It's your birthday, shout HOORAY!

I LOVE celebrating birthdays! Truly. Not just my own birthdays, but I love celebrating other peoples birthdays too. Probably because it means I get to go shopping for gifts.

juC's birthday was Saturday, and I have to admit, one of the reasons I was so excited about his birthday was that I'd finally get to use the Happy Birthday banner my favorite Canadian friend, Shelley, made us!!

Isn't it great?? Thanks again, Shelley!!

Being the impatient person that I am, juC got to open his presents in the morning. How could I possibly wait all day long before giving him his presents??

I went all out for juC this year.A super fancy alarm clock. It shows the inside and outside temperature, has soothing sounds, and even projects the time onto the wall if you so choose. Only the best for my man.

And no birthday is complete with out some kind of new apparel. And since it's only the best for my man, he didn't get one new pair of shorts, he got TWO!!

The best gift juC got was a new suit. Which I unfortunately don't have a picture of him wearing. It's a shame too, cause he looks goooOOOOoooood in his new suit. Just ask him, he'll tell you.

And I have a feeling that with his new suit, juC's 32nd year will be his best.

Bring on the cheese!

Yesterday I planned to do a nice woah-mantic post for our wedding anniversary. But all of my plans for the day were ruined when I ended up spending most of the day at the ER. Everything is fine now, but I can't not do a post about our anniversary.

Every day my husband reminds me what a great husband he is and what a great choice I made. He doesn't just love me, but his actions show me that he loves me. I can't help but feel unbelievably blessed for the opportunity to spend eternity with such an amazing husband!

I couldn't ask for a better best friend, provider, father of my children, nurse, or handy man. Our wedding day was truely the most woah-mantic day of my life!

it ain't no lie

My husband is amazing for many reasons. But there is one reason in particular that has reminded me of how amazing he is recently. His ability to read my mind when it comes to food. (The most important thing if you ask me.)

Over the last several weeks it has happened probably once a week. It all started one day when he called when he was about to leave work to ask if he needed to pick anything up. I told him it would be great if he'd pick up dinner. I'd been craving a particular place ALL DAY and was waiting for him to call so I could ask him to get it.

He calls, I tell him I want him to pick up...ummm....ummmm...ummm....How is it that I was thinking of the place ALL DAY and now that he's on the phone I can't think of it. But no worries. "Boston Market?" he asks.

YES!

It doesn't end there folks. A couple of weeks ago he went to a church meeting in the evening. From the moment he left I was thinking "I sure would love a hot fudge sundae from McDonalds." I sat and waited, and waited, and waited. For two whole hours I hoped he'd know. Or if he didn't know, that he'd call to ask me if I wanted something before he came home. 20 minutes after his meeting was scheduled to end, he walked through the door. I heard the rustling of a paper bag, and I knew immediately what it was. My beloved hot fudge sundae!

YES!

But it doesn't even end there! For most of the day today I was planning on having left overs for dinner. But the last few hours, I was thinking about the left overs we have and for some reason it just didn't sound appealing to me in any way. But I was thinking of something that sounded SO good!

Like the great husband juC is, he called when he was leaving work to ask if he needed to pick anything up. I quietly asked if he'd get dinner. If I ask quietly, it makes it ok. To which he said "What would you like from Pei Wei?"

HOW!? How does he do it??

He claims that it's because he's my soul mate. I can live with that answer. But I still think it's due to the fact that he's amazing!

My most favorite thing to see in the whole entire world

Spring it on!

There are some things I'm really good at. Like eating. I'm excellent at eating. And watching tv. I can watch tv with the best of them! Sleeping is another thing I could win a trophy for. Give me a place to lay my head and I sleep like a pro.

But of course there are things I'm not so good at. Like gardening. But perhaps it's not so much that I'm not good at gardening as much is that it's I'm not good at wanting to garden. Shortly after moving into our house, I decided to spruce up or front yard.

I took it from this:

To this:

I was proud of myself, but because of the 17 million hours it took me to do it while being about 5 months pregnant, I vowed to never plant anything AGAIN! Digging in our yard is about like digging through cement. It's so hard. "Never ever ever again!" I said.

...That was until last spring, when I complimented my neighbor on the beautiful flowers in her front yard and she said "Oh, those? I just planted bulbs several years ago and they just keep coming back."

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. I'd be willing to plant anything once as long as it took no further work after that and they kept coming back!

So last fall I planted some bulbs. A whole SIX of them. I had already forgotten how cement-y our yard is and how hard it is to dig. 6 was all I could do before I was too tired to continue.

But I looked forward to spring, and now it's here and all of the bulbs sprouted, and now we have pretty flowers!

I love spring!

I also love how pretty our tree is in the spring...

