Welp, she's gone

Chels is safely in India and getting settled. That makes me happy. Her leaving wasn't super easy (I might've cried a little....or a lot.), but she's there now and doing grown up things like getting her classroom ready, and that makes me way excited for her. We probably weren't as prepared as we should've been to say goodbye (Meaning, we didn't really talk about it at all because it made us sad) which probably made it more difficult on our part. Whoops. But, I've skyped her twice since she's been there, and just seeing her face makes me happier! Anyways, thanks y'all who've been praying for us. I super appreciate it, and now that I know I will at least make it without her being in the same state, please direct all your prayers towards her. I mean, not towards her, but about her. Don't pray to Chelsea please. She and I do not support idolatry.

I'm still job hunting, and here's one thing I've noticed. Kind of a lot of the jobs I've applied for have a "Don't call about this job" somewhere on the application/listing. What?! Why do they teach us to do that in school then. It's super lame I think, and I'm kind of torn about whether or not to obey the command. Anyways, that's that update.

In other news, I've started painting our desk the same color as the table (Vintage Scotch Yellow-BHG from Walmart if you were curious. I love that name..or really anything with the word 'vintage' in it.) I really wanted it to be a different color, but I couldn't decide, and that's probably not what we need to be spending our money on now anyways (more paint, I mean), and it'll be in a different room. (wowie, I love conjunctions and run-on sounding compound sentences. Sorry.)

Here she is before. Missing hardware and all. We have to get a new top too. I'm so ready for this to be done, so we can put all of our stuff that's lying in the floor in it.

Also, sorry about the frequent blog changes. I can't decide what I like. I thought I liked this current an older one that none of you probably saw (red, chevron-y), but then I saw it was called 'Big Top', and that made me like it less. I don't like circuses. They're kind of creepy. I might stick with this one. I'm not too sure about this automatic centering. I love left align. 

And for your entertainment, here are some pictures that I forgot about:

After we floated the Elk River!

I made a Mississippi Mud Pie. It was ok, I thought. Justin loved it.

We went to the Rodeo!!!!! I. Love. The rodeo.

There was a NASA booth there. I don't know why.

Our 4th of July cake.

Pre-Harry Potter with Autumn's wand she found....in the bathroom.

Tomorrow's Friday!! Wooot! Justin's off, and I'm babysitting some of my faves. Bonus. Happy weekend!

How's married life?

This is the question I get asked most frequently...maybe 2nd most frequently. The other is, "How's the job search going?' Well, let me tell you.

Married!
Married life is so fun! I love spending time with Justin and living with him and getting to know him more. I get to bake and cook a lot, and I LOVE that. It's really great. One day, Chels asked me if Justin did stuff that reminded me of her, and he totally does. Not like he's girly or anything, but just some of the things they say and how I respond. It's kind of like I married my best friend she said. She's totally right. I think that's a good summary.
     *I just learned the difference between summary and summation. Summation refers to numbers being added together, and summary is words. (That's my concise comparison from my research. Ha.)
Anyways, this isn't to say life is perfect all the time, but it's fun and sweet, and I love it.

Unemployed
Currently unemployed at least. I have no doubt that I will find a job. God has always provided for me some how whether it be through my parents or my own work. I've applied for 5 different jobs within DHS. I am qualified for all of them and basically have heard via email "You're qualified. Thanks for applying. We might call you for an interview. No further action is required on your part." I applied at Vista Health, but our friend Ryan made me nervous about working there. I've turned in a few other applications, but at this point they're all jumbled in my head. So, yea. There ya go. :)

On a totally different note we went to THE midnight premier of Harry Potter part 1 billion. Just kidding. It was movie 8 but part of book 7. I'm not a super Harry fan, but Chelsea and Justin are, so I went. It was good. It was faster paced than all the other movies, so I liked that, but also more fighty. Didn't really like that. Did I mention that I hadn't seen 5 of them, so we had to watch the first 7 within the past 2-3 weeks. Whew. I'm Harry-ed out.

Lastly, my bestie moves to India Sunday. I have very mixed emotions. You'll hear more about this later for sure. I. Love. Her.

And you. :)
Bye.

She's done!

You probably don't know who 'she' is yet, but I'll fill you in.
She was at my wedding.
She stood behind me the whole time.
She watched us take communion.
She gazed at us from afar during the reception.
She's the door from the wedding. Sorry, that was probably a let down.
In case you forgot, here She is right after I snagged her from Fayetteville Trading Post.

Here can see her standing tall in all her glory.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=858566773347&set=t.1029750082&type=1&theater

I love her and knew I wouldn't want to get rid of her after the wedding, so long before I prepped Justin with the idea that we would use her in our house or make something out of her.

 We stripped the paint off like 5 million times and this (down) is what she looked like.

 We bought some legs from Lowe's and stuck them on, and then we painted after much deliberation over color. Some of you are probably gasping that I'd paint over that because I know it does look distressed and cool, and it is, but those new legs didn't match at all.

Here she is now, finished!

Isn't she cute!?

Hungry

He was sitting cross-legged in the median with a cardboard sign that read "hungry". I glanced and noticed him, but continued my conversation with Chelsea and Finley as we pulled off the interstate into Russellville.

We drove to the gas station/Wendy's/Subway because no one wants to travel with someone hungry. A hungry person is a cranky person. I ended my phone call with Chels before we pulled up to the order box.

