Destination unkown (aka justifying a destination wedding)

I know that this shindig is our wedding so we could get married in Alaska next to a polar bear if we really wanted but I don’t really like the way Alaskans talk. Instead, we decided a while back that we wanted a beach wedding. At first Clark was a little against it. He is much more of a people pleaser than I am and was worried that people would be upset if they weren’t able to make it. I just reminded him that it’s OUR wedding and having our closest family and friends there will be enough. 

Growing up, I always thought I would have a huge wedding where hundreds of people could look at me and tell me how beautiful I am. But after being in and going to that exact wedding about 30 times, I realized that isn’t really what I want. I’m not trying to bash anyone’s wedding, I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a huge wedding; it’s just not what I want. And if you can only get exactly what you want one time, it should be on your wedding day.

I’m not really into surprises so before we got engaged, I sat down with a calendar and we came up with a plan. I didn’t tell him when or how to propose (I tried but he wouldn’t allow it) but we did both agree that if we were going to get married 9-10 hours away, we wanted everyone to have at least a year to save money and vacation time so that isn’t an obstacle. We aren’t thinking anywhere crazy, probably Destin or Gulf Shores, definitely somewhere close enough to drive. We are also going to try to plan it when most hotels and condos have their “mid-season” rates, usually in between spring break and Memorial Day. We are planning on either April 27 or May 4, 2013, we haven’t booked anything but I am hoping that since it's over a year away that one of those dates will be open. 

I hate that we have to wait that long but it’s worth it for us to have the perfect day with the people we love the most.

And just for fun, here's is a video of what happened on the way to Destin last year...

I can't wait to see what memories we will make with both of our families on the next trip!

Proposal Story

Soooo………..I’m back and I’M ENGAGED! This weekend Clark popped the question with this stunner of a ring! 

And I’m sure you want to hear the story of how he did it so here you go....

This past weekend Clark and I went to Fayetteville for the Razorback baseball game. We stayed with my bestie Heather and her husband Adam. My friends Brittany and Stephanie were supposed to come with us but backed out (and I was ticked). Friday night we stayed up talking with Heather and Adam until probably midnight. During this conversation, they all lied to me approximately 100 times.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Common Grounds for a delicious brunch with Heather and Adam. Then Heather said she had to take some work stuff to Fed Ex and go get her oil changed. So Clark and I went to campus because he said he wanted to walk around and see some of the parts that he never gets to see. I showed him the library (even though I only went there once, I remembered it), Old Main, and Spoofers Stone. Then he said he wanted to go to the football stadium. I whined because I have been to the stadium a million times and even on the field before but I finally agreed. As we are walking into the stadium, I tell him the story of how I was supposed to be on the field for the Tennessee game in 2006 when ESPN Gameday was there but I had a spinal tap the day before and projectile vomited right as I walked in the gate. I even pointed to where I was standing when I puked (so romantic).

We start walking out onto the field (illegal) and he just keeps walking, I finally said something about us getting caught and he said he just wanted to take a picture of the hog in the middle. When we get to the 50 yard line, he started making an incredibly sweet speech (that neither one of us really remembers) then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes and as we start walking off the field, people started popping up from the entrance and yelling. Clark and Heather had schemed to get my very best friends (minus one) to Fayetteville (I immediately felt bad for all the smack talk I did about them backing out on us). Kori and Chad even drove all the way from Dallas! It was seriously perfect!

Brittany, Kori, Clark, Me, Heather and Stephanie

We ended the night on Heather’s back porch just eating and talking and having a blast!

Not a photographer

Part of the reason I am an awful blogger is because I never take pictures. This was one of the main reasons that I wanted to blog because I thought it would encourage me to take more pictures. For instance, my brother got married last weekend, I took a total of 4 pictures, 2 weren’t even for me and they were all taken with my phone because I left my camera battery plugged into my wall at home. Here are the 2 pictures I took for myself and 1 that I stole from my friend Heather. 

Heather, me, Stephanie and Britt 

 Our youth pastor Jay and his wife Gina who raised most of the people in this picture 

My bff Heather and me

 I’ve also gone to every Razorback game this season except the Tennessee game and here are the only pictures I have taken thus far.

Me and Clark at the South Carolina game

Me and Clark, I think this is the Auburn game

Carter and Joe Adams, who he was obviously terrified of in this moment but is now obsessed with. Anytime there is football on TV, he assumes it is Joe Adams

Most of the pictures that I take are of my niece and nephew, here are a couple of the most adorable ones.

Abby and my Aunt Elaine's horses

Carter in his Razorback uniform 

I got my camera battery out of the wall and put it in my camera so here’s hoping that I actually start snapping some photos! 

Finally posting again....

So obviously I am not going to be very good at this since it’s been like a month since I have posted anything. I am going to try to get better I promise!

If you have spent more than 4 minutes with Clark and Grant Yazza, you might know that they have their own language. It’s not German, Russian, Yazzan or American…. Its movie quotes. 

Clark, Chris Croft and Grant

Most boys can memorize movie quotes much better than girls (or spend the time to when we would rather be washing our hair). Grant and Clark would put most boys to shame. Their vast knowledge of movie quotes is not limited to the stupid-funny boy movies mostly starring Adam Sandler. If they see a movie once, they can quote 85% of it for the rest of their lives. But quoting movies is not enough for someone with this kind of knowledge. They use it to communicate in a way that no one else would understand. For instance, “home is where you make it,” sounds like a sweet little sentiment about making the best of what you have. If you agree then you obviously wouldn’t understand their language because it’s really about looking at naked people. I’ve known the Yazza’s for about 10 years (actually I have no idea how long I’ve known them but I like even numbers), I’ve spent quite a bit of my time with them for the last year. I still have NO idea what they are talking about.

