Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Might Should Play the Lottery...

...so I never win anything. ever.

Never win raffles...never won the lottery...never won pools...just never win.

Until Now =)

I have entered many-a-giveaways since embarking upon the blog world to no avail. No problem if I don't win...I just move on. But low and behold yall I WON A giveaway!!! And I won big!!!


Ms. Sweet Tea was hosting a plethora of giveaways and I was so desperately hoping to win!!! So much so, that the comment I left her as my entry read something along "Please oh please I hope I win this! Just want to win one!!!" LOL.

She has given away some super cute stuff!!! So heading my direction I have:

One of these...LOVE Totes, and LOVE things with m new monogram =)



A Pair of these, which I can't wait to flip flop around in this summer!



And an Adorable Custom Made sign from My Flip Flopz!!! I am planning on having my sign have the same pattern and colors as the one below, but I would like it to read "Home is where your story begins"



Not to Shabby if I may say so myself!!!! Thanks again Angela!!!!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

What a......

weekend.

Holy Moly...I think I am more exhausted right now than I was after my own wedding!!! Hmmm, well I'm sure the fact that at this time and date on our wedding weekend we were enjoying a lovely dinner along the ocean and beaches of Mexico- but anyway.....I'm exhausted.

Great weekend with family....My Brother-in-Law got married so Rob and I now have a new Sister-in-Law...and it was just an interesting but fantastic weekend.

2 Things I have to post about this week:
1) The fantastic giveaway I won
2) Another post regarding the wedding.

for now my friends....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes..and an "I Do"

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...Knees and Toes....Eyes and Ears (and abs and glutes and quads and hamstrings and biceps and chest and delts and latissmus dorsii's and ankles and wrists) and mouth and nooooosseeee....yep. Do you know what these previously mentioned body part mean??? Do ya??? Huh Huh...do ya????

Here let me help.

It's the parts of my body that are so sore that I don't know what to do with myself. Just now, as I sit here and me fingers move along the keyboard and pointer fingers have to stretch to meet some of the keys, its traveling up my arm and causing my shoulder/chest to sting me with a shock of soreness!!!!

And I whining once more??? YUP. Yes-Siree.......I am. Because I HURT!!!!! LOL!!!

Jillian kicked my butt again today...and will again tomorrow, and the next day and the next. But in all honesty..if you guys are looking for a seriously good workout video that is a quick one to do when you don't have a whole lot of time- check it out. It was around $11 from Amazon with shipping included.

******************************

And in other news, I just wanted to go ahead and post this now, because our weekend is just about to get pretty busy!!!! Rob's brother is getting married this weekend and family begins to arrive tomorrow!!! It's been pretty much exactly 6 months since these family members were here last, and when they were...it was for our wedding, and as most of you know- you get about 10 seconds with each person when you are getting married!!!

Sooo...family begins to arrive tomorrow and I imagine we will be spending time with them tomorrow evening, and definitely on Friday as we have the Rehearsal Dinner (Texas de Brazil here I come!!!!!) and on Saturday as they say "I Do".

I'll have a post after the wedding with pictures and what not :) I have an idea of what we are wearing...and well- Rob just looks so dang handsome in a suit!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

J-E-L-L-O!!!!!



Seriously. When like everyone and their dog says that something is "so-and-so" you would think you would believe it, right???? For instance....if everyone, hypothetically, were to say "Jillian Michaels kicked my butt!! I was sweating, shaking, and my legs were like Jell-O." You might believe them, right??

So why do I think I'm an exception?!? Yall, my Jillian Make me sick Michaels DVD came in the mail yesterday. So today was the day.

Ready.Set.Go.

I got all geared up ready to make fun of her video when it was all said and done...so I trotted my happy self downstairs, fought with the big screen in the gameroom, asked Hubby to fight with it also, and after enough of a battle with the darn thing, I huffed off into the guest bedroom to see "what this was all about".

Ahem.

It's 1:54 PM here. Approximately 5 hours AFTER I finished the mere, 20 minute, workout and my legs are still weak.

I kid you not.

She kicked my butt. But I'm determined people, I'm determined!!!!!!

10 days at Level 1, 10 days at Level 2 and 10 days at Level 3.

