Birthdays, Birthdays Everywhere!

This post is a shout-out to several people:





First, my new cousin, Abby Marie, joined us February 15. I can't wait until I can meet her and play with her and Carter!





Second, today is my dear friend Sarah's birthday. I won't embarrass her by gushing too much, but she is a very special person who makes me laugh and exhibits the meaning of living for others every single day. Sarah, I hope you have a relaxing day full of Office reruns, your favorite ice cream, and time with your hubby.





Third, my brother's birthday is on Friday. He doesn't read this, but happy birthday, Mike!





And fourth, I need to shout a belated happy birthday to another dear friend, Aletha. I wasn't able to attend her shindig, but Aletha, I hope your day was as special as a birthday should be (I'm with you, girl--I LOVE birthdays!).





So now everybody go out and celebrate!

I'm Currently Looking Forward To:

1. The arrival of my new cousin, a little girl, this month!

2. Finding out the sex of Leslie and Chris's baby on Friday.

3. Planning a baby shower for Leslie and Mel.

4. Competing at the Midwestern Sectionals. *The picture on this post is the dress I'm wearing. It is my favorite dress ever and was made by Leslie.

5. Continuing to prepare for the Adult Figure Skating Nationals.

6. Finishing our bathroom. I still have to put on one more coat of the sage gray paint and one more coat on the ceiling, paint and install quarter round, and touch up paint on other trim.

7. Maybe someday getting caught up at work.

8. Seeing my kitties and Matt tonight.

9. Hanging with Emily this weekend.

10. Getting manicures with Anne next weekend. Yup, we married ladies are spending Valentine's Day getting manicures! (In our defense, Anne's husband is on call at the hospital and I will hang out with Matt later in the day.)

11. March 1, when I know we're over the worst of winter.

12. Lunch

13. My birthday in March so I can have another Sweet Cakes cake.

Things I Love: The Dining Room

Oh, my. I drool over these chairs every time I see them. I love the circle cutout, I love the wood, I love the cushion. I do not love the price, but oh, my. I think I could make them last for sixty years, so maybe they're worth it. I say they are if I drool over them every time I see them in my house, as long as I don't drool directly on them ... gross.

*Chairs from here.

*My number-one reason for finally making a blog post is so I don't look so lame in people's sidebars when it says my blog was last updated 4 months ago. That's pathetic.

The Things We Do for Love ... and Cake!

Here is a picture of Matt's birthday cake. It was inspired by an old SNL skit, "Brian Fellow's Safari Planet." If you don't know what this is, make sure to google it--I think it's the funniest thing ever.

Once I brought the cake home, Matt laughed for about 30 full seconds. Exactly the reaction I was hoping for! And the cake tasted as good as it looks! Thanks to Barb and Sara for listening to my crazy vision for the cake. You made it incredible!

Getting the cake wasn't all fun and games though, boys and girls. I headed out to Sweetcakes to get it after work on Thursday. I knew there would be a lot of traffic heading north through downtown, and I was prepared for stop and go traffic. However, the young man behind me was not and rear-ended me in the lovely S-Curve. Thankfully there was no damage and no injuries--just a little paint on the car's bumper. My biggest concern was getting my cake in time, which I did.

We went to the Whitecaps game to celebrate Matt's birthday and then enjoyed our yummy cake. The rest of the weekend's activities included taking in a Tigers game, skating, and hitting the water with Dave, Mel, and other friends. A lovely birthday and Labor Day weekend!

This evening we're going to check out our top four choices on our house hunt. We're not sure if any of these are "the house," but it will be fun to look at them again. Stay tuned for more about that!

Feeling Inspired

I'm feeling inspired today. To write, to arrange, and to update my blog. Finally.

I'm feeling inspired at work today too. I've got some exciting projects that I feel invested in.

In other news, Matt and I are house hunting and have found 4 very good possibilities. It's a little scary, and your prayers are appreciated. We hope to have wisdom to make the right decisions and to manage our money well.

Last weekend, I spent the day in Detroit at a spin and footwork seminar led by Alissa Czisny--who is pretty much my favorite amateur skater. She is so amazing. The seminar lasted four hours and consisted of a warmup that was more like 45 minutes of boot camp, and then 3 hours with skates on. The things I learned though were life-changing for my skating. I left there feeling completely exhausted and hurting, but my motivation was flying high. Now it's Thursday, and my legs finally don't hurt anymore. Just in time to get back to the skating tomorrow. So far, I've been off this week since we've been house hunting.

Check out Aletha's blog today. She has a post that mentions the typewriter we used at our wedding! My precious grandpa gave me this typewriter and it's one of my most treasured possessions. And while I'm on the topic of weddings, I know I promised to make more posts with our wedding photos. Well, that's in the plans, but if I'm going to be posting right now, those posts aren't going to happen. I'm working on making a Blurb book of our photos and am hoping to have it finished by Christmas. I also want to make a slideshow with ShowIt. So many things to do with Amy's wonderful photos.

And finally, and most importantly, today is Matt's birthday! We made omelettes for breakfast this morning and he opened his presents. Later today we're going to the Whitecaps game and then having friends over for cake from Sweet Cakes Design--the lovely bakery that made our wedding cake. The decoration of the cake is a surprise. I can't wait for Matt to see it! Happy Birthday Matt!

And if you're reading, can you throw me a comment? I know I'm sorta pleading here, but a girl needs some love and motivation to keep on blogging. Love y'all.

*The photo is one I snapped on our honeymoon. Matt is watching the storm come in.

Anyone Know?

I'd like to make a slideshow/video of wedding pics. Anyone know a good (and free) way to do this?

And yup, I cut my hair!

Long Beautiful Hair?

Okay, it seems to be common among my fellow bloggers lately to raise some questions and pleas for advice on hairstyles. I grew my hair pretty long so I could have it all fancy for the wedding, but once it gets too long, it starts to drive me crazy. I can see the split ends, and combing it elicits not-so-nice words out of my mouth.

I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow, but I'm sorta getting cold feet. Here's what my hair looks like now (with my lovely friend Aletha here; I'm the one on the right):

And here's how I want to cut it (the girl's hair, not Evan Lysacek's, though I do admire his skating):

The front (but maybe have mine a little longer):

The back:

Now keep in mind that I am not the ice-dancer extraordinaire that Tanith Belbin is. She's gorgeous and has the perfect facial features. So take this haircut and picture it on my face. Anyone who's good at Photoshop can feel free to take a crack at it! :)

In the end, I'll do what I want to do. But the advice of my friends always helps. So thanks!

And don't worry--I will have MANY wedding posts up here soon. I'm taking my time so you can get the whole visual!