New Soon-To-Be Family Member!

No, not talking about Cecily--this time.  ;)

To add to the news, fabulous news, of the past month I get to add the wonderful news that I will be getting a FABULOUS new SISTER-IN-LAW!  Yep, my little brother proposed to his long time girlfriend, sweet Lindsey (to be known from now on as Lulu--get it--Uncle Tutu and Aunt Lulu?!) the day after Valentine's Day!  On top of that wonderful news, she was accepted into TWO graduate schools, one being UAB--her first choice!  YAY!  I'm so excited and proud of her, and glad they won't be so far away for the next three years.

The Big Day will be November 20th.  I'm honored to be one of Lindsey's brides (matrons), Knox is going to be ring bearer (if he cooperates) and Cecily will kinda be like an honorary flower girl.  I just can't begin to express how excited I am that Brother has found his lifelong love, and that she's so stinkin' AWESOME!  We're so excited for her to become part of our family, as she is excited to become part of ours.  She's also so excited to become an auntie--I think she was as anxious as I was to find out the gender of Miss Cecily.  :)

Can't wait until next weekend when I FINALLY get to see them since they've been engaged, at their engagement party we're having for them.  Good times, just hate Hubs won't be with us.

Great Weekend in Flo-town

We had a most fantastic weekend back in Flo-town.  The main purpose of the trip home was for me to be a part of wedding nuptials for Cook, one of my BFFs from high school.  While home for that purpose, my brother came home and his fab girlfriend, Lindsey came to visit too.  Much fun was had, and helped me overcome my previously posted disappointment.  ;)

The Groom & Bride at Rehearsal

Keith & Me at the Reception

All of the "babies"--Molly will be here within the month!

Tiff & Norah, Jayma & Molly-In-The-Belly, Knox & me

Me, Cook (The Bride, obv) & Jay before the wedding

Water-time fun at Ma Jack & Big Daddy's

This must be a time-honored tradition--Daddy used to throw me down the waterslide when I was a wee little girl.  Knox loved it so much that he would jump right up after the slide down, and RUN back to Big Daddy to do it again!

He figured out how to push the gas on the car, but doesn't know to steer.  He gases it, and looks every which way but forward.  We had to run beside him and steer it for him every so often.  He even was looking under the hood--which he's never seen anyone do!  Must me born into boys.

Brother couldn't let Knox have all the fun.  Pool was a pirate ship, hence his feeble attempt at a pirate hook with his finger with a pirate grin.

Happy 2nd 3rd Anniversary, Honey!

Most of you know that know us, know what the title of this blog post means.  For those that don't, let me explain.  Today is the third anniversary of mine and Keith's second wedding.  No, we were never divorced--just married twice--well not legally.  

Here's the in-depth story.  Keith and I were already living together when he popped the big question at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC on November 6th, 2004 after only a year of dating.  I was working without health benefits, so I was paying out the wazoo for Cobra Insurance.  Taking this and other things into consideration, Keith and I decided to make it legal on January 7th, 2005.  We got our marriage license, signed our paperwork, said a quick "I DO" in front of a judge, and within 20 minutes we were Mr. & Mrs.  Now, I no fluff chick, but I still wanted the celebration of family and friends accompanied by the pictures to capture the event.  So we (my mom and I) planned a beautiful, and budget friendly I might add, wedding that took place on October 8th, 2005 at The Montgomery Place of Sheffield, AL (right outside of Florence, AL--my hometown).  It was still a special day because Keith and I had decided not to exchange wedding bands until we could do so in front of family and friends.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Oh you're so lucky to have TWO anniversaries!"  Well, I'm no lucky than you my married friend.  I had to agree before the second wedding even took place that there would be only one "official" celebration of our marriage, but that the second one would be recognized.  So, we officially celebrate our day of marriage on January 7th, which now happens to be my little brother's girlfriend's birthday--how fun?!  That is the day of the official wedding anniversary for two reasons:  1) it was the day we were first legally married (that's when I changed my name too) and 2) unfortunately, my grandfather, my mother's father, wasn't able to be with us in body on our celebration day in October--he had been in the hospital and passed away that morning due to complications.  We won't ever forget our wedding celebration day, but I like to keep it as a day to remember Papa John--I do like to think he still made it to the pretty wedding. :)

So my sweet Barge, thank you for a wild, crazy and amazing three years!  I'm glad I get to see how the rest of our lives unfold--with you.  All my love!

