100th posting...and some pictures!

I just noticed that this is my 100th posting! I'm totally impressed - especially considering that I didn't think I'd stick with this more than two days when I first started! :-)

I got the disc with the pictures from our reception today! So, I thought I'd share a few with you...

This isn't the best shot of the two of us but it's actually one of my favorites because it looks like I'm being sneaky about something and I'm all about making people wonder what I'm up to. :-)

Here I am with Ryan, Libby, my brother, and my two nieces...

Here is Chris giving the toast...he was literally shaking like a leaf but his toast was very sweet!

Here I am with Libby and Libby's godmother Cindy next to her and Libby's "grand-godmother" Marge...

Here I am with Karen and Debs...how cute are we? :-)
Here is the candy buffet...And here is a shot of our new family! :-)

Wednesday night dinner

Tonight Kristina and her husband Billy came over for dinner. Ryan made chicken parmesean and we ate dinner and then sat around the dining room table chatting for hours. Somehow, Kristina had never actually met Ryan so she and Billy came out so that they could meet Ryan and so that they could see our new house. It was a great visit and I'm so glad they came over! That was our fourth set of dinner guests in the last week and a half! I believe we have another couple coming over either Friday or early next week for dinner but after that we are free for a while. If anyone wants to come over for dinner just let me know and we'll pencil you in! :-)

Monday night dinner

Today flew by pretty fast at work...I was incredibly busy! After work I came home to help Ryan get everything ready for his parents who were coming over for dinner. They were here for about three hours having dinner and just sitting around chatting. It was a great night. I adore his parents - they are wonderful - and they just so happen to adore me, too! :-) This weekend they should be closing on their condo that they are buying on the beach. They have a house here in Gainesville and they also have a beautiful house nestled in the mountains in Tennessee near Knoxville. Now they've decided to buy a condo on the beach planning for when Ryan's dad retires in a few years. They'll spend their winters at the condo on the beach and their summers in their mountain home in Tennessee. And it just so happens that we get to use either place whenever we want!! :-) How lucky are we?? :-)

Another weekend is over

I can't believe that another weekend is already over! This one definitely flew by fast. Friday was our one month wedding anniversary! :-) Ryan brought me home roses because he is a very sweet boy! :-) He made us a very nice dinner and we hung out at home and relaxed. Saturday Ryan had to work and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some things we needed for the house and then I met up with Ryan when we got off of work and we had to go to Walmart to get a few more things for the house and then we went out for lunch and then came home and worked on stuff around the house. Today was very much the same - we spent the day working on finishing things up around the house. Oh did I forget to mention??? :-) WE GOT OUR BEDROOM FURNITURE ON THURSDAY!!!!!! Whew, finally! We had to wait three weeks for it but it was well worth the wait. We absolutely love our bedroom furniture. Now we have a fully furnished house! :-) Tomorrow we are having our first guests over...Ryan's parents are coming over for dinner. We are excited to start entertaining in our new home!

The weekend is already over

Well, our whirlwind weekend is already over. Boy did it go by entirely too fast. Last night after everyone left we all sat around and watched a movie and when the movie was over most of us retired to bed because it was after midnight. This morning Ryan made a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and sausages (for those nasty people who eat sausages). We finished with breakfast around 10am and my family then packed up their car and headed on their way back to Tennessee. :-( I always hate to see them go. I adore my nieces and I hate that they live so far away! After my family left we cleaned up around the house getting ready for our last round of weekend guests. Ryan's friends who were in town for the reception all came by this afternoon to see our house and spend some time with Ryan before they all headed back to their homes in other states.

Tomorrow is back to "normal". :-( Oh well, at least it was a wonderful (yet busy!) weekend.

Our reception

Today was our wedding reception. We were both nervous about it because neither Ryan nor I like much attention on ourselves and at a wedding reception in honor of OUR wedding it was sort of hard to get around the attention being on us! :-) This morning we all woke up and had breakfast and then started getting ready for the reception. Ryan, Libby, and I had to get there early so we left about an hour before the rest of my family left for the reception. We get there only to find out that about 15 minutes before we arrived the wedding cake was being delivered and as they were bringing in the cake THEY DROPPED IT!!!! Oh my gosh. Ryan's dad told them that they had an hour and a half to get another cake made for us. What a great way to start the day!! After that people started arriving so we were greeting the guests as they arrived. Ryan's dad did a little introduction/welcome at the beginning of the reception and then it was time to eat. The food was great and my favorite food group (sugar!) was well represented! We had a candy buffet, a selection of pies, and the wedding cake (that made it back just in time for the reception to start!!). After a nice lunch Ryan and I made our rounds visiting with each of the tables and thanking everyone for coming. Later, Ryan's good friend Chris gave a very sweet toast to us and then it was time for us to cut the cake. We went up there and cut the cake and just as we were about to feed it to each other we both did a pinky promise that we'd be very gentle and clean with the cake as we fed it to each other. :-) After the pinky promise we calmly and cleanly fed each other cake and then it was time to bring on the sugar!! :-) After dessert it was about time for the guests to start leaving and after just about everyone left we took some family pictures of all of Ryan's family that was there with me, Libby, and my brother and nieces.

