Plugs

So I think I'm doing much the same as before - not really seeing or feeling much of a difference. I'll give it a couple of weeks and see how it goes. If this doesn't work then I might get real surgery...wouldn't that be grand!
Wedding plans are coming along and slowly we are getting closer to finishing what we need. :-) That's all for now! Have a great day!

Great blog

So I have this under Other Links on the side of my blog but just felt like highlighting it today...it's "hysterical" and it's made me more aware of quotes in the general world.

The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks

Running on empty...

...literally - I must get gas on the way home!
So I think I'm feeling done with wedding planning...even though in reality I'm not done. We are doing well and we're down to the little things but I'm ready to hand it off to someone else. Anyone want to volunteer? :-)
Work is good and though I'm nursing my second cold in 2 weeks , (the second one thanks to my giving nephews), I'm hanging in there!
On a side note, I'm getting punctal plugs in on Friday so I'm hoping that will help my oh-so-severe and obnoxious dry eye syndrome. Ah, isn't life fun?

Sisters, Sisters...

Weaker Partner

I've been reading some good articles lately that describe well the role of women in respect to a husband. Always a topic to get good responses but these two articles are the most recent that stick in my head.

Becoming A Godly Woman

Weaker Partner

2 day headache...and still going

Anyone have any cures for a nice sized migraine? I don't think the Advil is working and I need to try something else. This headache started the night before last and has turned into a full fledged migraine...good times! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kwinnie - any of that Vicodin left over from your oh so memorable hospital stay at the dale? :-)

Race for the Cure

The article explains it pretty well - and is written by a good friend and our keyboard player - but it's fun to be able to share our church's outreach efforts with other people!

http://www.pacpub.com/articles/2007/10/16/the_princeton_packet/lifestyle/doc47151ea22aa36581421130.txt

Planning...does it ever end?

So while Matt is taking a well-deserved nap and as I can't sleep, I figured I might as well blog about the successful day we've had in regards to planning our wedding. We have written - make that downloaded and edited/adjusted-our vows, have a rough outline of our ceremony, finished the wording for our invitations, confirmed on our reception place and menu, started our registry and found a great possibility for a bridesmaid dress.
Since we've both been on our own for a while and we have lots of stuff between the two of us, we didn't really think we needed to register but it's amazing what you think would be fun to have when you go and look at the wall o' kitchen gadgets at Bed Bath & Beyond. Anyway, we've had what amounts to a banner day around here.
And that doesn't even include last week when we went to IKEA and bought 2 neat bookshelves and very nice TV table with glass doors - and then proceeded to put all three of them together that same evening! Needless to say, we both were rather sore the next day but all three additions look really nice in his apartment.
So that's the latest from the northeast section of Lake Wobegon. Hope this update finds you happy and well!

The Uptown side of campus

So it's hard to believe I've been at my new job almost a month! I'm really enjoying and am quickly gaining a much larger view of the university, as opposed to my old view, limited to the Treasurer's Office. It's fun to be on the complete opposite side of campus and to see a new perspective of this place. I'm doing a project on Restricted Fund Compliance right now and having a really good time. I'm also working with my boss on some Public Safety issues as well as rolling out some new and long-awaited websites for different areas across campus. It's good to finally be in a job where everything isn't so rote and programmed. Believe me, I have no idea what could come across my desk on a daily basis. I love the fact that my boss trusts me with some pretty important things and works with me to complete them in the best possible manner. So far we have worked together really well and I hope it continues. We've had some good conversations about some difficult situations she's in and it's nice to know she wants to hear what I'm thinking.
I'm also right on Nassau Street now so it's easier access to the library, stores and more lunch options as well!
Anyway, all that to say I'm really enjoying my job and am glad that I took the opportunity to learn something new!

The beauty of Costco

My mom suggested to me a while ago to look at bulk flowers for our wedding at Costco. Now, I know she buys all sorts of fun things there, and I mean all sorts, so I decided to try it. Matt and I looked it up on Saturday night and lo and behold, we are definitely getting our flowers from Costco. $700 for a 40 piece set of mixed colored roses....$700! I'm quite excited and even though the contents of the 40 piece set are more than we need, we couldn't quite make it on the 20 piece. I know, sounds like place settings right? Anyway, check one more thing off the list. Hooray!
So not a very exciting post for most of you but it makes me happy! :-)

Bike tires

So those of you who know me know that about 1 year and 1/2 ago I got a flat tire on my bike and had since to buy new tires. Life happens, knees need therapy and these things are forgotten. But, yesterday I put new tires and tubes on my rims so I'm good to go. Matt inspired me since he's wanting to get a bike and the weather is supposed to be super nice the next couple of days. So, I'll test my bike this weekend and see how the knees are and hopefully get back into one of my favorite pastimes! Have a great weekend!

Choosing Joy

Our sermon this week was on the excercise of celebration - essentially the choice of joy in every circumstance. Not for every circumstance, but in the midst of it, to reveal and show God's glory as the ultimate end of all situations. Brad challenged us to read Phillipians this week so I'm doing that each day this week. Today I did an overall reading and circled each time Paul wrote joy or rejoice.
Then today I ran across this article on Boundless, a marvelous Christian webzine I frequent. It reinforced much of what Brad said and I wanted to share it with you. Or you can read about it on Pastor Brad's blog here. Enjoy!

