365 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF EMILY

In case you're interested:

2011-01-12T21:19:00.002-06:00

Day 365 (Or: The End)

2010-12-31T20:08:00.000-06:00

2010 has been a wild ride..to say the least.

For starters, I began this 365 Project on January 1st, without thinking much of it. Little did I know how much it would truly impact me - it's helped me pursue photography like I never have before. It's forced me to realize and unearth talents I never knew I had, and I'm so excited about the future possibilities and potential I have because of it. I've gotten to do a number of photo shoots this year, with a couple different families, local musicians, couples, and I even got to shoot my first wedding in September. I am beyond excited to see where photography takes me in 2011 - and it really is all thanks to this blog (and my wonderful husband for getting me the 50mm lens last Christmas that really started it all). I won't lie to you, it hasn't been easy, but it's been absolutely worth it. If any of you are considering doing a Project365 for 2011, I would encourage you to try it. It forces you to think and be creative in ways you wouldn't have thought possible. As a sidenote, you get to document 365 consecutive days of your life, which will probably be awesome to look back and read in like 20 years.

Next (and most importantly), in February, my best friend and soulmate asked me to marry him. He took me out to the walking bridge downtown, got on one knee, and said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I, of course, happily accepted! I had no idea 2010 would turn into "how to plan a wedding in 8 months," but it did, and we made it happen! Our wedding was one of the best days of my life, and I wouldn't change anything about it. It's been a blast getting to know each other even better than we already did these past (almost) 3 months, and I am so looking forward to the years ahead. I love you tons, babe. :)

I also got a job promotion about a month before our wedding - from "Production Coordinator" to "Assistant Production Manager!" I know, sounds fancy huh? It's been really cool learning a new position and having more responsibility - just really hectic. I'm really enjoying it though and I think it's giving me great experience for whatever lies ahead of me in the future. I absolutely love my job and I've been so blessed this year to work at such an amazing company as Thomas Nelson. I have some fantastic co-workers and the best supervisor anyone could ask for. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities I've been given there.

2010 involved a bit of travel, which I can honestly never complain about. January was a trip to San Antonio with Rachel. February, a trip to the mountains in Georgia with Justin and Rachel. July, a trip to Jacksonville for the 4th, and in October, the Bahamas (honeymoon!). I absolutely adore exploring new places and seeing new cities and I sincerely hope 2011 involves more of that. We've already got a trip to Asheville in the works. Hooray for learning how to snowboard!

All in all, I don't think I could've picked a better year to document every day of my life. I got to see 3 amazing couples get married. I met my newest little cousins, Jack and Caleb. I got engaged, and married. I spent time with family and friends (though not nearly enough). I laughed, I cried, I loved. This is the first new year's resolution that I can honestly say I've kept, and I'm so proud of myself for it! It feels good.

As far as 2011 goes, my main goal (I suppose you could call it a resolution) is to become more "legit" with my photography. I'm looking into getting a more professional blog/website together. I'm going to start working on a portfolio. I'm going to do my best to get more (hopefully paying!) photo shoots. I also plan on experimenting a little bit with film, which I'm really looking forward to.

A special thanks to my most faithful readers (like my mom, Danny, Aunt Amber, just to name a few) who kept me on my toes and most importantly, didn't let me quit. You let me know that what I have to say is important to you, and I appreciate that so much.

So, my readers, this isn't goodbye forever - just goodbye for now. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope 2011 looks as fantastic and inspiring to you as it does to me. :) I love you guys!

Day 364

2010-12-30T21:45:00.004-06:00

3 words to describe tonight: Delicious, Hilarious, and Awesome.

We had a Mexican night of sorts. Allen and Jessica came over with chips and salsa, Danny made his (now infamous) cheese/spinach enchiladas, and I tried my hand at making the only Mexican dessert that sounded halfway easy: "Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie" (pictured above). It was like a cross between cheesecake and coffee cake? Whatevs - it was good. I will definitely be making it again. Afterwards, Allen & Jess taught us how to play Spades and O-M-G I am addicted. Funnest game ever. Girls vs. Boys, and we won the first round! I guess I must (grudgingly) admit that the boys won the second round. It was so much fun though! Good and hilarious conversations. Haha. One thing we talked about was how our family up here is kind of an oddity - we don't really have much family drama and we all just get along so well. It's something that I'm so thankful for. I love this family to pieces.

All in all, an excellent night. :)

I don't have much else to say except WE DON'T HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW! Yaaaaaaay oh and I only have one day left to blog, holy moly.

Day 363

2010-12-29T20:42:00.002-06:00

Awesome coasters, courtesy of my mom (and Pier 1) :)

Today has been rather ho-hum. Except I did go to the social security office at lunch (to change my name, finally) and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience! Not the dreadful misery I was expecting, you know, the typical crap you always deal with at a government office, where the most simple thing is complicated a thousand times over. But today, everyone was friendly and I was literally in and out in less than 10 minutes. Excellent.

We're making enchiladas tomorrow and Allen and Jess are coming over. I'm excited!! :D

I'm also exhausted and going to bed. Last night our lovely neighbor was blasting music at 10:30pm, so I marched over there and ~~banged~~ politely knocked on their door and ~~demanded~~ asked them to turn it down. Gah. We're always nervously adjusting the volume of our TV a billion times because we don't want it to be too loud. Apparently our neighbors don't have the same consideration. La-di-da.

Day 362

2010-12-28T20:53:00.003-06:00

THIS THING has literally monopolized my entire evening. Last time I ever attempt a recipe on a spontaneous whim without first reading the reviews. It finally came out in the end, tasting pretty close to a pound cake, with burnt edges no less. Grrrrrrrrr.

In other news, we got our Christmas package from Tracy and Santi today! I love our friends. Seriously. Tracy and I have been friends for, let's seeeeeee, going on 11 years now. We have so much fun together it's ridiculous. They got us some awesome gifts - a super cute and snazzy apron for me, Ratatouille, and some awesome vinyl for Danny. We are blessed.

I can't believe the year is coming to an end already. This year has been a complete whirlwind for me (sometimes I think that's due to keeping the blog, but mostly I think it's because I was engaged for 3/4 of the time - ha). I'm so excited to see what 2011 has in store. :D

Day 361

2010-12-27T21:33:00.002-06:00

I'm ready for bed. Can you tell? Ha.

I know with only 5 days left, I should really be making an attempt to deliver some excellent photos for you, my readers. But I am all out of ideas, people. I need some time to recharge my creative juices.

We went grocery shopping tonight and spent less than $100, which was nice. Hopefully that'll last us a couple weeks :) We're having Allen and Jessica over on Thursday for Danny's amazing enchiladas, and we're going to learn how to play Spades! Excited.

I think 2011 is going to involve a lot of baking. I find myself perusing the internet for recipes more and more lately and wanting to try really difficult, I-have-no-business-attempting-this recipes. Like homemade marshmallows, or chocolate peanut butter torte, or how about this girl's amazing 4th of July cake? Seriously - I got a cake leveler for Christmas thanks to my awesome mom. I plan on at least attempting that last cake. If I had all the time in the world to try every career I might ever aspire to have, I think I would like to try owning a bakery/coffee shop. How fun would that be??

Ok. I'm freezing and sooooo sleepy. Until tomorrow...

Day 360

2010-12-26T20:11:00.002-06:00

I sure do like my new toy (pictured above). :D

Today has been a much-needed lazy day. We ate Moe's for lunch and we've been watching Band of Brothers since like, 2pm. I'm actually getting into it, and I didn't think that I would.

I cannot believe that,
a) Monday has arrived so quickly
b) Christmas is over
c) I have a Macbook
d) it's almost 2011
e) I only have 5 days left to blog after today.

Crazycakes.

Day 359

2010-12-25T20:44:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas!!!

