The Dements

Mark's moving day

2011-09-30T12:40:00.001-07:00

Today Mark moves into our rent our in TN!

So we are moving...

2011-09-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

So yes.I really did let a couple months go by without a post. Really, there is too much going on.

June-went to Florida with Katie and Kichelle. Made an awesome music video, check it out on facebook
July 4-Mark came home for the weekend
July 30-Lake with work peeps
August 5-went to VA to see Mark and Prissy turned 1
August 13-Tammy's bday! We went bowling
August 25-Bday present to self, went to see Chastity in Austin
August 31-My bday, friends over at the house

Army Update
Mark graduates Sept 10 (day the hogs play in LR so we get to miss that)
We got Ft. Campbell, hour outside of Nashville.
Mark move in October and I will live in both places until January
I'm transferring with Deloitte

So we get to sell the house. That won't be fun and it's super sad. We really loved this house.

still waiting and another st. joe wedding

2011-06-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! I am so ready to find out where we will be stationed. This waiting game is killing me!!!!

So another St. Joe wedding. Stacey Ross married Trey Johnson. Stacey was the point guard. She looked amazing! I absolutely loved her dress. It was a mix of modern and antique. And one great surprise, Sarah J came down from Alaska for the first time in 15 months! Me her, Susan Gerard and Blake Neumeier hung out after the reception. Hadn't had that much fun in a long time.

I loved talking to Sarah. It was good to get to talk to someone about military stuff. Same is true with Blake. I'm so blessed to have them.

Oh the Scout is pretty much done

2011-06-04T13:03:00.001-07:00

Substantially complete. The scout.

update

2011-03-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

so i spend busy season in houston. blah. didn't even get to shop or take advantage of it. I"m back for a couple of weeks and then off to fort smith and houston again. i'm definitely an army wife. i have the id to prove it now. i've only talked him once but i got my first letter today. he is doing just fine. he said so far so good. he is in a terrible group and that is why he just got to write me. when they are bad they loose their free time. i'm ok and it hasn't been that bad so far. i have philly in a month and then mark graduates in may and then destin with katie in june prissy is getting huge and this weekend we get her a fence! there is the quick update

Carter's nursery

2011-03-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

So I help my good friend Sarah with her baby nursery. I made paintings and used the cricut to cut vinyl. She wanted Carter's name but no ribbon so I came up with a shelf.

Deja Vu

2011-02-06T19:25:00.001-08:00

so flashback to the week before our wedding. mark was on a temporary lay off so he was home all day. i come home to find him standing on top of a keg on top of the kitchen counter wearing only his boxers.

kelly: what are you doing?
mark: hanging your pot rack for you
kelly: shouldn't you be wearing some eye glasses? (he was looking up into the ceiling and drilling holes for pot racks. nevermind he should have probably used a ladder, wearing clothes, and not been doing that with no one home.)

fastforward
mark: there is something in my eye. can you look at it?

long story short, two days later we end up at the doctor and lets us know he was lucky he didn't severly scratch his retna by trying to get it out on his own and he should have went to the ER. he was close to having to wear a patch on our wedding day

fast forward to 2/6/11
i'm fly into houston and let mark know i made it.
mark: i got something in my eye
kelly: use some of my contact solution to try and flush it out. if you can't go to the ER

2 hours later

i call mark.
kelly: you never called me back.
mark: i'm still working on getting it out.
kelly: *$&@() do you not learn!!! go to the ER now

mark does not go immediately and continues to mess with his eye. eventually he goes. i guess telling him the third time was the charm. he has severely scratched his cornia. we won't know anything else until the eye doctor tomorrow.

i haven't been this made at him ever! he deliberately didn't listen to me. i know he's not my child, and can make his own decisions, but come on! what will it take for him to listen to me? don't get me wrong. i'm worried about his eye. i just don't understand....

Holidays

2010-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

So the holidays have come and gone. My parents got Mark and I an awesome luggage set! Its our grown up set. We've been using my lime green set I got for my 20th bday. Needless to say Mark never really liked carrying them.

Mark and I got each other an Armada. We've been wanting an SUV for a while now and the BMW had its last straw. The radiator broke for the second time since we've had it. The first was on our wedding day. I decided we were getting it fixed and getting rid of that time bomb. So I love the Armada, not necessarily having a car note again for the first time in years, but I can't wait to take a road trip!

Prissy is getting big! She's 40 pounds now and the vet predicts 80 pounds. She's my protector and cuddle bug. She doesn't sleep with us. Luckily Mark was right on that kennel training thing. At 80 pounds it would be more like another person sleeping with us, but we let her sleep with us on the couch.

In other noteables, over the holidays I did find out that I have an ulcer. Stress has seemed to caught up with me. I'm better now, but I have got to work on the work/life balance and not being a perfectionist. If anyone knows me that will be really hard, but I never want to be that sick again so its a strong motivator!

Upcoming stuff: Mark leaves for boot camp March 8 and I start traveling to Houston for 6 weeks Jan 24. That's about it for now

oh the work life

2010-11-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

So I've been crazy busy with this client that we recently resigned from and it has now occupied most of my time. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and can't wait to catch up on blogging, scrap booking, and cleaning.

hi

2010-11-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I have a blog and I neglect it. New resolution. Write at least once a week. I have added it to my Outlook calendar and that I way I can at least snooze the reminder daily until I get sick of it enough to write.

Priscilla Dement

2010-09-19T16:13:00.004-07:00

We have a new addition to the family. A blue doberman named Priscilla. Priscilla means respected and one day she will look the part, but for now 'Prissy" is as cute and loveable as can be!!

June

2010-07-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

So June was relatively uneventful. We attended Nick and Shea Nabholz's wedding. I went to high school with Nick and his parents were our premarital counseling sponsor couple.

We went to the Looney Bin and saw the Untamed Shrews. They were surprisingly funny and we even got Blake a present.

Mark played his co-workers in poker and left them with nothing. I told him you have to not take everything so they'll invite you back next time.

I helped make Tammy's wedding invites.

Then we had the St. Joe Float trip the last weekend in June. I"ll post some more on that.

tim mcgraw and lady antebellum

2010-05-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

so my first concert was tim mcgraw and i've seen him several times since. almost a month ago i went with tammy and her sister and lauren. it was a bride and bridesmaid outing. here are some of the pics.

float trip

2010-05-04T06:10:00.003-07:00

The float trip has been planned. save the date June 25-27. Here are the invites.

I've been dying to use custom stamps, but i'm always sending out a ton of inivtes and it just gets too expensive. I picked hozy's car going accros the river at woolum. can't wait to use custom stamps again!

the invites.

2 on 2

2010-05-04T06:10:00.001-07:00

well blake has moved out :( but now we have a new roomate. one of my bestest friends katie.

two boys verus two girls. it will be interesting. while the room was empty, we took some time to get it ready for when we move into the room. when we have no roommate, no telling when that will be, but never the less we will be ready. mark installed some shoe shelves and new lights. this is the result

new light

new shoe shelf

The room looks really different. i was so used to boy stuff.

new bath

new room. she will kill me when she sees i posted her room kind of "dirty" she is really clean.

boy will be boys

2010-05-04T06:08:00.002-07:00

so this is what happen when you live with boys on a friday night. we all had plans saturday so we decided to stay in on friday. we had a few drinks and ate on the porch. it felt so good Lucas decided to put up his hammock. not to be out-done mark had to get his with a drink holder. its moments like these....

2 years!

2010-05-04T06:08:00.001-07:00

So mark and i do the traditional thing. year one-paper. year two-cotton. so mark got me mine early, cotton stuffing and the scout to stuff the seats with. he also got me a shirt the day of so I wasn't empty handed. Me-I got mark an apron. Anyone who stays with us knows mark makes breakfast. i have to restrain him during the week. he is allow only on sundays. well, mark has been off work and i called one morning at 11am and he was still cleaning up from breakfast. Wasted 3 hours of the day on it. I was starting to get angry when he said, "Kelly, do you know what it takes to fuel an alpha?" Well i couldn't be mad after that and turned it into a cotton apron. Then I got him a cotton stuffed sleeping bag, and well i had to get the tent to go with it.

notihing fancy this year, we are getting a roof and a new fridge so we are contributing to the team instead of jetting away. here are some pics

it says, bacon, eggs, waffles, potatoes and pancakes are not an elaborate breakfast. do you know what it takes to feed an alpha?
his first tent. it pops up in less than one minute and sleeps eight. of course he had to put it up immediatelly. it was raining so he put it up in the carport.

