Home Updates

We've had a rather productive weekend when it comes to our house. We spent Friday evening finishing our Crate and Barrel registry. I spent all day Saturday doing laundry, putting new bed linens on our bed, unpacking and washing all of our Crate and Barrel stuff, grocery shopping, and cooking a delicious meal in our kitchen.

Our new bed that we bought just a week or so before our wedding along with our new bed linens:

The meal we cooked together - chicken lettuce wraps. They were a new recipe, something we will DEFINITELY be eating again in our house:
And while we're at it, here's a good shot of our new dining room furniture. We got our table for a great deal the same time we bought our bed, and just got our chairs from Ikea a little over a week ago:

And today Kyle was able to put up the curtains that go in our dining/living room. My sister Amy made them as a shower present and they look perfect in our house. She also made curtains for many other windows in our house, and as we get them up I'll post pictures:



We not only did house work this weekend, but I had a very social Sunday. I was able to eat lunch with Kate and Katie, two really good friends from college. It was the first time I had seen Katie since she left for Bosnia a year ago on a year-long mission trip. It was so exciting to catch up and I'm ready for her to live back in Atlanta. Unfortunately it also meant saying goodbye to Kate, who is leaving for architecture grad school in Cincinnati in a month.

After lunch and hanging out with the two of them, Kyle and I headed to a barbecue cookout on the river by two of our good friends, Jen and Jared. It was fun to just relax outside before we had to come back and get busy. I had studying to do and Kyle had work to do this evening.

Another good weekend come and gone....

Silver on Tuesday - Gold tonight???

I went over to my sister's house to watch the women's team finals on Tuesday night. It was disappointing, the only goal for our team was gold, and we fell short. For the most part our gymnasts were solid, especially at the beginning, but it didn't stay that way.

However, China's gold has been mixed with controversy. Several news reports have supposedly found evidence that a few of the girls are likely younger than 16, the required age to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics. I remember when this rule was first put into place and I wasn't a huge fan of it. It doesn't allow gymnasts who might be 15 the year of the Olympics, and at their peak, to compete. And very often a 15 year old gymnast at her peak won't be at the same point four years later, when she is 19. Not that it's not done - there are several very talented 19+ gymnasts, but there are lots of gymnasts who hit their prime at 14/15/16. So while I'm not necessarily opposed to having gymnasts younger than 16 compete, I am opposed to a team possibly cheating. And my main reason would be the uneven playing field. If one team can have gymnasts of any age, and another team can only choose gymnasts 16 or older, then the second team's pool of possible gymnasts is smaller than the first team's. There's a good chance every country has several extremely talented gymnasts under 16 - and would possibly have used them - but didn't, because of the rules.

So anyways, all I'm saying is that whether or not their passports say they are 16 (which I personally don't trust), and whether or not the IOC believes they are 16, their gold will always be a little clouded by suspicion. It only takes the casual observer to be seriously doubtful that they are 16 (And to put this picture in perspective, I know all gymnasts are short and small, but I have read in several sources the shortest Chinese gymnast is 4'6", and the 3 smallest all weight around 70 pounds.) The last 3 are the ones I personally doubt. We'll probably never know.

Now for some pictures that matter - here's our team winning silver, followed by my personal favorite performances of the evening: Nastia Liutkin on bars and Shawn Johnson on beam. Nastia because her bar routine is so beautiful, difficult, and she does it flawlessly (she scored a 16.9 - one of the absolute highest gymnastics has seen this Olympics) and Shawn because she nailed that beam routine. Having been a gymnast, I admire confidence and rocksolidness on beam more than anything else. I know what that beam is like and I could barely do a cartwheel without some kind of balance check. She can do tumbling passes down the beam without the tiniest wobble. Both of these girls are favorites to win gold tonight in the All Around finals, and you better believe I will be watching.

