Paul + Jenn

So.

One thing I didn't blog about...

Oh.

Oh wait.

That's right...I haven't blogged since the dawn of time. It probably doesn't help that Webs.com is so awesomely available and reliable.

Ahem.

Ok, but you all probably saw from my last post (which was FIVE days ago) that we celebrated V-day with a little Riesling (and also a delicious shrimp pasta that, may I say, was fantastic). What you don't know is that the celebration actually started on Thursday.

Paul came home late on Thursday all sneaky-like and skulked down to the basement with nary a word (except maybe "don't look at me"...which is four words...but that's pretty close to nary).

He came back up with his hands behind his back...from which he promptly brought forth a lovely gift bag.

[Please excuse my nasty carpet.]

When asked, Paul explained that he planned to give it to me the following night when we had our romantic dinner, but he couldn't wait.

So let's recap: in less than one hour, Paul decided to buy me a gift, decided to give it to me Friday, bought the gift, came home and wrapped it, decided he couldn't wait, and gave it to me early.

Oh Pauly. This is why I throw the surprise birthday parties, darling. : )

So here's what I got:

[Sheesh Louieesh. I guess this is a showcase of my dirty house. Thanks a lot, Nikon D90.]

AN IPOD NANO!!!! IN PINK!!!

Fo' serious real, y'all.

It's perfect because we have a 5k in 4 weeks and a 10k in 6. Yes. We are insane. Oh, did I mention I have never run a race before? Did I mention as of 1/15/11, I had never run more than a mile without stopping?

So, where's the irony, you ask?

Not 2 hours earlier (like not even 2 hours earlier), I had started a load of laundry.

Do you see where this is going?

No?

Well, then keep reading!

Earlier that morning, Paul left the house unable to find his iPod Shuffle...

Catching on?

I found it. When the washer stopped. At the bottom of the drum.

: (

So, while my sweet sweet hubby was picking out a perfectly pink iPod nano for me, I was washing his WORKING iPod Shuffle.

Irony. Sad sad irony.

SIDENOTE! Dear  JVC, please make your Gumy earbud case harder to get into. Also, please place the earbud wires in such a place that cutting into the packaging could risk chopping up those unimportant wires. I was all like, "Hey! I hope my hubby can pay for these so I won't be able to use them at all but instead start my own collection of unattractive unopenable plastic-contained merchandise!" Just wanted to say thanks. Unfortunately, after 17 hours, I was able to get it open without damaging the earbuds. I just wanted to let you know of the design flaw. Love, Jenn

[So I NEVER. EVER. clean, ok?!]

[Stay tuned for details tomorrow!]

[And scroll down to see what Paul thought his birthday party was.]

BESs

...I figured I'd post something.

Despite my lack of blogging, Christina at Home Says Hello is running a feature on Newlywed Wives. I'm up today! And stay tuned to see who else shows up. Thanks Christina!

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Guess who just turned 25?!

YEP!

This kid's old enough to rent and drive a rental car. Woot. All his life goals are complete.

Paul had a pretty special birthday if I do say so myself (and I do...say so...myself). I took the day off to make him breakfast in bed:

Awww!

(Oh yeah, good thing we've been married for almost three years and I know he doesn't like sausage...)

...as well as attend his extra special company birthday lunch at Chili's (of which I did not take pictures...I haven't quite figured out how to sneak my Nikon into a Chili's without looking like a creeper).

Then, Paul had some friends over to play Wii's new Goldeneye! Remember that game? Gosh, I used to play it all the time. Gotta love slaps.

Wings. Chips and Salsa. Chocolate cookies. Good times.

Overall, I think the old man enjoyed it. What say you, Pauly?

You may recall the only other installment of "Paul in a Nutshell..."

Thanks to our new camera and Paul being Paul, I have for you...Edition: Christmas Eve!

Now, watch as Paul opens his Christmas Eve pajamas:

I should add here that not only did Paul know what was in the box (we do Christmas Eve pajamas every year......because we're ADULTS! That's WHY!), but he picked them out and watched me wrap them.

Once again, this is my life with Paul. Shouldn't I be happy all the time?

: )

...but not because of what you think. Please!

It's for violence. And stuff.

When my brother, Zach, visited a few weeks ago, he wrote a song on the fly. It's kind of what he does. He writes songs about animals and whatever he sees at the moment (mind you, he also takes MORE time to sit down and write worship songs). It's normally quite hilarious.

