Happy Thanksgiving and Shout out to DT!

So, I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving, except for loving all of my mom's food and seeing and spending time with family, but for most of my life, Christmas has ranked higher in the world of favorite holidays (I mean good food, family, AND presents, why wouldn't it rank higher??).  For several years now, my sweet dad has always said that Thanksgiving was his favorite and that Christmas had become too commercialized and people had lost sight of the true Reason for the Season.  Honestly, I chocked it up to him being older and wiser and not caring as much about presents anymore.  Pretty foolish, I know.  Well for some reason, today it hit me.  Probably because of the "Fax of Life" e-mail that Dad forwarded to all of us kids and kids-in-law today, which he does sometimes when he feels it is a particularly good thought that he wants us to think about (Fax of Life is an e-mail newsletter/thought for the day kind of thing that he subscribes to, usually pertaining in some way to religious beliefs).  It's these little things, personalized with his own little message to all of us that really show me what a wonderful man my dad is and his heart for God that makes me so blessed and thankful that I've had him as an example to lead me all of my life.  

The gist of the "Fax" today was that the Thanksgiving holiday has luckily remained just that, a day of giving thanks for all of the blessings that we have been so lucky to receive.  Even when the next day is all about finding the best deals and starts the Christmas rush and when gift giving can get lost in the shuffle of gift getting (in my case anyway), the fourth Thursday in November is always set aside for us to stop and give thanks for everything we have and to enjoy the blessings of family and food especially, not to mention, tons of it!

So, this is me, taking the time to think more about what a great holiday Thanksgiving is and to mention to all of those that do and don't know my dad, that he is pretty awesome and that I understand a little more now why he loves this day more than any other holiday.  If you're reading DT, I love you more than I tell you and I am so thankful for you!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I pray that you all are blessed and thankful for the food and family you will enjoy wherever you are!

We're buying a house!

Here it is! <--(click it, or you can see it on Realtracs MLS # 999703)

Let us know what you think! we'd love to have everyone over for a house-warming party very soon!

I'm convinced God has a great sense of humor

And he is laughing at me. This morning Rusty and I were passing out free breakfast at a local apartment complex. We were there to get some names and numbers to possibly quote renters insurance and other things.

One lady drives up in some Vanderbilt Medical scrubs. We started talking and I asked her if she would like some breakfast (Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and a juice box) and she said:

Lady: "No, I can't eat or I will fall asleep at work."
Me: "Well, we can't have that. You need to stay awake so you can be a good nurse."
Lady: "Actually, I'm a doctor."

I also got a mother's name and as she was driving off I said "Have a good day Tiffany" and her name was Kimberly.

I could also tell you the story of me rear-ending a lawyer, and also rear-ending a police officer...but I think you get the picture. There's also the father-daughter dance at Katie and I's wedding, but again, you get the point.

On a serious note, please continue to keep my sweet sister in your prayers. She's still at Baptist Hospital, being observed on medicine. Hopefully she can stay as long as possible, and keep that baby in her belly!

Congrats Andrew and Laura!

Welcome Evie Jane Stacy to the world. Laura and Andrew became parents last night in Memphis, and we're so happy for them. Look at that hair!


If you were at our wedding, you may remember from his memorable approach to the dance floor. If you weren't at our wedding, where were you? Seriously?!?! You would rather do that than come to our wedding?

A lesson in Frugality

Katie and I have been on a money-saving tear lately (except for buying a new car.....whoops) and it all started with a little tip from the Nunley. We were at their house and talking about Comcast and how expensive they are, and he told me that you can just call them and ask for a lower monthly bill, and they will do it.

At first, I was a little skeptical. But after some internet research, the approach was proving itself to work for others. So, unless you like paying more money than you should, you should pick up the phone and call your cable provider and ask for lower rates.

The way I did it was this:
- Call Comcast (either the local number or the toll-free 800 number)
- From there, I would recommend going into the "If you want to cancel service...."
The reps that answer the phone in that department are usually going to offer you more to keep your business with Comcast.
- Once they answered, I basically told them I thought I was paying too much and was thinking about switching companies. After less than 5 minutes of talking about where to trim, we have cut off $34 a month from our bill forever, and they also threw in a $15 credit for the next 6 months. I think they called it a "Customer appreciation" credit.

We lost everything between channels 100 and 200....saved us $16 a month. Sorry Encore, your movies just aren't worth it.
We also downgraded our internet package to something slower and haven't noticed a difference yet.....saved us $18 a month.

$50 bucks a month in our pockets for the next 6 months? I think so. If you have tried this, leave your story in the comments. If you haven't tried it, what are you waiting for?!?!


I think we're on our way....