Today was wonderfully relaxing. We woke up to snow, and it did not stop snowing for most of the day. We had a brief snowball fight earlier (by brief, I mean like 45 seconds) until our hands started to freeze due to lack of gloves. Ha. We opened presents with my parents this morning and they definitely got us a lot of amazing stuff, some things we desperately needed, haha. My mom got me a few new baking tools that I am dying to try out. :) Then the family came over around 3pm and we ate a delicious meal (duh, it's the South), and played White Elephant/Dirty Santa/Whatever you want to call it. I got a cute black scarf out of it, and Danny scored the game of Uno which we didn't previously own. All in all, it was an excellent day, filled with family, food, and snow. :)

I was going to post some more photos, but I've already received one "Will you hurry up and blog so I can go to bed??" phone call from Aunt Amber, so I'll save those photos for a Facebook post later. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Day 358

2010-12-24T22:34:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve! Pictured above is Darcy the Dachshund. We spent some time over at Danny's mom's house today and I snapped a few photos of her dachshunds. :) She calls them her "little people" which I think is pretty cute.

Danny and I opened our gifts this morning as soon as we woke up, like the little kids that we are. He got me this amazing art print from Etsy which I've been envying for the longest time. He also got me a fantastic Portishead record on vinyl, which we promptly listened to as we ate homemade pancakes (courtesy of me...after burning about 6 of them, I managed to make 4 that weren't completely hideous). And then......drumroll......HE GOT ME A MACBOOK PRO!!!!!!! This is amazing of him in so many ways. I've desperately needed my own laptop (my PC has been on the fritz for months) and I'm constantly using his to blog on (as in, every night...) and my goal in 2011 is to become more "legit" and "professional" in my photography, which is kind of hard to do without a reliable computer. Not to mention, I really really really hate spending large amounts of money. It's just so hard for me to commit. So for him to just go and GET it for me, and save me the anguish of having to do it myself, was awesome. He's good to me. :) Anyways, so, first Christmas as 'The Rushtons' was a success!

Also, it's snowing outside. White Christmas anyone? ;)

Day 357

2010-12-23T22:44:00.003-06:00

Today, we were those people that you see running around frantically the day before Christmas Eve. Ridiculous. However I think I sold my 12 string Ibanez for $200 which is awesome. It makes me want to start selling all the other random stuff I have that I never use anymore. Anybody want an electric guitar, amp, or longboard? Ha.

ANYways, so the first half of the day was hectic, but we finally were able to get some Publix sushi and come home to watch Lord of the Rings. Rule my life. These movies are so good. I decided to make some homemade biscuits on a whim, because they're so easy and I was really itching to bake something.

My hand is a LOT better today. Last night was the worst. Pretty sure it kept me up till about 4am. It only felt better if I put ice on it, but then at some point it would start to hurt more from the ice, and then I'd take it off, and then it would hurt even WORSE without the ice. Wow. It was not awesome. At one point I was on the couch looking miserable and Danny woke up and came in at about 3am to check on me. I have the best husband ev'. :)

Tomorrow morning we're opening the rest of our presents to each other. And thus begin the Christmas festivities... YAY

Day 356

2010-12-22T20:43:00.003-06:00

I burnt the living daylights out of my left hand today before dinner so this post is going to be really short because I'm typing with one hand.....LAME. (ps. isn't my mom just the cutest?)

dinner and yummy sugar cookies at my parents. i'm off work for the next 4 days and prepared to relaaaax. we've got all 3 extended versions of LOTR so guess what we'll be doing tomorrow?

ok my hand really hurts. so bad that we're actually going up to walgreens to fill the pain med prescription that i declined last week for my back. Wow.

Day 355

2010-12-21T21:21:00.002-06:00

We have awesome friends who send us Christmas cards/photos.

Tonight we went to a really nice (and spontaneous) dinner at J. Alexanders. We both got a steak and it was amazing. The waiter was a bit over-enthusiastic, but whatevs.

I feel like there's water in my ear. I hope that doesn't mean I'm getting an ear infection. It's weirding me oooout.

I've spent the evening playing (rather, attempting to play) out of my Radiohead book..and we just played like 4 games of Rummy. We're keeping a running scoreboard because we're cool like that.

Only a half day of work tomorrow and then FREEDOM!!!

Day 354

2010-12-20T21:15:00.002-06:00

Because we're kids at heart (and, because we can), Danny and I each opened up one Christmas present from each other tonight :) And because he is AMAZING, and knows me so well, he basically got me the best present ever: Radiohead sheet music, by Christopher O'Riley. O-M-G. His music is absolutely amazing, so amazing that we used it for our "prelude" music while people were being seated at the wedding. I am beyond excited to learn from this book, but it's going to take some serious work. I don't think I've ever attempted to learn music this difficult. YAY. Winter project! :)

Day 353

2010-12-19T20:04:00.002-06:00

Yaaaaaay CHRISTMAS! yes, this is hanging on our livingroom wall. :D

We ate some of the best sushi tonight at Ken's Sushi. The Vandy roll? omg heaven.

Hooray for only working 2.5 days this week!

I don't have much else to say. We're watching some Office season 2 right now. So I'm gonna go do that. BYE

Day 352

2010-12-18T22:08:00.000-06:00

I remember being a kid and opening presents was THE MOST EXCITING THING about Christmas. Somewhere along the road I became one of those boring adults that would rather spend the time napping. Ha.

Day 351

2010-12-17T20:35:00.004-06:00

Getting all these people into one room, smiling, looking at the camera at the same time -- is quite a feat. Not to mention all the good looks - it's enough to kill anyone's ego! Anyway, pictured above is one of the coolest families I know. I feel privileged to call these people MY family.

Tomorrow we're driving to Birmingham to do the Christmas thing with my dad's side of the family. I can't believe Christmas is in one entire week. I'm totally not done yet. NOT READY!!!

I mean really...they could be an album cover or something. Best looking family ever.

P.S. Aunt Amber...I will give you the hi-res versions of these photos..so don't try to make any prints from these, they've been resized :)

Day 350

2010-12-16T19:34:00.003-06:00

Taco Mamacita's with the ladies tonight! Always a good time. We exchanged Christmas goodies and oooo'd and ahhh'd over Olivia's baby bump. I cannot wait for that child to get here. Cuteness. So excited for her and Grant, they're going to be awesome parents :)

Pictured above is art by Stef, and jewelry by Brooke. I'm so excited about both of these gifts! I have talented friends. ;)

This weekend is going to be INSANE. Gah. I need some time to breathe!

PS. only 15 days left. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself that I've come this far. :)

Day 349

2010-12-15T20:34:00.000-06:00

Walked out of Publix tonight.......to this. Interpret it how you will. Hahaha.

So thankful I get to work from home tomorrow and avoid the mess of drivers. Have I mentioned how much I loathe winters in Nashville? Because I do. I also loathe doctors, but that's a whole OTHER story. Don't get me started.

Christmas is so close I can almost taste it!

Day 348

2010-12-14T20:34:00.002-06:00

We got really festive and decorated our bathroom with lights, complete with a Christmas tree over the toilet. Hahahaha. Why do we rule so much? I'm still trying to figure it out. :P

We're starting to get on the ball with Christmas shopping. I plan on hopefully being completely done by this weekend. The weather better not mess up my plans.

ummmmmmmm I don't have much else to say BYEEE

Day 347

2010-12-13T19:28:00.002-06:00

I am re-learning this song...I used to be able to play it perfectly but I've definitely slacked off within the last few years with my piano playing. I wish I could just start taking lessons again. That's what forced me to practice all the time. SIGH.

Danny and I splurged and went out for fish and chips tonight....WORTH it. So, so worth it.

It hit me today that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away and I am NOWHERE NEAR close to being finished with Christmas gifts. I'm starting to feel the panic.

Aaaaaand now I'm feeling super lethargic from all the delicious food. Time for Lost, and bed. Nighty night!

Day 346

2010-12-12T22:44:00.003-06:00

So, tonight was supposed to be our Roving Christmas Dinner (or the "Progressive Dinner" as some in our family like to call it, but I think Roving is way more awesome). However, it started snowing early this morning and didn't stop all day. Nor did the temperature get above freezing. Which turned into icy roads, and good ol' Nashville lived up to its expectations by not salting the roads in time, which made for scary driving conditions. We ended up just doing everything at my parents house, and it took us 35 minutes to get there when it normally takes about 15. SCARY. I hate icy roads, but what I hate even worse are the other people who don't have a clue what they're doing and are putting everyone else's lives at risk. Anyways. Danny knows what he's doing which I am extremely thankful for, so he drove us over to my parents. We ate dinner, spent time with family, the usual. Everything was delicious and it was fun just hanging out :) Jonah, Caleb, and Jack all graced us with their presence so I was able to take some photos of them tonight, using my flash! I keep forgetting I own the SB-600 and it really came in handy tonight in the dim lighting.

