A Few Firsts

I saw this on Laura's blog, The Everyday Joys and it looked like fun!


Some of my firsts...

1. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Stick a thermometer in my mouth (while keeping the cat from playing with it,) and put eye drops in (I'm bad and don't take out my contacts at night.)

2. First thing you do when you get home from work? Make sure the cat hasn't destroyed the house and then usually plop down in front of my computer.

3. First kiss? A short term boyfriend in junior high. We were at an arcade that our group of friends went to every Friday after school and it was in front of everyone. Not very romantic.

4. First home? Technically my first home was my parent's home back in Canada that we lived at for about 9 months. My first home in the U.S. was my parent's home in Missouri. My first home with Keegan was here in Mississippi that we bought before we were married.

5. First car? 2001 white Ford Focus that I got when I was 19. I was the strange kid and didn't get my license until I was 19.

Similar to this but with half of the paint scratched off the hood. Car from Google images. 

6. First thing you wanted to be when you grew up? An artist. Something that I've always wanted to do. In college it changed slightly to running/owning my own gallery.

7. First choice beverage? At home, typically water (we don't really keep anything else but milk in the house,) but when we're out, it's usually Coke (I'd love some Pepsi, but not many places sell Pepsi in the south.)

8. First choice dessert? Chocolate cake.....or cheesecake.....or ice cream.....mmmmm dessert.

9. First choice of a restaurant? Honestly depends on my mood, but I'll almost never pass up Italian food or Mugshots.

10. First song that comes to mind? Honestly can't think of one right now.

11. First major purchase? College. I'm still paying that off and will probably do so for the next 40 years.

12. First job? Well my first real paying job (besides babysitting) was a lifeguard at the pool we had been going to since I was little. I stayed at the job plus added in teaching swim lessons for over 6 years.

13. First time you flew on a plane? 1990 when my parents and I moved from Canada to Missouri.

14. First real "big girl" job? I'd say being paid to save people's lives is a pretty "big girl" job. See number 12.

Knockin' Two Items off the Bucket List

As I talked about in my last Fab Friday post, Keegan, Brendan, and I were in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday to see one of my favorite bands...and to do something special.

First of all, the show was amazing. There were two opening bands, one from England who I wasn't the biggest fan of, and one from LA: Old Man Markley.

Described as "punk bluegrass," I've never seen a band have so much fun on stage. They were constantly dancing, jumping, and joking with each other while playing awesome music. I mean, how can a band with a washtub upright base, a washboard, fiddle, banjo, and autoharp not be cool?

After the bands switched out, it was Dropkick Murphys time! 

This is the stage as they were setting up. Notice the HUGE organ in the background? The show was at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. Their website explains some of the history, and the reason for the huge organ:

"The Tabernacle building has a rich & storied history. Opened in 1910 as The Broughton Tabernacle; Dr. Leonard Gaston Broughton was the pastor and a physician. Dr. Broughton started the Georgia Baptist Medical Center and nursing school, which began as the Tabernacle infirmary with three beds. The Third Baptist Church was an active congregation with over 4000 members. The congregation relocated during the mid eighties and the building lay vacant until the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, when it was converted into a House of Blues club."

The concert was amazing. They played a great set and had so much energy for guys that have been playing since the late 90s. My only problem the entire concert was the crowd. Now, going into this, I knew that Dropkick shows are typically described as "drunken brawls," so I knew the crowd was going to be a little rough. However, it seemed like 90% of the people there were just there to mosh. As you can tell from the pictures, we were really close to the stage, right up against the metal barrier. It really bothered me that I had to take my time and energy away from watching the show to constantly look over my shoulder to see if someone was going to run into me or try and crowd surf over me. I respect people's "right" to enjoy a concert however they see fit, however it bugs me that it has to almost ruin my concert experience. Also, I think there should be a limit on how many beers you can consume at a concert. 

/soapbox rant

Anyways, after the concert, we went over to the merch table and met Old Man Markley! The band was so nice and excited to meet their fans. I really hope they come near us again, I'd love to see a show where they're headlining. 

After getting a bite to eat, and a few hours sleep, we woke up on Tuesday to get.....tattoos! Keegan, Brendan, and I have been talking about getting tattoos together for over a year now, we have just never been in the same place either geographically or financially to get one. We decided while we're in Atlanta with reputable tattoo shops, we'd knock a second item off of my bucket list. 

We got our tattoos done at Mystic Owl tattoo in Marietta, GA. The shop was clean, the staff was awesome and totally put our nervousness at ease by joking around with us. The boys got their tattoos done by Mike Bugenhagen, a regular artist and I got mine by Taylor Ann, who was either new or a visiting artist (she's not on their website.) The boys got the Celtic symbol for brother on their right shoulder blades while I got the Celtic symbol for sister on my right foot. 

