No Technology Tuesday

So our apartment is a disaster.

Really.

I will not take pictures mostly because I'm a vain person when it comes to making people think our house is clean all the time. So not the case. Never the case unless people are over actually.

My plan for tomorrow is to not watch TV, or go on the computer UNLESS I'm playing music to get the mood going. Praise music really does some good. I'm going to clean this apartment for the whole day. It is that bad people. Since it is less than 20 minutes away from midnight, I'm biding my time and waiting til the last moment I can. I might work some before and after pictures in tomorrow but I can't guarantee anything. That would be a work in progress. We'll see.

With that said, I just want to say that I am not missing The Biggest Loser. Oh you are so cute thinking I would skip my favorite show! No silly, the place will be clean by then so I will actually be comfortable sitting on our couch and not moving for two hours because I know there will be nothing to remove so I can sit down. What a concept.

Til next time people, I'll be a cleaning machine!

Football

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Its that time of year again. College football season has started.

When I was a kid, I looked mostly like this when it started...

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Because I had one of these dads...

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Now before everyone goes crazy on me I would like to say that my dad is a good guy. Has worked all his life to provide for us growing up, we never went without like he did, and I'm grateful that he has shown us the right way to respect family commitments.

But when it comes to football, all those rules go out the window. Crash and burn.

So from a wee child, I've hated football. I could watch only the high school games I had to attend because of social functions. Any time it was on I would get this anger inside of me screaming, "You took my dad you jerk!" I forgave Taylor because he played football, but we never watched it voluntarily. It was really interesting because since Taylor was my one and only boyfriend, my dad had to find ways to drag the both of us along with him and his endless games he wanted to attend. Still don't believe he's obsessed? For Fathers' Day I got him a t-shirt that said, "Don't bug me, I'm watching the game." He LOVED it. Go dad!

Aaaaaand, now we're in Michigan. This isn't Irvine. They didn't even have a football team. Sure, they were good in baseball and volleyball but that doesn't classify as a big sports school. So now that we're here, we're being immersed in football world. Oh, joy. Now if it was up to me we would never even consider going to a game, let along watching on T.V. But the bug has hit Taylor. Oh yes, here it comes. He's totally completely into it.

Not like my dad of course. Oh gosh, can you imagine? No, let's not. Please? He even took me to a bar. We had to sit with other people and, gulp, cheer them on. I must say I was not looking forward to it. But I learned that our good friend would be coming. The T.V. they had was really nice. I got to feel special because I'm so cool being over 21 now. Although I had to avoid some of the smoking because (oh my gosh!) they STILL do that here, it wasn't too bad. I have to admit there are some things I never realized.

1. The T.V. can turn off after ONE game.

2. Taylor never yells out-load or at other people.

3. They serve food and alcohol in bars while you watch the game.

4. Its a college town. Everyone and their grandmother is watching.

5. We won. Take that Western M, Notre Dame, and Eastern M!

Now don't get your hopes up. I will never be a full blown fan. I'll cheer. I might even yell touchdown like I did this afternoon. But my heart belongs to better sports, and there are too many commercials to fast forward through. Goodness!

P.S. If my dad ever reads this, tell him I love him. Someone will need to revive me because he actually figured out how to look at our blog.

HomeGoods

Have you guys seen this place? I am a huge fan of TJ Maxx so having a home oriented place is even better.

See, we're pretty poor people. Not like we don't make money or anything, but I'm not working right now. I will soon I promise. But we live in Michigan, do you know how bad it is? We're #1 in the nation, its that bad. So as I complain while there are starving people around the world, I will tell you that I have the ability to win some money from HomeGoods. I will take all the chances I can because as I said, we're poor.

In recent history, we've have three blankets stolen from us. It was laundry, and I'm really sad about it. Not only are we going to be a lot colder at night, we have the guilt that wedding gifts were stolen from us. Nice huh? I no longer trust my neighbors. Well the maintenance guys are ok. I'm so looking forward to strolling down the aisles of HGs thinking I can actually supply us with some warmth this winter. SO what do you think? Am I a sob story or what?