ANYWAYS I'm boring myself. Pictured above is Jonah making some sort of face, but honestly, I don't think there's a face this kid could make that wouldn't be cute. COME ON.

It took us 3 tries to get out of the neighborhood (up a hill) which left me stressed and white-knuckled. Driving on ice is just plain scary.

We're home safe and sound now, and the bed is calling my name. YAAAAAAWN!

Day 345

2010-12-11T20:34:00.004-06:00

Movie night hosted by my mom. We watched Elf. The house was decorated amazingly like the movie! Good food, good candy. I'm exhausted and going to bed. oh, my dad and I went to see Harry Potter and it was awesome. okbye

Day 344

2010-12-10T22:37:00.002-06:00

A little Florida can go a long way when you're dealing with a dreary Nashville winter. Thanks to my cousin Katie, we got this huge box of tangelos for a mere $20! I had one today and it was delish.

Tonight we went to a Christmas dinner with my coworkers, hosted by one of our vendors. It was a fun evening full of laughter and AMAZING food. It's been a long time since I've been that full.

I've said it before, but I'm really, really thankful for my job. :)

I'm also very much looking forward to not setting an alarm tonight. Ahh, the beauty of Saturday mornings. :)

Day 343

2010-12-09T20:41:00.003-06:00

We've been learning German in our free time ;) MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm seriously having some severe back pain. Like right where my kidneys are? Awesome. I've been debating going to a minute clinic but that's seriously the worst way to spend your evening, short of going to the ER. Although, I tried to lay down earlier and couldn't get comfortable in ANY position so, that's cool. Waaaaaahhhh.

Sooooo I've been married to my best friend for 2 entire months today and the time has literally flown by. Best 2 months ever. :) <3

Day 342

2010-12-08T22:28:00.003-06:00

In case you haven't noticed (if the endless stream of Christmas-related photos wasn't proof enough), I really really really really really like Christmas. :D

There are other things I could write about but I'm too tired. Only 2 days left in the week. Woo!

Day 341

2010-12-07T19:41:00.002-06:00

I sort of didn't feel like taking a photo today, so I just took one of our stockings that I hung this morning. Cute eh?

We're watching Lost and I don't have much else to say. Is it the weekend yet? Although I can't even hope for that, because it's so jam-packed full of things to do and places to be that before I know it I'll wake up and it'll be Monday morning again. LAME.

ok, goodnight.

Day 340

2010-12-06T20:07:00.003-06:00

$4.99 at Target. Mom bought it for us. It's the price of being festive. ;) I also scored some Christmas items at the dollar store...including some cookie cutters. Yay for making Christmas cookies!

It was unbelievably cold today. Aren't you readers so happy that I won't be blogging all throughout this next winter? I don't think you'd be able to handle the bitterness. HA! But seriously, I started reading my blogs from back in January earlier today and it's pretty cool to have so much stuff documented. Like the first Preds game I went to, or the fact that my dad and I saw Sherlock Holmes on New Year's Day. Stuff I would probably forget about (if I haven't already). I'd definitely recommend the 365 challenge to anyone who thinks they can handle it. ;) You'll get pretty sick of it before the year is done, but you'll be happy you did in the end.

In other news, I think I'm going to get absurdly crafty this week and make a Merry Christmas banner for our apartment. I am lacking in the sewing machine department however (not like I'd know how to use one, anyway) so we'll see what happens....

Day 339

2010-12-05T19:37:00.002-06:00

Could this kid be any cuter? I think not. I'd also like to point out that, 200 days ago, that post was also about Caiden and he looks SO much younger. It's unreal. Click here to see.

I can't believe there are only 26 (27?) days left of this thing. I foresee myself having a slight panic attack on January 1st around 11:30pm - "OMG I haven't blogged yet!!!!....oh wait." Haaaaaaa.

I am still in pain. I think I'll call the doctor tomorrow. :(

Day 338

2010-12-04T21:51:00.002-06:00

Helvetica playing cards. Neat-o.

We test drove the NIssan Juke today. Not as awesome as we were hoping it would be. I tried on some amazing boots at DSW; they were, however, $50 so we left them at the store. :( Ate sushi at PM. Went to my parents for dinner and re-learned how to play rummy with my cousins who are in town. So. Much. Fun. I forgot how much I loved that card game. We did not go see Harry Potter which makes me sad, but I'm also really just putting off spending $20 to go see a flipping movie. gaaaaaahhh.

I don't have much to say.....bye.

Day 337

2010-12-03T20:29:00.003-06:00

I kid you not, this is what the sky looked like when I left work tonight. I didn't play with the colors at all - that awesome pink is for real. And I'm still annoyed at myself for only having my point-and-shoot camera which didn't even come close to doing the photo justice. Stupidly I thought I'd have a better view once I got onto the highway, but in the 5 short minutes it took for me to get to the on ramp, the sky had already morphed into dark blue and that was that.

I'm having some serious upper back/chest pain. Like if I take in a deep breath, move a certain way, cough a certain way, I get these awesome stabbing pains...Maybe I have a cracked rib. HAAAAA just kidding. But seriously, should I be concerned? It's been about 3 days of this.

We just ate Pei Wei and watched a few episodes of Lost, and now Danny's trying to beat the fire beast in Zelda for me. I seriously hate the mine levels. If I never see another fireball or flame again, I'll be ok. 8-)

Day 336

2010-12-02T21:00:00.002-06:00

I'm seriously too exhausted to post "for reals." I spent a few hours with Brooke and Kevin tonight. Two of the coolest people I know, seriously. So thankful for their friendships. :) They are pictured above with their "kids", Koola and Khloe.

Seriously thankful tomorrow is Friday. I can't express that enough.

Tracy and Santi are visiting SLC tomorrow and I'm pretty jealous.

What else can I randomly post about? ummmmmmmmmmmm GAH ok bye.

Day 335

2010-12-01T20:26:00.004-06:00

Best game ever.

I have an enormous headache.

We're re-watching Lost, about to start on season 3. It's just as good as the first time I ever watched it. :)

I'm looking forward to this weekend. We're hopefully going to go see Harry Potter (finally), and we're going to go test drive a Nissan Juke just 'cause. ;)

PS. only 30 posts left! I-N-S-A-N-E

Day 334

2010-11-30T21:16:00.002-06:00

Some days I just forget to take a photo until 9pm. Some days it's 30 degrees outside and raining and miserable all day. Some days all I have is my point-and-shoot on me. Some day was today, so you get my mom's Christmas village.

Gahhhh. Nashville finally decided it was wintertime. Gray skies, rain, and 30 degrees in all its glory. Gross. Me. Out.

The good news is that it's almost CHRISTMAS! The bad news is that i've baaarely begun my Christmas shopping. We watched Rudolph and The Grinch at my parents tonight. That was fun. :)

Ok, bedtime.

Day 333

2010-11-29T22:27:00.003-06:00

I was really good ALL day today with what I ate and being healthy and stuff. And then we made hamburgers tonight (on wheat buns! and 2% cheese!) and i made homemade sweet potato fries which turned out amazing, if I do say so myself. And THEN...I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. They're pretty good! Not great...just good. It's so frustrating using allrecipes.com. You find a recipe with like, 1400 ratings, 4.5 out of 5 stars and you think "This is definitely a winner." And then you start to read the reviews and they all start out with "This recipe is amazing! I made a few modifications..." and then they go on to list the 6-8 things that they changed. Sweet. Thank you for rating a recipe which you did not make and leading me to believe it was good just the way it was.

Danny and I have discussed doing a cooking blog next year. We'll see.

I'm also currently getting obsessed with the idea of film. I'd really like to get a Holga or something inexpensive to experiment with..any suggestions, my camera-savvy readers?

Anyways. I just played like 2 hours of Zelda and ended up getting extremely frustrated. WHATEV.

Is it only Monday? REALLY!?