goodbyes

2010-04-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

We had Blake's going away party Saturday. I was honestly disappointed in some people that were not there. There are good reasons and then there is..... When Blake left the first time we were all young. I was naive. I didn't realize the true impact of what he was doing and what risk he was taking. I assumed he was coming back and he was just going to be gone for a while. "Engineer". His title. I had no idea that meant he went looking for bombs and they blew them up so no one else would happen across them. Now that I've lived with him for a year, I can truly say I have a new appreciation for the military and what they do. I never realized the strength it takes. Knowing what sacrifice he is making for me and all of us, fills my heart with pride to call him my friend and roommate. I don't want to say goodbye. It brings tears to my eyes just to think about it. I'm surprised I never lost it and let the waterworks happen at the party, but I don't think there was ever a dull or somber moment. He has such a big heart and I'm lucky to be his friend and even luckier is the girl that he ends up with! I pray that God keeps him safe and I will miss him, but he give me the opportunity to start yet another creative hobby-best pen pal ever! (well at least give kyra some good competition)

Freedom (instead of french) vanilla cupcakes.
his invite

he rank brownies

each food had a label and we re-named all the food to fit something in blake's life. his dad brought his amazing wings!

almost all the food was turkey, turkey lettuce wraps, turkey sanwiches, turkey salad....all fitting for the wild turkey party

more of the spread

Tiger Lily

2010-03-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

I've wanted an International Scout for as long as I can remember. When Mark found out I've always wanted one he was first shocked that he never knew this since at that point we had been married for a few months and also really excited that we found something we could do together other than travel, watch movies, and other miscellaneous stuff. We haven't really had a shared hobby before. I like crafts, scrapbooking, sewing, and reading. Mark likes eating, playing video games, cars, and electronics. So we decided we wanted to get a Scout and we had been looking for a while. The search was sped up after Mark's friend Justin got a Scout. One female hormonal night he told me J got a Scout and my emotional female side came out and I cried and told him he had given away my dream to him friend and telling him that we wanted to fix up a Scout was like giving away our baby name. He didn't quite understand the analogy, but the tears were enough for motivation. One month of frantic looking and he even called Indiana we put an offer on one. Well it was a really low ball offer. Even though I really wanted one, I wasn't going to over pay. Saturday I was so excited to get to finally work on our yard. Its terrible. So we went up to Good Earth and got some ideas and looked for pots. They still didn't have a lot of stuff in, but I got Mark a blueberry plant. He loves blueberries and soon he can pick fresh ones. We got some Lowe's supplies and headed home when Mark got a call. They would take our offer if we came up a little and could come get it that day. Nasty yard work clothes and all, we dropped off the blueberry plant at the house and drove straight to Gentry (3 hours) and bought it! I'm so excited and can't wait to start work on it, but now I have too many projects. I need a fridge, a new roof, I want to re-do our landscaping, paint the brick, make our drive way go up the side, work on making some clothes....I told Mark he needs a second job so I can get all my projects done and he said he needs a second man room. Well here she is. All I have to do is rhino line the inside, new windshield, new grill, brush guard, trailer hitch, roll bar, soft top, paint her orange and an emblem that says Tiger Lily. ok well pics won't upload on work computer and that's all i've been able to use lately with mark getting really involved with the end of the school year. check them out on facebook.

so i added some:

quick update

2010-02-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

i'm still in busy season. this week i'm in springdale. my harrison trip was kind of fun. i got to work with kyle so that is always an adventure. and found out kyle is putting in his notice so that means i finally get first fed. the whole reason i came to work at deloitte is to work on a public bank. i'll be in the dale for the next couple of weeks, then LR then fort smith. fun times.

mark is going through midterms. still likes communications and hates math. his current obsession: trying to find me a scout. got to love him.

other things. planning the float trip save the dates. it is either june 5, 23 or july 17.

blake's going away party is wild turkey themed and april 3. ready for the parties and all of this busy stuff to end!

tammy's wedding

2010-02-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

so tammy's wedding isn't until sept 11, but last weekend i had to do my bridesmaid duty and light a fire under her. she hasn't done much except the venue so I went over there and helped her get started by at least making appointments. The the only downside is that i made the dress/bridesmaid dress shopping for april 6. that means i need to get on the working out for dreses fitting time and this week was horrible. when i travel i eat out every meal and don't pay for it so its really hard to be good. i had carrot cake, a brownie, steak.....i'm going to be better this week though. i vow it! plus God will be helping me. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and that means give up time and no meat on Fridays. This year I'm giving up alcohol. Period. The hard part will be getting people to accept that I'm not going to have a drink. My Catholic friends will understand. The rest, well, it will be a true test to say no to temptation and I think this will be my hardest Lent ever. At least Mark isn't giving up caffine again. I don't think both of us could go through something that tramatic again! Wish me luck!

so much for not traveling

2010-02-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

So my busy season has now consisted of traveling to harrison, ar last week and again this week and then 3 weeks of fayetteville. i'm liking harrison because i'm FINALLY getting to do more audit work with a public bank and i'll like fayetteville because it will give me a chance to see all my friends up there. mark isn't taking it as well. i thought it would be a good time for him so he could focus on school, but he has gotten so used to me being around. its cute that he misses me :)

horse races

2010-01-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

So this weekend we decided to go to the horse races. It has been long overdue for Mark who has never been. A born gambler and I've never taken him. I'm a terrible wife. Or I am? Anyways we went with some of my co-workers and we all lost. All of us. What a horrible first experience, but we had fun aways!

Next time Mark said he would be more prepared and can't wait to go back. We are thinking it would be a perfect outing with J and Chas!

new beginnings

2010-01-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

So Mark has started school back up and I'm starting busy season back up and Blake is slowly getting ready to leave us. Monday I had the talk with the house that there won't be dinners until late March. I got boo-ed, but they understand. With that said here is the blog talk-I won't be able to update as often, which means from once a month to probably I'll write about January to March in one sitting in April.

Also, I've started to work out hard again. I was cleared for my back Nov 1, but only did stuff here and there and didn't change my diet. I hate to be one of those New Year's resolution people. It's not a resolution. My resolution is to read more educational and meaningful books vs. the vampire/romance/mystery. The work out thing is a get healthy thing. I miss my citizens and sevens and my favorite suit. I have always been up and down. High school maintained. Freshman year, well who didn't gain. Sophmore year, lost it. Got a boyfriend and was happy. Got engaged and lost some for the wedding. Started Deloitte and traveled (aka ate out and could order whatever i wanted). Stopped traveling as much and lost some. Hurt my back. Present day. Only this time my goal is to keep it off for longer than a year and the only time I should gain weight is when i'm pregnant one day. There. I said it and wrote it now i have to do it.

2010

2010-01-03T07:49:00.004-08:00

So for new years i had an inventory new years eve and then the one that was supposed to be new years eve morning, ended up being new years day morning. Therefore no Memphis with katie, wes, and ashley. boo.

Mark and I ended up eating enchiladas and put in a movie and drank champagne by the fire. It was a nice and romantic way to bring in 2010.

Christmas in TX

2010-01-03T07:49:00.003-08:00

So for Christmas we went down to Texas where my mom and dad's families are. We went Tuesday-Sunday of Christmas week and it was nice to get away. We didn't do anything in particular other than just hang out with family. I did get to meet my cousin"s baby Aubrey. She is soooo precious and happy!

Christmas eve we went to Lake Charles to hang out with the Turner's and we drank apple pie (jim clear and apple cider), played guesstures, ate, and went to the Casino. A very Turner Christmas.

Christmas day we woke up at Meemaw's and then went to church at my childhood church. I love it. St. Anthony's. It is the most beautiful church.

Then we went to Aunt Julie's to play with the baby and eat. Then we played games all day. It most consistent of what we are joking referring to as "texan" washers. There is 3 holes instead of 1 and there is no leaners or on the board points. it is simply 1, 3, 5 point holes. surprising the the champions of the day were my dad and cody who had a 9-game winning streak only to be beaten by my mom and uncle keith. i stunk it up and at least i had my partner kristen to carry most of the time.

Saturday we went into houston to shop and spend some time with uncle chris's family. patrick and cody went ahead of us to play golf and we went to dave and busters and ikea. dave and busters was fun. mark found the largest stuffed animal machine and won me a giant bear. he continually displays is alpha male status. my mom won a ton of tickets and got mark a t-shirt. ikea was fun as always, mark and i got a ton of stuff for the bar-wine, shot, and champangne glasses as well as stir stick ice molds.

At Uncle's Chris' we got to drink some wine, ate some amazing ribs, and catch up. mark found a new obsession. a spicy pineapple relish on cream cheese. shauna gave him a bottle when he left and made his christmas. they also gave us a really nice wine bottle opener. needless to say the bar racked up this christmas.

A Tacky Christmas

2010-01-03T07:49:00.001-08:00

so last year mark and i decided we would have an anuual christmas party. last year it was at the loft and we basically just did a ton of drinking. following with our new found love of themed parties, we decided on a tacky sweater party. i've always wanted to do one. its not really that creative of a theme, but I don't care. The food was normal appetizer type stuff, but i made a couple of signature drinks-red velvet and elf piss.

Red velvet is black velvet whisky, amaretto, and cranberry juice. Elf piss-sprite, gin and lime with green food coloring.
And for the attraction-a photo back drop. Our oringinal entertainment fell through and Kyra came to the rescue with this great idea. Kyra won the contest too. Here are a few of my favorites.

