Fiesta Ball 2008!

My week is consumed with final preparations for the Fiesta Ball on Saturday, May 3rd at Ted's Garage. Come celebrate cinco de mayo early, and for a good cause! All proceeds from the event will be used to fund a young researcher at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Plus, it's simply a fun party--Z and the Party Faktory will play and beer, wine, margaritas and mexican food will be served. Call me at 934-1603 if you'd like to buy tickets ($35/individual or $60/couple). Tickets are also available at the door.

Fun weekend!

Sissy and I finally got to hang out this weekend. Between all of the post-wedding settling in and her studying for finals we haven't seen much of each other lately. We spent Saturday afternoon shopping and then celebrated with wine at the house Saturday night. Good times, I have the best friends in the world!

Brad and I hung out for the rest of the weekend. We went to Taziki's (one of our favorites) and Target Friday night. He wasn't up for much since he was getting up at 3 a.m. on Saturday to go fishing (CRAZY, I know!). He hung out Saturday night like a trooper (see pic to the left), almost 24 hours without sleep! Sunday we spent the day together running errands and just hanging out. All in all, great weekend!

Take me out to the ballgame...

Brad and I spent last Thursday night at the ballpark. In just over three hours we were able to see some of three different ballgames--Carson, Kaley and Maci were all playing at practically the same time! Carson won and was super excited that his Uncle Brad came to watch him. We were so happy that we were there to see Kaley hit her homerun! She's above, just after her big hit, so sweet! I love those kids and going back to the ballpark... oh, the good old days!

Just call me Annie Oakley...

My first time shooting a shotgun... wow! Six shots and one big bruise later, I'm certain I'm never going to be an outdoorswoman. The plus side, this year's Cancer Center Sporting Clays Classic raised over $36,000 for breast cancer research. Not bad for a day's work...

Happy Birthday Allie!

Today my "Little Kitten" turns the big 2-0! Happy Birthday Al!

Since she has a major test tomorrow we celebrated her birthday on Saturday. Mom, Allie and I spent the day shopping and then we went to my parents' house and mom cooked dinner for everyone (we ALWAYS have birthday dinners). The food was fabulous, but the company was even better. I miss spending time with my family. They truly are my favorite people in the world (and Brad too) and I can't imagine my life without them.

Today, Allie's celebration continued with lunch at the 5 Points Grill with dad. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it, but thankfully I got away for a while. I didn't like the thought of not seeing her on her birthday! Overall, I consider her big day a success, even though she's stressing about school, and hope her 20th year is the best one yet (and that she does AWESOME on her tests this week).

"Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted. And it can be the most valuable thing you have to offer."

The above quote is from an incredible article that I ran across in Sunday's Parade Magazine. I loved the quote, but I loved the entire lesson I learned from the article even more.

It was a brief look into a "Last Lecture" given by a Carnegie Mellon professor that only weeks after agreeing to give the lecture was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Obviously, after the diagnosis the "Last Lecture" took on a whole new meaning. The story explains that while the easy thing to do would be to cancel, it wasn't the best thing for this man, Randy Pausch, and his family. He needed to share his story--his incredible "life lessons." Not only does his family now have his amazing, heartfelt and overwhelmingly motivational message to hang on to for years to come, but thanks to the spread of his story, he's offered insight and hope to many others that wouldn't have ordinarily crossed his path.

If you read the story (which is just a brief excerpt of his story) http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_04-06-2008/1My_Last_Lecture, or if you watch his lecture on YouTube you can't help but be effected. His concepts are simple, but when I examined my own life, I realized that while they may be simple, and should be obvious, the things he points out are all too often overlooked. The simple lessons in life are what we should build on--they are the foundation for the big things.

If you haven't heard of Randy Pausch, and you haven't read his story, I encourage you to do so (there's a primetime ABC special about him tomorrow night too). While it may not change your life, it will at least give you a little hope for what life can and should be and will definitely inspire you to live each day to the fullest. As he so confidently says, "Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think."

A new kind of paradise...

Less than a month ago Brad and I were lounging on the beach in Jamaica, thinking that life couldn't be any better. We had the sun, the sand, exceptional food and no worries--life was good. I worried that after all of the wedding festivities and the honeymoon excitement, settling into life at home would be a bit... dull? What were we going to look forward to now? No more wedding parties, or planning... what's next?

I'll admit, the first week was a bit rocky. We were trying to find a home for all of Brad's stuff, not to mention the mountain of gifts we had received. I was adjusting to having someone else share my space, and he was figuring out how to make do with a smaller closet, fewer drawers and waking up everyday without talking to his dad. We were both a little surprised by how different it felt. I assumed that after four and a half years together him moving in would be no big deal--clearly I had forgotten what having a roomate was like.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to today, a day that I couldn't imagine being any better. I like waking up next to him and having his tell me crazy stories in the morning that disrupt my routine. I love knowing that no matter what we have to do in the evenings, I'm always going to see him at the end of the day. I love married life! Don't get me wrong, he still leaves his t-shirts on the floor and doesn't pick up the bath mat until I ask him to, but instead of being annoyed, I have to laugh. I don't do his laundry like he prefers--I can't remember to dry his jeans! It's the little things that make me realize how incredibly awesome it is that we're building this new life together. We are creating our own routines--and I'm learning to let go of some of my obsessivenesss. This new life we have, it's our very own paradise, and the best part of it all is that we're already home, the vacation never ends.

Life is good. It's nice to love and be loved.