My Anniversary

We are celebrating our 4th anniversary today! This is me and my hubby on our wedding day! Aren't we a beautiful pair? ;) I can honestly say that this was the best day of my life, so far. I had such a good time with my friends, family, and new husband. Our wedding was beautiful! A perfect day. I felt like the most beautiful bride in the whole world!

Thank you God for blessing me with such a wonderful memory of the most important day in my life. You have blessed me beyond all of my imagination. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please help me to learn about your love better through my life with Daniel. Help me be the kind of wife that he needs. Thank you for his love.

Christchurch Cathedral

This one's for you, Shannon McMillan!

I thought you all might enjoy a little bit of cool photography. This is in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's in the city center, or "downtown" for you southerners! ;)

By the way, I can't take complete credit for the way this photo turned out. It was mainly God's handiwork! Ok ... it was ALL God's handiwork. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

What do you think of when you see this picture?

I took this picture in Hamilton, New Zealand. We went to the botanical gardens there. They were so cool! Different themes to each one. This was in the "English Garden". It reminded me of a time when life was simple. No rushing around from place to place. Maybe you would sit on this bench with a loved one. Maybe you would sit and excape into a different world that you were reading about. Maybe you would just sit, not having to do anything but just be.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of New Zealand. There will be more to come in the future.

New Zealand

Ahh... Isn't this a beautiful sight? This is in Christchurch, New Zealand. Daniel and I ate lunch on this beach one day this past June. It was a gorgeous day! Nice weather, good food, beautiful landscape, and a feeling of home. If D and I had to pick anywhere in NZ to live, it would probably be this city. But we're still waiting on the Lord to show us where He wants us. If He even cares. Maybe a better statement is, we're just waiting on a clearer picture of what we want to do and where we want to go.

So on this cold, wintery day, imagine yourself on this beach. It's warm out, and you are surrounded by the most beautiful scenes in the world. You're not rushed with shopping. You don't have a care in the world. You are at peace.

Thanksgiving

Daniel and I just got back from visiting Memphis. We were visiting family this week. Special thanks goes to Josh and Ellen for letting us use their car! What great friends!! (We love you guys!) So on Wednesday, we got to sleep in, which was wonderful. We got up, showered, then went to the Blue Plate Cafe to eat breakfast/lunch. For those of you who don't know what the Blue Plate Cafe is, you are so missing out. It's this little restaurant that cooks southern style food. Their menus are made out of newspaper. I had scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and buttermilk pancakes. Not SBD approved, but still so tasty. :P After lunch, Daniel and I went to a music store, went to his Mom's, then went back to Grandmother's to help her cook. We went back to his Mom's for dinner and visiting, then back to Grandmother's to sleep. D's cousin came in for Turkey day. He was at g-ma's when we got back. He had been roped into making sweet potatoes...which turned out yummy!

On Thursday, we didn't sleep in. But we did get to meet D's sister's boyfriend. He seems like a nice guy. It looks like he treats her pretty well. Which she deserves and needs. We ate lunch at about 11:30. D's Dad made this cajun flavored fried turkey. It was the best! At 1:30ish, we went to his Mom's side to visit with that family. Of course, we sampled the homemade rolls and dessert over there. Again, not SBD approved, but still yummy. We ended up staying over there for a long time. We all watched The Polar Express together. It was such a cute movie! And it was fun to be with family that we don't normally get to see. After that, we went back to g-ma's for dinner. A day of constant eating. Sigh. At g-ma's, we watched movies on tv. One station had a "Hanksgiving" ... a marathon of movies with Tom Hanks. We ended up watching "Big", "The money pit", and "Every time we say goodbye". By the time those were over, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Today was pretty uneventful. Slept in. Ate. Left. That was about it. Oh, we did buy gas for $1.89!! That was pretty exciting.

Even though it was good to see family, there's nothing like being home. Home Sweet Home. It's not perfect, but I love being here.

Sickness and Death

This past week, I have been sick. You know, that yearly sinus infection/cough/yucky stuff that you get. I was supposed to go to work on Wednesday-Saturday. I went home early on Wednesday, missed work all together on Thursday and Friday, and worked most of the day on Saturday. I really didn't need to miss that much work, but oh well.

On top of being sick, my mom was in the hospital as well. They think she must have had a mini stroke. They ran a few tests, and most have come back normal. Her doctor is just amazed that she is doing so well. She asked him, "I'm not supposed to be here, am I?" To which he replied, "Well, no. You aren't." That's kind of comforting, but at the same time not. I feel like we're on our own. The doctors don't even know what to do. I feel like I'm just supposed to sit back and wait for my mom to slowly diminish in health and then eventually die. I feel tired of being worried about her...constantly. I'm tired of wondering if I leave her alone, is she going to fall and hit her head on something and die. And then she'd be there all alone, without anyone by her side. I'm tired of seeing my dad's phone number on my caller id and immediatly thinking something is wrong with mom. I'm tired of her being in pain. I don't want her to hurt anymore.

On a similar note, one of my friend's mother passed away this week. Her mom was diagnosed with cancer about two months before my mom. Her cancer was similar as my mom's but not the same. I can't shake this feeling of thinking my mom is not far behind. Even though my mom is doing "so well", we were told she would start to have more episodes. And that eventually it would take her life. Well even though I want my mommie to be here forever, I don't want her to suffer like that. I wish God would just take her quickly. Not to drag it out. I'm also not saying I want this to happen now. But I do not want her to slowly wither away. She doesn't deserve that.

I'm not saying these things to depress any of you who read this. This blog is just a way for me to express my feelings. They're not good or bad, right or wrong. They just are. And please don't feel sorry for me either. I'm doing fine. I really am. I've got a wonderful husband who lets me cry and cry if I need to. And I enjoy my time with my mom. It's a really special time that we get to have.

New Hair Color

My roots have been showing like an 80 year old oak tree. So last night, Carolyn dyed my hair. First we went to Sally Beauty Supply. On our way there, the fog was so thick, we thought our town had disappeared! When we were on the way to her house, the fog was even thicker! We could barely see street lights.

We got to her house undamaged. Then we finally got started on my hair! Yea! I was wanting to go back to my natural hair color. The color we picked out is a lot darker than natural, but I think it will be okay when my roots start coming in. At least lets hope so! :)

Hopefully one day soon, I'll post a picture of it!

Unprofessionalism

Okay, so Daniel and I had our pictures made on Monday. We were given a free 5x7, so we thought we'd take advantage and get our pic made. Plus, since photography is something I would love to be more involved in, I thought I'd go and scope out the competition! ;) After we had picked the one we wanted, they told us to pick up our pic on Friday.

I cannot express to you how unprofessional this photographer was. First of all, he was a smoker. Not that smoking in itself is unprofessional, but he smokes in his studio. So the whole place is filled with the aroma of cigarettes. I came out of the studio feeling gross and dirty. Second, this guy didn't even recognize me on Friday. Hello! I was just there 4 days ago!! He didn't know my name, didn't know when I had been in, didn't know what kind of picture I had ordered, didn't know who was with me in the picture... He blamed it on his wife not being there. Whatever, dude. Oh, and get this. He didn't even have my picture ready. He printed the photo off while I was waiting. I could hear the picture being printed off!!

Not so much for competition. Now if I could just get that digital camera I've had my eye on...

My first blog entry

Okay, so I finally did it! I finally caved in to all this techy stuff. I know, it's not much. It's just a journal. But for me, that's a step out.

I don't really have anything to say except that I've got to figure out how to make my livejournal pretty... cause right now it's not. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that tomorrow. I'm off work. Yea!

~Peace out