I wish you could see Tammy's cat socks

Chesnuts on an open fire

Derek's next year christmas card?

Zach's had shoulder pads. Enough said.

Family portrait

We actually got one of us at a party.

rocking it out in the man room. other man room activities-tippy cup and a ring game. love the concrete. all we had to do to clean up is mop.

boys and toys

2009-12-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

so in order to do the before mentioned painting i had some assistance. i borrowed the projector from work and traced the image. there i confessed! well the boys saw what i was doing and had an epiphany. we could watch movies and play video games. i let them do one each before taking it back to work. the result: a 122 inch screen, army men as big as we are in real life and three boys begging me to buy one "for real".

lucas showing it is so big he can hold the gun.

i love having a fireplace

2009-12-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

the other night we were snuggled up and i took this and sent it to kyra because i wish she was snuggled up with us. I found this pic working on the previsous post and wanted to post this and our tree at night.

mark, me, blake then lucas. Our boys in birth order :)

man post #8392

2009-12-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

Ok so it just seems like I've posted about the man room a million times. I would like to be posting about a new ceiling fan, the landscaping, or perhaps a painting I want to do, but all things are on hold until the chaos that is the man room is complete. It has now taken the woman getting involved. our party is dec 19 so that means this weekend is go time. I picked out six colors i could live with in the man room and mark selected taupe #5. Its a little dark, but he says, its the man cave. plus eventually it will serve as a theater room too. Oh my creative and ambitious little boy! so we primed, painted and taped off the hall yesterday. (An unimaginable amount of damage was done to the hall as a result of the last party where the ridiculously wide hall-way was deemed the perfect spot for beer pong). So today we paint the hallway and the man room trim and hopefully start re-arranging the room.

My favorite part is that yesterday we bought the parts to fix my garage sale man room light fixture. One of three kelly touches to the room. With the permission of the man of course. The others are a painting of the Dement family crest (open to be complete, but sketched) and I mounted Mark's poker chip collection. He keeps a chip from every casino he goes to. He prefers the metal ones. I mounted them for Christmas and gave it to him early so we could display it in his room for the party. I'll post photos of my light fixture and the room all complete later, but her is the poker chip shadow box and the painting sketched. There is a knight and the crest has 3 mountains. Mark is a warrior from the mountainous region of France. I joke that's why he's so hairy. He literally is a mountain man.

catch up

2009-11-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

Kelly: Mark, I'm catching up the blog is there anything else I've forgotten?

Mark: This masterpiece of breakfast I have created.

Ugly Sweater Party

2009-11-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

So there is the annual float trip, Hozy's crawfish boil, Davis' halloween, and our Christmas party! This year we are doing the ugly sweaters. I've been dying to do it. The theme is so over done, but I don't care!

christmas decorating!

2009-11-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

So Saturday we spent the day putting up Christmas decorations. Mark spent 5 hours hanging jus tthe rope lights and there is no power to them (below) while I did everything else.

Our travel tree. Yes that is Sam Walton. We've been/lived in Bentonville.

Tree

I made a wreath for the manel. The big one is Mark, the medium is me, and the two little ones are for our boys.

The crooked willow branches again. Mark said, what is with you and decorating with dead things (the wreaths and these). Me-I can't kill it and we can use them every year. Back off.

My other wreath, but this one has both colors.

We have a few things left to do here and there, but I think the boys will be surprised to see what we got done while they were gone for Thanksgiving.

gobble gobble

2009-11-29T07:23:00.001-08:00

So this year for Thanksgiving Meemaw and Grandpa came up! We ate too much, Mark passed out in the sitting position and snored, and we got a chance to catch up with them. It was a nice slow-paced day.

The next day I decided to avoid the chaos a little. I went to Walmart to catchs some LED icicle lights on sale from $12 to $5 before 11am. I got all 15 boxes, there were no lines. It was crazy! Then when I got the car I realized I had bought all blue lights......I was supposed to get white. I said forget it, I'll go back later. I had two more stores I had to catch. Academy had a $5 snuggie and Kohl's had a $20 waffle maker. I struck out on both, they were out, but that's ok, the snuggie was for a $5 limit white elephant and we'll just get something else and the waffle maker was for Lucas. He doesn't like Mark's pancakes. We'll catch an after Christmas sale or something.

Then I met up with Mom and Meemaw for lunch and the real shopping. Meemaw may be in her 70s but she will always out shop me. We went everywhere and even hit up the Goodwills and Savers for some ugly sweaters. I got a few and have no idea who they are for, but we are almost prepared for the party! I bought some stuff for decorating and I'll post about that too!

Overall great break! I needed it for work and now I go to AECC for the month of December where I'm the senior so I get to have all the fun :).......

batesville

2009-11-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

today we went to visit grandpa dick and grandma itola dement. they live on a tree farm in batesville and i love going up there and just walking the land. it was great to get a away and visit them.

happy halloween

2009-11-14T21:29:00.001-08:00

so we go to steven and danielle hatten's for halloween every year and mark does his best to make his costume as crazy as possible. he decided to be a leprechan and i as a rainbow with a pot of gold. somehow there are no pics of me and mark or me in general, but here are a few.

manroom floors complete!

2009-10-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

the floors are complete. i love mancation. mark came back and got to work on the house, cars, etc. now the floors are complete, he started fixing the sheet rock from the house party and i picked out the paint color. this week we'll paint and hopefully next week move everything back in!!! no more couches in the hall.

before

the hole

Mancation videos

2009-10-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Mancation-Houston, MO

tearing up a beaver dam

toby sleeping in the bathroom

intro-guns

cutting wood

spray paint can-day

toby-jam

gasoline

maloney compound

hits shed

propane

newest projects: halloween and earring holder

2009-10-25T17:07:00.001-07:00

So i made our costumes yesterday and finished them up today, but mark wants them to be a surprise so i'll have to post later.

I hate loosing and never being able to find earrings. i was inspired by a store in dallas, pitaya, they displayed their earrings on picture frames and framed mesh. i went a little more stylish and framed some black and white fabric with batting to match our black, white, silver and orange room.

kiwi sandwich

2009-10-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

so mark went on mancation to missouri to shoot guns and so katie and i went to dallas last weekend for some much needed kkk time. Friday we went to Who's Bad, the Michael Jackson impersonation bad. It was my second time (see post last November). They were much better the second time! Saturday we shopped all day, drank margaritas and chilled and then Sunday our usual mimosas! Katie has the pics so they will probably will never be posted, but I have some that I got from what Bonnie took.

the flu

2009-10-04T09:48:00.001-07:00

so mark and i have been sick since tuesday. mark brought it home from work and i got it from taking care of him. though what i had was not near as bad as mark! I had to miss a wedding, a stock the bar party, and work. now i'm behind and misssed out on fun. blah.

lets go to weinfest. oh wait no lets turn around and go to dallas

2009-09-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

so we were on our way to weinfest. a wine festival in altus. we've been wanting to go do a tour and taste testing thing. well on our way to pick up michelle i got news that kyra was sad and i told mark i wanted to hug her. he said won't do we just go. so we all left. just like that. up and went to dallas. mark and i love spur of the moment trips.

the trip flew by as we played catch phrase for 4 hours and then we were there. we snuck into the building and had michelle knock on kyra's door. kyra's face was priceless.

"what are you doing here?"

"you told me next time i was in town to stop by"

"well hi" *hug from kyra*

silence silence. *kyra peaks around the corner*

we had no where else to hide. she found us! she was definitely surprised.

then we went to byob pizza, the bars, and the next morning was my fav place penne pomodoro. then north park for some shopping and then all you can eat sushi. overall a very productive weekend!

mimosas
pizza

mark exploring dallas architecture

liar's den bar-pasty me. sometimes i hate being cancer free.

dog update

2009-09-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

so everyone knows i've been talking about getting a dog for months, but we don't have a fence and my back is still only 75%, but this weekend we went and looked at a doberman breeder to see all 5 colors. Bet you didn't know they come in 5. I think my favorite is blue. I think Mark taking me was a mistake. I immediately made him go to Home Depot to look at fence stuff. I keep reminding him Christams is right around the corner!

man room update

2009-09-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

two months later, the carpets have been re-ripped up and lucas took the carpet to his deer camp. the floors have been re-cleaned and a test area has been stained and is now dry. looks good, now if it would stop raining so it won't be so humid so we can re-stain.

happy 26 me and patrick

2009-09-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

So for my 26th I really didn't want to do anything. I was working a lot on a 6/30 year end client so I decided dinner with close friends to Benihana's. Mark filled up my wine rack for my bday. That's about all i need.

back 2 skool

2009-08-25T18:21:00.001-07:00

So mark started school last week and the million dollar question is what for? He is finishing his basics and we'll go from there. Right now it's looking like radiology. He refused to let me post a picture of him and his backpack, but I did get a chance to snap a pic of his student id card. When he showed it to me, I instantly recognized that he wasn't looking at the camera.