I think Hell may have frozen over

Because we actually bought a car!  After a long day of looking and thinking and looking some more, we finally did it, we bought a new (to us) car!  I really didn't think this day would ever come, but it finally has.  I really am still in shock that we actually did it, but I'm also very proud of us.  As you all know, we certainly did not enter into this lightly and we took our sweet time deciding on what kind of car to get, how much to spend, and most importantly when we would actually get one.  

We started out this morning around 10:30 and headed to Carmax to look around, test drive a few Pilots, and see how much (if any) money they would give us for Justin's truck.  We were presently surprised by their offer and felt that it would just be easy to sell it to them whether we ended up getting a car from them or not.  We saw a few we liked that actually turned out to be close to our price range once we calculated in the trade-in value, but we still wanted to look elsewhere.  We had seen one at Carsmart, "home of the half-priced car" and wanted to check it out.  So we drove to Hendersonville and were there long enough to find out that somebody else had bought that car early this morning.  They had one other really nice Pilot, but totally out of our price range and the guy we talked to was not even interested in trying to get us to look at it.  It's probably for the best, because we both would have really liked it and could have ended up spending more than we could.  So...we called Joe at Carmax and told him we wanted one there and headed home to get the truck ready to turn in.  Luckily, the bank was accommodating and we were able to go sign the papers to become "slave to the lenders" as Justin called it.  We headed to Carmax and picked up our new ride!  After taking it by the Farmer's and the Joneses' to show it off, we were finally home by 6:00.  Did I mention it was a long day?  

It was a long day, but totally worth it.  We have been blessed with the cars that we've had up to this point (despite a lot of the work that they've needed, they have gotten us to the places we need to be) and we are blessed with good jobs that allow us to be able to get a good quality car that will hopefully take us many, many miles over the years to come.  If you ever need a ride and are in the Nashville area, don't hesitate to ask.  It seats 8!

Yellow Dan

A lot of people have asked about how my sister is doing. First, let me say thank you for all the prayers and concern for her. It's nice to know what there are people out there checking up on us.

She is doing well, despite the circumstances. She was was put on bed rest about 6 weeks ago, and has spent the last 3 or 4 weeks on more of a voluntary bed-rest. They are coming up on 23 weeks and although she still has contractions, they are not as bad and aren't anywhere near as painful.

I would encourage you to hop onto their blog and drop her a comment. She has a laptop and tries to keep in touch with the outside world that way. Oh, Yellow Dan is one of her nicknames from the Mississippi days.

She gave me a nickname in middle school that I was especially fond of: Rat...Thanks again for that one Sis!

Long time no blog...

Well, I finally have a little bit of free time (which I usually have most nights, I just don't spend it blogging) and I wanted to contribute to 'our' blog and update those of you that read it on what's going on in our world from my perspective or point of view as I tell the students in Guidance class.  Speaking of, school is going really well this year.  I am full-time in one school and I think I can actually say I love it.  Maybe not everyday, but today I do.  I still have trouble getting up and actually wanting to go to work every day, but once I'm there, I usually enjoy what I do and I am really excited about that.  Today was a pretty normal day, but tonight we had Open House.  I can't remember the last time I'd been to an open house, but it was really fun to watch how excited the kids were to show off all of their school stuff to their parents.  I was of course waiting in the Guidance classroom for them to come by and surprisingly, LOTS of them came by.  I certainly didn't have time to plan lessons like I thought I would.  But, it was really neat to see the kids and their parents.  I actually enjoy getting to know the parents and it is fun to see why the kids are the way they are :)  The main thing I'm really enjoying about my job is that being in one place all the time is really letting me be able to do my job and be effective.  I think the students and myself missed out on a lot of opportunities to build relationships last year because I was in two places.  Hopefully this year, I'll be able to see some of the benefits of what I am there to help the students with.

Justin's job:  He loves it!  I am really excited for him (he is too, just not as vocal about it as I am) and this opportunity.  He finally has a place that he enjoys going to each day and likes what he is doing.  He is working for a top-notch guy who genuinely cares about Justin AND me and I am just so thankful that Justin has him as a boss and mentor.  We are really looking foward to what the future holds at State Farm.  And, if any of you need any kind of insurance and live in the state of TN, Justin is your guy!

At home, things are moving along as usual.  Maybel keeps us somewhat occupied, but really is an easy going girl and doesn't require much effort which is nice.  We of course are still crazy about her and she probably gets annoyed with us always wanting to love on her while she just wants to sleep.  Oh well, she better get used to it.  She is still spending most of her days over at the Farmers' yard with her boyfriend Maverick.  In case we haven't given them recognition on the blog, we are SO greatful and blessed to have such good friends like the Farmers and for them letting us use their back yard as  doggy daycare for Maybel.  We love you guys!