It was a great experience. I expected it to be more painful than it was; it felt more like Taylor was digging something into my foot instead of needles, it's kind of hard to explain. Getting a tattoo has been something I've wanted to do ever since I was little and I'm so glad that I did. I already have plans for my next few ;-) 

I must say, it was so nice to play "hooky" from work and take a few days to do something fun. We've all been working so hard lately that we deserved some time to act like we're 20-somethings again. We've decided that if/when we go back to Atlanta to see another show, we're making this a tradition and getting another tattoo.

Fab Friday

Reasons why this week (and next!) are fab:

• I talked about in my last So What! post that we were having our friend, Brendan from Missouri, move in with us. He was supposed to move down February 22, but he showed up a week early on the 15. I was apprehensive about having another 20-something boy in the house, let alone my husband's best friend, but it's worked out pretty well. Sure, I lose both of them on Saturdays when they work on Keegan's Corvette, but it's been nice having someone else in the house. Since we're not charging him rent, only asking him to pay the electric bill each month, he's been cleaning up around the house for us. I walked in from work one day and he was vacuuming! It's been nice not to have to worry about cleaning the house after work, that's for sure. 
• My husband's coming home tomorrow! I haven't talked about this, but Keegan has been in San Francisco since Sunday. I know that a week apart is nothing compared to what our military families go through, but it's been hard not having him around. Thankfully Brendan has been with me so I haven't been as worried about coming home to an empty house. 
• On Monday, Keegan, Brendan and I are going to Atlanta to see the third part of my Irish band bucket list, Dropkick Murphys. I've already seen Flogging Molly and Gaelic Storm, so seeing Dropkick rounds out my top three favorite bands. We got general admission tickets so I'm going to wedge my way up to the front and stand right next to the stage. To say I'm excited is an understatement.
• While in Atlanta, the three of us are getting something done that has been a year in the making. I won't say too much until I have pictures, but it has to do with needles.....

That's all folks! Link up with Laura and tell us what's Fab in your lives! 

So What Wednesday!

Today I'm linking up with Shannon for So What Wednesdays!

Today I'm saying so what if...

• ...Keegan and I aren't do anything for Valentine's Day (that I know of.) He's not the most romantic guy out there, and is impossible to shop for, so we decided to just skip the holiday this year.
• ... I'm ridiculously anxious for my next doctor's appointment. I *think* we'll be talking about starting Clomid. Just one more step on the way to growing our family! If you want to read about our baby makin' journey, you can go to my other blog. 
• ...I'm also anxiously waiting for our wedding video to come. We were promised the video 3 months after our wedding, but we've rounded the 6 month mark with empty hands. Our videographer was my biggest regret from the wedding, so I hope that at the very least, the video turns out well and we didn't waste a ton of money. 
• ...we possibly have some big changes happening this year. Unfortunately I can't say more than that right now, but it could turn our lives upside down. 
• ....I won Heather's Fitness Giveaway! I won a heart monitor, a water bottle, a Jillian Michael's DVD and so much more! I've never won anything before, so I'm beyond excited to receive this package! 
• ...Keegan's best friend, and best man, Brendan, is coming down next weekend to live with us for an unknown amount of time. Keegan loves him like a brother, and I do too; I'm just a little worried that there will be so much boy bonding going on that there won't be any room for me. Keegan has assured me that won't happen, but it's still in the back of my mind. Anyone else had an experience like this and wish to share their stories?  

Fab Fridays

Today I'm linking up with Laura for Fab Fridays and so should you!

Why is today fab? Well let me tell you:

• It's Friday. 'Nough said.
• After some major changes with my job in November, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, and that's a great feeling.
• We went and saw Daughtry and Three Doors Down on Tuesday. Daughtry was a huge disappointment, but the opening band, Aranda, is a new favorite. Three Doors Down kicked all kinds of ass.

 Aranda

Daughtry 

Three Doors Down

Daughtry and Three Doors Down Duo

• It's Friday
• I made chocolate chip cookies last night because I had a huge chocolate craving. Keegan and I are both trying to eat better, so we ate a few and packaged up the rest for me to take to work. I've been good and only eaten one today. I put them on my co-worker's desk so they wouldn't taunt me. 
• Along the same lines, I've lost 20 pounds since mid-September! Getting diagnosed with PCOS has been both a blessing and a curse. 

What's Fab in your life? Like up with Laura and let us know! 

Book Worm

I've always been a big reader. I remember being in fourth grade when the fourth Harry Potter book came out and I devoured it in one day. I love getting lost in books and I'm so thankful that my parents instilled a love for reading in me when I was young. I do have a Kindle and I love it (I mean really, who wouldn't love being able to carry around 20 books in the space of one?) but I've always loved the feel of a real book, and I want my future children to have the opportunity to fall in love with paper and bindings, not a piece of technology. I love the ease that my Kindle allows me to buy and read books, but I don't want my child's first "book" to be basically a computer. I want them to love turning pages, looking at illustrations and reading the text of a book that was passed down to them. With that in mind, it has always been a goal in my life to have a library in my house. One room filled wall to wall with books like the one in the Beauty and the Beast.