Rob asked me my gameplan with this said video because well, I guess he has started to see a trend in me ordering/saying I'm going to "do this activity or that" and then I never do it. I politely informed him that I plan to die exercise with Jillian Michaels every day of the week. Yup. {insert me biting off more than I can chew right about here} and then, I plan on heading over to the workout facility in the neighborhood on the weekends for some intense(er) cardio. However as it stands today, I could barely make it down the stairs when I had to leave this morning.

I'm not giving up!!!!!!
(at least not today)!!!!!!!!

Who else is still shaking from their workout a week ago????????

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Happy Birthday To You....

...happy birthday to you...happy birrrttthhhdayyyy dear, Megan...
Happy Birthday To You!!!


This Sweet Sister of Mine:





has somehow managed to go from Baby to Big Girl, and Big Girl to Grown Woman




Megan sang at our wedding during the Unity Sand




And well...can still be as crazy as they come :)







And I love her for all that she is, and all that she is going to continue to become. Megan and I are 5 years apart, so for much of our lives, we were just in different spots, and didn't have a whole lot in common. We both love each other so much, but were in such different parts of life. Now that we are both "grown" and more mature apt to act our age we really becoming close and understand each other so much more. There really is no love like that from sister to sister. Hard to explain, but so rewarding to know.

Megan- I love you so very much and am SO glad to call you my sister!


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Reel Me in Suckers



I did it...well, ahem...I purchased it. I haven't done it yet, per say. I mean, I fell into the Wii Fit and Other Jillain Michaels workout thingy for the Wii that is sitting gathering dust along with the other games- so what's one more????

I will say that I really hope to stick with this one for once. I have to eventually find SOME way of working out that I enjoy, right???

Tips, encouragment...words of wisdom???? Anyone????

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Oh it's true.......



I could LIVE in these sweet sweet babies.
Thank you Lord, for the Summertime
(and for Old Navy $2.50 Flip Flops in Standard Colors and $5.00 Flip Flops in Metallic)


With One of These In One Hand....



And this in Another...



Sitting near one of these....



With an endless supply of...



And being able to look to one side and see this:



The Simple Joys in Life....

Monday, April 13, 2009

Trash My WHAT?!?!?!

If you have ever commented on here, on facebook, in person on my wedding pictures- I will say Thank You (as I truly am grateful that you think they are gorgeous) and then I tend to follow that with my annoying rant and whine regarding my photographer the day of the wedding.

You see- when we initially met with our photographer, he promised this, and showed me that, told me this and confirmed that. Yes he would do artsy-fartsy..(not all of them, but some). Yes we would have pictures of our rings with my bouquet. Yes Rob would have pictures with all of his groomsmen individually. Yes we would get tons and tons of pictures of everyone getting ready. Pictures of the brand of champagne we drank with our gorgeous toasting glasses next to it with bubbles floating from the bottom to the top of the glasses. Some candid, Some not. Some artsy and abstract, some not. Yes we would get pictures of Rob and me out on the golf course right after the ceremony with me holding the flag on the green, and him putting a ball into the hole. You bet Amy....absolutely.

As I sit here right now typing, tears brim my eyes 6 months and 2 days after that day. Do I have any of those pictures mentioned above? No. We have about 3 pictures of me getting ready and ONE, count them, ONE of Rob getting ready (and it's the picture I posted about 3 posts down when he is buttoning his cuffs). No pictures of rings laid within flowers. There is a picture of Rob with his Best Man (brother) but do we have pictures with him and the other Groomsmen? No. Pictures of our bubbly and flutes? No. Pictures on the golf course, what???? NO.

I know my husband reads this blog, and I know he thinks that all I do is talk about our wedding, and that I need to have more interesting things to talk about- but this is still so raw on my heart, ladies. It breaks me every time I think about it. All, All, ALL I have to remember of regarding that day are my own memories (which are a blur) semi-etched into my mind as well as about 200 lousy photographs.

Now before you say anything- YES, my photos are real. They aren't overly-edited and they did capture the special moments of that day. Rob and I are real people. We aren't fancy, we aren't showy- we are just simple people...and in fact the song we performed our first dance to is called Nothing Fancy (and as I found this link and put it into my Blog I have it playing in the background and the tears have now flown past the barrier of the brim of my eyes). We are just us. Don't know what tomorrow holds- but we will hold each other through it.

