canopy tour

canopy tour 2006

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status: married

it's official, we're hitched. quick note from jamaica: it's awesome. hotter than hell. we'll be back in the midwest in a week. 10 days in the caribbean rules! just to let you know! tons of photos to come!

bachlorette recap

as always, pictures say it all!

proud owner?

last night when aaron was watching the cardinals spank the tigers in the world series of baseball, i went out with a few of the ladies.

unfortunately i did not come home empty handed. you are now looking at the proud owner of: en-tice formal affair 2 piece tux set (i know for a fact that steve is a proud owner); chocolate flavored edible undies; kamasutra cool mint creme body souffle; the original motion lotion; club jenna scented bubble bath; a pocket size kamasutra royal bengal super-rich silicone lubricant; and 10 penis straws.

i had a blast. hung out at sammy's chatting and watching a little baseball. tonight we'll hopefully see the cardinals clench and tomorrow we'll be rocking st. louis! can't wait!

world series

aaron just called me and said deryk called and offered him a ticket to tonights world series game. he said he turned it down. what?!?

"the weather's shitty, i have to rush to get down there, and i'd have to pay $150 for it."

"if i were you, i'd go. it's the freaking world series and the cardinals are actually doing something this year! you should really think about going!"

he calls me back 3 minutes later...."I'M GOING!"

thank goodness. good thing i'm here to twist his arm!

save the cheerleader, save the world

i am now addicted to heros. i'm a justified sci-fi geek through and through. with my insomnia i've learned they update the webisodes at 4 in the morning. forget tivo, i've found something better.

tomorrow i get waxed and manicured, wednesday: i get braces off, thursday: girls night, saturday: shower and bachlorette party. the wedding is creeping up on me. next tuesday we'll be in jamaica. it's gonna be a whirlwind. didn't think i'd get butterflies, but i'm starting to feel a flutter. i thought about adding a wedding countdown clock, too cheeseburger. instead here it is: your wedding is in less than two weeks.

board certified

The directors of the American Board of Dermatology are please to inform you that you have successfully passed the certifying examination of the Board given on August 13 and 14, 2006. We extend our congratulations to you on becoming a Diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology.

way to go, aaron!!!!! you rocked the boards!

martini

headed down to c'dale for a long overdue visit. last time we were down was may, it's been that long. went out both nights. saturday night we went over to nate's where katie made me martinis. i continued drinking them after we hit the bars. long story short, i got pretty tore up. luckily, not sick. i think i'll have to stick to malt beverages from now on.

aaron told his pops he accepted an offer from boone. i don't know what i was expecting, but he was clearly upset. honestly, i don't know how it could have been much of a surprise. both of us have clearly expressed we don't want to move back to southern illinois. i guess the finality of it all caught him off-guard. so yeah, i'm gonna be a high-country girl this time next year.

last week i went to a boutique in springfield to buy bridesmaids gifts. of course, i wanted to buy everything. i got some cute gifts for the girls. i did come home and search the pages of ebay for a cheaper version of everything. i found a betsey johnson handbag, it arrived today. oh, the smell of real leather. i'm finally gonna retire my studded satchel. it's seen better days.

i have also been on a quest to find a halloween costume. i was gonna try and be some type of bride. i.e. dead bride, redneck bride. but i haven't had too much luck finding a wedding gown or even a white dress. it's so funny, cause my definition of cheesy/gawdy is someone elses idea of beautiful. i refuse to pay $80 for a dress from the thrift store. on ebay i kept getting outbid at the last second. i couldn't believe how in demand these dresses are. i ended up buying a costume online, it's crunch time and i needed something fast. how easy the internet has become my saviour.

right now, i'm in the process of burning our music library. adrian's on a quest to make an uber library. so far, i've burned one drawer full of cds. 1036 songs, 2 days of music. 3 more drawers to go. i gave him the huge binder of music to burn in his spare time. he sent me a list of everything he has so far, 7323 songs. we have entirely too much time on our hands!

