From Firsts to Lasts

Linking up with Halie & Hallie for this week's From Firsts to Lasts!

Last Book I Read: I actually just finished one last night that I've been reading for about a month or two. I'm usually a really fast reader, I finish a book in two to three days, or if I'm on vacation for a week and have a lot of time to relax, I'll read 3-4 books that week. But for some reason, this book has taken me forever to finish; I guess I've been so busy lately that the second I clean up for dinner and get into bed, I fall right asleep! It was a pretty good book though, called Temptation's Kiss by Sandra Brown. She's one of my favorite authors....if you like mystery books with a little (okay, sometimes a LOT) of "romance" (Josh calls them sex books), give her a try! My personal recommendations: Chill Factor, Hello Darkness, White Hot, and Smoke Screen.

Last Movie I Saw in a Theater: I'm pretty sure the last movie I saw in the theater was Jurassic Park 3D. One of mine and Josh's favorite movies to begin with, and when they brought it back to the theaters in 3D, we HAD to go see it. It definitely lived up to the hype! I think the next movie we're going to see in theaters, if we get a chance, is The Purge, that looks really good. I wanted to see The Call as well, with Halle Berry, but we didn't get a chance so I'm (im)patiently waiting for it to come out On Demand.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! And thanks to everyone, past and present, for serving in our military and ensuring that the rest of us can live in a world of freedom! Thanks not only to those who serve, but also their spouses and families, who are constantly moving and may not see their mother/father/husband/wife for who knows how many months/years at a time!

Even though summer doesn't actually start until the later part of June, I know Memorial Day weekend serves as unofficial start to summer, with pools opening and cookouts. Unfortunately, the weather here has been so weird this Spring, and it only got up to about 71 degrees today, and overcast. Not exactly a great day for cooking out or swimming! Next weekend is supposed to be in the 90s and upper 80s though, so that will be a little nicer. We've spent most of the weekend relaxing, which has been nice. Gym Saturday morning and this morning for me, and then just the two of us going to church and lunch and taking long walks! And of course watching some more Disney movies to round up our anniversary celebration! Definitely gotta make sure we get in another Disney trip within the next several years, 5 years from now at the latest! In keeping with the oldie but goody pictures from yesterday, here are a few of my favorites from the honeymoonl! I sure do miss those days of a 5-years younger me, age-wise!

This was the absolute best night....Josh surprised me with reservations for dinner at Cinderella's castle, it's my favorite Disney movie in the world:

SO thrilled to meet Piglet!!

5-year anniversary!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Josh and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary on Friday May 24th. We went to Disney World for our honeymoon, and it was probably one of my favorite vacations ever, if not my absolute favorite. We were hoping to go for our anniversary, but a $7,000 AC/furnace kind of took priority over that this year! Hopefully we will go for our 10-year anniversary though, maybe sooner. We celebrated with dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill on Friday, it was absolutely delicious. I ordered the Chicken Bryan, which was grilled chicken with about an inch of goat cheese, basil, and sundried tomatoes. Amazing. Josh ordered a trio plate which came with Chicken Bryan, Sirloin Marsala, and Fettucine Alfredo. And for dessert, a butter cake with whipped topping, bananas, pineapple, and a strawberry for me, and chocolate chip cannolis for Josh. Can't wait to go there again! For Josh's present, he has been dying to go to the American Le Mans/Indy Car races in Baltimore for Labor Day weekend, but we have had a lot of housing expenses lately so I told him it wouldn't be possible, maybe next year. So I surprised him by writing in his card that I had purchased the tickets and we'll be taking a little weekend getaway at the end of August for the race as a late anniversary celebration!

 

I still can't believe it's been 5 years since we got married. Some days it feels like it was just yesterday, then other days it feels like it was another lifetime! We've been together nearly 11 years, but so mch has happened since our wedding day! Buying a house, living together for the first time ever, getting our dogs, changing jobs....but in the end, even though we've had our ups and downs, there is no one I'd rather go through each day of my life with! Here are pictures of us throughout the years as a couple, super embarrassing haha! There are also just a few of the pictures from our wedding day, I need to see if I can get a CD with all the professional pictures on it since I don't have too many digital pictures from that day. Looking back, I wish I'd taken more but I was a little busy ;)

 

    

 

 

Sunday Social

Best summer memory as a kid? We didn't go on a whole lot of vacations or getaways when I was a kid, but since we only lived 5 minutes from Kings Dominion, we did go there a lot. I also remember going to Colonial Beach quite a few times with my best friend Regina (Reg), and I remember my favorite visit when we walked up to the McDonald's in town to get McFlurries....I can't believe we did that alone, I think we were only in 4th grade or so...well, maybe middle school by that point, and we nearly killed ourselves running across this incredibly busy 4-light intersection. Then we would spend forever browsing the makeup section, and walk around with our "emergency bags"....these little evening purses I had gotten us that we would keep body spray and powder and lip gloss in, in case we ever quickly needed to make ourselves look and smell good LOL.

Favorite summer drink? I pretty much only drink water, but I do love frozen lemonades, the kind that are slightly slushy, not completely frozen, and I also love pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris.

Favorite summer TV show? I don't watch any shows that only come out in the summer, I tend to DVR shows all year long. I admit that I watch a lot of reality TV, mainly Married to Jonas and Keeping Up with the Kardashians (as much as I trash them, but it's like a train wreck, I can't look away). I also really like The Lying Game on ABC Family. Josh and I tend to buy shows on DVD and watch them that way, so we don't have to wait a week for a new episode. Right now we're re-watching all the seasons of 24 since they are coming up with a 24 miniseries next May.

