I love lazy weekends...

Happy Saturday evening, all. I hope your weekend thus far has been magnificent!

So far mine has been just the way I like it: lazy. David and I haven't done too much this weekend and that has just been wonderful. Today, we slept in, ate a late breakfast and ran to the mall to pick up a few things before David had to head into work.

David started his first night of work on Friday - he had to work from 7:30 to 11:30 at the Lincoln Journal Star. Basically, he spent his night answering phones and taking high school football scores and stats for the sports section. But, he said he thinks he's going to like it there and the people he will work with - which is a huge plus. He's back at work tonight, too, so I thought I would come into the office and catch up on some work I had to get done. The Lincoln Journal Star office is less than a block from my office, so it makes it easy to just ride into work together.

I was going to head over to Des Moines tomorrow morning to watch mom show one of our babies in the Iowa Futurity, but mom talked me out of it. It is a three hour drive, and it seems kind of silly to drive three hours over to watch an hour of show and then drive three hours back. Plus, I'm headed home next weekend to announce the Illinois Futurity, so I'll have a chance to watch her then.

I wish I was going to have time to run down to CU and see the girls while I was in town next weekend, but I just don't see that happening. David, however, will be spending most of his weekend in CU. The men in our wedding will be heading over to Michelle's to get fitted for tuxedos and then bar hopping for the rest of the day/weekend. I can't wait to get the phone calls from that outing...

In other news, we finally got some of the honeymoon situation figured out. I still have to call and see how much it's going to cost me to change our plane tickets, but at least we have a resort booked and it's final. RCI called me yesterday to tell me that the other two resorts we had requested were unavailable, but they could book me in a similar one in Sapphire, North Carolina. So, I told them to go ahead and confirm it and I would call back if David and I decided we didn't like it. After a little investigating, we decided there was no way we were going to be staying at the place they had us confirmed in - all of the reviews we could find online were horrible. For the most part, people reviewing the place complained that it wasn't clean. Let me tell you, I can deal with outdated decorations and hotels that don't have the "newest" accomodations, but I can't deal with a dump. So, that place was immediately disqualified. I called back later yesterday and there weren't too many places left available, but we were able to get reservations in a resort on Edisto Island, South Carolina. The reviews were good and it looks BEAUTIFUL! So, once plane tickets are lined out, we'll have everything set for the honeymoon.

Other than that, I don't think I have a whole lot of new information to report. Just the same old thing out here in the land of Cornhuskers - football is king, the weather is still beautiful and life is busy!

I don't like Ike.

I mean, the president was okay, but I'm not so fond of the storm.

Please keep in mind, I feel very bad for all of the people in Texas that have been displaced from their homes because of Hurricane Ike, but.....

.....but.....

....but.....freakin' Ike ruined our honeymoon plans! We were all set up to stay at the Silverleaf Seaside Resort in Galveston, Texas right after our wedding, but I'm thinking that is not going to happen. I have seen several pictures of Galveston Island and it looks like it was totally decimated, so even if our resort was able to clean up and make repairs, the rest of the town will still be in shambles.

The best part about this whole scenario? We've already bought our plane tickets. Yep, that's right kids, I'll be paying millions of dollars in change fees to change our flight from Houston to some other place we decide to go. Yuck.

I talked to Janell tonight - it was so nice to talk to her on the phone for a little while and just catch up with what is going on with her. She told me that she was thinking about interviewing at 4-H House. And, while that wasn't the best place for me (of course, I'm grateful to have met my best friends there), I think it would probably really benefit Janell. She's very different than I am, and I think that kind of atmosphere would really help her settle into school and make her really comfortable.

She also told me that she's planning on joining the U of I meats judging team! She emailed my best friend, Rachel, (Rachel did the meats judging team during her undergrad at U of I) about it the other day and asked her some questions about it. Janell said she thought she would really enjoy it, so she's going to meet with the coach, Dr. Carr, tomorrow to talk to him more about the time commitment and practices.

In other news, the workouts continue. But, now that David is out here, I'm pulling double duty. I always do better with my workouts when someone is holding me accountable, so for the past few days, David and I have been working out together after I get off work. Since he was a kinesiology minor in college, he knows all about anatomy and fitness and weightlifing. So, every night we go down to the exercise room and he helps me lift weights, then I run a couple of miles on the treadmill while he does leg presses and the bike. Then, we come back upstairs and I renew my friendship with Gilad. I had kind of fallen off the wagon there for a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping I can get back on the wagon and really stick to it to look smokin' hot for the wedding.

Finally - a little joke to cap off tonight's entry. Here goes:

Two mothers decided to visit their engaged children (who happen to live together in Nebraska) at the exact same time.

Wait, that isn't so funny. But, it's true. David was talking to Denise last night at the same time I was talking to my mom and our mothers had both decided they wanted to come out and visit. I have some wedding stuff that needs to get done, so mom thought she just might come out here to help me get it done and see my apartment. Denise thought it would be nice to ride out to Nebraska with us when we come home in October and then take the train over to Denver to visit the grandkids. The catch is, they both want to come the same week.

God sure has a funny sense of humor.

2 MONTHS!

Holy Cow. I can't believe our wedding is officially less than two months away! I'm so excited - I can't wait for it to be here. We still have a bunch to do, but we keep chipping away at the list of to-dos and it keeps getting shorter.

Still working on the favors and a few of the reception things, too. I'm just so anxious to see it all come together and I can't wait to see everyone there and do a little bit of catching up with my friends.