I'm just not a fan of the poopy diaper smell these flowers have. Trust me on this one!

today

I never realized how hard it is to be a mother until becoming a mother myself. I have a whole new respect for my mom.





All those times she was cooking dinner and I would get in her way. Every time she'd get something for herself to eat, I'd just have to try some. Every time she'd lay down for a little rest and I'd come in a bug her. All things that I've gotten a small glimpse of and I'm just starting out as a mother.





She had an after school snack waiting for me when I'd come home from school. She made birthdays and holidays special for everyone in the family. She also taught me how to drive. Thanks to her I'm a safe driver who always uses my blinker. Even if I go a little too fast every now and again thanks to my dad's influence.

Because of all the things she put up with and for all of the things she did for me and all of my siblings, today I have to wish her

THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!

April Fools!!

I'm not one for April Fools jokes. It's kind of like Valentines day. Why should we limit love, or fooling, to one day a year?

But this year I made an exception. First I needed to find an easy target. One that would be easily tricked. Little JT seemed like the most gullible, so I set my sights on him and put my plan in motion.

We woke up that morning, had some breakfast. And then I said "Let's go to the park!" And I didn't mean just any old park. I meant Clemyjontri!

So we got dressed, and I loaded us up in the car. We had a 30 minute voyage ahead of us!

I got on the toll road, which cost me $4.15 to get on, and then another $1.00 to get off. Then we drove to the park and it was completely crowded. Nary a parking space to be found, unless we parked down the road and hiked up to the park. I told little JT to worry not, we'll go to another park.

I pulled out my GPS and looked up parks. I picked a random park and my trusty GPS guided me there....to a little patch of grass the size of my half bathroom on a dead end in a random neighborhood. Sweet! By this time he was done with being in the car, and I was done with him being done being in the car. After over an hour of driving, it was just time for us to head home.

So back home we go. Another few dollars to get us home on the toll road, we arrived at home just in time for lunch.

"APRIL FOOLS!" I said! I totally tricked him. He totally thought we were going to the park!

Or was it the universe playing an April Fools Day joke on me!?

Last ditch effort

Easter is this Sunday, and I still feel my decorations are inadequate. So I stole this idea from this blog.

I didn't have a large glass jar with a lid, but I did find a large glass vase at the thrift store yesterday for only $1.50. The very cheap plastic Easter eggs cost more than the vase!

And viola! An Easter centerpiece.

Odds are high that I'll make a trip to JoAnn's to buy some super cute eggs on sale to use for next year.

I can't stop--edited

(I had to edit and and one more picture)

Hi, my name is AniC, and I'm an antiqueaholic. The real problem is, I don't want to stop. I want to antique shop every minute of every day. But I can't, so I pretty much stick to weekends. And this past Saturday was a great day for antique shopping. Mostly because I got to buy something I've been wanting for a long LONG time!

Let me start from the beginning

Thursday night I went with my friend Marci to an antique sale that we found out about. It only happens one weekend a month and I felt like an insider being there. I came across an amazing vanity, and told my friend about how badly I want one, but I figured it wasn't going to happen.

Saturday I somehow managed to convince juC that we should go back to the antique sale. So we went back and I showed juC the vanity that I loved. Much surprise and amazement, juC was on board with me buying it!! And now it's home is our bedroom!

(Why yes, that is my house coat you see reflected in the mirror!)

I honestly LOVE this thing! If I could, I'd just sit at it all day. Not because I could stare at 3 of me at once, but to stare at all of these beautiful details.

I love the little details so much, and feel like they are so important, that I spent some time this morning going out and getting my own little details for the vanity. Starting with this.

I went to my favorite store JoAnn's (for some Easter eggs which I will post about in just a moment.) I LOVE JoAnn's. And I love that this jewelry box was on sale for less than $5 so that I could convert it into a make up box. Why not use it as a jewelry box? Because I've had my eyes on this at Marshalls and have been waiting to have to perfect place to put it before buying it for my jewelry.I would say I have the PERFECT place to put it now.

And one other small detail:

I also bought this at JoAnn's...several months ago. I knew I'd need it soon. It's the perfect place to put my hair products while keeping the focus on the vanity.
Seriously folks, this vanity is a dream come true. Call me crazy if you must, but it's the things like this that keeps me happy, when other things, like the government taking control of health care, get me down.

Moving along....
I last posted about my lack of Easter decor. My favorite German living friend said "In Germany they take branches (pretty, delicate and interesting ones, not huge ones) and set them in a vase and hang painted eggs from them." I thought this sounded like a wonderful idea.

