almost forgot.

{Shopping for Seminar...this was not a keeper}

I have a new friend here in Tupelo that found out I live in Tupelo because she saw my blog and asked a mutual friend to introduce us! While eating lunch this week, she mentioned me having a blog and I had to stop and think for a minute.... I do? OH YEAH!

{Lunch at Ajax in Oxford, MS...southern comfort}

Perhaps I should neglect no longer. I read blogs and occasionally comment, but when it comes to maintaining my own, I'm dropping the ball! I allowed twitter and facebook to rule my social media life, and I finally reached the point where I had to stop cold turkey. Let me blanket this in an enormous {ME PERSONALLY ~ NOT JUDGING YOU} I felt like there was something wrong with me if I knew what your best friend's cousin's mom was up to the second I woke up every morning but hadn't so much as cracked my bible. So, for me, something had to give. Something being facebook & twitter. Not sure if it's a Lent thing, or if I just need to step away long enough to get my priorities back in line and my addiction subsided. Again, this is my thing... I do not judge you. How could I? You can't judge other people when you're addicted to freaking twitter and facebook...at 29.

{Snuggling on the couch with Lola}

It's been 2 weeks... I miss twitter the most. Besides keeping up with my friends, I kept up with the news on twitter as well, so I feel out of the loop at times. Thankfully, Justin is a news junkie so he keeps me posted on all things Kardashian. Just kidding...kind of. It does crack me up that after 3 years of marriage he still tries to break Pop-Culture news to me. Guiliana is my homegirl... you can not get anything past me!

Speaking of JF... these pictures have been all about me. Which, I suppose it's my blog and it is a lifeLESordinary and not alifeJUSTINordinary, but I'll share some web space with him.

I was tempted to not share this, because I didn't want every desperate housewife to harbor jealousy in their heart over my husband. Really, if he knew I posted this picture to the blog he might start alifeJUSTINordinary for the soul purpose of getting me back! We love face-time on our phones and when you pause it, it freezes your face and I'm savvy enough to snap a picture to remember that face forever!

Alright, alright... here's normal Justin by the Christmas tree with Stella. It's funny that I posted a picture of me with Lola & Jf with Stella, because usually Stella is my baby and Lola is Jf's baby. Now I feel a little bad, so I'll leave you with an incriminating picture of me. I have no shame...

{Sexy.Sweaty.Bangs!}

and I'm really pretty when I get finished with my workout.

It's January, right?

This picture was taken on our 3rd Anniversary (December 1) and Of course by now it's mid-January, but it's taken me that long to recover from the holiday season! Our business triples around Thanksgiving and we don't look back until New Years! Justin and I are extremely grateful to do what we do, and the people we have the pleasure of serving with, but I think we both agree that the holidays last just long enough.

The week before our anniversary it hadn't even crossed our minds that our anniversary was approaching. Which is humorous to me, because we work around high school/college aged kids that calculate the seconds they've been in a relationship and celebrate reaching month by month milestones. (I could do an entire series of posts dedicated to the nuances of deep southern relationships. They, at times, boggle my mind and it's like a different time here!)

I'm thinking, that because we both forgot, this year was the best anniversary yet! No anticipation, no major plans and no expectations to meet or not meet. I do love that we have the luxury of taking off the entire day together for our anniversary and it doesn't go unappreciated. It's a nice time to get away after Thanksgiving/Black Friday and before school gets out for the holidays. We went where we wanted to go, ate at places we loved and enjoyed stuff that we like to do. It was nice.

I'm reminded of our vows that we took 3 years ago. Do any of you newlyweds ever look up and think "3 years? Really? Feels like 50!" Not in a bad way, but can I get a witness? To recap, our vows are taken from Ruth 1.


16But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

17"Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may (K)the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."