The joys of home ownership

This weekend was much fun - had my parents, my brother, my sister and her husband over for dinner on Friday night since my parents were in town visiting. Then Saturday night we hung out some with Kyle's sister and her husband. And then on Sunday night we spent the evening eating a delicious dinner cooked by Kyle's good friend and old roommate Daniel and Daniel's current roommate.

Those were the evenings. The days were spent busy being working outside. And this is what we accomplished between the two of us working all day Saturday and me working all day Sunday: It doesn't look like much, especially since I don't have any "Before" pictures to point out the difference, but we managed to pressure wash all of the top of our driveway and front door stairs. It looks much better than it did and puts a smile on my face every time I walk outside. Its not easy owning a house and having so much work to do on it, but the feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes along with ownership is worth it.

Kyle also spent Sunday afternoon using the weedeater we just bought with our wedding Home Depot gift cards. He was able to destroy the jungle that had built up in our backyard and the sides of our house. There's still more lawn work to do, and I will definitely post pictures when we get around to it.

The Olympics

I had a very eventful weekend - but I'll get to that in a later post.

For now, it's all about the Olympics.

I've always loved the Olympics. I just love to watch hard core athletes finally making all their work worth it. And it brings out national pride - its so much fun to cheer on the US, regardless of the sport.

I wasn't quite as excited about the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. I don't know if it was because the media attention wasn't as strong, or if I just didn't care as much, or I just didn't have as much free time. But the last Olympics I've been this excited about were the '96 Atlanta Olympics.

Back then I was 12. I had just quit competing gymnastics, due mainly to the fact that the gymnastics home I had grown up in was closing and the only other gymnastics option seemed cold and impersonal to me. I was still coming to terms with the change in my life from spending all my time at the gym to having much more free time. So watching gymnastics that year ws bittersweet.

I watched every second of the womens gymnastics competition. I jumped up and down in my living room crying when Kerri Strug landed her vault. We were able to actually attend the Women's All Around finals since they were in Atlanta. I was completely caught up in the Atlanta spirit.

It is so hard for me to believe that was 12 years ago. So hard for me to believe that the young gymnasts now barely know who Dominique Moceanu and Shannon Miller are. That moment when our team won gold is still the ultimate Olympic moment for me. I will never forget this scene:


Twelve years later the USA is once again a gold medal favorite in the women's gymnastics team finals. I watched the prelims today and as I watched Shawn Johnson nail every single pass on her beam routine, I can't help but feel that same excitement. When gymnastics is on, my eyes are glued to the TV. I am so excited to share in the Olympic spirit again and I can guarantee you that if you come over to our house, Olympics will be on TV, regardless of the sport. And I promise that whenever women's gymnastics is on it is being TiVoed just in case I am busy that night.

Another wedding

Prior to moving into our new house in May, I lived in a large 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment in Buckhead with awesome roommates, Julie and Chrissy. When we all moved in I was already dating Kyle but not long after Chrissy started dating Chad, and then not too long after that Julie began dating Matt. Last December is when Kyle proposed to me and within 3 months our whole apartment was engaged and planning weddings.

Julie's wedding was this past Saturday night. It was always fun to hear about all of the planning for a wedding, being around for all of the important decision making, and talking to each other about our weddings. I think some people could feel slighted, wanting all the attention to be on them, and wouldn't enjoy being surrounded by other engaged girls. But I think the 3 of us enjoyed it. We all made sure to not get caught up in our own weddings but were geniunely interested in the others.

So getting to be a part of Julie's wedding was a lot of fun - it was fun hanging out with some friends Kyle and I haven't seen for awhile, there was great food, it was gorgeous, and it was even more special since it was the first time attending a wedding being a newlywed couple.

Here's a picture of the happy couple:

One Happy Island

Now that we've had time to get settled a bit, I thought it would be a good chance to put up honeymoon pictures. I already can't believe it's come and gone - and I already feel like I need another vacation.