And since she also said in her comment, "I have always wanted to do that, but not sure if I will get around to it this year. I usually live my holiday decorating dreams through you anyway..." I didn't want to let her down. So I decided to give the branch-egg-vase idea a try. Of course using the vase that she gave me and the Easter eggs I bought from JoAnn's this morning.
I really have to give a shout out to JoAnn's. I go there any time I need decorations. Their Easter stuff is already 50% off. A package of 10 of these eggs was $2.50
I do have to say, I'm a fan of the branch-egg-vase thing. Although I should have probably taken more time to find better branches, I think it's great. Thanks for the tip, Meg!

tweet tweet

I LOVE decorating for holidays. I bought this last summer from Home Goods (for only 5 buckaroo's) when my sister LoW was here visiting with her family and she and I had a girls night.

Isn't it the cutest? It's my most beloved Easter decor. Perhaps because I only have 2 Easter decorations. Am I the only one that loves decorating for holidays but doesn't have enough decorations?

I think it's time for little JT and I to head out and get some more. Shhhhh! Don't tell juC!!

progress

We have been home owners for 2 years. 2 years, and we still aren't done decorating, painting, and fixing. Maybe in another 2 years we'll be done?

But recent progress has been made.


When I was down in SC a week earlier than juC, he finally painted our stairwell. Which means we finally put these pictures up, instead of having them just rest atop the entertainment center in our living room. Now when you stroll upstairs, you can feast your eyes upon our family. Just know The Wall o' Eternal Love is still a work in progress.

I will also let you in on a little secret. Post cards. Vintage post cards. They are my FAVORITE thing to buy at antique stores. When we were down in SC I got these that now adorn my living room entertainment center. The dates stamped on the back from when the people sent them are 1910 and 1911! The one on the right is inviting the girl it is written to on a picnic July 20th.A while back, I found these in Virginia, but they are drawings of Charleston.They adorn my most beloved newest addition.My antique mantel. It is the most perfectest addition to our dining room. We bought it a few weeks ago, just finally mounted it Saturday, and I've rearranged the things on there about 5 million times. But I'll get it figured out eventually.

I'm definitely thinking no more than 2 years and we'll finally be done decorating, painting, and fixing our house.

And that's how it's done.

Up until recently, I always told juC that I am a woman that needs to be wooed. Even though we are married, I still want the wooing to continue. No matter how much I tried to explain how he could do it, I realized that I just needed to show him by example. So back in January when we decided to go down to S.C. in February, I put a plan in motion.

The plan: to have a romantic overnight date in Charleston with juC with out him having any idea.

For Valentine's Day I gave him a card saying that "due to circumstances beyond my control", he wouldn't be getting his present, but he'd get it at a later date. He assumed that the "circumstances beyond my control" was all the snow we'd gotten that made it very difficult for me to get to the store to buy something. He didn't know that the "circumstances beyond my control" was actually the fact that we weren't going to be in S.C. until later in the month.

I talked to my mom and sister, and they agreed to watch little JT. This would be the first time we'd be leaving him overnight.

My sister-in-law was kind enough to get us a room at the hotel she used to work at. I made reservations at a fancy restaurant in downtown Charleston. I plotted and planned. I wanted him to have no idea we were going overnight until we were already gone on our date. I packed a bag of clothes, toothbrushes, contact solution, and other things and managed to get it hidden in the car with out him having a clue.

So last Saturday we left for our "day date" to Charleston. For all juC knew, we'd be back at my parents house by 6. While we were eating lunch, I gave him a card informing him of my devious plan. I was going to wait until later in the date, but I was just too excited to keep it a secret any longer. He was most definitely surprised!

After lunch, we went shopping. (Every good, romantic date involves shopping.) Then we went to our hotel to get gussied up. We went to downtown Charleston and swung on the big swings at Waterfront Park.

Then we walked around downtown and checked out all of the old buildings and churches. (My favorite part of downtown Charleston)My feet were sufficiently hurting by this point, since I made the mistake of wearing high heeled boots, so it was a good thing it was time for dinner at this place.The food was AMAZING, and the massive creme brulee I got for dessert was even more AMAZING. And the fact that I ate it all by myself was even more AMAZING!

We definitely enjoyed the time to ourselves and getting a good nights sleep with out having to worry if we heard the baby crying. Little JT enjoyed his time with out us too, I think. I just wish that when juC and I got home the next day that little JT didn't run straight past me to his daddy. I guess we know who he loves more.

And now juC knows how wooing is done.

Woah!

The day of loooOOOOOoooove is almst upon us. Which means I still have a little time to share some of the things I love about juC.

juC isn't the best at planning romantic dates and such. It's ok. I just plan them and then give him a hard time for not planning them himself. But the thing that I love is that he's a good sport about the things I plan. I mean, he's surely not super excited about going on a house tour of an old mansion at night, but he does it happily anyways.