Day 332

2010-11-28T19:30:00.002-06:00

I am desperately clinging to the last remaining hours of our long weekend. Monday is looming ever closer and all I want is another week (and then another...and then another) of doing what I want. I realize that's a lot to ask, but I truly just don't believe we were meant to spend such a large portion of our lives sitting in front of a desk (or: insert the thing that you do M-F here). I want to get better at photography, I want to learn how to cook, I want to bake more, I want to travel more. I want to take more classes, I want to learn a foreign language. And by the time I get off work at 5pm, get home, and eat dinner, I've got about 3 left hours in my day to make any of that happen before I have to go to sleep and do it all over again. It just seems so...backwards. I'm sure most of you can relate. And I'm sure I waste more time than I'd care to admit to you, sitting in front of this computer or that television when I could be doing those other things previously mentioned. I suppose I have no right to complain. Doesn't change how I feel. :)

Day 331

2010-11-27T21:30:00.003-06:00

I think we seriously played a good 4 hours of Zelda for Wii today. Maybe more. That game is addicting. Then we went to my parents' house for dinner and Christmas-tree-decorating with them and the Musgroves (and Grandma!). Fun times. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Speaking of, I really need to get going with the whole Christmas shopping and all. Seriously. that's going to creep up before I know it.

Umm. I don't have much to say. I'm pretty sad this weekend flew by as fast as it did, but ohhh was it relaxing. Definitely what I needed.

Only 34 more days of blogging. What are you going to do without me next year? :P

Day 330

2010-11-26T20:14:00.005-06:00

Today was amazingly relaxing. Ran a few errands this morning but most of the day has just been spent watching movies, playing Zelda for Wii (YES) and just being bums. Danny cooked dinner for us and it was soooo good. Penne pasta with asparagus, roma tomatoes, basil, and various other seasonings. We also toasted some bread and then dipped it in olive oil, Carrabba-style. Now we're playing some more Zelda and I can hear the leftover sweet potato pie calling my name. Tomorrow we're going over to my parents to help my mom decorate for Christmas. I seriously love this holiday more than any other time of the year. Danny's liking the cold weather, but I just put up with it. I'm from Florida, I like 80 degree Christmas days, thank you very much! ;)

Oh, and we also bought Princess Bride from Target today for $4. I've never seen it. Yeah, I know, apparently that's a huge deal.

Maybe we'll get to see Harry Potter tomorrow. Be still, my heart. :P

Here's another photo of our dinner tonight, just 'cause:

Day 329

2010-11-25T22:26:00.004-06:00

Caiden's thumbs up basically describes my feelings of today. Delicious food, awesome company, hilarious conversations. Thanksgiving the way it should be. I love my family so much and always feel continually blessed when I'm around them. No one even cared that I ruined the stupid apple pie ;) and Mom's sweet potato pie was TO DIE FOR oh my word.

I'll leave you with a few more photos. It's time for bed...I'm exhausted and still fighting off a cold. Goodnight!

Day 328

2010-11-24T23:01:00.004-06:00

No work for 4 days.
I have an awesome supervisor who let us leave at 2pm.
Dinner at Josh's: steaks, asparagus, and roasted red potatoes. Delish. Followed by the Preds game where I think, despite my best efforts, my cold intensified. And we didn't even win. Bummer. Not to mention sitting in the library parking garage for 30 minutes just trying to leave. It was fun hanging out though.

Now we're back, Danny is brewing me a cup of tea and I'm about to take some Nyquil. Happy Thanksgiving...yawn. Nothing will stop me from eating turkey tomorrow. NOTHING!

Day 327

2010-11-23T19:54:00.004-06:00

Danny has today and tomorrow off and I've been pretty jealous of that fact, but coming home to a DELICIOUS dinner tonight pretty much made up for it. ;) He made shrimp scampi for us which turned out AMAZINGLY - definitely adding that to the recipe book. And then I made chocolate chip cookies, and I'm pretty sure I found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe known to man. Although it might have something to do with the fact that I added about twice as many chips as called for. I mean, let's be honest. The cookie is really just a means to get the chocolate to my mouth. OK?

Tomorrow will hopefully be a short-ish day at work. and then THANKSGIVING!! So excited.

We're watching About a Boy right now. And tomorrow we're going to see the Preds play. Basically, this week is panning out to be amazing.

I've been trying to think of another new year's resolution that might not be so demanding as a daily blog. Any ideas are welcome! :)

Day 326

2010-11-22T22:11:00.003-06:00

Danny cooked some fish tonight. Yuuuuum.

I am exhausted.

Only 2 more days of work and then off for 4! YAY FOR THANKSGIVING.

Day 325

2010-11-21T20:22:00.002-06:00

Who says you have to wait until after Thanksgiving to get in the Christmas spirit? ;)

Although, not to outshine Thanksgiving which is just around the corner, I am pretty excited about THAT too. And I'm making an apple pie. Heck yes. Also, we only have to work three days this week. Faaaantastic.

We're watching Oceans 11 right now and I really enjoy trying to guess everyone's poker hands. I'm kind of awesome at that.

HAPPY EARLY THANKSGIVING!

Day 324

2010-11-20T22:44:00.002-06:00

Today:

Photoshoot with Brandi, Ryan, and Jaden - it went very well and I'm extremely pleased with all of the images! I really need to get a website together and start doing this more often.

Washer and dryer delivered. We have exactly 2 feet of space in between each of them (they're facing each other) but the point is, we have a washer and dryer finally!!

We ate out twice today. I'm kicking myself for it, both for consuming the ridiculous amount of calories, and spending too much money. :( But the food was pretty awesome. Pizza Perfect for lunch and Taco Mamacita's with my parents for dinner.

Fiiiiiiiinally got around to watching Joyeux Noel today and it was SO good. I can't believe we've had that from Netflix for like 3 months. Seriously. I have paid almost $30 to rent one movie. That makes me sad.

Eric is here now and it's awesome hanging out with him!!! I've missed him so much. We've been sitting here discussing music and watching weird and also good music videos. Like from the Jonsi show. Maaan I wish I had gone.

This blog has been completely random.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving. And buying a Christmas tree! yaaaay. okbye

Day 323

2010-11-19T19:56:00.002-06:00

Goodbye, fall. :(

Day 322

2010-11-18T21:15:00.003-06:00

Brooke and Kevin came over tonight! Local Taco + Sweet CeCe's = YUM and fun times. Then Kevin and I ran through a couple of songs for his upcoming album he's in the process of recording. I feel privileged that I get to play some piano on it! I think it's going to be awesome.

But seriously, so thankful that it's almost the weekend.

We get a washer and dryer on Saturday - YES! I never thought I would be excited about something like that... I guess that means I'm old and boring now.

Day 321

2010-11-17T20:51:00.002-06:00

HOLY to the MOLY. My husband knows how to COOK. Cheese & spinach enchiladas that tasted like they were from a gourmet restaurant, I kid you not. That along with Patti's taco dip and we were SET. Nom nom nom

We played poker tonight with Patti and she definitely won the entire night. It was kind of awesome. Haha.

Now I'm eating a piece of our wedding cake (we took it out of the freezer two days ago - how long will it last in the fridge!?). We get a free cake from the same bakery on our one year anniversary soooo yeah. Definitely not waiting a year to eat that deliciousness.

I'm STILL feeling pretty artsy/crafty, two days later. I really should take advantage of that urge before it inevitably disappears. Although i really don't have a creative bone in my body, so I dunno hmmm.

ehhhhhhhhhhhh I REALLY want Christopher O'Riley's Radiohead book. OMG WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE $78 YOU JERK. Submit to the real world with the rest of us lowly folk and please sell it on Amazon or something, for the love of all classical music that needs to be heard. SERIOUSLY

Day 320

2010-11-16T21:12:00.004-06:00

Some day I will go to Vegas and play in the world poker championship. I kid you not.

Also, I found a new obsession today thanks to Katie. Check.it.out.

Day 319

2010-11-15T19:58:00.002-06:00

I made vegetable beef soup tonight for the first time. And I only had one can of tomatoes but I had an extra can of Rotel "Hot" tomatoes with habanero peppers. I figured, no big deal, right? And threw it in the pot. Let's just say that was the spiciest vegetable soup I've ever had. Oops. :) It would've been pretty tasty, otherwise.

I've really enjoyed this prolonged fall weather we've been experiencing. There are still some orange and red leaves that haven't fallen from the trees yet! The temperatures are (for the most part) still hitting the 60's. It's just fantastic and I have no complaints. The weather today was a bit chillier, but it put me in a very crafty/artsy mood. I'm really feeling the itch to create something unique and awesome. I'm also getting really interested in typography. I want to re-watch the documentary on Helvetica. :) I also found like 5 handmade art prints that I want to buy to decorate our apartment. Christmas present perhaps?