Car update: Well, we still don't have a newer car...I'm not sure what our plans are, but I sure hope it happens soon.  I am glad that we are not rushing into anything and trying to be smart about it since it is our first time to buy a car for the both of us, but it's getting to be a little annoying, for me anyway.  I'm just ready to get it over with and I'd like to have a car with nice heating by the time the mornings start getting cool.  As always, we'll keep you posted...

Church:  Our church involvement has just grown quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, but we are both really excited about what we'll be doing this year.  We are working with Club 56 (activities with the 5th and 6th graders) again this year.  We did it last year with the Farmers and really enjoyed it.  This year, two other married couples are doing it with us and we are looking forward to getting to know them better while working with the kids too.  We are also helping teach the 6th graders on Sunday mornings.  No, we are not qualified to teach and that is why we are just there to help facilitate.  But, it is a really cool curriculum that helps prepare these crazy pre-teens for the journey they are about to embark on (spiritual and pubescent, yikes!)  I'm actually looking foward to it for the experience it will give me as a counselor and for both of us as parents, hopefully someday.  Our lifegroup is still great as well.  We are so thankful for this group and definitely wouldn't have been able to get as plugged into Otter Creek if we hadn't had it.

I think that pretty much sums it up, sorry I don't have any pictures, I am trying to get better at taking pictures of things we do, but I just haven't uploaded them.  I guess I need to get over the idea in my head that a good blog post has to have pics.  Oh, one more thing, when I'm not blogging, I'm usually taking my free time to read, the Twilight series to be exact.  Any fellow Edward and Bella fans out there?  I'm on to the third book, Eclipse, and I'm loving it.  It's taking me a while b/c I usually fall asleep by the time I can read, but it's so good.  Just wanted to share, if you haven't heard of it and want a good read, I highly recommend it.

Update on the car

Katie and I went to Georgia this weekend to look at a few cars we have been checking out on the internet. The cars we saw weren't that great in person, so we didn't test drive or even go talk to any of the sales people.

We did get a decent loan from US Bank, and when I say we, I mean Katie. That's right, I'm nowhere on the application. It stings a little.

The S-10 and the Accord are still running, so that is a good thing. Its not like we actually need to replace a car yet. We're still looking and our hopes are high.

Our dumb Nation

I borrowed the title of this post from the Onion (so I hope they don't sue me) but that is EXACTLY what the good ole US of A feels like to me right now. Katie and I (mostly Katie) have been trying to get a new car. With our debts all gone away we don't exactly have a lump sum of cash laying around, so that means its car loan time.

Before we get into that, a little background on me....I have never borrowed money. My parents paid for my school out of the money they saved for my college education (for which I am and will be eternally grateful) and I have never had a credit card. So, I am pretty proud of that.

Katie has had school loans (which are gone, see the first paragraph) so she has a credit score, and a good one at that.

To the Loan process, we have applied with 4 different institutions now. Here's the breakdown of them so far:
Regions: Approved (which should be good news) but with a rate of 13.74 flippin percent!!! I almost laughed in the girls face when she told me. When she said she needed to call and check if the rate she was seeing was right, I knew it wasn't good. Regions may be on the way out as our bank of choice.
Suntrust: Declined twice. They have a second lending company they use once Suntrust can't offer a loan.
US Bank: We have applied and are awaiting their decision. We had to take me completely off the application for them to consider the loan. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
State Farm: We are applying with my work (yes, State farm does Auto loans, e-mail me at Justin@rustybragg.com if you're interested in learning more)

I am most upset about this: Someone who is in debt up to their eyeballs but can make a minimum monthly payment is more credit-worthy than someone who has never had to borrow money in their life. How dumb of an idea is that? Who are the Ad Wizards that came up with that? I wish I had this dog's credit score in this instance.

A prayer request

It is almost hard for me to put this into words. My sister is pregnant for the third time, and she has started having problems....again. She is a little over 17 weeks pregnant, and she started having contractions and was put on bed rest on Thursday. They have also found a bacterial infection that my or may not be adding to the pre-term labor symptoms. They are having a boy this time.

Needless to say, this is hard on our family, friends, but most importantly, Blake and Danielle. They are having to ask all the same questions again. So, please lift them up. They need hope and faith during this time of pain.

Thank you all for your love and prayers.

Same old song and dance

Ok, round two. I have my Life, Accident and Health test on Saturday. This week has been much harder, as I have been less motivated to study. But, I have 38+ hours to cram all the info in my large head, and then regurgitate it onto the test. Hopefully it won't be as messy as it sounds.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE #2: I PASSED!!!! (this one was much harder, in my opinion)
On these tests, its a Pass/fail grading system. If you make a 70 or above, you pass. If you fail, they will tell you your actual score.
So, even though I have no statistical proof, I like to think that I made a 98 on the test (because 100 is too arrogant)

By this time tomorrow....

