Catch Up!

So I have just realized that it has been almost two months since my last post, and I honestly cannot tell you where that time has gone. And today, as I sit here and plan out the rest of the year, I think these six weeks will go quicker than the last. Since there has just been so much going on lately I feel like I couldn’t even put together a well written post, so here it is, one of my famous lists of what has been going on in my life… and just inside my head lately.

The past months have revolved around Mustang Football. It was an absolutely great season. Dan’s goal at the beginning of the season was to make it to the playoffs, and to make it all the way to the quarterfinals was more than I could have ever imagined… I think a little more than he could have imagined too. But I am so proud of him, if you couldn’t already tell from all my Facebook updates, and I’m very excited for next year!

With that being said, I am so happy to have Dan back in my life. It’s good to walk in the door and have him already there, and what is even better is our house rules are now working in my favor… First one home makes dinner! Chef BoyarDan is back in action.

Work has been a whirlwind, but a good one. I’ve had many, many challenges lately, but I’ve gotten through them. I had to do a lot of things I didn’t want to do, but I have come to realize that you just have to. It’s like a Band Aid… Just pull it off already! With all this working lately I will enjoy five days off over Thanksgiving which I am so looking forward to.

Speaking of Thanksgiving… As most of you know it is my most Favorite Holiday (Halloween being my least, which is my explanation for not blogging at all in October). I am really looking forward to all of the wonderful food and seeing my family. Today I realized that I really really miss them and I am starting to get St.Leon Sick! I have been making practice hand turkeys… I still haven’t narrowed down my top four things I am thankful for, but when I do I will be sure to share the 2011 Hand Turkey with you.

The Thanksgiving weekend is going to be a busy one. I hope to start the weekend off with a trip to Harry’s. I haven’t been since graduation, which is way too long, and I’m starting to have withdrawals from the place. We’ll then make the last leg of the trip to St. Leon, spend time with the families, eat lots of food, attend my 5 year class reunion, and of course, go shopping on Friday. Dan, Donna, and I already have our list made, we just need to plan out the route. I’m not really in the market for anything this year, I’ll just go along for the adventure, yummy lunch and bloody marys that Dan has promised me will end the trip.

Speaking of reunions, I’m in for a big one this weekend with the Five Friends. It’s Kait’s Bachelorette Weekend! I am so excited to see the girls, and meet the rest of the girls in the wedding. I’ll be sure to share the pictures and stories from the weekend next week. I can hardly contain my excitement for Kaitlin. This is the first time I’ve been a bridesmaid and I have to say, I am just as excited for this wedding as I was my own. And we are very thrilled we’ll be gaining our Seventh Friend, Adam.

I feel as if there is so much to do between now and the end of the year, I don’t know where to start, but I knew that I wanted to share these last couple of weeks with you, because this is one of my favorite times of year… even though Dan calls me his Grinch Wife, so I’m back to blogging! For now at least, who knows what the next couple weeks may bring!

Scout Team

This weekend Dan thought it would be funny if I was part of his scout team. Since I have outlawed watching game film in our bedroom and always leave or go do something else when he's watching next week's team, I thought I would humor him and watch film with the guy. I came upstairs to his "office" and he had a clip board, paper, and pen laid out for me. I pulled up a little coffee table, made a desk for myself and I was ready. The following is what I came up with while watching the Eisenhower Cardinals.

EISENHOWER CARDINALS
By: Mrs. Coach Hartman

Their offense must stink, it's a one man show for the QB

With a defense set-up like that, your center should be running the ball

22 doesn't do much. Run/Throw the ball in his vicinity

The QB has moves like Mick Jagger

Their cheerleaders sound like scary, scary men

Make them throw the ball, coach

Their defensive guys are slippery little suckers, they go after the ball, you must protect the ball!

