early anniversary gift

Friday, July 31, 2009

We got our first anniversary gift today. Now, I know we have about 6 weeks until our anniversary, but we just couldn't pass up this offer. We got some much needed sheets from my parents. We've been sleeping on wilderness camo 200-thread count sheets - well, no longer! We got some nice chocolate 620-thread counts sateen sheets. They're extra deep, which I need. I wake up every morning with my corner of the mattress exposed, and every night I have to pull the sheet over the corner again. Well, hopefully that nightly routine in gone.

I can't wait to sleep on new sheets! Thanks Mom and Dad. :)

girls getaway

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We had such a good girls weekend. It was just what the doctor ordered. :)

The girls arrived early afternoon on Friday. I gave them a quick tour of the house and then we went straight downtown. Of course I forgot my camera, but the girls had there's so we got some great photos. It was pretty hot out, but the girls were troopers. I love taking our visitors downtown, it's such a relaxing stroll. You can see what you want to see, go into where you want to go. That night we went to The Brick Oven for dinner. I went there for my birthday dinner when my family came to visit; and I thought it was just as good this time. Mike had never been there, and he said he didn't like the pizza at all - but me and the girls really liked it. Then we went home and watched a movie.

Saturday, I made my blueberry coffeecake scones for breakfast. The turned out great! Then off of us girls headed to Louisiana, MO for a wine tasting at the Eagle Nest Winery. If anyone who reads this is thinking of going to this winery, don't do it. It was definitely memorable, but not in a good way. It was very hill-jack to me. We did our tastings out of dose cups from the local hospital.

We ate at the restaurant on the corner and then the 'winery' is the third building.

Ashley and Marlene in front of the winery.

We then went to a pewter store there. They were having an event where all these local artists there with their work. It was very neat and I really wish I could of afford these candlesticks that were beautiful.

The Pewter store. Its pewter was used in the mini series ' John Adams'.

Since Louisiana and the whole winery experience was kind of a bust, we drove to Clarksville, MO. It is just 10 miles south of Louisiana and they have quite a few little shops there. Clarksville is right on the river like Hannibal. There was even a glass blowing shop, and we got to see a demostration of blowing a shot glass. I even bought one. :) It was just so cute. I'm sure I'll put a picture up of it soon.

Their arch way to the river.

We went to all the little shops, which I'm really starting to enjoy. I never thought I would be the girl to like little small towns. Don't get me wrong, I still love the big cities - but I'm just appreciating the little ones as well.

Marlene in a 30's hat. :)

One of the streets in Clarksvile.

After going to all the little stores, we made our way back to Hannibal. I started to make dinner, it took longer than expected (but doesn't it always). Brooke and Ashley had the great idea to have a little celebration from Marlene here so I could be apart of it. Marlene is graduating from Purdue in August and I really wish I could be there to see her walk. So I made stuffed shells in marinara, Olive Garden Salad, and Tiramisu. Ashley brought some wine and champagne - the celebration went great. It was so nice to just sit around the table chatting away until 1:30 A.M. This was probably my favorite part of their trip.

On Sunday, I just made pancakes and bacon. Then us girls went up to Lover's Leap. It's a look out basically right above our house. There was such a great breeze up there, I didn't want to leave.
Brooke, Marlene and Ashley at Lover's Leap.

This last picture is for my dad. Here's a barge going down the Mississippi - It's actually 3 barges wide, and 6 long. The boat going along next to is is this big triple deck dinner cruise boat. It just kind of shows the size of the barge.

This weekend was like a getaway for me too. No work, great friends and a little bit of traveling. :)

they're on there way!

Friday, July 24, 2009

The girls (Brooke, Ashley and Marlene) are on the road as I type. I am pretty excited for their visit. I've seen them a couple of times recently for Ashley's bridal shower and then wedding. But with those things, we couldn't really hang out. You know what I mean?

