You want food? We got food...

Before I start, please see a few of my favorites from our recent trip to the beach (Navarre) with Jarren's parents and Haley & Devin. It was so relaxing-we never really had any plans. We just went! Weather was great and the food was even better. You just can't beat a shrimp boil one night, crab claws the next, crab cakes for lunch and grouper the next day...anyway, here are the pictures!About to go out to eat for dinner one night.

Just goofing off!

We're having our good friends Teri & Thomas Brandon over for dinner tomorrow night and I'm pumped about cooking a nice meal for someone else besides just J & I! Those who know me know I actually really really really like cooking. I'll include recipes and pictures in my next blog post...)although at the rate I'm going who knows how long that will be). Just to make you salivate, we're having:
Steak
Cajun red potatoes
Greek salad (that Teri's making)

Then, we're all going to hear Ugli Stick at The Sports Page! Fun times...ADPi Christmas Cocktail 2004 anyone?? : )

LinkedIn

I joined LinkedIn today and I want all of you who read this to do the same! Just click here and get started. It's like a professional Facebook. At work, we're learning all about social media and how Twitter and blogging is the new thing. And since Jarren NEVER writes on the blog, I'm thinking about letting this take a more professional twist...and plug TotalCom while I'm at it! So hopefully ever so often I will be posting a tidbit of something interesting I've learned from the world of advertising. Some will be funny (as we do tend to have a blast working on things here at the Ward Ave. house!) and some will be serious. Short blog post today... Go join LinkedIn and invite me in your network! Please!!!

ATL, here we come! And a rambling thought to Alabama Power...

No, we're not moving to Atlanta (much to my mother's dismay)! We're headed there today to visit the 'rents as soon as that 5-o-clock whistle blows for the day. We're actually going to help her distress her white kitchen cabinets. They need such an update and this will really warm them up. I can't wait to post before and after pictures for her to see. Should be good fun!

I really don't have much blogging to do today, I just realized I need to keep up better with it. Which seems to be a recurring theme to all my blog posts. I'm really trying to keep a handle on it all because the social media world is taking the advertising world by storm - literally. It's HUGE. You're not anyone if you aren't posting your ads to Facebook and YouTube and updating with a blog and Twitter. It's confusing just to keep up with the world we're in with all these things coming at you. To quote a line from the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" (which is a terrible movie, btw), "...and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting." I couldn't agree with her more. Sometimes even my own husband rejects me with that fabulous technology known as the cell phone by not answering my phone calls about 68.4% of the time.

So all this reliance on technology got me thinking on how reliant we are on it. For example: last Friday night, Jarren and I decided to go see the new movie The Hangover (HILARIOUS, btw. Even if they do show most of the funny parts in the previews). Anyway, it's a 7:30 movie and we have to get there early for me to see the previews (in my humble opinion - the BEST part of any movie). So we're sitting in the theater at 7:15 when the screen goes black and the emergency lights come on. Seems a transformer has blown due to the overactivity of air conditioners considering the sweltering heat wave that has crossed Alabama the past 2 weeks or so. And my thought is, we live in Alabama. Of course it's hot in the summer. 100 degree + days in the middle of June aren't completely uncommon. It's 2009. Do we not have the ability to recover from people just trying to stay comfortable? Apparently not because it took over 4 hours to restore power to a large chunk of the county. We finally got into our house at 11:30 that night. You read that right - 11:30 to get into our house. Why you ask? Because we are so reliant on power and technology that when the power went out, our only entry into our house currently (the garage door opener), wouldn't work. We tried for 30 minutes to break in and didn't succeed. Which makes me feel good that we couldn't even break into our own home... And you know what we learned from all of this? Nothing. Because we still rely on that power to fuel our lives. Moral of my rambling? I don't understand all these left-wing nut jobs rambling on about renewable energy and save the planet and global warming (which I don't believe in, btw. Argue with me all you want on this point, I do not believe in man-made global warming) when we can't even get power restored to a major Alabama city in a timely fashion when the only reason for the power outage in the first place is people running air conditioners a little cooler. It's summer in the South in Alabama (as I've stated). It gets hot here every year, just as it has for decades. Be prepared for this, Alabama Power.

Thank you.