Ok, maybe not quite as big as that, but you get the idea.

Lucky for me, over the last couple of weekends, my boss decided to clean out her home office. She had some books that she was planning on giving to our local library, but she allowed me, and the other women that I work with, to go through them first. I grabbed some books that I've been wanting to read forever, like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Water For Elephants, but I also grabbed quite a few that I had never heard of, but sounded interesting to me. Below is the list of books that I acquired:

The Dark Side of Innocence - Growing up Bipolar by Terri Cheney

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (hardback)

Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene

Wicked by Gregory Maguire (I already own and have read the green paged version, but I really wanted this version as well, purely due to the drawings.)

Informed Consent by Sandra Glahn 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Room by Emma Donoghue

Bossypants by Tina Fey

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (hardback)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Native Son by Richard Wright

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Coroner's Journal by Louis Cataldie

Any opinions of which one I should read first? I'm leaning towards The Dark Side Of Innocence. I'm weird and I like learning about what makes people tick, what makes them do the things they do, whether that be mental illness or a bad upbringing. One of my favorite shows to watch is "Lockup" on MSNBC purely because I'm interested in knowing why convicts commit crimes. What they were thinking as they robbed an elderly lady or killed their whole family.....

Well, that took a strange turn....

Anyways, these are the books I have at my disposal. If you've read any of them, I'd love to know what you thought of them. As a note, I have seen "The Help" and I loved it, so I hope I enjoy the book as well. I have not seen "Water for Elephants," but I have seen "Wicked" the musical which I loved. If you have any other suggestions for books I would enjoy, or a raving review of a book you just finished, let met know. I love getting suggestions from others. 

If you want to see what I think about these books, you can "friend" me on Goodreads. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Starting Monday, we've had a week of non-stop rain. Said rain almost flooded our road, 

By the end of the night, the water had crept up to where our garden is. 

And then suddenly, overnight, it turned into snow! 

Early this morning, about 8 am

A few hours later, about 11 am

In the (almost) two years we've lived here, I remember one other instance of snow that lasted all of 5 minutes. Before we moved down here, Mississippi, like most of the States, experienced Snowmageddon 2011, but since then, this has been the biggest snowfall the state has seen. Schools are closed, mostly because the city (or the state) doesn't have plows or salt trucks. Many of the kids live down small, gravel country roads that aren't safe for the buses to drive down. Currently, even I'm still at home, but I may go into work once it stops snowing.

So many of my friends from Missouri and family from Canada are laughing at the fact that schools are closed for a few inches of snow, but in a city that is woefully unprepared for weather like this, it's best to be safe than sorry.

We're getting big fluffy snowflakes now, so I'm sure we'll see even more accumulation in the upcoming hours. I'll update with new pictures later on. Happy snow day!

ABCs of Me

Today is a dreary, rainy, blah kind of day and I don't have the brain power to come up with a riviting post, so I decided to steal Caitlin's idea and do the ABCs of me!

A. Age: 23

B. Bed size: Queen-ish? Keegan actually built our bed when he was in high school. It was originally a water bed, but he put in a regular mattress during college. I say queen-ish because it takes full-sized sheets, but a queen comforter. Kind of confusing when you try and buy bed sets.

C. Chore you dislike: Hand washing dishes. I don't mind throwing them in the dishwasher, but something about hand washing dirty dishes skeeves me out.

D. Dogs: None at the moment. I do have my puppy (even though she's 12) back at home who lives with my parents. We got her when she was 6 weeks old and I was 10. We've grown up together and it's going to be such a sad day when she passes.

E. Essential start to your day: Usually it's waiting for my second alarm to go off allowing me to get an extra 5 minutes of sleep. Since September, it's been rolling over, sticking a thermometer in my mouth and popping pills.

F. Favorite colors: The "royal" colors: deep blue, emerald, deep purple. I'm so excited that emerald is Pantone's color for 2013!

G. Gold or silver: Silver, unless it's white gold.

H. Height: 5′ 4″ on a good day.

I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano for like 7 years and guitar for about a year.

J. Job title: Currently I work at an art gallery. I can't really say what my official job title is because it's somewhat related to the government and I'd rather not get into that. If you're curious, send me an email. 

K. Kids: Hopefully soon! You can read all about our baby-makin' story over at my other blog, Baby Makin'

L. Live: Well, I was born in Canada and lived there about 9 months before my dad accepted a job in Missouri. I'm still a Canadian citizen! I lived in Missouri throughout my college years and moved to Mississippi two days after my college graduation. We currently call Mississippi home, but I'm sure that'll change at least once or twice more as Keegan finds his "forever" job.