When everything was winding down and we were about to start taking family pictures an old dear friend of mine showed up. He is a neurosurgeon at Shands hospital and was called in at 11:30am today for an emergency surgery. As soon as he was finished with the surgery he changed and rushed to our reception...he got there so fast after the surgery that he still had the line across his forehead that was caused by the elastic in his hair cover-cap that he wore during surgery. :-) He apologized profusely for being late and said, "But I did the surgery fast!" :-) He's so funny. It was very sweet of him to show up and it meant a lot that he cared enough to rush to the reception from surgery just for a 10 minute hello.

After the reception was over we came home and had a caravan of Ryan's relatives follow us back to our house because they all wanted to see our house. They were all in from out of town and since they were here for the reception they wanted to come by and check out our new house. My house wasn't as pristine as it was on Thursday before my family arrived - but everyone understood that I've had three houseguests since Thursday. :-) They left and my friend Debs and her family stayed and visited for a while and after they left we all ate dinner. At 7:00 my wonderful friend Cindy (who is Libby's godmother - or if you hear it from Libby she is her "fairy godmother"), her boyfriend, and her mom came by to see our house. They were in town for the reception from south Florida and they decided to spend the night and go home tomorrow morning so they stopped by to see our house while they were in town, too. It was such a great day getting to spend time with some of our closest friends and both Ryan and I really enjoyed the reception. What a wonderful day! The only sad part is knowing that my family is leaving in the morning right after breakfast to head back to Tennessee. :-(

Debbie's husband Corey took pictures throughout the reception so as soon as I get those from him I'll post one. :-)

The weekend has started!

It was a long week at work but Friday is finally here!! After work I picked up my family at my house and we drove to Ocala to pick up Libby. We drove back to Gainesville and met Ryan's parents and grandma for dinner and Ryan met us at the restaurant a few minutes later. We had a great dinner while everyone sat and chatted. After we were all finished with dinner we left and all came back to our house. The last time that his parents saw our house was when it was filled with boxes and totally lacked furniture. Now that we are all settled in they came out to see the results of all of our hard work. Now we are all just sitting around watching tv and getting excited about tomorrow!!

Excited about my weekend

It's only Wednesday and I'm already excited about my upcoming weekend! Tomorrow my family gets here from Tennessee and I'm beyond excited to see them and spend some time with them. Then on Friday night we are all going to dinner with Ryan's parents so I'm looking forward to that, too. Then Saturday is our reception and we get to see all of our friends and family who are coming to celebrate our marriage with us! Saturday night Libby will be coming home and staying with my family here while Ryan and I stay at the hotel. Unfortuntely we have to hurry home bright and early Sunday morning, though, because my family is trying to leave by 8am to drive back to Tennessee.

We did find out today that our bedroom furniture won't be in tomorrow like we had originally been told...it won't be in until next Thursday. I had hoped that we'd have our bedroom furniture before people started coming by this weekend to see our house. Oh well.

My weekend

As I stated in my last blog, I saw Karen on Saturday for her birthday (which was Thursday). I met Karen and her mom at Karen's house Saturday and the three of us went to the tea room to celebrate Karen's birthday. We went to Strawberry Tea Room which is always a fantastic experience. It is always exceptional! I used the last of my gift certificate that my awesome friend Tanja sent me for my birthday back in January. :-) We'll be going to Strawberry again next month for our Friendship Day Tea but we most likely won't be back at Strawberry again until January for my big birthday. :-( If it were up to me I'd go to Strawberry Tea Room every weekend!

After tea I met up with my friend Machelle who I have known since Kindergarten but who I haven't seen in the past year and a half. Dang! We spent a few hours catching up and shopping because she was getting her grandfather a birthday present. We arrived at her grandparent's house for the birthday dinner at 6:30pm and immediately got a phone call from her brother that he and his girlfriend were about 45 minutes away and they were driving down the interstate in the pouring rain at 80 mph (silly boy!) and her brother hydroplaned and lost control of his truck and it flipped on the interstate. By the grace of God neither her brother nor his girlfriend were hurt at all. However, he was an hour from home (she and her brother both live in the Orlando area) so Machelle left to go pick them up in Ocala and take them home.

Today was basically a lazy day for us. We slept in which was oh so nice. I did the laundry and Ryan did some work outside and the rest of the day we just took it very easy.