i hate plato and uranus too

i took two big bags of clothes up to platos closet today, thinking i'd get a pretty penny for a majority of it. nope. out of the 30 or so pieces, they took two and paid me $4.90. i could see the little notes the girl was writing. basically she wrote that i was out of style. i've come to the conclusion that i have to buy something and take it right over there in order for it to remain in fashion. the funny thing is that i had bought a few of the pieces from there a few weeks ago. a big WHATEVER! i made fun of aaron when he took his clothes over and they told him his clothes were too mature. now look at me, i'm mature and out-of-style. i took my earnings and bought a coffee.

shower me with your love

had the first of two showers this weekend. it's so weird being the center of attention. i guess i need to get used to it since i have at least four more events where i'll be front and center. including the nuptials in less than a month! i've included some of the photos that diane took. wished i would have gotten a group shot with everyone together. it was fun.

afterwards, jamie, jennaya and i, along with the boys, headed out to jim edgar state park for a little camping action. it was COLD! it shouldn't come as a surprise that i just registered for a portable camping heater! so much for roughing it.

sign of your time

signs you've become "responsible" among other things

1. you own and operate a paper shredder
2. you purchase your stamps by the roll
3. you get your car fixed immediately
4. you plan meals
5. when looking for houses you consider school systems
6. new carpet gets you giddy
7. you know merlot, chardonnay, pinot, reisling
8. the shoes you purchase have heels
9. you get clothes tailored
10. the last concert you went to ended at 9:30p

carpet nightmare

thursday and friday i literally spent both days trapped in the house. we decided to go ahead with the new carpet install. i was told they would begin at 9am and complete the two front rooms and the hallway. 11a rolls around and no one shows or calls. i phone to find out what the hold up is and they tell me they're loading up the truck as we speak. cool. 11:30a one of the installer calls and asks where our house is located. ok. 12:48p they show up. not the savoriest of characters. i overheard one conversation, "did you hear about that guy from that trailer park that assaulted someone? he got 4 years, with our records we'd get 12." what the hell. aaron calls and asks if i'm gonna stay home the whole time. hell yes. apparently they didn't bring all the carpet they needed so they only got two rooms done. we ask when they'll get there tomorrow. they tell us nine, we're the first house on the list.

friday morning rolls around, 9a comes and goes. 10:30a aaron calls and starts freaking out. "call them now, they have to be done by 5p so we can get on the road to st. louis." i hang up the phone and it immediately rings. "this is the installer, we're gonna pick up the carpet, pick up some tools and we'll be on our way." okay. 1p and two guys show up. i tell them they have to get done by 5p and they said they would. 3:30p and two more guys show up. apparently they they had to call in the reserves. now they're scrambling to get things done. luckily they got everything done and it looks decent. i did discover i can watch tv on the internet. i caught up on all the shows i had missed the following week. (ugly betty, csi, grey's anatomy) this may not be a good thing.

we made it to the lou in time to meet caraway and jeff to catch a good game. cards actually won! we went out for a few drinks afterwards and got home at 2:30a. long day.

saturday we spent most of the time moving furniture and running errands. we've decided to take the t.v. out of the bedroom. we'll see how long this lasts. we met up with a large group to celebrate katie, aaron and rocki's birthday at pao. sushi galore! headed over to sach and tait's afterwards for a little pre-partying. then headed out to the smoke-free bars. ahhhh! another late night.

two back-to-back softball games today. one win and one lose. weekend turned out pretty good considering how it started.

toots tomorrow

nick asked me to cover for him while he's in colorado for a wedding. luckily we coordinated an "on call" arrangement so i don't have to report to work at 8 a.m. i could tell that might be a problem since i didn't get to work at IT this week before 9.

it's funny how different his job is to the one we left. he's supposed to make things look gawdy to make it appear like dealerships didn't spend money on advertising but instead are passing on the savings to you. hopefully i can manage if need be.