Me with all of my bridesmaids, honorary bridesmaids & my flower girl

Keith and all his groomsmen

Cutting the cake

Pucker up, sweetcakes!

Long Overdue

So, I know you were in desperate need of a long overdue post.  I can't help it!  There has been so many things going on and I hardly know where to start.

The most obvious is to start with one of the most important events, which is also the one that happened right after I left off last.  My sweet AOPi big sister, Jill was married to her life love on September 20th.  I was bestowed the honor of being one of her bridesmaids (matron to be specific).  Jill was stunning in the gown her mother, Jan, made.  It also included lace from her Mimi's veil that adorned Jill's veil.  The location of the event, a llama farm, was almost as amazing as the bride.  I know you are thinking, "How in the world is a llama farm pretty?"  Let me tell you it was a perfectly manicured world of it's own.  Now, you did pay an extremely SMALL price of swerving up Signal Mountain to get there, but it was DEFINITELY worth it!  The reception was held in an open air barn, and was so beautiful not much decoration was needed.  We had a wonderful time with wonderful people, location and weather.  You couldn't find a more deserving person as Jill, to have such an absolutely amazing wedding to her absolutely amazing prince charming!

The end of that fabulous weekend started a bittersweet week of Knox being with his Grammy and Grandaddy.  They and Knox's uncle Brian and aunt Julie meet us in Chattanooga, where we had a fabulous lunch at Big River Brewer and made the "hand off".  Thankfully, the wild man was asleep during that process, so my waterworks weren't engaged.  I think all parties involved had a great week.  I worked on one thing or another, continuously while he was gone and it made me realize that it's amazing that I ever get anything done when my sweet baby is home with me.  Again, I would never trade that for the world, but I got a little impressed with myself.  Okay, so it's not a major task, but I'm proud of myself!

After our little "break", we headed back to TN/AL to pick up the wild man.  In addition, Daddy got to go hunting and Mommy worked on more reunion stuff.  (I think I have said this before, but I would now like to restate that I'm excited about the reunion, but SO READY to NOT be planning it anymore--and so will Keith!)  We will be returning to the homeland yet again for my big TEN YEAR REUNION that myself and a new friend from high school, Jessie, have been planning for OVER a year!  Our turn out isn't quite as high as we expected, but it will incredibly fun to reconnect with old friends.

In more current news, I am now in LOVE with yet another food market--the Dekalb Farmers Market.  It is amazing in a complete different way than Aldi. :)  This is not your average farmers' market, either.  It's your normal fresh produce (and by "normal" I mean, any and EVERY form of fruit and vegetable), fresh cut meat of any form, any kind of cheese you could possibly dream of, a whole wall of spices and herbs, fresh made bread, pastries and bagels all with organic flour, walls of exotic and natural grains, teas, canned goods--you name it, they had it.  In addition to the heaven spread before Bridgette and I, they have a cafeteria and pastry/dessert counter.  We decided to have lunch and OH MY HEAVENS!  All ingredients are straight from the isles and oh so good.  We didn't even make it to the "salad" side of couscous salad, chickpea salad and etc.  The hot side was anything from Indian, Greek and homestyle cooking at it's finest.  EVERYTHING on both Bridgette and my plate's were fabulous.  And of course, we had to grab a few desserts on the way out--and some for the boys.  Even with all the amazing food, we managed to get out of there with only spending about $25 each--including lunch and desserts!  I wish I had my camera because their website doesn't do them justice!

So that's an extremely brief summary of our past 2-3 weeks.  Pictures will follow (or precede, depending on how you read the posts!)