As I look at some peoples' photos from their weddings recently, I think they lost focus of the day- and there was too much focus on making their pictures look "magazine worthy" or "portfolio worthy". They are over edited or too posed. So that is not what I am looking for.

But I do feel cheated. I do feel that our photos were over promised and under delivered. When it comes down to it, I feel guilt. I feel guilty for cheating myself and my family and my husband and his family out of what "was supposed to have been."

I know pictures aren't what makes the day. I KNOW THAT.

But I am so sad. I haven't even begun to put our album together because I feel like we don't have adequate pictures. My photographer sent me his "idea" and "preliminary" cut of our WEDDING ALBUM and yall, 2 of the pages are full of our Engagement Pictures. WHAT??? This is our WEDDING ALBUM. When I saw it, I emailed him back and told him I was too busy right now to focus sufficient attention to the album process, but in all truth- I was hurt. Are there engagement pictures in the album because even YOU, YOURSELF, THE PHOTOGRAPHER couldn't find enough good pictures to make a full album???

Here I thought I was going to have to ADD pages (and $$) to the cost of our album, and now- I'm going to have a hard time filling the standard amount of pages.

Yall, I need advice. What would you do in my situation? I turned down 2-3 other photographers who were in the same price range because this man pretended he had a passion. I fell for it. He pretended that he would do this and that and I believed him. And now, when I want to physically look back on my day- I only have one shot here and there to look at. I have tried to look through the pictures and see into the people inside of those photographs. I have tried my hardest. I have like I said, the faint blurred memories in my head as the day went by in a FLASH.

I first saw my photographer going downhill in my bridals when he was "placing" me in the same spots at the Arboretum that I saw other brides' on his website being placed in. I called and explained that I felt he needed to photograph me in ways that reflected me as the bride, and my personality. I told him I needed him to fall in love with me as his canvas and show off who I am through the photos. I'm not like "every other bride" he may have had. He knew I was silly, and giddy, and happy go lucky. He knew I'm not fancy really, but I'm not boring. I cried on the phone after my bridals were up to view, and I explained to him that I expected more. He had promised me more. We talked and I thought we had a great understanding of what the wedding day would bring and what photos would come from that day.

After our wedding, once I saw the gallery- I was in tears. I called him again bawling and this time some of my frustration was shown. I asked him where my pictures were like the ones he showed me that day in the coffee shop. He said "Well Amy I spent a lot of time thinking up those pictures and then editing them". Um, OK- GREAT. Where are mine????? He had no answer. He simply said he was sorry. Well thank you for taking THOUSANDS of dollars and providing me 200 photos to show from it. 2 of me getting ready. Not one of my mother coming down the aisle. ONE picture of Rob and I together right after the ceremony. ONE picture of Rob getting ready. Thank you for all of that.

Some of you may be reading this and saying "she is nuts, who cares..there is so much more to it, and be thankful for your life." I know this. Believe me, right now Rob and I are in the toughest spot we have been in as a couple with me being a student and him being laid off as of February 10th. 6 Months married...and they have been the toughest 6 months ever. And when I look back on this event it just tears me up inside.

So I have some questions. I'm asking the regulars and the "lurkers" to come out come out wherever you are and provide me some support.

What would you do? Do you think I should just let it go and build the best album that I can? Try and capture the day with the photos he took? Do I get my parents involved since they are in fact who he (I like to say) stole from? Is it wrong of me to feel like he owes me something??? Do I just pray for peace in my heart that only the Lord can bring?


And on the flip side...I've been contemplating a trash the dress session with my husband. I have a couple of photographers in mind that I would like to use, to do this session, and would love to have this done for our 1st Anniversary and I want to have myself in my dress and my husband in a nice shirt, pants, tie and jacket (not a full blown tux). I have thought about my dress and I'm not going to make it into a bassinet or christmas tree skirt. I don't know if I will ever have a daughter, and I want her to pick her own dress. I'm not preserving mine...so it hangs right now. I think a trash the dress session would be fun, and a way to get some passionate- wonderful photographs of us. Let me say that this session is in NO WAY trying to represent anything in regards to my wedding day, or how I feel about the other pictures in my dress. It's simply something I have thought about and I am determined to get some phenomenal pictures in my dress.