tomorrow night we're headed down to stl for another toots show. i think this may be a yearly ritual. toots and the maytals at harrahs. should be fun. better be fun, jeff!!

the devil

on our trip out west, i bought and read the devil wears prada. partially to help with flying anxiety and to occupy the massive layovers we had. although this trip was by far the worst flying experience i've ever encountered. i don't know how many times my stomach dropped and my heart raced. perhaps a sign/omen that coos bay wasn't for us. they'll send aaron an offer in a few days but our minds are pretty much made up. not that there wasn't a lack of effort, but we both couldn't picture ourselves settling there. settling? can't believe i just typed that.

for some reason about 95% of the books available at the airport have to deal with government, law, espionage or gawdy romance. so i opted to read something a little more fun and upbeat, so prada it is. i haven't seen the movie, but i might after reading the book. i always like to compare books i've read with the theatrical versions. i like to see how much of the story they leave out because of time constraints.

i'm not sure if it's based on fact or if it's entirely ficticious, but if it holds any shread of truth my opinion of the rich and famous is now tainted beyond belief. i've seen too many "how celebrities spend their money" shows that there's no help in mending my thoughts. i did find myself saying "ahn-dre-ah," dragging it out as much as possible every time i read it. funny how that works. it's a good read. i told aaron he should read it...his response...yeah right, it's all about fashion, who cares. it's about 25 percent about fashion (i knew about 50 percent of the designers mentioned which means he'd know none!) the rest is about interpersonal relationships. ha, total chick flick/book, i suppose.

oregon in a nutshell

stees

lori's coming down this weekend to have a make-shift baby shower, dinner and gifts. unfortunately, i'm going to miss it cause we're flying out to oregon again. i'm already not looking forward to this trip. i wonder if it's going to effect how i fly tomorrow.

i did have fun looking at all the outfits when searching for a gift. i've been putting the pressure on old awes. trying to convince him we can be a few months preggers when we get hitched. for some reason he's steadfast against it and always has a reasonable excuse why we shouldn't. first, we're not having a child out of wedlock. 2. you'll be 8 months when we move. finally, do you want to have morning sickness on your honeymoon? of course he's rational about the whole situation. but don't be surprised if we come back from jamaica with baby on board!

i've gotten a few freelance jobs in all the commotion. i really wanted to not worry about working while doing all this interviewing. but i can't really pass up these opportunities. it feels weird to not have any money coming in. aaron and i agreed that i could quit because his income this year would be equivilent to both our incomes the past 4 years. we were living comfortably, so we really didn't think it would be that big of a deal. i don't think he realized that he would have to actually give me money in order to make this work. i still have car payments, braces payments, student loans that still need to paid. i had paid all our home expenses cable, phone, electric, gas, cell phones. he had a rude awakening when he became the primary bread-winner.

so i have been done with the illinois times for almost a month now. i think i worked 45 minutes the last week i said i would work. basically i called in every morning, asked if they needed me. they seemed to have everything under control. they call me occasionally, but for the most part i'm done. big ups to me for finally getting out of there.

nick called me and wants me to work for him later this month. one stipulation: i can't do a better job than him. ha! silly boy.

contender

aaron walked away with a contract in hand. all of a sudden oregon is a strong possibility. now we're pro/con-ing nc vs. or

what a crazy week. attendings pushing aaron to stay here as faculty. karen calling and saying she has a lead in seattle. we fly out thursday to coos bay. wedding, wedding, wedding! ugh! i don't think we have a free weekend from now until mid-november.

kathy griffin is coming to springfield the day after we get back from jamaica. i'm in. there goes another weekend.

salem

we're in salem, oregon right now. aaron's talking shop with the other docs this evening sans me. i did tour the area this afternoon courtesy of the office manager and a few of the wives. it's so uncomfortable for me. i've never been much of a small talker and that is all you do. especially when you don't really have anything in common.

