It's La Push baby, La Push

A few weeks ago Matthew and I hauled ourselves onto an airplane (me for the first time in, like, 12 years!) to visit friends in Washington.  This is a huge deal because I absolutely hate flying. But, I pulled myself together, without the help of heavy liquor I might add, and we made the trip.  Besides the dreaded flight we had a really good time!

We started out at Lindsay's parent's lake house.  We spent a few days there and enjoyed her dad's delicious cooking (rotisserie chicken, bbq, and copper river salmon. yum!).  I got quite the tan hanging out on their little island and Matthew got a workout tubing behind the jet boat.  It was definitely a fun time for all!

A few days into the trip, Lindsay, her mom Anita, and I went on a girl's trip and left the guys at the cabin.  We took the Mustang convertible and drove all over the Washington Peninsula.  Our first stop was an adorable cafe called "cafe garden" in Port Angeles.  We wanted to eat at the Italian restaurant in Twilight but it didn't open until later in the day. Regardless, the food was delicious!

After Port Angeles we went to visit Hurricane Ridge.  The view of the mountains was amazing! We even got to see (and touch!) snow... in August! Can you believe it? At times we could also see Canada.

From Hurricane Ridge we went to La Push. We saw the Quileute reservation and played in the ocean where Jacob first told Bella of his tribe's legends.  As cool as that is, the water was even cooler... literally! It had practically just melted off a glacier so it was really really cold.

The first night of our "girl's trip" was spent in Forks in a Twilight-themed hotel room. There really wasn't much to see in Forks since most of the movie was filmed in Canada. However, from a book perspective it was neat.

The next day we hit a few more beaches (Ruby beach which I LOVED and Kalaloch) and Lake Crescent (which Lindsay jumped into, fully clothed).  We also went to Quinault and hiked through the rainforest.  Apparently it is the only temperate rainforest in the world.

Later that night we reunited with our men.  We spent the rest of the trip near Seattle at Lindsay and Nate's apartment.  We had dinner one night at the jazz club/restaurant where their wedding reception will be in October.  We also spent a morning in downtown Seattle visiting Pike's Place and having coffee at the first Starbucks.

I'd like to say that after such an adventurous trip our flight home was uneventful but I sadly cannot.  Our flight out of Seattle to Detroit was full of turbulence.  Once we got to Detroit we were told our flight had been canceled and because it was weather related Delta wouldn't cover hotel costs.  The next flight to Louisville was scheduled for 8am the next morning so we spent the night at the airport.  It.was.miserable! On top of that, it took forever to find which gate we needed to be at.  Our new boarding passes didn't show it and it didn't pop up on the flight screens.  We FINALLY were able to find an employee to point us in the right direction only to find that the flight was delayed for three hours. Ugh! We finally made it home, though.  Now it is back to work and routine. Oh well, vacation was fun while it lasted!

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Soft Kitty

Two posts in one day.. wow!

Friday evening I got a call from Hubs' bff's (Nate) fiance (Lindsay) saying Nate was in the emergency room.  Hubs and I quickly drove over to sit with them while they ran labs and such.  Hubs and Nate are big fans of the show Big Bang Theory. If you have never seen it I highly recommend it! Anywho, there is one scene in particular that we found appropriate for our situation.



Since Nate was sick, Hubs thought it would be a good idea to sing "soft kitty" to Nate.  (and I knew it was a great idea to record it!) As a gift, we brought Nate a stuffed duck which he named Reginald.  It only made sense for both Nate and Reginald to get the "soft kitty" treatment.  If you listen carefully you can hear Nate's blood pressure cuff going off during the song!

I really believe the saying "laughter is the best medicine."  What do you think? Or should we all have been committed? haha

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Friends and wedding

Has it really been almost a month since my last post? Time has really flown by me! I guess that happens when you get married, go on a honeymoon, go back to classes, unpack your house, and fight with your bff. Needless to say, I have so much to post about. I think that, along with lack of time, has been the reason for my lack of posting. I get overwhelmed thinking about everything that I just freeze up. Well, here goes attempt numero uno at getting over that.

I suppose I'll start with a few days before the wedding. I finally got to meet my best bloggy buddy! Her and her husband flew down (with a major delay... good ol Lexington Airport) to attend the wedding. Hubby (I LOVE calling him that!) and I took them to Applebee's their first night here and it was like we were old friends! I believe it is safe to say we have found lifelong friends in each other, and I can't wait to plan a trip to go visit her! The only thing I'm disappointed about was my lack of time to spend with them. I'm excited to visit with them and actually have time to just hang out instead of running around doing wedding stuff.

