Day 349 - Meagan and Luke

In 2009, Matt and I went to Charleston, SC for a week to visit his dad.  We were joined by his sister, Courtney and his other sister, Meagan and her family.

Meagan is married to Aaron and they currently have 2 sons.  At the time, they just had little Luke.

This is Megs and Luke sharing a moment together in the surf.  I love their arms around each other. 

Family is good.  :)

Day 348 - Menacing Look

"Gee Brain, what are we going to do tonight?" - Pinky

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky.  Try to take over the WORLD!!!!!" - Brain

I think this is what Corbin was thinking. 

That or he is plotting his parent's demise for making him endure this photo session.

Haa haaa haaa!  :)  He is so cute! 

Day 347 - Sunflowers in the Sun

I hope I don't have another blog post by the same title, I did not check....

I'm a bit behind in blogging.  I should have finished my 365 day project yesterday.  Oh, well.  I WILL finish it - even if it is a few weeks late.  Who's going to judge me?  Certainly not myself - I understand what a year it's been.  :)

This is a lovely couple of sunflowers taken this past September behind my parent's house in East TN. 

I happen to adore this picture.  Glad I finally got around to editing it.  I may have to print and frame this one.  :) 

Day 346 - Baby Shower Fun

One of my licensed veterinary technicians at work, Jess, is pregnant with identical twin boys.  We threw her a shower last week and had a jolly good time.  One of the other techs, Tara, came up with a really fun game that also made for some great pictures.

We were split into groups of two - one mommy, one non-mommy (in real life.)  The non-mommies were allowed to use their right hands and the mommies had to use their left.  Working together, we had to put a cloth diaper (pins and all!) on a doll and dress him.  We were timed.

Group 1 above was Dr. Barton and Debbie.  While they were likely the most entertaining (I hate I missed the photo-op of Dr. Barton holding the baby upside down by one leg) - they did have the slowest time. 

Group two was Kendra and Cindy - they were quiet, quick, and efficient.  They definitely had the time to beat! 

Mrs. Bowman and Karen were the only group with two mommies - they worked diligently and quickly, but came up a few seconds shy of taking the lead from Cindy and Kendra. 

Heather and I were the last to go.  We made a good team, but truth be known, Heather could have dressed that doll one handed all by herself!  But I did get to help a little and we won!  :) 

Fun baby shower game, indeed.

Day 345 - It's getting cold outside

This was taken in February of last year during the craziest icicle 'storm' I have ever seen!

No icicles yet.  But I know they are coming....

Day 344 - Photoshoot Mishaps

Sometimes during those newborn photo shoots I do, there are mishaps of the bodily function kind.

Today, my friend Chris was the victim of TWO of those mishaps - getting urinated on TWICE by his 7 day old son, Joshua. 

He was a champ about it, though.  :) 

Day 343 - Little Keaton

Wee tiny Keaton, son of my good friends Kipp and Jenny.

I miss them.  :(  They moved away. 

Day 342 - Neema Close Up

Isn't she sweet?  I love her so.  <3

Day 341 - Photographing the Siamese Trees

Another California picture.  This one was obviously NOT taken by me.  :) 

Jonathan took this one of me trying to capture the wonder of what I dubbed the 'Siamese Trees.'  They were remarkable.  My capture of them was not, however.

What they were:  two trees connected in the middle.  Only one tree had roots and only one tree had leaves.   You can see in the picture the tree with roots in the ground and the second tree (to it's left) does not have any roots!  It just ends.  Floating in mid-air.  A stump.

As you move up the trees you see their joint connection in the middle.  (Well, actually you can't see it in this picture, sorry.)

Then the tree on the left bursts into life at the top with sprawling branches and green goodness while the tree on the right looks at the top like the left tree does at the bottom:  a stump.

Incredible.

The trees were not marked with anything - they were just one of those things that as we were hiking along I looked up and said 'whoa!'  So glad I was paying attention.  They are still one of my favorite things from this trip. 

Day 340 - A Treasure

I was out and about today running errands and I stopped into the local Stuarts Draft Antique Mall.  I've lived here 9.5 years and have never stepped foot in there.  Today I stepped in 25 minutes before they closed.  

The place is ENORMOUS!!!!

25 minutes resulted in a pretty quick scan of the entire place.  I'm sure I missed a lot. 

The only thing I've ever really collected (other than books and pictures) has been blue canning jars.  I don't have many - maybe 8 or so.  I used to have a few more but they have gotten broken over the years.  :(  

I love the cobalt blue ones.  They are just so dramatic and..... pretty.  