Since I'm a nice person and all (actually I just want to win) here's the link to Marriage Confessions, an awesome blog I'm obsessed with. Seriously.

Sweet Caroline...

We just watched another Drew Barrymore movie. That chick rocks.

This is the story of Taylor. As in, my Taylor. Taylor Boy to the nieces and excelente mucho esposo. You see, he met me in high school. Poor thing didn't know what he was getting into. No, not really but we've had fun. He's one of those guys that has a million friends that are girls because he's such a ladies man. HAHA! I got him! (Ne neener ner ner!) Mostly because I was the first girl to date him. Gotta catch em early girls. So we've had a pretty awesome relationship.

Is it terrible I can't remember what year we celebrated here?

Soooo not like me. But there have been so many I tend to forget minor details of things. My best guess would be 2006...maybe.

Isn't that the coolest wallpaper? Its from my sister's MIL's house. That wallpaper is older than me, by a lot!

It was pretty crazy we wanted to get married in high school. Although I do have a friend who did (and is still married!) it was the right time when Taylor did pop the question. What made it better was he took my parents out to dinner to ask while I was in N.Y. Mr. Sneaky!

This was about 6 months into our engagement. We had another glorious 8 months to go. Although we were very happy about it, I would never recommend anyone staying engaged longer than 6 months. Don't do it!

Here's Ashlyn. She's 3 there, but she'll soon be...FIVE??!! Oh crap. How long are we living here? Well too long because this little munchkin loves her Taylor Boy. I swear they are like two peas in a pod. I've never seen anything like it. Having our nieces so far away is not fun at all.

Well, time has flown.

That actually happened. It was glorious, but I still can't believe it some days.

Here he is with Bella. Isn't that sweet? He's going to be a great dad one day. A long way away if anyone was wondering.

Ok so that was the very condensed version, but I'll be blogging more and more. So you should learn more and more.

Ladies, never underestimate the power of a good man. Hold out for one because he will come. If you haven't found him, let me know. I will tell you he's coming. In the meantime, read Twilight. That will give you an example of how well someone can treat you. And I'm talking about the OTHER guy.

If you are still hopeless, go hug your dad. If that fails, hug the manliest person you know. Even if it is your boss.

Well WHY NOT!?

It seems that every time I blog about something, there is an equal or opposite blog post I can do the minute after I post. I've kept myself from posting multiple times a day, but WHY NOT!? I'm home right now. Our place is clean, mostly. Here's to more writing!!! Don't be surprised if you see me later. Or read me. Whatever.

Oh brother, now what?

Oh! I know, here's some of the past for ya!

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Even after 6 years.

How about some of my favorite things? We just watched The Sound of Music on tv in the hotel the other day and it just makes me happy to sing that song...

1. Cable TV

We're getting it just in time for Biggest Loser to start! How excited am I? EXCITED!

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2. Learning how to blog. The fact that I linked a picture is enough in itself to earn me a gold star! Now I have to go back and fix the rest of my pictures...

3. This little baby!

We've been without a toaster for a long time, this thing is amazing!

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4. BK Mocha Joe

DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS!

(Need I say more? If you haven't tried, just do it. Now.)

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5. We actually have a couch now!

It looks a LOT like the one in the middle. It reclines on both ends so we're realllly comfortable in our house now. Not to mention the two La-Z-Boys we had already. Anyone up for a nap?

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When the dog bites! When the bee stings! When I'm feeling sad! I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so BBBAAAAAADDDDD!!!! Oh come on! Belt it out! I know you love it :) Find something you love today. Let me know what it is! Isn't this fun?

I feel so much better

From the last post, you might know I was really sick. Like, REALLY sick. My MIL thought I had swine flu. It was not good. Praise God that my wonderful husband had 2 days off of work so he could take care of me for the worst of it. I felt really bad every time we ran out of chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers. You'd be surprised how fast I go through those suckers!

So to update you a little, it has been really busy around here. Our awesome friend Tommy came to visit. Leave it to me to NOT take pictures. If I could show you what the weekend we like, it looked like this:

The three of us get along famously! We only wish we lived close like we used to!