I never wrote about or recapped year 2. It was a tough year and our work circumstance and living circumstance left us in a strained place. Thankfully, we were in the strained place together. When you work a stressful job together as a married couple half of the job is figuring out how to separate the two and learning that you always have to work on the art. Year 3 came and we both realized we had a LOT of work on our hands and we set out to get in front of our pain and resentment that our circumstances had caused. We did and now we're perfect. JUST KIDDING! Do y'all ever read blogs and think, "WOW, this person is a good fiction writer, because that can NOT be real life?" I mean really...perfection seeping from every corner of their little space on the web. That's too much for me!

Back to me. Year 3 was a year of settling and a year of peace for Lesli & Justin. It was amazing to me how peaceful and loving our relationship felt the minute our lives were settled. The tension, anxiety and frustration started to fall away. Now, having to go through the process of buying a house with my husband being 5 hours away was less than peaceful, but nothing lasts forever. He returned and we had a new lease on life in our marriage, our business, our town and our new/old cottage.

I still have unsettling moments where I think hideous resentful thoughts like, "I do this ALL for you and WHAT thanks do I get?" It's not pretty and I'm not proud of those thoughts, but I feel it's important that I be honest. After all, I am not a fiction writer and need not try and convince you that I am the perfect sexy wife married to the perfect sexy husband.

I'm happy (albeit begrudgingly) to be reminded that I made a covenant with God that where he'd go I'd go and where he'd stay I would stay. Covenants are a powerful thing and not something I'm willing to mess with. Thankfully, I have the next 60+ years to work on getting this right and I have a partner who is willing and ready to work with me. To put it simply... grateful, settled, peaceful.

PS~ Some of you commented to me on twitter that you had a problem commenting. I just did a test comment and commented as a guest instead of logging into any of the services. I put my name, email and website and it sent me the comment for approval. Sorry, if you've had something to say and couldn't say it. I appreciate you reading and being a friend!

I'm pleased to tell you...

That this here post is coming to you straight from my desktop in the 2nd bedroom by way of our new air card! After our laptop died we hooked up our desktop, but have been waiting on our "people" to send us an air card. It arrived this morning! I can do a LOT on my iPhone, but we live in the sticks and I'm still on the vintage {edge} network, so my phone Internet is sloooooooooow. I was so happy to be able to look up recipes online for my girls dinner tonight. Thank the good Lord for myrecipes.com.

In MUCH bigger news...

I am also pleased to tell you that after 2 years and 1 month of wedded bliss I took the plunge of changing my name. I know you're all thinking... why did it take you so long? Do you not really love Justin? Were you keeping a door open? Because and that's not it and no way. We haven't actually been physically stable in one place for long enough to get ALL my info switched over and we left Texas the morning after the wedding. And really, the only place it mattered was my email and at the bank. Did y'all know that my bank allowed me to use my {illegal} married name on my account? Is that against the law?

One of my 2010 goals was to get it all change and changed I did. It took an ENTIRE day. I had no idea that changing states and changing license and changing names literally took an act of God.



So, after 7 years of long blond hair...



I became a legal resident of Mississippi. That doesn't make me any less a Texan, does it?



{Ps ~ Of course I planned to look much better than this at 8am, but by 4 I was a little worse for the wear.}

christmas card photo shoot 2009

Justin and I have to cram in a weekend worth of housekeeping and to do lists into Sunday and this past Sunday take Christmas card picture was on the list! Unfortunately, it was below eating lunch, flipping a switch at the restaurant and grocery shopping! After all that, we rushed home and got ready for the big photo shoot. I asked Justin to get Lola bathed so she wouldn't look ragamuffin and he said, "I don't need to shower do I?" He hadn't showered and his hair didn't look too much like bed head, and people advise about picking your battles in marriage, so I un-picked that battle! Eventually he did end up showering, and I thought you might want to see a couple of the shots that we took but did not use on our actual card!


Test shot outside our front door. It is not going to be easy to get my darty dog to cooperate!


This is the little pond and "track" outside our apartments. I've run this track MANY a times, and I think this picture would have been great if the water didn't look so dadgum murky! This however, is the first time I've been out by the pond in a little black dress.

