Thursday, November 25, 2010

happy thanksgiving!

my favorite cartoon on my second favorite holiday.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

random thanksgiving thoughts

i'm heading off for the rest of the week to walsh, colorado.  if you don't know where that is, look it up

i would do the work for you, but, let's face it, i'm lazy.

it's a cute little town in the southeast corner of colorado where kyle's parents are from.  and currently both sets of grandparents live there.  one set is moving closer to denver soon!  woohoo!  ski time!  never mind that we both have cousin's and aunt's that live in and around denver, apparently this thought just came to me after his grandparents decided to move there.  durrr...

so, obviously, i won't be doing any black friday shopping this year.  which is just fine with me.  it's supposed to be SIXTEEN DEGREES in wichita that morning.  i'll just shop from the warm and cozy internet, thankyouverymuch.

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did you watch GLEE last night?  umm, hello, GLEE and WEDDINGS!  TOGETHER!  lovelovelovelovelove!

my favorite part was "Furt" dancing.  that and dancing down the aisle at the wedding.  but i can't find a video of it.  sad face.  who has two thumbs and is pumped for sectionals?  this girl!

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i really want to make some of these.
  tutorial here.  

although it probably doesn't take a genius to sew paper, i would need instructions.

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i'm so ready to decorate for christmas.  i've been cleaning the house up in anticipation.  it takes a lot to make me do that.  just ask my husband.

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in anticipation of my road trip, i bought the newest dan brown book for the car ride, the lost symbol.  


i'm sure kyle will get annoyed at me reading my way through the lovely views of western kansas.  in the dark.  but i'm pretty super excited about it.  and he has to forgive me because i'm his wife.  and i cook his food.  i love dan brown's books.  yes, they aren't exactly literary masterpieces, but they are fast paced and easy to read and usually provide some action in them.  of course, you are talking to someone who thinks anything that jane green has written is hilariously funny.  what can i say, i love trashy novels and jane green delivers!  (seriously, i love jane green.)  and don't tell me you didn't cry at some point in time during jemima j...you'd be a damn liar if you did.  maybe that's just me and my pudgy self feeling sorry for the girl that i can relate to.

can you say "tangent"?  anyway, i kind of fell off the reading wagon when i was engaged and planning the wedding.  funny how that happens, no?  

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!

Monday, November 22, 2010

be back soon

caught the flu yesterday and still working it out of my system.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

just a little off base...

 according to this generational quiz, i was born in 1981!

 i wasn't, by the way.  i was actually JUST BARELY born in 1983, but the quiz was close enough.

what generation do you belong in?  find out here.

thanks to fabulously broke in the city for the link!

hope your weekend is going great!

Friday, November 19, 2010

some news

we bought a "new" car today!  well, suv, but you know, a thing with wheels.  i was going to post about it, but it seems as if kyle is having buyer's remorse.  so, i think i'll wait.

i still like it!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

lol kitty



hah, i don't know why, but this tickled me this evening...gotta love lolcatz!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

say what?!?

i think some days, i just need to wear this necklace:


or maybe this one:


love it!  check out some more here: http://www.lochers.com/accessories5.html.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

nerd alert! again!

OMG, I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR THIS!!



are you?

ps - how proud are you that i learned how to change the ratio of a video to fit my blogger?!?  'cause i'm real proud, people.  real proud.

Monday, November 15, 2010

honeymoon road trip: day 3


i'm finally back to our honeymoon!  yay!  day three of our honeymoon was mostly spent shopping in santa fe.  we spent a little more time in the square, ate lunch, and then got on the road.  it wasn't a very long drive to albuquerque...or so we thought.  you see, we went to the abq (what everyone in the southwest calls albuquerque) during the balloon fiesta.  which, in case you didn't know, is apparently a really big deal.  the drive took way longer than we had anticipate, but seeing as we had eaten a late lunch, we went to get in line for the sandia peak tramway to watch the sunset and the balloon glow.
 

which in theory, was a really awesome idea.

unfortunately, most of the visitors for the balloon fiesta thought it was a good idea, too.  and the line looked a bit like this...
 
GO AWAY, PEOPLE!
so, we watched the sunset from the bottom of the mountain.  which was still AWESOME!

