I also just have to share how wonderful my husband is. He is just amazing and I honestly cannot imagine going through anything like this without him. He has been by my side every step of the way, and today was no exception. It was mostly the women taking the reins today-- my mom, my sisters, my aunts, my cousins-- all going shopping for an outfit for grandma, going through photos, making sure everyone had appropriate attire, running around like crazy- and then there was Brian, with us the whole time, doing anything and everything that's needed-- carrying clothes, running to Wal-Mart, giving his opinion on caskets for my grandma. It seems silly, but he is just my life. I could not do any of this without him and I am so grateful that I don't have to. =)

whirlwind.

These past couple of days have been a complete whirlwind. On Tuesday evening after work, Brian and I were sitting at home trying to decide what to have for dinner.... Aaron & Kathy stopped by the house to pick up some stuff they had left and brought us flowers!! :))))) Definitely cheered us up. And how thoughtful are they?? We are blessed with truly incredible friends. Everything had just been so crazy... all of the confusion and emotion with my grandma.

We were sitting around and chatting with Aaron & Kathy when my dad called. My grandma had just passed. I honestly don't even know what I felt in that moment... relief? sadness? regret? I was mad at myself that we weren't there. We had been there every day for the past week and on the one day that we decide to stay home, it happens. I know that doesn't really matter, but it still sucks. We left the house immediately and thus the whirlwind continues.

Things had been crazy enough already, visiting grandma every day, trying to keep her house maintained, going through paperwork, trying to keep her comfortable, trying to control our emotions... but now things were about to get even worse. That night was basically just crying. Everyone in our family was there and we just cried and sat with each other and talked. It was much needed, but very hard nonetheless. This morning we headed there right away and had a very busy day ahead of us.... and a very emotional one at that. We spent the day meeting with the funeral parlor, talking to the priest, picking out caskets and prayer cards, writing her obituary, shopping for a nice outfit for her to wear, going through photos and creating photo boards, making slideshows, choosing songs to play at the wake, the list goes on and on... and it is very emotionally draining. We just got home and now we're trying to get ourselves ready... getting clothes and everything else ready to go. It's going to be a hard couple of days.... but ultimately we are happy that she is in a better place now and at peace. She had a wonderful long life filled with lots of love and that's what we have to remember.

Thank you all for your wonderful thoughts and prayers. Times like these force you to be grateful for everyone and everything that you have in your life, and that is a wonderful place to be.

i'm so behind...

on laundry.
on sleep.
on work.



on fun.

on life. we've actually had the same netflix movies at home for the past month... geez.

I just need a minute to catch up.... please.

In more exciting news, the hubby and I are in the midst of some pretty cool happenings in our lives. I won't share too much, but it makes me smile. {Big smiles.} And I'm sooo ready for fall to get here.

five.

Today is a good day. One Tree Hill's season five released on dvd today. I was the loser waiting in the Target parking lot at 7:55 for them to unlock the doors. And guess what? I wasn't the only one. Crazy, huh? Rumors have been floating about a novel/journal being sold exlusively in some of the copies being released.

I noticed in our local Target ad on Sunday that they were advertising their copies with said journal, only limited copies. I would have been there right at open time no matter what, but I wanted myself a copy of whatever exclusive journal Target was selling! All that I knew was the cover was a replica of Lucas' novel, "An Unkindness of Ravens" and I wanted it!! I knew exactly where to find it {I'm a frequent Target shopper} and wouldn't you know it, they only have FOUR copies for sale with the journal there at open this morning. I scooped up the first and someone else grabbed another right behind me. I am SO glad that I was able to get mine. YAY. It is indeed just a blank journal inside, with the infamous Ravens cover on the front, and I love it. It will display proudly on my bookcase. Here's some pics for all my lovely die-hards:

YAY! I can't wait to go home and watch the extras tonight. =)

the reality of it all.

This weekend was nice, and then not-so-nice, but nice overall. I was extremely happy to be home with my boys and soaked up as much as I could. Friday night we celebrated G's birthday!!! The hubby made him a giant treat out of doggy ice cream treats that he loved and I decked him out in a birthday hat. =) Aaron, Kathy, Andrew & Stacey were all there to celebrate with him and even gave him some nice little pressies. He is definitely the most spoiled dog ever! But he deserves it and we all had a blast.

My big one year old:

Enjoying his birthday treat: {doggy beef-flavored ice cream treats!}

Tuckered out from all the partying:

On Saturday morning we went to visit grandma. She has been getting increasingly worse and worse over the past few days. She has been sleeping since Wednesday, and has not eaten or drank anything. At this point, it is just a matter of time. You can be as prepared as you want to be, but it still doesn't make it any easier. So that was our depressing Saturday morning, it's nice to be there with her and the family, but it's hard because there is nothing anyone can do. We stayed there all morning and then headed back to town to try to escape reality for a while. Luckily our friends are good at that. We spent the day on the river with the gang, in the most kick ass boat ever:

Gorgeous day:

And look who we found wandering around when we docked. Only in Iowa:

We spent the entire day yesterday visiting grandma. Things had gotten noticably worse from Saturday. The whole family was there. Again, it was nice being together- but we felt so helpless.