I'll be a certified in Property and Casualty Insurance or not. I really hope I pass this test. I think I studied for entire classes in college classes less than I have for this exam. In fact, I know I did. Just look at my GPA.

Seriously though, please say a prayer for me because I need to pass this test.

Be a good neighbor.


UPDATE: I PASSED! YEAH BABY!

Like a good neighbor......

Justin is there! I got a new job this week, and I am working for State Farm as an Insurance salesman. I found this through a Church classified ad and after a few weeks of background checks and a drug test, I am officially on the State Farm payroll.

I have 2 weeks of licensing classes and tests to pass, but I've heard good things (i.e. they're not too bad) After that, we will be doing some training for another 2 weeks and our doors will open on September 2nd. The agent I will be working for is Rusty Bragg. The website isn't fully up yet, so give it a few weeks. I'll try to get a Glamour shot up soon.

I turned 27 about 2 weeks ago, and it has take ne this long to figure out I don't know how to take a shower. Almost every day last week, I had soap in my right ear. A LOT of soap. It wasn't a little foam, practically my whole ear was filled up. How is that possible? Maybe I'm a little like Zoolander (he couldn't turn left, a.k.a. "not an Ambi-turner") I guess you learn something new about yourself all the time.

And now, a picture of Maybel, her boyfriend Maverick, and Bo, their new friend after a day of digging.



I wonder how the dirt tasted?

What I've been up to this summer...

Well, I've been up to a lot, but most recently I've been traveling - for 3 weeks straight to be exact. I wanted to post about all of my trips and will do so in one way or another, I just decided it would take me forever if I tried to do it all at once. So here is the first installment.

My first trip of the summer was to Otter Creek's Christian Camp as a counselor. I had a blast! I was co-counselors with my wonderul friend Moriah and we had the 7th grade girls. It was a hard week but also very fun and rewarding. Luckily, Mo is a great photographer and she had the better camera, so I didn't even take my camera out once all week. If you want to see pics, she did a very cute, thourough collage on their blog, here.

After camp, I came home for litterally one day and then left Justin and Maybel again (it was very hard after being gone a whole week already) and headed to Orlando, FL to meet my best friend from college, Laura. She and her mom and grandmother always go to Sanible Island, FL for a week in the summer and this year I got to go again (I've been once before when we were both still in grad. school). This year, myself and one of Mimi's (Laura's grandmother) friends, Mary Anne, got to tag along and it was wonderful! Among laying by the pool, reading, relaxing, and playing games, we also took a boat ride to a nearby island and spent some time visiting lots of cute shops and yummy restaurants. We took the boat ride on Tuesday and it took us to a nearby island, Cabbage Key. It's very small and not very populated except for an inn and a restaurant. The restaurant is very cool (not temperature wise though, it was very HOT!). They have a great cheeseburger and legend has it that it is where Jimmy Buffet wrote his famous song Cheeseburger in Paradise. They also have a tradition of everyone who visits leaving a signed dollar bill on the wall or on the ceiling. It was very cool. Other than that, it was just a nice relaxing week at the beach.

So, there are the first two trips, next up...Vacation to Lake Ouachita!

Happy Birthday, America

Everyone be safe out there this weekend. I want to see 10 fingers and 10 toes on all of you.

In honor of the holiday, I give you the genius of Joe Dirt:



Light your hoosker do and hoosker dont's with Caution.

$39,492 and some change.....

AND IT'S PAID OFF!! YEAH!!!
Katie and I just became debt-free over the weekend. And I must tell you, it feels AMAZING! We started paying off the loans about a year ago and through our income, our stimulus check, tax refunds and some very amazing family members and gifts it is done!

With my job change we were a little worried about the progress we had made. We spent a lot time talking to our family about what we should do, and a lot of time in prayer. And God provided a way for us to be free from our concerns.

In other news, Katie is away at church camp this week as a counselor. So, its just a boy and his dog for the next few days. I have been thinking about this music video lately, not sure why. It fits this week in a way, pretty much the only way is that Jake and Maybel are both Labs.



Stay tuned for more news about my week without the wife.

Time for another Maybel post...

It has been a while since I've posted, period, so I felt like it was time to post and time to update you a little on what Maybel has been up to. As you can tell, she has definitely been growing! She keeps getting bigger and bigger and even seems to be catching up with her boyfriend, Maverick. As you can see, she has been playing with Maverick a lot this summer. They love playing outside together in Maverick's yard, since Maybel doesn't have one yet for him to come play in. They also got to cool off a little in a nearby creek and both loved it! They would run and chase after each other and sticks that Justin and Blake would throw for them. It really was so funny to watch them in the water - they couldn't get enough and both would just run right through it as though they were in the grass. They would even put their whole head in the water to try to find a stick they were going after. They were definitely stinky afterwards (and Maybel even hurt her toe) but they had a blast!