The wedding itself, well, I don't remember much. I know I promised myself I would not stress out about anything. Amazingly enough, I was able to keep that promise! I know the ceremony was about 35 minutes, but it felt like 5 to me. The same with the reception. We were being pulled in all different directions for dances, pictures, cake cutting, etc. I want to see the professional pictures and the video! I did hear, though, about some comic relief my family unintentionally provided before I walked down the aisle. My stepbrothers were ushers, and while they were lighting the candelabras that air conditioning kept blowing the candles out. Also, the struggled with the aisle runner and pulled it out from being pinned to the carpet. I believe they were eventually able to get it but not without my stepdad trying to help by going for the middle (which meant his butt was stuck up in the air facing the guests) and guests in the pews reaching down to help hold it down. I'm kind of glad that stuff happened though because it makes it more real and helps everyone relax. I'll do a separate post for pictures, especially when I get the professional pics.

So there you go, my first post as a married woman :)

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Bored

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Yucky Day

What a fantastic start to my newest goal. Today has been pretty yuck for the most part.

First, the Bestie is still in a bad mood. I think I might have done something, but I have no clue. We go through these phases when we just get on each others nerves. I think we just need a few days apart, and all will be well later.

Second, I woke up with a sore throat! I'm not sure if I am coming down with something, or if it is due to my wisdom teeth coming in. I should really go to the dentist and get them pulled, but who can afford that right now! I'm hoping it is just my teeth because I can't afford to get sick right now. There is way too much going on with only a month or so left of classes.

Third, I'm afraid I'm getting pulled into something I would rather stay out of. There is a confrontation between some of my classmates, and I was there to witness it. Even today, they were trying to pull me to one side or the other. My response was simply that I would rather stay out of it and that it is between them. I just want to get my degree and be done. I don't want to make enemies, etc. It is so frustrating!!

Alright, so that is all I'm going to complain about right now. My classes went ok, and my counseling session went pretty well. I'm still getting use to the attending skills, but I really think I am getting better!

I'm off now to finish another paper and wait for Matthew to get home from class. I hope tomorrow is better!

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Learning Experience

I have been thinking about this post all day. I want to talk about my Halloween night, but I do not want to offend anyone... but I'm going to talk about it anyway. If you get offended, my apologies.

For Halloween, the Bestie begged me to go out with her and her bf and to drag Matthew with me. She wanted to go to the Bar here in town. I don't expect you all to know this, but the Bar is a gay bar. We planned to dress up, watch the drag show, and dance the night away. I'm not much of a bar/club person (and Matthew definitely is not!!) but I thought it might be fun.

We shopped for our costumes a month in advance. She went as a nurse while her bf went as a vampire. Matthew was Harry Potter, and I was Hermione (maybe.. I didn't have the hair but whatevs). The guys were completely covered, and the Bestie and I, well, not so much. The Bar itself was... interesting. Not even five minutes in, some girl wanted to take Matthew's and my picture. I heard her when we first walked in say "Harry Potter!!" so I figured it was coming! The drag show was ok but a little dissapointing. The most fun was when we went upstairs to dance. Now, I can't dance. Matthew can't dance either, and would NEVER dance with me. For some reason though, he decided to get out on the floor with me! That was the highlight of my night: dancing with my honey :) He didn't do too bad either!

So there you go. The Bestie's bf got hit on a couple of times (he was dressed up as a sparkly vampire in a gay bar. If you ask me he was asking for it lol). I did not get hit on, but I got a lot of stares to the skin revealed below my neck (if you catch my drift). We saw a lot more skin than I revealed though. For example, this one guy was dressed as Adam, and all he was wearing was a gold thong. I pointed it out to Matthew, and his response was "at least he has a nice ass." I laughed so hard!!!

I'm not going to post my entire costume, but here is a picture I cropped of Matthew and me. I likey it :) (you can't see it very well, but he does have the scar I promise!)
So now that I have spilled the beans, what did you do last night???

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Bestest Friend

The Bestie just sent me a text saying this:

"I got 4 twilight tickets!"

Of course we all know she is referring to New Moon. It is really funny because I was going to stop by the movie theater to get the tickets and she beat me to it! Great minds think alike :) The first four showings were already sold out so our tickets are for 12:12 am on the 20th. I'm very very excited. I guess I feel more excited now that I have physical proof it is happening in 48 days!

BTW, Matthew and I are still on for "shopping" this evening... I'll let you know how it goes!

