Go Cubs Go!

BIIIIIGGGG DEVELOPMENT: David and I are so excited! We have officially made plans to head home the weekend of May 2 to watch some baseball. That's right, David and I are going to be cheering on the Cubs at Wrigley Field - and I just can't wait. I've never been to Wrigley and David hasn't been in about six years, so it's going to be fun to be able to spend Saturday afternoon at the ballpark. Of course, I'll be sure to post some pictures...

Speaking of pictures - we finally got our wedding pictures today! The album looks wonderful, but we also got a CD of all of the pictures that were taken at the wedding and you know what that means - they're going up on the blog and Facebook. So, for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure depending on the picture...)

Of course, there are about 812 more, but I didn't want to upload that many pictures. The point of the story is, if you would like a copy of one, please let us know. As I said we have all of them on a CD and I would be more than happy to send you copies.

Oh Mother Nature....

...You are such a freakin' tease!

Alright. I consider myself to be a fairly level-headed person, but I have to say, this weather has me hanging on by a thread!

Last week, I headed to Milwaukee for work. I flew home on Friday to BE-A-UTIFUL weather in Omaha. And, because David didn't have to work and the night was still young, we decided to drive on to Des Moines to visit David's sister. By the time we headed home on Saturday afternoon, the weather got all PMS-sy on us and changed its mood. David and I drove home, right into several severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. But, of course, mother nature - never happy with her work - changed it up one more time. By Monday, it was 20 degrees outside and very, very windy. Tomorrow, we're looking forward to 65 degree weather.

So, to Mother Nature I say this: "Quit being such a woman and make up your damn mind! I want to wear flip-flops already!"

To all my ladies out there - my apologies for the above statement. But, to be fair, you know it's true.

Anyway, on to the update in the ever-exciting saga that we call David's and Rachel's life. As I said earlier, I just got home from a trip to Milwaukee. It was wonderful to see everyone up in the "big office" and to be able to put some additional faces with names. Working in a remote office is wonderful, but it can also be difficult because you only have the opportunity to speak with your team on the phone - and not face to face.

I also have a revelation this week: I have been in Nebraska for almost an entire year! It's so hard to believe we've been here this long. I suppose, that could be because we like it here - well, I do at least. I'm sure David would enjoy it more if he had a full time job. I told him he just needed to listen to the news more because Nebraska was recently named the happiest state in the union. In fact, Janell passed a link on to me proving the point:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/rn=3906861&cl=12839723&ch=4226720&src=news

As Janell said, "Quit being a wimp and open the link - it's from America's most trusted news source - ABC!"

Anyway, David still didn't believe me...

But, things do seem to be looking up. Just today David told me that one of the guys he works with was just accepted to law school at Creighton in Omaha and will be leaving his job at the paper. David is hoping to land some of his steady writing jobs and possibly his beat with the Lincoln Saltdogs - Lincoln's independent minor league team. Talking about it this afternoon, he seemed very excited. And, of course, I'm excited for him! It's hard for me to watch David turn in resume after resume without any responses because I know how talented of a writer he is and how hard he works.

In other news - Easter is coming up and I'm ready to get my bake on! David and I really didn't plan to go home for Easter, mostly because it's a long trip home and because neither one of our families do anything special for Easter. So, we had originally planned to spend the weekend here at home, but since Tracie is now in Des Moines, we thought it would be nice to spend the holiday with her. After Denise found out we weren't coming home, but were heading to Tracie's, she thought she and John would just head up to Iowa, too.

And that just gives me an excuse to bake another cake! I'm thinking white two-layer cake with white icing and a raspberry filling...yum! We'll see how it goes - I've never made the raspberry filling.

Of course, the coming of Easter means it's also time to mark the six year anniversary of my Dad's passing. It's so hard to believe that it has already been six years since he died - sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday. But, I'm still looking forward to Easter. I'm not sure if it really was one of Dad's favorite holidays, but it always seemed like it was. I have so many memories of him helping us hunt for Easter eggs or pictures of us out in the yard all dressed up in our Easter dresses.

Hopefully, Easter will also mean the coming of spring weather. I'm ready for Mother Nature to stop being such a...well, you know the word I'm thinking of.

Visitors!

Whew! The past week and weekend sure have been busy with all of the visitors David and I have had at our place.

