Somewhere permanent, maybe?

One of my many jobs at the bank is to change addresses when people have requested them, (or we hunt them down when they move). Summer seems to be a major time that people move, because I'm averaging about 50+ a week--and we only have about 5,700 members all across the globe. So a lot of people are moving quite often.

Today, the thought struck me as I was making my 5th address change of the morning, "I really want a permanent address." I haven't had one in nearly three years, and I can't begin to describe to you how much I want one. I even dreamed the other night that we got a post office box in Collegedale. We were box #3, isn't that great? It's not just the address I want though--it's the security in belonging someplace at least semi-permanent. I know that life can suddenly change, and there is very little security to be had, but having an address would be a nice change for me, for once.

I used to be picky about addresses. I have seen some really scary ones since I've been doing this job in the past year. I used to not want to live on a street unless it sounded poetic or homey, or even quaint. Now I think I could even be quite happy living on something generic like Main St, USA :)

--Amanda of Loblolly Ln., for now.

We thought pink, and it worked!!

I would like to give congratulations on my blog to my cousin Jon & his wife Bekah who just found out that their second child is going to be a girl! You'd have to know my family to understand the true excitement of all this. We had so much fun with Bryden, their first child, that we eagerly look forward to him having a little sister. As I was leaving this morning, he was coming to the house and I told him congratulations that he's going to have a sister. He asked me if I was going to come and see her, and I said that I would, once she was born. Her expected arrival I hear is January 1, so it will be a happy New Year in the Spears clan. :)

Ahh....Sometimes I just need a mental break from work (i.e. before I have a mental breakdown) and so I look for funny sites. I found this one on Kristen's friend Valerie's blog: Cats that Look Like Hitler. It's a really funny site. And similar to that one, a friend showed me another funny cat site: Stuff on my cat. So there you go, something for the cat lovers (and even those who can't have them, like me!)

Charles Graduates--All Celebrate!

As promised, here are a few photos of Charles' Graduation last night--woohoo!!
This is him walking down the aisle...


And getting up to leave gym after grad... (note the happy expression on his face!)


Still leaving the gym..


Us with my grandparents after the ceremony. It was so nice outside (shock!)--probably because it was fixin' to rain, but the wind was blowing and everyone was happy to be outside (for once).

And finally...

The newly graduated, and newly married happy "us". hee hee

Summer fun

I'm really sad--I typed I blog I thought was neat, I think on Wednesday, in between different things going on, but the internet system crashed. What a bum deal.

Anyway, I just talked about how it is so swealtering hot here, and how on Sunday Bryden came over and swam around in his new splashing pool Mo bought him. I was wearing street clothes, but "somehow" ended up completely soaked. But really, I didn't mind it so much because it was so hot outside. We ate watermelon out by the pool, and felt like we were livin' the high life. haha.

Every day this week has been in the mid-upper 90s. There's a weather advisory outside, with something to do about the air quality. They said to not go outside if you could help it. Pretty sad, huh? So it dawned on me that you know it's really hot outside when you start fantasizing about your little cousins splashy pool in the middle of the afternoon. It's that hot now.

Stay tuned to pictures from Charles' graduation last night! I'm so proud of him!

Monsoon--Not Just a Store in the UK

So since I have last blogged, I have noticed that our area has been overtaken by what I call "Monsoon Season". I used to not think that we had that in our hemisphere, but the weather channel has recently proved me wrong. We have already received more rain this month than El Paso gets in a year (I'm probably not exaggerating that much). Nice. Well, Thursday night we had one particularly bad storm. You never know these are coming though, unless you're glued to the weather reports, and that's the sad part. We had to go to town to get groceries and pick up a few things at the mall. When we went to come out of the mall though, there was torrential rain, and a flock of people standing by the door in utter amazement. Most people waited it out, and we did for awhile, but the evening was getting on, so Charles decided to make a break for the car. Needless to say he got soaked. He drove around to pick me up, and even though he got as close as he could, I still had to run fifty feet in the rain. Fortunately, I was wearing the crocs that Jay gave me as a wedding present (isn't he great?), so my feet were well equipped. Unfortunately, I was wearing a white t-shirt. Sad.

