A list on this rainy day

1. The snow is melting here in Minneapolis and it’s making my heart sing

2. Today is my friend Jenna’s birthday. :)

3. I’m listening to Evanescence. Yes, there are still people out there, like me, that adore her

4. I feel no shame about #3

5. I have small group tonight and we’re eating French Dip Beef sandwiches

6. After small group, I’m going to Chili’s to celebrate Jenna’s birthday!!

7. I’m about to attempt to get wax out of Nick’s clothes using an iron and a paper bag

8.  This could all go horribly wrong

9. In fact, I left the iron upstairs on while I am writing this…

10. And I think Marley is up there. I shouldn’t be trusted in my own home.

11. Oh well. Does someone want to come over and play card games with me??

12. A video of Marley for you…

peace

It’s my birthday :)

Today was my 23rd birthday. I knew it would be great but I didn’t realize how much so!

1. My husband wrote the most amazing blog post about me. He makes me feel all warm inside.

2. My small group girls (Allison, Katie, Sarah, and Carrie) surprised me with breakfast at iHop!

3. Nick gave me 3 different presents. All wonderful

4. Orison and Morrow Piper called me to sing Happy Birthday. My heart melted.

5. I got some AMAZING deals at Yankee candle. Now my house will smell like my mom’s :)

6. I watched “The Ring” with Nick. I didn’t get scared. :(

7. Nick and I went to Red Lobster! oh yum…

8. Andrew, Stefan, and Tristan made me this “so awesome I can’t even take it” video singing happy birthday to me.

9. Some of our small group friends came over to eat birthday cake (made by Katie Burns!), chocolate covered pretzels, and watch Mulan!

10. Marley was terribly cute ALL day long. Not a surprise. haha

I am so blessed, you guys. All of the birthday wishes, love and prayers from you just absolutely made my day. Thanks for making me feel special today. It felt really good.

Summer 2010 Recap!

I’m back from the dead!!

Did you miss me? I missed blogging. Nick and I have been so busy this summer! There are too many things to say so I shall show you in pictures.

I helped Jenny Rigney pack, move, and unpack her house. I also helped watch her son, Sam! He was way to fun to play with.

Mike Tong threw a “Be Like Nick Laparra” party. It was a riot! Nick was speechless all night.

Our small group went camping! Trent, Katie, Peter, Carrie, Drew, Allison, Stefan, Brenden, Nick and I.

Carrie, me, Katie, and Allison at the waterfall

Nick completely enjoying the water. He was the only guy strong enough to sit under that gush of water *swoon*

Allison, Peter, Carrie, Katie, Brenden, Nick and me. We’d made it through the waterfall and now needed food!

Our friends Tyler and John came to visit right after camping. I haven’t laughed so hard in forever! They definitely kept us entertained. And they loved Marley, so, kudos to them.

Speaking of Marley, we got him declawed! Now he no longer hurts me. It’s great. I still feel kinda bad when he tries to save himself from falling off the couch and there are no claws there to hold him up. But then I giggle. Only a little bit.

Nick and I’s 2 year anniversary was on August 8! We didn’t celebrate big time because we were going to see Wicked on the 21st. I had never been to the Orpheum before. It was terribly exciting!  For those of you that remember, Nick asked me to marry him in New York city right after seeing Wicked. However, during the show he developed food poisoning from food we ate beforehand!.He couldn’t enjoy any of the show. That made me so sad. So this time, I couldn’t wait for him to really enjoy it! And he did!

The show was seriously amazing. I was so overwhelmed by the musical talent. Nick and I couldn’t stop staring at each other with our jaws dropped. They were so awesome.

LOVE IT. I wanna be Elphaba. Please?

My friend Molly Piper had twins; Whit and Cadence! I was fortunate enough to be able to help her out all last week and then 2 days this week before we went on vacation. She also has two other boys, Orison and Morrow. I loved playing with the kids. Holding those babies made me want one of my own even more!

Our friends Kareem and Ashley came to spend last weekend with us. They have a 5 month old son, Nathan, whom Nick and I fell completely in love with! He had this cute little poofy afro and a terribly sweet smile. We spent a lot of time at the MOA. Ashley and I ate too much ice cream. Good times.