Maybel and I have been getting to spend some quality time together since school has been out for me. We usually try to walk in the morning before it gets too unbearably hot, but even by 8 am it is usually pretty rough on both of us. She has also been shedding, A LOT!!! I've heard that she isn't suppossed to shed more during a certain season or time of year, but I really think she is shedding more than she was when it was cooler. I mean, it is everywhere! The picture above is from ONE brushing out of 3 that I did that day. I had probably the same amount after each brushing too. It just keeps coming. I can't imagine how hot she must be with all that hair.

Maybel is generally a very sweet natured dog and really does not do much, but sleep and play whenever we get her going. But lately she has become a little mischevious. Just the other morning, I was watching T.V. and she walked into the guest room where she doesn't usually go unless one of us is in there. She didn't come right back out and I hadn't really heard her do anything, but I was wondering what she was doing in there so I got up to go check out the situation...I looked around and didn't see her, thinking she must have gone to lay in the bathroom (she likes our bathroom rugs for some reason), but I happened to glance over and the little goober had jumped up on the bed and made herself comfy right in the middle of it! I couldn't believe it! I wouldn't have been so surprised, but she really does not jump up on things very often. We are still trying to get her to jump up on her own into the truck so I was really shocked, especially b/c she has never been up on the bed or been allowed to be either. What a mess! She also decided to chew up a Diet Coke box that was left out on the deck along with her while she was drying off from a bath. I guess she got bored and didn't like being out there by herself, so, she found the nearest thing to keep her occupied. I guess maybe she is getting bored just hanging out with me so she is looking for things to bring a little excitement to our time together. Oh well, at least she hasn't done any permanent damage and you can't help but love her when she looks at you with those sweet eyes :) We sure do love that dog and love seeing what she might do that is new and entertaining.

We've been busy already this summer and have several blog posts coming, so stay tuned...

iPod Roulette

I've seen this done on other blogs, so I wanted to introduce you all to it.
Basically, put your iPod (or other music player) on shuffle, and make a note of the first 10 songs that come up. Make no exceptions, no apologies. Hopefully the NSync or Dionne Warwick doesn't come up for you....but its almost a guarantee to have at least 1 song you are ashamed of. So, here we go....

1. Born on the Bayou - Credence Clearwater Revival
Not a bad start, My parents have CCR CD's, so this makes me think of them. John Fogerty is a good songwriter, and was the only reason CCR made it big.

2. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
A nice instrumental piece, I always want to learn to play piano when I hear this. Song makes me think of middle school, because I bought this and listened to it all the time in 6th or 7th grade. One of my first CD purchases (Weezer's Blue Album was the first)

3. Lorelei - STYX
Not my favorite Styx song, but because of their other songs its something I can tolerate.

4. February Stars (from the Skin and Bones live acoustic album) - Foo Fighters
I have recently (in the last 6 months) become a HUGE Foo Fighters fan. I purchased There is Nothing Left to Lose when it came out, but have purchased all their other albums since then and this is a great one. Check it out.

5. The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore - James Morrison
Katie and I heard James on the concert for Diana last summer, and she wanted to buy his album. Its actually not bad, I decided to keep it on my iPod as well as putting it on hers. Seeing him live reveals his atrocious teeth, but he's English. It's to be expected.

6. Intervention - The Arcade Fire
I have to thank Adam for telling me about AF. This has become one of my favorite new bands and this is a great tune. Favorite line: "Who's gonna reset the bone?"

7. Pudding Time - Primus
Primus is another band I grew up listening to and then rediscovered. Again, thanks to Adam for the extensive Primus library.

8. My Little Man - Ozzy Osbourne
Sitar opening, always good. Just found out this song was a collaboration with Steve Vai. It makes me like it more.

9. It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
2 Things: Tommy Boy and Leonard Bernstein

10. Superman Song - Crash Test Dummies
Funny story on this one. I was a DJ on WTTU radio 88.5 in college for a few months, which I REALLY liked doing. We (Andrew and I) would take requests, and when no one would call in we would call people and tell them to call in or dedicate songs to them. We found it to be hilarious and groundbreaking radio. One day, we called someone and dedicated this song to them. And I played the wrong song. So, I stopped it in mid-song (which we were told never to do) and played the right one. Looking at it in print, its not as funny. But it was hilarious in the studio.

Give us your 10 in the comments, and don't be ashamed of your music.