This particular weekend was no exception. He began singing about Paul and me. Now, I wasn't able to catch the first verse. But it was so funny, I whipped out my laptop and began to type as he was singing.

Since the first verse probably gives some background to the story, the song may be a little confusing. Or it could just be because my brother is strange. However, please keep in mind as you ready this that it is a FICTIONAL story, and Paul and I were mildly sitting on the couch when it started.

So here it is, a song about two people with the names Paul and Jenn who also happen to be married:

Jenn stabbed Paul

And buried him under the hall

Now Jenn lives alone

In another time zone.

Paul came back to life

Now he’s coming after his wife

He wants her

To make him a cheese and bologna sandwich (sung quickly)

Now they live happily

The girl and her zombie

And that’s the real end of this story

Rest

I wish upon many wishes that you could have heard the tune that goes along with this song. It's peppy and upbeat. It just makes the song!

Maybe Zachy will be kind enough to post the first verse (if he can find it in his copiously curly head). Whaddya say, Zach? Give the people what they want.

Anyhow.

I hope you have enjoyed this weird and morbid song from the peculiar mind of my little brother.

Happy Friday!

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The nearest large city to where we stayed in Canada was Ottawa, which is a two-hour drive. While we didn't do any activities in Ottawa, that is where the airport is located. So, you can probably already guess that we made the drive at least twice.

We did.

Drive it twice.

Anyhow, my husband is quite a character. And I think tight spaces and a lack of activity (since he wasn't driving) made him a little loopy. So please enjoy this string of pictures of a 2-hour car ride with Paul:

[Recap: Crazy, DS, talking into his DS like a phone, using his DS to be a duck, dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing/flirting, sleeping, sleeping, waking, faking, happy.]

So there you have it. This is basically life with Paul minus work, bathroom breaks, and meals.

Love this man! : )

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We're back state-side! I am working through Information Overload Reentry, as we had been unable to access internet, text, and phone from July 31 at 12pm to August 7 at 5pm (later for me because I found out your phone drains battery power even when it's off).

That being said, I have over 30 work e-mails, 125 personal e-mails, 100 texts, and 114 items in Reader to sift through, let alone the 2 memory cards and 3 hours of Canadian photos and video (respectively) to extract and sort.

So. Then. Please enjoy, for the next few days, the blog posts that should have been, if you will. Had I had the time to get them auto-posted before we left, this is what else you would have read the week I was in Canada. Enjoy!

[Canadian adventures coming soon...although, you could argue that we ALWAYS have 25% Canadian fun.]

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Six Flags Over Georgia.

It is the stuff dreams are made of.

That is, until you grow up.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still in love with roller coasters. Despite my run-in with uncharacteristic fear at the fair a few years back, I found I still love riding roller coasters. Perhaps it is simply a pride issue, as I watch 47-inchers walk away sadly while I, boasting my 60 inches, march my way to the winding line that ends in tall-people utopia.

However, what is NOT fun is carrying a few small important items (e.g., sunscreen, wallet, phone) that your mom used to hold while she waited for everyone else to ride the coasters. It actually wouldn't be so bad if they had let us use the [apparently] useless cubbies at the top of the line...but those need to remain empty...for paying-customer-frustration purposes, of course.

Instead. One must rent an $11 locker in the center of the park which is nowhere near any of the rides on your itenerary.  Like dolts, we thought at each ride that possibly someone had come to their senses and begun allowing use of the cubbies. But alas, again and again we were turned away with the "those are not allowed in line" statement...because nothing is more dangerous than a tube of travel sunscreen in an open-air crowded environment. So, we kept trying to get in line...and then walking back to the center of the park to use our locker again.

The truth is there was only one item we kept trying to bring through the line. It was the huge free refill cup my company provided us for free (I think the price of the cups ran somewhere in the $teens). Couple that with a hot day and my husband, the fish (of the non-alcohol-preferring variety) and we had a desperate need to have the cup with us at all times.

Perhaps the worst part about trudging back to the middle of the park every hour was that once we did get to the front of a line, we encountered scores of the glowy green cups in people's hands and the ride cubbies alike.

Yeah, annoying.

Then, not long after lunch, despite the fact we had an errand at the nearby airport (PWI) that evening, we made our way back home for the best showers of our lives (think sweat + sunscreen + whipping through bug-filled air at 70 miles an hour) and then BACK out to the airport later.

But still. It was fun. Although I think we realized why we hadn't spent the $80 to get into the park up until this point (admission was paid for by my company) and why we probably won't in the future either.

