I have a new pet

And it's a my very own

Christmas Tree!

I love it!

more to come of the very wonderful Thanksgiving weekend...

Random Thoughts

I am pretty much worthless here at work today, and I'm about to finish up my last online class for my class in December.....

{I still don't get taking classes to attend a class. I thought prerequisites were done!}

.... and I have a bazillion random thoughts running through my head. Thought I'd share so I can continue on with my work day {which at the time of typing is 1 HOUR AND COUNTING}

• Making lists helps me keep organized like for reals. My Christmas shopping is in full swing and if I didn't have a list I would be broke!
• Morgan and I have been talking about starting our own traditions - not only with Christmas but all the holidays. We've had a lot of chats about what we did growing up. As of now we both agree on Christmas Eve PJ's and a few others. I stumbled upon a post in the blogworld that gave me the greatest idea for gifts for Christmas. Morgan and I are going to tweak it a little bit to fit 'us' - and I'll share it with you after the holiday!
• CHEEZ-ITs + Diet Coke = delish.
• There are so many weddings going on in my life right now. Not my wedding of course, but people's in my life. Sandra, Kristen, Jenn. Plus all my college friends are getting hitched all over the country. There are bound to be more the beginning of the year. I love being surrounded by love!
• I've started to love feeling sore after I work out. I used to hate it - like I would seriously avoid working out hard just because I knew it would hurt later. Morgan has brought a whole new perception of fitness into my life and I really appreciate my body getting a good work out - and when its sore just a mere few hours later, that means I did the job right. Like now. ouch.
• My mom and stepdad are coming in 5 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Oh yeah and speaking of Christmas {c'mon, keep up people}, I have a lot of siblings. I'm glad we draw names, it helps to make my gift that much more special and unique. Instead of just getting 5 I-tunes giftcards and calling it a day. Though I don't think they would be sad about that at all now that I think about it. oh well.
• Oh how thankful I am for the life I have. For the freedoms that surround me. For the truth that I have. {these feelings the aftermath of watching Hotel Rwanda and crying my eyes out. How cruel this world is sometimes}
• Morgan's amazing ideas! = Double date night, complete with dinner, fire & smores.
• Any thoughts about Accutane? I'm thinking about it a. lot.
• Is it weird that I have an overwhelming urge to buy stuff {for myself!}?? And not just clothes {but yes, a lot of that}. but hair stuff. and shoes. and cameras. and film. and rugs. and coffee tables. and frames. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. its the season of GIVING. not getting. I'm seriously demented.
• On that note... this is my favorite site for beautiful things right now. I want every one.
• Is it weird that I just 'justified' this post? Work + my OCD is ruining me.



yep - these guys are coming for Thanksgiving!



at the pumpkin patch with Madeline in October.
afterwards we realized that it looks like she's our kid. oops.
and yes that was taken on Morgan's phone = blurrific



by the way my coworker who took this immediately said afterward
"now that, is facebook worthy". wow.



Are there any Mormons here tonight?

As an early Christmas present I got us tickets to the Dane Cook comedy show when Morgan found out he was coming about a month ago.

We got pretty good tickets to begin with - but then got upgraded when we got our tickets scanned..



see?? that's with no zoom!

Dane's portion was great - but his openers were hilarious too.

{J. Chris Newberg and Al del Bene}

During Al del Bene's bit he mostly talked about raising his 1-year-old son

{which made both of us think of Madeline}

and the topic soon turned to religion. He started to talk about how he might raise him Mormon, just as a 'cruel joke' since he was raised Catholic.

So as everyone started laughing he goes,
 "Are there any Mormon's here tonight?"

So of course Morgan and I start yelling and clapping

along with maybe 4 or 5 other people in the place.

Al stopped in his tracks and goes,
"Really??................... Shouldn't you be at home or something?"

I lost it. {it's true. we should have been home. it was Sunday.}

He proceeded to make a few jokes about Mormons but nothing terrible - it was hilarious.
I'm all about laughing at myself.

This was part of his hilarious-ness

Anyways - it was a fun night, and my first comedy show!

We were glad that Dane came through Memphis {his first time!} and we had to oppurtunity to go!

Thanks for an amazing night, my love!



Clutter + Content

This is my desk.

Welcome to my life of clutter, I'm fully aware of it

and I'm totally content with it.

just lovely.

Today is Wednesday

but this Wednesday is my Friday.

halle-freakin-lujah

{my old testament professor used to say that. ha.}

and for some reason I'm feeling all lovey dovey today.

and I like it.

I feel so fortunate to have love in my life.

my family. my friends.

and Morgan. especially him.

I've had the love of my family since the day I was born.

And my friends, the real ones, their love I've felt for years.

and I'm so lucky for all of it.

but this love, this love that has developed over the past year {and 2 months}

has literally changed my life.

every morning I wake up grateful I have the chance to feel this unwavering, unconditional love for another human being -

who feels the same exact feeling for me.

there's no inequality. no doubt. no missing piece.

I feel whole in a way that I never really felt was possible, or knew I needed

until I met Morgan.

I know we have miles and miles to go, so much to learn,
and many mountains to climb over

but how comforting it is to know I won't be doing it alone -
I'm not doing it alone right now.

It's days like these, where I wake up, shower, and a sleepy eyed sumo-wrestling-shirt-wearing boy walks in my door at 6:30 AM to make me breakfast.

 just so we can see eachother and spend time together for oh, about a half hour, before we both jet off to our run-of-the-mill-day-to-day lives.

and times where he looks up from his studying and says 'thankyou for all you did tonight' even though he's said it a million times.

and it was just dinner.

that he even helped with {i can't for the life of me cut onions}

and those moments when I'm so frustrated, so annoyed, and all have to do is dial his number and hear his voice on the other end and

know it's all going to be ok.

and when holding his hand is all that's really necessary.

no words, no discussion, no music on the radio. just that reassurance -

that we're here...together.

and that moment when I walk in the door from traveling all week for work - sick -

and I find a vase of flowers, my favorite chocolate,

and the sweetest note {on a post-it note, which by the way may be the best part} ever

and he does it all for me.

I'm lucky, and everyday I gives thanks for that.

only one of the many surprise bouquets. :)

Drum roll please............

This year Morgan and I were 

Fred and Wilma Flintstone!

--no thanks to my creative thinking {my mom gave me the idea}--

After a week of measuring, and sewing, and threading and gluing,

{and some colorful curse words thrown in for good measure}

our costumes were created

and though they aren't perfect

I learned a lot through the process, and I think they turned out pretty good

{and bonus: everyone thought they were store bought! boo ya!}

and of course the night couldn't end without some drama...

we weren't the only Fred and Wilma.....

on the bright side: we {all} got 2nd place in the costume contest! 

It was a very Happy Halloween 

love, Fred and Wilma