 SEE?!?!  i love sunsets...

and then, because kyle is an enginerd, we checked out the weights, which counterbalance the tram.  nerd.

 they are huge, they just look tiny in my pictures.  (that's what she said.)

after about two hours in line, we finally made it up to the top!  the sun had set, there were people everywhere, but we finally had our tickets, hooray!  until i saw this:

say what?
i know you can't read that and that i'm a horribly photographer, but it says that's it 39 degrees at the top.  awww, hell.  guess who forgot her coat in the car?  actually, we both didn't bring a jacket.

eventually, the car came down, we rode up in the pitch black, which was probably a good thing because apparently it looks like this on the trip:

click for source

now, i'm not afraid of heights, but this thing was packed and i just wasn't interested in falling over 1000 feet straight down.  at least, not without a parachute.

alas, we did make it to the top, here's our proof!

 a picture of us with jet black background.

i promise, it was still really beautiful, you could see for miles and it was even lightening and thundering way off in the distance, which made it special.  had i not frozen my ass off, this probably would have been one of my favorite activities on our trip!

and then we stood in line for another hour and a half to get back down.  in the freezing ass cold.  with a guy who talked our ear off the entire time.  at least he was entertaining!

and, because you know we are super nerdy like that, yes, i did take a picture of the cables that the tramway runs on.  surprisingly, not that thick.  (that's what she said.  ok, i promise i'm done with those jokes now...)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

rentals

an update on the rental house, we (and by "we" i mean "kyle and his parents") have most of the new windows in and this weekend we spent saturday and sunday ripping off the old roof and putting a new one on.  only the porch this time, thank god.  i have no PTO time left right now, so kyle and his parents will have to finish it tomorrow. 

i'm sore in places i forgot i could get sore it.  stupid roofs.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

couponing

a lot of people that know me, know i'm a bit of a coupon freak.  i've been clipping them since i was a little girl helping my mom.  now that i'm older, i'm a bit of a frugal ferdie.  that's an understatement, i'm a LOT frugal.  notice i didn't say cheap!  i'm willing to pay top dollar for things that are WORTH top dollar.  and usually, i can get them on sale or for some sort of deal.

so, anyway, the reason i'm babbling about coupons yet again (other than to motivate myself to go through my mound of coupons that i haven't clipped in forever) is because i just got my BIG FAT CHECK (their words, not mine) from ebates!



do you guys use ebates?  i do a lot of my holiday shopping online, simply because a lot of the stuff i'm looking for is not available in wichita.  i used it a lot for my wedding shopping as well...j. crew doesn't have a store in wichita, but i need to order my bridesmaid's dresses?  no biggie, go through ebates and earn cash back!  hmmm...i wonder if i can earn cash back on the groom's suits?  heck yes, i can!

basically, ebates pays you to shop.  you go to their website, search for the site you want to shop at, and click the link.  that's it!  nothing else for you to do except cash in the check later!  not all stores are on ebates, but there are a lot.  the one i use most is snapfish, where i get all my photos developed, i send them to walgreens and pick them up in about an hour!  an easy 7.5% earned (usually, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less).

if you are interested in using ebates, take it from me, it's totally worth the time spent.  here's my referral link: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=%2FmELZvgnaN2K3Qyp6n6kfQ%3D%3D 

you'll earn $5 just for signing up through me and i'll be that much closer to a cool $50 referral cash!

Friday, November 12, 2010

finally friday


(yes, this is my post for the day...i'm spent.)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

christmas time is almost here

okay, not really, but it's getting closer!

lately i've been jonesing to do some holiday crafts.  it doesn't help that i subscribe to about 30 crafting and sewing blogs...

but, anyway...i think i've found my first craft of the season!  it involves getting a ruffle foot for my sewing machine, which EXCITES THE CRAP OUT OF ME!  finally, i can get my sewing machine out!

this adorable ruffle christmas tree from Shanty2Chic is just too cute for words...so here's a couple of pictures.





Wednesday, November 10, 2010

i've got a feeling...

...WOOOOHOOOO!

just kidding.

i've got a feeling that my next car will not be a lincoln.

kyle and his dad have been working on mine for about 4 hours and when i left them out in the shed, they didn't even have the old alternator off.

looks like another early morning trip to work for me!  gross.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

gleek!

it's true.  i'm a convert.