Way to go America

After a long season of continually getting things wrong, You came through for me and got it right. Last night, you elected David Cook the next American Idol. I went into the show fully expecting to be let down, and the baby-faced Archuletta winning the crown of Best Karaoke Singer 2008. (Similar to Romans 3:21 the glorious "But") But, you got it right.

Let's look at why I didn't have faith in you:
Amanda "Skunk" Overmeyer


I'll admit, she could probably beat me up. She's a biker. But I just don't know how she made it as far as she did. Call me crazy, but my ears shouldn't bleed after an Idol performance.

Jason "Someone take me to Supercuts" Castro


Clearly, the Sanjaya of this season. Not a lot of talent (he forgot lyrics, and said on more than one occasion "I've never heard this song before.") Has a future on the freecreditreport.com commercials.

Kristy Lee Cook


I actually liked her. I thought she was better than some of the people voted off after her. But she went as fas as making a sign for her chair in the bottom 3. At that point, she needs to go.

I'll say, I'm not a huge fan of the show. I know, with all these pearls of wisdom, I'm not sounding like it. Katie liked it more than me, but she would start it on the DVR, and I would watch. Kinda like how I have come to know more than most about the cast of General Hospital. But that is an entirely different post.

Paula DRIVES ME CRAZY, she has lost her mind or gets drunk or high before the show. Maybe both, or all three, or any combination of the three. Someone make her an appointment with House now that the season is over.

Randy is not constructive with his feedback (e.g. "a little pitchy", "Just all-right for me", "the bomb", and all the unnecessary "dogg's") Great bass playing on Paula's new single though! The single would have been crap without you, Dogg.

Simon is actually the only judge I like. He's honest, and sometimes a little mean. But sometimes that's what these people need.

OK, I'm rambling. In closing, if you're a member of Obermeyer's biker gang, please don't beat me up. If I'm ever in Camben, Indiana and need respiratory care, I hope we can put this past us.

Happy Monday

Maybel likes to pick-up things on our walks. Rocks, balls, sticks (she brought home one that was, no joke, 5 feet long) and things like that. Saturday, she out did herself. 8 months is roughly 4.5 dog years...is there an age limit for alcohol consumption? I need to talk to my brother, the vet.





Movie quote: (sorry for the lack of quotes, I missed them too)
"Yeah, I can fly."

One year ago today...

Justin and I are celebrating our first wedding anniversary today! (along with Cinco de Mayo) It is crazy to think that a year has already gone by. I've been thinking about our wedding day a lot lately - thinking about the things that were going on this time last year and how much calmer things are now. It was so much fun though. If I could go back and do just our wedding day over again I would in a heartbeat!



***These are just a few pictures I have on file, most are hardcopies, but this gives you an idea of what a fun day it was. If any of you want to see more, I have plenty and love to show them :)***


I'm sure everyone feels this way to an extent, but our wedding day/weekend was perfect! God gave us beautiful weather, including rain, but still beautiful and the sun shined just in time for pictures and for us to walk down the aisle and give us a perfect evening. The entire day was full of fun - we were surrounded by our best friends and family and it really could not have been more perfect. All of this plus, I got to marry the most wonderful man. I'm not gonna lie, this year has not been the easiest, but there is no one else in the world that I would want to argue with or be frustrated at more than Justin. I'm sure I haven't made things easy on him either, but he hangs in there like a champ and loves me still. I am one lucky woman. I love you babe, Happy Anniversary!

Stay tuned for more to come from this happy couple as we head on down this road called marriage...

My how you've grown!

It's been a while, sorry for the lack of posts. Katie and I have been training for the Nashville Marathon. Ok, not really. BUT we have been to the gym lately, so I guess we're training for next year. Here's a few things that have been going on:

Katie's birthday was on the 13th, so she is now 26. You still look 25 to me baby! We went to Monell's for lunch that day, and we were in country fried heaven.



Katie also had TCAP's at Scales. She was worried about "running the show" so to speak, but everything went very smoothly. On the same subject, we also just found out that she will be at one school next year. So instead of two part-time places, she'll be at Scales full-time.

Our one year anniversary is right around the corner as well. I have joked that we are going to eat at Taco Bell since its Cinco de Mayo and all. Katie doesn't seem to find that joke as funny as I do though. I guess there's always next year...