By the holly bush! Lola is looking for her best friend June to come save her from the giant red bow and Justin is about 37 pictures over his limit. "I thought we were taking pictures in one pose." How on earth could I make my decision more difficult for the most indecisive person in the world if we only had one pose?

Of course I will show you the actual card as soon as ours go out for all of you blog friends that I don't have an actual address for.

2 year celebration!

Our anniversary day celebration was so great this year! We took the day off and luckily it was in between the wild stomach virus that we passed around in our house the rest of the week. There was no plan, so we decided to head over to Memphis for the day to shop for our angel tree kids and pick up some wedding goodies for Ali & Cody. Lunch was at Pei Wei, a rare treat for us and after shopping we treated ourself to TCBY, another delicious rare treat. We made our way home for a fancy dinner at Tupelo's very own Park Heights. At the end of the evening our hearts were full and simply getting away a being together was the perfect way for us to spend our special day. After this anniversary I think I might prefer anniversaries to birthdays, because there is nothing like celebrating our life with my other half.

Also, I like to wear something to the celebration that I wore in our wedding. Last year I wore my wedding shoes, and this year I wore my earrings. I would have worn this fur stole, but I bought it in Lexington and forgot it when I went to Texas. OOPS!

Before I get to my year in review post, I thought I'd share this fun little survey to catch you up on the history of me and justin. Thank you Sirena & Jill for letting me borrow this.

What are your middle names?
Justin JOSEPH & Lesli MICHELLE

How long have you been together?
March 2006 - dating
August 2006 - engaged
December 2006 - Married
2 years and 9 months (Married 2 years)

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
3 months

How old are each of you?
we are both 28 ~ 2 months apart

Did you go to the same school?
No

Are you from the same hometown?
Justin ~ Greenwood, Indiana
Lesli ~ Texarkana, Texas
so, no.

Who is the smartest?
without a doubt ~ Justin
he's got the brains, i've got the looks. kidding!

Who majored in what?
Lesli ~ Telecommunications, Baylor University
Justin ~ Biblical Languages/History, Central Bible College; {part of}Masters of Theology, Asbury College

Who is the most sensitive?
hmmm... we might be equal at this. especially if Biggest Loser is on.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Ichiban or Las Margaritas

Where have you traveled together as a couple?
Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee (sounds like I'm naming SEC bowl bids)

Who has the worst temper?
ME!

How many children do you want?
We've never picked a number. Right now we have 25 grown kids that we get to take care of every day and that's managable. HA! We'd love to adopt needy kids {a la Blind Side} and probably have our own. Check back in a few years for a more accurate answer.

Who does the cooking?
Definitely a shared duty in our house. Justin is an amazing cook and I think my cooking is coming up to a new level as of late. Let's just say, either way you'd leave our house happy and satisfied.

Who is more social?
Me. Justin is naturally more introverted. I love having people over and secretly he can't wait for them to leave.

Who is the neat-freak?
Neither! We try very hard, but we clean all day at work, so a lot of times our house gets neglected. That's what maids are for, right? Currently, every room in our house is clean!

Who is the most stubborn?
Me! Gosh, I have all the icky traits. Let's work on that in 2010.

Who wakes up earlier?
Me, but Justin stays up later.

Where was your first date?
The first meal we shared together was a Johnny Carinos in San Marcos, California. Our first date as a couple was at Dunlay's on Clark in Chicago.

Who has the bigger family?
Me!

Do you get flowers often?
I do! I buy them myself, because I go to the wholsale florist once every two weeks. Fresh flowers help me keep my house cleaner. I should show y'all some of my arrangements. However, Justin likes to surprise me on special occasions with pink roses. That's what he had for me the first time I came to visit Kentucky. It's "our" flower.

How long did it take to get serious?
From the time we met ~ 3 months
From the first time he came to visit me ~ a couple of days.

Who eats more?
depends what we're eating. probably the same amount.

What do you do for a living?
We operate our own restaurant!

Who does the laundry?
We share it, kind of, Justin usually does most of it though.