Later, while shopping at Walmart, we were getting some bottled water (yes, I've started doing that, because I fear city water is poisoning us all slowly). I heard a noise, and looked up to actually see a STREAM of water coming down from the ceiling. I had visions of the roof collapsing in on us being seen by all on the nightly news. Fortunately that made us shop faster so that was a good thing.

Our watered out evening was nothing compared to my friends Irma & Alba (work ladies). They were walking on the Greenway when the storm began! They had to run to nearby apartments and wait out the storm. Just then, Irma realized she had dropped her keys when they had started to run! Fortunately, the rain started to let up, and she was able to find them when they were running back to their car! Wow.. she is so funny too--she was just laughing about it when she told me (Irma). She's pretty laid back like that, although she did admit to being frightened by the rain.

Since getting married we've been working on compromising with each other. I think we're getting good at it :) For example, he wants to buy a gun. I said, "If you're going to buy a gun, I will get an iPod after that." That works. The other night I wanted to watch a chick flick, he agreed, but I compromised and let him watch "Gunsmoke" first. It worked out well. :) That's what marriage is all about--compromise, oh, and love too, of course.

I have officially dubbed today "Round-to-it" day. Our room has been so messy and disorganized since we got back from our honeymoon (actually, back when it was still "my" room it was a mess, it just got worse after the wedding). I've been cleaning our under the bed, dusting, throwing out trash and organizing stuff. It's looking mucho-better so far. And it's just 1pm! I decided to take a blog break... but now I must go back. Wish me well. :)

Healthy stuff

I feel like being healthy. I have gone back and forth over the years whether or not to be vegan. I just like cheese and ice cream too much. Probably the ice cream even way more than the cheese. Does anyone else agree? They have excellent milk-substitutes that I can easily live with. Even the cheese substitutes are quite good these days. But the ice cream? I just can't be fooled. I know it's soy or rice or whatever non-dairy substitute they can concoct. Oh well. I guess all in moderation, right? If you're interested in a neat blog that features a healthy lifestyle, check out: The Vegan Lunchbox. They have good recipies and other inspirations. I think I'm off to lunch now.. gonna get a healthy VM salad. :)

I Want to be a Farm-girl too!

I found this neat-o site when I was on blogger one day. I haven't explored it fully, but wanted to draw attention to it incase I forget about it later. It's about a girl on a farm in Missouri. That's pretty much all I know, but it looked to be something you should check out for fun. Farmgirl Fare

Standing on the edge of possible change is never something I have fully enjoyed or embraced. I don't think I sat down and really thought about how my life would change after I got married, and thus my wedding was not as overly emotional as it could have been. I have since processed a lot of those emotions and the changes, and I am feeling better about them. We are enjoying life, as every day together is truly a gift.

I would like to request prayers as we continue to seek out where the Lord has in store for us to be next year. Immigration status changing is the thorn in our sides at the moment, but through all of this we know that we have not been abandoned, and that there is still a plan...I'll let you know when we figure out what that is.

I wanted to post a few pictures on here from our trip to Nebraska at the end of May. We went there for Charles' nieces wedding. First picture is of Naomi & Talitha before the wedding (sisters, Charles' nieces):

The next picture is of Charles' nephew Ben & fiance Martha at the reception. We're hoping to go to their wedding sometime around New Year's way up in Alberta.. I hope we can:

What happens when Charles' crazy nephew Daniel gets ahold of my camera:

Charles & Naomi at the reception:

Finally, and I always love these pictures, is Naomi and Robert leaving the wedding. I think I like these photos because they always seem to really capture the blissful moment.

Near indignation.. thus, this is the expression on my face. Does anyone read my blog? Is it boring and not noteworthy? Sometimes it's like talking to a brick wall, you people. I appreciate that Kristen adds comments, but she's the only one.