M. Mom’s name: Elaine

N. Nicknames: Ais is the most common. Keegan calls me Aizy sometimes.

O. Overnight hospital stays: I don't think I've had any overnighters. I have been to the hospital for mysterious side pains which we thought were my appendix, three spinal taps and an emergency spinal patch when my last spinal tap caused a spinal headache.

P. Pet peeves: Plain rudeness and ignorance. Racism, which unfortunately still happens a lot down here.

Q. Quote from a movie: I'm so horrible at movie quotes. I'm the joke of our friend group because I've seen very few movies that apparently I've supposed to seen by this point in my life. Things like Star Wars.

R. Righty or lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: Two “little” sisters (who are both taller than me.) Brianne who is 19 and Caitlynn who is 15

T. Time you wake up: Usually I wake up with Keegan's alarm at 5:30/6 and then again at 8 when I get up for work.

U. Underwear: Anything but thongs. I honestly don't see how other women find those things comfortable! Usually I get my underthings at Target or Walmart. I'm kinda proud to say I own nothing from Victoria's Secret.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: This could potentially be a long list, but I'll just mention the ones I've found since we've moved to the south. Fried green tomatoes. Collard greens. Lima beans. Apparently down here, mac n' cheese is a vegetable? (not that I'm complaining...)

W. What makes you run late: Getting lost or forgetting something at home. I'm usually one who is 15 minutes early if anything.

X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, wrist, spine, possibly ankle?

Y. Yummy food you make: Anything baked (especially brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes,) Just like Caitlin! Keegan is more the cook in our house; I'm a better baker.

Z. Zoo animal you like: Penguins. Giraffes. Big cats. It's been so long since I've gone to a zoo. I think the closest thing to us is the "Buffalo Park" about an hour away from us.

2012: A Year in Review

I know it seems like everyone in the blogsphere is doing 2012 reviews, but this is more for me than for anyone else. If this kind of stuff doesn't float your boat, feel free to skip.

January 

We got the awesome news that we had officially purchased our first house! 

We sent out our Save the Dates for our August wedding

We got the keys for our house and picked out some appliances. 

February 

We moved into our new house

I linked up with Becky at From Mrs. to Mama for our love story

March

I started posting some tutorials of the DIY things I was doing for our wedding including our Mr. and Mrs. signs and our cake picks. 

(Envious of my awesome photography skills? Thought so) 

I went off all of my medications for my headaches cold turkey. Still one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I also got paid in produce.  

April

We purchased our wedding bands (among other things) and had a bridesmaid drop out of the wedding. 

I *ahem* flipped shit about our lack of internet. 

For Valentine's Day, I surprised Keegan with tickets to see one of his favorite bands, Bela Fleck. In April, we finally went to the concert. 

May

I finally revealed our DIY wedding invitations and did a cost breakdown. 

I reflected about living in Mississippi for a year. 

June

I didn't have much to say in June. I wrote my dad a Father's Day post and started my wedding blog, Clover & Leaf.

July

I wrote up a birthday wish list since I'm apparently hard to shop for. I (surprisingly!) got almost everything I asked for, including the wall decal. It looks amazing above our bed.

I purchased my first new car, a Mazda CX-5. Keegan and I both agree that this was one of the best decisions we made during 2012.

I like up again with Becky at From Mrs. to Mama for her Blogger 411 link-up. If you want a quick run-down of me, that's the best place to go. 

August

We got married! 

And went on our honeymoon, but I didn't end up posting about that. Too busy being married! 

I linked up with Becky again (what can I say? She hosts awesome link-ups!) for Show and Tell Monday: Wedding Edition. This post goes into more detail about our engagement, wedding, and a bit about the honeymoon. 

September 

Exactly one month after our wedding, I found out I have PCOS and insulin resistance. I spent the month trying to get used to my new diet and medications which resulted in less posting. 

October

I started a new blog, Baby Makin', as a way to document our journey to having children and in hopes that some day I can help another woman who is dealing with PCOS/infertility.  

As part of Keegan's wedding present, we went to Crusin' the Coast along the coast of Mississippi. He was in car heaven. It was also my first time in an ocean. 

November 

Once again, I liked up with Becky, this time for Woman Connect '12, a way for women bloggers to really open up and hopefully connect with others. 

December

I vent about not being able to find pants despite my 15 pound weight loss. (By the way, I still haven't found new jeans.) 

I blogged about the unimaginable tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School as well as participated in the Blogger Day of Silence. 

I talked about our first Christmas in Mississippi and how different it was from Christmases past. 

All in all, 2012 was a pretty awesome year. With a new house, new car, and new husband, 2013 has huge shoes to fill. Maybe it'll bring a new addition to the family?

Happy New Years everyone!