Who’s better with the computer?
I don't know? People assume that Justin is good at fixing computers because he plays video games, but I know my way around.

Who drives when you are together?
Justin, because he HATES how I drive

What is "your" song?
good question... we don't like the same music, so this is hard. maybe "I Believe" by stevie wonder.

Do you ever argue?
No, we're perfect. You should want to be more like us. Of course we argue and I say hideous things that I instantly regret. One thing I know for sure is that are good to heap grace on each other and are quick to forgive. I couldn't be more grateful for those two traits in my husband.

No day but today.

3 years ago today I met this man.

2 years ago today I married him.

Today I thank God for his provision in bringing our lives together.

Pumpkin Time

I ended up buying those pumpkins that I had been eyeing the other day. Justin didn't want to get the gourds, because they were bumpy and he thought they looked cancerous, so we went with a big pumpkin and some mini pumpkins!

The only thing left to do with a big pumpkin is to carve it! Justin drew out the design ~ Mississippi style! Our Jack-O-Lantern is missing some teeth in his grill!

My job was to pull the guts out! I love this part and can't wait to roast them seeds! Please please forgive how nasty I look! Only hours before I let Jillian kick my butt and boost my metabolism. Rough!

Can you see the best part? He made the ears detachable so they'd stick out! A master carver if I do say so myself!




Ready for the lights...

Happy Fall Y'all from the Flowers'

Wall Decor

Upholstered headboards are so hot right now at a time when I have the good fortune of having a great friend who happens to be a carpenter. I had this idea the other day that if we put our talents and skills {mostly his} to good use, we could make a beautiful upholstered headboard for much less than what you could buy it for in the store. Plus, it would be a fun project that could keep me busy and give me a creative outlet! So, we've been talking and planning the project for a few weeks now. Of course I'll keep you posted as to how it progresses.

...

Justin and I are walking to a grocery store the other day and there was a huge bin of beautiful gourds and pumpkins. I loved all the textures and the colors... such a beautiful picture of fall.

As we passed by them I remarked, "Aren't those beautiful? They'd make great decorations." Justin responds, "Knowing your decorating style, you would probably nail them to the wall!"

~Ok, I am a totally admitted junk shopper who has some wacky ideas, and I like to take on projects, but really in the 2 years Justin and I have been married we've never been in a space long enough for me to really express a decorating style. I look back at him a little hurt, but really more confused.

"You know, you'd probably hang them to the wall next the the HEADBOARD you want to hang on the wall!"

He said it in a playful tone, but it made me think ~ Wait why would I nail these to the wall? Oh my gosh, Justin thinks I'm going to hang the headboard on some random wall. So then I explained that the headboard would hang on a wall YES, but behind the bed!

We laughed our heads off about it, but really I would NOT put it past me to try and make it work on a random wall.

my other half

When other bloggers write about their other's halves and they ask questions like "isn't he so hot?" or "don't you think he's so sexy?" I always feel mega oooooooogggged out, because that's a uncomfortable question to answer! I think your other half is perfect for you, but sexy? I'll stick with my man! I promise not to ask you any questions about how great Justin is, if you will allow me to brag for just a minute...

I woke up Wednesday morning and felt like the Lord really laid on my heart to do a random act of kindness for one of our customers. I pictured her face and fully planned on passing the word onto one of our employees so they could complete the task. As it turned out, I had the pleasure of completing the task and one random act of kindness turned into 3 for the day. By the end of the day, my heart felt so full. It made me think ~ why don't I do this everyday?

That day Justin and I had to go over to TJ Maxx to find him a new belt and we did our TJ Maxx divide and conquer routine. He goes to his side to look at his stuff and I go to mine. I started with the purses, and the racks were full to the brim. I think I looked at all 9,000 of them and a few caught my eye, but one in particular. Justin and I eventually met back up and he told me what he had found and I told him what I had found. He found 2 Express sweaters for a great deal and I had found a Kate Spade purse for a good deal, but not exactly in my purse price range.

