oh dear....

So, I haven't written a blog in a loooooooooooooooong time.

A really, really, really long time.

It's not like I haven't had time. Because I have. While I've been at work.

I've had stuff to write about. I just haven't done anything about it.

I'm a slacker. That's all there is to that.

Just to catch you up to speed, a little over five months ago, I married my sweet husband Lincoln and I quit my job in Kansas City to move back to Hiawatha where we both grew up.  I started a new job and we moved into the house that he owned in Hiawatha.

We knew that eventually that we'd need a bigger house; it only has one bathroom and two bedrooms.  But for the time being it was just fine for us.  We started looking at houses though in case something lovely caught our eye.

We put an offer in on one and didn't get it because the sellers wouldn't budge on their price. Uh, hello, seller? Your house has been on the market for a year without an offer and you won't negotiate? FINE. Oh, and also your house needs a lot of work.

Then, our realtor called with a house that wasn't listed on the market and asked if we'd want to look at it. I was open to it and when she told me what house it was, I was beyond excited. 

This house has always been my favorite house in town.  I've only just driven by, but just from the outside I knew that I would love it. Lincoln told me that he didn't think he'd like it because it was so old....

We looked at it and we both loved it!  We decided to put an offer in on it and the sellers took our offer.  They didn't think that they'd get an offer so quickly, so they were scrambling trying to figure out where they were going to move to since we'd be moving into their house in a little over a month!

 

The house is 100 years old and it has soooo much space.  Probably way more space than we will ever need, but I don't think we'll ever run out of room to store things....

We move this weekend! Eeeek! 

Our current house is still on the market. Which stinks. But we're hopeful that someone will fall in love with it and want to make it their own. We've only had it on the market for a couple of weeks, so not much time at all, especially for our small community.

In addition to buying a house and moving, I quit my job and I start a new one on Tuesday. What the hell am I thinking?!

Nothing like owning three homes in a year, moving twice and having two new jobs in a matter of five months...I like to keep things interesting.

The job that I had when I moved just wasn't for me. I was very unhappy when I'd come home from work and decided to do something about it. I was lucky enough to have a new job opportunity fall into my lap.

Hopefully after all of these changes--moving and job switching--we'll have some time to get settled for awhile.  I think Laila is super confused on why we're packing boxes again so soon...hopefully this is our last move for a very long time!

awkward is...

Explaining to your parents friends what a moose knuckle is.

(one of) my best-friend's wedding(s)

My good pal, Trish, got married a couple of weekends ago.  Everything was gorgeous and it was a steamy June night out at Lake Quivira Country Club.

The Country Club sits along a lake so, of course, we took pontoons in for our grand entrance.  Everything was going well until I got off the boat to get a glass of wine.

As soon as I took a sip, something didn't feel quite right.

You know that feeling you get right before you barf your brains out? I had that kind of feeling.

We made our way inside and I cooled off a little bit.  It was just about time to eat and the feeling came back except this time, it was for real and it was coming on FAST!

Luckily I made it to the bathroom in time to hang out with my BFF for the night, the toilet.  (Later in the evening I would not be so lucky...)

I felt so much better and thought that I was ready to eat! Puke and rally!!

That idea was short-lived as I found myself in the bathroom more often than not as the night wore on.  I was finally convinced to go home; I apparently looked like death, my hair and make-up were all over the place, I'm sure my breath was horrendous, and I could barely walk because anytime I would stand for more than a minute, I would feel like puking.

I said my good-byes and was making my way down a long staircase when all of the sudden the puking-feeling came over me yet again. 

I tried to make it to the bottom of the staircase in time to where I could at least get outside, but that didn't happen...I puked in my hands and all over my bridesmaids dress!  Not only that, but multiple people watched this happen.  Thankfully there was a trashcan at the bottom of the stairs that I was able to kind-of make it to...and at this point, most of what I was throwing up was water.

I'm sure most of the people that checked on me in the bathroom thought that I was that drunk girl that had too much to drink by 6:00pm, but I'd had one beer prior to puking...  I also got multiple questions about morning sickness.  Um, no. Not preggo yet.  And honestly if morning sickness is like that I don't know if I'm up for it! Puking five times in the matter of two hours is not fun.

Whatever I had was gone by Tuesday, praise the Lord.

Luckily (as far as I know) I was the only one that ended up with the sickness and the bride and groom had a fabulous time; congrats Trish and Dan! Wish I could have enjoyed your reception somewhere other than in the bathroom! :)

moving on

Yesterday I packed up the final few boxes of stuff from my house in Kansas City.

While I'm so happy to have my house sold and to have everything moved into our new house; it also feels very surreal.

It's weird that I will never go back to that house or that street to walk into my house again. 

 

I mean, someone new is moving into my house that I owned for over three years. 

Three years doesn't sound like long, but a lot of stuff happened in that house:

It was the first house that I owned.
It was the first time I lived on my own in that house.
I was responsible for ALL of the things that didn't work in that house.
I had to mow the yard and shovel ALL of the snow in that house.