:( Just because I save the juicy stuff for my personal hidden blog is no reason to not read this one. This one is good too. Right? Actually, the reason for my rant is that I really wanted to use this icon. It's such a great expression. Thank you Deborah (www.livejournal.com/users/maplest) for letting me steal icons. Love ya.

Thankfully, it's the weekend, and fun will be had by all.

Speaking of something that feels like home, I ran across this blog today, and though I only read a few posts, it was nice to "hear" from someone posting in England. Check it out: Unique British Gifts

I'm up to photo collaging again.. Here are some of the flowers I shot on our honeymoon in Williamsburg, and at Monticello, Virginia.
  

So I know this is just a random thing to write a blog about, but I couldn't resist. Sometimes humorous things happen from day to day, and if you don't write about them, you'll forget.

Wednesday I went to go into the restroom at work (or washroom, for you Canadians) and there was a huge cockroach on the floor (are they ever little??). I yelped and went to get a faithful co-worker, Donna, who rescued me from the terror of the roach. I thought little of it until the next day when I see two guys from Cooks Pest Control standing in the lobby. One of the tellers, Princess, who has humor akin to my own, turns to me and says with a slight smile, "Amanda, could you please describe the purportrator for us?" Of course I laugh out loud, because I know she's talking about the cockroach incident from the day previous. The Cooks man evidentially did not find this exchange amusing, for he said (and I am not making this up), "Ma'am, this is a serious matter. It may seem humorous, but it really is a serious situation." How in the world he could say that with a straight face, I don't know. I went into graphic detail, as prompted, of all the roaches characteristics I had committed to memory from that horrid incident, with all the skill of someone describing a burglar or robber. I squelched the urge to say, "Well, last I saw him he kind of looked like this: [mime of squashed roach]". It was probably a good thing I didn't.

But on a serious note, if you want serious extermination of any sort of pest (of the bug and vermin variety, of course), these are definitely the guys to call.

Benevolent Director

I found a really awesome personality test online. You should check it out. Here are my results:
My Personal Dna Report. Let's take a poll, who thinks this is a good summary of me? Thanks for your input.

This is a picture of Betty & I. Betty is my buddy from Newbold, a short-term roommate actually, who is over here from England taking classes at Wildwood. We randomly connected this weekend, after not seeing eachother in over 5 years now (has it been that long?!?!). We went downtown for a bit and walked around. It was great to see her, and I hope to see her again before she takes off across the big pond. :)

  

At long last we are married! The wedding went by in a blurr, but was absolutely wonderful. We had a great time visiting with friends and family from all over. The honeymoon was great--maybe someday we'll live in Virginia, we loved it that much. :) I will be posting more photos probably on my flickr site, but here are a few for now. Thank you for your love and support as we made our lifelong commitment to each other.

Hello everyone who thought I wouldn't blog until way after my honeymoon! Here I am, with a moment to think, and even though I should still be enjoying sleep, I'm wide awake. I haven't gone to bed before midnight (well last night was 11) in 6 straight days, and haven't slept in past 7:45 either morning either. Just a few things rattling around in my head that keep me awake.

This week has been utter and complete pandemonium. We have all, in my family, been running around like crazy people from sunup to sundown (I first typed that the other way around and then realized that was wrong.. haha). I had a to-do list a mile long at the end of last week, and this week I finally learned how to delegate, or "let go" as some people call it. My nerves started the healing process after I finally got the invitations to the printer. That was definitely something I should not have saved to the last minute. What else did I do? Shopped some, that was the fun part.. I like shopping, especially when I have money to do it with. I painted birdv houses, decorated my flower girls' basket and hair barett, made welcome baskets for Charles' family, picked peonies in someone's yard, and all of this with getting 50+ phone calls a day. Yay. On Friday I treated myself to a massage (but unfortunately it was only 1/2 hour, since time was so valuable yesterday). I have never had a massage, but I highly recommend one--especially at my friend's salon "A Better You." Very nice atmosphere.

