Can't sleep....

wanna know why? Cause I think we're gonna make an offer on a house tomorrow.... and I can't stop thinking about it! :) I'll let you know how it goes! :)

I can't see me lovin nobody but you, for all my life....

So today is our 6 month wedding anniversary :) Seems like forever, and yet like the wedding was only yesterday.

My wonderful husband informed me as he was leaving for class this morning that he had made my lunch. This is what I found on the counter waiting for me:
He's adorable. And here we are, headed out to dinner:


Goodness, I have a handsome husband!

Happy half a year baby, I love you!

C Jane and Nie Nie

So, I read these blogs (thanks Brenley for introducing me to the amazing world of these sisters!), and I am constantly amazed by the strength and wisdom of these women. C Jane (Courtney) is the sister of Nie Nie (Stephanie), who was in an airplane crash with her beloved husband a month or so ago. They are both in a burn unit in Mesa, Arizona recovering from their severe injuries while their family cares for their four young children.
I began reading out of curiosity, but I now read because these women are the most inspirational people I have ever heard of. I have been going through and reading the archives of Nie Nie's blog while reading updates of her condition on C Jane's, and I am constantly amazed and inspired by the lives that they lead. These women love nothing more than being mothers and wives, and they celebrate life every single day. Sean thinks I'm strange for feeling so strongly about a blog from someone whom I've never met, but if I ever got the chance to, I would thank them both for the inspiration that they are. If I am ever a mother, I hope to be as amazing as they are, and every day they inspire me to be a better woman and wife.

Killing some time....

I stole this from Emily... it's that kind of lazy night.....

8 T.V. Shows I love to watch:

1. The Office
2. Smallville
3. Supernatural
4. Heroes
5. Burn Notice
6. Law and Order SVU
7. Bones
8. Gilmore Girls


8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Worked
2. Looked at houses
3. Ate delicious ribs (thanks husband!) and mashed potatoes and watched Smallville and The Office with Mike and Theresa
4. Found a realtor
5. Uploaded wedding pics for mom
6. Snuggled with Loki
7. Browsed all of your awesome blogs
8. Talked to CJ a bunch!

8 favorite places to eat
1. Chili's, it's the place for business
2. Burrito Amigos
3. Red Lobster
4. TGIFridays
5. The Sub Shop
6. Olive Garden
7. Eugene City Brewery
8. El Toritos

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. Lunch and more time with Zora tomorrow!
2. Getting all of my laundry done!
3. Maybe buying a house!
4. Being able to ride my bike again to work!
5. Training again for the Eugene Marathon!
6. Paying off my debt!
7. Lunch with the girls in Salem in a few weeks!
8. Next week's Office!

8 things on my wish list:

1. A windfall. A big one.
2. A cute old house that's been updated :)
3. A Prius
4. Not having to work anymore
5. Learning to speak Russian
6. Being able to run a marathon in less than 5 hours
7. UO not making us live overseas
8. SNOW!!!!!!!

???????

Us????? Homeowners?????? Maybe!!!

So Happy Together.....

Weekends are my favorite, because I get to spend so much time with my wonderful husband. While thoroughly enjoying our time this weekend, we:

*watched the Duck game and Sean actually got into it
*had a dinner and movie date, El Toritos and Burn After Reading
*laughed and laughed and laughed when he said he wanted to buy Spamalot tickets, and I told him I purchased them 2 months ago, thanks for ruining ANOTHER surprise!! (He ALWAYS guesses!)
*woke up early and snuggled while watching Meet The Press (a long standing Sunday morning tradition)
*had a big delicious breakfast, complete with straw wrapper fights
*wandered around our neighborhood hoping to magically come across the perfect house to buy
*spent a significant amount of time purchasing things to make our raspberry sorbet an even healthier dessert (we'll be adding blueberries, walnuts, and some dark chocolate chips)
*engaged in a long and drawn out tickle fight (I was finally declared the winner using that time old tradition, Rock Paper Scissors)
*had a serious conversation about why it is not ok for me to scream at the top of my lungs because there is a spider on me, while he is driving. Oops. :)
*watched movies, took naps, and caught up on the DVR
*made our dinner menu, and TV watching schedule, for the week
*made tacos together
*generally loved and appreciated each other!

I am a very lucky girl :) Now it's time to try out that sorbet!!!

"Walmart Women"

I'm a CNN addict. A huge one. I'll be on their website and watching TV at the same time, it's that bad. But I gotta say, the current broadcast is ridiculous. I'm extremely political, and we'll not get into that, but they're going on and on about how this election is going to be determined by "white, lower educated, middle aged women", aka "Walmart women." Really????