I brought my sweet dog Laila home to that house.
My friends and I shared a lot of laughs in that house.
I hosted many parties, baby and wedding showers in that house.
I fell in love in that house.

 

So while I'm more than happy to have moved on to a new stage in my life; this house was the first of many things for me. 

I'd like to think that I did a lot of growing up in that house.

So long, Shawnee house! I'll miss you!

our wedding

Our wedding was perfect, in a word.

It was everything that I wanted it to be: simple, elegant, and easy; and on top of that, we had the MOST gorgeous day in March.  All week it rained, but on Saturday, the weather was to die for.

Everyone says that something will go wrong on your wedding day.  Luckily, or oddly enough, nothing went wrong...the only thing that I remember going wrong happened the night before at our rehearsal dinner: I forgot my cell phone in my hotel room. 

It was like I was completely lost. 

We ended up getting it (thanks to my BFF, Colleen and her husband, Tyler!) and everything went fine, but honestly, that was the only stress I had all weekend!

Planning our wedding was a breeze.  Honestly, I planned most of it the month after we got engaged and after that, I only had a few minor things to work on here and there. I knew what vendors I wanted to work with, I knew how I wanted things to look, and I knew all of the work I needed to do. 

I've planned weddings for friends in the past, so doing my own was a walk in the park!

Friends and family kept asking what they could do to help and were confused when I said I didn't think I needed any help...on top of planning our wedding, I was also in the middle of planning a huge fundraiser, selling my house, moving, and trying to find a new job.  So I had a few things on my plate to say the least! 

Luckily, all of the vendors that I chose to work with made our day super easy!

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite wedding pictures!

Skyline salon is amazing.  Not only is the location and view awesome, but the staff is so great.  We brought in mimosa's that morning and then they served us lunch all while getting primped and pampered.

Lincoln sent me my favorite, an edible arrangement to snack on while we were getting ready!

The view while you're getting your hair done...(oh, and those are my shoes)

 

The Old Mission Church in Fairway that we got married at was BEAUTIFUL

Our first look :)

I think we had the best looking wedding party ever. Duh.

My parents and my sister and her cute fam; isn't Mason growing like a weed!

Lincoln's parents

My cute Grandpa!

Most of our nieces and nephews posing before the wedding; aren't they cute?!

My Besties from Grade School (and before!) that helped me on the day of the wedding (and before!)

My other BFF's from college!

Our rings. Just hangin' out on a tree branch.

My dad walking me down the aisle. 

This would be where I didn't hear the minister whisper that we were supposed to kiss...so I just stood there like a dork while Lincoln was waiting for me to give him a smooch.  Oh well, it made for some laughs during the ceremony!

Our sweet ride...

Our florist was amazing.  She not only captured what I wanted the reception site to look like to a T, but she flew in peonies from another country so that I would have some for my bouquet.  I can not say enough good stuff about Rosemary at Final Touch Studios!

You guys, the food at our reception was SO GOOD.  Californos knows how to throw a party. All of our guests for days and weeks after our reception keep talking about how good the food was.  One friend had five plates.  Yes, it's a guy, and he's also super skinny. It's not fair.

We had a photo booth that produced some hilarious pictures and a table set up with pictures from pretty much all of our immediate families weddings.

 

One of my BFF's, Monica made our delicious cake!

We're married!

The Mikey Needleman Band performed at the reception; if you're in the KC area you HAVE to book them.  They're so fun!

 

Lincoln's dad busted some moves on the dance floor with the grand kids!

 

 

My mom tore up the dance floor, too.

 And then I rapped to Vanilla Ice on the microphone

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you'll know that getting a microphone at a wedding is pretty common for me, remember?!

Theta sisters!

My most favorite picture of the whole wedding:

I guess he didn't like the champagne?

Finally, last but not least, our AMAZING photographer Amanda Eaton of Amanda Eaton Photography was so great to work with.  She captured every inch of our day and I couldn't have been more pleased with our wedding pictures.  Seriously, if you're looking for a photographer, you must look her up!

 

bath time?

Last night while brushing my teeth, I turned around in the bathroom to see this:

Is it weird that she loves bath time?

Probably, huh?

I think she had also emptied her water bowl and was looking for water.  What a weirdo.

A little later, I walked into our bedroom and found this cute pair all curled up together:

Sometimes I swear she is half human.

omg, dad.

My dad is crazy.  Good crazy.  But still, crazy.

I think I've talked before about how he has twitter...he likes to post recipes, farming advice, and in general, make weird comments.  He says he does it to get a reaction from people.

A post that he put up last night is getting reactions from people:

Seriously? Nice erection? 

Here's the picture; I'm not flipping it around because this is how he posted it to Facebook:

I now get emails and Facebook messages from friends saying things like this:

Or this:

Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on who you ask), these comments and this blog will only encourage him to post similar things.  Oh, dad....