"what was so interesting mark?"

"what are you talking about?"

"you aren't looking at the camera. was there a hottie?"

"there was this girl name Porsche that had an ass the size of a porsche"

I love my husband. Check out this sexy pic.

the opera

2009-08-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

So Jade informed me that Dallas now has a opera. I’m going. I don’t when but I’m going.

Training in Austin

2009-08-14T07:14:00.001-07:00

So there is not much going on these days I just got back from national training in Austin. It was extremely dull but going out on Sixth Street was not. The highlight of training was getting sent this CLICK HERE link about training and the second is probably the fact that I drew a thermometer and it looked a bit fallic. It was extremely embarrassing. Everyone laughed and it was the on-going joke the rest of the week. I just laugh with it

kyra moved AGAIN

2009-08-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

Somehow I always “end up” in Dallas around the time that Kyra is moving. I made myself have a long layover on my way to training in Austin. She moved to Uptown to a little bit of a smaller place, but I love it. Friday we tried to meet up with friends it didn’t work out so we chilled and caught up on So You Think You Can Dance. All day Saturday Kyra and Jade moved. I was the official supervisor. My back is still hurting from our house party. Then Saturday night we walked to a hole in the wall pizza place and then a bar just the two of us. I loved getting to go out just us girls! It’s been a long time. And the best part of the weekend (besides getting to see Kyra) $1 mismosas at Penne Pomodoro with a three cheese and ham sandwich and Bonnie met us there!!! Then some tipsy shopping. I found Allison some cute shirts at Urban Outfitter and bought myself another much needed strapless bra. Then the whirlwind weekend was over with a mad dash to the airport for national training in Austin.

She's here!

2009-08-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

So Aubrey is here. I just haven’t posted pics yet. I stole these from Kristen’s My Space. She’s beautiful and I can’t wait to meet her and for Cody to get back from Iraq. They go back to Hawaii so I’m going to do my best to get Mark and I out there. I don’t travel as much as I used to so I don’t rack up the points as easily. Maybe it will be a 2nd anniversary thing.

Kristen Small and Aubrey Brynn Small
Aunt Julie

Meemaw and Aubrey

Gorgeous! can't wait to give her the bag!

waiting for aubrey brynn

2009-07-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

so today my cousin's baby is due. aubrey brynn. I'm really excited for the first great-grandbaby! aubrey's shower was zebra and pink themed so I went with that for the gift we'll bring we when go down to see her. I found the bag at the inviting company sale and made a key chain. I'll put a pic of aubrey in the locket as soon as she's born and I get one! We probably won't get to go down until labor day weekend. We are going to Lake Charles for my grandmother's 80th birthday party!

So the round charm under "aubrey" says "bundle of joy" :)

Bikers and BBQ Movie

2009-07-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

off work for the week!

2009-07-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

i'm off work this week and intend on doing almost nothing. everyone knows that nothing would be near impossible for me. I'll write some blog posts do a little cleaning/organizing and catch up on reading. yesterday I decided i will be breaking out the china! I'm having a 7 course dinner party wednesday. Just the roomates will eat it but i'm making them dress nice. today i'll start on the cheesecake!

bikers and bbq

2009-07-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ever since we've done the 80's Prom we've been dying for an opportunity to dress up again. So I thought why not theme the house warming party? Several themes were discussed but I liked the alliteration of B's with Bikers and BBQ.

I was so surprised how many people came and dressed up! We had special guests Kyra and Tony from Dallas, Cole from Nashville, and Steven, Danielle, Justin, Willard and girlfried in from Bentonville, AR.

I decided to keep the decorations minimal since I wanted to spend more of the party budget on food and alcohol. I made a sign for the front yard that gave the house number "7100" with flames around it and I made the cupcakes look like a chopper. I set up a table of names tags so everyone could be identified by their biker name. Everyone got pretty creative. I was Lou (middle name Louise) and Mark was Big Dick (middle name Richard). Also on the table was strips of leather left over from Katie's pant legs to make bracelets for those people that decided not to dreses up so they could at least have a piece of biker on them. By the end of the night they were called the "party favors".

This time I didn't make a million outfits, I stuck to cutting off Katie's pants and making shorts for her, I cut off the sleeves of my jacket, made allison a top of bandanas, and of course i made mark's outfit from left over leather from katie's pant legs. (He wasn't allowed to go outside for fear children might see him).

Anyways, I'll let the pics speak for themselves. See the move posted.

getting ready for the party

2009-07-14T11:05:00.001-07:00

so the stained concrete did not turn out as planned and i had to foresight to make mark keep the carpet that was pulled up. we rolled the carpet back down and moved the furniture back in for the party and finally after a month of having the game table (table, ping pong, air hockey, and pool table in one) mark and blake assembled the table. we know its cheap and it looks a little cheap and the pool table part is far from being up to par, but it serves its purpose and i love the air hockey part!

all caught up

2009-07-08T13:05:00.001-07:00

thanks to being unassigned this week (work term for i am not working on a client right now) I am now caught up on the blog. i just finished up and posted stuff even if it didn't have everything i wanted to put like links, videos, pics, etc. oh well!

The man room

2009-07-08T12:52:00.001-07:00

so the game room, oh i'm sorry, the man room as i have been corrected several times is the only room I am not allowed in without express permission from one of the men of the house. (all in jest of course, but i try to respect the mind game) apparently the time i've already spent in there has been too much and it now stinks of woman. therefore they have now ripped up the carpet and intend of staining the concrete. i allowed this act to happen because i was promised it would take a weekend.

this was two weeks ago.

apparently the painters drew hearts and smilely faces on the conrete and a chemical peel had to be applied to take all of it off and that is what has slowed them. not the constant beer breaks, your mama jokes, or "i'm more of a man because..." jokes. I am a "mere woman and cannot possibly understand what all the chemically transforming process of the concrete to man floor includes" (door then shuts so I can stop observing and nagging about completion)

With the house warming party days away I stepped in yesterday to speed up the process and last night they started taping off the molding to stain!

I took a picture of the boys playing. I actually remembered to have a before picture!

projects

2009-07-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

so i am always working on some type of project. i have no idea why i HAVE to keep myself busy and why i always forget to take before pictures. on some of these i remembered and some i didn't.

This mirror had a gold and red border and I painted it black to match our silver, black, white, and orange bedroom.

This chair was oak and funky fabric.

Tadaa This was one of the two windows that I found a garage sale for a dollar a piece. I broke out the panes in this one and attached wire to use it as an artistic bulletin board. It has some pre-made cards and ideas on it.

This is the other window. One pane was already broken out and I left the rest in. I at least sort of remembered a before picture.

And the last project that is a cork board bulletin board. I got this crazy plastic gold frame from the St. Joseph Flea market and painted and replaced the mirror part that is now painted with cork board.

But alas I am not the only one that has been busy with projects. When I was in Hawaii Mark surprised me with a revision to my other closet. What is behind the door?

A wonderful organized and well lit shoe closet. Mark installed a light at each level and he'll put that door thingy on the right on the inside of the door. I told Mark he actually made a mistake because now I'll just HAVE to fill it!

I'm working on some more and will post later!

happy 4th!

2009-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

So i had a pretty low key fourth. I invited my grandparents up to see our house and dad grilled out on saturday. Mark went to fayetteville for his friend's wedding and came back the next day with a hole burned in his pink banana shirt that he's worn one other time.

Best part of the weekend: the house presents! Meemaw made me a quilt and brought me frames that were her mom's and her dad's antique calculators. The quilt wasn't quite done, she wasn't sure how big the bed would be that I needed it for, but she's going to mail it to me. I love the calculators. Meemaw's dad was an accountant like me! I put them on my bookshelf by my desk

aloha!

2009-07-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

so last week i went to hawaii. i say it like a by the way, because that's more like what it was. i've been so busy trying to make the house a home time flew by and before I knew it it was the night before and i was packing.

the trip was me, mo, and kyle who needed to use an airplane credit and mo's family came too. We were a unqiue bunch but we had a blast. I missed mark who had to work, but i came home to a clean house, a bookshelf put together, and a room with the carpet ripped up. apparently there was construction on the man room.....that will be another post.

one crazy fun fact is that I got to hang out with jon, sarah j's boyfriend. He was there for 2 weeks and she came on thursday. She landed at 6:49p and my flight left at 6:50p, but jon and i got to hang out and have fun! so sad to have missed her.

Here are some of my pics.

my co-workers kyle and maresha (mo)

pearl harbor

hanamua bay snorkeling

diva hat

I met up with John David, Mark's childhood friend that is stationed in Hawaii in the Air Force. I used to stay the weekends when i visited mark and John David was one of the roomates. It was 3 guys and 1 giant Doberman in a 1 bedroom apartment. I truly was in love with Mark. We went to Yard House (with yard tall beer glasses!) for dinner and drinks.

my boys have arrived

2009-06-22T07:09:00.001-07:00

they boys moved in this weekend and we put up more stuff. we put together the patio furniture. we've notice on our street that everyone has a front patio because everyone's yards are so crazy. when in rome...he's our set. Mark wanted some "bang", so i took him to hancocks where he picked out some outdoor fabric and i'll make him some pillows to cuddle up and sleep with.

