Mega Nerdage II

So, just in case you all didn't have a clear picture of what mega nerdage might look like, I made sure to capture it this time.

Josh, Hubby, and Jackson all as delighted as their hearts can hold! Me? I read Harry Potter in the bath!
This is Descent: Journeys in the Dark, Hubby's new favorite game. This game can last up to 6 hours or so. Hubby, I promise; I will play it again!

Ash Bash 2008!

Our friend, Ash, is leaving us for a better place. Well, maybe. He's moving to Texarkana, but he does have a full time teaching position at a college down there, which is a better place than the world of grad school debt.

This is my first official time on the grill. Everything I grilled, I burned including the veggie burger. And the hotdogs? They split down the center, which, as luck would have it, is a great place for the condiments! Here are Ash, Allison and Hubby gathered in the kitchen.

Hubby started a game of croquet with Max and Annabeth (Ash's kids) and Ravi, Geoff and Padma's son. They are in the background. Heffernan and Geoff, both poets and faculty members at U of A, talk with Mary about...well...only she knows. Hef strikes a mean pose.
Backyard shot of Padma and baby, Ash in white shirt, Ann (Hef's wife), Alex and Keely. Keely is a fiction writer in her fourth year here at the U of A and she and Alex are newlyweds!

Close up of Mary, Keely and Padma. I always wait for the most opportune time to take the shot.
The spread! We had hubby's famous sangria, chips and salsa, lemonade, chips and pretzels, Twizzlers and chocolate, hot-dogs and hamburgers and all the fixins! Oh, and some chocolate-chip banana muffins!
Brock (Geoff) and baby fill their plates.

The man, the legend!

Oh, Ash, how hubby and I will miss you!

Praise Post

For the past few days, I've really been thinking about stuff. For some of you, thinking "Uh-oh" at this point is as natural as your gag reflex, but I assure you, read on. At Vintage, (http://vintagefellowship.org/) our pastors have been leading a series entitled God is Green. Hubby and I missed most of it because we were out of town for a couple of weekends, but we did catch the first and the last sermons.

The first Sunday of the God is Green series focused on appreciating the beauty of creation. We should, more often, sit back and enjoy the things that are around us. At this point during the sermon, hubby looked over at me to snicker since I tend to run, run, run, until I hit a wall. Enjoy what? There's too much to do! Why waste time enjoying when I could be doing!

You know those flat escalators in airports that you can walk down to get to your gate faster? Well, my life is one of those and I RUN! So, this series pulled the plug! And, as a result, I've been trying to focus more on what is around me, how to appreciate it, and by default, how to preserve and take care of it.

What am I thankful for?

1. My husband.
The man, the legend who keeps me young, appreciative, and corrects my grammar when given the chance.

2. Air conditioning.
Seems like a silly thing, but not everyone has the luxury of an air conditioned car or home, and as of late, the lack of air conditioning could be a very bad thing.

3. My jobs. And, hubby's new job.
We would have no air conditioning (nor muffins--read on) without these beauties.

4. Our pastors.
While leading and envisioning the future of Vintage, both have full-time jobs and full-time families. All these things demand a lot of responsibility and they have done a beautiful job. And of course, behind every great man...is a great family.

5. Composting.
Never thought I'd take time to praise decaying matter, but how flippin cool is it to take stuff you would otherwise throw into a trash pile and reuse it to grow produce and plants?

6. Friends and Family
In this area of our lives, we have both been blessed!

7. Double J.
Thank God he moved back to town! Not only did we both miss him madly, but now hubby has someone to play Descent with!

8. Made from scratch, chocolate-chip-banana muffins.
Need I say more?

Mega Nerdage

Last night, Hubby and I and a couple of friends got together to play Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17226

It's a board game that is very elaborate. In fact, we started setting the game up around 4:00pm and I played until 8:30. Hubby and friends? Much later. The game reminds me of what D&D might have been like had I ever been geeky enough in high school to play it. It took me awhile to get used to the rolling of the dice, counting up kill points, and understanding what was equipped and what was in my backpack, but I think with some time, I could really enjoy this game. And since hubby loves it, I'll try very hard!

While Descent is not on the agenda for this weekend, fun will still be had. Our friend Ash is graduating from the creative writing program and we're throwing him a going away party on Saturday. I'll be sure and take some great pics for you all to see!

Our Two Week Getaway in Fayetteville

A couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I house sat for some friends while they honeymooned in Spain. I have to say, we loved every second of it--loved it enough to take pictures! We loved how every room was air conditioned, how each room had this thing that swung on hinges--doors, I think our friends called them. We loved how the flooring was level and seemed to be built on a foundation. We loved how the roof didn't leak when there was a downpour, and I loved how the abscence of mold and cat hair made a remarkable difference in my allergies! This place was a treat!

Not only did we stay in a luxurious house (with a whirlpool for a bath tub!) we also got to play mom and dad to Maple, their young and budding lady dog. Daily, we walked her around the neighborhood, which was easier than I thought it would be based on my past experiences walking one stubborn beagle whose name shall remain anonymous!When our friends returned from their long honeymoon, we wanted to greet them with splendor. So, we cleaned up our two week house mess, and I asked my boss at the flower shop, Thea, to help me put together something extra special. And so, she put together something extra special because I certainly could not put something like this together!

While it was a treat house sitting, it is good to be back...yeah.

Family Weekend at Beaver Lake

Well this was my second annual Family Weekend at Beaver Lake, and holding true to form, it was a blast! Hubby and I headed up to Beaver Lake on Friday afternoon to join the rest of family who had been lake-bound for a better part of a week. Unfortunatly, because of my work schedule, we couldn't get out there any sooner.