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Allison over at O My Family kicked off O My Organization Week this Monday and promised a linkup. That was just what I needed (apparently) to get my act together.

My beautiful desk built by my awesome dad has looked like this for the better part of two years (Warning: Again, unedited, uncropped...and sometimes fuzzy pictures ahead).

I know.

It was driving poor OCD Pauly mad. But Wednesday night, I booked it home, grabbed me some 100-calorie Oreo cake snack thingies, and got to work!

As you can see, it wasn't a pretty process.  Crazy amounts of papers, wrappers, buttons (not the cool kind, the kind you pull off a new shirt in the little pouch), and what-nots. But I kept going, even when I ran out of snacks. I guess you could call me a survivor, being that I went a whole 40 minutes without something to put in my mouth. And look at the finished result!

[Look! I have a cute pink planner and purple footstool!! What? My life is complete.]

So beautiful, right? 

Thanks Allison! It looks great next to the shelf my husband built! Aw! Legacy! I still want to add some touches and do something else maybe with those nic-nacs (knicknacs?). I think just heard Paul cheer...25 miles away.  But that will have to wait until AFTER our Canadian vacation, for which we leave tomorrow!!

The best part? Besides having an awesome workspace now, Paul was TIRED of me organizing by the time I got done!!! Now THAT, my friends, is a success. : )

***UPDATE: Um, I just looked at Allison's desk project. Yeah. I still have a LOT of work to do. Check it out.

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On June 24 (yes, the day after my birthday. yes, I am aware I am an awesome supportive wife), Paul and I busted it home so we could rush to the airport. We flew into Dayton, OH after midnight and (not) promptly (enough) went to sleep. The next two days found us munching on breakfast potatoes and mini hershey bars, napping, hanging with family, and dressing up for evening weddings.

Paul's cousins, David (groom in left picture) and Katelyn (bride in right picture) were married on consecutive days. David and Katelyn have eight OTHER brothers and sisters, only one of which is already married. So you can imagine as they all reach marrying age around the same time how difficult it would be for their families to attend wedding after wedding after wedding after wedding...that's only four, but you get the picture.

This way, Paul and I took one day off work and got to attend BOTH weddings. Genius, albeit some required humility and compromising on their part, I'm sure.

So I put together a little spread to give you a small idea of how the weddings were different (not because I'm good with photos...just because Webs.com will only let me post so many pictures...heck, I used powerpoint to make this...yeah). Despite David and Cassie's picture above, their colors were more purple than pink. While Katelyn and Jordan clearly went pink.

It was all great fun, and if you want a glimpse of Paul and me at the weddings, simply visit our About page where you can view all the blinking-at-the-wrong-time action you can stand.

Congratulations on one month of wedded bliss, you guys!

*Also, I do not want to imply that either wedding was more fun or elegant than the other. They're just words, people.

Oh oh! And look who we got to sit with at Wedding #2:

[As gorgeous in tangerine as wedding white!]

It's Cassie (with her niece), who had just been married the previous night! Now THAT is dedication to family, folks. [Btw, hubby was just out of frame.]

Stay tuned to see just how well Pauly Bear related to his elementary-aged first cousins (one removed) during our time in Buckeye country. *wink*

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My actual 26th birthday (on which I turned 25, you understand), which you may recall from this post, was on a Wednesday.

...

Is there a more boring day to celebrate things? Wednesday? I suppose it is probably a close second to Tuesday, but really, only by a bit.

Due to the fact that we had recently travelled from Augusta for Father's Day and my baby brother's surprise 18th birthday (yes, our birthdays are 3 days apart, which you may recall from this post), and we were leaving the following night for the Byars Wedding Weekend Extravaganza, there really wasn't much time for celebration.

However, always the awesome, P-Butta arranged a myriad of gifts for me to open when I arrived home from work that evening. (Warning: I didn't crop these because I'm la-la-la-laaazyyy. I always don't crop pictures. It's a chronic problem.)

[Sweetest card! Just look at how happy my chubby little face is!]

[Um, Cato. Jewelry. Woot.]

[Because I get flour on my jeans once a week when I make bread...]

Then we went to O'Charley's (I believe) where I ate entirely too much.

We also may or may not have stopped at GameStop so I could get this for my DS:

I may or may not deny this purchase if you ask me about it.

On being 25: the only realization I have had thus far is that if I got pregnant RIGHT. NOW. I will still be 40 before my oldest child can drive...this does not bode well for my heart.

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