Relaxing on the beach. Our typical day consisted of sleeping til 11, heading to the beach for the afternoon, sipping a margarita, a cold Caribbean coke, or an Amstel Bright (best beer for the beach - only in the Caribbean) and reading underneath our personal lanai. Time to head back in around 4 or 5 to get ready for dinner out, taking a taxi to one of the many fantastic restaurants we went to, and then heading back for a happy hour drink and more sleep. Trust me, that is the life.

Our first nice dinner out was to a fantastic steakhouse. I do love some filet mignon!

The sunset sail came as part of our honeymoon package. It was just plain gorgeous.

The gorgeous view we had every day while lounging on the beach. This was taken before the tiny jellyfish larva got to me. On this particular afternoon we decided to swim in that gorgeous water. It was wonderful - completely clear, blue all around, the horizon was this cool looking purpleish-blueish, there wasn't many people around. Best ocean experience ever. Until I got back to our spot on the beach and began to itch. Then began to sting. I tried not to scratch but it was the worst itch ever. I noticed a rash-like redness spread all over my right arm, halfway up my neck, and all over my collar bone. Pretty soon I couldn't take it anymore and literally ran to our room to take a shower for some relief. You will notice in the next pictures that I'm wearing a short sleeve turtle neck. This is for a couple of reasons: 1) Because my neck and collarbone looked so bad, my vanity kept me from showing them to the world, and 2) Because all the salt in the wind and air irritated my skin and the best way to ensure I enjoyed the evening was to cover myself up.

The next day we went kayaking (no pictures because I didn't trust us to keep our camera dry). The salt water splashed all over me while kayaking and caused quite a bit of misery after getting out of the water. I stayed in the shower for at least 2 hours because the fresh water massaging my skin was the only way I could keep from going crazy. Kyle and I used one of the computers with free interntet to research what could have happened to me and the best answer we could come up with is tiny jellyfish larva that you can't see in the Caribbean. They end up clinging to you but don't sting until you get out of the water and you put pressure on them somehow. This made sense because Kyle got an actual jellyfish sting on his chest (the mark is still there now). We both agreed though, that his one real sting definitely beats the tiny little stings all over me.

Now back to pictures...
Our private dinner on the beach while watching a gorgeous sunset. I couldn't stop taking pictures because the view was so breathtaking. Our God is one amazing Creator.

Only real picture I got where you can see the tiny stings. Look at my right arm, collarbone, and neck. It looks more like a sunburn but you can tell it's different. Unfortunately it took almost two days for it to get down to this. It was much worse before.

Our last, amazing dinner out. This place was highly recommended by everyone we talked to and it definitely lived up to the praise. If you are ever in Aruba, we highly recommend a nice dinner at Madame Janette's. They even gave us free dessert and champagne cocktails...



Minus the jellyfish problem, we really couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon. It's been tough to come back to real life, but God has been so good to us. Now I'm ready for our next vacation together! Where will we go? Napa Valley? Ireland? Italy? Skiing? There are way too many vacations that are high on my list for the two of us...

Catch up on a few things

I feel like life has been so jam packed with the kitchen and the wedding, and there are a few things I have never really updated on:

Exam 3F
The ridiculously hard actuary exam I took back in May I found out I passed. Miraculously. With the just-barely score of 6. But the results of a 6 are the exact same as the results of a 9. I passed. I never have to test that material again. I get a bonus for passing on my first try and an automatic raise. And I get to move on to the next test...

For which I have already created a schedule for and ordered my study materials. They should come in tomorrow and after that it's hard core study time for the next 3 months. Back to the books... and once again, in a strange way, I am really excited about it.

Peachtree Road Race
I began training for the Peachtree (the world's largest 10K), applied and was accepted, made it to about 4 miles of running, and my knee just couldn't keep up. I began limping and dealing with serious knee pain and went to the doctor to get it checked out. Got sent to a sports medicine doctor, who diagnosed me with Iliotibial Band Syndrome. After rest (although I was by no means resting it like I should - since we were in the middle of kitchen renovations and I had to get walls painted and floors tiled) the pain subsided but a return visit to the dr. told me I was still no where near running again.