Update on Jarren

So I realize I have not updated this blog since April and that means I'm a VERY bad blogger. But we've been so busy! We've had several showers for friends getting married and visits with family, etc. But then I also realized that I need to update on Jarren.
Last Tuesday night, we were up all night with him violently ill. He kept saying his stomach hurt and he was violently throwing up and alternating between hot and cold. We went to the doctor as soon as they opening thinking it was probably food poisoning or something because he ate at nasty Bandito Burrito Tuesday night while I was at Bunco.
Turns out, doctor was afraid it was appendicitis and sent us to the ER via ambulance. THAT was an experience and probably cheap, too.
We get to the ER at Huntsville Hospital and of course had to wait WAY longer for everything - to see the doctor, to get the CT scan, etc. Well, turns out it WAS appendicitis so Wednesday afternoon at about 4:45, Jarren went in for surgery to remove it. He's doing great now and we went home before 8:00 am the next morning. They didn't even have to use stitches! They were able to do it minimally-invasive so he's just been really sore. Friday was a slightly rough day for both of us (him because he was irritable and sore and me because...well...he was irritable and sore). Saturday he over-did it a little which made Sunday a sore day. But he went back to work yesterday (Monday) and seems to be doing great! We go back to the doctor Friday to get the little butterfly tape removed and hopefully get the all clear to get back to normal. I miss snuggling up to him in the bed!!!
So that's the update with J. Praise God everything went smoothly and he's almost back to normal!

We've Lost a Bedroom...

We're officially all moved in and yes, we've lost a bedroom. To the dog. Tank has officially declared one of the guest bedrooms as "his". He even sleeps on the bed in there at night. All night long. It's the only place he'll go these days. Even when J and I are in the den watching TV, he won't hang out with us anymore. He goes to his "room" and lays on the bed. I'm not sure if I should be alarmed at his sudden affection for this particular room or relieved that he doesn't sleep in our room and jump on and off the bed 50 times a night where we hear his little toenails every time he does it. Right now, I'm leaning towards relief since I'm getting more sleep.

Moving went great! It was a lot of hard work and we had so much wonderful help from our wonderful family and friends. We couldn't have done it without them! We're busy trying to do what I call "finishing touches" so I'll be sure to post some finished pictures in the next week or so as we get more done.

Best website ever!

So everyone does it, but every once in a while work just gets to you and you have to take a 5-minute mental break to make sure your head doesn't implode. Or at least I do. I love my job, but sometimes I get so overwhelmed and so stressed, that it's better for me to take a step back and take a small break so I can approach a task from a different angle. Admit it...you know what I mean! Anyway, I have found the greatest blog website to help me take that break and get a good laugh. Some of these pictures are hysterical and I find myself laughing out loud at them. Some, however, are cheesy. But usually those are few and far between. So here is the website and it is about the funnest thing you'll ever see! Tons of different people post on it and I've attached one of my favorite images from it here:

Yeah, so I know you're thinking what's with all the misspelled words and it's called "doggie speak" and it's how these people who post think their dog (or cat for this version) would type and talk if they could. Kind of like baby talk on steroiods a little. I already have my sister hooked. Try it for a week...people post almost continuously on it. Tell me you don't find yourself doubled over a time or two!
So there is your good cheer for the day!

The House...by popular demand...

So, my mom and Jarren are both harassing me to put up more current pictures of the house progression. It's not really so much a progression anymore as a "finalizing little details" process since we're moving in two days! So here they are with minor descriptions. You can see better "before-and-after" transformation pictures on my facebook page. So here they are (P.S. you can make each picture bigger by clicking on it - maybe this is a trick the seasoned bloggers know about, however, I did not so there you go!):

View of the finished den

Dining/Bar room (this is actually an old picture before the tile was grouted...I'll put a newer one up soon with no furniture eventually).

2 Kitchen pictures (see, there's the grouted tile!) with distressed cabinets and new knobs

Close-up of the kitchen cabinets

2 pictures of the master bedroom

New master bathroom! Probably the biggest transformation!

New guest bathroom (made out of an island closet and wasted hallway)

...and what a weekend it was!

We had such a great weekend! Friday we took off for Birmingham around 5:45 for my friend Margaret's Alphabet shower. I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding and couldn't be happier about it! We had such a blast catching up with friends of mine from the good old ADPi days - Alise, Shelley, Katie and more. A few too many glasses of wine made the car ride home a snap for me (I slept the WHOLE way) but poor J had to drive us home and we didn't leave until after 11:30 and didn't get home until after midnight. He's such a good hubby for taking care of me like that... : )
This is Alise and I catching up at The Wine Bar in Mountain Brook

And J and I! Blonde headed babies in our future...I can see it!
The ADPi's at the shower!