DBs can't stay on their guys, I think you should concentrate on your passing game this week

Tell Mike to be ready, the guys that come after the put returner are tough

Watch out for the tiny little guy on offense, he's quick and can knock over guys if he has to

I feel like they struggle on special teams, take advantage of that

I want to meet the player named Guillermo Burrito that's on their roster

#5 has wheels

Final Thoughts: This team is good. Must play smart and without penalties. Always keep an eye on the quarterback and his tiny little friend. On offense get through those holes, and remember, I love you Coach.

So will I be a permanent fixture on his scout team... I doubt it. But it was fun and I will take any time I get to spend with Dan and make the best out of it!

Go Mustangs!

The Little Things

This weekend I went on a tiny little shopping adventure. I've been eyeing these throw pillows for quite some time and since I was in the area I went in a finally got them. I was so happy with them and while I was standing in the check-out line I remembered that I really needed some new socks, so I picked those up and put them in my cart as well.

Two days went by and I'm still a little excited about the new pillows, but it in no way compares to how I feel about my new fluffy socks.

I was telling the girls at work today about them... the socks, not the pillows... as I was putting on my tennis shoes for my walk to the train, and they just laughed. But then I realized how wonderful the little things are. So tonight I will share with you my favorite simple pleasures from this past weekend...

New socks, of course
A haircut
A freshly cleaned shower curtain and bath rug
A visit from family members
Waking up to our wind chime
A phone call from my sister and my friends
A mustang victory along with a champagne celebration
A nice, long walk with Dan
Beautiful Weather
Finishing a fantastic book

I just loved these little things this weekend. So with all the crazy things going on around me and my eyes opening up to people less fortunate than myself, I'm going to enjoy these little things. And right now, I think I'm going to go put new sheets on my bed, I just love that feeling!

Married Life

The past couple weeks people have been asking me, "How's married life?" I have to say, the past six weeks have been a whirlwind but life is pretty fantastic.

Yes, we lived together before we were married so not much has changed in that aspect. Dan thought it might when he asked me to iron his clothes and pack his lunch last week. I looked at him and said, "You don't pack my lunch or iron my clothes, so no." He told me I was the worst wife ever, but I'm standing my ground on that one. But I honestly think that the reason our married life is going so well is because we rarely see each other...

Between going back and forth between our home and our parent's home, school starting for Dan, football over taking his life, and my ever changing work schedule, we really just see each other in passing, when we go to bed, when we wake up, and those oh so special dinners that we get to share together.

But you know what, I don't really mind it. I think that it may be the secret to our success.

I don't know about Dan, but I know to never take the time that we have together for granted. I know not to get upset about silly little things while we are together, because I don't want to spend our time together upset. I like to turn my phone off and put the computer away when we're together, because trust me, there is plenty of time for all of that other stuff on my commute, and when I'm home by myself. And we just enjoy.

So this is what I will always have to keep in mind, as long as Dan is coaching football and I'm working not so normal hours/days. I'll keep our precious moments in mind when he goes off to watch film, when he's up to his eye balls in practice planning, and he calls me when he's supposed to be home and let's me know he still has kids in the weight room. I remember that when we do see each other it will be good when I'm riding the train at 9:00 pm at night, when I'm overseeing someone else's wedding, or when I'm spending the entire weekend at the office.

But I love the chaos, I'm thrilled with my job, and I cannot wait for Dan's first game this Friday. And of course, I love our married life. It's my favorite.

"Heaven is for Real"

**Disclaimer** I typically do not talk about religion or my faith for the same reason that I don't talk about politics... I know how I feel and I don't think that it is necessary for me to have to explain myself or put my own ideas on others, but I've just read this book and it's made me think, so I'm going to break my own rules and share. Plus, it's been one of the favorite things I've read in awhile.

So last weekend when we were home I saw this book sitting on Donna's coffee table called "Heaven is for Real." Now somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered a Good Morning America interview with this boy, so I was intrigued. I picked it up and started reading. For the last couple months I've been making my way through James Patterson's Women's Murder Club Series, so I thought, this might be a quick little read, something different.