So, to get me back into running condition, I'm now going to physical therapy. I've learned all about how I stand, walk, and run incorrectly. And I'm re-learning how to stand, walk, and run. We'll see how it goes.


Just a couple of updates of my life. I'll try to do a better job of updating from here on out. Hopefully I'll have more time. :)

I'm married!

I've finally gotten around to a quick post to update you on what everyone knows already - I'm finally married! Life is still busy as ever, plenty of things occupying my time, but nothing nearly as stressful as right before the wedding. I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the wedding:


This picture shows off the beautiful back of my wedding gown, done by none other than Amy Zimmerman Designs. My sister really is wonderful - I'd give anything for her talent.


Bet you didn't know we caught all of you on camera as well...




Posed pictures aren't my favorite but I love our bridal party so much...

And our families:

My family


Kyle's family


I love that you can see how beautiful the reception hall was. And I always love the first dance. We danced to "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.


One of my best friends, Erin, is currently serving our country in Iraq so she couldn't be at the wedding. We were lucky enough to get her on the phone though.


I love my Daddy


I just think this picture is really cute


I love Stephanie soooo much. She got married last year and I stole my reception from her - hers was at Maggiano's and I liked it so much, I did the same thing! Not only do her and her husband win the prize for travelling the farthest for the wedding (from Seattle!), they are also due to have baby Madelyn in October. That baby will be the cutest ever.


Best friends from college, Kate and Tricia. They also helped me TREMENDOUSLY by setting up everything at the reception. Our other best friend in the group, Katie, couldn't be there because she's doing mission work in Bosnia. We missed her!


There was SOME dancing at the reception! But I mainly wanted to get a picture of Laura Anne since we unfortunately didn't get a pic of the two of us that day. She was in charge of keeping everything running all day, and did a wonderful job. I can't imagine having gotten married without her help. Anyone need to hire a wedding planner should try to convince her to go to work for them. Seriously!


And it's time to go - leaving in the Ramblin Wreck. Finally free!

I'll post honeymoon pics soon. :)

Just a little busy...

So it's been a couple of incredibly busy weeks since I last posted. And now, here we finally are, just 40 hours from the start of our wedding. I can't believe it's almost here - I can't believe all the festivities start tomorrow.

What an adventure the past few months have been - I did such a poor job of chronicling everything! From getting engaged, to starting a new job, to studying incessantly for (and PASSING - I just found out last week) a really hard test, buying a house, renovating the kitchen, moving into a new house, training for (and making it to 4 miles) the Peachtree only to be sidelined by a knee injury and not be able to run it, to showers and parties and wedding planning and now to a wedding and a honeymoon in Aruba. Sometimes I have the misconception that I can do everything without going crazy and I definitely tested that recently. It turns out I can do everything - but not without stress, exhaustion, and sickness. But I survived and did it all. And I could not have survived without all the amazing people surrounding me who helped along the way with anything I asked for. Whether it was Randy or Emily at our house almost every night of the week helping us get the kitchen done, or my sister sewing my wedding dress and letting me borrow anything I might need, or wonderful friends planning such fun parties for me without letting me stress about any of it.

But most of all - I could not have done it without my Jesus. I have had to cling to Him so many days for the energy to conquer my To Do list. I had to rely on Him to help me recall all I had studied for the test and help me pass my third actuarial exam in a row. I've had to trust Him when things don't go perfectly as planned for the wedding. I've had to cry to Him when I was all alone in the house trying to finish everything I could before Kyle came home from Hawaii. Praise God for this time in my life - and praise Him for carrying me through it.