When I hear “Two mice fell in a bucket of cream…” I think, “oh no, did they drown”? But I think it’s a motivational speech or about Jesus, still not sure about that one.

Or “ok, ok its puts the lotion on its skin.” First of all, don’t call yourself “it”, you are a person and “a person’s a person no matter how small.”

Also, “we’ve got more money than Davy Crockett,” did Davy Crockett have a lot of money? I’m pretty sure a rich person would at least wear an alligator skin hat but after watching  Swamp People, that might not be true.

Ok, if you’re under the age of 18, don’t read this one… Seriously, I’m telling your mom if you do. “This is one of you….with breasts.” So it might be a sin but I have seen both Grant and Clark without a shirt (the boys at their house have shirtless Saturdays) and neither one of them have boobs. They are both annoyingly skinny so no man boobs.

“I see without seeing, to me darkness is as clear as daylight, what am I?’ I freaking hate riddles. I don’t need to solve some stupid riddle to feel good about myself. I got a piece of paper that tells me I learned a lot of stuff.

This is not even a small sampling of the crap they say. The worst thing is that the whole Yazza family can speak this language. They aren’t all as fluent as Clark and Grant but I’m pretty sure Carly has said that my hair looks dumb via The Notebook. Bryce knows movie quotes too but Bryce is cool. Bryce can speak regular English and make it sound cool.

I have basically the worst memory EVER! Most of my childhood memories are really just stories that my friends tell me and I have to believe. Clark tries really hard to teach me movie quotes. Over the past year, I have successfully memorized 2 movie quotes that I say constantly and wait for my pat on the back. So in about 50 years, I will know maybe 50 because pretty soon I will forget the ones I know now. 

Blog Numero Uno

So for the last few years, I have said that I can’t get married because when you get married you have to start a blog. I don’t know who came up with that rule or where it is written down but I promise it’s a rule. Well I’m not getting married but I did decide to start a blog, I’m hoping I am still allowed in the blog world even though I won’t be writing vomit inducing stories about how awesome my husband is. So the subject of my first blog: food.

I LOVE food, seriously, it’s unhealthy how much I love food, especially unhealthy food. At one time in my life, I could eat junk food all day and not gain a pound. Oh the glory days! Not so much now. When I look at cupcakes or my fav, poppy seed chicken, I can feel my hips getting wider and my butt getting rounder.  So I had to become proactive about how I shop for food. Totally easy in college, I only kept good food on my shelves in the pantry and didn’t touch my super skinny roommates’ junk food. Now that I’ve graduated (before my “the good child” older brother), I am back at home. I seriously love living back with my family. But the eating habits are suffering a little. My mom has more self-control in her pinky toe than I have in my whole body. She can fill the cabinets with junk food and still eat a piece of lettuce for dinner. So I once again have to have my shelf and the roommates’ shelf. Sitting on my shelf right now is a container of Dark Chocolate Almond Spread.

Let me say that I am crazy about peanut butter! When I was a kid, a spoonful of peanut butter was my favorite dinner (I am the 3^rd child, I did basically whatever I wanted). Even though peanut butter isn’t unhealthy, almond butter is supposed to be a little better. I compared labels and wasn’t thrown into a fit of unbelief but I still bought the almond spread instead of peanut butter.

 As you can see the calories and fat aren’t that different in either, the sodium difference is what sold me. American’s eat way too much sodium! I’m gonna say like 80% more than we need and if you want to google the actual amount then you need to find a hobby. But if you look at the labels again, you can see that the almond spread has calcium and the peanut butter has zilch! Women need calcium and it helps lose weight! While I’m pretty sure that 8% isn’t going to help me drop 10 pounds, it’s still better than none.

Also, I was elated to see that the Dark Chocolate Almond Spread had LESS calories and sodium than the plain almond spread. HELLO!! Chocolate on the label and it’s still healthy. This is something I can get on board with. For those of you Nutella lovers, here’s that label. Once again, I am not totally freaking out, the differences aren’t huge. The almond butter does have a little more of the good and a little less of the bad but I don’t think switching the 2 out is going to make you look like Gisele. 

So I know you guys are DYING to know how it tastes. Since you read this much of my nonsense, I will tell you… it’s pretty good! I didn’t have a foodgasm or anything but it’s good and just as filling as regular peanut butter.

Also, it’s not super expensive. I use to be a total food snob, you know the “only buy name brand,” “won’t eat Taco Bell or leftovers,” kind of person. Well I went to college and got poor so I learned that the gas is worth it when you only have $1 and Taco Bell is right around the corner. I have a job now so I’m not quite as poor but still try to be smart with my money. I know it’s expensive to eat healthy. Even though Whole Foods is so hip and has free samples, I shop at Wal-mart. AND I found this Almond Spread at Wal-mart! Right next to the peanut butter. Here is a picture of the glorified Almond Spread.

I promise not to blog about food every time.

 I have a pretty awesome niece and nephew, a crazy love of the Razorbacks, a freaking awesome job and an even more awesome God so I am sure this blog will resemble Skittle vomit; colorful, disgusting but somehow pretty like a rainbow.