I spotted this gem in the windowsill.  It's so lovely.  It's a 1902 made in Italy (still had the sticker stating such on the bottom - but it came off when I washed it) 'Abigail's Useful Jar.'  Ha!  

It will be useful for something in my house - though I'm not sure what just yet.  

My favorite form of recycling:  finding new homes and uses for old things. 

Day 339 - Pacific Sunset

These are a couple of sunset photographs from the West Coast - taken in September of 2007.  I believe these were taken near Wedding Rock in Patrick's Point State Park in Humbolt County, California.  

I was honing my photography skills.  :)

Day 338 - Matt's Maryland House

Last night we were talking with some friends from church about Matt's townhouse in Maryland and all the renovations he did.  We mostly talked about how he painted the living room with TEN different colors.  Fully painted the entire living room with two coats of paint SEVEN times.  He was a crazy man, then.  

But it turned out stellar. 

It used to have awful pink carpet and pink walls.  He yanked the carpet and installed beautiful cherry hardwood floors (with the help of our brother-in-law, Aaron and myself.)  Repainted everything.  New carpet.  New appliances.  Tiled the kitchen and downstairs bathroom (with my help.) 

It was a ton of work.  And it sold in 8 days in a crappy housing market.  :)

This is the staircase.  :)  It was a 3 story townhouse - so the center stairwell was cool. 

Good job, honey.  You made it a beautiful house. 

Day 337 - My Great-Granny

These are pictures of my great-grandmother, Dolly.  She was my mom's paternal grandmother (her dad's mom.)  She lived to be 94 and was someone I got to spend a lot of time with as a child.  I am so grateful for that. 

She was a tiny little one - but tough as can be.  She buried all 3 of her sons and her husband.  She lived alone on her farm until she was 90, I believe.  She kept her hair long and braided it into a bun everyday.  She had Dobermans.  She would yell at them "hear me!  hear me!" when they would not listen.  She had a car that you pushed a button on to start.  The water at her house was collected via cistern and was the best tasting water EVER!  (I think that had something to do with the charcoal filter.)  She used to make rhubarb pies that I was a fan of.  Her Christmas tree was always a live, prickly cedar.  She hated carnation flowers.

She was still playing church-league soft ball at age 85.  I'm not kidding.  The local newspaper actually did an article on she and I playing for the same team.  I was the youngest member, she the oldest.

Quite a woman.  The bottom picture is of my brother and I and her - she wanted to ride in an airplane so our family physician, Dr. Susong, took her up in his plane for her 90th birthday.  So cool.  

I don't think I want to live to be 94 - but if I do, I hope I can be as strong and active as she was.  I also hope I am brave enough to do something new when I'm 90.  :) 

Day 336 - What's the Story, Morning Glory???

Morning Glory.  Morning Sun.  Morning Frost.

Glorious. 

Day 335 - Thankful

I'm thankful today for many things - including my family.  I have multiple forms of family - which is a blessing I do not take for granted.  Last weekend I was able to feast with my biological family in TN.  Today I shared a feast with the Bowman family here in VA.  Such a tremendous joy I have because of these two families of mine.

We had not taken a picture of all of us together in TN since Matt and I first started dating back in 2004.  That picture can be found here.  Hee hee.  None of us have changed a bit, have we?

In the current picture, front row, we have:  me, my mom Mitzi, my aunt Edie, my cousin Katie, (on the floor) my niece Eliza, my sister-in-law Kristie, and my bestest bud Candi.

Second row:  my great-aunt Marie, my grandmother Catherine, uncle Frank, grandad Bob, dad Bobby, and my brother Jason.

Rounding out the back:  my bestest's hubby Jonathan, my hubby Matt, and Katie's hubby Charlie holding their son, Sullivan. 


What a crew!  :)

Day 334 - Sophie Close Up

:)

Day 333 - The Ipad and Its Babies

We were in TN this past weekend for an annual family get-together.  It was awesome, as usual.

I found it funny that we all had apple devices.  So I took a picture.

The Ipad and its babies.  How cute.  :)

Day 332 - New York Fountain

This fountain is in Central Park in NYC.  Matt and I went there for my first trip last year. 

:)

Day 331 - A Cute Kitten Video

This is a kitten that we bottle-raised as a foster last summer.  We found a good home for her but she was hilarious while we had her.  A very fun kitten, indeed.  :) 

Day 330 - Hannibal Snowster

Looking through some older pictures tonight and found this one from the massive snow of 2009.  It makes me laugh out loud for some reason.