Then I kept thinking about the purse. It would be a perfect splurge, because it was practical and classy. It was the perfect size ~ not too big, not too small, but still we've been on a savings kick and it felt nice to be socking away money to our savings account. I told Christina about it & she said ~ GO GET IT! We deserve nice handbags! Instead I went home and cleaned house.

Justin got home an hour or so after me & came in and played NCAA Football while I cleaned and chatted on the phone. Once my cleaning was complete my phone chat turned into a mini happy hour, so I had a couple of glasses of wine. Finally, around 6:30 I got off the phone and came in and gave Justin a big smooch, which prompted him to request that I change into something sexy. I argued that yoga pants and an old sorority t shirt were most certainly sexy, but gave in and headed up stairs.

Look what I found on my pillow...

It's the purse I saw at TJ Maxx! There are some people in this world that would write the note on the receipt, because they'd want you to know how much they spent, but I already knew what it cost, and knowing Justin, he just needed some paper.

The best part of this gift was not the actual purse or the sweet words Justin wrote to me {which were both beyond gracious}, but how he got it. Instead of using "our" money to buy the bag he used a GiftCard that he had received as a gift and was saving up for Beatles RockBand. And when I saw that, I burst into tears. Seems as though random acts of kindness work both ways. I am overwhelmingly grateful that my partner in life has such a deeply kind and thoughtful heart and not just where me and my purse lust are concerned.

Thanks for letting me brag & letting me show you my cute new purse!

Mad Men is Swell!

Justin & I started our married life by picking a television series on DVD, starting from the beginning and watching it all the way through in our spare television time. We began with The Office, and got through it in no time, because it's hilariously good TV & the episodes are only 30 minutes long.

Next we started The West Wing. The West Wing is 7 seasons long and a full hour an episode, so this took us months and months to get through, but I can't tell you enough how good that series actually was on every level.

Third, we tackled Arrested Development. Very different, but very funny. Smart funny. If you're thinking of starting it, watch with someone so you can laugh together. You know how shows aren't as funny if you're watching alone.

Then Justin got greedy and started watching series alone, so I missed out on 24 & Lost, but he swears that if I want to watch he'll re-watch. So kind that man! By the way, yes, we have an extensive DVD collection.

A few weeks ago my friend Andy, whose taste I respect, tweeted about it or facebook statused about and they get nominated for all the awards, so Justin & I took advantage of the Best Buy sale and started season 1.

Here's a description I found online: At a time when most programs seek to dazzle viewers with big, bold concepts, the pleasures of "Mad Men" refreshingly arise almost wholly from small, impeccably detailed touches. Set in 1960, this breezy serial about Madison Avenue ad men (hence the title) circa 1960 revels in dated images of white-collar workers boozing in the boss' office, harassing female employees, smoking incessantly and openly pondering if there's a Jew anywhere in the building. Created by "The Sopranos" alum Matthew Weiner, it's a rare period drama that niftily injects shades of gray into the black-and-white TV era, warts and all.

I love that description ~ small, impeccably detailed touches. It is so smart & sexy, but very precise with the times which is a little bit eye opening to the reality of life that I never knew.

In short, I have a new addiction & I look forward to our nightly episode all day. So much so, I "Mad Men Myself" & Justin on Sunday. I think the above picture really kind of looks like Justin minus the pipe in real life.

believing the best

Lately, I've been working on believing the best instead of assuming the worst in everyone. Specifically my marriage, but it's trickled into my personal life & I've been surprised at how pleasant things have been with this outlook. It's really helped me with keeping that slow to anger thing in check. However, I'm not perfect & I certainly have to make a conscious choice to think this way.

I knew Justin's week had been about 100x's busier than my week last week & mine was pretty busy, so I didn't have expectations of a clean house. We had company over for dessert last Wednesday before we left on Thursday & embarrassingly enough, I rinsed those dishes and left them in the sink, so it wasn't super clean when I left.