And in less than two days I'm about to marry the love of my life! God has brought us together, and I couldn't have asked for a better husband-to-be. We grew a lot the past few months too - although I don't know if I recommend buying a house and renovating it in the months leading up to your wedding :) We've conquered this huge project together (now don't start thinking it's ALL done - haha, it's not quite completely done yet, just mostly). But we've grown so much and could not possibly be more ready to get married.

And on that note... I WILL post some wedding/honeymoon pics eventually. And hopefully update more as my life has more free time.

It's finally officially our turn

We attended our last wedding before our very own this past weekend. Joseph and Emily were married down in Columbus in a very beautiful ceremony, which was followed with an extremely nice and extremely fun (for both Kyle and me) reception. It was especially fun for Kyle to enjoy going to a reception at the Country Club where he spent most of his weekends valeting during highschool. He can recall many many of these wedding receptions and parties that he had to valet for... and finally he got to attend one.

Congratulations Joseph and Emily!





And.... only 20 days until our very own!

Construction zone

The church we are getting married at called us a few days ago and requested that we meet them one evening to talk about construction going on at the church. So we met with them yesterday.

When we first decided to get married there we were told the construction would be done by April, and figured that would give them plenty of time to actually get it done by mid-July. If you have driven by the church lately though, you would have noticed the big green fences in front don't seem to be going anywhere. They confirmed this during our meeting yesterday, showed us the alternate route our guests will have to take to get to the sanctuary, and seemed sincerely apologetic and did all they could to make it up to us.

Needless to say, we will be getting married in a construction zone. Just can't get away from them. I'm living in one, getting married in one, hopefully I'll soon be done with them. I could make a big deal out of it - go all bridezilla. It's just not worth it. We're getting married regardless and that's all that matters.

So if you are looking for the church - it is really easy to spot. The big white one with the big green fences. You can't miss it.

23 more days!

Add cherries to the list...

of things I'm allergic to.

Along with apples.

Most people who know me well know that I have long had a thing against all "erries" (All kinds of berries and cherries). I just have never really liked them. But to appease Kyle, and prove how open I am to trying new things, I tried a cherry as he was snacking on them today. My initial reaction was, "not too bad. Maybe I could give them another try." I shared my opinions to Kyle and all of a sudden, my opinion completely changed. Just a minute or two after eating one cherry, my top lip began to get really sensitive. And then swell. And sting. I asked Kyle if he could see a difference and at first he was like, nope. Give it five more minutes and he is making fun of my lip and the lip injections I had apparently gotten with the cherry. Fast forward 30 more minutes and it is still super-swollen and feels extremely odd.

Same thing happens when I eat apples. For a long time, no one believed me when I said my lip would swell if I ate an apple. Finally my mom was present when I tried one and has believed me ever since. And now I know Kyle believes me about cherries. For some reason when it comes to apples, though, if I eat something with apple cooked (like apple pie) it doesn't bother me at all. I wonder if I can eat something with cherries cooked.

If you have any idea of what could be the common denominator between apples and cherries that might point to what exactly I am allergic to, I'd like to know any ideas! I just might have to go see a doctor to really figure it out though.



On another note... all kitchen appliances are installed now. As well as light fixtures. And we bought stools for the breakfast bar today. I'll probably post pictures before it is TOTALLY finished, just because there are a lot of little things we will still be working on. It'll all get done eventually. And soon I have to move on to decorating our master bedroom.....

Love love love this cd

I currently have a new favorite c.d. (I don't really know what I would say was my previous favorite cd - but I can now say this one is right now)

The Format - Dog Problems


Kyle owns an earlier cd by The Format, which I always enjoyed listening to, and was excited to purchase their most recent cd. And after the second listen, I fell in love.

There is something catchy, and yet musically mature in this album. I am by no means a music expert, or reviewer, but I can honestly say that I am incredibly impressed.

Kyle is borrowing it right now, and it is in his cd player, and every single time he drives me somewhere and I hear it all I want to do is turn it up and get lost in the world of The Format (it really does feel like a different world). I enjoy it very similarly to the way I enjoy my Shins cd. I wasn't expecting to love it so much, but there is something so addictive about listening to these albums.