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Starting Over

I apologize for my absence over the last week and a half although I'm sure you all understand. It has been an adjustment getting use to George being gone... but I'm slowly working through it and each day gets a little easier.

A couple of other things have happened over my absence.. some good, some not so good, but such is life. I had my last day at DAQ on Friday. My coworkers threw a little party for me! It was very sweet of them. They tried to make all the food healthy and low calorie for my weight loss (up to 10lbs now in 6 weeks!)...(although someone still snuck in chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles... not that I'm complaining). They all signed a card and everything. Unfortunately I was not there for the entire day as my mom was put in the hospital the night before. When it rains it pours. She is ok, but is having surgery on Tuesday to remove a huge kidney stone. I'm glad I am finished with work so I don't have to miss anything to be there with her.

On a happier note, Matthew starts classes tomorrow! Can you believe it? I made a run to Meijer with the Bestie to pick up notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, etc. as well as snacks for him to keep in his bookbag. He will be working during the day then going straight to class after work. I think it will be a total of 11 hours from start of work to end of class. I know he can do it. We have a wager going on to see who will get the most A's. Usually when we have an evening out it is full of indecisiveness with one wanting the other to decide what to do.... so for our bet, the loser has to completely plan a night out for the other! I think it is pretty good incentive, and we are both fairly competetive. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes :)

I have a ton of pictures to share, so I will try to get to those by the end of the week.

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Not-So-Smooth Criminal

Today has been a day that I will likely NEVER forget.

The Bestie messaged me the other night telling me that her neighbors asked her to take their granddaughters to Kentucky Kingdom today. She wanted me to come, so I fulfilled my best-friend-duties by agreeing. This morning, the Bestie's neighbors gave her four passes (One for each of the three girls and one that was her neighbor's) to get into the park with. The passes had picture ids on them, but we didn't think much of it. Who actually checks that stuff anyway right??

Well, I'll tell you who actually checks that stuff. The teenage boy at the ticket line... that is who. The girls went through fine, as did I since we bought my ticket when we arrived. The Bestie, on the other hand, was escorted to the little security area at the entrance of the park. I am dead serious... I couldn't make this up!! She was back there for about 20 minutes. She finally came out, looked at me laughing and said we had to go. She has been banned from returning to KY Kingdom for a year!! She got a pink slip and everything! All for using her neighbor's pass, which her neighbor told her to use! I would have cried like a baby, but she did so well. We have laughed about it the entire day because that is not like either of us to be kicked out and banned from somewhere!

We didn't want to punish the girls, so we left them at the park (with their grandparents' permission of course) and we went to the zoo and then to the mall. It ended up being a pretty fun (although extremely long) day!

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Bring on the Popcorn and the hunks :)

I have much to share today, so where should I start? Hmmm...

Guess I'll start with George (of course haha). His vet appointment this week didn't go as well as the others. Don't worry, he's ok... but he managed to leave his mark on a couple of assistants and my arm as well. The meds are working, but we still have to up the dose because they aren't working well enough. Go figure.

This week/weekend is full of movies:

• The Hangover. OMG... this movie... I'm pretty much speechless about it. It was hilarious, but it was also quite disturbing at parts. I saw certain things that I never, ever needed to see. (FYI.. Bradley Cooper is totally gorgeous in this movie. Just sayin ;D )
  
• Paul Blart Mall Cop. Matthew and I saw this in theatres a while ago, and we caught it on Blu-Ray for really cheap the other night. My Twilight BD was getting lonely :) It is a really cute movie, so if you haven't seen it you totally should.
• The Proposal. The Bestie and I had a girl's night last night which entailed dinner at Friday's, shopping at Gordmans, lots of girl talk, and The Proposal. The theater was packed! We were disappointed that the New Moon trailer wasn't shown (as newmoonmovie.org had speculated...) but the movie was really good regardless. I laughed the ENTIRE time! Oh yeah, a hot Ryan Reynolds doesn't hurt either!
  
• Star Trek. You know that I have already seen this movie. Since tomorrow is Father's Day, I'm taking my dad to see it. He doesn't get to go to the movies very often, so it will be a treat for him :) And he is kind of a trekkie lol

I can think of worse ways to spend the hot summer weekend than in an air-conditioned theater laughing my butt off (or swooning over Chris Pine... whatevs). So what are you up to this weekend???

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It has been way too long

There are seriously not enough hours in the day! I get to work, and I actually HAVE to work :( And they monitor our internet so I can't blog at work. Totally sucks! By the time I get home, I have to take care of George and Matthew, then I'm ready to pass out and do it all over again the next day.