I told Justin what I wanted and he recited it back to the Wendy's order box and added an additional 2 orders of chicken nuggets, a frosty, an order of fries and 2 jr. deluxe burgers. I flipped as we drove to the window asking him if he was really going to eat all of that food. That's a LOT of food. (1,540 calories and 176 grams of fat to be exact. Sick.) He told me to hold on as he paid. I asked him if I could tweet that. I was blown away and impressed and grossed out. The Wendy's worker handed him back his card, and he told me it wasn't all for him. He said it was for the man.

A man? What man? Then I remembered the man we passed as I was having my phone conversation with my best friend inside my nice, air-conditioned truck. Oh yea, that man. I responded in a way that I don't remember and stopped making a big deal about all of the food I thought Justin was about to consume. We got asked to move to a parking spot because it would be just a few minutes on our spicy chicken nuggets. Who knew spicy nugs were such a hot commodity?

We left Wendy's after we got all of our food and Justin went in to get the man a bottle of water. We headed back toward where we saw the man, but he was no where to be found. We drove around the surrounding area to make sure he hadn't moved, but we never found him.

I would like to think that someone beat us to it and fed the man, but I don't know that that's true. I'm going to pray so.

Things like this are what makes me thankful for my husband. (Husband! Ah!) 

Mexican Chicken

So, if I've ever cooked for you, I've probably made you Mexican Chicken. It's nothing special really. My mom has made it for as long as I can remember, but everyone who eats it seems to love it. And, it's super easy to make. So, if you're at Kaleo for example, your group will love this. :)

You need:
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can rotel
Chicken (I use boneless skinless chicken breast, but I've also used rotisserie chicken or canned chicken too)
Cheese (I don't measure, but I'd say 1 cup-ish)
Doritos (I've used tortilla chips when I didn't have Doritos, but it's not as good)
     *Sometimes I also use half a can of black beans and some cilantro, but it's great without it.
     *This is also for 2-3 people. Maybe 4. I just cut it in half from how I normally make it. Side note: since being married people told me to learn how to cook for more than just Justin and I, but I'm finding that I only know how to cook for at least 4 people. Not really important, just interesting.

First, if your chicken isn't cooked, cook it. This part takes the longest. I usually just boil mine. I've sauteed it, but honestly you can't really taste the difference since there's so much other stuff in it (hello, Dorito spice!). Boiling it is easy, quick, and you can do the rest while it's cooking. You can also cook it way in advance and then leave it out or refrigerate, so you can just tear it apart instead of having to cut it up. I hate cutting chicken. Maybe you don't. Oh yea, don't just throw a big piece of chicken in there. Cut or chop it into pieces you wouldn't mind stabbing a fork with.
Preheat your oven to 350ish then mix everything except the Doritos and 1/2 to 3/4 cups of cheese together. (You mix a little bit of the cheese in and use the rest to top it. Use as much as makes you feel good about yourself as my mama would say). It will look gross.

Line your baking dish with Doritos like above. Your mix will look close to that on the left.
Pour the mix onto the Doritos, cover it with cheese, and bake it until it's slightly brown and bubbly!
Eat it with more crunchy Doritos or sour cream or both!
It's usually better if you let it stand for a little bit too.

On a totally different note, remember the burlap aisle runner from my wedding? Probably not, but here it is in a big pile.

I'm making something out of it because I love to recycle things! Get excited. I know you're thrilled.

Sorry about the delay

I've been getting married, honeymooning, and being a wifey! Hard life, I know.

Y'all. I'M MARRIED! Eeeeeek!

I love love loved my wedding despite the location change. That actually made me love it more. It was beautiful and exactly what I wanted. It would not have been so without my incredibly awesome bridesmaids/wedding party/family. Seriously, I feel like I did nothing day of and they set everything up and took everything down for me. If there were bridesmaids wars, mine would dominate yours anyday. Promise. Ha. Sorry, that was a little intense, but seriously, they're super. Also, not a bridesmaid, but my dear friend SarahJo was a super wedding coordinator day of. I have such super friends!

Really, I don't even know where to begin, so this is simply an announcement that I am back, and for your enjoyment a video of a spider that I took. Chels, don't watch it, but just listen to the audio. I recorded it for Justin, but it's pretty entertaining, so I'll share with y'all.

We just like to keep you on your toes

Well, y'all, if you haven't heard yet, the location of our wedding got changed. 4 days before. This isn't a joke. It obviously wasn't what we planned, but how the heck do you plan for monsoon season when you get engaged in December?! You can't, so we adapted! Instead of getting married where we planned, we are getting married at my parents house, and y'all, I am SO excited. When we were first choosing a place to get married it was mentioned, but seemed unrealistic. I thought it would be sweet and romantic to get married at my house in my parents yard, but 250ish people?! That's unreal. Welp, now it's real. And I'm. Thrilled.

So, if you didn't know, you do now. We're working really hard to make sure everyone who was invited knows, but I just don't know how possible it is. We don't even have time to mail stuff out again! Check out the website for my address and a map. Thanks for being so flexible everyone!

Now, we get married in 3 basically 2 days. Wanna know what I've been up to? Lots. Lots and lots of fun stuff.

 Yep. That's a torch.

How great are my bridesmaids diggin' in the dirt to help me out!?

Is it Saturday yet?