The neverending junk attic

2009-06-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

So the house was foreclosed and apparently whoever occupied the house moved out and left a ton of stuff and someone stuffed everything in the attic. Since its summer, we decided to clean it out in the early morning. Mark didn't have to go to work today and we needed to get this done before the boys moved in this weekend so today was the day.

This is what we found:

ugly christmas 80s gold stuff

clothes

carpet

boxes of bank statements

toys

boxes and boxes of packing peanuts

boxes of yearbooks. University of Ark

dead rat (we hired someone to kill the one we heard. looks like sucess!)

and most interesting-box of unsual nut crackers-humpy dumpy, fat woman, a tennis player and more. ebay!

So we bagged up what was trashed boxed what could be sold and here is the maham of trash/give away. The picture doesn't do justice to the 14, 39-gallon trash bags. We made a post to craigslist for someone to pick up the carpet (we included the carpet we ripped up from the hardwoods).

Blog Update

2009-06-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

So I haven't published in 2 months, ok 2.5. But that doesn't mean I haven't been writing or keeping up. When I think about posting I create a post and sometimes write and then don't have the pics I want etc. Well I've been catching up and over the next couple of days there should be 17 posts that back date to 3/4/09. Aren't you exicted! Sneek Peek: I went to boston, destin, fl, bought a house and went to prom.

Hawaii

2009-06-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

So I go to Hawaii in 2 weeks. Why am I not more excited? All I want to do it play at the new house!

Painting was a Pain but the results were worth it!

2009-06-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

The downstairs is 3 bed 1 bath and Mark and I have the whole downstairs to ourselves. I decided orange for our bedroom. It took it from the painting Allison gave Mark. I was a little hesitant with horry stories of orange from Lynn but I was determined to make it work. So I was in charge of painting and I primered the craft room before painting. My husband suggest a dark orange did not need primer. Long story short you live and next time we prime. 3 coats and we have our results! I'm totally happy with it.

My Room (downstairs bedroom #2). NO boys just me and all my girly stuff. It's my personal no-no room. (As a child Meemaw's sewing room was the no-no room since it had needles and such, but as I got older I got to go in there and help Meemaw make me pillows and doll bedding and stuff.) My no-no room isn't no kids its really just no boys and no clutter and my escape from 3 boys in the house. I decided on yellow. I wanted Coral but thought that it might be a little overwhelming for whoever stayed in the room. We made it a guest bedroom too since it is so huge. I was in Lowe's and saw a postcard of a teal room with metallic stripes and feel in love and asked if I could do it in yellow. So I did. It's a little messy while the game room is being completed but you get the picture.

Our bathroom. I loved the blue in our bedroom at the loft and wanted it somewhere in the new house, but I new that I couldn't cover a whole room in it. It's not the loft and it couldn't be extreme. I got a painting from Allison for Easter and had her glaze it so I could put it in the bathroom and a tiny bit of the blue was in there so I did a couple of walls in the bathroom that blue. I kept some white and khaki and now it kind of feels like the beach which is also totally ok with me. Our towels from Uncle Ken and Aunt Paula match perfectly! I spray painted all of the gold knobs silver and I'll have to save to replace the faucets and towel racks, but this room is pretty much almost done!

And that's the end of painting. I told the boys they could paint if they wanted to or I would paint for them, but they both like the neutral khaki and I like the neutral khaki in the living room so that's it. Well for now.....I am a woman and reserve my right to change my mind.

Up next. The game room (downstairs bedroom #3). I had visions of light bamboo floors with chocolate walls, but Mark reminded me that the gameroom is techinically the Man Cave and therefore he needs to man it up and I need to keep my girly vibe away from it. He wants to do stained concrete. I would have never thought of it and it's only $140 for the whole room. We'll see how it goes. I think his plans are to do it this weekend.

The harwoods are in!

2009-06-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

We closed June 1 and June 6 I had Mark, Davis, and my dad installing hardwoods. I won't mention all the people that were supposed to show and bailed. That's my one liner to disclose my feelings on that. Anyways with only 3 people it only took them board to board 8 hours. Imagine if they had more people. So Saturday the floors were laid and then Sunday Davis came back and we laid the quarter round and grouted the edges. No threshold pieces for me. It looked like a lot of work (I had no part in it. I was the painting goddess downstairs), but I heard lots of laughter something about Mark being able to laid dark brown wood really well. Boys will be boys.

Davis was such a trooper working all weekend for free! It really helps to have a contractor friend that can do just about anything and I'm thanking God everyday with this house that I was a nerd in high school and "helped" a lot of guys with homework and such.

"Uh hi So and So. This is Kelly. Remember that time I ....Well I just bought a house and was wondering if you could come and look at....and maybe help me..."

Anyways they are beautiful and turned out better than I could ever imagine. Thank you Davis oh and mark and dad.

Before

After-sambucca bamboo

Homeowners!

2009-06-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

So on June 1 we officially became homeowners! 7100 Shamrock Dr. (don't worry my fellow south plazians, we will still be loyal to the s. plaza clan). Here are all the "befores". The upstairs is 2 bed and 2 bath (one of which is the master) the living room, dining, kitchen, laundry, and officette. The boys will have the upstairs and we will have the whole downstairs. The downstairs is 3 bed 1 bath. Our bedroom, my craftroom, and the alpha male room (game room as i call it).

The backyard. It is a jungle out there and mark will have his hands full
The back porch

downstairs hall from standing in bathroom. bedroom to the right. craft room and game to left.

our bath

craft room 1

craftroom 2

man room (mark demonstrating the lay of the land)

master (blake's room)

blake and taking a pic of his bathroom

blake bathroom 2

hall bathroom, lucas bath

lucas room

kitchen

stairs, my officette to the right

the gianormous laundry room

standing in officette. The laundry is immediately left, down the hall to left is lucas and middle is lucas bath, down hall to right is blake.

kitchen 2 (looking in from living)

living room (behind mark and to the right is the front door). oh and this is before the hardwoods!

living and dining

upstairs front porch
view from front porch

carport

7100 shamrock! love the house hate the driveway, but we'll deal with it.

Thanks Blake for taking all these pics! And thank you Katie for being the lovely model in all of the pics. You earned your princess key.

Steven and Danielle Wedding and Destin Vacay

2009-06-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

so steven was force fed the garter at our wedding and one year later we're at his wedding in destin! We had an amazing time!

the center pieces

the food

the gang

the gave away sand from the beach

the cake

there are a ton more, but i'll have to get them from other peeps, but we had a blast!!!! congrats guys!

#63 might the charm

2009-04-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

so after looking at 63 houses. the first house mark saw without me he feels like is the one. i looked at it and i have to agree. we'll be putting an offer on it!

Peep extravaganza

2009-04-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

So what do you do on Easter Vigil in Boston? You make peeps creations. Check out all of our cool stuff.

peep on a stick
king of the peeps

peep decor

the best peeps chocolate covered with peanuts. don't judge until you try!

laura's peep cake. isn't it cute!

Bahstun

2009-04-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

So i had a ticket that was going to expire and i had to use it before june 30 so kyra and i decided to meet up in boston for easter and spend it with the most precious little girl in the world! Abby!
Imagine seeing this everyday. you can't help but smile.

This picture is now on my desk at work and it gets a little complicated to explain who she is and i why i now i have mini shrine. "Oh ok, well you know my best friend kyra, no not the blonde the other other one. ok yeah the one in dallas. well her twin kyle's kid. yeah."

So when we were out shopping I knew abby was headed to the beach for the first time out of the womb and what kind of auntie would I be if I didn't spoil her and buy her the necessities. Sunlasses with matching flip flops. Abby loved both pairs so we got them both! pair 1 that matches shoes.

Pair 2 to match her blue eyes

The rest of these pics are in no paticular order. i will just explain.

Easter morning everyone was opening Easter baskets from Stephy and she got me one too!!! Thanks mom! Kyle and Kyra showing off the goods and some South African candy i had never had.

abby's easter photo shoot

Easter mass. I still curse myself for cutting my hair. it looks awful in every picture i take.

easter morning baby. laura brought her into the living room and woke us with a baby in the face. how could your day go wrong after that?

us and the boston skyline

us on the freedom trail doing some shopping and sitting on a donkey.... me and abby at apple. that face is just because I took her from a screen with lots of colors. But check out the boots with the fur!!!

me and the green line. we became boston public transit pros.

Besides chillin with my bestie and abby, this was the second best part. the sam adams tour at 10am. its ok, we're all catholic.

so i bought this dog toy for penny my mom's dog and after kyra and i parted i took pictures of everywhere i went until i got home. this on the plane. and there's at lot more....

and then home!

Retreat!

