Frustrating day

RIP BEA ... WE HARDLY KNEW YE

Yeah, so it's been a really frustrating day. A few highlights (or lowlights):

1. Drove four hours, round-trip, to get me added on to some of Patrick's insurance. Why did we drive four hours? Because we had made two prior home appointments, but the insurance agents forgot to show up.

2. Patrick's computer had some major problems this morning and is pretty close to death, so we ended up buying an entire new desktop computer today. Which is fine, since we planned to buy it next month anyways, but still. Not expected.

3. Our house's A/C is out. This is probably the worst development of the day, especially since the rental company said they weren't sure if someone would make it out to the house tomorrow or not. Fun. We did go to Wal-Mart and buy a box fan, so we're protected against the heat somewhat. 

4. Since our house's A/C is out, we can't do anything tomorrow until they call and let us know if they're coming or not. Stuck in a sauna-like prison of a home all day? Sweet!

5. I burned the baby back ribs that I spent four hours cooking. While this wasn't a huge deal, this is what finally made me cry.

6. Bea Arthur (Dorothy from Golden Girls) died today. R.I.P. Bea, you will forever be remembered for being a friend.

However, some good things that happened today:

1. We got our new computer! :) It is pretty awesome. It's a Gateway "gaming supercomputer," whatever that means, and it looks all futuristic and such. It completes our new home office very well. 

2. We got to see my mother-in-law, Pam. She is awesome. 

3. We get to see Dad and Trey (my little bro) tomorrow!! And they're treating us to lunch at Baumhauer's! Double yay!

4. Sen'Derrick Marks, an Auburn defensive lineman, got drafted in the second round of the NFL draft today. Seeing as how I am a major nerd, I love the NFL draft, and I love it when Auburn players get drafted.

Prayer requests:

Please pray that someone will come out and fix our A/C ... no A/C in Alabama can be a bad situation. And please pray that Patrick and I will be able to enjoy tomorrow, 'cause we sure haven't enjoyed today that much. 

KT's wedding!

Well, this past weekend was an eventful one. I was in my friend Katie (which I sometimes spell KT)'s wedding in our hometown, Talladega ... she was one of my bridesmaids too, so I guess it was payback time! :) No, really, the wedding was awesome. It was such a packed weekend! Friday night, we had the dress rehearsal and dinner (which I managed to show up late for ... the invitation said dinner at 5:30, and I completely forgot there would be a rehearsal before dinner! DUH!). After the rehearsal, we had a big swanky party to go to hosted by about 40 people. I saw people there I have not seen in years and years. I was so tired that night! 

Next day, we had a BBQ luncheon (I know, crazy, right?) and then hanging out as a group until the wedding at 5, and then the reception went until 9 p.m.! (I didn't stay that late, though -- my feet were killing me!) I think it was exactly the wedding KT and Riley wanted, and I'm so honored to have been a part of it! 

Our dresses were so adorable ... they were that shimmery pink, the color of a sunset -- which was the inspiration for KT's wedding plans! I'll definitely be wearing this time and again -- expect to see it at every wedding I go to! :)

Obviously, this is the beautiful bride and two other bridesmaids. Rachael and Carly were both awesome -- I didn't know them before the wedding but it was so great to meet them! I may never see them again, but it was great to share this special moment in KT's life with them. 

This is me with KT before she got dressed ... you can see what she looked like better! It's crazy -- we've been really close friends since 6th grade, and here we are, both wives and just starting our new lives! KT means the world to me, though -- if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the person I am today. She's one of the most fun, funniest people I know!

KT and Riley are on a mini-tour of Europe for the honeymoon -- they're visiting Paris, Amsterdam and Germany this week. After that, they'll move on to Roanoke, Va., and who knows what from there. I may not see KT much anymore, but I'm so glad we were part of each other's special days! Y'all please pray for her and Riley, that they might have a successful marriage and learn to live together in the light of the Lord. (That was a lot of alliteration, but it sounded good!) 

Just whatever

So we're watching "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" for, like, the billionth time, and I just thought it might be a good time to blog. 

Interesting HP note: Apparently in the next movie (only three more months!!!) they're not going to include Dumbledore's funeral. I have no idea how they can get away with that. Anyhow, on with the blog!

Last night was a lot of fun -- we went and had dinner with our Core Groupies at Jim N Nick's, then played the Newlywed Game back at the church. Patrick and I kind of sucked -- we only got seven out of 20 questions right. I guess we're doing pretty well, though, considering we've only been married four months. I do have to say, though, that the worst answer of the night from him was when he said Philip Seymour Hoffman was my favorite actor. I mean, what?! But he totally saved face when he got the question, "At what age does a woman hit her physical peak?" He turned around, looked at me, and said, "What age are you? 23!!!" That's my baby.

Today has totally been a be lazy kind of day. We've watched one of my favorites, "Hellboy," and one of his favorites, "Cliffhanger." (Which just proved that Sylvester Stallone might have been the greatest actor of his generation.) I've cooked a couple of meals, taken a nap, and Patrick has played, like, five hours of Legend of Zelda. But it's been a really good day. 