So that is about it, we haven't had that much going on other than that. Maybel is getting big, she's about 65 pounds and almost 8 months old. We'll be leaving her for the first time next weekend, but she will be with her boyfriend all weekend long. Is 8 months too early to let your kids date? Good thing they're both spayed or neutered. (You're welcome Bob Barker)

I'll leave you with this - I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read "Get a taste of Religion: Lick a Witch"

A Fun Filled Weekend

We had a non-stop weekend this past weekend and we spent almost all of it with the Farmers and one Jones (sorry you missed it Blake, you were missed). We started it off Friday night with a concert - Tin Pan South is putting on shows to showcase songwriters and we went to hear one of my (KT) favorites, Matt Wertz. It was great, not like a real concert, but still good and we had a good view of the singers. Check him out on iTunes if you are looking for something new, he has some great stuff.
We called it an early night because we were getting up early on Saturday to head to Columbia for Mule Day, 2008! It was the first Mule Day experience for the Farmers and Julie and I think they actually had a good time. It wasn't the best weather, but we saw some mules and got the experience. Maybel and Maverick were along for the trip as well and had a blast! They went non-stop until we were on the way home and then crashed in the back of the car. It was so sweet to see how much they really like being together - so much so that they could have slept separately, but they would rather stay close to each other. Awwww...so sweet. We also made a stop at Super Target on our way home :) That was a special request of mine.
We were all pretty pooped, but of course we couldn't stop there...we had tickets for Lipscomb's Sing-a-rama 2008. It was actually at Otter Creek this year and were able to sneak in a little early, thanks to Mo's working there, and we got great seats. It was tons of fun to watch and it's always a nice walk down memory lane for me, remembering all the fun times in preparing and performing in the show. Needless to say, Sunday was spent recuperating for all three of us. It was a great weekend.

We took a...

This weekend, we all headed to Marietta to see my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. Of course we took Maybel with us too. Pretty soon, we won't be able to take her on trips with us because we don't have a car that will hold all of us. It was very apparent just how big she is getting once we saw her up next to my parent's beagle, Dubs. Josh and Kaitlin (bro and sis-in-law) have a dog (Moseley) too who is probably about a month younger than Maybel. Needless to say, it was a crazy weekend with three dogs in the house. But they all had fun together!

We technically went to also celebrate my birthday which is in a couple of weeks. Mom made a strawberry cake, which is one of my favorites and we went to probably one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Pappasito's. They have the best everything! This time, Justin and I split the Fajitas so we could also have some of the queso :) Pappasito's is a Tenery family favorite - we eat there mainly because we love Mexican food, but this is good ole Tex Mex which takes us back to our Texas days. We usually go every time we make a trip down there.

On Saturday, we got up and actually got out pretty early, for us. We went to eat breakfast at an Atlanta based restaurant that my parents have found and really like called J. Christopher's. Are you seeing a theme? We Tenery's like to eat, a lot :) For you Nashvilians, there's one in Cool Springs now - it was really good and you should check it out. Then we took our first trip to Trader Joe's. This is a really cool grocery store that my brother Luke and his girlfriend Jill told us about that they have in Chicago. They have a lot of Trader Joe's brand foods that are all really good and very reasonably priced. Actually, everything there is reasonably priced. That's one of the major draws of the store. And if you know my dad (DT to many of you) you know that he LOVES a good deal and he thinks it's even better if the product is good and most of the stuff there is. Update: I just heard on the news this morning that Nashville is getting a Trader Joes!!! It is going into the old Wild Oats in Green Hills. I'm totally pumped and I'll keep you updated when I hear it is opening.

Other than those two outings, we didn't do much else. We always enjoy our time at home because it's usually pretty laid back. Justin doesn't like it much when I say that we are going "home to Atlanta" because he thinks that it isn't home anymore - our home is here in Nashville, together. But I disagree, Marietta/Atlanta will always be home to me cause thats where my parents are, but of course my home is with Justin too. Any thoughts?

We're back in Nashville though and I am just posting tonight b/c it's been a crazy busy week (I'm getting ready for TCAP at school, more on that later...) and b/c our friends, who shall remain nameless, just called and hounded us about updating our blog :) I promise I did start this on Monday, I just never finished. Sorry there aren't more pics. - we only took a few of all the dogs playing together, but I'm too lazy to upload them. Sorry, maybe I'll do that later. Hope you are all well and hopefully we'll post again sooner rather than later.

Not a baby anymore...

Update on Danielle

Some of you know, but my sister and Blake lost their baby yesterday. She went into labor yesterday afternoon, and had the baby, but she just didn't make it. They couldn't get her heart beating.

They made a beautiful post about it on their blog. http://blakeanddaniellemalone.blogspot.com/

Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Update on Danielle

Some of you may know, but my sister has been in the hospital since Monday morning with early labor. Doctors were able to stop it by Monday afternoon, but we just found out that she started having contractions again today. They are thinking that she may have the baby today. Please say a prayer for safety for baby and mom.

They have set-up a blog and will be updating it as frequently as possible.

http://blakeanddaniellemalone.blogspot.com/

Snow Day!!!