Anyways, all that to say, I highly recommend giving it a listen.

I'm just a little behind...

It's storming and Kyle just left, and I can't fall asleep while it is storming, so here I am watching one of my new favorite shows (Jon and Kate plus 8), and updating.

I wanted to keep updated on the showers and other various wedding-planning activities going on, but I always end up waiting awhile before posting about it. Oops.

However, about a week and a half ago one of my bridesmaids, Corrie, threw me a shower here in Atlanta. It was so much fun - we even ate all of my favorite foods as the snacks. I can't think of any other shower I've gone to where I completely filled my plate up with food and wanted to eat EVERYthing that was there. Hope everyone else liked it though...





Me and my wonderful host, Corrie.


We are down to one month to go til the wedding. There are so many things to get done before then, but I just can't wait for the next 30 days to fly by. And I hope I get it all done!

Only 35 days...

I can't believe it is only 5 weeks until we get married. I just have this feeling that those 5 weeks will fly by... I hope so, anyways!

So as I sit here typing this entry, our cabinets are being installed just a few feet away. They did about half of the installation yesterday and are finishing everything today... and I am so excited about seeing the finished product. It looked great yesterday, but will look even better today. AND our appliances are being delivered tomorrow (except for our dishwasher, which has to wait on the countertops). Countertop people are measuring on Tuesday, installing a week from Tuesday, and then the dishwasher is being installed on Thurs, June 19. At that time the kitchen will really be completed.

I'm so glad we can at least breathe now - the amount of work WE have to do is minimal. There are lots of last little projects (like putting up new light fixtures, another coat of paint on our back wall, installing the faucet after our cabinets are in, renting a dumpster for a day and getting rid of the huge pile of trash next to our house, etc) The major projects are being done by others - installing the cabinets, appliances, countertops.

So, now that we are nearing the finish line of the kitchen renovation, there is something I want to stress about our project. We could not have done this AT ALL without the massive amounts of help we have received. So here is to all the people who spent an afternoon, a night, a day, several days, weekends, etc, helping us out. Thanks goes out to: Eric, Daniel, Amy, Corrie, Jason, Trevor, all who helped us out at different times.

Special thanks goes out to a few more people:

The Travelers: Leah and Kristin made the 2 hour drive up to Atlanta to spend the weekend helping me paint - at a time when I REALLY needed best friends around. With the price gas is right now, this help is even more amazing - thanks guys!

The Super Travelers: Like I said, considering gas right now, a huge thanks goes out to my parents. They drove up to Atlanta THREE weekends in a row. They provided invaluable help painting and moving everything I own. All while my mom was in the midst of finishing her last year of teaching, so she had enough of her own work to do. I love my family and the sacrifices they would make for me during the busiest, most stressful time of my life.

The Expert: Kyle got massive amounts of invaluable help and expertise from his uncle, Dave. He is the expert on all things plumbing and electricity in our kitchen and with him we were able to save thousands not having to hire someone to do that work. He spent several long days with Kyle that are amazing.

And - last but CERTAINLY not least - the SUPER COUPLE: Without Randy and Emily, I really don't think this could have gotten done. Randy spent several late nights working in our crawl space, lots of time teaching Kyle a bit of the construction knowledge he has gained, while Emily helped me pick out colors and paint. They both are the main reason our floor got tiled, and that we are able to have our cabinets installed right now. Kyle left for Hawaii and hadn't had time to finish tiling the floor, so it was up to me to get it all done. Which I could NOT have done without the help of Randy and Emily (since they know what they are doing and I do not). They are the most helpful, accomodating, godly couples I know - and we love them for it.


I can't wait to post pictures of the finished product - eventually, they'll come :) But trust me, it's looking gooooood.