2009-03-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yes I am literally running away from reality and entering a fantasy world this weekend. A world where my scrapbooking and crafting is a joke compared to the people I will be surrounded by. Tammy and I are going on a girls retreat this weekend to Petit Jean to scrapbook all weekend. I am no where near prepared and not to mention the piles of work I have to do and I have to get ready to go to Boston. And I thought that busy season was almost over. It was until 2 people at work gave their notice. I can't fault anyone for making their lives better, but I can complain. I can't wait until the weekend! and then the next weekend in Boston!

80's Prom!

2009-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

So for Blake's bday, we went to the second chance prom, only we decided to go 80's style! When we got to the prom we were so excited that we totally rocked the 80's and no one else did. Check out the action pics below and my walkthrough of everyone's outfits I helped with in true Martha nature. I have never felt so cool, let me tell you. Before we left Mark decided to "help" me by cutting his own hair. Needless to say, he can no longer make fun of me becaue he forgot the guard this time, so he ended up rocking the mullett wig ALL night! Everyone wanted their picture with him. I kinda know what its like to be with a famous person and all they want is their picture with them and not you. Oh well it helped us win prom king and queen, a free night's stay at the crown plaza and then later another room and then later, Mark won a dance contest with his hidden talent, the spilts, but we got Jason Mraz tickets. After the dance, we gathered in the lobby and me, michelle and jamie totaly stole all of the free bags we could. We thought we were being totally sneeky, but mark informed us the cops pointed and laughed while we stole free stuff. The next day we went through the bags and I will not need concealer or powder for a really long time!

Favorite quotes of the night
"we look awesome"-lucas, over and over and over again
"i can get any girl in these shoes"-lucas again
"yes, i drove here in a delorian"-blake
*tugs on mark's wig* "oh my gosh that is totally real and hot, here is my room key and number"-tiny girl in red dress
"really"-drunk 69 girl
"what is a rose without the garden"-mark

So in order to get our game faces on for the prom we came up with 80's names and alter egos. (My memory is fuzzy so sorry if I don't get your name right)
Blake aka Hans
Lucas aka Carl the Cars Salesman
Mark aka Mullet Man
Michelle aka Trish
Jamie aka Tiffany
me aka Kelly because Kelly is totally an 80's name already.

pool boy (radio personality)

my girls

my boys

All of us!

Uriah Cash Martin

2009-03-04T18:57:00.002-08:00

josh is mark's best friend from grade school and he and paige just had their first baby and mark and i went to visit. i know josh is a huge north carolina fan so I got uriah (josh's middle name) a beanie, socks, and onesie.

Princess birthday!

2009-02-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

I needed one last hooray party for the loft to say a proper goodbye. So when I searching for a reason to have the party, Katie reminded me a certain best friend of mine was having a birthday coming up. So then it was done. I came up with a princess birthday party theme.

This was the invitation.

Katie turned 25!

I got ring pops for so everyone could have princess jewelry

My favorite line from Katie, "I want to find a man just like Marky"

I found her a pink wine glass at an antique store for a dollar and glued a princess crown on it.

We had crown cookies, pink cupcakes with white icing and chocolate cupcakes with crown's. I made Katie a mini cake at bottom right. She had a princess wand and crown too.

We all went to Willy D's and Katie got her a hottie to dance with her on the piano bar. They won!

All the girls

Lesson #897 of year one of marriage

2009-01-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Do not ask your spouse to cut your hair before she goes to work during her busy season. She might be deliriously tired and forget the guard.

a day for surprises

2009-01-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

saturdays mark and i love to have little to no plans and see where the day takes us.

we wet to grady's for lunch and i ran into my old roomate's twin sister and instantly was able to tell it wasn't her, but she gave me her number and I called her and went straight over to her place. we talked it up and instantly caught up in about 30 minutes for the past three years. i loved samantha as my roomate. we lived in one room and got along. a hard thing to do for most. most people go to college and room with their best friend and it ruins them. samantha and i were not roomates by choice, she lived down the hall and to prevent having to pay private room fees (both our roomates dropped out) we were put together. she "made" dinner everynight with our secret microwave. It is amazing what can be done with a microwave only. she had it down to an art. i'm so glad we got to reconnect!

so, we got a foreclosure sale notice and decided to stop by to register to win a car after talking to samantha. long story short we didn't win the car, but we did get the 3rd place drawing prize, a vacay! All inclusive Cancun. We only have to pay transportation and $100 deposit. (I read all the fine print to make sure it was truly a prize and not a gimmick) I'm thinking my bday weekend. we really need to go to the casino. i won the old navy shopping spree and now a vacay what's next?

No makeup. no shower. got to love it.

Happy Birthday Justin

2009-01-19T06:45:00.001-08:00

So this weekend was Mark's best man's bday. The big 3-1. We were relunctant to go because him and Chastity broke up. Mark told me in Garden Ridge as soon as he got the news and I cried. I was sad for them. They are "our bentonville couple". The couple we can double date with, Mark and Justin can have boys night and Chastity and I can shop and talk and chill and complain about our eriely similiar significant others. I instantly knew that them breaking up meant our vacation with them wasn't going to be with them and our "couple" days were over. Well, we went up there this weekend and it was evident that my secret and selfish hopes for an instant reunion weren't happening. My only saving grace is that she is still going to be friends with us.

All in all this weekend wasn't fun.

Ode to the elevator

2009-01-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

Anyone that has been to our place knows the elevator. Its slow because its a freight elevator. It often has the top flap thingy missing or slightly open. Mark enjoys putting one arm in the air and looking the through hole in the ceiling and acting like superman. Or the elevator isn't working or breaks. Mark has been stuck on it for 2 hours and the phone in it didn't work. (Trust me I reported it to OSHA the minute I found out). Or just the usual jumping halt and filth. Sometimes the filth is worse than others like the time a dog peed in it right before Sarah's bachelorette party and cleaning crew couldn't get up there until the next day! But all in all the elevator made those memories good or bad.

at Christmas

sarah's bachelorette

Move :(

2009-01-13T09:48:00.001-08:00

So just as the loft is complete we have to move. Long story short-new owners and rent will be raised to market value. We are paying .67 a square foot and market is 1.09. Not worth it, when we could live at the Enclave for $1.14 a sq ft with 2 pools, a gym, free parking, etc.

So because my busy season is coming up and I have no time to look for a place and don't want to get stuck in a lease somewhere where I don't want to live, we are moving in with Blake and Lucas. It will save a ton of money and its temporary and I'm sure Mark will have a blast. It might be weird to some...married couple with 2 guys, but the guys I've known since grade school so its more like a married couple and my 2 brothers. Heck, I'm not home that often and traveling with work anyways. We are excited to start a new adventure, but Mark is not thrilled about hauling our heavy furniture!

Loft Living

2009-01-13T09:47:00.001-08:00

With the addition of the wine racks from Mark for Christmas, the loft is complete. Check out the transformation.

"Gallery" (as the blue prints call it) before and after. The wooden door is the entrance into the loft.

I had mark install lights in our Ikea bookselves

Round the corner to the hall. We built a ladder to the storage above the bathroom for easy access and Mark added a mattress for a hideaway bunk.

The man cave bunk

Then down the hall to the living room/kitchen before

After

The wine rack!

The living room before

And after

I love to open the windows in the spring.

The massive wall before

And after. Mark was amazing at hiding the cable and electric. We have our floating shevles and TV and the floating wine rack to match.

The office area at night.

Oh Lord!this is the second bathroom pic. The original was white. Mark painted the entire loft while I was in Birmingham. He picked the colors out. The only one I didn't like was the bright and cheery bathroom. My intrepretation was not cheery but rather that big bird exploded.

I could never see to do my makeup with the florescent above so we got this light at Lowe's for $30 and I painted a long wood trim that cost $4 and cut and glued it around the mirror to frame it out.

We couldn't tile, after all we don't own and didn't want to invest very much money so I painted fake tiles.

So i fell in love with a black leather bed and my furniture was brown cherry wood. My mom wasn't happy but i made what I had work. dresser before and after

We have more befores of the bedroom but i can't find them right now.

From the oustside by day (top right 3 windows)

And by night

The lovely "after"photographer my sister Allison.

When the boy is away the girls will play

2009-01-13T09:37:00.001-08:00

This weekend (jan 10 and 11) Mark went up to Fayetteville for some gambling and boy time and Katie came to spend the weekend with me. Friday we went to our high school homecoming which was fun to get to see a lot people I hadn't in a while and Saturday we chilled and shopped and somewhere in the middle of all of that I decided to throw Katie a birthday party. Princess themed at that. So very fitting. Mark was surprised when he got home Monday that there was a sticky that said, "mail please". He called and said

"What are these?"

me:"Invitations to Katie's birthday party"

mark: "So I left and came back and now there is a party with fully made invitations, a furniture lay out plan, a menu, and custom decorations already made."

me:"yep"

mark:"ok just checking"

It makes my day to get to do this kind of stuff! Check out the invite. This is the one I messed up on the edging so I kept it for me. I embossed glitter on the 25 and the 25 is really magenta. The iphone doesn't do it justice.

party like its 2009!