Last weekend, Rachel and Jessica decided to make the trip over while Jessica was on spring break. Of course, not to be outdone, Brian and Janell decided to join the party, too. So, with a full house, David and I entertained.

Brian and Janell arrived late Friday night after a little bit of "sightseeing" (yep, did a little extra driving when they missed their exit). After David got off work, we decided to watch some movies and, of course, sleep late on Saturday.

Saturday morning, Rachel and Jessica arrived to bring the party quotient up a noch. After some TV and much lack of decision as to what to do with our afternoon, we decided to make a trip out to Scheel's. Originally, we were looking for ladder golf (sounds dumb, but seriously is one of the most fun games to play outside in the summer), but when we realized Scheel's had a much overpriced version of the game, we decided to go with something cheaper. The game we ended up with is a college favorite and I'm going to leave it at that.

Of course, you know I love my pictures, and I have a few from the weekend, but those will also remain classified. Top secret clearance only - sorry.

Sunday was another sleep in day - for me anyway. When I finally got out of bed at 9, Janell, Brian and David were all up watching a movie and chowing down on some leftover breakfast. Following another round of breakfast (I needed some food and Brian didn't turn down seconds) we decided on a board game. Jessica and Rachel dropped by again and we all went out for supper. Following supper, we had a few mean games of UNO before Rachel and Jessica had to head east back to Iowa.

Janell and Brian had planned to stay until Tuesday morning, so they spent Monday exploring the city of Lincoln and then took me out of supper while David had to work. All in all, it turned out to be a top notch few days.

In other news, David heard from Scheel's and didn't get the job. But, he did talk with his boss at the paper and he mentioned the possibility of David getting some writing opportunities or even his own beat with the Lincoln Saltdogs - which of course, would be awesome!

Anyway, other than that, we're just doing the same old thing. David is working tonight and I'm watching TV and working on Mount Laundry that has taken over our bedroom. Woohoo.

Oh well, tomorrow should be a nice, lazy Sunday - can't wait!

Brutal.

Does anyone else feel like they've been hit by a Mack truck? Seriously, the week thus far has been BRUTAL.

I don't ever remember Daylight Savings Time hitting me quite like this. I just feel like I am totally dragging this week. Maybe it's just a product of being old (stop shaking your head - I know I'm only 24, but ask anyone that knows me and they'll tell you I'm 24 going on 70), or maybe I just didn't get enough sleep leading up to/after the time switch. Whatever it is, hopefully tonight I can "fully recover."

In other news...

David and I finally talked with our wedding photographer. We sent her the list of pictures we wanted for our photo album and picked out a picture for our big wall print. I can't wait to see all it put together. I should also order some pictures before they go down next Tuesday, but I'll have to do some serious "money juggling" to get that done.

David and I have gotten extremely good at penny pinching. In fact, I have become "that girl." You know, the one in front of you at the supermarket that is fishing in this over-stuffed envelope for a coupon that will save her 40 cents off a jar of spaghetti sauce. Yep, I'm that girl.

With the economy and job markets the way they are, it pays to get creative with money management and jobs. David and I spend most of our nights at home, eating in and watching TV, which actually helps to save lots of money. I have also discovered "free money." No, it doesn't grow on trees. But, I have realized that I can sell all of those "college" clothes that I'm never going to wear again. It's like getting $150 for no reason at all!

David has also decided to spring for a second part time job. He's still working on his internship and for the Journal Star here in Lincoln, but was able to squeeze another job into his schedule. He has a job interview this week with Scheel's Sporting Goods. Hopefully, this will help hold us over until his dream, full time job comes along.

Aside from David's packed schedule, this month has actually been pretty busy. Last Saturday I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. Much to my excitement, my A1C has gone down significantly! When he did labs during my first visit, my A1C was 8.8% - much too high for good diabetes management. However, this time around, my A1C had dropped to 7%, and doc is very confident with a few more modifications to my medication, he can have me right at 6.5% where he wants me. To all of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, this is good news!

This weekend, David and I are extremely excited (insert annoyed eye-roll here) about heading over to HR Block to get our taxes done. I'm not looking forward to paying for it, but it will be nice to have the peace of mind that our taxes are done and have been filed with fewer errors than what would have been included if we would have done our taxes ourselves.