Day 318

2010-11-14T18:10:00.002-06:00

Lazy Sunday. My favorite. Church, lunch with my family at Cracker Barrel (and we've smelled like a giant pot of mashed potatoes and fried chicken ever since), football, laundry, home, The Office. <3

Danny thinks he's getting sick. Sad. :(

I wrote like 10 Thank You cards this weekend. So there's that.

oh and HARRY POTTER COMES OUT IN LESS THAN A WEEK OMG OMG

Day 317

2010-11-13T20:52:00.002-06:00

We bought our first Christmas ornaments today from World Market. :) That place is amazing. I could spend SO much money in there. oh, we did end up buying a desk. Haaaaa.

Girls movie night at the Musgroves after that. The food was amazing and so was the company as usual. Aunt Amber warned me that I wasn't allowed to say anything negative about the movie so I guess I'll just let you guess what my opinion of it was. :P

Now I'm going to watch ANOTHER movie with my husband.
I'm sleepy and I am about to kill the neighbors. Just wait.

Day 316

2010-11-12T20:49:00.002-06:00

Danny took me out on a date tonight and we finally got to eat at a hibachi grill! I haven't been to one in forever. It was really awesome except for the girl who sat at our table that reminded us of the not-awesome version of Phoebe from friends. Whatevs. The food was amazing and our chef did some pretty cool tricks. ;)

So insanely grateful for the weekend. Excited to see some family tomorrow night. Really going to try to write some Thank You cards this weekend. I'm a terrible procrastinator.

Now we're back with a movie to watch and a treat from Publix. Date night = success!

Day 315

2010-11-11T21:25:00.002-06:00

Day 314

2010-11-10T20:34:00.002-06:00

Typical night.

Day 313

2010-11-09T20:44:00.004-06:00

So a while back, we bought this really old hardcover book of sheet music from McKay's under the pretense of "we'll find a use for this later." Well, later has arrived and Danny has thought of a really cool craft to make with it. Feel free to ask him to explain it to you, but it's all way over my head. All I know is that it will somehow represent the key of C# Minor (one of my most favorite keys). Whatevs. :) Another thing we're going to do with it is make a REALLY awesome "wreath" of sorts. See photo below:

Cool huh?

Anyways.

I'm coming up with a bucket list. It includes swimming with dolphins and taking a Mediterranean cruise. Ha.

Day 312

2010-11-08T20:55:00.001-06:00

It officially gets dark at 5pm now. This was on my drive home from work. LAME.

Danny just got home like 10 minutes ago. So I'm gonna go spend some time with him watching The Office SEASON 2! It's my fave.

<3

Day 311

2010-11-07T19:11:00.002-06:00

Our two awesome Radiohead posters with no frames to hang them in. :(

THIS DAY is seriously the longest day ever. It is blowing my mind that it's only 7:15 right now. It got dark like 3 hours ago, what the heck!?

We played poker with my parents again today. :D that was fun.

Day 310

2010-11-06T19:40:00.002-06:00

These little cuties are the perfect choice for a Dutch apple pie. I'd never made one before, but it was surprisingly easy and TASTY when paired with "homemade" vanilla ice cream. Ok, store-bought. But it was still "homemade" flavor if that counts for anything.

I made pie, and Danny made a delicious dinner (pork tenderloin, green beans, and corn bread muffins) and my parents came over for dinner! Then we played like 20 rounds of poker and it was so much fun. I NEED TO GO TO VEGAS if only for that reason. Man.

It's so weird that we gain an hour of sleep tonight. I'd give up that hour gladly though, if it meant it wouldn't get dark at 4pm all winter. Why do we even have daylight savings? Just leave the time alone. Someone way back in history must have thought this up as a joke and now they're laughing at us for continuing to do it year after year.

Day 309

2010-11-05T21:07:00.002-06:00

Tonight was a blast! Dinner at the Willis' house which consisted of YUMMY taco salads and then chocolate chip cookies. It was so great getting to hangout with everyone for a little bit! We ended up playing a few games of poker which RULED MY WORLD omg. Allen P. has been holding out on me, I had no idea he played poker. Now I'm itching to start having a game night every week. I miss playing Texas Hold 'Em :) Oh the days of playing every week with Tracy. Sigh.

It is freezing in this apartment as it is outside. I did check the weather, however, and it looks like it'll be in the 60s and sunny for the next few days. Probably the last good weather until winter rears its ugly head. MAN i hate winters in TN. But you all know that, and are probably sick of hearing about it ;)

I can't stop yawning. My jaw hurts from it.

Goodnight.

Day 308

2010-11-04T20:33:00.004-06:00

-As we're driving away from Fido at 9:30-
me: "oh nooooo I haven't taken a photo today! UGGGHHHHH!!!!"

and that's how the photo above happened. seriously, this blog has drained me of my creative juices. Or (more likely) it's getting cold and I'm in no mood to go outside and take good photos. Good thing we're almost at the ~~end of the year~~ END OF THE BLOGGING! Well, for this blog anyway.

Speaking of end of the year, have I mentioned how excited I am to get a mini-Christmas tree and decorate our tiny home? Ok FINE I know I have but I just can't help myself. Wow. Who AM I?

YAY FRIDAY

Day 307

2010-11-03T20:47:00.002-06:00

Brooke and Kevin came over tonight! I made them chili and it turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. It's one of the 3 things I can make.. ha. Brooke brought over homemade corn bread and it was delish! We ended the night with Sweet CeCe's..which was yummy but pretty cold since we had to eat it outside. Ha! We're die-hard fans, ooooobviously. It was an enjoyable evening and I'm glad we got to show off our apartment. :)

I'm seriously exhausted and it's barely 10pm. AND I just drank a cup of coffee. I have been getting up a lot earlier though, so, yeah. Whatevs.

I'm pretty happy the weekend is almost here. Time is flying..we'll have been married for one month this Saturday! CRAZYTOWN

Day 306

2010-11-02T20:05:00.004-06:00

My mom's coworker gave her some green tomatoes today. Wonder how we should use these? Or maybe we'll just fry them up. Mmmmmm.

I'm thrilled that it's November and the temperatures are still reaching mid-60's. Perhaps we'll have a mild winter yet. I hope I didn't just jinx us :|

We're having Brooke & Kevin over tomorrow and I'm making chili. It's one of the few things I know how to make. I wish we had more places to sit in our livingroom...guess we should probably buy a bigger couch. Ha. Anyways, I'm excited for them to come over and see the place and hangout and such!

This blog has become soooo boring. Apologies. At least you only have a couple more months to put up with me. 59 days to be exact!

Day 305

2010-11-01T18:10:00.005-06:00

While on vacation, my mom bought us this really cool piece of art and it is now hanging on the wall next to our kitchen sink :) I LOVE it and now I'm really wanting to decorate the entire apartment with random and unique artwork. Ahhhh must control the urge to spend money. I was perusing Urban Outfitters and found this cool photo printed on canvas of a turntable with a white record on it. Danny and I are going to try to recreate it. Especially now that we just bought the Deer Hunter record on vinyl and it's a WHITE record. win win win.

We ate leftovers for dinner tonight. How many days after the fact is too long to eat leftover (fried) fish? I guess I'll know in about 30 minutes if my head is in the toilet.

I can't believe it's only Monday ohmygosh.

I like being married. It's nice to come home and STAY there and get to hangout with your best friend without the long drive home at night.
Although I think we've officially turned into hermits...
I'm not complaining :)

P.S. HAPPY NOVEMBER! Let the Christmas shopping officially begin! I can't wait to decorate our apartment :D

Day 304

2010-10-31T18:57:00.003-06:00

Twins are just ten times cuter when they're dressed as baby pea pods. <3 <3 <3

We also got to see Caiden who was dressed as an awesome Spiderman. Seriously. He showed us his muscles and everything. soooo cute.

It was nice seeing my parents today after a week of them being out of town. :)

I'm exhausted and not ready for tomorrow to be Monday. I think I need to be self-employed. ;)

I suppose I should get off of here so that Danny can study. I'm sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy goodnight!