Tommy is just one of those people who gets along with everyone. He's always smiling. Always up for a good time. No wonder he was our best man. There's no other way around it. He was only here for 2 days but we watched Star Wars Episodes 4-6, since I had not completely seen them before. That was also sort of a gift to my brother in lawS because they almost keeled over and died the second I told them I hadn't made the time to watch the movies. My brother is the most un-nerdy guy on the planet so you can imagine those movies would NEVER have graced our house. Too bad, but they are now watched!

On a side note, most likely Tommy will be here for Thanksgiving. Did you know it would cost $1,000 (as in ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS) to fly home for turkey day? I'm still laughing about it! I'm surprised I'll be doing my first one at 22 years of age, but heck. WHY NOT?

So after Tommy left, I had to haul butt to get the house ready for my in-laws. Oh the excitement! I was literally giddy. Their flight left early enough that they had to get up at 3am, 6 our time. I was so excited that I actually woke up without an alarm and watched the sun go up that morning. Pure excitement. Really. I even texted my MIL telling her how much I was. They weren't going to be here until that night so I had to wait. A long time!

It just so happens that I was cleaning the house all day and I had to take a shower and they came right when I was getting out. Curses! Oh well, after I dressed myself half towel dried, I finally saw them! I felt home again. We went to a lovely dinner at Webber's, a place that Taylor and I will mostly likely go to again for something to celebrate. We knew we had a jam packed week ahead of us with not much time in between. The plan was to leave on Sat to drive up Michigan to Traverse City, and then end up in the UP, (Upper Peninsula) and take a ferry ride over to Mackinaw Island. Oh what fun!

Just having my in-laws here was comforting. Julie taught me how to make her famous pot roast! What makes the recipe even better is that her MIL taught her! I love that. We also went shopping for souvenirs for them to take back home and she was overly generous with getting me some U of M gear. It was fun. We also did a little decorating around out apartment because I needed some help. Ok, that wasn't true. I needed all the help I could get and I knew I wouldn't get better advice than from my MIL. I'm really partial to her decorating. And my sis in laws'. So after a long, long day of shopping and cleaning, we sat down to a comforting meal from Cottage Inn.

Doesn't that look good? Let me tell you, it IS!

It was so nice showing them Ann Arbor. People in California think we're like in India or something they way they talk about Michigan. I'm so excited for the snow I can hardly stand it! I promise!

Fast forward a little to our road trip. Love them, and even more love them with the in-laws. My FIL told me that he wanted help reading the map so I was the one to navigate. Me, yes me. It was actually pretty cool the way old people, I mean people back in the day used to do it.

Here's Marty with our trusty map!

We drove through Clare, MI that day which is where Marty lived BY HIMSELF for a year and a half when he was 25. He had gotten a huge promotion for Suzuki and he was moving up on the big wig scale. Let me tell you, I admire him even more. That place was so tiny with nothing to do. Poor thing, I would have been dying to go back home! Especially since Nashville is like another home to me too.

See how happy we are on road-trips?

After having a nice lunch in Clare we made our way up to Traverse City where we traversed through the city. Get it? We did. Anyway, another beautiful part of Michigan!

The next day, we made our way up to the UP. I guess they are famous for Pasties (dough filled with beef, potatoes, and onions.) Let's just say Taylor was the only one who liked it. My verdict- YUCK! But what do I know?

After we made our way across this bridge (EEEK!)

We made our way to Mackinaw Island!

Here we are on the Ferry ride. I don't know if you can tell but I was a little scared. I'm a baby when it comes to things like this now. Don't ask me why, I don't know!

Here's my in-laws. It's hard to take a good picture with the wind so harsh but it worked out.

And here is where the fun stopped.

Seriously. I need to skip a few things because we had a few problems. Not with each other. With the Island. Ask me the story in person, its a hoot. Really.

In the end, it was a wonderful visit! I couldn't help the tears when we had to say goodbye. I can't wait til we visit again. Now let's just hope I don't get as sick as I did before when they come again!