And now I'm off to order my wedding cake from Publix. Now that the test is over, and Kyle is back from Hawaii, I don't have to spend every spare minute of my time on the house. I can concentrate on what I need to - the fact that we are getting married in 35 days and there is a LOT to do! :)

Score one for McCain

Obama continually calls out for immediate withdrawal of troops in Iraq despite progress that is actually being seen there. And I must say, I give major props to McCain for calling him out on his ignorant judgments of the success of the war - stating that, while McCain himself has been to Iraq and seen the war at ground level, he notes that Obama has not been to Iraq in over two years.

Do we want a commander-in-chief that makes judgments on war-time efforts and progress without the consultation of those who know much more about it and without actually doing the field research?

This quote from a Mike Gallagher comment made me chuckle out loud:

"Sen. McCain knocked it out of the park when he publicly invited Barack Obama to join him during one of his many visits to Iraq. I can picture it now: Sen. McCain showing Sen. Obama the ropes, saying things like, "Now that's what we call a Marine" and "See, young man, that's a tank." And so on."

Just had to laugh.

Kitchen update

Ever since the day after my test, we have been going non-stop on the house and the kitchen. That first weekend we painted for hours and hours and hours - the next week Kyle continue constantly working in the kitchen and I spent every spare hour after work painting and packing. Finally, this weekend my parents helped me move in so now I am officially residing in the house we own.

It's been exhausting. I keep telling myself - just keep going. Stay strong for just a few more weeks. We are both exhausted but know that it WILL be worth it when it is done. The progress is starting to become very obvious though...

Kyle is starting to tile soon - which is exciting, because it will be the first new-looking part of the kitchen to go in. The cabinets are being installed sometime June 5-8. We ordered all of the appliances today (hooray for Memorial Day sales at Lowes - saving us hundreds of dollars!) and they will be delivered June 8. We will go order the countertops sometime right after Kyle gets back from Hawaii and they will go in about a week after the cabinets. There is light at the end of the tunnel...

But for now, it's nonstop tiling and last-minute working for Kyle before he leaves for vacation (I must say - I am extremely jealous and in much need of a vacation as well - but I have to wait 7 more weeks for Aruba). For me, it is continuing to unpack, patience with living in a construction zone, and painting the kitchen while Kyle is in Hawaii. (Any volunteers to help???) I just can't wait to see the finished product - when the whole house is ready to show off.

I've been so busy I haven't even been thinking about the time left til our wedding and somehow it has been minimized to 47 DAYS! Less than 7 weeks - wow!

Horrible...

... would be the perfect word to describe my test on Thurs. afternoon. I think it was best said in a post to an actuarial exams message board, "You know that great feeling you get when you solve a problem and see your answer in the choices? Yeah, me neither."

I could go on about how ridiculous the SOA is, or rant and rave about the actuarial exam qualification process and how it is set up not to prepare you for an actuarial career but instead piss off half of the students who then quit and therefore keep the profession small and elite. But I won't. I'm still trying to keep an optimistic attitude about my newly chosen career and I don't want to become quite so bitter only 1/5 of the way through the exam process. Wait till exam 8 or 9 and I might be writing long, raving, ranting, complaining, bitter posts. But for now... let's just say I'm extremely upset with myself.

No matter how many other people I know who thought the test was insane and impossible, it still doesn't seem to help me take the blame off of myself for possibly failing. No matter how I can KNOW that I KNEW the material as well as I possibly could - KNOW that no amount of extra studying would have done any more to prepare me for the test. It doesn't matter. It was my first test at my new job, and I clearly have not proven myself like I was hoping to.

Yes, the questions were esoteric and impossible. Yes, there were quite a few questions that came from absolutely no where. But... if I was truly smart enough... I would have passed. That's what just keeps going through my head.

It is still possible that I might have passed. We'll have to wait 8-10 weeks to see. For now I am going to enjoy it being over and prepare myself for studying all over again for the same test. It will be OK - I can handle failure.