Day 303

2010-10-30T19:19:00.002-05:00

Today was really eventful, and then really lazy. We made a trip out to Franklin in the morning to return some stuff to BB&B, buy some stuff in its place, and then go buy some more stuff at Kohl's with credit we had there. We barely spent any of our own money today - it was awesome! We ran a few more errands in the morning and then came home with splitting headaches. Didn't do much the rest of the day except just rest..watch TV..etc. Danny decided he was going to make something super awesome for dinner, so we made a trip out to Publix to pick up the ingredients. He ended up making pork tenderloin with a cranberry-balsamic glaze, and fresh green beans to go with it. It was SO good. Seriously, restaurant-quality or better. My husband knows how to cook. I'm sure glad he does, too, because we'd be starving otherwise. Ha. Although I did make meatloaf for the first time ever a couple nights ago and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now I'm going to go make sugar cookies, YAY. I'm already getting in the Christmas spirit. Yeah, I'm one of those people. I just can't wait to buy a miniature-live-Christmas-tree for our apartment. It'll be AWESOME.

Tracy and Santi are having a Halloween party in Jacksonville right now and I really wish we could be there to join them in the festivities :(

Ok, sugar cookie time!

Day 302

2010-10-29T21:14:00.002-05:00

Danny fried up some fish tonight and we made fish tacos. It was amazing!

Now we're trying to find something to watch on Netflix for Wii. They seriously pick the worst movies to put on here..I guess that's why they're free. haaaaa. Just as well, because we go to bed at like 9pm anyway. We're old people. I'm already yawning and kind of wishing I was already in bed. Aaaaand it's 9:17pm. yeah!

Pretty sure there's a dinosaur living above us. No human being could make that much noise. UGGGHHHH

Day 301

2010-10-28T22:06:00.002-05:00

Danny serenading me.

I attempted to make meatloaf tonight and now I feel ILL. awesome.

Goodnight.

Day 300

2010-10-27T18:04:00.003-05:00

YAWN. I'm exhausted.

Day 300. That's just crazy. I'm really looking forward to Dec 31st. Ha. After that, then I'll be able to have a real photographer's blog with good quality photos & blog posts every now and then rather than a sub-par photo and rambling-about-nothing blog like this one has turned into. Sorry :(

We ate chicken tacos for dinner and I made Snickerdoodles. I think I made them too large though...and they didn't taste very good either :( lame.

we're old and go to bed at like 9pm.

Day 299

2010-10-26T21:22:00.003-05:00

Hungout with Brooke and Stef tonight! Poor Olivia couldn't make it due to a migraine :( We had fun though, just eating dinner and chatting and playing with the puppies :)

I swear, I'm allergic to something in this apartment.

ALSO, I was going to make some Snickerdoodles and we don't have any butter or shortening :( sad... Danny's trying to make me feel guilty for it. Hahaha.

Day 298

2010-10-25T22:24:00.004-05:00

WE GOT OUR PHOTOS.

And let me just tell you. Austin Gros is one talented photographer. I would recommend him to anyone. Check out his website and his blog. Seriously. We're so thrilled and can't wait to share them with everyone! We'll be posting some on Facebook soon. There are a TON to go through.

My grand scheme of making meatloaf tonight was ruined when I came home to find the ground beef was still frozen solid. Leftover pizza sufficed.

I'm hanging out with Stef, Brooke, and Olivia tomorrow night and I'm so excited! I haven't seen them since the wedding so it will be nice to catch up.

BED TIME!

Day 297

2010-10-24T20:27:00.002-05:00

We ate tacos with the Musgroves today. I missed them! It was wonderful just hanging out and catching up with everybody. We watched Caiden ride his "mow" around the yard for a while, and that was fun. I snapped this photo of Sugar while we were outside. She was running around barking, demanding for us to pay attention to her instead of Caiden. Ha.

I can't believe it's almost Monday. :(

Danny and I are talking in British accents just for the heck of it. It's kind of fuuuuuuuuuun.

oh and we saw The Social Network this weekend in the midst of cleaning and organizing our apartment AND AND AND it was so good ohmygosh. I kind of want to see it again. There need to be more movies like that.

I've still been feeling kind of sick all day today, too. Seriously. go away, illness!

Day 296

2010-10-23T21:31:00.001-05:00

Only 4 more days until Day 300. THAT is crazy, my friends.

We bought Meet The Parents today (I've never seen it) and it was preeeeetty hilarious. Now we're watching the sequel ;)

Tacos at the Musgroves tomorrow. I miss them. <3

OKBYE

Day 295

2010-10-22T22:33:00.003-05:00

This is by far one of the coolest gifts we received for getting married. Thanks Tracy and Santi! We miss you guys :(

I don't have much to say today. I've been feeling kind of sickly all day. I'm hoping it goes away by tomorrow....we have things we NEED to do. bah.

The people that live in our apartment complex are pretty much the rudest, most inconsiderate people ever. I can't wait until we buy a house one day. ONE day.

Goodnight.

Day 294

2010-10-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

I made banana bread and muffins today! Delish. and we had Patti and Dorothy over and Danny cooked really yummy noodles and asparagus for us all. Yaaaay for having an apartment and dishes and groceries and all that fun stuff.

I'm sleepy, good niiiiiight

Days 282 - 293

2010-10-20T22:15:00.017-05:00

Day 282 [Saturday]

[Or: The best day EVER. Also, the above photo was taken before all the festivities..while we were still getting ready.] :)

I married my best friend on this day. Words can't even describe how amazing the entire day was. The amount of family and friends that came out to support us was simply overwhelming. We drove away feeling completely blessed, extremely happy, and slightly bittersweet that we had to leave all these people that cared about us (but we were about to start our new life together). It was just a fantastic day and I can't thank everyone enough for helping out the way they did. Extremely special thanks to my phenomenal bridesmaids. I love you ladies. Overall, our wedding was everything I had hoped it would be, and more. I think one of my favorite moments was when my dad and I were first walking down the aisle and Adam's little girl, Vesta, said in a not-too-quiet voice: "Moooommy, where's her veil????" Hahahaha. It made me laugh and definitely calmed my nerves. As far as the best moment though, hands down, seeing Danny's face for the first time. I didn't care about anything else at that point except for him. :)

Day 283 [Sunday]

We had breakfast at Fido and it was delicious. I know my veggie-sausage-bagel looks rather large, but Danny's breakfast (Juevos Rancheros) was definitely superior. ;) I stole a few bites. As my wife-given right. This day we basically just went through all of our gifts and organized our apartment a bit. And relaxed, oooobviously. Not planning a wedding is pretty much the most amazing feeling ever.

Day 284 [Monday]

Went to Target to pick up some random items we knew we would need for the Bahamas. Packed. Prepared to wake up at 3:30am for our flight (I think I died a little on the inside)

Day 285 [Tuesday]

IN THE BAHAMAS!!!! We had a relatively uneventful trip to North Eleuthera. Took a cab to the ferry dock (our cab driver was super nice), and took the ferry over to the tiiiiny little island we were staying on - Spanish Wells. Met the caretaker for our vacation home and he showed us where the (one and only) grocery store was on the island, which we then promptly bought some groceries for the week (but somehow ended up going back there every single day for something). After that, we swam in the glorious ocean. That is all. :)

Day 286 [Wednesday]

Just a side angle of the house. Our basic agenda for the first few days was get up, go for a swim, eat breakfast, read a book, go for another swim, eat lunch, take a nap, maybe go for another swim, cook dinner, watch some lost, go to sleep. We slept on the top floor which had a balcony overlooking the ocean. We kept both doors open most nights so we could go to sleep with the sound of the ocean... it was wonderful and now I think I'm going to have to be one of those people that buys ocean sound CDs because I can't sleep without it. Ha.

Day 287 [Thursday]

Oh sweet Goombay. Nectar of heaven. Most wonderful soda in the universe. We drank at least five 6-packs. I'm not gonna lie.

Day 288 [Friday]

This is where we ate dinner most evenings (front porch). Friday was the only day we didn't go swimming - it had rained most of the night before and the better part of that morning. We spent this day just reading and relaxing - I have no complaints. :)

Day 289 [Saturday]

Woke up at about 6am to this gorgeous sunrise. We then proceeded to go out on an all-day fishing excursion where we (mostly Danny) caught a good 15-20 fish including a 3-foot-long barracuda! It was an eventful day. There's just something about eating seafood that was alive earlier that day...makes it taste even better. ;)

Day 290 [Sunday]

I just can't get enough of that ocean. We visited the little chapel on Sunday for church and it was really good. The people there were so nice.