When we walked in the door yesterday afternoon there was this rank stench. I thought to myself holy, hell ~ messy is one thing, stinky is a whole 'nother ballgame! That's when we found Lola & our kitchen floor covered in Lola's "Big Girl Style" mess & lots of... well, let's just say she had it coming out both ends! I grabbed her and headed to the bath & Justin tackled the kitchen.

Our dog eats everything, so really there was no telling what she got into. After the bath we headed to the yard & met up with our neighbor who is the "Mama" to Lola's best friends, Lady & June. Our neighbor is text book southern belle ~ sugary sweet, perfect manners & her finger firmly on the pulse of neighborhood gossip. Her boyfriend came & got Lola on Saturday while we were gone so she could play with her friends. We are very lucky to have neighbors that love Lola & are always more than willing to help us out when work keeps us from home.

We're catching up on the past week & she says, "Lola had tacos for dinner last night & she loved - OH MY GOSH, THAT'S WHY SHE GOT SO SICK!" I had to laugh, of course my greedy gut dog dug into the tacos to the point of sickness at the neighbors house! She's the opposite of text book southern belle.

Regardless of the house being clean or dirty or even stinky, I'm so glad to be home & I woke up this morning to Lola lying on my chest staring at me as if to say, "I've got you back & I'm not ever letting you leave again."

Kentuckiana

The three of us are loaded in the car and hitting the road to Indiana by way of Kentucky! It's hard to believe that we haven't been back since we pulled out of our drive {pictured above} back in January! It certainly doesn't seem like that long ago. I am very much looking forward to seeing my crazy in laws!

The good news is that I got my computer back just in time for my trip, so hopefully I can get caught up on some blogging & such while I'm away. There was a problem with the motherboard and it had to be replaced. I had a sad mac... er... sad PC.

Of course, I'm supposed to meet Justin in a couple of hours and our suitcases sit empty! Why is it so hard for me to get motivated to pack for two people? Nose to the grindstone people - I am going to be gone for 12 days! Good golly Miss Molly!

extended warranty

Justin and I purchased a new laptop the week before our wedding. We had been using my laptop until it completely bit the dust. Justin loves to marinate on electronic purchases, so in our free time from wedding planning he'd stand at Best Buy pondering the best lap top for us. The day we settled on the perfect lap top, it also went on sale, and you know how I love a good sale!

I will skimp on anything, but Justin puts his foot down at electronics. I don't hate it, because due to this quality, I got the original {vintage} iPhone, a nice little point and shoot & a nice lap top. When we were checking out he added on $300 worth of warranty to protect our purchase. I had to walk away from the register at this point, because I definitely don't indulge in warranties and our sale price was no longer a bargain!

Last week our lap top chord severed in half. Thank God for the warranty, right? $300 worth of warranty has saved us $80 in {almost} 2 years. I'm still not completely convinced it's worth it, but all that said to say ~ the chord is in the mail and blogging will resume once I chord in hand.

"Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer."

Our trip to Orange Beach was our first time back at the beach since our honeymoon in December of 2007. We've taken little trips here and there, but there's no place quite like the beach.

2009, so far, has been a rough year for the two of us. We work together and I think we work well together picking up where the other lags, but this assignment has been hard and quite frankly frustrating. Some days it feels like I get to work with my husband and other days it feels like I'm married to my boss.

When I say we needed this vacation I'm saying we needed to get away from our daily life for a minute. Mostly we needed good rest and no schedule to follow. We work 6 days a week and the thing about being married to your boss means that you bring work home...actually you take work with you every where you go. Except the beach. They don't allow work there.

We arrived Saturday afternoon, and the minute we laid our stuff out on the beach we lathered sunscreen and immediately fell sound asleep. Our bodies wasted no time adapting to the vacation way of life. We went for long walks on the beach, ate good food, went to bed early, and reconnected on many levels.

These pictures were taken on our last night & it was so cold on the beach, and that was the only this we would have changed about the entire trip. 10 degrees warmer, and it would have been perfect. I'm realizing that perfect doesn't fit well with our life & our marriage and this year has made me see how imperfect the two of us are and how hard we have to work to keep our happy marriage happy. But as far as birthdays and vacations go, this one will definitely be one for the books.