We have only a few things actually planned, but a bunch of possibilities. We're going to do Mark Twain stuff, I'll show them downtown. Maybe go to the Molly Brown House. She's the 'unsinkable' Molly Brown from the Titanic. She was coming home to Hannibal. Kind of neat.

We're going to a winery a bit south of me. I'm excited! It'll only be my second winery, so it's still new to me. I've been told the town the winery is in has a cute downtown, so we may do some shopping and see what's there.

It's going to be a great MUCH needed girls weekend! Hopefully Mike can handle 4 girls in the house. :)

food lately

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Nothings really been happening. I'm just getting everything ready for the girls' visit this weekend. So I'm keeping busy, but it's not blog-worthy.

Mike had an overnight work trip, and he's coming home tonight. It's been awhile since he's been away for a night. It was kind of nice and kind of not. It's amazing how I could miss a person after not seeing them for 40 hours.


We've been grilling lately, which makes Mike happy til no end. This is the prep work for our awesome quesadillas. Seriously, If you haven't tried this recipe I posted on the cooking blog, now is the time to do it! SO good. :)



Mike is serious about his grilling. (He's so trying not to smile.)











The next night we grilled some ribs. YUM! And you can tell Mike really enjoyed them. HA! It makes me laugh every time I see this picture. He would probably kill me if he knew I was posting this, but luckily for all of you he doesn't check the blog.

it's official....i'm falling apart

Monday, July 20, 2009

I now have a slight ear infection that caused an eye infection!!! My ear is alright for the most part, it just feels like something is about to come on, but my eye is another story. :(

Friday, I woke up to my eye just being a bit blood shot. But when I woke up on Saturday, my eye was swollen, really red and super dry. So we made the decision to go to urgent care.

We didn't even know where urgent care was here so Mike called the hospital to see if we needed to go to the emergency room or urgent care - luckily, there is a urgent care. So we went and the doctor just looked in my ear and told me it's what caused it. She gave me sample eye drops, so we didn't have to pay for anything other than the actual visit. Which is awesome!

Hopefully, my eye will be better before this weekend. Marlene, Brooke and Ashley are coming for the weekend and I can't wait! It'll be so nice to see them and I get the whole weekend off work.

300 days

Friday, July 17, 2009

That's how long we've been married!! I seriously cannot believe our one year anniversary is right around the corner. It seems like it's been only a few months - which I think is a great thing. I hope we always feel like newlyweds. :)

This milestone has really got me thinking about what we will end up doing to celebrate. I have a few ideas: camping, going to wineries, or go to St. Louis and tour the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. I really want to go to a winery or brewery to kind of mimic our honeymoon in Ireland. I know we don't have to travel for our anniversary, but I would really like to; even if it's just a couple of hours away. But who knows....I guess we will just have to wait and see.

fish tale

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Mike has a new hobby - Bow fishing. I know what you all are thinking, "what????" It's fishing but you do it with a bow and arrow. It's an actual 'sport'. One of his coworker got him into it, and they've gone out a couple of times together. I'm sure it's pretty hard to do. Aiming for something in the water that's super quick.

Well, Mike finally got a fish yesterday! He was really proud and excited. I wish I went with him so I could get a picture. He had already cut the head off, so I couldn't really get a photo when he got home either. He got a gar fish, which is really quite ugly.

Mike even cleaned it! So we have two fillets to figure something out with. My mom suggested fish tacos and that may be the most filling way to cook just two fillets. Hopefully next time he'll be lucky enough to get more than one.

i'm a nerd...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

and I love Harry Potter! I've read all the book (a few times) , own the DVDs, and now SO excited for the new movie that comes out tomorrow. Sadly, I'm not sure when I'll get to see it. I'm going to go see it with a friend from work, but she hasn't seen the others yet. So I lent her my movies to get caught up.

I'm glad I found someone who wants to see it. Mike's not really into the whole Harry Potter thing, and I normally went to the movies with my mom or Marlene.

Harry, Snape and Ginny(ME!)