I've been tagged

If you don't know what that is....someone (in this case Bethany) tags you with a bunch of questions that you answer and then you tag other bloggers. Just a way to get people to divulge information about themselves and give those of us that like to blab something to blab about...or maybe I should say blog.

4 jobs I've had:
1) wearing the purple dinosaur costume for Stride Rite shoes
2) housekeeping/landscaping for several people in Rochester, MN during Junior High and High School
3) RA at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI
4) administrative assistant at Princeton University

4 films I could watch over and over:
1) Sweet Home Alabama
2) While you were Sleeping
3) Fifth Element
4) Pride & Prejudice

4 Places I have lived:
1) Paulina, IA
2) Madelia, MN
3) Hillsdale, MI
4) Cranbury, NJ

4 Favorite TV shows:
1) My Boys
2) Shark
3) Numbers
4) Ugly Betty

4 Favorite Foods:
1) green beans
2) mac & cheese
3) strawberry rhubarb pie
4) goulash

4 Websites I visit everyday:
1) Princeton University
2) cbs.com
3) tnt.com
4) Princeton University Federal Credit Union

4 Places I would love to be:
1) Camping
2) Home
3) Colorado
4) California

4 Favorite Colors:
1) cobalt blue
2) ruby red
3) kelly green
4) any shade pink

4 Names I love but would/could not use for my children:
1) Hezakiah
2) Tirzah
3) Libby
4) Job

I tag Bethany, Amy, Kristen and Karen.

Time warp

So it's been a while and life has been crazy but I thought I'd post something anyway, just so people would stop commenting on the fact that I haven't posted in a while.
Anyway, wedding plans are coming along quite well - I just bought my shoes on ebay on Friday and am anxiously awaiting their arrival. I have most of my attire/wardrobe for the forthcoming Saturday and we have the major things reserved so now it's onto minute details, like wording of the invites and favors and bridal party gifts and what style of tux shirt Matt wants to wear...all sorts of fun stuff!
Also, regarding my new job which I start in 3 weeks, we are interviewing candidates all day this Wednesday so hopefully we'll all agree on someone who we think would do well here. Someone asked me in church yesterday if I could be replaced so easily so of course my immediate reply was no, I can't be replaced but someone else can certainly do my job! :-) So we'll see how tired I am after Wednesday.
And for random's sake, this morning I got a text from a friend I haven't talked to in a while but it made me smile. It's good to have friends with whom you can easily re-connect! And I've run into all sorts of people on Facebook - but we're all having fun!
Okay, I 've posted people, so stop asking me. :-)

Engaging pictures

the boys giving me my pack of clues

my new piece of jewelry
a celebratory lunch with the family

A hard day at work...heh heh

So here's what we do at work...when it's our staff picnic day! :-) 2 of my co-workers and I having a good time and waiting for the free flowers!

I just wanted to post this marvelous pic of Annie...I love the look on her face!! What a delightful girl!

a random discovery

I realize, after reading a few of my older posts, that I use "so" quite often in my blogging as well as in my everyday speak. 5 of my last 8 posts begin with So. Is that even grammatically correct? I think I picked that up from D and B. They say it quite often but maybe don't realize it. I guess there could be worse words to use...

Work after vacation

So this is by far the busiest I've ever been after coming back from a vacation...my desk is an absolute forest with all this paper on it! At least the days are going by quickly. I guess that's what I get for being useful. :-) I believe a little overtime will be in order this week just to make it manageable! But when I get really crazy, I always have Fernando Ortega to keep me sane. Okay, back to work everyone!

A trip to Missouri

Matt and I just got back from a visit to see some friends in MO. We flew out with no problem on Thursday and met Doug at the airport. Doug is Matt's good friend from college with whom we stayed 3 nights. We went to a birthday party on Thursday night and on Friday had a lot of fun. We went to the Arch, rode the tram up and took some pictures, had some very tasty BBQ at Bandana's, then went back to Doug's place, played cards and he gave us a ride on his Suzuki...that was a blast! I love bikes! And yes Mom, I wore a helmet this time. Later that night we went to this awesome adult race car/go kart thingy. It was a Grand Prix Speedway race car place and we had 3 races with suits and helmets and everything. It was a blast!! We all qualified for turbo and I only got 1 warning. :-) Though we were sore afterwards a bit of Marble Slab dessert made us feel better. Saturday we played a bit of frisbee in Doug's really nice backyard, had some tasty pizza and then headed down to Bolivar to visit the Pitts family. They moved back to MO in November so it was marvelous to spend some time with them.
We went to Silver Dollar City on Sunday and rode a couple of rides before it started raining. We got 1/2 of our money back because we were only able to ride a few rides before the rain cut everything off but we still had fun. I highly recommend the Powder Keg and Wildfire if you are near Branson anytime soon.
Sunday afternoon we headed back to Doug's for one last time and on Monday flew back to Jersey. It was great and though we, I should say Matt, drove nearly 500 miles in about a day and a half, I think it safe to say we had a really enjoyable trip. Here are a few pictures:

the Arch from below

a view from the Arch
the new Busch Stadium
with the Pitts family
Doug and I in the tram pod