There wasn't much going on this week to blog about, so I have some pictures that I promised a long time ago.... sorry....


First, graduation pics. Me and the men in my life :)
Empty pockets and I have his wallet! Typical college grad!


Up next, the wedding last weekend.

Matthew and me. He cleans up nice ;)

Both the guys looked pretty good. Matthew loves him some Stefan!

The happy couple!!

So there you go. I hope you aren't too disappointed with my absence. Who would have thought that work would take up more of my time than school?!?

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I did it!

I am officially a college graduate!

The evening went ok for the most part. My grandmother was not able to come down, but my aunt was able to come up, so that was cool. My feet were throbbing from being in heels all day, but there was a ramp to the stage instead of stairs so no worries there. The only really negative thing was that my name wasn't in the program, and they mispronounced my name when I walked across the stage, but I can get over that. I also had to shake hands with the professor that noticed me from behind last week lol

Overall, it feels good to be finished with this part of my life. It was wonderful to spend time with my family, and when I wasn't with them I was with Amanda. We really needed eachother today! I am very excited to see what happens now, and what kind of doors will open up.

*Pictures to come later :)

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Yay!

I took my last final today, and now I'm home and officially finished with my undergraduate career! Just two days until graduation, and about four months until I get my diploma :) I have some cleaning to do before Saturday, and I have to get ready to go out tonight. The bestie and I always have some sort of get together at the end of the semester, so we are making the guys take us to the Melting Pot. Yummy!! :D

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Looking for a change... just not here

*Warning: This will be a long ranting post, but hopefully it will be worth the read*

I will officially be a college graduate in four days. In four months, I will begin my classes for my masters. This is a huge change for me, and I have decided to make some other changes in my life as well... start with a clean slate so to speak. Within the next month, I will get a membership to the local YMCA and start working out (and crossing my fingers to fit back into my jeans from high school...). Another change to be made is that I have started going back to church.

Friend H and I went to a church last Sunday that I had never been to. I am very picky about church, and I want to make sure the church has its priorities straight. I get so sick of big churches that are more wrapped around getting bigger than focusing on God. I had a couple of issues with this church, but the main "piss-me-off factor" was actually a woman there. When she found out that friend H didn't have a home church, she made it her job to get H to join. After the sermon, the church had an opportunity for people to become a member (This bothered me too, pretty much for the same reason I'm going to explain in a minute). She held our hands, and started telling H that she could walk out the door and drop dead, and would then spend an eternity in Hell if she didn't go up to the front. While there may be truth in that statement, you don't try to convince someone to make a decision by scaring the crap out of them. She kept saying that she didn't want to have H's blood on her hands. I told H that if she wasn't ready it was fine. After all, a decision like that won't mean anything if you aren't fully into it. The woman looked at her and said "do you think when a woman is pregnant she can just tell that baby that I'm not ready for you and the baby will just wait it out? No, it's going to come anyway" The nerve!

The worst part was that she was mixing being saved with being a member of that church. The two should go hand in hand, but they don't. You can go to church and not be saved, and you can be saved and not go to church. Being a Christian is not about what church you are a member of... it's about your relationship with Jesus. I can't believe this woman did that to poor H. All of her attempts at getting her to join did the exact opposite. As we walked out we both looked at each other and knew we were never going back there for fear of running into that woman again. We are going to try another church this weekend, and if that doesn't work we will make the commute back to my home church in Frankfort. Wish us luck...

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Weird Week

I just realized that I hadn't posted since Monday. I guess I'm slacking again.... I'll just blame in on senioritis :)

This week is affectionately (...or not) known as dead week to UK students. It's the last week of classes, and we are supposed to have a very light load. Usually, though, we call it "the week you wish your dead" because there is way too much crap to take care of. Lucky for me, it was actually a decent dead week, and I didn't do much.

However, yesterday was the start of a very weird end-of-the-week. The bestie and I had a presentation on a research project we did together. I will spare you the details... it wasn't very interesting. That was fine, but afterward we were walking to the structure, when I got the double-honk-and-nod. Some guy in a white van tapped his horn, nodded at me once then drove off. I am going to assume that he thought I was someone else, because otherwise it's kind of weird. The weirdness continued today while walking to work. I was just walking, minding my own business, when I heard footsteps behind me rushing to catch up with me. I turn to see who it was, and it was one of my professors. He recognized me from behind..... I'm not sure how to respond to that. Even weirder, he walked and talked with me all the way to Kastle Hall. I guess that is normal to him. He has talked to me, gone to his office, then came back out to talk to me some more before, so this shouldn't freak me out I guess... So I don't know. What do you think? I am probably just reading too much into it, mainly because otherwise I was getting run into and ignored like I was invisible. Just a weird weird week.