We've been able to go on a lot of dates lately. The house tour date was particularly romantic. It's like "Woah, this is romantic." Thus becoming "woahmantic". We went to the house tour, then went and ate at Red Hot and Blue, then did some Christmas shopping. See? Can't get more woahmantic than that.

So as this Valentines Day approaches, I encourage all of you to plan something woahmantic for your loved one. (juC)

I've also been thinking a lot about our love story, since my sister LoW posted hers.

So here is a condensed version of ours:

I first eyed juC in 2003, and I didn't know if he was just off a mission or pre-mission. He was driving a grandpa car that I was sure he must be borrowing from his dad to get around. And he looked young, so it was hard to know.

My assumptions were wrong. He'd just graduated college, and it was in fact, his car. I had my eye on him, but I was dating someone else.

Then I got engaged. Then that ended.

I dated around a little bit, until I finally got the opportunity to talk to juC, the guy I'd been eyeing for a while. I'd wanted to talk to him many times, but chickened out. So when I had the chance to do it online (in the year 2005, about 2 years after first eyeing him), I took the (lame) opportunity. Following the online introduction, I saw him at church and spoke to him. Then he finally responded to my online introduction.

We emailed back and forth for a couple weeks. Then we spent some time together at a Halloween dance, where we had our first dance together.

The next night we had our first date. We made cookies then went to a movie.

I invited him one time to go to a place called Great Falls Park, but he couldn't. Then the next week, he invited me to go. It really was woahmantic. We ended up spending the entire day together. First the park, then dinner, then going to a church activity, then watching a movie at his apartment. It was at that point that I knew he must like me. He even held my hand for about 5 mintues during the movie.

A month and a half later we had our first kiss. As little as it was I thought it was sweet that he was so nervous about it.

We broke up 4 months after our first date. And continued to break up and get back together for the next year. We were super mature.

Then in January of 2007 we decided to get married. He proposed in February, and we got married in May.

And now we are currently living happily ever after.

Thus concludes the super condensed woahmantic version of our love story.

heart

As this month of loooOOOOoove continues, I was reminded of how I truly feel about this "holiday" by Cindy.

I remember her exact reference in the comments of my last post. It was 9 years ago that I became very bitter about the day known as Valentines Day. I referred to it as Satan's Day. My opinion of that still hasn't really changed. Any day is set up to be celebrated only by couples has to be of the Devil. I mean, c'mon, there are lots of holidays that make single people sad that they don't have a special someone to share it with. Why did the greeting card people have to come up with a made up holiday to make it even worse?

So although I still think of it as Satan's Day, I can't help but be happy that I now have an eternal Valentine to share it with.

Now...for my craft idea. After I made the Valentine card I posted about last, I first thought "Oh, this would be cute framed!" But late at night, when all the world was sleeping and my head wouldn't stop working, I thought "OH, I should paint a canvas and do it on there!!"

And so I did...

twice.

Ok, maybe it wasn't all that creative, but I still think they're cute.

I love them. And I want to do more.

Now to continue on with the things I love about my eternal Valentine.

Home boy is more patient with me than I could have ever imagined anyone could be patient with someone. I love that he deals with me so kindly. I love that he accepts my craziness with an extreme amount of patience. I'm convinced he was the one and only guy in the world that had enough patience to survive being married to me.

So number 2, he's patient with me beyond what I deserve. For that I am grateful!

el oh vee ee

Today I am in charge of an activity at church with the 8 and 9 year old girls. I do this twice a month and have been doing it for about a year now. It's been a huge struggle for me, but I feel like maybe I'm finally getting into the grove.

While looking up ideas, I stumbled upon homemade Valentine's card. One of which looked something like this

I made this last night, and while I was laying in bed, unable to fall asleep, this idea inspired another idea of a Valentines decoration. Stay tuned to see if I do it, and if it is as cute as it is in my head.

Another idea I found that we'll making today at our activity is this.

It's a sugar scrub that I found here on this blog.

I made a trial one last night and gave it a try this morning. My hands are silky smooth.

And since it is February, the supposed month of loooOOOOooove, I thought I'd spend some time talking about my eternal Valentine. and the things I love about him.

For the past few months, I've loved his beard. I especially loved when we got our Wii and I got to create his Mii and the opportunity it gave me to give his Mii a beard.

A red beard! (Although in this picture part of the beard looks kind of blonde) The resemblance is amazing isn't it?!

The best part about his Mii is that when I'm at home and missing juC, all I have to do is turn on the Wii, and it's like he's right here at home with me, cheering me on when I bowl.

So number 1 on the list of things I love bout juC is his beard...and his Mii.