Also today I got to speak to my brother...they are coming on Thursday to visit for the weekend and to go to our reception and I absolutely can't wait to see my nieces. I don't get to see my family nearly enough since I'm in Florida and they are in Tennessee and my nieces are very active with their school activities (my oldest niece is the incoming Junior Class President!) and other extra-curricular activies. I am so happy that I get to see them on Thursday!! Unfortunately, I have to work on Friday which really stinks considering that my family will be here and I'll be at work. :-( But I'm still grateful to get to see them and spend some time with them!

For Ron...who has ADD

Had lunch with old friend. Window shopping with Libby. Great day!!!!

Ok, that was for my friend Ron who told me today that my blogs are entirely too long. Whatever! :-) Today Libby and I met Ron for lunch. He has been on vacation visiting his family in Orlando and he was on his way back to Atlanta so he stopped to have lunch with us. Ryan was able to join us for lunch which was nice especially considering that Ryan and Ron hadn't yet met. We ate and chatted for a while and then it was time for Ron to get back on the road. Libby and I then had a few errands to run to get some more things for our house and then we went to the mall and went window shopping for a while. We stopped by the park and as we were walking up to the park we heard, 'LIBBY! LIBBY! L-I-B-B-Y!!!!!!!" I recognized the voice immediately...it was Tommy from Libby's 1st grade class. :-) He absolutley adores Libby and he was so heartbroken when we told him that Libby wouldn't be at Littlewood for 2nd grade and on the last day of 1st grade he brought Libby two stuffed animals to remember him by. He's such a sweetheart. So, they played for about 15 minutes until he had to leave (he was there with his summer camp). Libby stayed and played a bit longer and then we had to go to Walmart and then it was time for me to take Libby to her grandmother's house. Libby starts a week with her dad today :-( I already missed her as I was driving her to her grandmother's house. :-(

Tomorrow I get to see Karen! Her birthday was Thursday and we are going for tea tomorrow to celebrate her birthday!! Can't wait!!!

Relaxing Monday

Today was a very relaxing Monday...we slept in for just a bit and just as we were about to go outside to make giant bubbles it starting pouring rain. We waited it out a bit and then left to head to the library. Libby checked out 10 books to read this week and while we were there we saw that today was Monday Movie Matinee. So, we killed a few more minutes and then we watched The Tale of Despereaux...that wasn't bad for some free entertainment on a rainy Monday afternoon! Now we just need to see what we can find to keep us busy tomorrow!

I finally had my first "Ahhh!" moment today! We hung up what we wanted on our walls yesterday and unpacked the few miscellaneous boxes that were left. The only things inside of the house that currently don't belong are all of my seasonal decorations...they are all packed in the entryway closet until I get around to buying some bins to put them in so that everything can go into the attic. Our bedroom is organized - just still waiting on the furniture to come in and that will be another two weeks. But, the house is put together...no more boxes to climb over, nothing to sit and stare at in disgust, and no more bare walls. So, today after Libby and I got home from the library I walked in, sat on my couch, and heartily sighed, "Ahhh!!!" It took nearly weeks to get here but boy was it worth it!!

Happy 4th of July!

Today was a busy day for us. This morning while Ryan mowed the lawn, Libby played Wii, and I cleaned the kitchen from breakfast. After a few hours of yard work for Ryan and housework for me it was time for lunch and then we left to do our errands. We had to go to Home Depot, Lowes, and of course Walmart. We got home around 4:00 and still had plenty to do at home so we all kept busy for the next few hours. We then ate dinner and headed to Alachua to see the fireworks. The University of Florida cancelled thier fireworks display this year due to budget so the only option around was going to Alachua. After the fireworks we came home and we all played with sparklers :-)

and after the sparklers we had our dessert :-)

I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!

Ahhhh!

Today our furniture arrived. Man, it is great to sit on a couch again...the last time I sat on a couch was last Tuesday!! :-) The furniture was scheduled to be delivered between 10 and 12 this morning...so naturally I'm sure you know that means that they arrived at 1pm. After they left I went to enroll Libby at her new elementary school!!!! I got her enrolled and also was able to reserve her a spot in the EDEP (afterschool program at school!!!!) Whew, what a relief! I had been concerned over where she would be after school in the fall and now I have that all settled! :-) The only problem is that they close at 5:30 and I work until 6:00. Dang it. However, Ryan usually gets off at 4:00pm at least two days a week and I am off on Thursdays so that only leaves two days that I have to figure out. Eh, I have several weeks to figure it out before school starts...I'm just glad that I have her spot reserved!!

I came home after that and SAT ON MY COUCH!!!! It has been nice to sit and relax a little this afternoon! I still have a few things to put away - I just have no idea where to put those things! :-)