But I am still glad I changed jobs. :)

Oops!

It sure has been a long time since I last posted. I apologize (to my 2 readers)... the internet in my apartment has been out and I just don't feel appropriate posting at work. A lot of things have been going on including:

1. I had my very first shower on April 26! It was in Columbus, hosted by Erin's mom - even though Erin couldn't come because Alaska is too far away :( In attendance were my best friends from Columbus (minus Erin), Kyle's mom and my mom, my Aunt Pat, and my grandmother.


Kyle's mom, me, and my mom


Sallie, Leah, me, Erin's 14 year old face on a balloon (she was there in spirit), and Kristin


Present time! How convenient that Sallie wouldn't give me just a waffle maker, but the mix and syrup to go with it - now I just can't wait till we have a kitchen to make waffles in!

2. Kitchen demolition and renovation has begun and is in full swing! Kyle has been hard at work (with a lot of help from wonderful friends and family). The cabinets are out, the countertops are out, the flooring is out, the washer and dryer hookups are in as well as electricity stuff that I know nothing about, and I left him and Randy last night putting up sheet rock. Painting begins THIS WEEKEND and we have finally decided on our colors: Yukon gold for the kitchen (a light yellow/gold), Planetarium for the back wall that connects the kitchen and living area/dining area (a dark, pretty blue), Creamy Chocolate for the living area, hallway, and entryway (a dark, creamy taupe), Serenity for our master bedroom (a light blue), and Brick Dust for the office (a dark, deep red). The bathroom and guest room are escaping painting this time around - but we might get to them eventually. The colors all look great together and I think they will look great in our house - I can't wait till we paint and it feels much more like our house.

3. Erin came down from Alaska to visit one last time before she is deployed. I was able to make the trek down to Columbus one Wednesday evening after work to see her. I took half of Thursday off, met the girls (and Chuck) for breakfast, and drove back to Atlanta to work. I'm trying not to think about her overseas - it's a scary though t to realize one of your best friends might be in harm's way. And I'm trying not to think about her not being at my wedding - if I think about it I might just cry. But here are some pictures from her time here. We miss you Erin - move back to the Southeast!!!


Leah, Erin, and me at Country's barbecue


Kristin, Erin, me, Leah outside of Cracker Barrel. If we look tired it's because we met for breakfast at 8:30 and that's just plain early!

4. My wedding dress is well on its way! My sister and I went shopping for details to go on the dress and I am REALLY EXCITED about my dress. I think the wedding dress has always been my favorite part of weddings and what I have looked forward to the most about my wedding. And I am so lucky and blessed to have such an amazing designer and seamstress as my sister, making my dreams come true and creating the perfect custom-made wedding dress.

5. And what is on my mind the most RIGHT NOW is my actuary test that is in a mere 3.5 hours from now. Why am I on here posting when I have a test so soon? I need to get my mind off of it! I have been studying, stressing, thinking way too hard for the past week and I don't want to push my brain into overload. I'll have time to do some review before taking the test but I'm just ready for it to be over. It's been an incredibly stressful week, cramming for the test. This test has been so hard to study for and I've been waiting so long for this day, when it would be over. I just pray that I am able to pass - I always worry about my ability to pass. I know all the knowledge I need is in my head somewhere, I just pray that God helps me recall it quickly enough to do well on the test. But right now I'm at the point where I've done all I can. Any prayers would be much appreciated!

And off I go to do a final review... I'll let yall know how it goes! (if we have internet...)

Engagement pics!

A couple of Sundays ago Kyle and I walked around Georgia Tech's campus and Piedmont Park taking engagement pictures. A fraternity brother of his, Michael Schneider, is a fantastic photographer and I am really excited about the pictures he took. Here are just a few of my favorite:











I love pictures - I guess I just love capturing memories and moments in people's lives, and what better way to capture the time you are engaged than with professional pictures? I couldn't be more excited about them. Thanks Michael!