Next Best Thing...

To your own wedding... planning someone elses wedding! My dear friend and former bridesmaid is now taking the plunge. I am so excited for her! Tomorrow we are going to a bridal show case and then after we are going dress shopping. I don't know who is more excited, me or her?

I am understanding her stress right now as everything in the wedding process right now just looks like $$$. And when you don't have a lot of $ it can be hard to find the joy in planning and more easily seen as just plain stressful. I fear that the wedding dress shopping extravaganza will likely be the same. I told her that the rule is that she has to try on all kinds of dresses to see which style looks best on her, what feels right, and what will go with the style of her wedding. No looking at the price tag!! This trip is specifically planned to just shop and look around, and if we find "the one" then it will be a bonus!

Updated Bucket List as of 1/22/10

1. Get married and go on a fabulous honeymoon! (Done!! 10/24/09 & 10/25/09 – 10/31/09)
2. Have a baby or babies
3. Own my own home
4. Go on a hot air balloon ride
5. Go white water rafting
6. Go on a wine tasting tour
7. Vacation in NY and take tours of all the fabulous site seeing hot spots (including the Sex In The City Tour)
8. Learn how to skateboard
9. Go to the World Series
10. Earn my BA
11. Co-own a classic car/truck with my husband and learn how to work on it
12. Go on a cruise
13. Swim with dolphins
14. Study abroad for at least 1 semester
15. Go to a Nicholas Sparks book signing
16. Own a pair of fabulous and ridiculously expensive designer shoes
17. Camp in Joshua Tree to sleep under the stars
18. Read the entire Bible
19. Zip line in Costa Rica
20. See Brad Paisley in concert

Playing Ketchup!!

My life has quieted down so much you could hear a pin drop. We were so busy up through the wedding but now that the chaos is over I don’t really know what to do with myself. I have not started on any new projects. Actually, I should be trying to hammer out some major work on my scrap books. Of course I have not gotten past my graduation party in June 2005. Now I am married. I still can’t believe it sometimes. I finally was able to print all of my photos and put them in photo books. Between my Dad’s pictures and our two amazing photographers there was approx. 1,600 photos in all. If I could I would put them all over my house!

Troy got the Wii for Christmas from his Mom. This has now become his new addiction. Joe and Troy play Wii all day and all night. We have several games already. In fact, I have been wanting to get a new entertainment center to replace my old TV stand for a long time now. You know what made Troy jump on my band wagon? The Wii! In fact he wanted a new entertainment center so that the TV would be higher off the ground which would make it easier to use since the sensor bar would be higher as well. Go figure!

Heather and Joe have gotten back together since Heather has been home. The four of us have been spending quite a lot of time together. In fact, since Christmas Eve Joe has only gone home one time to spend the night at his Dad’s house. Troy and I finally made the decision that he should just move in with us. So this is our next new adventure. He has some issues in his life that he needs to clear up. We are trying to give him the opportunity to right some wrongs and get a jump start in life. I hope that he doesn’t think that this is some free ride. Rent free is just a temporary situation until he is working full time and has gotten a hold of his other financial responsibilities.

This whole arrangement will definitely change should I get pregnant. At the moment Troy and I are not “trying” to get pregnant however we are not taking any steps to prevent it either. We are not using any kind of form of protection. We are just letting nature take its course and if God thinks we are ready to become pregnant then it will happen.