Even though we live in Nashville, TN, I have somehow managed to get three snow days in the last two months. Unfortunately, it doesn't look anything like this, which I consider to be a true snow day:
This time, we actually had some snow, but I just took Maybel out and it's pretty much all gone :( Oh well, I'm not at work and that's what makes me happy! Me and Maybel are just hanging out. It's only 10:30 and we've both already had a nap. I do plan on doing some productive things today. Hope everyone else is enjoying your snow day!

An Evening with Maybel

Katie had a school function tonight with some parents on Cyber Bullying (which was good, so I hear) so Maybel and I got to spend some one-on-one time together. I got to take a few pictures too, so here they are:



She was watching tv with me (Literally, staring at the tv and paying attention), and I was trying to get a shot of that, but she just climbed into my lap. Elizabeth, you were so right about that!





Maybel loves to play with her tire too. She was trying to make me play with her.

More pic's and a few videos here

Also, some of you may remember my brief shot at fame, and the resulting shame when Andrew was on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" If you don't, it's here. He got word that his episode would be airing sooner than expected. It will be showing on Tuesday February 26th. Comcast channel 14 or 236 if you have HD service.

The beard is for Man's Weekend, which is 10 days away! More on that in future posts.

Post stats:
Listening: Band of Horses - The General Specific
Drinking: Arnold Palmer Half & Half (ah thank you Nunley)
Wearing: A V-neck, what else!?

Movie: There shall in that time be rumors of things going astray, erm, and there shall be a great confusion as to where things really are, and nobody will really know where lieth those little things with the sort of raffia-work base, that has an attachment. At that time, a friend shall lose his friend's hammer, and the young shall not know where lieth the things possessed by their fathers that their fathers put there only just the night before, about eight O'clock.

One remote to rule them all

Today we got the universal remote I ordered through work, and it is AMAZING! I read a lot of reviews, and never saw a bad one. This thing really is cool.

It lets you program it thru your computer and software that comes with it, and you set your TV, DVD, Audio receiver, Comcast Box, etc.

We have gone from 4 remotes to one, and it took 15 minutes to program. If anyone needs an excuse to get a remote, this is it! It rules!

Pretty nice little Saturday

The day finally came....Maybel went to the dog park today. It was pretty exciting. She was a little scared at first, but she warmed up in a few minutes and was running around like crazy in no time.

We went to Warner Dog park, and I don't think we will be going there again. Its mostly dirt, and with the rain this week it was pretty muddy. Maybel has a lot to learn about dog parks. Mainly, don't fall down and roll in the mud. At one point, she looked like a chocolate lab. I wish we had taken the camera. She almost looked like this guy:



She had 2 HUGE collisions with other running dogs. The first one, she got blindsided and I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if she had been knocked out.

A poodle named Cody kept trying to mount her, so naturally I almost had to kill him. His owners were nearby though, so I couldn't.

Movie:
A big day? Doing what?

Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

So.....

I am really starting to dislike my job more and more every day. I've been at Dell for coming up on 4 years, and I think its time for us to part ways. One problem though, I haven't a clue as to what I want to do next.

Anyone know where my next move should be? I need some ideas. This kinda feels like a Seinfeld episode, but I need some thoughts.

Movie: So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.

What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?

Yeah.

Wow, that's messed up.

Maybel hates ipods

We have discovered that our lovely dog hates technology. Here's her second victim:


Her first kill was the headphones that come with the iPod. Last time, we just bought new headphones. This time I'm thinking we buy an iPod shuffle, and get the headphones for free. $40 for headphones, or $80 for everything. Seems like a good deal.

Quote: I said if you want to live to see tomorrow, you better start frying them eggs a little better than what you frying. I'm tired of eating sloppy, slimy eggs.

Feliz año nuevo!

That's Happy New Year for those of you that don't Habla Espanol.

We had a great time with the Farmers and the Joneses.
Dominoes, Taco soup, ZOE cd's and Oreo balls.....sounds like fun, eh?

What did you do? Leave it in the comments if you want all of the internet to see.

Maybel came with us too. She and Maverick played in the rain for hours and got tired, dirty, and a little gassy. Ok, maybe not gassy.

Today, I was going to try out the online payment for our apartment complex, which we just found out about. I was clicking along, thing this was gonna be my new method for paying rent, until I stumbled upon a $19.95 "convenience fee"....WHAT?!?! This made me think, "What would an acceptable convenience fee be? What fee would be small enough to make me want to not write a check and drop it in the drop box on my way to work?"

The answer I came up with is $0.00, but I doubt that will happen. What about you? Anyone else think this is a rip-off? Want me to stop complaining? Want to play Guitar Hero III? Bring it.

Movie: You know Mail-Order brides? They go that way too.