I was in for such a treat that I never expected. Not only was it comforting, but it made me think, made me challenge my own thoughts, and made me realize that even though I haven't been the most religious person lately, I share the same ideas and beliefs as this four year old that made his own trip to heaven and then came back to tell his story. I shouldn't feel bad for having the same thoughts as Colton, Jesus himself said, "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." So I'm going to go with that. I don't need to have this true deep understanding of why things are the way that are, I just need to know that heaven is for real.

With the amazingness of my kindle I was able to easily highlight passages that made me think and that I found comfort in. If you've had enough of the religiousness you can stop reading, it won't hurt my feelings, I probably would have stopped at the disclaimer, but if you'd like to know, below are some of my favorite passages.

"What is childlike humility? It's not the lack of intelligence, but the lack of guile. The lack of an agenda. It's that precious, fleeting time before we have accumulated enough pride or position to care what other people might think... It's the opposite of ignorance- it is intellectual honesty: to be willing to accept reality and to call things what they are even when it's hard."
~This is how I feel and how I've always felt, maybe that's what I don't like talking about my religion or faith, because I'm not up on a soapbox with an agenda to try to get people thinking like me, I'm just thinking and praying on my own, trying hard to accept reality as it is.

"Dad, no body's old in heaven, and nobody wears glasses."
~How fantastic is that. I've always wondered what people would be like in heaven, would we just be angels, would we still look like ourselves, would we even be in human form? Those are all questions that I've always thought of, but Colton saw it and he said that every body in heaven is young. People are probably in heaven, well eternity, feeling how they felt best, and of course without glasses, because everyone should have the perfect eye sight in heaven... and there must not be eye doctors there.

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
~And this is where the rest of us fall in. We haven't seen, but we can't question it. We just believe. There is no science behind it, not mathematical equation, nothing. Just the pure faith that we have in our hearts. Since I believe, and since I don't question, I know that there will be an after life, and by the way Colton says things are just fantastic.

There are way too many thought inducing passages and interesting things that come out of this young boys voice, but my favorite part of the book, which I'm not going to share with you because it was just really special and I don't want to spoil it, was when Colton finally sees the picture that best depicts Jesus as how he saw him. It was a picture that was painted by another little girl, but this girls family did not believe in God. Jesus visited this girl and then she painted this picture of what she remembered. Colton had seen hundreds of other pictures of Jesus and just couldn't decide what was wrong with his appearance, but it wasn't right and then he saw her painting... and it was Jesus, and heaven is for real!

Absolutely!

I've played a lot of drinking games in the past. A drinking game can really be anything you'd like, and some of the best ones are the ones that you make up yourself. The Friday and Saturday before our wedding were full of drinking games. Friday night the majority of the wedding party decided to leave our hotel to come and stay at Dan and I's house. I really wanted an elephant ear from the fair across the street, but we never seemed to make it over there. We just all assumed our positions around our big coffee table and started playing drinking games.

We decided on one of my all time favorites, circle of death, also known as Kings. Justin brought some of his own rules from IU and we incorporated those of course, but the funniest/worst part about this drinking game is that everyone was drinking with liquor or wine, which equaled the most ridiculous group of people you would ever see... and I didn't even get to see that much of it because Dan cut me off and told me it would be in my best interest to go to bed... so I did.

The next morning we all somehow woke up at our house, us girls needed to get Byron back to the hotel so that he could finish his paper. We teased him that it was probably the most obnoxious car ride he's ever experienced and he sat in the front seat with his head in his hands probably just listening to us in disbelief! We get pretty disgusting and unbearable when we are hungover...

So we made it back to the hotel, had the most fun day, Byron finished his paper (which he later proudly told us he got a 95% on), and we were off to the rehearsal dinner.

We of course had to incorporate The Signature Room into our wedding weekend, and what better way to show off our new city to our friends and family then to take them there for dinner. We rented a huge bus and everything for the trip. It was on this trip that Byron came up with my favorite drinking game ever... ABSOLUTELY!