People usually have big opinions when I say that I work with my husband and I have one too. It's not easy everyday, but let me put it this way... membership definitely has it's privileges.

*Thank you JF for such a meaningful birthday gift. I'm still as lucky today as I was December 1, 2006 when I met you at the avis counter.

back at it

Justin and I made it back Thursday evening around 11:30pm and hit the ground running first thing Good Friday morning worked late into the evening and did it all again on Saturday. I woke up Sunday around 7am and while I wished I could have slept much longer, it felt nice to know that there was no real work to do today (Sunday). Truth be told, I didn't actually get out of bed until 1:20. Justin kindly moved the TiVo upstairs so we could do all our catch up watching from the comfort of our bed. Who said romance is dead?


E True Hollywood Confession ~ Justin and I have this three time running tradition and I'm almost afraid to admit it for fear of mass judgment from you and disappointment from our mothers. Here goes anyway... we don't attend church on Easter. What the? We don't. Our first Easter we were dating long distance & met up in Indianapolis for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. Last year we were in Cleveland for work & took advantage of resting. This year we had no excuse. We have a church here that we attend regularly & Easter~ish clothes to wear, but it felt nice to rest on the Lord's day and get reacquainted with our home.

Isn't that kind of weird? Oh well, we're weirdos that love Jesus!

I'm sure you've all been dying to see pictures of the two of us from our vacation and I have a few to share, but there is no time, because I need to get my legs shaved and my toes painted! Due to Easter's arrival I can now officially drag out my sandals & my skirts and trust me when I say that NO ONE wants to see this mess!

Orange Beach, Alabama

Justin surprised me yesterday with a birthday trip to Orange Beach, Alabama! We leave either tomorrow night or early Saturday morning and honestly, we need this so bad! This will be the first holiday that we've celebrated since his birthday in February, LAST YEAR! Do you know how many holidays have happened since his birthday LAST FEBRUARY? A lot!

There is much to do to get ready to leave for a while, but you know I've already been looking for yummy restaurants! Have any of you been to Orange Beach? Got any good suggestions of places we have to dine? Other than eating, I hope to do a LOT of relaxing and maybe take a trip to Target. Can you imagine living in a place with NO target? I can, because I do!

"does a love fax count?" - mr. big

Well, as far as Valentine's Day plans go, ours were a total bust. Our Valentine tradition (this is only our 2nd Valentine's Day together) is for Justin to cook dinner for the two of us at home. We eat out a lot, so this is a nice treat and I love getting to kick up my heels and hand over the reigns in the kitchen. Justin is such a good cook, that I'm thinking I might start scheduling us a Valentine's dinner once a month. How's that for hallmark holiday?


Work was more demanding than either of us anticipated, so a little before 10pm we strolled into one of the local mexican restaurants and the hostess escorted us to a table that had children crawling everywhere. I kindly told her that we would not be sitting there and so we were taken to another section where the waitress misunderstood my english and brought me the wrong order.


Oh well. I'm thinking we have a few more Valentine's Day celebrations in us, so better luck next year.

The cookies? They were my valentine's gift to my employees and while it took me about 3 days to make they were not a total bust.

Classic Iced Sugar Cookies from cooking light magazine

Yield: 3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

Ingredients
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
To prepare cookies, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and egg whites. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape each dough half into a ball; wrap each dough half in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.

Unwrap 1 dough ball. Press dough into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, to a 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat procedure with remaining dough ball. Chill dough 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°.

Remove one dough portion from refrigerator. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap; turn dough over. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut dough into 18 cookies. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining dough half.
To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Working with 1 cookie at a time, spread about 1 teaspoon icing evenly over cookie. Let stand on a wire rack until set.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 109 (27% from fat)
Fat: 3.3g (sat 2g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.2g)
Protein: 1.2g
Carbohydrate: 19g
Fiber: 0.2g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron: 0.4mg
Sodium: 50mg
Calcium: 8mg

you just don't get it

When Justin and I moved from Kentucky, I meticulously packed, labeled and numbered each and every box and catalogued them into a spreadsheet. I think when the last box was packed and sealed we were up to box 45 and it honestly felt more like box 450. There were a few boxes I didn't label, because I knew we were shipping them straight to Mississippi and they would be immediately opened.