Best outdoor summer activity? I love going to baseball games in the summer, and walking around DC. We walk everywhere when it's nice out, so I really enjoy that, and we're trying to start riding our bikes soon, we bought them last Fall but haven't had a chance to ride them yet. And just sitting outside at a nice restaurant on the patio, enjoying the summer evening air.

Summer vacation essentials? Cute swimsuit, lots of shorts and tank tops, a good book and/or trashy magazines, and SUNSCREEN! Also a nice pair of sunglasses.

High Five 4 Friday (on Saturday, oops)

Friday is finally here! Okay technically it's Saturday so Friday has come and gone, but I will still link up with Lauren for this past week and this upcoming weekend!

1. Yesterday was our 5-year wedding anniversary, so Josh and I have been remembering our honeymoon at Disney World by watching Disney movies all week. We have a lot though, so it may be a month of Disney movies instead of a week!

2. We had a delicious anniversary dinner at Carrabba's Italian restaurant last night, I've only been there once and it was back in 2006 I believe, so I was really excited to go back!

3. I got my haircut today for the first time in 4 years...aside from the occasional half an inch trim at Hair Cuttery while Josh gets hair cut, I haven't had an actual cut since March 2009. I already miss my long hair (picture below) but getting up at 4am every morning means my hair immediately goes in a ponytail so I can be at work on time! This will be much less maintenance, and let's face it, less money on shampoo and conditioner!

4. My babies have been so good this week! It's been a weird week weather-wise (say that 3 times fast!) but on the rare days it hasn't been raining, they've been outside enjoying the sunshine:

5. Watching Mary Poppins as I'm typing this....haven't seen this movie in so long! Josh has never seen it, I thought he'd like it but he's passed out asleep next to me on the couch so he must not be too impressed!

From First To Last

Linking up with Hallie & Halie for From First to Last!

1. First thing I do when I get to work: First thing I do when I get to work is log into my computer, and see who is online...usually it's my friend Stephanie. Talk to her for awhile, check my email, and log into all the websites I need for the day!

2. First vacation without my parents: The first vacation I ever took without my parents was to Disney World with my best friend Regina, and her sister, her sister's friend, her mom, and her mom's friend. Technically I had gone away to Colonial Beach for weekends with Reg, without my parents, but this was the first actual vacation that lasted more than just a weekend! We were there for about 12 days I believe, and had so much fun! Unfortunately I was only 12 and didn't really appreciate having memories of things so I took very few pictures, and of course back then there weren't digital cameras so I don't have the pictures on here to share, but we had a great time. My favorite part was going to the Everglades and going out in a little boat to feed the alligators!!

Sunday Social....on Tuesday

Linking up with Neely for this week's Sunday Social!

1. What is your favorite kind of surprise? I love thoughtful little gifts, like the kind of thing someone might see while they are out and think of me. When I'm out shopping or running errands, and I see something that has to do with my husband, like anything Kansas City Chiefs-related or his favorite kind of candy, I'll pick it up for him just to let him know I was thinking of him while I was out. I also like surprise activities, like when my husband took me to Harper's Ferry when the leaves were changing because that's my favorite time of year.

2. Flowers or chocolate? Definitely chocolate (unless I'm dieting!)...I have a huge sweet tooth, and flowers die which depresses me lol. But I have gotten flowers on 2 separate occasions, once from Josh delivered to my job in college, and once from my best friend, and I loved getting those! So flowers for special holidays, like an anniversary, or even just because are always nice!

Flowers from Josh back in 2006:

3. What is your favorite summertime activity? I love being able to walk places when it's nice out. Josh and I walk nearly everywhere in the Spring and Summer; any time we go to lunch or the store or basically anywhere in town, we walk from our house which is nice. We like to go to Washington Nationals baseball games as well, and just hang out in DC!

At Nationals stadium last year:

4. Do you have any vacations planned this summer? I do but I can't say because it's a surprise! I will update after the vacation though :)

5. Favorite summer holiday? Well....technically the 4th of July is the only summer holiday, I think! Memorial Day is in the Spring....I guess Labor Day is in the summer, but that always meant the last day of vacation as a kid before school started, so that's no fun. So we will go with the 4th of July, which is also my dad's birthday!

4th of July at Maymont with my family last year:

6. Dream vacation? No matter how many times I go to Disney World, I will never get tired of it. But a dream vacation to a place I haven't been? Probably either Hawaii, or Italy. I would LOVE to go to Italy, so that would probably be #1 on my list. Plus Josh is Italian and has always wanted to go, so I think we would have a really great time.

Morgan's Sports Banquet

It's her last year at her current school, but this has been the first year that Morgan has played a sport. Well, in 4th grade (I think 4th) she did cheerleading for a year but other than that, she has mainly just focused on being in the National Honor Choir. But the coach of the girls' soccer team needed another player, so he kind of roped Morgan into joining. I don't know how much she enjoyed the actual playing part of it, but I think she really liked being part of the team. Last night the Athletic department held their yearly sports banquet, which we thought was just going to be a quick ceremony but actually turned out to be a pretty nice get-together. It started with a buffet-style dinner being served, and then Kaitlyn Maher, an adorable little girl who has apparently been on several Disney shows, sang a few songs (appropriately Christian since it's a private Christian school), and after that, they had a guest speaker who ended up being Kirk Cousins from the Washington Redskins. I'm a huge Cowboys fan but I was still kind of starstruck lol. Don't get me wrong, he's no Tony Romo of course, but still a good-looking quarterback! After he spoke, they went through each of the sports and gave the athletes their certificates and trophies! It was so cute listening to everyone cheer each time someone's name was called, and to holler at all the different pictures being shown on the slideshow!

Morgan with her soccer team:

Kirk Cousins giving his speech:

Her coaches:

Getting her certificate...she moved so fast the picture is blurry!

Getting her trophy:

Posing with her trophy: