the back seat of the van

Get your minds out of the gutter, folks. This is a G-rated Way Back When-sday. Aren't they all, for that matter? My past is pretty G-rated. As is my present. But my future...now that might be a different story. For another day. Of course.

So! My growing-up included a lot of lonnnng road trips. Both of my parents are from Texas, you see, and all of my extended family lives there still. So being the far-flung members of the family growing up on the East Coast, it was our Family Tradition to drive out to the motherland at least once a year. That's a long drive, people. 18 hours-- because my dad drives UNDER the speed limit, and also because having 3 kids and 3 dogs means you make far more stops than should ever be allowed. In addition to the annual trek to Texas, there were also annual trips to Florida and Tennessee...plus any other vacations we happened to be going on. Occasionally we flew, but for the most part we packed up the van (Ford Econoline with a high-top, anyone?? AMAZING RIDE.) and hit the road. This was the tradition from the time I was born until...well, the present, except that Matt and I (and my siblings) rarely are able to participate anymore. But my parents still brave the road a few times a year-- sadly, not in the van, though. It is no longer with us. *moment of silence*

Anyway, our van had a TV and VCR in it and that was pretty sweet back in '94 when we got it. We were basically the talk of the town AND the coveted van to get a seat in if my parents were chaperoning any youth group trips. I realize that now it is no big deal to have a TV (or 4) in your car, but back in the Days of Yore, it was pretty special.  Having the TV definitely helped the hours pass more quickly. But NOTHING livened up a road trip quite like that most excellent of inventions: the digital camera.

The day digital cameras got into the hands of Sarah and I was the day road trips ceased being torturous. Because we are actually (as you have probably suspected) supermodels. And also twins (born 5 years apart). And we make really awesome faces. And all of these things could finally be properly documented, analyzed, and enjoyed once the digital camera came along. Wanna know how many pictures 2 teenaged girls can take in the back seat of a van on an 18 hour drive? I could probably tell you. Or show you, as the case may be. Onward!

Today's pictures are all coming from the renowned Thanksgiving '05 photo shoot in Tennessee. 'Twas a glorious year. The lighting was perfecto in the back of the chariot that year. Our coordinating cream tops make us look even more twin-like than usual. And towards the end of the shoot, we even brought in some props that are a delightful foreshadowing of our (my) future craftiness: just wait and see!

 Above is the 'turtle face.' It's a classic in every shoot. Obviously.

  So right before this trip, I'd learned to crochet! And then I taught my sister! This did help us pass the time in the van...but not as much as photo shoots did.

 And once you start actually posing with your freshly-crocheted scarf wrapped around your head, your photographer (aka MOM) will probably start punking out on the job, claiming you are getting "too wound up" and "acting hyper." Whatever, photographer. We're just getting into the groove. And you're killing the vibe in this van. Psh.

The bottom line here is that if you are ever forced to go on a road trip to a faraway land, it will be best if you can take along with you an awesome sister (preferably a fellow supermodel) and a digital camera. And even if you happen to be a grown up (as Sarah and I were roughly 18 and 22 in the above pics), don't let your mean parents boss you around and try to separate you so that you can't sit together and be happy in the back seat. Because the back seat is where the party is. No one should stop you from being there. The end.

meme of LOVE

How long have you and your significant other been together?

Since February 11, 2006! I told that story in all of its detailed glory right here.

How did you meet?
Whaddaya know, I've told that story before, too! In short, we met while doing a post-grad internship at the UGA Wesley Foundation, mostly because of a mutual love of pirates.

If married, how long have you been married?

We got married June 30, 2007. If you are reading this on Feb. 14, 2012, that means we've been married for 4 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day. If you're reading this on another day, check out my little ticker-thing on the sidebar. :)
 

If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? 
We got married at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, Georgia. You can look at some wedding pictures (and hear stories about the wedding) here, here, and here.

 Our wedding was medium-ish (how's that for noncommittal to a size categorization?)...about 130 people.

Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? 

Oh, definitely. And I'm sure they are 100% nauseating to anyone other than us. We normally call each other 'baby,' which sounds really stupid when you just write it out like that, but sounds much better in real life. I always call Matt 'Mattie,' and he sometimes returns the favor by calling me 'Erika-ie,' which doesn't actually work. We sign our emails to each other (we send about 100 emails per day) 'husbie' and 'wifey.' That is a huge improvement, since for the first year of marriage, Matt signed his emails to ME with his FULL FIRST (Matthew) AND LAST NAME...as though I might be unclear about WHO this was emailing me? Which Matt is this? It was so weird.

Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Only 3? Impossible. We'll sum up with: he's smokin' hot, he cheerfully (most of the time) does all of the stuff I hate doing/won't do, he's creative and dreams big, he loves Jesus, he serves selflessly, he works hard, he gives great back massages.

Tell us how he proposed?
It was the night before my 24th birthday and we were in Augusta for the weekend. He'd taken me to a fancy restaurant that night and I had expected him to propose then. But he didn't. But I looked cute anyway, right?

 

So we went back to my parents house, changed into PJs, and got ready for a game of Scrabble by the fire.

And it was the worst game ever because I had the worst tiles ever and therefore the worst attitude ever. I was sick of it and ready for bed. And then I stuck my hand in the tile bag to get some more stupid vowels  tiles, and LO AND BEHOLD there was a ring box instead! So I pulled it out and got over my bad attitude long enough to say "yes," but only if we could stop this stupid game immediately.

We ran and woke my parents up to give them the good news, and got them to take some blurry, teary pictures.

 

Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Umm...luckily for us all, neither-- because I am not the kind of girl that would enjoy EITHER of those options. He's a flowers frequently kind of guy, because I am a flowers frequently kind of girl-- but not red roses or anything cheesy like that. I don't think he's EVER given me roses, which is great because roses are rather lame as far as flowers go (knock-out roses excluded, of course...but considering we grow those ourselves and I've never noticed a florist sell them...those aren't really an option). Rose PETALS? Are you kidding me?? PULLING THE PETALS OFF OF FLOWERS? That is infuriating and ridiculous. And messy. Pass. Teddy bears? I'm not a 2 year old, so no thanks. I have no problems with strawberries or champagne, which is why I will buy them myself at the grocery store if I see a need for them in the pantry/fridge.

Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
Both of those sound good to me, except I can rarely stay awake long enough for a whole movie. And we live really far from the beach. But in theory, I'm good with both.

Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Do anything? Have children and raise a family together.
Go anywhere? One of those little huts over the water in Fiji.

Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Go to work, come home, walk the dog, eat dinner with his family like we do every Tuesday night.
 

Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Umm...snow? There's like a 2% chance or something (and it goes away and becomes a chance of rain instead like 10 times a day)...but that would be pretty awesome!! Also, we'd like to have a kid. Just FYI.

Give us one piece of advice for keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
 Honesty with yourself, each other, and people who love you: what's working for ya, what isn't, what do you need, how are you hurting...I think honesty is the key to keeping your marriage on track. Also: have fun. Do things together that are fun, that make you happy. Don't get stuck in the boring day-to-day (if your day-to-day is boring, that is).


Show us a picture of what love means to you.
 I bet it'd be great to have a picture of us with our kid(s) to put here, right? Ugh. In lieu of that, I will show you this: Matt being the best husband ever by a) putting together shelves so that our garage can be more organized (organization is my love language, putting stuff together is NOT a gift of mine) and b) READING THE INSTRUCTIONS so that it can be done correctly the first time. Not many men do it this way, and I love that mine will (not because he really WANTS to or "needs" to read the instructions, of course, but because he knows that I want him to). LOVE.

Happy Valentine's Day, yall!

zombies

Matt and I are kind of like zombies today. Not in an insatiable desire for human flesh kind of way, just in a lay around and do NOTHING all day kind of way. More on that first kind of zombie later, though.

I woke up this morning with horrible cramps, so I opted out of going to church and instead went back to bed with Advil and a heating pad until noon. Then I felt a lot better. We did get up then, but I can't say we have anything the least bit productive to show for our day. We're both still wearing our pajamas-- and it's 6:33pm. Yup. Zombies. I finally convinced Matt to brush his teeth about an hour ago and that felt like a major accomplishment. Trust me. It needed to be done. It's super cold and windy outside, which majorly discouraged us from wanting to get dressed and go do anything...hence a nice day inside in our PJs.

Yesterday evening I decided to DVR the AMC marathon of The Walking Dead (Seasons 1 and 2). We've never seen it before, but I know it's popular and it seemed like it'd be at least DVRing to see if we liked it. Last night we watched the first 2 episodes and today we polished off the rest of season 1. It's really good. It's also really creepy. It reminds me of Lost in a lot of ways, so whenever I start getting freaked out I just try to remind myself that if I could handle Lost for 6 seasons, I can handle this. Although on Lost they didn't go around sledgehammering people's (zombie's) brains out and rubbing zombie intestines all over themselves...so maybe it's not exactly the same. 

I must say, though, that watching post-apocalyptic shows like this causes you to reflect on yourself and what kind of person you would be in a situation like that. As much as I'd like to think I'd be gangbanging through zombie-overrun Atlanta with my rifle...seriously, I think I'd have been one of the ones that chickened out at the beginning. No way. I was not cut out for that sort of thing. I'd have stayed in the CDC building at the end of Season 1 with the doctor and Jacqui, I'm almost certain of that. Not sure what that says about me as a person, other than I'd rather die instantly in an explosion than be attacked by zombies and then become one and try to kill my family. Just a little self-reflection there.

Matt and I both have tomorrow off (furlough day for my county; Matt took the day off so that I wouldn't be lonely), so I'm sure we'll finish up Season 2 so that we're watching the show live with the rest of the world now. We have tons of other exciting plans, too (haha). At 11:00 we have appointments to go donate plasma-- FUN TIMES, right? And at 3:00 we have a phone consultation with an adoption law firm. I know, we really know how to party it up on a day off. 

Now that the world is caught up on my SUPER EXCITING AND AWESOME LIFE, I think I'll go sneak up on Matt in the dining room and pretend to be a zombie. Cause that's how I roll. Peace!

guess i'm that girl

OK, so what's up with people not blogging (as in writing OR apparently reading/commenting) on Saturdays? I don't get it. I feel like I'm the only one that does it. Oh well. I mean, Saturday is when I have the most free time. Apparently other people's weeks are structured differently. Feel free to comment and elaborate on this (when you read this on Monday).

So anyway. Tons of things to chat about today! Let's start with the Most Vain stuff, shall we?

Seven.

Seven is an important number this week. Wanna know why? Two reasons.

We won $7 in the Powerball Lottery this week. WOOHOO!! I know, we're basically set for life. Which is why we did what ALL smart lottery winners do, and re-'invested' that money right back in, in the form of more lottery tickets. This time, we 'diversified the portfolio,' so to speak, by getting a nice mix of Powerball, Mega Millions, and scratch-offs. I'll let you know if those end up paying off (already a no on the scratch-off). In case you are about to busy yourself judging me, please know that the original $4 we spent on the tickets was from our 'blow money,' which (in case the title isn't obvious enough) is (a very tiny amount of) money that is designated to be 'blown' anyway. So don't worry your pretty little heart. We're not as irresponsible as we sound. 

Second reason seven is an important number? I lost seven pounds in the last month-ish! Woohoo!! I know it's very stupid and vain to brag about weight loss, but I guess I'm willing to be that girl. And now that I've said it, I'll probably lose no more weight (or gain it all back) for a month. But whatever. I am very proud of myself, considering I've put basically no effort into the cause other than logging every single bite of food that passes through my lips into My Fitness Pal and making myself a devout Zumba follower. Since this is the first time I've ever made even a half-assed attempt at losing weight, it's nice to see that it isn't rocket science and that it works the way it's supposed to (for me) and that you don't have to starve to death or eat really weird things. Basically I should write a book, since I am WINNING AT BEING SKINNY right now. Even though I was feeling pretty proud of myself after losing 1 pound, or 4, or 5, seven was the best because at that point I decided to pull out a pair of jeans that had been retired awhile back due to tightness. And now they are too loose. For REAL. Oh, also my face looks normal again. That happened even earlier than 7 pounds. I'd noticed over the past few months that my face was looking really ROUND...I mostly noticed in pictures. It didn't look normal (like the way I think my face usually looks). Happily, my normal face shape has returned and I am happy to see it again, even though the skin on it decided to rebel and break out. Whatever. Can't win 'em all, right?

OK, so in less ridiculous news, today is an awesome day.

(I realize the irony of this picture following a long paragraph bragging about weight loss)

My friend Diana invited me to a craft day hosted by her and some ladies from her church. There was delicious coffee and breakfast breads followed by card-making/stamping and KNITTING (and other people brought along other crafts to work on). I was all over this because I have been needing to learn to knit for like, ever. I've never done the cardmaking thing before, but now that I've done it, I see why people like it. Only now I have a bunch of cards I need to write and send people...

 I made this one! It's for Mother's Day, obviously. Look at me, thinking about Mother's Day more than one day in advance! (In a positive way, that is-- planning for our OWN mothers. I always dedicate plenty of time to dreading/hating my own personal lack of Mother's Day well in advance, as all infertile girls do.)

 Look how many fun card making and stamping things there were! It was awesome. I even won a door prize and it was some stamping things of my own! I am super excited.

I also learned to KNIT! I am totally pumped. To say that I was not a quick study might be the understatement of the year. Basically I had to be put in the remedial class and given a tutor of my own, but DANGIT, I learned! But to be clear: I can knit (and purl). I definitely could not START the thing (cast on, if you will) or finish the thing (bind? Can't remember the word). But until my ball of yarn runs out, I will be knitting. And then I don't know what I will do. Also, I am not knitting anything in particular. Ha. It's just a random rectangle/square thing. Maybe my next project will actually be SOMETHING. (Note: since I was busy learning, I wasn't able to photograph myself attempting to learn to knit. I think Diana did, and maybe she will be generous enough to share the pictures, since I'm sure I looked calm and cool and collected as I stared in bewilderment at people rapidly doing what I could NOT figure out.) 
 Update: Diana sent pictures! Check out how awesome I look when I'm learning to knit:

 Above: utter confusion. This is me with my original teacher during a group lesson that I was clearly not understanding.

 So instead of paying attention, I focused on POSING like I could knit for the camera. This looks totally normal, as you can see.

Eventually I got my own tutor, who was able to get me focused enough to actually learn. God bless her.
 
Take home message: some crafts are easy to learn (stamping!) and some crafts are not easy to learn (knitting). Make your Saturday craft day less stressful by offering some of each, along with plenty of good snacks and conversation. I met several closet blog-readers (hello, stalkers!) as well- always good times!

Since the first half of my Saturday was so overwhelming and taxing (hahaha), you'll be happy to know that the latter half involves Matt and I going for a couple's massage! It may appear to be a Valentine's-themed thing, but the timing is really just a coincidence-- we got a Groupon for this thing back in September or something and needed to use it before it expired. Luckily, my Zumba addiction keeps me constantly sore, so it's always a good day for a massage!

Lastly, while I was busy knitting and stamping, Matt was picking up our first-ever Bountiful Basket! It's a produce co-op that we joined this week, and here's what we looted!

 Yes, that is a crapload of fruit and veggies. Luckily they are all easily identifiable and usable, although the cauliflower and eggplant are going to cause me to rack Pinterest for a good recipe. I am pretty excited about the whole thing though.

Alright. I think that's all the things I have to overshare about today. I better get back to my ball of yarn to make sure I haven't forgotten how to knit yet. These craft skills-- they can be so flighty! Like sewing-- I forget how to use my sewing machine basically 10 seconds after I unplug it every time. It's sew annoying. HAHAHAHAHA on my own pun. (Look, it's Saturday. No one else is blogging hilarious things to make me laugh. It's all on me to do it for myself!)