a.m. and I still felt like I had a drug-induced hangover. No matter though - besides missing church, I didn't have any plans for Sunday; so, I just let it wear off while I organized some pictures and watch the RedSox sweep the Angels! Go SOX!

two

ok - I know it's only my second post, but I'm seeing a theme with my titles - "two" symbolizing my second post, and my second year of marriage beginning, and going to 2 locations for mour "trash the dress" event yesterday!

Well here I am on the 1st day of my 2nd year of marriage! Danny and I spent the whole weekend together doing mostly normal things, but just logging in some quality us time. We had the traditional piece of our wedding cake top on Saturday and it wasn't half bad. the icing was freezer burnt but the cake was pretty good! There should definitely be more chocolate chip wedding cake in the world! Unlike Kara (a friend of mine who religiously remembers to take a picture of every single thing) - I didn't think to take a picture of this momentous event for us until it was over - haha! I even got out my wedding cake knife and we ate it off of our china - oh well - we did it!

Well before I get on to blogging about "trashing my dress" yesterday, I'm going to tell you a few other things about last week....

One exciting thing was that I got a promotion! WooHoo! I am now a first shift lead editor. most of you have no idea what that means - but basically it means a longer title and more money for me! I love my job! I won't be transcribing much anymore - mainly just editing other people's transcription. This is a huge blessing because Danny and I have had some financial issues this year, but God has always provided for us and taken care of us and I know He will continue to bless us.

Another thing - leading up to the "trash the dress" event - I know you are wondering if I was able to actually fit into my dress after last week's blog. Well mom was able to work her sewing magic and it fit like a glove again :) Thank God!

I think I will actualy keep you all in supense a little longer about what all we did yesterday since I don't have any pictures to show you yet....I'll have to wait until my photographer sends me the proofs. Dad took some video too so I may see if I can Youtube it or something. I can tell you where we went....

First we went to this grafitti wall under a local overpass. It was a little (insert adjective here) because we didn't know what all the grafitti meant or said - so I hope we aren't endorsing something that is totally obscene or racist or something! We were there about an hour, and to say that I was "glowing" is an understatement. I was dripping will sweat - as was everyone else! But we have to make sacrifices to be beautiful and get the good shot!

From there we went back to Tammy's house (my photographer) to grab some ice water, cool off, and touch up the makeup. Then on to this really awesome barn. Unfortunately, there were no trespassing signs posted so we couldn't take pictures there. I was pretty bummed because I have somewhat of a barn fetish - I just love old barns. But it's just as well because from there it was a 45 mninute drive to the beach and we were running out of daylight. We had intended to go downtown and get some creepy shots in a cemetery - (to see what I mean go to http://juliabailey.com/ click on slideshows and choose the cemetery session). There was a "death shot" that I really wanted to get....I know, it's so not me - but I'm trying to step outside the box....besides I was trying to go for the artistic expression. Anyways, it was getting late and the cemetery was most likely closed by this time, so we chose to skip it and move on to the beach.

We got some shots in the sea oats and on the rocks, and some great sunset shots on the driftwood with this old dead tree in the background. And, yes, we did get some shots in the ocean too - I can't wait for you to see the pics. We had this big piece of tulle to use as a veil that was very dramatic looking. I can't wait to see the pics myself!!!

360

It's interesting that on this day that I start my blog, I have been married 360 days. I could do some kind of witty evaluation on how that parallels how my life has come full circle, but I won't. I will say that it has been a wonderful first year of marriage and I'm so happy to be looking forward to the next! Danny and I bought a house this year and we have increased our family to include a dog and 5 turtles. We have had some financial set backs this year, as most newlyweds do I'm sure, but God has always been faithful to make sure all our bills are paid and we have food to eat (even if it is just Ramen noodles sometimes). We wanted to take a mini vacation for our anniversary, but we can't afford that this year. We are planning to celebrate in a very unique way though....by doing something called "Trash the Dress." It's a new thing that photographers are offering couples now....an alternative idea for those who do not plan to save their wedding dress. Now I love my dress so I'm not planning to "trash" it. Basically, it's an opportunity to take some more casual pictures of the couple....barefoot on the beach, perhaps in the water, or in a pool, some people go crazy (see www.trashthedress.com). I plan to still be able to save and preserve my dress so we are going to keep the "trashing" to a minimum. My photographer is so excited I agreed to do this because she has been wanting to create a portfolio for this option to offer and she has wanted me to be her model for it so to speak. I'm excited to to be able to do something completely unique and out of the ordinary as a way to celebrate our first year as husband and wife. There is only one small set back (actually maybe "small" is not the operative word!) I have gained some weight this year! Most people have told me how great I look and for the most part I agree (aside from my little Tabor gut) but why does it have to be that happy newlyweds gain weight. Where is that written? is it some kind of law or something? Cause I didn't sign up for that -lol! anywho I can get the dress on but I can't zip it - but I am determined to make this work!!! I'll let you now how it goes!