2009-01-13T09:32:00.001-08:00

So as an auditor and a second year staff. I have no life at new years with inventories. This year I had 3, but by some act of God I was done by 8pm, showered and headed to Centennial Country Club in Conway where Katie reserved us a table. I don't remember much other than the road block on the way home. Mark hadn't drank and the cop wished Mark good luck we me because when I went to get the registration I kept yelling at Mark about how dirty his glove compartment was. Anyways, here are some pics from Katie's camera. I really need to get mine fixed and stop relying on others and the iphone.

First new years married!

Can't figure out how to rotate in blogger and too lazy to re-save. Katie and my twin patrick. doesn't she look itty bitty compared to him?

There are babies and then there is Abby (dec 28)

2009-01-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

So I've only had one other friend have a baby that I was really close to: Kristen Worm, her son Tristen is now 6 and he was my ring bearer that didn't quite make it down the aisle. But now I have a lot more. Alexis Meaux Cooper, Kyle Shachmut, and Curt Downey from my graduating class all had babies within a 3-week period of each other. I got to meet Mason Downey and Avery Cooper at church Sunday, but I got to spend a ton of time with Abby Shachmut at her after Baptism party. Kyle and Laura were in town for the holidays and got her baptised. She is soooooo cute. and so expressive for such a young age. She wasn't even a month old. I got to hold her for a while and then relunctantly had to pass her along, but me and Auntie Kyra are planning to go see her in the summer! oh and her parents of course. These are some of my favs.

mark's look is after he felt my forhead to see if i had "the fever"

it looks so natural. can't wait til you have one kiki

Abby and Avery's play date

of course i like this one. i gave her the tutu skirt, there is a matching one-sy that says "dear santa, define good" but she wasn't quite big enough for it. so I got her some more tutus for baptism: pink and purple. every girl needs more than one.

St. Joe Christmas Party (dec 27)

2009-01-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

So at St. Joseph (my high school that is. Yes, I am still friends with almost everyone from high school. It is a hard concept for some other people to understand but there were 37 of us and we were all together since grade school. Those bonds are tight.) there are a lot of traditions and some traditions we have started. We have a canoe trip every year since 9th grade. We had mud wrestling for mine and patrick's bday through the college years (that one stopped when we got out, we can't be in our 40s doing that. It would just be wrong to watch), Hozy has a crawfish boil for his bday for the past couple of years, and now we've started a Christmas party. Alexis started it last year, but this year she was really pregnant and I decided I would take over the festities as I love a party and we have the perfect party place: the loft!

I had spinach dip, smoked sausage, green and red sprinkle cookes, brownies, kiss cookies, and drinks. Lots of drinks. Super disappointed I didn't think to take a picture of the set ups and decor, but you can kind get the picture from the back grounds below. We pre-partied and walked to Big Whiskey's the new bar down the block and then back for more. It was a great time. We missed a couple from our group that had family obligations, but we got to spend time with all the out-of-towners : Cole, Kyra, and Sarah!

oh and we had shrimp cocktail (derek looks like he has a mohawk but it is just my mixer)

You can kinda see the decor, we pushed the couches to the walls

and Sarah came in from Florida

Me and Susan trying to keep it classy

Mark Enderlin and Zach well...

Cole came in from Nashville! Check out the Bank of America building tree in the back

On the way to Big Whiskey's apparently no one needed any more to drink but we went anyways.

Me and Blake's new girl Michelle at Big Whiskey's. love her!

Mark and Mark and Kyra. Oh Mark Enderlin......rare form.

twins. kyra is missing hers though :( guess a newborn baby takes priority.

Christmas

2009-01-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

So over the holidays we went down to Beaumont, TX where I was born and where most of my mom's side lives and we also went to Lake Charles, LA where most of my dad's side is. We got the chance to visit with family and chill. It was a good time and we got to meet Kristen, my cousin Cody's new wife. They were in from Hawaii and are expecting a baby in June or July (i forgot). Anyways congrats to them and here are some pics.

My mom's sisters' kids: Dustin, Tyler, Cody

Mom got meemaw and grandpa a CD, Tape and record player

The other newly weds my cousin Cody and his wife Kristin

Me and my Penny

my cousin Kayla and aunt Shauna. Mark really enjoyed getting to meet her

i will catch up the blog...later...

2009-01-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

ok laura i'm getting to it. i know i have lots of catching up: work holiday party, christmas, new years, st. joe christmas party, meeting abby, and girls weekend. i will do the sit down and blog all of them this week! its my goal. you can chatise me greatly if i fail. :)

Christmas Card!

2008-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons Mark says he loves me is because I've planned out our first, second, and the first time we have a baby's Christmas card as well as our 10-year anniversary and several other occasions. Everything was planned perfect for this first Christmas card. After weeks of problems...long story short-they will go out and get there before Christmas. That is what Mark keeps reminding me. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I can't wait any longer. Here it is.

Deloitte Holiday Party

2008-12-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

So firm wide the Holiday parties were cancelled but we had a nonrefundable deposit on Copper Grill at 300 Third where our partner Bob has a condo and stays when he's in town. So it was modified and we got the party room on the top floor, ate Copper Grill catered food and Bob provided the alcohol. We love you Bob! It was actually a lot of fun and somehow I made it home with a poinsetta, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of single malt 12-year old scotch. I'd say it was a good party. Every year we get a pic of our class.

2008

2007 (us and our dates)

Black Friday

2008-12-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

So it has been a while since I've written. Thanksgiving was good. It was just the immediate family, but I got a much needed day off and relaxed!

Black Friday. This year was the first year that I decided to try and venture out. I needed to get a Christmas tree for mine and Mark's first Christmas. I found one at Home Depot on sale for $48 and decided to do the whole crack of dawn thing and drug my sister Allison with me by bribing her with promises of Starbucks and a chance to pick out her Christmas present.

I was 10th in line. Doors opened. There is two of us. We got in, asked where the tree was. There is 2 piles. We spilt up. We would both get one and then put one back. I had to move 3 boxes of other trees off of the one that was on sale. After I got the last one off, an old man started to grab it. I said, "No this one is mine. I had to move all of these boxes." He goes to a man working there and tells him that I am trying to take it from him because he's old and I threated to hit him. I gave it up because it wasn't worth it. I figured Allison got one. Well guess what...Allison didn't get one. I got up at the freaking crack of dawn and froze outside only for nothing.

To ease my pain we went to Belk's and spent 3 hours shopping and blowing a part of my cpa bonus. I've never felt better.

KK!

2008-11-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Weekend before was bestie Kyra and last weekend was bestie Katie. Mark kicked me out of the house for the Metallica concert. His friends came down for a boys weekend so I did my part and stayed away and let them have fun. I worked in Tulsa during the week so went straight to Conway to hang with Katie at the St. Joseph High school basketballs games. I got there during the 3rd quarter of the boys and they lost, but I still had a blast getting to see some of my high school teachers and coaches, especially Coach K....oh the memories. I could probably go on forever with different stories, but seing as I had luggage with me from Tulsa, Katie and I talked about the time we threw our luggage out the 4th floor window of the dorms we were staying in for basketball camp because we didn't want to carry them down. Who shows up as the last pillow is being thrown....we like running laps....

Saturday we lounged, shopped and then went to Nick Luneau's bonfire. Its been a while since I had seen all the guys and it was great to catch up. The keg was floated and as we were in the woods and 2o minutes from Waffle House, we went to Davis' down the road and me and him made biscuts, bacon, pancakes, eggs, the works and we all passed out on the couch by midnight. How old do I feel!

Oh well, I had a great weekend getting to cuddle with Kate!

IKEEEYRA

2008-11-26T13:56:00.000-08:00

So the weekend of the 14th Mark and I finally made the trip to Dallas to get the Ikea bookshelves we've been wanting for the hall or "gallery" as the floorplan calls it. We started the weekend off by driving down Friday night and got in around1am and just hung out with Kyra and Tony. Saturday we got up and went to my favorite brunch place, Cafe Brazil and then to IKEA! I felt like a kid in toy store getting everything I wanted. See the pics of what we got. Of course we had to put it together immediately!

The 5x5 Mal book shelf. I had Mark install some lights I found at Ikea.

The light

Mongstand mirror and another Malm bookshelf it definitely saved us some much needed room in the kitchen by housing our serving dishes and china. The painting is one my sister did for us. And below is us at Ikea, you can see the excitement on Mark's face. He will never have a normal picture. I'm grateful for the few "normal" wedding pictures we have.

Then back to Kyra's for naps before the concert...a Michael Jackson cover band-Who's Bad. It was at the House of Blues and it was a lot of fun, the "Michael" could have been a little better dancer but overall we got our $15 worth. This the pre-party. Who would've ever guessed that my hair would one day be shorter than Kyra's
MJ-Thriller!
We ended the trip with mimosa and Pokey O's ice cream cookie sandwiches. So sad to leave!