Monday, November 8, 2010

cop out...

uh, yeah, i'm copping out on you guys once again.  at some point in time, i will finish telling you (yes, all five of you) about our honeymoon trip.  promise!

tonight i'll actually be on the road, heading up to a Kansas State University IIDA meeting!  whoop whoop!  i love visiting my alma mater!  the fact that i'll be eating at So Long's doesn't have anything to do with how happy i am about a Manhattan visit....no....nothing at all....

so i'm writing this post a little early and scheduling it to post later.  that's the first time i've ever done that!  wow, the things you learn on the internet.

anyway, i realized this morning that i hadn't shown off my wedding pictures on my blog.  yes, i did plaster them all over facebook, but that's probably only for a while.  i want to go through, pick my favorites and whittle it down to one album.  that's only 200 pictures, so i guess i better pick my favorites of my favorites!  so many to choose from!

here's the link to the blog post from my awesomely talented wedding photographer, Jackie Cooper, of jackiecooperphoto!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

I WAS FEATURED!

well, maybe featured isn't quite the word...but one of my DIY projects for our wedding made it on DIY feature page for my absolute FAVORITE wedding website, WEDDINGBEE.COM!

actually, i've been on there before, for the penguin toppers i made that i've already showed you, but yesterday our guest book (that doubled as our Quaker wedding certificate) was featured as well and this time i got a badge for it!

over there
--------------->
is the badge

you can see the certificate here and the penguins here.

what is a Quaker wedding certificate, you ask?  well, it's been made pretty popular as a version of a guest book in the past few years, but it goes back to when Quaker's were able to get married at any time that they want.  basically, when a couple felt that they were ready to marry, they would stand up during a meeting (basically, it's a church service) and state their intention to marry.  the meeting of Friends, would then assign a clearness committee to meet with the couple and make sure that they were ready for marriage.  then, after the clearness committee had decided that the couple was ready, they would recommend at the monthly meeting that the wedding be taken "under their care" and assign a different group of people to ensure that the couple had everything they needed for their wedding, which included making the wedding certificate.  essentially, Quakers are allowed to marry themselves, as traditionally, they had non-led meetings (in other words, they had no preacher) and the certificate was to bind the relationship together by everyone who had witnessed the ceremony.  in fact, many Quaker churches don't require that you register your marriage with the government and many governments will still accept the Quaker certificate as adequate proof of your marriage.

anyway, i thought the tradition was pretty cool, i took my own spin on it and actually just designed the thing in adobe indesign and printed it on our large format printer at work (shhhh....don't tell on me....)

i love the way it turned out, but i do wish i had had time to paint one.  i'm hoping i can modge podge it onto a canvas and paint over the printed words.  but, we'll see, i love it the way it is and just can't make up my mind!  my favorite part was that kyle's uncle already knew what it was!  (he married us and is a Quaker preacher, in a much more contemporary Evangelical Friends church in Oklahoma City.)  he said that he and his wife have one as well.  i love that everyone that attended the wedding got to sign our certificate, in a sense, especially since in Kansas the couple doesn't sign their own wedding certificate.  just two witnesses (thanks, erin and eric!!) and the preacher sign it.  we think it's so weird that you don't sign it yourselves...but, whatever, that's Kansas for 'ya.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

oops?

i actually had intended on blogging last night.  i really, really had.  buuuuuut, kyle has been overseas for the entire week and i haven't been sleeping well.  i never do when he's gone.  anyway, i chatted with him right after work for a while, turned on the tv....

....and woke up at 1 am.

so i guess my excuse is i physically could NOT have posted last night.  oh well, i'm sure you were all sitting on the edge of your seat to hear about the next day on our honeymoon...right....

in other news, i picked up kyle from the airport today and life will be able to return to normal as soon as he adjust to our time zone again.

here's to hoping i can continue blogging tomorrow!  :)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

taking another break

from posting about the honeymoon that is.

to show off some of my favorite photobooth pictures!  yay!  

{warning, picture heavy post ahead!}
{ps - all pictures taken by jackie cage, our second shooter to our wedding photographer, jackie cooper!  i think anyway...i guess i should ask one of the jackie's if cage was the only photobooth shooter.  either way, she's the only one that took pictures of me in the photobooth!}


i loved all of the pictures with the kids in them!  they are just SO creative!  these are my cousin amy's two little girls...precious!


awww, my bridesmaid kara and her beau (and my coworker) daniel.  my favorite part is the flowers in daniel's mouth.  daniel, i just noticed you rocked the argyle socks!  sweeeeeeet!


my new brother-in-law and sister-in-law!  i think they may have won most props per person in this one!  those glasses are awesome, i hope they survived, keeping those for possible halloween costumes in the future!


 i love this one for a few reasons...micah hates weddings, but he came to mine!  i feel so special!  also, these two have to be some of the most photogenic people i've ever met.  now, i don't usually pour over tons and tons of wedding photos (let's hope that only happens once in my life time....it's a bit overwhelming) but i have a feel that erin's photog skills give her great intuition in front of the camera, too, because she rocked the photos, there isn't a single bad one of her!

but, this photos also just cracks me up.  the glove is a little creepy, micah.