So I have questions and I really really need yalls help. Would you say anything further to my previous photographer....and what do you think about my ideas for a trash the dress???

And lastly- If you are in the Texas area (even states surrounding it) and have recommendations for photographers that you know have done a Trash the Dress shoot, could you direct me to their website or leave me their information??? I really want to make sure I find just the right person to possibly do this for us in 6 or 7 months.

I know this post has been a bit all over the place, but when this subject rears its head in my heart, my feelings and emotions overflow all over the place.

Thank you for listening, reading, and providing advice.


ugh....

I'm again driving myself crazy trying to make the colors on my blog flow. Please bare with me as I am the most IN-decisive person I know.

And the Winner is.........

(so sorry I am (again) late for posting the winner...this weekend got the best of me!)

So....

Here are all of the entries...about to me "invetro-d" into their eggs.....




The procedure is complete.....



So I mixed up the eggs....and with my head turned and eyes closed I picked ONE egg....



And low and behold when this egg was opened it contained twins!!!!
(since I had more entries than eggs, some eggs had twins and triplets)




So I mixed up the chicks papers that hatched and selected ONE.

And the winner......is............



WENDY from Pieces of Me!!!!! Congratulations Wendy!!!!! I "met" Wendy through the blogging world...you know, she reads blog that I read and I read blogs that she reads and we all read blogs that each other reads etc etc etc...and so she and I have begun emailing back and forth each week, AND she has put me in contact with a family member of hers who works in the medical field...and well....some things might be in the works...(shameless plug for some prayers if you will). Anyway, Wendy is adorable and her family is PRECIOUS!!! I encourage you to take a venture over to her blog here and check it out!!!

Congratulations Wendy!!!!!!

(I will compose and email with you and Brandie as the recipients and we'll getcha all set up!!!)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

6 Months into the rest of our lives....

6 Months ago today....

I was getting ready:



And so was he:



And all of these friends and family:



Were getting ready to walk down this aisle:




And take their place on either side of these pumpkins:



So that he and I could join our hands in Marriage:



And say "I Do":



And we did:



And it was the best day of my life.




Happy 6 Month Anniversary, My Love.




And I'm so glad I only have 6 more months to go until we can indulge in this gorgeous masterpiece....but shhhhh...that's a secret and beside the point =)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Huh? What???

..ahem. No one needs a New Header???? I'm Shocked!!!!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

That to This...

****Don't Forget to Enter the AWESOME Giveaway Post Below!!!****

Natalie over at The Pettijohn's was tagged for a post from "That to This."

Rules??? Post a picture from back in the day, and post one from now :)

Amy back in about 1983





Amy in 2008-ish






Your turn!!!! Make sure and let me know if you participate!!!!!

Happy Header Giveaway!!!!!!!

So back when I was a stressed out, overwhelmed, anxiety ridden Bridezilla Bride....I had a precious friend do some adorable custom work for some water bottle labels. (and let me insert here, I don't know who I'm kidding because I am still ALL of those things listed above, except now a Wife vs. Bride).

I digress.

Anyway, Brandie from Designs By Brandie made some A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E water bottle labels for me, as one of our favors leaving the wedding were bottles of water with our custom label, date, names, etc on them. We also had adorable bottles of water in our Welcome Baskets in the hotel rooms for our out of town guests. My mother freaked and decided that we couldn't use the SAME bottles in the backets as we did the wedding, because technically when the guests got to the hotel room before the wedding, Rob and I weren't married yet, so we couldn't have our "new name" on the bottles. Ok ok ok ok --- this all came about like 6 days before the wedding so I had NO desire nor energy to state my case on this issue, so I let my mother win that one- and asked Brandie if she could make a different label for the "hotel water". Making a long story longer, she of course came through again!!!

And what is SO amazing about all of Brandie's work that she has ever done for me, is that I will just email her and say: Here are some colors, here is what it needs to say, it's for this event- and yall- the girl creates a MASTERPIECE!!!!!