I think she looks like Hannibal Lecter.  Hence the title. 

Ha! She IS crazy for her frisbee.....

Day 329 - Our Engagement Story

The vet student we had with us last week got married the same day we did.  Naturally, we shared our 'stories' including our engagement one. 

Here's ours.  :)

So, Matt and I met via Eharmony.com and our first date was in September 2004.  We broke up in September of 2005 and got back together in October of 2005.   We then broke up in January in 2006 and got back together in April of 2006.  After a really crazy couple of months and a very difficult weekend (that is another story all to itself) we broke up for the last time in January of 2007. 

For me, there was no doubt in my mind that our relationship was over.  It was done and time to move on.  Matt was convinced I was his wife, but let me go. 

We both dated other people. 

After several months apart, I was finally able to realize that I was really, really angry at Matt.  I wrote him an email and explained a whole lotta stuff to him.  He reciprocated.  Thus started a dialogue that led to a real friendship between us - one of the major things lacking in our relationship up to that point. 

After many months of this newly developed friendship between two people who knew each other really well, things started to change.  Matt became undeniably convinced that I was his wife and began to pursue me - gently but deliberately.

I was still dating a guy named Jonathan.  My relationship with Jonathan was very healing and helpful to me.  He enabled me to really laugh and be silly again - something that had been missing in the serious nature of mine and Matt's relationship.  But God began working in my heart and I was soon sure that Jonathan was not my future.

And I was still clinging to the belief that Matt was not, either.

I won't go into all the details of the months of October-December, but let's just say that those couple of months were absolutely the most confusing of my life.  :)

By late November I had refused a proposal (with a ring) offered to me by Jonathan and I had returned a ring (a plastic one) to a long time friend in order to put to rest any hope of future romantic endeavors with him.  And there was Matt, up in Maryland, with a ring on hold - just for me.

It really was the story of 'three rings' for me.  Crazy times.

Matt and I met again on December 8th, 2007 at Luray Caverns - the exact place of our first date.  We even wore the same clothes.  Dorks.

It was a date to determine if we did, indeed, have a future together.  And it was confirmed to me without hesitation that we did. 

The next Saturday was December 15th.  Matt had his final exam in his class that morning and was flying to Spain later that afternoon.  I had no expectation to see him until Christmas, when he was going to come to TN to visit me and my family. 

I knew we would be getting engaged soon and I told Matt that I did not want to be proposed to at Christmas and I did not want it to happen in front of other people (like my family.)

Matt called me once he was out of his exam and told me that he was recently having a conversation with his neighbor about the walkway lights we had installed at my back walkway.  Odd. 

A few hours later he called and asked me to go out and check for the wattage of the lights.  He told me that it was written on the side of the stakes going into the ground.

"No it isn't.  There is nothing written on the side of the lights" was my reply.

He insisted that I go and look.  I was frustrated and sighed but begrudgingly got up to go and look.  I was still in my PJ's and had not showered.  I kept Matt on the phone as I went outside to prove him wrong.

As I went down the steps towards the lights I saw an open black box sitting in the leaves in front of one of the lights.  In the box was a ring.  My ring. 

"Where ARE you?!?" I said into the phone. 

Matt stepped around from behind the garage and said something lovely and wonderful while down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I said 'yes.'

He was only there a little less than an hour as he had to drive to Dulles because he really did have to fly to Spain. 

He took his exam, drove to his sister's house to get the ring (he had it delivered there as to speed this day up), and then drove to VA.  Then he drove to Dulles and flew to Spain for a week-long business trip. 

It was a crazy day but a good one.  This picture is the only true engagement picture we took because, as I mentioned, I was not showered or dressed in real clothes.  Ha.  :)

Day 328 - Playing Chess

So, this picture was taken by my good friend, Dana.  I was in my first year of vet school at UT and all of my crazy cool friends were seniors at ETSU (2 hours away!)  I was sad and lonely without them.  :(  Sometimes, when I was really lucky, they would come and visit me! :) 

This particular weekend, Dana (taking the picture), Erik (wearing the bandana), and Rufus (wearing the pleated pants) came to Knoxville to hang out with me (wearing the sweater vest.) 

We were hanging out at West Towne Mall and somehow started playing chess on the checkerboard floor.  I'm pretty sure they were just refreshing my memory on how the individual pieces moved, but judging by the looks of the 'crowd' we had around us, given enough time, we likely could have launched a full-fledged game. 

Sweet memories.  Great friends.