OH.MY.GOD.  how can this photo NOT make it!  these two are related to kyle and have to be some of the cutest kids in the world.  sophie caught the bouquet and andrew rocked the dance floor ALL NIGHT.  what  trooper!  those mustaches are a trip on them.  love it!


 who has four thumbs and is an awesome newlywed couple.  THESE GUYS!  the avila-william's family!


 keeping with the newlywed theme we've got going here, kyle's groomsman, ryan, got married two weeks after us!  (in a DROP DEAD GORGEOUS wedding, don't worry, pictures coming soon, in the honeymoon posts!  oh, and did i mention, their engagement photos are on a really popular wedding blog?  yeah, they are that awesome.)  these two are hilarious and absolutely perfect for each other.


 i suppose i can't pick photos of the best man and one groomsman without putting up one of the other groomsman, luke.  oh wait, this is one of the most appropriate ones.  okay, that's a lie, but this is the funniest one!  

don't worry, they weren't the only ones who made my vintage ladies gloves into something dirty...


 HAHAHA!  the look on sarah's face (on the left) is freaking hilarious.  so serious!  and michael looks a little worried there...probably because we all want him to propose already so we can have another awesome wedding to go to next year...hmmm....

 eva showing of her muscles while her husband (yet another set of newlyweds....we all jumped in at once, i guess!) shows off his miller lite.

 my brother, chris, and his adorable girlfriend amanda.  they have some hilarious ones, but this one is the ONLY picture i have of him on my wedding day where he is smiling.  and it's cute.


 more kiddo pictures!  ummm...i taught this little one how to swim...when she was 2.  i'm getting old.


 i'm not sure kevin was quite ready for the photo, but how adorable is his wife, sarah!?!  get it grrrrrrrll!  and yes, another set of newlyweds.


 you would be correct in assuming that three of these four guys are related.  they are the brother's dunn!  michael is admitting he's the only non-dunn, i think.


 who doesn't love pretty girls in dresses with mustaches?!?


one of the better group shots of the entire wedding party.  if only jackie had told poor mike he wasn't in the shot.  :(


and last, but not least, i LOVE that the band got in on the photobooth action!  just shows what a fun group they are!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

honeymoon road trip: day 2

after a really horrible first night experience at the first hotel (there was dog hair on the sheets, i mean, come on, gross), we woke up bright and early to head to The Flea at the Downs.  what?  most newlyweds don't go to a huge flea market on their honeymoon?  well, they are missing out!


this is actually from AFTER we spent half the day there, but still.  you can kind of see the "mothership" (as they call it, it's really just a large outdoor tent) in the background.  honestly, The Flea wasn't as large as i thought it would be, but we still found some pretty good deals there.  i'll have to take pictures of them and post them sometime.  i think my favorite find there was a group of three small apothecary bottles for nine bucks!  we saw some in trinidad the day before for $20/each, so we thought we got one heck of a deal on those.  kyle also scored two antique cameras for $5.  we have no idea what they are worth, but they look pretty cool on top of the piano.


here's a better picture of the mothership.  The Flea at the Downs is called that because it's at an old horse track.  the downs looked pretty cool, i wish that we could have gone inside, but the entire flea was outside.  :(


after the flea we headed to lunch at a restaurant near our hotel that was recommended from the hotel.  remember how we didn't love the hotel?  yeah, we didn't love the restaurant either.  after that, we headed down to the downtown square, where we found this really cool old church.  (randomly, i put these pictures on facebook, and my friend cody that i worked with in college graduated in this church!  how cool is that?  way better than century II.)


the our lady of guadeloupe is on the town square and is really gorgeous.  unfortunately, i couldn't use my flash and the pictures really don't do it justice.


here is the center of the town square.  there was a large christian youth group singing conference or something like that.  there was lots of dancing, singing and little kids running around.  kyle and i both have this thing for old towns (and architecture, furniture and basically anything that is old) but we have added "must have a town square" to any city that we live near.  we love them.


and the last one i wanted to share is a picture walking from the square, looking up towards our lady of guadeloupe.  the rest of the day was spent at the square and we made a trader joe's run (one of many...).


up next: day 3!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

nerd alert!

i'm too busy watching the election results to continue my honeymoon post from yesterday...yes, i know, i'm a giant nerd.  so, to entertain you this evening, here's a list of five super nerdy things you may or may not know about me.

1.  i love lists - HAH!  if you read my blog ever, you know this.  i'm constantly making lists.  i make lists of lists i need to make!  some call it organized...it would probably be organized if i actually attempted to DO the things on the list.  although, to be honest, whenever i check a thing off my to-do lists i get a little giddy.