the area is beautiful, the city is perfect. it's crazy how similar it is to springfield size wise and the fact it's the state capital but that's basically where the similarities end. it's a little more alive. lots of hippies and alternative people we noticed walking around. i was telling aaron that over lunch the ladies were discussing al gore's movie about global warming and how it hit a nail on the head. hippies come in all shapes, sizes and apparently monatary status.

i called jeff kehrer to see if we could meet up while we were out here. he was suiting up to fight a fire on the oregon/idaho border. jeff's a fire jumper now, fighting wild fires all over the state. he didn't know how long he would be gone. he could be gone for days sometimes weeks. we may get to see him when we come out here again next week. crazy jeff!

there's so much to do. tomorrow we're heading to one of the thousands of state parks nearby. can't wait. jeff recommended a place called silver falls. a park that has 10 waterfalls and lots of nature trails. i'm sure i'll have pics to post after tomorrow.

i still can't adjust to the time change. i had a hard time on the east coast and now on the west. not really my body adjusting, but when my tv shows are on. my dad and brother got me addicted to big brother again and now i can't figure out what's on when.

random acts of weirdness

today there was a huge, white box on our doorstep from jane. jane is aaron's dad's weird girlfriend. i pick it up and am surprised at how light it is. upon opening it i find three inflated mylar balloons. nothing more. no card, no letter of explanation. one balloon says, "aaron, you're a star. congratulations!" you're thinking -- what a nice gesture. anyone who knows or has met her is thinking -- what a weirdo.

i called aaron to tell him about it. "what are they for?" he asks. "is there a card or something?"

so i'm not alone in my thinking. i could probably write a book about miss jane and the random, stupid things she does. maybe i'll post them and let you be the judge.

mark and jane started dating soon after aaron's mom passed away. so they've been dating about 5 years. they're both in their 50s, but act like they're in a dysfunctional high school relationship. there's so much drama and it's one of the main reasons i refuse to move to carbondale. nate, danny and carrie have had to deal with it on a first-hand basis and we've only heard stories as they trickle up north.

one, for instance. nate calls us and tells us how he just had to pick up mark at dairy queen because jane kicked him out of the car in murphy.

another. she owns a condo in edwardsville that she never stays in. one of danny's friends was getting treated for cancer in st. louis so she offers her condo as a place for his family to stay. of course they accept. little did they know that the place is unliveable. she hasn't unpacked any boxes and there's nothing to really sleep on. i felt embarrassed for danny as well as the rest of the family.

i could go on. it's just a culmination of these little things that make it hard for the family to accept her. if she would show a little sincerity in the things she does, maybe i'd change my opinion of her. but i along with 95 percent of the family thinks she has alterior motives. a black widow of sorts. (i watch too much crime drama)

a stitch or four

i cut my finger today with a pair of gardening shears. yes, gardening shears. a pair that i forgot on the trunk of aaron's car along with a lock and a set of keys. i had to pick him up from work and when i got out of the car, there was the lock still sitting apparently making the entire drive across springfield. the keys and gardening shears, not so lucky. on my way back home, i saw them in the middle of the road, right before turning onto our street. i backtracked, picked up the keys and shears which had been run over a few times. the keychain demolished, the shears damaged as well.

i decide to see if they were still usable by pruning a plant out front. got a little snip-happy and sliced through my index finger. ow. i started dripping blood, aaron pulled in right about this time took a look and said i might need stitches. i applied pressure, put a bandaid on and decided to wait it out. the bleeding stopped, wasn't oozing anymore so i thought it would be okay. aaron wanted to take another look at it to see how deep it actually was. pulled the bandaid off, started bleeding again. trip to clinic, four stitches, couple of tylenol and i'm doing better. the numbing meds have worn off, have a slight throbbing sensation but i think i'll live.

first set of stiches ever, at least that i can recall, my parents might say otherwise. stitch-free till 31.