I am now sitting in my brother in law’s living room in North Carolina. Nick and I are on vacation visiting our families! We haven’t seen them since last Christmas. Yeah. I promise I’ll take tons of pictures and introduce you to my huge family. They are all so awesome!

PEACE

My Friday is my Saturday

I love today. My boss gave me the day off and I didn’t even have to ask for it. So far, it has been one of the most relaxing days of the summer.

My day started off with this

When doesn’t it?

I moved onto doing the dishes

my entire LIFE feels clean when these are done. I’m not kidding.

I cleaned out the fridge and freezer. It was about to give me a heart attack every time I opened the door to this beast. It was so full of leftovers. I hate leftovers.

Everything is now back to the way it should be in there. It’s all labeled so I don’t know why it doesn’t stay this way.

see? drinks only on top and everything else has its respective place. you laugh now, but just wait til you look in your fridge next time. You will WISH that you had some scotch tape and a sharpie.

This little kitten is part of everything

I’ve also discovered that he can do a PERFECT impersonation of this guy

it makes me sick how much he gets away with things using this face on me every. single. time.

I’m going to end my day with this and I couldn’t be more excited about it!

Oh yes. This Friday is turning out so much better than I imagined.

Marley Moments

I’ve been lax in showing off my kitten to you. That’s right. Showing off. I dare.

this was the first picture of him. he’s so tiny!

after his first bath, which, did i mention, did not go over well? no. it didn’t.

marley loves to help me with the laundry. his duties include: sleeping on the clothes, clawing at them, ripping them from my hands, and pushing over the folded piles. of course.

taking a nap

passed out during a movie. it’s a hard-knock life for this cat

nope, not dead.

so, i’m pretty sure he’s decided he’s the king of this house…

affirmative

He’s adorable, obviously. However, I won’t mention the fact that he kept me up all night long trying to get all comfy ON me and UNDER me and AROUND me. As if all the other parts of the bed weren’t good enough.  And then licking my eyes, biting my nose, batting my face…..(yes, this me not mentioning it)

You should come see him. He LOVES new victims…’scuse me…visitors. heh.

Marley’s first photo shoot!

These are just 2 of my favorites! Here are the rest on Facebook.

The newest addition to our family: Marley!

 So, I posted on Facebook when we got Marley that I could not for the life of me pick out a name for him. I have NEVER had such a hard time figuring out a name before! When we got Katie and Hayley (ferrets) we named them in 5 minutes. This time around it took me 2 days. Oh my. We even had a “naming” party the night we brought him home. You should have heard the names thrown out there! (Thanks Katie, Trent, Stefan and Drew)

Anyway, my FB friends (and Nick’s) were so wonderful in providing ideas for our kitten! I would like to take the time to thank you guys and make out a list of all the suggestions:

• Sebastian- my mom
• Gerald- Bekah and Jerald
• Watson, Bartholomew, Achilles- Bekah
• Satellite, Van Gogh, Rockwell, Sparticus, King James, Elf, Puggle, Chai- Christa
• Oliver- Gabe
• Boscoe- Gabe and Trent
• Roscoe- Trent
• Galactus, Don Giovanni Pasquale de los Gatos- Brenden
• Tucker- Shane B.
• Wilbur, Thomas, Henry, Gibbs, Buttons, Buddy- Sue, aka mom
• Muffin- Dennis
• Terrance- Michael
• Spot, Fido- Charlene
• Jasper- Mindy
• Katface, Assfur- Marty
• Mr Cat- Ashley B.
• Zeke- Lyssa
• Boots- Ashley C.
• Ninja- Shane R.
• Ronald- Ian
• Hobbes- Gabby
• Sumatra, Mocha- Mel
• Grisom- Taylor
• Melchizedek- Jeremy K.
• Rocky- Brian
• Melvin- Matthew
• Mr. Chubbs- Claire
• Doyle- Matt
• Barb- Jamie
• Bob- Kathryn
• Matty D- Matt D.
• Rolo, Frodo- Kyle
• Smitty (the kitty), Zyrtec, Shmoo- my dad

So I liked a lot of those names and I would start to call him by some and it just didn’t sound right! Some of names Nick and I tossed also around were Tumnus, Digory, Sirius, Lewis, O’Malley, and Figaro.

Which one is your favorite name?