The weekend of March 21 is the big one - Jessica Lock is coming to visit! She's planning to head up to Rachel's place in Iowa on Friday night. Then, she and Rachel will head over to our place Saturday morning and spend the rest of the weekend here. I can't wait to be reunited with the JLock - Lincoln, Neb., better watch out!

I suppose that's it for the evening. Hope you all are having a good week thus far (and are feeling better about Daylight Savings Time than I am)!

Changin' things up...

Two nights in a row - that's got to be a record! Anyway, at the request of a certain family member (who shall remain nameless), tonight's entry will be less "philosophical make me cry at 7:30 in the morning" and more of a "laugh until I cry" post.

Ok, so maybe it won't make you laugh until you cry. Let's be honest, I'm not exactly a comedian. Instead, we'll try for an update so you all can catch up with David and I and our most recent excursions and adventures. Here goes...

The job hunt is still on. Every day we hear thousands of additional jobs have been lost, making it that much more difficult for David to find a full time job. However, the newest information is that David has started an unpaid internship for BleacherReport.com. It's actually a win-win for us because he doesn't have to travel and it's an internship within his chosen field, so it will pad his resume and gives him something to do during the day. He's working as an online editor, reviewing articles submitted to readers and subscribers and gets to write an article every once in a while. He's also still working for the Lincoln Journal Star.

Of course, I'm still working with the same company and am enjoying myself. I just got back from sunny, warm Scottsdale Ariz. I headed southwest for the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show and definitely enjoyed my time out there. Of course, I still love my stock horses, but it was interesting to see how the "other half" shows.

We have also recently had a visitor: my mom finally made it out to Lincoln. And, her visit is the reason for tonight's title.

After living on a farm her entire life and spending all of her time recently working on the store, coming out here with nothing to do made life a little boring for her. Of course, she did some antiquing (poor David only had a little cubby hole to sit in when the three of us headed home to Illinois for the weekend), but she also felt the need to give David and I a little change. After a trip to the mall and some new curtains for our living room, Mom asked if I would mind if she rearranged our furniture - she had some ideas that might change things up a little bit.

Knowing that my mother's taste is infinitely better than mine, I gave her full lisence to do whatever she would like. When I left for work Friday morning, she was already hard at work, moving furniture. As usual, she made things look absolutely fabulous.

Mom moved some furniture from the dining room to the living room and moved some living room furniture to the kitchen. She also hung some new curtains and gave us some ideas for decorating later on. David was a little shocked when he wandered out of the bedroom after finishing his internship up for the day, but has decided that he does like the new changes.

Following Mom's visit, David and Mom and I headed back to Illinois Valentine's Day weekend. David and I hdeaded to Bloomington with a couple of friends to see Jeff Dunham (which was absolutely hilarious) and spent some time trying to catch up with everyone. Unfortunately, we weren't very effective because I never made it over to see Grandma Shirley - or anybody else for that matter.

This week, David's mom will be here to visit. She's going to drive through Lincoln on her way out to Denver and pick David up for his niece's birthday. David is so excited about going out there and seeing his "little ones." I swear, the three of them have Uncle Dave wrapped around their tiny little fingers.

I'm not sure when we'll be home again, but I have to say it may be a little while. After driving home every other weekend for wedding stuff, it has been really nice (and money-saving) to stay here on the weekends and just hang out.

Other than that, I can't think of any other new information. But, as promised, I'll try to keep this up in a more regular fashion.

Have a good night!

Without you...

...I'm a drift.

Now, before you go and yell at me for incorrectly spelling the word 'adrift,' you need to know why I spelled it that way.

I have a coffee cup. It's blue and it has a snowman on the front of it, with the words "Without you" on the outside lip. On the inside lip, it says, "I'm a drift."

Cheesy? Yes. True? Absolutely. I got it for David for Christmas one year, but I don't think I ever really took the phrase seriously (disregarding all the cheesiness of it can be difficult).

Tonight, I sat down on my couch with my favorite snowman coffee cup in my hands (full of delicious hot chocolate) and watched P.S. I Love You. I've seen the movie several times - in fact, after just watching it once, I had to go out and buy it. Well, actually, I requested it for Christmas (thanks to my wonderful husband it is now included in our ever-expanding DVD library). David won't watch it with me because he says it's too sad, but I still have to watch it every once in a while - even though I cry every time I watch it.