A. I am not middle aged, or lower educated, and I love Walmart, much to my husband's dismay.
B. Everyone they're interviewing has basically no opinion, they just kinda picked a candidate. One lady actually said "I was going to vote for McCain, but then he opened his mouth." WHAT??? I don't care who you decide to vote for, that's your right, but at least have a REASON for your pick! McCain has a lot of qualities his party cares about, Obama has the same for his party, please be able to tell me at least one of them that pertains to the person you are putting in charge of our country.
C. The portrail of the women in the story make them seem ignorant, which is perpetuating a Walmart stereotype. I don't particularly care for that.
D. I hope people in general, of both parties, are educated on the issues, regardless of where they shop, or who they support, or the level of "school education" that they've had. Maybe then the election will be decided by "people who care about their country." That would be awesome.

That's my rant for the day. I should go do something other than blog now :)

Boston!!

I'm trying to get caught up on my blogging, apparently the fact that I don't blog very often leads Sean to believe that I think our life is boring. I definitely don't think that, so here we are!

For Labor Day weekend we took our annual pilgrimage to Boston. Boston is our favorite place, and we love the time we spend there. These were some of our adventures:

THE USS CONSTITUTION

We tried to get on the Constitution 2 different times last year, and it never worked out. This year, we made sure it was the first thing we did. We arrived shortly before it opened, but it was already really busy and we opted to only view the top deck instead of doing the guided tour of all the decks, as we would have to wait for another hour. Here's the lovely deck, and us lookin cute on it :)

After we got off the boat, we were talking to Sean's mom and found out that his grandfather once served on the Constitution, so that was an excellent family history moment for us!

FANEUIL HALL/QUINCY MARKET

This is where we spend a large part of our time every trip. The great thing about Boston is that it's a big city that feels like a small city. Right in the middle of the Financial District is Quincy Market, home to many shops, restaurants, street performers, and the beautiful and historic Faneuil Hall. We would get Dunkin Donuts in the morning (Sean's favorite) and then eat them in the square you see in the first picture. Then you wonder through the shops and street vendors, it goes all the way out to the bay! Such a good time, and there's always something different to see! But by far, our favorite part of Quincy Market is Cheers:
Downstairs is an exact replica of the bar from the show, but this outdoor cafe portion is our favorite. We eat there basically every day when we're in town, splitting a giant appetizer sampler, the Norm's Platter, and a hot fudge brownie sundae. It's a delicious, if not completely healthy, tradition, and we look forward to it all year long! The last day we were there we sat inside for the first time, and witnessed a terribly awkward break up at the next table, so I think we're sticking with the patio from here on out!

FENWAY!

The reason we began going to Boston in the first place was Fenway. We are HUGE Red Sox fans, and Sean is a card carrying member of Red Sox Nation. Thanks to that, we get a free set of tickets every year, and so off we go! This year, we were able to take a tour of Fenway before the game where we learned a lot of the stadium's history and caught a few minutes of batting practice. Then we watched the Red Sox get a great win over the White Sox, and our hometown guy Jacoby Ellsbury (he's from Corvallis, played for OSU) had a great game! Go Sox!

BOSTON HARBOR

Our big event of the trip, other than baseball, was going whale watching out in the Atlantic. We took a high speed catamaran about an hour out into the water, and it was amazing! The tour was narrated by some scientists who were familiar with the feeding ground we went to, and they kept us informed the whole time. We saw Humpback and Minke whales, but it was the humpbacks that were the most friendly. They would lift their flukes, slap their flippers against the water, and stayed near the surface for most of the tour. Here a few pics:

It was hard to get good shots, since they're only at the surface for a short time, and I didn't want to miss the great stuff by being too busy trying to find it in the lens. I HIGHLY recommend anyone going to Boston to do this, it was such a great time! One recommendation though. Don't bring your silly little dog. I don't get people who use pets as accessories anyway, but bringing a tiny dog on a whale watching boat makes no sense to me. Don't do it. You'll look ridiculous. I promise :)

BEACON HILL

We stayed downtown this year, and our hotel was directly across the street from the start of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. It is so beautiful, and encompasses everything I think of when I think of Boston. We wandered around for hours our last night, looking at the neat apartments (including Robert Frost's from when he was teaching at Harvard) and even sneaking into one apartment's courtyard. They're gorgeous little gardens, and I want one. We've decided this is where we will live one day :)

So there's some insight into the most beautiful city in the country (in my opinion), highly recommended to all, I'm counting down to next year!!!

Total nerd...

So, thanks to reading everyone else's blogs, I FINALLY got into the Twilight books. "Into" is putting it lightly... it was more like "ADDICTED TO." I read all four books in a week. I adore them! This kinda makes me feel silly, especially when I couldn't find Eclipse in the book store, and Sean recommended I look in the "Young Adult" section. Yep, there they were. I'm a big kid. :)
But anyway, since reading the books I have been secretly coveting a "Team Jacob" t-shirt. But I could not in any way justify this. Until today :) We have a regional meeting for work tomorrow night, and we're all dressing up as rockers, so I was in Hot Topic today looking for rocker stuff, and I found it. My Team Jacob shirt. It's awesome, black with white letters, and big red slashes. With my leather jacket, it looks totally rocker. So now I have my COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED Team Jacob shirt. Hoorah!!