Owwww....

Female friends, you probably know where I'm going with the title of this one. Yep, it's that joyous time of the month... the time when I get the urge to take a pair of salad tongs and give myself a hysterectomy.

That being said, I must now say that Brent is amazing. As soon as I said I was in pain, he went and got out the cheesecake left over from the weekend. I'm training him, and he is a fast learner.

What a fun weekend! We went to Tallassee Friday night, and went to sleep about ten minutes later. I had to "sleep" in a bed with my sweet grandmother. Notice how sleep is in quotations? Yeah, well, if you've ever tried to sleep with a running chainsaw, then you understand my Friday night experience.

Saturday, the ladies in my family teamed up to give me a beautiful Christmas shower. It was so much fun! Brent and I got a lot of wonderful presents and things to cherish for years to come. I love getting to spend time with my littlest cousins. Mac snuggled up with me on the couch and we had a tickle fight. I won, of course, but he got a few good tickles on my ribs. There was one point where Ried was sitting on my legs, Mackey was at my side, and Grant was on the back of the couch on top of me. My sides hurt from laughing so hard! I can't classify Bethany into my little cousins category anymore... she's getting her permit this month! I can't believe it. I'll get all mushy about that later...

Actually, I need to go to work around the house with Brent... ugh. More later.

update...

Well, here we are... few months later. I am a full-fledged teacher now, with all the rights, privileges, phone calls, paperwork, and school lunches thereof. 


I love my job! I work with the most diverse group of students, and they never cease to amuse and amaze me. Quote of the day: "My momma has red hair, but she dilated it."
Yeah.


Sweet story: My beautiful niece Annslie is right in the middle of potty training. She is so funny about it! She goes every time she has the urge, and I mean EVERY time. Annslie will tell you "pee pee! pee pee now!" and when she says that, you better be ready. Well the other night, we were all over at Cindy's house, and by all of us I mean me, Brent, Amber, Drew, Cindy and the girls, Annslie and Addisyn. We were eating chicken enchiladas for Drew's birthday, and Annslie looks at me and says, "Anna! Anna! Poop! Poop! Poop NOW!" So, Aunt Anna takes her to the potty. Sure enough, she did what she said she needed to do. As she is sitting on the potty, taking care of business, I'm sitting on the floor and we are talking about her school and her friends, when she stops and says, 
"I yuv you Anna." 
She can have anything she wants. 


Brent and I went to get wedding rings this week. I didn't take a picture of his... because mine is prettier and more sparkly.

I'm so ready to wear this thing. I put it on in the store, and was lost in my own world for a while. Brent said, "Hey Babe, you need to give that to me so I can put it in the box."
Fat. Chance.
I wore that thing around the mall, to dinner, and halfway home. I say halfway because Brent made me take it off once we got back into Alabama. Le sigh.


Oh, got the wedding dress this week. Quite excited about that. I need to lose about two pounds, but I'm sure the stress alone will take care of that... well, combined with the Special K Challenge I will be doing for two weeks beforehand. I would LOVE to post a picture of it, but since Brent reads this, I'm gonna have to wait. Oh suspense...


Over the weekend, I went to one of my favorite places EVER:
.

Tailgated with some amazing friends, had a blast. I was once told, "from the outside in, you can't comprehend it, but from the inside out, you can't explain it. Auburn is a place that gets into your blood and remains forever." WAR EAGLE!!
In the background of that picture, you can see the top of the Haley Center. I spent three years of my life in that dang building... *shudder*


I got home tonight from being out with my (future) sister-in-law Amber, and (future) cousin Megan. We ate Mexican and hated on boys. It was fabulous. It turns out that Megan's ex, whom she dated for five years, has been having an affair with a married mother of two. So, naturally, Amber and I took her out for a bit to remind her how to be single and work it.
Success.


Yes, I know this entry has been very random and totally ADD... but that's my life.
Deal.

Roll Herd!

Please don't think I've become a Bama fan (eww), or that I've lost my mind (which was probably your first guess). I got a job!! Starting August 4th, I will be the special education resource teacher for all grades at a K-12 school, and the mascot is a bison, and they are referred to as The Thundering Herd. Oh, and the battle cry is "Roll Herd," hence the title for today. I will post pictures of my classroom when I take some better ones. I painted it last week, and it looks much better than it did before.

I spent the weekend in Shmelma with my dad's extended family, and it was great. I hated that Brent couldn't be there, but had a fun time with my cousins. I think I am part of the only family that eats butternut cake as if it was the last piece of sustinence on the planet. Seriously, it was gone less than 24 hours after it was made, and it was a 3-layer cake. We also demonlished a marble cake, which is my dad's favorite. It was his birthday weekend, so we were there to celebrate that... and watch Christmas in July on QVC. I escaped to the Tally Ho with Rachel to get away from that part, for a few mintues at least. Always a fun time. :-)

Maggie and Gracie were baptized Sunday morning, and yes, I cried massive tears of joy. I am so happy for them.

This week is bittersweet for me, as I have to drive back to Auburn and pack up my half of the townhouse I share with my friend Lauren. I'm moving home, and most of my stuff is going to Brent's house. I am really going to hate leaving Auburn because it has been a great place for me with SO many great memories: love gained and lost (which was often a very good thing), laughter, football, various campus organizations, sorority and fraternity life, and craaaazy nights that somehow always started out with the phrase, "I can't, I have an eight o'clock class tomorrow," and ended at sunrise. I'm really gonna miss the I-don't-pay-for-drinks-or-cover-because-I'm-a-rockstar days, especially now that they are permanently traded in for nights at home with Brent (NOT COMPLAINING), cooking and cleaning (stop laughing), paying bills, and going to bed before eleven o'clock news comes on at ten.

Adulthood, I raise my coffee mug to you, because you took away my koozie.

learning curve

Brent and I have been engaged for about 6 months now, and planning a wedding has been an interesting experience for both of us. He is learning that I can be high-strung over certain things, and I am learning that he is a lot more calm about certain things than I am. 

I think its good that we continue to learn about each other. I can't think of a single day that I've been around Brent that I haven't learned something new about him. It keeps me on my toes. Bless his heart, he's learned so much about me since I began my internship that I am surprised he hasn't run away screaming. Between the stress I was under and the stress I continue to handle, I know I can get short-tempered (family trait), and be an all-around pain-in-the-butt. Thankfully, Brent sees past all of that and still loves me at the end of the day. I am very grateful for him and for his willingness to look past my flaws.

Recently, I realized that the wedding I wanted when I was a child is a far cry from what will be happening December 18th. There won't be a white unicorn waiting outside the church, a piñata filled with gummy bears at the reception, and my bridal party does not consist of the other Disney princesses (I, of course, was Cinderella). In actuality, there will be a car waiting outside the church, great food made by great friends at the reception, and some of my closest friends will comprise my bridal party. Prince Charming has been replaced by an attorney, but the attorney is much more fun to dance with, and I never lose my shoes with him around.

We are in the process of getting addresses together and compiled into a list, and I'm trying to figure out what to serve at the reception, what cake to get, music to play, programs, and invitations. It's a lot to consider, and I am starting to feel a little of the strain of this right now. My mom is great about helping me get things in order. I put her in charge of planning my shower dates, and she's been so wonderful about it. Brent's mom is wonderful too. She helps keep me grounded in reality about the wedding things, and is a great encourager when school stresses me out.

Speaking of school, the math class I'm in may just be the death of me. I am determined to make an A or B in the class, and I have to have it to graduate. No pressure... This is also a time where Brent is a calming influence on me.

I just love him.