For those of you that haven't seen the movie, here's the story line:

A young couple live in New York City. They're madly in love (yes, I know we're still in cheesy territory). However, the husband dies, forcing the wife to cope with his death. Over the course of the year following his death, he arranges for letters he wrote to be delivered to her - letters that help her to move on and do things she would normally be too afraid to do.

So, the question remains: why would I put myself through this emotional torture? Because, the movie speaks to me. It reminds me of my own family and my Dad. And, it helps put my mom's life in perspective for me.

So many times, I think about how the loss of my Dad affects my sister and I. No father there for graduations, weddings and babies - the milestones. And, I'm sure my Mom thought of it in those terms, too. But, it was more than that for her - she lost a companion, friend and a piece of her soul. That piece can't be replaced by re-marrying. Of course, her new husband is wonderful and has made her so happy, but that piece that was my Dad will always be missing. Over the years it may change, but it will always be missing.

Now that I'm married, I think I understand that more than ever before. So many things about my Mom in the months after Dad died make sense.

Yes - I'm getting to the point. The point is, I'm adrift without him - or, I was for a long time. But, when David and I started dating, he helped to pull me out of my funk. I know that without David, it would be worse. So, tonight, I'm going to make sure I thank God for all of the wonderful blessings He has given me and try not to take them for granted (like I sometimes tend to do).

Are you impressed? You should be. Only a very special person (well, maybe just someone a few fries short of a Happy Meal) could get all of that out of one very sappy, chick-flick movie. But, hey, what can I say? I'm special.

With that, I'm going to sign off for tonight, promising to write again on a more frequent basis (just for you, Aunt Cheryl - I know you're the only one that reads this anyway), and leave you with this thought:

Life doesn't always turn out the way we planned, but sometimes it's the unplanned events that make life richer - harder, yes - but always richer.

I'm in shape...

...round is a shape.

So, you know how sometimes you look at yourself in pictures and you think, "Oh my gosh - I didn't think I looked that bad when I saw myself in the mirror this morning."

That's kind of the way I've been feeling lately. After the wedding, I let myself fall off of the workout wagon. So, last week, I decided it was finally time to jump back on and get moving. I've been trying to head down to the exercise room every other night or so. I'm gradually working my way back up to the point where I left off: two nights ago I ran two and a half miles on the treadmill and lifted weights for a little while. Not quite up to par, but it's getting there.

And, Cheryl told me that she just got two new Gilad DVDs for me to continue my affair with pilates. Gilad promises to get me bikini ready in 24 days. I suppose if I'm going to cheat on my husband, I might as well do it with someone that can make me look smashing.

In other news, David and I successfully made it through Christmas with our families - it wasn't necessarily easy, but...

Ok, so I probably shouldn't say that. Don't get me wrong - I love being home with our families and getting to spend some quality time with everyone. However, that just isn't a vacation for me. David's family has a million little kids running around all the time and all my Dad's side of the family wants to know is how far Nebraska is from Illinois and if my diabetes is still in check.

Aside from those few little things, though, we had a good time at home. As usual, my mom's side of the family provided the comedy with several "Santa" gifts (at our house, you don't want gifts from Santa).

After Christmas, David and I headed home. I took the Monday after Christmas off so I could catch up on some things at home and have a little 'break' before heading back to work. Of course, the New Years holiday was also that week, so I didn't spend two much time at work the week of Christmas or the week after Christmas.

That only means one thing: this week has been brutal! I'm not sure I remember how to put in a full work week! But, there are things to look forward to this weekend. Rachel is headed over to Lincoln to spend some time with me and her favorite redhead, David (actually, I think she just wants to see her boyfriend, but I'm going to pretend that she's just coming to see me), and I'm excited to hang out Friday night and spend some girl time together.

More big news: David has an interview for an internship next week. The internship is with an online sports writing company and is unpaid, but he also doesn't have to travel. David can do all of his work right here from home and has the opportunity (if they consider him to be a 'strong' intern) to work full-time at the conclusion of his internship. I told him he might as well go for it because, as of right now, he has the time to do it and it can only pad his resume and provide him with some extra work samples to send out in job applications later down the line.

Anyway, I think that's all of the big news I have for tonight (which, should be a lot considering how long it has been since I posted). Hopefully, I can get my other foot back in the workout wagon...