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Small Graces #6

1. George is finally home with me. I love seeing him curled up on my bed passed out with his tongue hanging out. It has to be the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life! And hearing him purr when I pet him or when I lay down at night makes everything in my world seem right.
2. Matthew is in the living room playing video games with his brother. I can hear them in there laughing at each other and enjoying our "new investment," the PS3 (I just wanted to be able to watch Twilight in High-def.....). I'm very happy that they are getting some "brother time!"
   
3. We have had beautiful weather over the past couple of days. I really hope it is here to stay! It's inspiring, and has motivated me to get some chores done.
4. When I looked out the window yesterday, I saw the most amazing sunset. I used the "sunset" option on my camera, and it really brought out the beautiful colors!
5. Hanh came over yesterday with a Bible and a ton of questions. I have been out of church for a while, but it felt wonderful to get back into the Word and help her out. I love seeing people find God... it always brings me to tears to think/talk about it (happy tears, not sad ones!). I love talking to people and explaining things that they don't understand, especially when it comes to a relationship with God. It has really made me reassess my life.
   

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Yesterday / Small Graces #5

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day. I haven't done a GIST post in a little while, so I'm going to incorporate that into this one since it was so great.

1.) I got to sleep in. Love it!!!

2.) The Bestie and I went to the mall for lunch and to have our make-up done for pictures. We had an appointment at Dillards for a professional artist to do it, but he got stuck in traffic (probably from Keeneland) and didn't make it in time. That was fine though, because the girls who did it were fantastic! We had a blast getting pampered, and I had never had my make-up done before. Definitely an experience I would want to do again.

3) The photographer who took my senior pictures came to Lexington to take our "college senior pictures." She did a great job with my H.S. pics, and everything is really inexpensive (which is great for a couple of college kids!) We had an amazing time and took pictures all over campus. I am very excited to see how they turned out!

4.) We had a gorgeous day to do all of this. It was a tad warm, but we stayed in the shade most of the time. I was so afraid that it was going to rain and we would not be able to take the pictures. So very happy that wasn't the case.

5.) After a couple of hours in the sun, I was able to come home to Matthew. We had a cat nap (that may have lasted 2 hours or so.... whoopsie...) and watched some television together while I helped him with his financial aid stuff. A great end to a great day!

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Plans

So today is not busy, but I do have a couple of things to do. First, I'm waiting on my mom to come down so I can take her to breakfast (yeah yeah, I know it's almost 11... who says breakfast is only for the morning anyway?). After that, she is going with me to get a quote on fixing my car. We had a storm last Thursday with a lot of wind. When I went out Friday morning, I noticed a metal folding chair laying on the ground between my car and the car parked next to me. I checked my windows and the side of my car and didn't find anything... at least not until I washed my car on Saturday. Once all the leaves and stuff were gone, I noticed a huge dent and scuff marks on my trunk the the top of my car right below and above the rear windshield. So I have to take it today to get a quote for my insurance, and hopefully get it fixed soon! Anyway, after all of that, I'm having dinner with a couple of girlfriends tonight. It should be fun!

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Another one

I have always been the kind of girl to go with the flow. I never wanted to do things that no one else was willing to do first. The Bestie is the opposite. She knows what needs to be done, and she does it with confidence and grace. Perhaps that is why we get along so well. She would figure out how to do things, and I would go with what she said. Together, we would get things accomplished. I'm very insecure with myself at times, so it was nice to have someone to "compare" with, especially when applying to grad school. I knew that she would have all the information we needed, and I went with it.

I did, however, decide that I needed to do something for myself, on my own. The bestie and I applied to UK's program, and EKU's program. I also applied to UoL's program on my own. My dad lives close by, so I figured that if I decided to go there I could move back home and commute. I found the information, filled out the application, made the phone calls, and sent everything in. I was proud of myself for my minor accomplishment. At least until I got a phone call from UoL over spring break asking why I had applied to one program and not another... I pretty much blew that call. I just knew that I was not going to be accepted. That's what I get for stepping out, and at least I have UK's acceptance.

Today, I got accepted to UoL's counseling program. It is so much more to me than just being accepted. It was that I put in the time and effort on my own, and was successful. Maybe I do have a chance at this life after all. I still have not heard from EKU yet, but I still have a major decision to make. This decision could be life-altering, and that is a lot on my shoulders at the moment. I will probably post about that in a little bit, but for now.... I celebrate :)

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Birthday Pictures

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