Day 291 [Monday]

This day, an older couple from the church took us out fishing again. We had a lot of fun and I actually fished and caught quite a few yellowtails! The couple we went out with was really sweet and they let us keep all the fish. I guess they get enough of it living down there. ;) The fish Danny is holding is the first one that he caught - a Queen Triggerfish. She's currently sitting in our freezer right now, waiting to be eaten. HA.

Day 292 [Tuesday]

Finally made it home after a nightmare at the Miami airport which I won't go into (I already ranted once to the Facebook world, ha). We got home at a decent hour but were still exhausted, as you can see from this photo. :)

Day 293 [Wednesday - today!]

First day back in "the real world." I think I had more trouble focusing today than I did my last day of work before the wedding weekend. Seriously. It's been so hard to switch out of "beach mode" into "work mode." It'll hopefully happen...eventually... ;) We did go grocery shopping though, so we now have things to cook for dinner! I'm excited to get the apartment clean so we can show it to our friends and family who haven't seen it yet. Perhaps we'll even cook for them and try to be good hosts. We'll see.

All in all, we're happy to be back, but we miss the beach terribly. We're even happier to be married. It's an awesome thing. It sounds kind of cliche, but it's just so nice to be able to get sleepy at night and then waltz right into the bedroom and go to sleep next to your best friend. :)

Until tomorrow!

Day 281

2010-10-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

I am truly, utterly blessed beyond belief. I have the most amazing friends and loving family. Rehearsal dinner was awesome - the rehearsal itself was hectic but good. I feel good about everything. Christy (day-of coordinator) is amazing. I've got to go home soon and wake up at 5am. Oh my.

I will be going on a blogging hiatus for the next 9-10 days. I will be taking a photo every day. I'll do a massive blog update when I come home.

I'm super excited, and really, just ready to be married. And honestly I can't believe it's already here. Whew.

Goodnight! Next time I blog I will be Mrs. Rushton. :-)

Day 280

2010-10-07T22:43:00.003-05:00

I know this photo is sliiiiiightly creepy of me, but it's the only one I took myself tonight. You probably wouldn't want to see the other ones anyway, honestly. Hahahaha.

Me, Tracy, and Bekah hung out tonight and it was so much fun!!! Yaaaaaaaaaay <3

I can't believe we only have 1 day left.

By the way, tomorrow will be my last day of blogging until October 20th. Maybe October 19th if you're lucky, but don't hold your breath. I'll still take a photo every day buuuuuuut you won't see a massive blog post from me until we come back from our honeymoon. I think that's a pretty valid excuse. Ha!

Day 279

2010-10-06T22:10:00.002-05:00

We finally got our kitchen cart! YES! Now we have somewhere to put our silverware.

But in bigger and better news, Bekah and Chris came over tonight and it was so much fun! I've missed Bekah SO much and it was great to just sit around and chat and exchange hilarious stories. Not to mention Emma is about the most precious little thing I've ever seen. and Nathan could recite every single president, in order. Seriously amazing.

Anyways. So tonight was just really great. I have a ton of stuff to do still, but it was just SO nice to sit back and relax and have good conversation with good friends. Bekah's known me since I was BORN. It doesn't get much more awesome than that! Haha.

Today was my last day at work. Crazycakes! I'm just so excited! Tomorrow, Tracy and Santi will be here at like 4pm which means I've got a TON of stuff to do before then. And then Friday Rachel and Justin will be here! Not to mention all of my family coming in town. So exciting!!!

Ok bye!!

Day 278

2010-10-05T21:50:00.002-05:00

omg. we were meant for each other, obvs. our instant photo guestbook is going to rule. you all better participate!

4 days.

i'm pretty much useless right now. haha. can't focus on a thing.
Bekah and Chris are in town! I'm excited to see them soon.

oookbye!

Day 277

2010-10-04T21:06:00.003-05:00

The baby pumpkins (or bumpkins as we call them) at Whole Foods! I just think they're so cute. I love when Whole Foods puts their pumpkins out, because that means it's officially Fall. Haha. They also have some GINORMOUS pumpkins. omg.

Everyone pray for Dorothy (Danny's grandmother) as she had to go to the hospital tonight due to some severe stomach pain. They're keeping her overnight to try to figure out what the problem is. We're hoping it's nothing serious! :(

Got some more stuff done today. It just hit me yesterday that I actually need to be packing up all my stuff (haven't been doing that) to move to our apartment BEFORE the wedding. holy moly. That is my project for Thursday morning.

Two more days left at work. I hope I can somewhat concentrate and not be completely useless to my coworkers. Haaaa.

AHHHHHHHHH can't wait! I'm so excited to see everyone, all of my best friends and family, and OH YEAH GET MARRIED <3 <3 <3

Day 276

2010-10-03T22:11:00.003-05:00

Ceremony playlist: check.
Reception playlist: check.
Nursery sign: check. (yes I am aware it looks like a 3 year old painted that)
Decorations organized for reception venue: check.
Ribbon bought for the cake: check.
Various other things: check check CHECK!

Only big thing left is to finish designing the programs. SERIOUSLY.

So ready!!

Also, I made chili tonight and it was really good and spicy. Danny said he's going to enter me into his company's chili cook-off that they have every year. Aww. At least I can cook one thing.

It felt like winter today.

Day 275

2010-10-02T21:08:00.002-05:00

We go to the grocery store and this is what we come back with. Fudge pops, coffee (for our French press 'cause we're snobs), and best of all, tiramisu. :-) Guess we'll have to buy some real groceries soon........ haaa

I got some stuff accomplished today! and Danny made our sign! we're FINISHING the playlist tomorrow and I'm going to finish designing the program. make a few more signs/etc. holy moly we're getting close. 7 more days! This time next Saturday we'll have been married for like 8 hours! CRAZY TOWN I CAN'T WAIT. I'm just ready to start life together with my best friend. <3

and OH YEAH we'll be in the BAHAMAS in like a week and 3 days. SERIOUSLY!!! I can't wait!!!!!! This vacation is LONG overdue.

Ok I just inhaled a cup of French press coffee and we're taking a break and watching Lost. Tomorrow is another day. To Do List, tomorrow, I WILL CONQUER YOU.

Day 274

2010-10-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

D + E = <3

Day 273

2010-09-30T21:20:00.002-05:00

Cranberry Limeade for the win. Had to get one before the temperatures drop for good :) It's kind of my summer beverage of choice, yo.

My co-workers had an awesome surprise shower for Danny and I today! It was so much fun. I work with a really great group of people; I feel so blessed to have the job that I have. We now have a bunch more cool stuff to put away in our apartment. I can't wait to move in there and get settled. :-)

Marked a few more things off the list today. Not enough though. This weekend is CRUNCH TIME!!!!

Day 272

2010-09-29T21:06:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure why I always turn the photos of us to black and white. They just look better! Whatev. These are the best ladies in Nashville. They really are. I love love LOVE chatting and just hanging out with them. Tonight we ate delicious tacos (my choice, duh!), had hilarious and thought-provoking conversation, and I opened a box of goodies. Oh my. That's all I'll say about that. I do love my friends. Haha.

I can't believe tomorrow is Thursday omg i need to get stuff DONE
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Day 271

2010-09-28T21:34:00.003-05:00

I don't know what it is about fall, but it seriously makes the sky look amazing. Like a painted canvas. It makes me wish I had a convertible, but then I'd probably cause accidents because I'd be too busy staring up at it instead of paying attention to where I was driving ;)

We got our marriage license today!! Virtually painless except for having to drive downtown/fight traffic/etc. We had to sign our names in this HUGE book, I didn't even know they made books that big.

Had a DELICIOUS dinner at Aunt Amber's and Uncle Allen's. Skyped with Allen & Jessica & Jonah; that was hilarious.

So. Yeah. My To Do list is still ridiculously long. We'll see though. Maybe we can knock it all out this weekend! (Think positive).....