Candice's wedding!

2008-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

We went to Candice's wedding Marion this weekend and had a blast. I just loved her very lacey gown. It looked so vintage! Travis, Krista and her date tagged along too. Congrats Mrs. Clay!

I don't have any gray

2008-11-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

I don't have have any gray hair yet, but boy did I have a scare yesterday. I was getting ready for Candice's wedding and while drying my hair, I notice one at the front that was lighter than others. I quickly examined it trying to discern if it was blonde or gray. Blonde. (I got Krista's second opinion when I saw her.) I've always had some natural blonde highlight to my hair even though it has gotten steadily darker with age. Thanfully I don't have the Carpenter-gene. It's funny that Patrick is my twin yet he is graying all over the sides and my mom was nearly platinum by 40. And like my dad, I want to remain without gray as long as possible.

Carpenters (back row, mom, uncle ken, grandpa, and at ront meemaw) Aunt Julie in the last row black and white...enhances her hair.

When we little we would tell dad he had some gray hair at the back of his head.

"No, I don't."

Then we would set out to prove him wrong. We would try to isolate the gray hair, get a mirror and point to out to him. He was unwavering.

"I don't see it."

We would get mom into it. Maybe she would convince him.

"I don't believe her."

One day, my sister and I had an ephiany. We would cut one out and show him. We marched into the living room. We convinced him we were going to cut a single gray hair and show it to him. He agreed. After cutting a significant bald spot into the back of his head and weeding through the other hairs we got a single gray hair into my palm and showed it to him.

"See we told you-"

"AAACHOOO!" we were interuptted by a roaring fake sneeze from my Dad.

The hair blew away. Once again we failed at our attempt to prove that Dad had gray hair. I don't remember what we did after that. I guess we finally gave up. Today dad is salt and pepper and doesn't deny he has gray hair, in fact he hopes to go bald so the frugal Turner in him doesn't have to pay for hair cuts.

I don't think I'll deny my gray, I just don't want it yet!

Dad's 51st

2008-11-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

So Thursday November 6 was Dad's 51st birthday. I called him in the morning to wish him happy birthday and ask what the plans were for the evening. My dad doesn't like us getting him gifts or making a big deal. He enjoys the crayon scribbled cards and kids jumping on your bed waking you up to tell you "happy birfdaaay!" Well, my crayon scribbled cards are now scrapbooked master pieces and, well, if I jumped on the bed now I would hit my head on the fan and injury myself and then probably him the in process. Anyways, I asked him what the plans were and he said he didn't want to go out to eat and wanted a home-cooked meal. Typical. I told him I guess I would cook and he could come to LR. He said he wasn't inviting himself and not driving to Little Rock. So I wished him "Happy Birthday" and hung up.

Then I began to scheme out a plan to get a home-cooked meal from my place to my parents, when the creepy twin-thing happened, Patrick text me, "What are we doing for dad's b-day?" Together we planned out Patrick made chili, Allison a salad, Mark some cornbread and me peach cobbler. Well, I didn't get off work as soon as I had hoped and rushed through the cobbler from memory.

When I went to make the dough, something was wrong. It was too dry and I couldn't figure out why. I thought I must've put an extra cup of flour or something while I was hurrying. I dumped the mixture and started over. The same thing happened. I just added more water and moved on. The dough wasn't rising or browning. I took it out of the oven and tried it. It tasted like chalk! I immediately blamed the flour and asked Mark how long it took for flour to go bad. He told me he thought years. I dismissed his theory that it wasn't the flour. What did he know anyways. I took it out of the oven and decided to finish at Mom and dad's. Maybe it was my oven.

On the way there we caught a little traffic when it hit me. Butter. I forgot the butter. The stuff you put heaps of in good cobblers. Just like dad-birthday fashion, I had ruined his dessert. I called him and told him I had ruined the cobbler and he said that it couldn't be that bad and he'd probably eat it anyways. After all he had years of little girl burnt cookies under his belt. As kids no matter what we made him, he ate it because we made it for him. I can't count the number of burnt cookies, sugarless cake, under cooked eggs, butter drenched toast, sour lemonade, sugar water with a little tea party drinks he has consumed. And every time we thought we had ruined the latest and great thing we had made him, he ate it and told us it was delicious. We would protest saying that it was burnt and he would reply, "you just don't have a sophisticated taste like me yet" We would believe him and a sense of pride would cover over me that I had done good, but next time I would try to make it better.

In the end I scrapped off the crust, remade the dough, put it in the oven and it was done when we were done eating the chili and it was really good. After all, I'm grown now and I wasn't going to make the whole family sit through chalk-cobbler.

Happy birthday dad!

1/2 way to Paper

2008-11-09T05:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 2, was our 6-month anniversary of getting married and both of us didn't even realize until later that week when my sister asked us how 6-months felt. Mark and I joke that it feels like we've been married forever. I look back at dating and its hard to remember what it was like to do the long distance thing. I don't remember what it felt like not to see him for 2-3 weeks at a time. I just know now that I love waking up and cuddling with him on the weekends and falling asleep on the couch to have him carry me to bed. I'm still getting used to having to spell my last name and after months of changing everything I find in "Turner", I still find more. Maybe by our 1-year the transformation will finally be complete.

Speaking of first year, Mark and I are big into gift giving. We are constantly trying to out do each other. At first it started escalating in price. The unemployed, grad student, soon to be CPA, put a stop to that quicky because it was pricey and the girl in me said "that's not fair". So now for every birthday, anniversary, and Christmas we have budgets to see who can come up with the best gift with the price given. Mark is by no means an organized planner. He still doesn't know what he wants to be when he "grows up", but somehow he already has my one-year paper gift planned out . Now I"m stumped. Anyone got any ideas? Oh well I guess I still have 6 more months to think about it :)

Halloween

2008-11-03T17:27:00.000-08:00

So for halloween my friend Candice had her bachelorette party. We all dressed up as black sexy pussy cats and she was a white cat. I was a black cat and I told mark I didn't want to change, but wanted us to match. He came up with a remote control. Together we are Pussy contol!

I met up for the lingerie shower and snacks, but then met up Mark so we could get to another party. Mark and I decided on a whim to go to Fayetteville for his friends' Steven and Danielle's annual halloween party. We got up there around 10:30p and walked up and it took everyone a minute to realize who we were since they weren't expecting us. It was sooo much fun to surprise everyone and hang out.

We stayed the rest of the weekend just chilling and hanging out and were sad to make the drive back. But at least we did it in the late afternoon and got to see all the leaves that had changed and the sunset.

me and mark

meow!

me and the bride!

the girls

I cannot believe Justin had a real pumkin on his head

Chocolate dipped bacon

2008-10-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

So last night Mark and I went to the Arkansas State Fair with Lynn and Ryan. Lynn hooked us up with free parking, entrance and ride bracelets so all we had to do was eat and have fun.

We had a blast riding rides, well I had fun. Mark isn't big on rides but the trooper he is he rode almost every ride with me. My favorite was one Lynn convinced us to ride:

After all the rides came the fair food. I am an absolute sucker for fair food: giant corndogs, funnel cakes, things on sticks, candy apples and more. Every year there seems to be some new fad fried food: the fried oreo, fried dr. pepper, and new to this year: Chocolate dipped bacon and of course Mark had to try it and Ryan wanted to too. Curious me took a bite too. It tasted like someone put hershey's syrup on bacon. No big deal, but it was still an experience. Even Ryan, one of the pickiest eaters liked it!

Petit Jean

2008-10-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

So when Elizabeth and I hiked Pinnacle we asked Mark to go. He didn't want to. When I got home he wished he had. So this weekend I told him we were going to Petit Jean. Throughout my life I've been several times: with my dad, the always Boy Scout loving nature and everything related to it, with school, with church, with friends. But Mark had never been. When we got there I was asking what trail he wanted to take and I started naming them,

"Well, there's the waterfall, the-"

"Waterfall! What else could the other trails possibly offer?" Mark interupted

Needless to say we took the waterfall trail and ate our packed lunch in front of it. Here are some pics.

7 things

2008-10-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

So I have been e-tagged by Laura. I am supposed to write 7 things most people don't know about me and since this is mine and Mark's blog (though he has yet to make an authoring appearance, he promises me one day and it will be the most spectacular entry to date) I am going to do 7 things and you have to guess what is Mark's and what s mine. So here goes"

1. I lost most of the hearing out of my left ear when I was 5 so if you yell my name and see me looking all around, that's probably why.

2. I have been stabbed with a garden trowel.

3. I get extremely irritated when I'm hungry or tired. You might as well back off if I have an extreme case of either.

4. I have ate a fish eyeball. It was in China and it is supposed to bring you luck all year and it really wasn't that bad. I made a mistake of trying to chew it first, apparently you are just supposed to swallow it.

5. I used to want to be a vampire when I was little.

6. I have drag raced a cop.

7. I hate "high fives".