It started with just, "every time Donna says absolutely you have to take a drink." About halfway through the night Donna caught on and was using it in every single sentence. It then didn't matter anymore who said it, just every time someone said it, you must drink. Every one was hammered! So it became the wedding parties thing, we "Cheers-ed" to it the entire next day, Dan and I were taking drinks of our Guinness when we said it on our honeymoon, and I would text the girls, "I absolutely love you, now please take a drink."

Rick loves the game too. We were going through one of the scariest times that such a young family should go through, meeting with Father Scott before the funeral at the Hartman's house one morning, and Father used the "absolutely" word in a sentence. Rick and I just looked at each other, raised our coffee cups, and took a drink. And smiled of course.

So now it's a lot of people's thing back home. The group of us probably drank 100 beers at the St. Martin's Church Picnic, just drinking to absolutely, and we know if Byron was there the total would have probably gone up to about 120. I write emails to the girls and always try to fit in the word just to get a smile out of them. And whenever I'm on the phone with a client I say the word, and take a drink of my coffee.

It absolutely is my favorite drinking game, and it came about so simply. Byron just leaned over to the group and said, "Let's take a drink every time Donna says Absolutely." And look at us now.

So I'm raising my glass of wine tonight to a fantastic memory, one that will absolutely always be with me.

My Honest To Goodness Favorite Day

I woke up the day after our wedding, told Dan, and posted it to my Facebook... Yesterday was my Favorite Day. And it Really Was.

I can't even describe how wonderful of a day July 3rd was. From start to finish I had the most fun day of my life. We just got the pictures back from the photographer and I am just thrilled he captured all those moments.

I was a little nervous going into the day because on Friday Dan told me, "If I don't play golf well on Sunday morning, my entire day is going to be ruined!" I've never heard more wonderful words than when Donna called me to say, "He had a great game, it's going to be a good day!"

The weather was fantastic, I've never seen my friends or family more beautiful, I've never felt more in love, and I don't think I've ever felt pure joy in that way.

So I just have to share some of my favorite moments from the day, just the day, the favorite weekend moments will come later...

Asking my mom too early in the morning if it was time to get up yet... I was just so excited I could hardly stand it!

Swimming in the hotel pool with my cousins, seeing my bridesmaids emerge from their rooms... very slowly, one by one.

Letting Holly talk me into eating gas station food on the way to our hair appointments.

Learning that Kaitlin and I may be the most disgusting humans on the face of the earth.

Having John, Dillon, and Dad arrive while I was getting my make-up done. I've never seen them all so handsome.

Seeing my mom, I've never seen her more beautiful, except for the pictures from her own wedding day.

Having the five friends together one last time before we became the six friends.

Seeing Dan for the first time.

The sun going behind the clouds as we said our vows.

Signing my new name on our marriage license.

Piling all of us onto a golf cart.

Being together as a family.

Laughing with our entire wedding party.

Greeting and speaking with every single one of our guests.

Dancing to every single song the DJ played.

Slow Dancing with Dan.

Singing two of our favorite song with our friend, Kenny.

Watching people dance like the maniac that I usually am at family weddings... I think I was still the biggest maniac.

Dancing with my Dad and Rick at the very end of the night.

Hanging out in the parking lot of the hotel afterwards... note to self, do not get married on a Sunday, all the bars are closed and there is no after party!

Almost going to jail on our wedding night, it was awful at the time, but now that I think about it, it was pretty hilarious.

Drinking one last beer with my mom, dad, Bert, Dave, Debbie, and Albert in their hotel room before I finally got to my own.

Waking up as a married lady, walking through the floor of the hotel where our wedding party stayed and it looking like a tornado went through it, and of course...

Finding out that my Dad slept in his tuxedo.

I have never had so much fun at a wedding, there is absolutely nothing I would re-do, and I cannot wait until the next party!