Small Steps

It's been a long couple of weeks at work.  Lots of trying to figure out how to fill the days with useful things.

At our house though we've been busy little bees! Here's just a few of the things we've been up to.

- The back room is almost completely cleaned up!  All of Spencer's stuff is out in the garage! It's been two years in the making but I almost have the sun room back to actually use as a sun room!  Okay overkill with the exclamation points I know :).  All that's left back there is our stacks of stuff our moms have brought us from when we were little, the shop vac (which won't fit in any of the closets - I need to figure out a solution to that because if it goes in the garage I will never vacuum.  It's a pretty rare occurence already!), and Blitzy's crate.  I'm pretty pumped about figuring out how I want to decorate it.

- Our rose bush is back and in full force.  It's in between blooming extravaganzas right now, but a few weeks ago it looked like this and was smelled delicious!

- We've come up with a plan for the backyard.  Don't hold your breath.  It could be (okay probably will be) years before we get to it all, but it's a pretty sweet design.  New fence.  New patio.  New driveway complete with basketball hoop.  Outdoor furniture.  Planter boxes.  Grill.  You get the idea :).  We decided to just dream big for now and scale back as necessary.  Notice we did refrain from putting an outdoor kitchen complete with mini bar haha.

-  We made a new budget.  We spent all our food money in 13 days.  We decided to clear out our pantry and freezer to avoid going way over the budget (okay we had to go over a little, no food buying for 2 weeks is a little impossible!).  It's made for some interesting meals :).  So far nothing has been too odd, but definitely some creative side dish choices haha.

- We had mac and cheese for the first time since getting married almost four years ago (wow time flies).  Not sure if this is an accomplishment or not haha.

- We're starting to count the days till our beach vacation!  Bring on the pina colada and seven days without a computer screen anywhere near my face.  Is it weird that I hope they have yoga at the resort? Haha I'm officially addicted.  Spencer's okay with it thought, considering it reduces my stress level :).

13 Years Late

I can reach my toes.

On a regular basis.

Okay I'm 13 years too late for the presidential fitness test, but I can do it!!

Thank you yoga.

:)

Random Happenings

It's been a busy couple of weeks here in T Town. Lots of lovely house guests :). Which means lots of good conversations, laughter, food, wine, reminiscing, and wishing friends and family didn't live so far away. Not much cleaning or running errands though. There's dog hair everywhere and I found a bill we never paid. That's pretty unorganized for muah, but it was totally worth it. Good thing they didn't shut off our electric when it was 90 out . . . in March!!

So just some random funny stories from the past few weeks. Ange got married! (not the funny part btw that part was so awesome and she was so beautiful!). I knew the bridesmaids were wearing green, but it was also St. Patty's day. So I asked Alisha if my dress was too close to the bridesmaids' color and she said I was safe. Wrong. Pretty much the exact same color. A random relative definitely came up to me and gave me a side hug and asked how I was before Ange's mom noticed and said wrong person and they awkwardly moved away. I took it as a compliment :). I mean the Ramey sisters are a pretty awesome bunch! And don't worry Alisha I'll still take fashion advice from you ;).

Fast forward two weekends. My parents were in town chilling with us and my dad decided he wanted to run in the Luchador run with Spencer. And yes that is an angry birds hat (?!!). Kill that pig!! The back of dad's shirt said "beware the machinist, he'll get you with precision." They say you marry someone like your dad right? Haha. Apparently goof ball was a qualification for Jenny's future husband :). Somehow I worded that wrong. Current husband? That sounds wrong too, you know what I mean :).

Okay this isn't funny really, I just like my dog :). I tied her up outside the gate while I planted the garden beds (which by the way what I thought were tomatoes are most definitely a million grass seddlings!! but at least my lettuce looks good so far ha). She stood guard and barked at everyone who passed and tried to dig up my seeds which just made me laugh. Sidenote: she got out last week and did dig a giant hole in one of the beds before we caught her!! Sneaky little dog! The other bed had paw prints :).

Okay so the last funny story happened last week. A friend from work and I go most days to Topeca to get lattes in the morning after we read our emails. Spencer gets his coffee later in the day so we don't often go in together (yes this is an important part of the story I promise). One particular morning my friend and I were talking to our favorite barista about when we all got engaged (he was all cheery even though it was monday and when we asked him why he said he got engaged on a Monday so it was bound to be a good day haha). The other barista working looked at me and said, "you got engaged?! congratulations!" We all bust up laughing! I told him actually Spencer and I have been married almost four years and he couldn't believe it. He said he thought he had been watching a coffee shop romance unfold. It made my day. Apparently Spencer and I still look young and in love and apparently not old enough to be old married people :). Hopefully we can keep it up for years to come!

Time To Soak Up Some Sun

So this week has been entirely meeting free. And it was awesome. Everyone was gone on Spring Break (yes I know we are all adults, but most of them have kids, so they have an excuse to take a week off. Someday maybe I can use that one. My dog needs to spend a week with me doesn't go over so well haha). At first I thought it would be really boring, but instead it was really helpful. I get so much done when I don't have to jump from meeting to meeting and project to project every twenty minutes. You think I'm exaggerating but I'm not!