This picture is from working the 7th book's release party two summers ago at Borders. Love it! It was probably one of my most exciting times at work. I loved having the boxes of books in the back room for a week, being one of the first people to touch the new book, and just being a part of the whole experience. This book series changed the world (whether you've read them or not), and I can say I was a part of it. A VERY small part, but a part. :)

so embarrassed

Monday, July 13, 2009

We went to 'Down by the River' on Friday. It's an event put on my the YMCA that has drinks and a band play on the 2nd Friday of every month during the summer. We heard it was going to be a pretty decent band playing and a lot of people from Mike's work would be there. We always walk to this event for 2 reasons - we can both have drinks and it's only a 10 minute walk.

So we get down there, and it is pretty hot. I was actually sweating a bit from the walk down there. We get a drink, people start showing up and we are having nice conversations. The band starts and they are pretty good.

Then it happens....

I started to get light headed and grabbed on to Mike. I told him I was not feeling good and needed some water; he said "oh, you'll be fine." I say, "No, I think I'm going to faint."

And I did.

The next thing I knew I was on the cement and I hear Mike's boss say, "get her off the ground!" Mike grabs me and we go and fine somewhere to sit down. Someone went and grabbed me a bottle of water. I started to feel better after I had some water in me. Mike said he didn't think I could get any paler, but I looked as white as a ghost. Thankfully, Mike's boss's husband offered to drive us home so I didn't have to walk back.

The thing that is most embarrassing is that basically all young people from town were there and they all probably thought I was fall down drunk.

I think I fainted for a couple of reasons - dehydrated and I was hot. So now Mike's the water Nazi. He is making me drink so much water. It's a little annoying, but I know he just wants me to be better and I would act the same way if our roles were reversed.

07.08.09

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I have been trying to get a picture of this little guy all summer. Mike told me we had a little "friend" hanging around the house. He was really calm when he told me; he said, " there is this little lizard looking thing that at first looks like a snake, but it's not, so don't freak out!"

He doesn't know me! Why would I freak out?!?!? :)

This "gecko" comes out to sun himself on hot days, and I think he lives under our house. You can normally find him running in our breezeway from side yard to side yard. He's very quick, I'm afraid I'll step on him sometimes. So I was pretty happy to just see him just sitting for once - finally able to take a picture. I'm not sure if there's just one or not, because it changes colors right before our eyes. He normally has orange on his sides, but since it's on the cement, he's gray.

baseball & fireworks

Monday, July 6, 2009

I think we had a pretty good 4th of July. At least as good as it could be. I had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And of course, Mike had all three of those days off. I just want a day just the two of use. I think I'm turning into the "weekend" girl at work. This weekend will be my 3rd straight weekend working the WHOLE weekend. I'm pretty tired of it. I understand I can't have every weekend off, but one Saturday off every other week would be nice. Enough ranting.....

We started this holiday off by going to a baseball game. We have a local prospect team, the Hannibal Cavemen. They are college players just trying to get seen. They come from all over the country, but we have like 4 or 5 guys from Valparaiso. It was an alright game, not very intense though. We went with Mike's aunt and uncle and had a good time.

The Cavemen up to bat!

Align Center
Our view from the top of the stands.

The historic grand stands

I so wanted to get a picture of Mike and I in front of the field, and thought it was rude to do during the game, so I waited. Well, right after the game, they shut all the lights off for fireworks and then never turned them back on! So we will have to get that photo next time.

Fireworks after the baseball game!

Like the rest of the Midwest, it rained here on the 4th. I didn't really care because I was at work during the day. It stopped once I was out of work and the temperature went down and it was a nice night outside. We went to a beer garden and listened to a band. They were really good; they did some original stuff, but mostly 90s rock covers. Since it rained all day, we had very low clouds and/or fog during the fireworks. I can't really remember ever seeing fireworks like that, so it was kind of neat.


foggy 4th of July fireworks
Anniversary