The whole family converged upon a small cabin that sat right on the lake. There were jet skiis, boats, kayaking babies, games, and not just good, but glorious, glorious food!

If there wasn't rivalry at the game table, then that meant the family was down at the dock.

Baby Emma and Kyle kayaked while Nancy, Cat, and Drake tried to stay out of reach of the paddle. Meanwhile, Hubby and I set sail on the jet ski.As is typical style with family time, we both ate way too much. However, we did eat fish all weekend so that counts for something. So what if it was fried! The ice-cream wasn't fried. Nor were the pie or cookies, so we're good.

Long Awaited Honeymoon Photos!

So, because we were on our honeymoon, we only took a handful of pictures. For those of you unfamiliar, RJ and I went to Mexico. We stayed at an all inclusive resort about 30 minutes south of Cancun. We were there about a week, and for a week, we did very little except eat, drink and be married!










We lounged by the pool most days, but a couple days we ventured out beyond the protective walls of our resort. One day, we went to the Mayan city of Tulum. The ruins are quite fascinating themselves.

But what's even more amazing about these particular ruins is that they are surrounded by the Mayan Carribean, which is a deep blue sea! These ruins have a staircase that led down to the white, sand beach. Of course, we spent as much time as we could at the ruins and then headed for the beach!






























The honeymoon was such a great time for me and RJ to collect ourselves and really embrace our new identity as husband and wife. I think this is exactly what a honeymoon is for, especially if you have planned your own wedding! The honeymoon was a time to wind down, to not be caught up in the bliss of wedding details, and to just enjoy each other and to really embrace the crazy and mysterious bond that we just committed to! This, of course, brings its own bliss.










Proof: I can be content. See?












And, here are some pictures of our return into the real world. According to a couple of different sources, carrying the bride across the threshold keeps the "ground monsters" away from the bride as she is entering her new home.










Once she officially enters the home, she is safe. And to think, these last couple of years prior to being carried over the threshold, I thought it was just my allergies. Dang ground monsters.


















Safe!

This is how we do it...

And, this is how we do things in the south.

After wrangling the 70 year old air conditioner out of our front window,

we have this to show for it. Yeehaw!

Birmingham

This weekend, Hubby and I ventured to Birmingham, AL for a friend's wedding. Henry Tsay--pronounced sigh, which makes for some wicked funny punning-- married his life-long girlfriend, Sharon. We left Fayetteville Friday morning and drove through to Birmingham. We stopped off in Little Rock to eat at the infamous Flying Fish. Below is RJ and the wall of singing bass, which is enough to frighten anyone.
Next, we hit some great shops in the area. One I liked in particular was the store, Ten Thousand Villages. I love this place because, first off, everything is affordable. And second, all of the international artisans who created the merchandise are paid fairly for their work. We actually have one of these stores in Fayetteville, but I haven't been up there yet. Folks--expect Christmas gifts from here this year!

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Overall, the drive to Birmingham was not bad. We did a lot of talking and listening to a Stephanie Plum mystery novel, which was junk food for our head and we loved it. This was quite a change from our Harry Potter marathon reading. Yes, school is out and we are reading what we want! We arrived at our hotel in AL around 9ish and settled in.

The next morning, we headed to the wedding, which began around 11AM. The church was lovely and the day was not too hot, which is surprising for the south in July. Afterwards, we headed to the reception, which lasted until 3pm. RJ got to reunite with some of his buddies from Wash U. and I got to meet a lot of really cool people I hope to see again.

Then, we jumped in the car and headed to Memphis. We made it in around 7pm and thought about heading downtown to the Peabody to see Journey to the Center of the Earth, but instead, we stayed in and watched tv. This was fine with me since I was getting the beginnings of a sinus infection.

Sunday, we checked out at the last possible minute, and hit the road back to Fayetteville. We arrived home around 6pm and I went to bed feeling pretty lousy. Hubby took care of dinner and spent all of Monday nursing me back to a human state. Good man.

Hubby Rocked the 4th!

Not that he doesn't rock on other days, but this was a particularly well-done day. Both of us have typically spent our 4th of July celebrating, in some fashion, with city or corporate funded fire-work shows. Well, this year, due to budget cuts, Fayetteville decided to cancel the fireworks. I suppose that's better than laying off city workers. Okay, it is way better than laying off city workers.

So, on Thursday, hubby calls me up at work and asks if I'd like to go to a Naturals ballgame. He said they'll be a fireworks show afterwards. Heck yea! Because there is much, much money in Northwest Arkansas, and specifically lots of money in Springdale/Rogers/Bentonville, we knew the fireworks show would storm greatness down upon us!

Well, the evening did not disappoint. We arrived at the sold out game to pick up our reserved tickets (hubby took care of all this!) and made our way to our seats. Truly, there is not a bad seat in the house, but I can say that we had the best seats possible. We sat right behind the home-team dugout and the seats were far enough in the middle of the dugout that we did not have to worry about losing any teeth during foul fly balls.

Later, after we lost to San Antonio, the fireworks show began. Nothing makes me more patriotic than bursting metal and flames, deafening explosions, and Proud To Be An American pumping its trebly self from the ballpark loud speakers. Although I sound like I mock, I really felt it. I did feel proud, but not only proud, I felt fortunate. Here I was, with my wonderful husband, being entertained by fireworks and celebrating our freedom. Can it get better? Well, yes. I'm not a huge fan of gospel, but Elvis belting out "Glory, glory, Halleluiah!", with fireworks, on the 4th of July, well, that's just special.