The sweet couple!
With the Bride-to-beSo all day Saturday and all day Sunday (we even had to miss church - sad!) we worked in the house because...we're moving THIS FRIDAY! We're finally going to be enjoying all of our hard work as of this Friday and we're thrilled. Hopefully the next time I post we will be living in the house with our furniture in there. No promise that boxes will be all the way unpacked by Monday, but you know me, I'll sure try! YEA!!!

Dancing with the Stars - GO MELISSA!

So tonight is Dancing with the Stars, which I follow every season! I'm a HUGE Melissa fan this season, too. Not just because of The Bachelor and the fact that she had her heart broken on national TV, but because she really is a great dancer. So to everyone who reads this...vote for Melissa!

So since my last post, things have changed on our move-in date. We're moving March 27th now and it's not changing because I've already asked off of work. So it's done! : ) Any and all help greatly appreciated.

Nothing new to report...until next time...

Rainy Day Friday...

Well, it's s nasty, rainy Friday afternoon. And I'm a terrible blogger. I don't ever remember to do an update. Here's what's going on in our lives right now:
1. Jarren has to work late for basketball season ONE MORE NIGHT (tonight) and I am so thrilled to finally be getting my husband back! Seriously, I leave for work at 7:30 (he doesn't get up until then) and then I get home at 5:30 usually, but he isn't home until 9:30 and I go to bed at 10:00 (anyone who knows me knows I have to have at least 8 hours of sleep per night to function). Add it up, that's 30 minutes a day I get to visit with him.
2. We will move into the house starting the weekend of March 14. At this point, I don't care if I have to work after work every night for the next two weeks, it's going to happen. I'm tired of not getting to relish in all of our hard work. I'll take some new pictures this weekend (if I can find my camera batter charger) and post them next week. It's coming along so well! But now we're down to the nitty gritty and I just want to move.
3. Tank I think is starting to really punish us for leaving him so much. I went to Arab with J last night for a city basketball tournament so we could FINALLY spend some time together. Well, we got home around 9:30 and I look through the window as I'm opening the door and he has taken our every single one of the leftover 'Bama and AU shakers from the wedding out of the pot we keep them in and has proceeded to shred all of them all over the downstairs. I'm talking millions of pieces of shaker strewn throughout. So that was fun.

That's pretty much the excitement of our lives right now. Pretty cool, huh? It's about to get crazy in a matter of two weeks so I'll try to keep everyone abreast with all of our fun to be had! We are hosting a shower for one of my dearest friends (and former roommate), Margaret, in Birmingham on March 20th and we're so excited to get to do this for her! She was one of my bridesmaids in our wedding and caught by bouquet - so fitting that she's the next of my besties to get married! : ) Then, April 17-19 I have Margaret's Bachelorette weekend at Lake Martin (YEA!!!) on Friday night and then that Saturday, we're going to Montgomery for one of my good friends from college, Trey's, wedding. But the BEST part of that weekend is my best friend, Lindsay Ann, who works as a designer for Brooks Brothers in NYC is coming that Thursday night before so we get to spend a whole weekend together!!!!!!!!! J's pumped about a 3.5 hour car ride one-way to the 'gump with two best friends who haven't seen each other since August. : ) Then May 2nd is Margaret's wedding (which I'm in) in Birmingham and I can't WAIT to be a part of her big day with her! Busy spring but we're so excited. Stay tuned...

~E

Stress levels through the roof...

OK, so I think my stress levels are going through the roof. I've been having for about a week now a constant "pressure" feeling in my upper abdomen just below my sternum. I can't decide if it's just stress or something more serious. Either way, I don't really like doctors so I'm avoiding going, much to Jarren's dismay. Poor guy...he doesn't understand that in my family, we don't go to the doctor unless vital organs are hanging out of our bodies. And even then, it's a stretch and we won't go by ambulance. And to top it all off, this afternoon, this random sharp, pinging pain developed in my neck where my jaw and ear sort of touch. OMG...I sound like a hypochondriac. NOT GOOD!!! : ) To everyone who reads - please say a prayer that it's just stress and I'll calm down. Stress is equated to the house that will never be finished and we won't be ready to move in until it's time to totally redecorate for a baby. Exaggeration, of course.

As I've learned with contractors/construction workers, whatever date they give you for when they'll be done with something, add about a week. Our bathrooms are supposedly going to be done this Monday the 16. From there, it's a countdown...trying to be moving in by March 6th so we'll have 17 days to finish. And 13 of those days are weekdays. Thank goodness my mom will be here the WHOLE WEEK of the 16 - 22 of February. God bless her!