Our second bedroom has acted as a make shift holding place for these boxes and I've taken a few hours each Sunday to devote to this room and these boxes. Last Sunday I was getting the last of my winter clothes hung up in the closet and little by little I was realizing hey... where are those black pants and those jeans and that black shirt. When the final hanger was put on the rack it hit me that I wasn't missing a couple of things... I was missing an entire BOX of things.

Except there were NO more boxes in the room and the box down stairs was cables for the TV and TiVo and I couldn't very well wear those. All I could think about was this silly dress that I wanted to wear to Vegas and since I created and completed the spread sheet of the boxes, I knew for a fact that it wasn't in the storage closet. I mean good grief, if it was who could justify mailing a key and begging someone to please go rooting through 45 boxes and a storage room full of furniture for one little dress?

With that irrational thought my blood pressure began to rise. I told Justin of my misfortune of missing a box and he snickers. I stew and my blood boils. My mind is racing and all I can think is Justin thinks I'm crazy, but he just does NOT get this. Finally, he chimes in and says, "Lesli, you shouldn't be this mad about it, because there is nothing we can do about this. It's not like we can go back and get the box."

To which I go OFF... "There is NO solution. I get it. Just be sorry for me for 5 minutes, because if this was your XBOX you'd be a little MAD!"

I believe the XBox comment struck a chord and he felt my pain for a second. Then just like the knight in shining armor that he is, he pulls the missing box out of thin air and saves my night, my week and my trip to Vegas! Can you even imagine how happy I was?

Please ignore how death-like I look in the above picture... this was hour 22 of our whirlwind trip from Kentucky to Texas over Christmas. BUT this black shirt...yes, it's a little boring and not in the least bit flattering, but the most comfortable black shirt in the history of black shirts... and it's NO.WHERE.TO.BE.FOUND. I can only hope it's made a lovely home for itself in the storage unit and I'll look forward to wearing it next year. arrrggggg!

Movie Wars

One of the opposing differences that Justin and I have to work through is the movies.  He LOVES going to the movies and the experience of it all.  The popcorn, the theater, the big screen, he loves it all.  And he's not picky either.  That's how much he likes going to the movies; he'll go just to go.  ME?  I majored in movies and here's my E True Hollywood Confession ~ I hate going to the movies.

It may have a tiny bit to do with the fact that while I'm sitting through the movie I can think of 9,000 other things that I COULD have just spent $20 on.  I like to think it has more to do with the fact that I'm a relational being that craves conversation and one on one interaction.  And truth be told, I always feel like I might be missing something else that's going on.

Justin and I do have this thing that that we started last year and I suppose we'll do it again this year, so I'll go ahead and call it a tradition.  We see all the Academy Award Best Picture Nominations.  A few of them last year were HEAVY macho guy movies and they about did me in for the entire year.  Well, until my SATC came out and I could darken the doors of the theater again.

One night while we were in Austin it was a little chilly outside and seemed perfect weather to snuggle up to the one I love in a movie theater.  So I say to Justin, "Hey, what would you think about going to the movies tonight?"  him,"YOU want to go to the movies?"  me,"Yeah, it seems like a mighty fine night to go to the movies."  him, "GOOD, we'll go see BOND!"  

wait, wait... how.did.this.just.happen?

I'm working at being a better wife, so I figured this weekend I'd suggest another movie and like a beacon of hope in a dark dark sea of macho guy movies BRIDE WARS came out!  I, of course, chose it just to torture my husband, and in return it was total crap.  Kind of cute, not so funny, but it sure beat the hell out a psychopath killing people! {note: i don't think Bond is a psychopath.  i think he's a really really hot killer.}