Day 270

2010-09-27T22:10:00.002-05:00

Tonight we went to see the Preds play with Molly and Kyle! I enjoy hanging out with them! Danny sometimes has access to tickets right on the ice, which is awesome. Sadly, no fights broke out but we still had some unruly fans sitting behind us. Best quote of the night "QUIT TRYING TO GET FANCY!!!" Haaaaa. At least we won, 2-1 :-)

Anyways, I'm sleepy and I need to leave so that Danny can get some sleep too.
12 days! well more like 11 now. Ha!

Day 269

2010-09-26T21:55:00.003-05:00

I realize it's been officially Fall for a few days, but today was the first day it felt like Fall. So in honor of the gorgeous weather, I made a pumpkin roll with cream cheese icing. SO GOOD. Tracy and I made this one time when we were roomies and it was amazing. Definitely a fall-appropriate treat.

We got a few wedding-related things out of the way today. Still have a list that's too hefty in my opinion...GOT to get that done.

Tomorrow = Preds game with Kyle and Molly. Excited!!

Day 268

2010-09-25T21:29:00.002-05:00

Is it just me, or does Jack look like a fully grown, slightly chubby man, just chillin' and enjoying a good football game? Am I right??

Today was really good. Went shopping and scored two Old Navy sundresses for about $5 each. Tried to find matching ribbon for the wedding cake, but no luck. Then we went to our shower hosted at Molly & Kyle's. It was so much fun! Molly and Aunt Amber really did an awesome job with everything. They even had sunflower cupcakes!! And chips and salsa - one of my faves ;) I have an awesome family and church family. :-)

We got a lot of really cool gifts and I'm so excited to use all of them!! Somehow we ended up with 3 toasters, hahahaha. I've always heard of that happening but I never thought it really DID until today. =P We like to eat a lot of toast, OK?

Danny and I are now scheming about what sort of kitchen cart and pots & pans rack to buy. YAY APARTMENT

Day 267

2010-09-24T21:41:00.003-05:00

My best friend.

Also, I forgot to take a photo earlier today (big surprise there) so this is all you get. 2 weeks!

My grandma has been in the hospital since early this morning (1am). We'd really appreciate your prayers as the doctors are proving difficult to get in touch with and/or squeeze answers out of (no way! really?). I just want her to get better and go home.

Our church is kindly hosting a wedding shower for us tomorrow at Molly's house. I'm so excited to hang out with everyone! Should be a good time. :)

Tonight has consisted of Local Taco (after driving around forever to find parking), going to Adam's CD release show at Belmont which was really awesome (great job Adam!), Sweet CeCe's fro-yo, Target to add more items to our registry because apparently we didn't have enough according to Aunt Amber (little late now since our shower is TOMORROW) aaaand now home. Listening to Sufjan Stevens, sipping an iced soy chai latte, and typing to you guys.

Seriously though, i'm really considering taking a week-long hiatus for our honeymoon. I'll still take a photo every day - I just might not update the blog daily and do it all in one big post when we come back. So take some time and get used to that idea...I'm mostly talking to my multiple family members who call me up on the phone when I've waited too late to blog to complain that they're tired and want to go to bed but simply can't because I haven't posted yet. Hahaha. I love my family.

Day 266

2010-09-23T20:10:00.002-05:00

Ok. I know the power lines are really trying their hardest to screw up this photo. But seriously, just do your best to ignore them. :-)

My To-Do list is slowly going down. YAY!

Watching the Office now...not totally impressed either. MEH.

Day 265

2010-09-22T20:46:00.002-05:00

Happy First Day of Fall! This is my absolute favorite season of the year. I only wish it lasted longer.

Danny and I have been discussing how I'll handle the whole blogging thing while we're in the Bahamas. Obviously I'm not going to abandon my project since I've already made it this far, but it's my honeymoon for cryin' out loud. Would anyone consider it downright treachery if I simply promised to take a photo every single day (and I mean, it's the Bahamas, are you kidding me?) and blogged one huge post when I came home? Because that's what I'm considering.

Speaking of blogging - I have exactly 100 days left. That, my friends, is crazy cakes.

Day 264

2010-09-21T21:46:00.002-05:00

So I know this photo doesn't do it any justice, but the sunset tonight was pretty freakin' amazing. All I had on me was my point & shoot though, so it is what it is. Just know that it was awesome and you missed out. Unless you were standing on the 4th floor of the Green Hills mall parking garage, like the lady next to me was, trying to take a photo of it with her cell phone. I think I got the better shot. =P

We had Pei Wei tonight (really trying to make our gift cards last, haaaa) and then saw 'Devil.' I already don't like elevators, and this movie did not help matters.

There's a dog ~~barking~~ yipping its head off a few doors down and I'm about to strangle it. The guy above us thinks it's necessary to STOMP up the stairs every night around 8pm.

I was not made for apartment living. Haha. But i love our place all the same <3 I'm already looking forward to decorating for Christmas!! We're getting a Charlie Brown tree :D

Day 263

2010-09-20T21:26:00.001-05:00

I think my allergies are slowly killing me.

That is all.

Day 262

2010-09-19T20:08:00.002-05:00

Grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. Local Taco for dinner. Basically, a great way to kill my diet. Haaaaa. But it was SO GOOD.

108 people have either RSVP'd or we KNOW they're coming. Holy moly.

Day 261

2010-09-18T21:51:00.003-05:00

So thanks to my amazing Uncle Allen and cousin Ethan, we got my piano moved today (along with a few other things like a ginormous bookcase). We thought we were going to need a lot more help with the piano but it ended up not being so bad! I'm excited to start playing piano again soon...it's going to be my winter project. Along with buying one of Christopher O'Riley's Radiohead sheet music books and learning every ridiculously difficult song. Someone help me.

Seriously exhausted. Haven't done one single wedding related thing today. Oops.

Day 260

2010-09-17T21:00:00.003-05:00

Confession: I don't know what it is about Nashville, but ever since I moved here I've become a complete slave to tacos. Wrap it in a tortilla, and I'll eat it. No joke. Lately my two favorite places to get these tasty treats are 1) Local Taco and 2) Taco Mamacita's. Local Taco is usually my first choice because they're more convenient and, more importantly, cheaper. However what they have in amazing food, they lack in parking....so we ended up at Taco Mamacita's tonight and let me just tell you, my mouth is still on fire. Caribbean Jerk + Baja Fish = so flippin' good, but so spicy! Eating spicy foods is really a personal battle for me. I feel like if I just force myself to endure the pain enough times, I'll become immune and be able to eat spicier and spicier foods. Right? Right.

So that was dinner. I got a haircut before that (yay!). Then we got coffee which I ended up spilling on myself in the car. Oh, and a bird pooped on my purse. Yes, you read that correctly. Is it possible for someone to get pooped on by a bird twice in their LIFETIME?! Because I am that person, and yes it has happened twice. I am not amused.

Day 259

2010-09-16T20:59:00.002-05:00

Tonight was spent with my lovely ladies, making wedding favors and tying ribbon around bubbles. We ALMOST finished but we just got tired of doing it, haha. It was fun. I would've died if I had to make all of those myself. but it was just nice to hangout with everybody :) I think they're all planning some sort of crazy and totally embarrassing pre-wedding thing for me, I'm slightly terrified. omg. haha.

In other news, I'm exhausted. For some reason my internal clock thinks it's fun to wake up at 5am FOR NO REASON for the past 3 mornings in a row, in a crazy sneeze attack followed by being wide awake until my alarm clock goes off 2 hours later. Gaaaahhhh I just need some SLEEP. I think I'm allergic to my sheets. For reals.

Nighty night.

Day 258

2010-09-15T20:57:00.004-05:00

Our (messy) but awesome livingroom! That glowing orb in the corner is our cool tubular light we bought from target, you just can't see it. And the nook where it's currently at will be where the piano goes (which we're hopefully moving this weekend - eek!). Excited. We're pretty in love with the white/cream shag rug. :P Nerd alert.

Tomorrow is the favor-making party with my friends!! I can't wait! Seriously, so excited.

Nothing else to report really. Except that we ate free Pei Wei tonight. Hooray for gift cards.... :)

Day 257

2010-09-14T20:31:00.002-05:00

Day 256

2010-09-13T21:14:00.002-05:00

I seriously think I've yawned 100 times today. my jaw kinda hurts.

Oh yeah, and the big news iisssss: *drum roll* I got a promotion at work! :) :) :) :) Super excited about this opportunity. YAY