I'm just ready for it all to be done and we have our wonderful friends and family over to visit! Please come...you'll have a GREAT new bathroom to use!

Here's a picture of our master bathroom during the demolition phase, then with the new walls and vanity that is the same angle as the first picture(the bathtub that will be tiled is on the other side of the wall across from the vanity...you can't really see it in the pictures). Also a close-up of our pretty new tile in there!

And yet it's a Tuesday...

I hate Tuesdays. Such a waste. Monday is great because of GREAT TV (The Bachelor AND The City and soon...Dancing with the Stars!!!). Wednesday is Hump day. Thursday is Grey's Anatomy and "almost the weekend day". And Friday is just plain fun! But Tuesday? Tuesday has nothing to offer me.
The workers are SUPPOSEDLY finishing my bathrooms today. HOORAY!!! For those who don't know, Jarren and I randomly decided to remove the wall in between the two tiny bathrooms in the new house and create one big 90-square-foot master bathroom. At that point, we decided if were gonna do it, we might as well do it right. So we added a bathtub/shower and tiled up the walls, got a 60" double sink vanity with Corian countertop and did custom lighting. I'm planning on spending lots of time in there simply to soak up the hard work put into it...and the money. The second bathroom was completely created out of a wasted closet/hallway space and turned out to be a good size - about 50 square feet. I'll try to post pictures of it tomorrow after I take some today.

Is it sad that all I can blog about right now is the house? Probably so...

Friday is WAY better than a Tuesday!

Thank goodness it's Friday and I mean that will ALL seriousness. It's been a busy week for both of us and we're looking forward to yet another weekend of working in the house and of course, a long list of things to accomplish. Here's a picture of our beautiful, 5" plank hand-scraped distressed hardwoods in the den. I love them...

I have to give a big, fat ROLL TIDE ROLL on the Alabama Crimson Tide's recruiting class yet again this year. And I have to say that I LOVE that all six of the state of Alabama's top recruits all committed to 'Bama. ROLL TIDE ROLL again!!!

I've (E) started working on our taxes and we're wishing...hoping...praying...for a great refund! We need it and anyone who has been in the new house and seen the original 1960's light fixtures we have knows how bad we need a good refund. But you know, when I think about it, we get so excited about tax refunds on stimulus packages when in reality, all it is is the government giving us BACK what was already OURS. HELLO?!?! I guess that just proves why I'm a Republican...I don't believe in big government taking everything over the taxing the poo out of us. And I believe this because I have a job.

Funny story about Tank last night... So, he has a very nice doggy bed that is all his own. He loves it and sleeps the whole night in it and it's wonderful. Well, we've had a bit of a cold snap in Huntsville as of late and I think the doggy bed on the floor has been just too cold for my little Tanker. For the past week, he has jumped into the bed right at bed time with Jarren and I and proceeded to crawl under the covers and sleep at my feet the whole night. Which is fine with me for a few days since it has been so cold. Well, last night, he decided to bring his red rubber ball (all references to the Beatles aside) into bed with him. So not only is there a fuzzy dog at my feet with a cold wet nose, now there's a slimy ball down there, too. Gross. But then he proceeds at random intervals throughout the night to chew on and squeak the said rubber ball. So I didn't sleep all night and spoiled rotten Tank slept like a baby at my feet...with his ball. SPOILED ROTTEN DOG. I don't how he got that way... : ) Picture of him under the bed looking oh so pitiful...it's all an act..


Happy Weekend!

Finally getting this Blog thing down...

OK, I'm getting this blog thing down - I even got a background! And today my goal is to actually send this link out to people so it's not just me reading my own blog. Geeze, I've GOT to get with it. In just a bit, I'm going to meet Connie, my mother-in-law for those who don't know names yet, at a lighting store to get a few lights for the new house. I PROMISE, construction pictures to come! In the meantime, here's my favorite picture of J and I from the wedding. I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since that day...wonderful memories...

Come into our Webb...

So it's my first official post! I'm excited to set this up to keep our friends and family who we don't always get to see (mostly because they live far away...). It's a crazy time for us with the house renovations...yes, total renovation going on. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures of the progress as we go along because I know it will be fun to see. Right now that consumes all our time, but there's always a good story that comes out of working in every weekend. Like the day we closed on it (New Year's Eve) and Tank deciding he would declare the property his by leaving a poop the size of Milwaukee in the living room. That dog hasn't relieved himself in the house in over 18 months. So glad we decided to pull up the carpet. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get a chance!!!