I'm trying to decide if I want to go over to Des Moines this weekend. Mom and Janell will be there for a horse show, and that's only about 2 and a half hours away from me, so I could run over there and hang out with them this weekend. We'll see.

Then, the weekend after that, David and I are headed home for the weekend. I have to announce the futurity at Gordyville and David is going to spend his weekend in Champaign. He and the boys are going to go get fitted for their tuxedos and then go out on the town. I'm hoping I might be able to at least swing through Champaign and say "hi" to my girls that I haven't seen in a while.

But, if I don't, I'll get to see them the next weekend; Rachel and the rest of my pledge class are throwing me a little bachelorette party which should be really, really fun (and maybe a little scary!).

I can't think of too much else that it super important...

David is still looking for a job. He does have a part time job lined out but is still waiting for that perfect full time job. I know he'll find one because he's so talented and smart, but I also know how discouraged he is because he hasn't found one yet. Pray for him and that perfect job to come along.

I think that's it. Hopefully, I'll see some of you at the end of September, on October 4, or at the very latest, NOVEMBER 15! YAY!

Alright all you whiners, here's the newest post...

Oh my gosh - stop yelling. I know it's been a while since I posted. But, trust me when I say I just don't have the time I used to. I didn't realize how much of a life I didn't have when I was in college. Seriously.

Anyway, time to get to the "goings on" around here - David and I have actually been fairly busy. David, of course, is still on the job hunt. He had his second interview with a publishing company here in Lincoln last Friday and he said he thought it went well. So, we're hoping to hear back from them soon as to whether he gets a third interview - keep your fingers crossed! In the mean time, he was able to land a part time job with the Lincoln Journal Star. He will be working nights laying out the box scores page for the sports section. Nothing too glamorous, but every little bit helps.

When David and I came out here in April, David met with Todd from the Journal Star about a job when we moved out here, but Todd said he didn't have anything open - he had plenty of staff and freelancers. But, he told David he would definitely keep him in mind. Shortly after that, we heard that Journal Star and laid off seven or eight people, so David didn't even contact Todd when we moved out here, thinking that if there wasn't a spot in April, there surely wouldn't be one now. Then, about a week ago, Todd emailed David and said he might have an opening that would work.

So, between my job and David's interviews, we actually had a pretty busy week this week. This weekend, we spent most of our time working on more wedding stuff. We got some of our programs printed, made more CDs, labels, and notecards for the favors, and tried to finish up as much of the invitations as we could. Everything is now in them, we're just waiting to get the rest of the addresses. We'll probably end up mailing the ones that we have completely done and then just mailing additional invites as we get the addresses. Anyway, you all can start watching your mailboxes for those! (There's no turning back now...KIDDING!)

Sunday evening, we got cleaned up and headed to a casino in Council Bluffs for a concert. David and I went to Cross Canadian Ragweed and Gary Allan (I know, you're all jealous...insert evil laugh here) with a girl I work with and one of her friends. The concert was outside, so it was a little chilly, but it was an AWESOME concert. Man, Gary Allan is SEXY. And, any of you who know me, know exactly what's coming next..."Just because you're chained to the porch, doesn't mean you can't bark at the cars." Seriously...he's yummy.

Unfortunately, that brings me back to the beginning of another work week. The past couple weeks at work have been pretty crazy, so I was not looking forward to going to work today, but the afternoon turned out okay, so that helped. This coming weekend, my best good friend Rachel is coming back out to Lincoln (not necessarily to visit me - more like to visit her new love interest, but I'll take what I can get). David and I pretty exicted to have someone to hang out with this weekend, plus David is going to get to meet Rachel's new man. I've met him before and he's pretty fun, so I think David will like him. Hopefully, that will give him someone he can call and hang out with when I'm gone on business trips.

On a completely different note: my little sister has officially started college. The first few weeks she was having some trouble adjusting, but I think she's starting to feel a little bit better about it. I haven't gotten as many calls here recently, so I think she starting to gain a little bit of confidence about the whole school thing. Plus, she said she knows some of the kids in her ag classes, which should definitely help - at least so she won't feel like she's all by herself. She's a smart kid, so I know she'll get it all straightened out. But, sometimes she just worries too much and she gets herself all worked up for nothing - and I think that was the biggest problem those first couple weeks of school. She just wasn't comfortable with everything yet and was worried about everything from where to pick up her books to what classes to take.

And finally, to those of you at home in Clinton: if you have a chance to sign a petition for Weldon Springs, please do so. I've been keeping up with the most recent updates on the Clinton Daily Journal's website and it has been so wonderful to see the city rallying behind the park and its employees. Dave Herzog and his staff have done such a wonderful job taking care of the park for the past several years and it breaks my heart to think that the governor is thinking of shutting it down just to keep his plane running back and forth between Springfield and Chicago. The park has so much to offer residents of Clinton - and those outside of the city limits - that it would be a shame to see it closed.

Personally, I still don't have the guts to visit the cemetary to see my dad's headstone, but I do make regular trips out to Veteran's Point at Weldon Springs to see the wonderful memorial in his name that was paid for by the dealership employees. I can't imagine not going out there to visit that - and I would hate to have to tell the many veterans that visit Veteran's Point every year that they can no longer pay their respects to friends and family members that have served in the armed forces.

Weldon Springs is truly a treasure for the city of Clinton - and indeed the state of Illinois - if you have an opportunity to make your voice heard, please do not let it pass you by.