3/25/09

March of Dimes Update

Just a reminder about the March of Dimes March for Babies walk that I am in charge of for CPMG! It's not too late to sign up to walk or to donate - from what I understand the online system for doing so is a bit tedious and asks alot of questions. If you would rather tell me directly what you wish to donate or to sign up and walk, that is fine too! Email me at muppetmusic22@gmail.com

The walk is April 26th so we're at just a month to go!

Watch your emails for a "fun" reminder about my participation as well. March of Dimes has some fun tools for fundraising and I'll be putting one together but that's all the more I can say about it! :)

3/19/09

Wiiiii

So most of you know, we are proud owners of a Nintendo Wii. And I love our Wii. It's funny, it was my gift to Nate on our first wedding anniversary, but you know what, we both use it quite a bit. Most of the time we play with it together, which is pretty much the point behind having it.

Our favorite Wii features? We like two things that are on these "Channels" you can download. One is called the "Everybody Votes Channel" and the other is called the "Check Mii Out Channel." On the Everybody Votes channel, you can vote in a poll that is either National or Worldwide. They also let you pick what you think the majority of people will choose. Then after about a week you are able to see the results and also if your prediction was correct. They give you stats of male and female responses, responses by state if it's national and by country if it's worldwide.

On the Check Mii out channel, you can enter your little Mii creations into specific contests (an example would be "the perfect 80's rocker") and also vote on what others have submitted. Let me tell you, there are some really talented people out there when it comes to creating "Miis".

Our favorite games are Mario Kart Wii, Rockband 2 and Mario Party 8. I think we like these the best because they are games we can play together and they are interactive. We do like the Sports too, but we reach for these other games more often.

Honestly, it was one of the smartest purchases I ever made even if it was pretty expensive at the time. We use it multiple times a week, not just for games even. There are many other neat features about it. If I listed them all though, we could be here all day.

The one thing we don't have yet is a Wii Fit. I still really want one, I think it would be a fun way to workout! We'll see how things go, I think we'll end up with one eventually!

3/17/09

The "Cast Offs"

You know how sometimes something good can come out of something really bad? Kind of like how we often say "things happen for a reason, we just don't know what that reason is at the time." Well, I can say one good thing has happened out of us leaving our church. We've formed our own little community, a group of people who are now our second family. Actually, in a way, they always have been, they're the people we were closest to at church anyway. But since we all left together and are on this journey of discovery together, we've drawn even closer to each other.

We now joke that we are the "Cast Offs" because we were cast out of choir so to speak. It's kind of a play on a local band's name that often came and played at our church festivals, the "Castaways". And while we still probably need to come up with a better name than the Cast Offs, it's easier than saying " the Displaced Immaculate people" or something along those lines.
Nate and I are so blessed to have these people in our life. Their support and friendship has made this time so much easier on both us and my parents (they're part of the group too). In many ways, I feel we're better off now because of these people. So what if we're a mix of ages? We're a family and Nate and I love being part of it.

So to our fellow "Cast Offs" I just wanted to say thank you and I love you guys. No matter what happens, at least we have each other!

The Cast Offs (circa 2007, only pic I have right now) from left to right:
Ron's hand, Jerri, Marie, Greg, my dad and my mom
Not pictured: Dave, Nate and me.

3/11/09

Fun Facts about your Favorite Couple

Ok, maybe we're not your favorite couple, but if you're reading this blog you must like us or find us interesting yes?


So today I bring you fun and quirky facts that you may or may not have known about us. Enjoy.

1. We got together as a couple on March 22, 1998. We were on a school trip and it took some goading from friends to make us see that we'd kind of been falling for each other. Neither one of us really asked the big question, though it was Nate who said "you want to be a thing?"

2. Our first date was intended to be the Sadie Hawkins dance at school, but we decided that since no friends were going, we would go see the movie Good Will Hunting at the Apache 6 Theatre instead. After the movie we had pie at Bakers Square. Sadly, both locations are no longer in existance so we will never be able to take our kids there.

Another funny thing to note - I didn't realize until many years later that we went to an R rated movie in the theater when we were only 16 years old....

3. We did go to Sadie Hawkins once during our Junior year. And yes we did buy matching flannels and the whole bit. We went to four formal dances between Y-Teens (winter formal) and Prom.

4. I had my license before Nate and drove us around for almost two years before he got his.

5. Our first vacation together was a trip with his family to Maine.

6. We have also been to Itasca, St. Louis and Wisconsin together. We'd like to go many more places, but money doesn't allow it.

7. We were engaged on April 24th, 2005 at Como Zoo, specifically in the parking lot. I know exactly which tree we were by, it was one of the grassy islands and we had put a blanket down for a picnic.

8. We were married on May 27, 2006. It was a very hot day. Memorial Day weekend has not been as hot since. Not fair!

9. One of our favorite movies is Punch Drunk Love.

10. Our favorite restaurants vary, but we do really enjoy Khan's, Famous Daves, Sarna's and Barley John's alot!

11.Contrary to popular belief we do want to have children someday, but we are working at being financially and emotionally stable to do so first. So to answer the question that many are wondering - I don't know yet when. We're just enjoying each other for now and taking life one day at a time.

12. Our interests as a couple vary - we like playing our video games, watching movies, cooking together, golfing....I think we're very well rounded!

13. In the last couple of years Nate has started using my family's pet name for me "Boo" which makes me think I will never escape it to the day I die. I think it's cute though. We often call each other "sweetie" "Honey" and I call him "Babe". I am sure to many it's annoying, but I find it endearing and it is one of the many ways we connect with each other.

14. I am definitely the most competitive out of the two of us and have been known to pout when Nate constantly beats me at various games. I won't deny it, I like to win!

15. For our first anniversary as a married couple we went all out as far as gifts go. I got Nate our Nintendo Wii, he got me a Master Replica Photo Puppet of Kermit the Frog. Material things are not important, but alot of thought went into both of those gifts and I will also remember that first anniversary fondly.

16. In high school we took a drama class together. One of the activities was a lip synch that was to be performed for the class. We partnered up and decided to do "Steal My Sunshine" by LEN. This was a BAD choice, it was before good information was readily available on the internet and we could not find the lyrics to save our lives! Have you ever heard that song? They mumble!

17. Both of our cats have a favorite person in the house so it really works out well for sharing the kitty love. Nate is clearly Taylor's favorite and pretty much has been since the day he moved in, where as Pippin has taken a real liking to me. So when we watch TV together, we each get a cat on our lap all to ourselves!

18. We took a trip to St. Louis all by ourselves to visit Nate's grandparents when I was still in college because they said if he came down and got it, they had furniture he could have for when he moved out. On the way down, the air conditioner went out in his old Fairmont. This was in the middle of summer. And St. Louis is a 10 hour trip. It's a miracle we are still together after that trip, especially after the drive home and being stuck in a traffic jam with an overheating car towing a trailer full of furniture. And did I mention it was Father's Day so we were kind of in a hurry to get home to our dad's? The funny thing is though, I only remember the fun stuff about that trip!

19. We're both very near sighted. Nate's vision is much worse than mine even. We joke when we go to water parks or pools that I am the "half blind leading the blind" because we are not usually wearing our glasses!

20. When I was dying my hair I used to have Nate do it for me. It was easier than trying to see what I was doing myself, especially in the back of my head. He willingly did it each time, it never bothered him!

21. When I was in college and living at St. Kate's, Nate came to visit me at least twice a week. He never complained one bit about driving over and I can't imagine the amount of gas he must have gone through and wasn't even working full time at the time!

22. We have one of the most electic collections of music I have ever seen. Anything from rock to heavy metal, to pop to oldies, classical, musicals, opera, you name it, between the two of us we've got it.

23. Our favorite shows to watch together are House, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and Flight of the Conchords. We watch alot of reruns too.

24. We have both recently tried to be healthier in giving up sugar pop and also trying to cut down on the consumption of high fructose corn syrup in food items we eat. One way we've done this is buy things like organic ketchup and chocolate sauce. Spendier? Yes. But healthy eating just might be worth it!

25. We both still wake up each day super thankful for the person lying next to us. We're not perfect, but we've got a good and happy marriage!

3/6/09

Finally

We have finally started our new bedroom painting project! So far we've just done the doorway, but that's kind of the hardest spot to work with and we also want to get the door put back up as soon as possible to keep the cats out while we work on the rest of it. I can honestly say it is going to look so nice when it is done! I'll try to get some pictures up every once and awhile of our progress. Hopefully it will not take very long and then we'll move all of our bedroom stuff into the new space and be enjoying it very soon!

Now when we start the living room...yeah we'll be putting out a plea to friends and family who'd like to come help, cause that's going to be much more intense!