We are finally planting fruit!! It's been on my resolutions list for almost three years now, so it's about time we get on it! Last year we bought a blueberry bush but failed to plant it. I was indecisive about where to put it :). This year we bought two blueberry bushes (apparently two varieties next to each other grow better. Spencer thinks it's a marketing ploy hah) and two raspberry bushes. We were going to plant them last night but then the directions said to soak the roots in water over night, so we made a MESS.



Hopefully Spencer is planting them right now :). I'm off to yoga!

Favorite Things

Okay it's been another long week at the office. A bunch of coworkers are leaving next week for spring break trips to the mountains or to the beach, but we are staying here for now. So in order to not feel quite so gloomy or overwhelmed by my to do list, I've decided to make a list of some of my favorite things in the last few weeks.

1. Yoga - I used to think it was overrated and too slow paced, but as my coworker said "yeah I think I would pay 30 bucks to lay on a mat somewhere." Okay it's really not just laying there, it's a pretty tiring workout, but it's also so relaxing and my back and shoulders feel so much less tense after it. Try it :).

2. Fruit and brie on salads - I've been bringing salads to work a bunch and adding whatever fruit I get for the week from this co-op I get produce from and it has been delicious! So light and fresh and it never gives you that mid afternoon nap time feeling (you know the Mexican induced coma haha).

3. Our window seat! I'm still looking for the right fabric for a cushion, but it just makes the room look so much more balanced!





4. Topeca lattes - umm I may have gone more than once in a day this week. Yeah I told you it was a bad week! Okay really I think I've hooked all my coworkers on it and now they fight over who gets to get coffee with me. It's pretty funny :).


5. Wearing shorts!! Yep you read that right :). This afternoon I wore shorts while we walked to the dog park and it was awesome. 80 in March is totally fine with me.


6. Community group and women's Bible study. This semester has been good. Lots of discussions on how marriage feels so unnatural sometimes and lots of "oh my goodness that happens to you guys too?" kind of moments. Also lots of pinteresting and talking about babies. I don't mind listening :). I'll be all informed someday when we take the plunge.

7. Colorful skinny belts. And colorful pants . Yep I've happily joined the craze.

8. Puppies. And no we did not get a new dog, I just got to hold a friend's new golden and it was precious. And, also way calmer than Blitz ever was :). Gotta love my fiesty, dominant dog haha.

Okay time to frost some cupcakes.

Farmer's Tans

Last week was a long, hard work week for both Spencer and I. Too many things to be done, too little time, too many people making work harder. So, we decided to sneak off for a three day weekend for a little time away from the computers and the phones and the two month long to do lists (yes now it's not just a month long to do list, it's a two month long to do list!!).

We had a bunch of recommendations for this place called Big Cedar Lodge outside of Branson. Since the recommendations did not all come from 65 year olds with a soft spot for musicals, we decided to try it out :). It was beautiful!!

There were these really pretty cascading falls throughout the whole place and it was just really peaceful and relaxing. Throughout the week I had been checking the weather and was bummed because it was supposed to rain a bunch. I mean, I like to curl up with a good book and listen to the rain too, but I was really wanting to soak up some sun!


Turns out it was sunny and gorgeous on Friday and Saturday!! So yep, we sat outside and read books and drank coffee (okay that was the one not so great part of the trip. The latte was not so bueno. I took the lid off my cup and all I could see was white foam haha). And . . . we got farmer's tans!!! We both sat facing one direction for so long that we both had really red left arms by the end of Saturday. Well red except for the spot where Spencer's watch was ;). Yeah for the first tan of the year!

We had lots of time to talk and take walks around the grounds, oh and a pretty long hike/wash around table rock lake and up to the dam. It was just so, so nice outside. Definitely an answer to my prayers throughout the week for sunny weather.

Mom, this one's for you: pretty tree alert!! ;) The dogwoods are in full bloom right now and they are so gorgeous. Okay in case you can't tell I really, really eat up blue skies and sun :).

Ha, this picture just made me smile. Sporting the neighborhood pride! Speaking of which, we might be getting another set of friends moving in the neighborhood! Apparently something about TU must have made all us want to live in the same type of neighborhood. Either that or we are just awesome haha.

Alright, my brain is finally telling me the time change is real and going to bed at midnight on a Monday night is probably not the best way to stay destressed in light of a two month to do list!

Fun Fun Fun

So this weekend I hung out with my little and her bf. They had just had baby goats!! So so so cute. They were only a day old!

I really, really want want, but unfortunately not legal at my house, so for now I'll just have to dream about having a baby goat. And yes I do know they don't stay babies for ever, but come on!!! Look how cute :).

Ahhhhhh! Okay enough of the cuteness haha.

On to other news, we've been hard at work on our window seat. Okay again Spencer's done more than me, but I have actually done some painting :).

We have to let the doors and the trim all dry but then we can put it back together and start shopping for fabric and pillows :). Woo hoo!!!


I can't wait to sit in the window and read. Oh yeah I need to get on that reading list! Any suggestions? Right now I'm reading "Raising Emotionally Secure Children in an Insecure World" (and no we're not having a kid, just researching haha) and "Putting the Amazing Back into Grace." I think I need something a little lighter to read next :).