I emailed her in tears the other day....you know... This Day. I told her I just wanted a new header, and I wanted it pretty and I wanted it to be different, but that I had NO IDEA how to do it. She asked me what I wanted and I said I know nothing more than what I told you already. I know nothing. I said I wanted prints and maybe pictures and come cute fonts and maybe something from the color palate from our wedding, but that none of this I was sure on. She let me be SO ridiculously indecisive and said "Ames, let me work on this, and let's see what I come up with and if you hate it we change it, or we tweak it or we start over or whatever." *Amy breathed a sigh of relief*

So I say all of this to let yall know that Brandie is as sweet as they come. She is so patient, and so GOOD at what she does.

***********Getting to the Point, I Promise*************

What do you think of my new header?!?!?!?
Do you LOVE IT?!?!? Do you WANT ONE?!?!

Do you think that you need to spruce up the blog since (sometime sooner or later) Spring will come and Spruce up our yards and our days?!?!?

Well here is your chance!!! Brandie has been so generous and to give one lucky reader a new header of their very own!!!! Yep!!!! If you are ready for a new header now, or maybe one to save and use later, now is your chance!!!! Brandie is going to work with one lucky reader to make a custom header with any colors, pictures, fonts, ideas, etc that you have!!!

So how do you get entries?!?!?

1) One Entry for Leaving a Comment
2) One Entry for being/becoming a follower on my blog
3) One Entry for heading over to
Brandie's Family Blog and become a follower
4) TWO Entries for posting about this giveaway on your blog



(she is also going to post some pictures of other headers on her blog so you can see some more of her work!!!)

So leave me a comment and let me know which of the above things you have done, and we will get your name in the drawing for the appropriate number of entries!!!

We will be leaving this Giveaway open until 11:59 PM on Saturday, April 11th. I will pick a winner on Sunday, and Brandie said she could even work on the header on Monday and have it turned around quick!!!


Now....one last thing!!!!! Let's say you don't win, but want a new header OR button!!! Well great news...for a limited time, Brandie will be offering all of you sweet readers a new Custom Header for only $10 !!!!! And if you would like a button for your blog, she will be doing those for $7 !!!! Yup...you read it!!! So if you would like to purchase a new header and/or button for your blog from Brandie, you can either email me : amy(at)v-rod.net or you can email Brandie directly at Brandie(at)designsbybrandie.com and we can get that in the works!! Brandie will accept Paypal as a method of payment.

I promise you, promise you- you will not be disappointed.

So leave your comments and GOOOOOOOOD LUCK!!!!!


Testing, Testing...1..2...3...

ok....some changes to the blog are coming....so please check back.

And with these changes...comes a SUPER fun giveaway that you'll want to get your name in for, I promise!!!!

SO CHECK BACK!!!!

Monday, April 6, 2009

School's Out Forrrrrr Summer....and a Giveaway!!

....ok not really. Not even close. But for whatever reason, that song came to mind- so I decided it was appropriate for the title. On the OTHER hand, I also wanted to inform you that I will me MIA until about Thursday of this week, or so.

A) I have a huge test tonight.
B) I'm coming home tonight and working out for 45 minutes and then headed straight back upstairs to study for..........Big Test #2 Tomorrow night.
C) I will be studying tomorrow during the day for said test #2 above.
D) I will come home tomorrow evening (after taking test #2) and work out for 45 minutes and then begin studying for a HUGE HUGE test I have next Wednesday.

Ok- so lots and lots and lots of studying with some working out in between. Because I have decided the following........










































I've had enough of my fatty fat self. The End.

****************************


Ok- and seriously, you will want to enter This. Seriously. Go Here and enter this.

Friday, April 3, 2009

The Tears

...just won't stop flowing today. I'm having a rough one. A really rough one. I can't put a finger on the one, or two, or twelve things are causing my emotions...but I'm broken today. My spirit is broken, my heart is exhausted...my pleading and praying feels like it's reached a dead end...

I'm not crying for attention today...not crying for a pity party...I am just truly heartbroken and upset today.

Lord, please give me peace. Please bring me understanding and a calm that only you can bring. I won't ask for answers to any other prayers today...please just put some beating to my heart.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Out to Lunch

Headed Here



With Him




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

What I Wouldn't Give....

.....to be back here, right now. *sigh*