Another not-so-nice thing about this weekend is that G is mad at me. He never chews on things, unless he is mad. I'm guessing that he was mad that I was away for so long or something, but whatever the reason, he felt it necessary to take it out on my Jessica Simpson peep-toe pumps:

I was livid when I first saw them. Now I'm just sad. I had to toss them in the garbage last night:

He knew I was upset. But I could tell that he felt bad so I forgave him, but I'm sure gonna miss these babies:

Happy Monday everyone. Here's to hoping this week flies by so we can all enjoy our nice long, Labor Day weekend.

currently listening to :: faith hope love by starsailor.

also.

I think I want to cut my hair like this.....

This style looks good too, same cut.....

Thoughts? Ever since the wedding I have been chopping my locks off little by little. I don't want to go uber-short, but I think this length is a good compromise, no?

looooooooong.

I am finally home. I arrived home late last night from my week-long business trip to Atlanta {thus, why I didn't post all week.} Lots of dinners, drinks, meetings, work, airports, did I mention work?, oh yeah and drinks? I'm just getting back into the swing of things and I have lots to catch up on.. including posts. Stay tuned!

Happy Friday!!

{atlanta skyline.}

currently listening to :: a brittle filament by the one am.

weekend.

This weekend was pretty amazing. We went out Friday night with my college girls and our boys tagged along. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking on that one.

G and Macy getting to know each other:


Kris trying not to knock a card off {he looks a little worried}:

Jackie and Travis dancing:


I don't know what Kris and Bryan are doing here:

Aww....


Me and Jackie doing the Cupid Shuffle!:
Dancing, dancing, dancing...

Nate doing the "Michael Phelps":

Cuties Kris & Katie:


The proud parents-to-be:

Messing around in the backseat:

Me & Bri Bri {she was such a sport!}:



On Saturday Brian, G and I spent the entire day at home. It was so incredible. We haven't been able to do that in literally months and we enjoyed every second of it. Yesterday we have lots of errands to run and visited my grandma most of the day.

G passed out on the couch after Macy left. He was pooped:

It was a great weekend and I am already looking forward to the next one. It's gonna be another long week..... Happy Monday!

currently listening to :: new shoes by paolo nutini.

waiting.

Lately I feel like I am just standing still, waiting for my vacation to come......


{the meaning of wait.}

random.

01. my deodarant is completely gone as of this morning; therefore I had to use my hubby's so I have been smelling like him all day {kind of nice actually.} :)

02. if you could see my desk at work right now, you wouldn't believe it-- piles of crap everywhere to be taken care of by yours truly. sad thing is that I have no motivation to take of it today.... oh darn.

03. Olive Garden breadsticks leftover from yesterday's meetings, heated up in the microwave for 30 seconds precisely make an amazing lunch.

04. there is close to a million things that i want from ae right now.

05. but I am pretty happy to have scored at least this darling peice.

06. I thought it was pretty cool when my boss handed me this pen the other day customized to our company; a nice gesture if you will... then I found the web site and about crapped my pants at the price....I don't even know what to do with a $140 pen? Do you actually use it?

07. I'm really craving Mexican for tonight.....

08. Old Navy's fall collection looks amazing... and I would kill for this dress.

09. how adorable is that print above by hennie? my new favorite.

10. One Tree Hill starts in officially 17 days!

what a week.

Hey guys. I’ve just been so super busy this week with work and work functions- that I can’t even think of anything exciting to tell you. Sad. Although I did get really drunk on Wednesday night with a bunch of work people. {what can I say, I like the good vodka when it's on the company.}

Yesterday was pretty much a day from hell for me. I won’t get into it because I’m just glad it’s over. Things are better now and getting back to normal. Last night Kathy and I ate Chinese and watched the Olympics until late {go Phelps!} And now here I am today… with loads of stuff to get done at work today and waiting for the weekend…..

I am very excited about this weekend though. Tonight my college girlfriends are in town—Jackie, Kate, Lindsay and Bri and we can’t wait to have a whole night with each other—and the boys will probably join us too. ;) I’m pretty pumped just to be with them for the night—plans are dinner and then out on the town so we will see where it leads us. I’m sure somewhere crazy.





AND Katie and Kris are staying with us so Guinness will finally get to meet Macy!! I have a feeling they are going to love each other. How cute is she?



Saturday we have a ton of stuff that we want to get done around the house- so that is where we will be. I’m actually really looking forward to just being at home with my boys and finally getting some stuff done!

I forgot to mention that yesterday at work, when our meetings were finally ending that we had been in since Tuesday, my boss thanked me in front of everyone for all of my efforts to get these meetings running smoothly. She thanked me for taking care of things that are outside of my role and to show her appreciation- she gave me a night out on the town with my husband. *blush* She said just go out to dinner and drinks- whatever you want and use your Corporate Card. SWEET. So I’m thinking that we might take advantage of this Saturday night. I can't wait! :)

On Sunday we are going to visit my grandma and baby Brody again- so that will most likely fill most of our day. And then I have to come home and pack because I have a business trip next week. Sad. I can’t even think about yet, all I can think about today is the amazing weekend I am going to spend with my boys and my friends and my family....



currently listening to :: a movie script ending by death cab for cutie.