2.  i love to read - anything and everything.  i'll read a book that got the worst reviews in history, just because it's a book.  i always had my head in a book when i was younger.  i think it used to annoy my parents, but hey, at least i was reading and not doing drugs, right?  that's gotta be saying something.  the sad thing is i don't feel like i get to read as much as i used to.  i've been reading barack obama's book dreams of my father for almost 6 months now.  granted, i was planning a wedding and going on my honeymoon and other things, but it's small enough i should have finished it in less than a week.  great book, by the way, i love the writing style.  and he lived in indonesia, which is awesome.

3.  harry potter - yup, i'm obsessed.  that's probably enough said, you guys know who harry potter is, just admit he's awesome.

4.  i'm slightly ocd - this probably ties in a little with #1, huh?  a few examples: i sort my skittles and other colored candies by color and i eat them in ROY G BIV order, table confetti (you know, the stuff people put out at weddings and parties and stuff?) yeah, i pick it all up and stack in with like words/pictures and line it up in front of my chair, i sort anything and everything in some sort of order, alphabetical, numerical or by color, and i count all the time (i just found out this is weird...kyle says it is anyway) i count things like how many steps it takes me to get from one place to another or how many stairs i just walked up.  that's all i can think of right now, but i'm sure there is more.

5.  politics - this isn't really nerdy, a lot of people are into politics, but i'm really into researching and getting into the issues.  i hate when people just vote by party, so i look into the voting records and personal beliefs of each and every candidate before vote.

i'm sure there is more, but i'll save that all for another post!

and because no post is fun without a picture...


PHOTOBOOTH!!  my mom sewed the curtains!

Monday, November 1, 2010

NaBloPoMo

in an effort to get myself to blog some more (really?  the last time i wrote anything was two days after my wedding...which was only, you know, over a month ago.  blogger fail.) i'm going to attempt to participate in NaBloPoMo.  i'm going to assume everyone knows what that means, but just in case, it's National Blog Posting Month and i will attempt to post a blog each and every day of november!  get ready for a fun ride!

to start things off, i thought i'd share a couple of my favorite shots from our honeymoon.  oh, i didn't tell you i went on a honeymoon?  whoops.  well, i know you'd rather see the pictures, so here's a few from our Great American Road Trip Honeymoon, day one (walsh, colorado to sante fe, nm):

we waited a week to leave for our honeymoon, so we left wichita the friday after our wedding right after work.  actually, kyle made me leave work at 3 to meet him at the rental car place, but that's a whole other story.  we drove from wichita to walsh, co to stay with his maternal grandparents.  the next morning we woke up bright and early to visit his paternal grandparents.  we wanted to visit his grandmother in the nursing home.  she recently suffered from multiple stokes and she and his grandfather were unable to make it to the wedding.  after we visited with her and tracked down his grandfather and chatted for a while, we headed out on our trip!

 we stopped in trinidad, co for lunch.  trinidad is near kyle's grandparents cabin where we stayed on our engagement trip.  i love the town, it is so quaint and nestled into the mountains.  our usual lunch place was closed for the day, so we tried a new brick oven pizza place.  yum!

this bird cage statue is new.  and huge!


 trinidad is a large coal mining town and the last time we were in town this coal miner's monument was under construction, so i was glad it was finally done so we could see what it looked like.


a coworker of mine gave me this vinyl sign to put on the car when we left the wedding.  since we didn't do a grand exit (we were going to take the trolley, but the last one left right before we made it out of the museum) so i decided we'd use it for the honeymoon!  this also showcases our pimp gold elantra that we rented.  i make fun, but it was actually a pretty good little car and we didn't have to drive one of ours!

 kyle's uncle, who was also recently wed and spent some time after his wedding in the area, told us to take the scenic route from trinidad to santa fe.  we are SO glad we did.  it added about 1.5 hours to the drive, but it was gorgeous.  we weaved in and out of mountains and national parks and then through taos.  taos was gorgeous.  i think i'd rather go skiing there than colorado!


i have a ton of pictures from that drive, but i won't bore you with them, they are similar to the picture of the mountains above this one.  this lake is the last one i'll show.  we wanted to stop, but weren't sure how much longer it would take us to get to santa fe and we were getting a little hungry.  (us?  hungry?  NEVER.)

that was the gist of the first day of travel.  good thing for me, i can probably take up at least 10 days with just honeymoon pictures!  10 day trip, 10 days of blogging about it?  probably.