The rehearsal yesterday was a little stressful. I just felt really unorganized. We didn't have everyone's gifts together (the guys', mainly), I forgot to bring the flower girls' basket, a copy of the wedding program for the coordinator & organist, and I forgot to put out these little cards on the table where people were suppose to write their marriage advice for us. I was too rushed. Oh well. The show goes on.

I would like to ask that you continue to pray for us as we take this exciting step in marriage. :) Hope to see you tomorrow! I will leave you of a picture of me wearing my moms veil.

 
Before I blog about my crazy pre-wedding life, I want to send a huge congratulations out to Bekah, Jon and Bryden for they have just received the news that they will have an addition to their family!! Yay!!! I'm so excited for them. They have chosen as their new motto: Think Pink! So, say that three times and maybe they'll have a little girl. J/k This is a picture of us taken right before my Bachelorette party a few weeks ago. :) 

Does anyone know how to make a "subject" or "title" for these blogs? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Today my students were absolutely crazy... maybe it's the storms, maybe it's the alignment of the planets, but they are so ready for a weekend (me too!). These 4 boys in my class today are obsessed with one of the teachers. It's really sad. I'm like, you guys are gross.. you need to look at girls your own age (or none at all, since they're only in 7th grade.) It's sad. The unfortunate thing was it was raining today, so we stayed inside to take photos. You can only guess where the guys went.. That's right, straight to this one teacher's classroom to play paparazzi or however you spell it. Teacher crushes. hummmp.

So I'm dog sitting for these people again this weekend, which I don't really mind, except it's kind of weird to plan your whole weekend around a dog. He's a mini-Schnauzer named Bowser, and is cute as a little old man (that's what those dogs remind me of, with their gray hair and beards and all). The only thing I don't really like is that they keep him in a wire cage thing during the day when no one's home. When I let him out, he is all wobbly-legged, and I can't help but wonder "does this border on dog abuse??" I let him run around as much as possible when I'm there, just so he doesn't go nuts.

I'd like to send a Happy Birthday out to the Queen. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but I know I'll forget to blog about it. She invited everyone who has her exact birthday to the palace for dinner. How cute is that? She called them her twins. One lady said it was the happiest day of her life. So sweet. Anyway, she also had a meet'n greet at Windsor today and I think tomorrow. Wish I could be there, but I missed my flight.

The weeks are really flying by! I can't believe in 3.5 weeks I'll be a married person. So much to do .. wow. So anyway, the Bachelorette party went really well, so Thank you Heather, Kristen, all who were involved. I appreciated it a lot. My nerves were put to rest the moment Rochelle turned her car around on Brainerd Rd. and started heading back toward Ooltewah. She and Fern were told to stall, but they just told me that they were taking me someplace "special" that I had never been to before. As we were driving in that general direction of the downtown I thought "nothing good can come of this." But it did.. Thank you to all the girls who came, it was a lot of fun. :) I may post pictures, I haven't yet decided. Probably won't, for I wouldn't want anyone's "professional integrity" to be challenged.

I had something I wanted to write in a blog, but I can't remember what it is now. I would write these things down when I think of them, but I need more lists like I need a hole in my head. Right now I am trying to format the menu cards for the reception. The paper I bought for this is 12x12 scrapbooking paper (don't ask why I did this). I cut it in half, and still, the printer doesn't like me for doing this. It's like trying to fit something round into a square. Sad.

I made a sad discovery yesterday while I was doing some spring cleaning. I found where my canister of paint brushes had fallen behind the sofa, un-noticed. When I retrieved them (about 30 in all) they were covered in cob-webs and dust. It made me stop and try to remember the last time I painted, and it made me so sad. I'm hardly an artist these days, for an artist is one who does art. I haven't done art in so long I don't feel like I'm worthy of the title. Oh well. Maybe later in the summer.

I will leave you with a happy note: Spring is here, and the weather was absolutely beautiful this evening as I walked up at SAU with my mom. There was a cool breeze blowing, and the mourning doves were cooing, and the azaleas were blooming. Makes me want to be a poet.