Tomorrow should be awesome too, if busier. We're going to Easter service in the morning, then I think we're just going to come home and chill. We had hoped to go to my parents' house for Easter dinner, but we've got too much to do, and we want to relax too. I'm hoping to find recipes for next week, go grocery shopping and then just come home and stay here in a semi-comatose state. :)

Just an update

Hello, loyal readers --

I know, I've sucked at keeping up with the blog lately. I'm sorry. It's been a really busy couple of weeks. 

*I know some of you have heard about this, but I wanted to update everyone on Meg. Basically, for those of you who don't know, my maid of honor, Meg, went into the hospital almost two weeks ago with a bacterial infection in her stomach and a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in her lung). It was a scary time for me and Patrick, mostly because it was one of the first times we've ever had to deal with that kind of situation. Meg means the world to us, and last weekend, we went down to Auburn for a night just to spend some time with her in the hospital and to stay with our good friend, Cliff. She was doing very well then, and thank the good Lord, she's doing better now! She went home this past Tuesday and is now on blood thinners in pill form, which is much better than getting them in shot form. I'm pretty sure she's going to go back to school tomorrow, so she'll be getting back into the swing of things soon.

*Mine and Patrick's bracket got horribly busted, as our pick to win it all, Louisville, went out in the Elite 8. Blast it. Oh well, UNC was my back-up pick and, honestly, my favorite team in the field. So ... go Tar Heels!

*Happy news -- Patrick and I are going to Hot-lanta in October to see U2! For those of you who don't know, U2 is basically Patrick's favorite band of all time, and we're going for his birthday, so we're doubly excited. I think we're going to make a little vacation out of it and maybe stay at the Ritz-Carlton (ooh, classy!) Why not, right? Our seats for the concert are awesome, too -- they're thisclose to the stage!

OK, I think that's all for now.

Heartbreak

Well, it's a crap week for AU basketball. Yesterday the women lost badly to Rutgers, today the men lose a heartbreaker to Baylor. And I mean a heartbreaker. We had the chance to take the lead with just a few seconds left on free throws ... missed them both. Then missed the 3-pointer for the win — instead of taking it to the basket for the tie and overtime. It's a real bummer.

Actual serious post

So I've started reading this new book, "The Shack." It came recommended to me, first by one of my work friends, Meagan, and then through the Core Groupies. Before that, I actually hadn't known that it was a book that could be regarded as Christian fiction — that really just made me more interested in it, because I've seen people out and about reading it, and it was interesting that such a book could be so mainstream. 

Well, so far, it's a great book. The storyline is the last thing I expected, but I think it's just what I needed to read right now. I've really been working hard (and feeling like I'm mostly failing) lately at trying to figure out how to best build my personal relationship with God, and so far, this book has reminded me that it all starts with faith and with remembering that God loves me, in spite of my massive faults. The rest of it follows naturally. I can read the Bible all I want, but until I see God as a member of my family — as a part of me — then I can't have the relationship with Him that I was designed to. It's been really good for me to read and try to take in. 

When one of my best friends, Meg, goes through hard times, she tries to remember this phrase: "Let go and let God." I'm discovering, as I'm sure a lot of other people already know, that that can be the hardest part of growing up. Trust is a lot easier when you're a child. It's harder to come by when you're out in "the real world" and the success of every day hinges on a lot of intangibles. I worry a lot more than I used to, but that worry isn't helping me live a better life or be a better woman or a better wife. I've really got to hold to that simple phrase: Let go, and let God. I guess my prayer should be that God will find a way to make me do just that. 

Justin said we had to blog about it, so here you are!

Today I did my good deed for the day by cooking a nice meal (chicken pot pie, mac and cheese, rolls) and taking it over to Whitney and Justin's (along with a chocolate pie and Milo's tea). Lord knows when we have our kids, I hope people cook for us! Anyhow, I got to meet baby Hayes, who is just as adorable as you could imagine, and I got to spend a couple hours with Whitney, Justin and Hayes. We ended up talking about a whole range of things, and somehow Whitney and I discovered that we have basically the same shoe size (10 for her, 10 and a half for me) and pretty much exactly the same hands -- we held up our hands to each other and they're the same size, and our ring size is actually the exact same. It was definitely a girly-scream moment, and Justin obliged with an awesome girly-scream. And then he was like, "OMG, you totally have to blog about this!" But I think he was mocking us.

The weather outside is so gorgeous that it has just taken me right out of the funk I've been in for the past few days. I love Alabama so much when the weather's like this -- I go outside for a few minutes, and I believe I can do anything. In fact, it's inspired me to do some impromptu spring cleaning, so I'm going through the house trying to tidy up and get the house together to surprise Patrick. You won't tell him, will you? :)

March Madness has begun (as I'm sure you all know), but more importantly, our Auburn Tigers keep winning! The women's basketball team won earlier today to make it to the round of 32 in the women's tournament, and the men won last night to make it to the Sweet 16 of the NIT. I'm excited that both teams are continuing to play well, and I'd love to see us contend for a championship or two! 

OK, back to the Madness. Right now, the Jones team (that would be me and Patrick) are winning in our bracket challenge with the church group, but that might change today as a lot of our teams are in bad match-ups. The way we play March Madness, we all drafted teams to follow throughout the tournament, and the couple whose teams win the most will win it all. Yesterday, we had six out of seven teams with wins. Unfortunately, today, most of those teams aren't expected to win. For example, LSU (our team) is up against UNC ... you get the idea. Oh well. The games are still a heckuva lot of fun to watch. I love this time of year.